RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 252, 23 October 1926, Page 22

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT DAY OUTLOOK.

(Contributed.)

CLASH

BETWEEN PROPHET AND PRIEST..

Speaking at St. David's. Church on Sunday evening, on the two outlooks on religion which came into conflict in, Canaan, the Key. D. C. Herron said that the Israelites when they crossed the Jordan were but a large band of bedouins without any developed system of government. Their one uniting tie was a com- . mon worship of Jehovah. The life of. constant journeyings did not lend itself even to regular habits of worship; but living in touch with nature in the great open spaces developed liabita of meditation on the ultimate things. These simple children of the desert moved into Canaan, where they were confronted with an advanced civilisation. The inhabitants had walled 'towns, fought with iron chariots, and were familiar with the art of writing. The position might be likened to that of a •ountry boy taking up his residence in the city. The vitality of the Israelitish religion may be judged from the fact that it was not absorbed, but finally triumphed in this environment. But that took place only after a desperate struggle.

When the Israelites entered the land the conquest was by no means completed. Some tribes lived in a subject, relationship to the Canaanites, and others mingled freely. The Israelites began to "worship Jehovah at shrines where the ■ Canaanites worshipped their.- Gods and the purity of Jehovah worship tended to become sullied by the incorporation of local ideas and practices. The story of • the ■■ slaughter of Saul's . seven descendants in order to break a famine reveals how lower Ganaanitish . religious ideasbecame transferred to Jehovah. v - f>.' ', . Conflicting Influences. " Gradually there emerged two strands %In Israelitish religion. The one i came from those, who incorporated Canaa'nitish. r customs into the worship of .Jehovah.: Religious festivals became part of His -. worship. Sacrifice ' occupied ' a large . place and the function of the priest .. became of first rate importance. - But . 119 one learns from the utterances of the prophets, religion was 'largely separ-' ■/ ated from morality. *It looked as if their religion was becoming absorbed in i that of the land. However, in the i .Waste hilly country where 3 * crops could , not be grown, certain "tribes raised ' cattle and mixed 1 little with Canaanites. , i They maintained the simpler and purer faith brought from the desert. From • amongst • this- class emerged the first of 'the: great /who delivered Israel from' this religious degeneration. 'That man Mirae, Elijah. , He clashed with the pro..s ; phets of Baal. ; The first man definitely ■"> -to cross swords with the priests of Jeho- • yah T -was : Amos, the shepherd I from the ! lonely ridges of Tekoa. As he followed his sheep over the hills.brooding.pri the .... - position, there came the 'conviction that V' v Jehovah : was calling him to deliver His ! He appeared dramatically at ,- the ' royal festival at Bethel. ,' ; ;; Doubt-1 : i less 'the altars were groaning under 'the ;.,- weight of 'sacrifices offered by drunken profiteers whose injustice had enslaved ■ 'their fellow countrymen. "You cattle • .? Of Bashfln,""he cried, "that oppress the , % poor and ■■ crush-, the , needy; that say' to ;vtheir lords, 'Bring and let us drink!" ■ ' God's answer to their 'offerings was: "I r ..-■;■ hate, I loathe your feasts'; Though ye r bring ■ ine, your burnt offerings and your meal offerings I will not ■ look-at them. ,;' n r »i ".v :■£ Let i- justice roll on like ; water s v v and righteousness 1 like an . unfailing stream." -h> As he spoke the eyes of Ama-, - ziah, the priest, flashed '> fire.V '■' He retorted, ."You. dreamer. 1 " Be off to Judah and earn : your "living there. Play . the prophet .thjre', but never again at Bethel, ' for it is the royal ' shrine, • the national . temple." . From that i time there were ■ - constant clashes between priests and i. prophets and between the > priestly and . the. prophetic .conception of ■: religion. ■; [j-. 'Sometimes, e.g.. in the case -. of Jeremiah, ' the position: of the /prophet -was very ', difficult j because he tad been born into ■ ; ' * the priestly class. 1' Probably. Jeremiah '•• f. was/driven out of Anathothi.his native , ' ; ■ '■ town, because of his prophetic / outlook. .:- -Religion and Life. -' • ' ■■ Although Amos . came Jl? from the ,-'iparsely^ populated hill country he was '?; too great a man ito think that the cure v ; • for Israel's religious evils "■was'to,return V to the nomadic type of life. 7 : The failure -; -\"i lay not in Israel having learned to plough' .": and ! Samaria to trade, but in their not '_- 'i bringing the spirit of tKeir religion into ' >their,.new* surroundings.'?; It was-to be expected that the outer circumstances of . worship would change, but the same ':. high'ethical and moral Conception of God ' : : v and' ■ conduct--' should ■ have • been -brought • .^;;Mtovthβ'?^new^cohditi6nβ^^ ' : The 'same :. .: situation faces us.' It is -no use harking .back to the simpler life of, our grand- '?■-. fathers. : We require to bring the spirit ' of 1 ; Christianity ■: to -■ business, ,::;pleasure ; j - and .home life :as we find \ these to-day. ■: To-day ,as in Israel, sometimes } when .' ritual is unduly emphasised, ' there is 1 a ■ .tendency to make that religion: and to pass lightly \ over the moral .'and "ethical , implications of Christianity. When a v man , ceases -to attend church regularly it is generally.an indication that he is f ,:i dropping, downstream and not : feeling ' the need .for inspiration to face the constant , struggle , which living Christianity involved, v But let us never think p**z<dance at. church is Christianity. ;* Chris- ' tianity; will not win the world by church ' gouijr ■ alone. : but only ?by : the character which.. church attendance ■ produces 'in Christians. . That was the note struck By the prophets, and after, them by Jesus :•■■ Christ, who never wearied of.repeating ' the quotation, ; 'fl will* have 1 ; mercy, and. not sacrifice. ,, ~ ■. '1 . :. .'■' .'••'•.:,.'', ..',.'.^. / . —r-:-.'.'.' ■ ■ At the Auckland Diocesan \ Synod , - a -- : motion- was > passed ' requesting -the : . "Church ) Gazette" Committee to fi take ;/'». Into-consideration all steps necessary to ;■■• Improve 0 the ';, "Churdh Gazette." *':'?\?i& ' .-' Consignor Redwood, > Archbishop %of ; ' Wellington, is the .oldest bishop in the ; :v world. He is now S7 year* old, and wae |,;f cbrfsecratfed ; 52, years 5-ago;;; by Cardinal Manning in Lbndonu'Tlge youngest; bishop in the world is Honsignor James Leon, -: r 'of the Holy Ghost Fathers. He « only 31 years of age,' and hae -.been .consecrated Bishop of Port Louie, Mauritius. ;; : ..-.' The Standing Committee ".of theVA^apklitid Bincese for the 'cijming* "year ;***»*iet6 'of Archdeacon ' '-'JBawkins, ■ - *J*»*»e C H. Grant Cowen 'and" H. M^ s "' t l \i Eeve: ?•' Bamford, G. Sr°; ,?ell. E. L. Harvie and P. S.