RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 224, 20 September 1924, Page 18

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

I PRESENT DAY OUTLOOK. i (Contributed.) I THE FLAOE OF PUBLIC ' WORSHIP. Preaching on this subject, from Luke , lv. 10 and Heb. x. 25 in St. Luke's Presbyterian Church, Remuera, recently, Rev. C. J. Tocker referred to the falling oft in attendance at public worship, which is said to be a feature of our time. "This," the preacher said, "results from a lessened regard for the place and value of public worship in life." Mr. Tocker proceeded to answer two questions: First, What is it that we do in public worship? Public worship is an open acknowledgment of God: it says implicity, "I believe an God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord." It is an offering to God of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, and confession: we humble ourselves in the presence of our Maker, enjoy communion with Him in faith and prayer, and make nur offerings. We receive also the blessing of God; for worship is not one-sided. God responds to the heart that seeks ' Him with the gifts of His grace. From such worship comes a quickening of devotion: the life of the soul i 3 stimulated. Thure is also the elemtut of spiritual education, informing the mind, appeal to the heart and will, the building up of the worshipper in the faith; all of ■which is part of the great ■work of Christian preaching. Finally, we associate ourselves with,the primary Christian task of proclaiming the gospel. That, in outline, is what public worship is. But need it be public? Can that not be done in private ? * There is a worship that belongs to secret places of the - indiTrWual heart, and public worship is substitute for it, But it is not ole of worship. There is also a ) that must be entered into in Ilowsbip of other Worshipping A grace comes of public worlich private worship cannot give, dly: If that, then, is public worhat vital needs of our life does tl I think there are three such (1) Public worship meets a vital the individual heart. Man reaches up one groping hand to God, while the other gropes for his fellow man". Public worship in one act links man's life with his fellows and with God. He may neglect such worship, but let him not 'boast "himself a richer, freer man. He has denied the two deepest needs and truest instincts of his being. None of us is so devout and reverent, or so pure, strong, and loving, that he can afford the loss of the grace that conies of habitual . public worship. (2) Public worship meets a vital need of the fellowship of believers—that is, the Church. Jesus Christ founded a society—the fellowship, in order to meet the social needs of men's souls and to be the instrument for carrying on to completion His work in the world. That society is held together by the common devotion of its members to Christ, and their common need of ope another. Regular meeting in public worship is vital to the very life of that society: it is the nerve of the church's continued existence. If public worship failed, I believe the church would fall to pieces, and, on the other hand, the stronger public worship is, the stronger will of the Church. (3) Public worship meets a vital .need in the life of the community. Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote: "There is in tEe corner of my heart a plant called reverence that needs to be watered once a week." No community can afford to allow the plant called reverence which grows in its midst to wilt and die. Every community needs the arrest upon the fascination of the material that public worship gives. Every community needs to be swept by the i: health-giving winds that blow ■ from the uplands of heaven, and it is when the people of the community are met in public worship of God that they feel His tonic winds upon their face. In short, public worship keeps alive the soul of the community. Could we con- ■ template with equanimity living and bringing up our children in a community where the public worship of God had utterly died out 7 Are we blind or mad that we neglect that in our community life which is the sanction and guarantee of every domestic grace and civic virtue, of al lthis is sweet and wholesome, pure . and gentle, in the life of the people. i THE CHILDREN AND THE i CHUItCH. The Rev. A. S. Wilson, in a recent service, emphasised the value of young life in the. work of the Church. This was the most payable field for the workers of the Lord. There was no need to pine for material while all " around church precincts was a mass of young life. In the case of Grange Road this was particularly in evidence— they could say "The field is white unto * the harvest." These young people were fihrJaHanised in their modes of it. They already possessed a us sense. Our young people iriedge Christ's claims, and what lurch workers have to do for the is to encourage them to mite and to act upon their imDns .and their knowledge. The of God was always at work before Church in the kingdom of eouls. ■people were afraid to encourage I people to observe the Sacrament „. or to join the Christian Church. But so great a preacher as Charles Eaddon Spurgeon said he had never regretted receiving a child into church membership, but had often done so ..with - reference to grown ups. Why then not . work for an enlarged church membership among the young people near at . hand. Having failed to educate the natives in the Polar regions Hans Egede preached Christ crucified to them. Results soon came, and they found that religious ideas were native to the human mind. Even to a child God has given a capacity for Himself into which in some way we may expect Christ to enter. The best immigrant for New Zealand was not one from overseas, but the baby in the cradle. For the Church of God the very best recruits were the children in our midst. Someone has 6aid: Little children cannot understand ta ' ths ? «« enjoy religion. They do not understand entomology, littW vT 7 * tatt « fl y- know TW botany, yet they love a daisy. . si ot ass? h< «sj . Church and dccl.Ac that confidence to ■ the young people. The history of the Oiurcli-«ve*J» *h,± mm + i tafr wtest

