PULPIT VOICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 172, 23 July 1928, Page 5

PULPIT VOICES.

SOME STRIKING SERMONS. LESSON FROM A PLAY. '•OUTWARD BOUND." "Outward Bound." Sutton Vane's play, which wjr« seen recently in Auckland, formed i.lie basis for a striking serfrion which Uie l.'ev. L. IT. Hunt delivered yesterday at the Mount Eden Presbyterian Church. "To my mind this is a striking and original play, which contains some lessons that are very* much neglected in our day,*"' said the preacher. "It i- not necessary to endorse everything in tlie play. There are some things in it that are not in accordance with what we call orthodox Christianity, but f consider its main lessons are sound, '

Mr. Hunt .'aid the first lesson was that dratli lia<l no power to change character. No man would get to Heaven unless In: took some of it with hiin. It was a delusion that burial meant beatification, and that death had some strange power to make a man good. The second truth of the play was that u e would all receive absolute justice at la-t. The dramatist introduced as the judge or examiner a normal. miniled man. who was quite capaHo <jf malCiig a just asses-sment of character. The dramatist wa< there on the track of a great Scriptural truth. Our filial judge would be the human Jesus. There wen' great problems in regard to the final asse--inent of character. -Testis when on earth reversed all the popular estimates of Mis fellows. The "unco' ,-Ood" were ca-t out and the publicans and -inner- entered into the kingdom. "Strictly speaking, every soul is outward lioiind." concluded Mr. Hunt. '"We are all sailing the sea of life, and 'so we will pass to the great divide that will land Tw on ethereal shores. Happy indeed are we it vc have the present consciousness of a heart at peace with Cod. and a life lived in harmony with holy mind and will." THE GRACE OF GRATITUDE. Preaching nt Si. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. the T!ev. Dr. Seymour, 11.1).. took as his; text St. T.uke x\ii.. !7: -—".fe-u- answering -aid. were there not ten cleansed and where are the nine."' Gratitude was the subject of the discourse. One leper praised and thanked with all his heart and soul the great Healer—expressed his gratitude. But where were the other nine? The preacher spoke of the ten per c-ent only who had expressed gratitude and ninety per cent failed to give any such exi'rc-- - ; on. lie was not sure whether that wa- a fair percentage of ungrateful people of- the-e days. Tailing to exj.re-- .1 i.-tuinc-s was vi-ry often due to t l:oi: !; lit le-sne-s. but those who considered they received only what wa- their due. without any feeling of thankfnlii'—: tlio-e who considered llieir -tlive-s dm- fi> their own abilitv and -mart lie--, -elf-made men. were to be shunned, pitied. Consider the difference if -nch -elf-made people would place their faith in <; od and express their deep tlii'.nkfnines® and gratitude tor tbei:- <-in->.i>s.s in lite. The preacher appealed to tbo-r jtre-ent if they were grate'ul tor nil the many blessini:- ex pericieed in life, and concluded with a brief prayer referring to the subject. PRAYER LEADING TO .TRUTH. The subject nf the lesson-sermon in the Christian Science Church yesterday wn' '"Truth."* the golden text being taken from St. John. viii.. ."1. 32:—"If ye continue in My word, then are ve My di«-ip]es indeed: and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Citations forming the. lesson-sermon included the following from t tie Itible:—

! "Piiatc. therefore. <aid unto Him. Art [thou a kiiiL' then? .Te-u- an-wered. , I Imn -ayc-t tiiat 1 am a king. To t Ti : - cm! wa- I born, and tor tbi- eati-e cam ■ t 1 into the world. 1 bat 1 -bouhl bear witne-- unto the truth. Everyone that i- of the irrth Jieitretli >Iy \oice. l'ilatc -aitli unto him. What is truth':"' I St. .lolin ,\\ iii. :iT. 3S. i

Citations from the Phri-t ia n . Science text book, included in the le--on-sermon. contained the fidlowinjr ]ias?avcs: —'"The ijue-tion. 'What is truth.' convul-es the world. Many are ready to meet this iinlu ir \ w'i\i: * i!«» which ooino< fit niide;--ia:nl : but more are blinded by their old illu.-ions. and try to 'give i' paiiM-. "I'rayer cannot change the unalterable truth nor can praver alone - i en- an under-tamling of truth: but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of (bid, v. ill brine u- into all truth." fScienc and Health uith Kev to the Scriptures." by .Mary Maker Eddy). "THE WORLD TEACHER." Tn tlie Concert Chamber of the Town Ha 1 11.• ■;i" Ur. .1. .1. \'an der Lj;mw addre--ed a crowded audience oil the subject of "Krishnamtirti, the I eaclter. ' He -aid he did not propose to try to win followers of Krishnamurti. but to lead them' to an understanding of his teachings. AH through history when the need had arisen a representative man had appeared who could voice the inner awakening of the people, whether of group, nation, race, or. in the case of a world icaeher. of the world. The lecturer compared the centuries before the coining .of Christ in Palestine with those of the Middle Ages u:> to the present day. showiii"- that exactly the same condition- existed then as now. whether in ar*. science, "literature. drama or sociology. Or. \an der Leeuvv coneluded In- address by reading one of Krishna innrt i's most beautiful iioems, "The Search."