PULPIT VOICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 255, 28 October 1929, Page 5

PULPIT VOICES.

TEPID CHRISTIANITY.

RELIGION NOT AN EXTRA.

ARCHBISHOP AVERILL'S VIEWS

In the course of his address to those who attended the dedicatory service at St. Chad's Church Hall, Meadowbank, Remuera, yesterday afternoon, Archbishop Averill spoke from the text ''I know thy works that thou are neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot" (Revelations 3.15. The Archbishop said: "Religion is not an extra; it is a necessity. It is that which makes us men and women in God's sight. It is a necessity for the true welfare of yourselves and your children." The speaker then touched upon what he denominated tepid Christianity, and said: "If you are cold there is no chance of conversion; if you are hot you are all right, but if you are tepid you are hopeless." He asserted that tepid Christianity had been the curse of the Church in all ages. If their Christianity was fired by enthusiasm and reality, there would be no wars, no industrial strife and no Christless education.

The hall was crowded to overflowing for the service. Archbishop Averil said that St. Chad's was the ninth dedicatory ceremony he had attended since a fund was raised some years ago to extend religious facilities in the rapidly growing suburbs of Auckland. He commended the enthusiasm, which, he said, had in this district done away with some of the tepid Christianity. Dr. Averill also congratulated the vicar and parishioners of St. Aidan'e upon the church extension at Meadowbank.

THE TOWER OP BABEL. At the Church of Christ, West Street, on Sunday evening, Pastor Campbell gave a stirring exposition of the nature and purpose of the Tower of Babel, the mighty ruins of which (still bearing the name, after nearly 4000 years, of Nimrod and "The Tongue Tower") have been discovered and described. "Near the site of ancient Babylon," said the preacher, "it rises like a mountain from the level plains around. The inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, when he restored it, describes it as a very ancient and noted monument in his time. The purpose, to reach to heaven, is echoed in the tradition of many nations concerning this very event, of strong men of old thus rebelling against God, and calling forth His wrath to overthrow their building. 'With the heavens in its top'—an alternative reading—states its other purpose; to be completed (but it never was completed) with a dome as the top having the twelve signs of the Zodiac depicted thereon, indicating the idolatrous worship of the host-of heaven. The grave notice taken of this event by God clearly shows its deep importance. It is evident that the second half of Romans one took place just here. The message for to-day is that —since the Word of God strongly emphasises that the 'last days' will be marked by 'perilous times' of increasing wickedness, the striking indications of a return to the conditions of Babe] cannot be overlooked; among them being the boast of some Bolshevik leaders recently that they.would go up to heaven and bring God down to earth! 'Let Us go down,' was God's reply to their boast then, and when the time is fully ripe in the presentage, the glorious Son of God will descend to earth and judge the nations who have rebelled against heaven's authority. Let all, therefore, who love the Lord be diligent in sounding forth the glorious Gospel of pardon, peace and power, with life that is life indeed, through the Risen and only Saviour, Christ Jesus our Lord."

ANNIVERSARY SERVICES. The sixty-fifth anniversary of Newton Congregational Sunday School was celebrated by special services yesterday, which were attended by many old teachers and scholars. Amongst those present were Mrs. Enoch Wood and one or two others who were present when the school opened. Mr. Enoch Wood, who started as a teacher in the school 03 years ago, and was superintendent continuously for nearly forty years, was present at the morning service, and was invited to open with prayer. The preacher in the morning was Pastor Whiting, of New Lynn Congregational Church. The Rev. R. C. Roberts, 8.A., 8.D., of Mount Eden.Church, addressed the gathering in the afternoon, and the Rev. George Heighway preached in the evening. The musical portion of the services was under the conductorship of Mr. John Bouskill, and the singing of the scholars, assisted by the choir, was, as usual with this school, excellent. The reunion of old scholars takes place on Wednesday night.