leaders were converted when quite young. Polycarp, the great Christian of the early centurioa, martyred at the , age of 95, declared that he had served God for 66 years, showing that he was converted at the age of nine years. Matthew Henry, the great commentator, I was converted before he wae eleven. I President Edwards was converted at seven. Dr. Watte, the famous hymn writer, took tie etep at nine, end the same thing happened for the eloquent Robert Hall at twelve. "Suffer the little children to come unto Me." 1 CURRENT NOTES. j A new Methodist catechism has been prepared aud approved, and it is to be printed and brought into use. The Baptist Church in Sweden hfts en enrolled membership of 60,000 and a foreign missionary staff of over one hundred. Seventy-seven candidates for the ministry were accepted by the last Wesleyan conference. Thirty-nine probationers were received into the full work, besides ten others on the Mission field. "You can do all your theology between two and four years of age," said Dr. John A. Hutton, when speaking at the anniversary of Claremont Congregational: Church upon the importance of parents taking their children to church. Concern was expressed at the Nottingham Methodist Conference at the shortage of local preachers. They had decreased during the year by 27, notwithstanding that they had received 42 women preachere. At the recent Wesleyan Methodist Conference held in Nottingham, the Revs. W. A. Sinclair and R. Raine were received as representatives from New Zealand. The Rev. Napier Milne was accepted on transfer from New Zealand, and wag appointed to Darlington. In the course of a srrmon by Rev. P. G. Harvie, of St. Mary's, New Plymouth, the preacher urged his hearers to hold fast to the Bible as it is, in the shape of books containing myth, legend, history, law, poetry; philosophy, prophecy, containing "a message to help simple fallible people like you or mc." "Should ministers be allowed to become Parliamentary candidates or enter Parliament whilst occupying the pastoral office?" was one of the questions the British Wesleyan Conference has been considering. It was ultimately resolved to refer the question to a committee which will sit during the year and report to next conference. Canon Hay Aitken, who was described by the New York "Times" as "England's : greatest revivalist," has in his 64 years of work preached more than 32,000 times. He has never preached from a written sermon in his life. All his notes are contained on a half-ebeet of notepaper. ; The Rev. Thomas Nightingale, preaching in London recently, said the oldfashioned 1 atheism of Charles Bradlaugh had gone, but something else had taken its place. Instead of an intellectual atheism had come a more practical atheism, which was nothing less than paganism. He said he would rather have a man who disbelieved in God, yet lived as though there was one, than a man who believed in God and lived as though there was not one. He added: "A dish of seriousness would do this generation no harm. Men are so engrossed in the immediate that they lose sight of the mightier things of life." ( In his book on the Baptist movement on the Continent of Europe, Dr. J. H. Kushbrook, M.A., relates how John Herbard Oneken, who was called the "Father of Continental Baptists," spent nine years in Scotland, and the gift of a Bible turned Ms mind to religion. He returned to Germany when 34 years of age, and was baptised in the River Elbe. The next day the first Baptist church was started in Hamburg with Oneken as minister. It took him 20 years to win tho fight for religious freedom in Germany, and time after time he was incarcerated by the powers that were opposed to the movement he had started. Associated frith Oneken were Julius Kobner, Gottfried and Wilhelm Lehmann. The actual words of the resolution carried in the British Wesleyan Conference on the. subject of church union are as follow: "The Conference is of opinion that, provided the Methodist people desire the organic union of' the three Methodist Churches concerned, the scheme now submitted (which is the result of prolonged deliberation and exhaustive inquiry) affords a basis or union which would ensure harmonious working, and without the sacrifice of any principle vital to Methodism. The Conference therefore recommends the scheme to the prayerful consideration of the Methodist people. The Conference is fully alive to the supreme importance of the spirit in which the proposals are received, the far-reaching issues, and the decision ultimately reached, and prays that the Divine guidance may be given to all, who have a voice in determining the course that shall be taken." The motion was carried by 402 votes to 100 against. During this year the various \ quarterly meeting's will consider and vote upon this resolution.