RELIGIOUS WOULD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 209, 2 September 1911, Page 14

RELIGIOUS WOULD.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD. (By the REV. A. A. LITTLE JOHN, M.A., Church of England.) We see it painted in the vaulted skier.; we can study it in a blade of grass; we may listen to its music in the raindrops and the rustling wind —nay. we can hear that grand organ of Nature —the thunder —-proclaim the beneficent attribute, the goodness of tied. If we soar into the heavens, or make our bed Ln hell, we shall never get away from some manifestation of the goodness and mercy of God. Great is the mystery of pain, unfathomable are the ways—we foolishly describe them as freaks—of Nature, and we mourn the loss of human life by storm and flood and flame: but when we balance the gains of Nature's outbursts in the humanising of the world's care ior man, and remember all the magiclike results that have attended the research for remedies for the ills and Woes of the world, we are almost inclined t-o question the very existence of eviL But for the selfishness of man, we should fail to understand the majesty of the Divine. But for evil we should not know the good. Into these mysteries, howevef, I do not propose to enter at present. We may be content with the safe and sound generalisation that we have more to thank God for than we have to complain of, and that science is teaching us day by day to •Iter our perspective as to pros and eons and the things that our forefathers deplored. And we are still at school—still babies at the feet of the greatest of all Gamaliels —Nature. She is quietly—it is her way—unlocking her mysteries to our gaze.

I see good everywhere, and see more ©f it thim I do of evil. Tha't is the conclusion that I have come to after a long and observant life.

Let ns think of the goodness of God in two aspects. One with respect to oar own sins. God has measured the strength of our temptations and frailties. Do not overlook that fact. The theology that condemns men to ever-last-ing torments for the ?in for which ■ws are not responsible has not the slightest support in the Bible or in the instincts of the brute creation. It is a monstrous travesty upon the nature of the Creator. God is just and good. As snys in his poem:

The wrong that pains my soul below I dare not throne above; I know not of LLis hate —I know His goodness and His love.

He is more than merciful. He is just. Change, then, your whole conception of the Divine. Think of God daily in your work and play as only seeking your good and as being desirous that you should learn from your sin to flee from it, and also to learn from His goodness not to grieve His heart by repeating unholy offences. God is not angry with the sinner except when he closes his eyes to the light and prefers the darkness because his deeds are evil. You would be angry with a son or a servant who treated you in the same manner; but even then God blends mercy with His anger, and spares and spares the rod till compelled to use it, and then He uses it in mercy. In truth He is merciful when His very wrath is kindled against us.

Another nspcct of the goodness of God is intended to lead us to repentance, bo that we may think of God and commune with Him. If we trespass upon His goodness we are worse than the heathen. You will travel long and far in the Orient until you find a worshipper who goes to the temple to swear and lie. But here, where we boast of our higher civilisation and glory in traditions that have won for us a great heritage, the goodness of God is often used as a cloak of excuse for self-indul-gence and sensual gratification. God is merciful, but when His justice has to be nie'ted out at last, it will be easier for the maimed of humanity to pass into the kingdom than it will be for those who had much of this world's goods and only used it to rub out from their view the God Who gave them the power to acquire wealth CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES. The pronouncement by the President Of the Baptist World Alliance at Philadelphia, that "War is a Crime," has caused a correspondent in the "Christian World" to draw attention to the fact that the Declaration of Faith of the Primitive congregations of general Baptists at Amsterdam, in 1011, reads en as follows in Article 24: —"That magistracy is a holy ordinance of Hod: that every soul ought to be subject to it. not for fear only, but for conscience' sake. They hear the sword of God,which sword, in all lawful administrations, is *to be defended and supported by servants of God that are under th> ir government with their lives and all they hnvc." By the death of Sir Percy W. Bunting, M.A., the British Wesleyan Church has lost one of its foremost laymen. He was one of the first t<> recognise the special gifts of the late Hugh Price Hughes, and helped to secure for Mr Hughes the position of head of the West London Mission. Sir Percy was the leading lay official of the Mission from its commencement to his death. When Mr Hughes died. Sir Percy became editor of the "Methodist Times." and that position until the appointment of the present editor. Dr Scott Lidirett, M.A. For many years Fir P. W. Bunting has been best known in th*> literary world as the editor of th? "Conteinporarv Review."

The Sunday School Union is the oldest British Sunday School organisation, having been formed in 1803. It is worldwide in its swipe, having enrolled 22,708 Sunday schools. 248.727 teachers, and 2.027.812 scholars, including 1092 Sunday schools, 11,700 teachers, and 112.000 scholars in various liritish colonies, and 11.42H schools. 1G.450 teachers, and 442.490 scholars in India. The oldest mijisiter in the Presbyterian Church in Australia was the Rev. Alexander Law, who died within the last few weeks at the advanced age of 00 years. Last April he celebrated the jubilee of his ministerial life in South Auslrralia. The General Assembly oi the Canadian Presbyterian Church show that the number of communicants is 287,044, an increase of 73SS. The frifts for all purposes amount to 4,506,034 dollars, an increase of 428,330 dollars. ■ The Rev R. S. Wicks and his wife, both of whom speak Cantonese, having spent some years in the South China Mission, have taken over the superin- j tendency of the mission to Chinese in Australia. [