PROBATION AFTER DEATH. "Probation after Death" was the subject of the lesson-sermon in First Church of Christ, Scientist, Auckland, yesterday. The text was from Matthew xxiv., 13, "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." Among the citations were the following from the Bible: "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory." (I, Cor., xv., 54). Also the following passage from the Christian Science text-book, by Mary Baker Eddy: "The suppositions that sin is pardoned while unforsaken, that happiness can be genuine in the midst of sin, that the socalled death of. the body frees from sin, and that God's pardon is aught but the destruction of sin," are grave mistakes. AVe know- that all will be changed "in the twinkling of an eye," when the last trump shall sound; but this last call of wisdom cannot come till mortals have already yielded to each lesser call in the growth of Christian character*'

LABOUR SUNDAY. UNITED SERVICE AT NEW LYNN. The Methodist and Congregational churches held a combined service at New Lynn in the Delta Theatre last evening, the occasion being the celebration of Labour Sunday. The singing was led by the Congregational choir, under the baton of Mr. T. Mortimer. The Revs. C. B. Jordan and A. V. Whiting conducted the service, and the former preached on the subject: "Cutting Down Costs in Brickmaking," from Exodus v. 7 —"Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore." The preacher explained that there was nothing political or partisan about the service. Christ remained ever the Redeemer of all men of whatever class or race, and His church would always remain catholic in the sense of universal. "Our present purpose" said the preacher, "is simply to shed the light of Christianity on industrial problems, just as,we do on most other problems." In making bricks in ancient Egypt they could not curtail the expenses of production by cutting down wages—seeing no wages were paid; it was done, therefore, by forcing more work out of the slave workers. The preacher proceeded to describe the miserable condition of these Israelites in Egypt. Now, to crown all their other troubles, they had to provide for themselves some of the materials on which their labour was to be exercised.

The brunt of various industrial changes usually fell on labour, said the preacher. The chief industrial trouble of the present time was unemployment, which was due to various causes, but these all resolved themselves into one general cause —the demand for labour did not keep pace with the supply. Not only unemployment, but all adverse conditions of labour, whatever they may be—underpay, excessive hours of work, wretched conditions in general—were due to the same cause. If . two employers sought one wage-earner, the wageearner had the advantage; but if, as more usually happened, two wageearners sought one employer, the latter, of course, had the advantage. Employers, of course, had their troubles too. There was anxiety about meeting their financial obligations, and anxiety about the remunerative sale of their product. Sometimes, too, they had the dishonesty and carelessness of a section of their employees to deal with. There were always workers who slurred over their work or.did it in any sort of slovenly, slipshod fashion, simply because they were doing it for a "boss," and not for themselves.

People who held that the industrial system was wrong had some truth on their side. The wrong consisted in: (1) The dependence of the majority of wageearners on the owner of capital; and (2) the dependence of owners of capital on others to work it. In other words, labour and capital resided in different persons or parties, and the latter had to come to agreement before production could be begun. Most workers could not work at their calling unless some owner of capital gave them permission, and most employers could, not put their capital to work unless there were men available to work it. In practice it was nearly always found that there was no even balance of power between the contracting- parties. Any gains that resulted from improved, methods of production were much more likely to enhance profits than to increase wages. "But my condemnation of the present industrial system," said the preacher, "does not mean that I am a Socialist any more than a man who does not> drink tea must therefore necessarily drink wine. John Ruskin condemned the economic system of his day, yet no reader of Ruskin would maintain that he was a Socialist. All sorts of suggestions have been made whereby changes in tlie industrial system may be brought about—industrial co-operation, profitsharing, labour co-partnership, etc., and each proposal is' a highly interesting, even fascinating study. But I want to say that, although the present system is wrong in principle, it can nevertheless be. made to seiwe mankind, provided that both capital and labour are willing to serve each other and mankind generally, without levying unreasonable tribute for so doing."

The system could work tolerably well and could result in happiness for all parties if (a big IF) the world were only Christian. But there was the rub —the world was not Christian. Even slavery, bad as it was, worked all right in cases where masters and slaves treated each other, not "as masters and slaves, b\it as Christian brethren. Why did the Apostle Paul send Onesimus, a runaway slave, back to Philemon, his master? It was because he knew that Philemon, being a true Christian, would treat Onesimus better than. if he were a. free man. "Don't let us say that we cannot live a good Christian life because we live under a defective system," said the preacher. "Let us make the best of the system we have. We shall get it changed in time. Just as the Christian spirit abolished slavery and its successor, feudalism, so before many generations have passed, this same Christian spirit will have brought about a better system to replace the present. What is wrong in principle cannot remain a permanency." I The paramount need of human nature was not a changed system, but a changed heart. The fault of the system was that one factor or the other, labour or capital, had the advantage over the other, and the factor possessing the advantage was usually mean enough to make selfish use of.that advantage in appressing or burdening the other. But Christianity changed all that. The changed heart, or the Christian spirit, meant unselfishness, sympathy, and selfsacrifice on the part of employers, and thoroughness, honesty and sympathy on the part of wage-earners. Capital and labour were partners, and should treat each other as such, The Christian principle of brotherhood, with the Divine Fatherhood behind it, was the only sensible basis on which the everyday world of work could be run.

IDEALISM OF YOUTH. In the Pitt Street Methodist Church yesterday the Wesley Young Meu's Institute (W.Y.M.1.) held its 28th anniversary. Both the services were conducted by Rev. W. Walker, who preached in the morning on: "Realising our Assets," and in the evening on "Standing Four Square to Life." The text chosen for the evenin discourse was Ezek ii., 1, "Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak with thee." It was this message that constituted the call of Ezekiel to his prophetic ministry. In applying the text to present day life Mr. Walker stated that youth was essentially idealistic. The world was kept young because youth was visionary, and was prepared' to struggle hard in earnestly endeavouring to translate its visions into realities. The supreme purpose of li'fe was the building up of character. This would be the final test. Character was made by courageously standing up to the difficulties and temptations of life. The most false, cruel and pernicious teaching ever spoken to young people was that concerning the necessity of "sowing wild oats." George Meredith said: "The wild oat plea is a torpedo which seems to have struck the world and rendered it morally insensible." It is_ written deep in •life' as - well as in the Bible: "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." The world to-day was much in need of young men and i women who had the courage of their convictions, and would dare to stand four square against all the winds that blow. The singing was led by members of the W.Y.M.I. Mr. G. C. Riddell read the > lesson, and Mr. Harold Chapman also assisted in the service.

NORTHCOTE METHODISTS. Special services in commemoration of the anniversary, of the Northcote Methodist Sunday School were held yesterday, when there were large attendances on all three occasions. The individual solos and part-singing, and the massed numbers by upwards of 150 children's voices, were very creditable. The conductor was Mr. A. F. Sharpe. The respective services were taken by the Revs. C. G. Scrimgeour, of the Auckland Methodist' Mission; F. A. Thompson, of the Northcote Presbyterian Church; and J. H. Allen, the Methodist minister in charge of Northcote and Birkenhead.

CHRISTIAN CONVENTION. During the week-end the half yearly meeting of the Auckland Christian Convention was held in Scots Hall and will be concluded this evening. On Saturday afternoon reports from Home ' and Foreign Missions were submitted. Addresses we're delivered by Mr. Robert Auld on work in the back blocks. . Mr. A. McD. Redwood, of Pengalore, who was born in India, said that -the great difficulty facing mission in that country to-day was the. increased movement of intellectualism, nationalism, Bolshevism and commercialism. At the same time, Mr. Redwood claimed there were great opportunities for missionary work in India at the present time. On Sunday afternoon Mr. C. J. Rolls spoke on "The Wealth, Work and Warfare of the Church," arid in the evening Mr. Robert Laidlaw conducted an evangelestic. mission, and gave an address on "From Cowardice to Courage."