| On Saturday morning, June 17th, • very unusual service was held at Oxford Place, Leeds, England. It was the anniversary of John Wesley's birthday, and | the minister at the head of the great I mission, the Rev. G. Allen, 8.A., deterI mined to commemorate it. In view of i Wesley's well known early rising pracI ticcs. the service was held at 6 o'clock lin the morning, and there was an nudi- : ence of over 300. Mr. .Tas. G. Gibson has been supplying the vacancy in the- Pokeno charge for over a year now, and under his earnest and faithful preaching the charge has grown in a remarkable way. He has j been invited to remain for a second , year. We hope, writes the church secre- ! tary, soon to be able to call an ordained , minister to labour in our midst. Residents of New Zealand should be. glad to learn that the inhabitants of, Farnley, near Leeds, are about to honourj the memory of the Rev. Samuel Marsden by erecting a memorial hall at a cost lof £SOOO, for public use. A chuTch has j I already been erected to Mr. Marsden's memory. It will also foe recollected that | a few years ago the Marsden Memorial, was unveiled at Ray of Islands. The discovery of New Zealand was made by j Captain Cook (a Yorkshire man), and now this honour is to be done to another great man from the same English county, the Rev. Samuel Marsden, who is looked upon as the pioneer of the wool trade in Australia. He established the first | model farm at Sydney for rearing sheep. In ISOB he sailed for England with the first wool, in barrels. He was introduced to King George 111., who ordered a suit of clothes to be made from the first cloth manufactured out of Australia's wool. The king also presented Mr. Marsden with five merino sheep when the missionary returned to Australia, In 1814 the Rev. Samuel Marsden fitted out, at his own cost, the missionary expedition to New Zealand, and preached his first sermon to the Maoris at Bay of Islands on Christinas Day | that year. He died at Parramatta, near Sydney, in 'his 74th year. The medical department of the Methodist Mission at Horneey-road, London, is very interesting, as showing the philanthropic work now undertaken 'by religious bodies. Twice a week for two hours at a time the honorary physicians attend—on Wednesdays for adults, and on Thursdays for children. More than 700 cases pass through their hands evenyear. No one who is in work, with an income of more than a pound a week, is qualified to have the medical attention. The patients wait in a comfortable room, and are first seen by a. deaconess. Each case is then attended to by one. of the physicians, medicine prescribed, minor operations performed, and then the patient is supplied with the medicine made up on the premises. The Rev. C. W. Andrews. B.A. 8.D., I has been Te'ating his experiences at the famous Southport Convention. He says: "I have greatly enjoyed being instructed about prayer. There is nothing in re-' ligious life and service that I seem to know so little a'bout. I know the ins and outs of a good many parts of the technique of ministerial work—now to handle texts, how to organise all sorts of things, how to advertise, how to collect money, how to visit classes and fill I up schedules —'but I believe I am some-1 where in the boltom class of the school of prayer. No one ever took any trouble to teach me how to pray. I had a pro- j i fessor of rhetoric, who spent days in > telling me how to give out hymns: 1 i have learned Hebrew and Greek, and have even nibbled at fiyriac; I know the difference between unicals and cursives, between various African versions of the Bible, between the Western text and the Alexandrine; Westcott, Ellicott, I Lightfoot. Hort. Moultan. George Adam j Smith. Driver, Hastings, and ever so \ many more I have got to know a little.; But as i sit at Southport I feel a dunce l and a blockhead at prayer. I have had' a chance this week. I have been listening to men who know a good deal about j Mrs. Besant, president of the Theo- j sophieal Society, who is on a visit to Europe, has had a busy time in Eng- j land, Scotland, and France. Among other activities at Coronation time, she visited and lectured at Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and Edinburgh, opening at Edinburgh the new Scottish headquarters of the society; then to Glasgow, speaking to interested and enthusiastic audiences everywhere. Next week she met the Bishop of London, also Mr. Arthur Balfour, and dlivered, among other lectures, one to the Literary Lyceum Club, one to the Islamic Society, and the first of a course at Queen's Hall, the immense' i hall being packed from floor to ceiling. Next day to Paris, whore she lectured by invitation at the Sorbonne, when the vast amphitheatre was packed in every corner, standing crowds filling the passages—some 4000 in all. It was a remarkable audience—Ministers of State. men of science and literature, professor and priests; then back to London to take part in the great women's demonstration and the second lecture at the Queen's Hall, another success and * crowded audience. The Anglican Bishop of Hereford (Dr Percivali recently conducted in the Cathedral the united communion service, in which Nonconformists were asked to join. (The Utah op said the opposition came from the clerical party, which was separatist and retrngrc.de. opposed to the principles of the Reformation and oteeped in the exclusive and uncompromising spirit of the early Tractarians. Thanks to the researches of dispassionate, truth-seeking historical s"holars, their infiuer-ce wns on the wane, and -tronger and better became the hope that unhappy ecclesiastical antagonisms would give place to goodwill and Christian brotherhood. In an address before the Presbytery of New York on "Why the masses do not attend Church." Dr C. A. Parkhurst recently said: "There is such unpardonable nonsense perpetrated upon the question •"Why the masses do not throng the churches.' It is not the fault of the masses. People will fill the churches as fast as God fills the ministers. If it be the case that there is decay in attendance upon sanctuary service, it is beraus» there is decay in the exercise of the prophetic function of the pulpit, and ; because the shepherd moves in the midst of the sheep instead of froing before them and leading them forth into uncropped iields. The secret of pulpit power and the secret of sanctuary attractiveness must always remain what it was in the days of the old prophets and apostles. '. that is a place where the »ouls of the people have their vision uncovered to an always newer and fresher prospect of the preat things of life and God. People will always gather under a cloud and look, if oniy there be a rift in that cloud allowing a little farther entrarrce into the celestial light." Philadelphia has 102 Baptist Churches with n total membership of 45,000. If the suburbs are added the total is raised to 70.000. The total number of Baptists in the United States was given at the recent World's Congress of that body ad , 6,383,944. i