RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT-DAY OUTLOOK.

(Contributed.)

DEMOCRACY AT THE CROSS

ROADS.

UNITY A SUPREME NEED.

The following is from a sermon preached by the Rev. John Laird, M.A., in Mount Albert Baptist Church, recently:—"lt was a crisis in the life of Christ, and His disciples, he said, "when the claims of Christ sifted them, and many of them went back and walked with Him 110 more. But the real men faced the crisis and the facts. He questioned them and did not make the terms easier. They answered His question with one of their own, with a question men ask to-day even more urgently than they did. Life is always a fio'lit on an uphill road. That is its "•lory. It was not made easier for those disciples, but was'made possible, clear and real. They said, 'Lord, to whom shall we go but unto Thee? lo them He had become the way, the truth and the life. As Saviour, Lord and Leader they believed in and followed Him. He solved their problems, overcame their difficulties, and filled them with confidence and peace. They were able to say, 'We have found' and 'we know. 5 '

History Repeats Itself.

"And that great question faces us in all life's relationships to-day. Life bristles with problems. To whom shall we go for leadership and help in personal, national and international problems, and in the world-wide problems of employment and peace? To tackle and overcome these there aTC three essentials. There are three things man must do and have.

"They must first of all put a supreme value on humanity. All other things must take a subordinate place. Creatness and worth are stamped on humanity. Even when sin and social conditions have spoiled man his greatness reveals itself. What is that heap of ruins on the banks of the Tiber? It is the remains of a magnificent temple, and the signs of its greatness are there still. What is that pile of blackened stones? The remains of a once miserable hovel. And man, whether in the slums of a great city, or in the interior of Africa, has the signs of his greatness upon hinf even in the midst of his: failure and sin.

"To whom shall we go to create in ns a real recognition of the greatness of man? Did not Christ, by setting His face to go to Jerusalem and to Calvary, declare by that act that there was no price too great to pay to redeem man? Would Christ have given His life for man as He did if man were of no value?. What a difference it would make if the delegates at the great conference now being held in London, aye, and if every Parliament, recognised and felt that they were working in the interests of people for whom the highest, holiest man "gave His life. Need For Brotherhood. "Then a real working spirit of ■brotherhood was never so much needed as to-day. Distance is disappearing from the world of to-day. A united worjd of men who are brothers is a supreme need. United we will succeed, divided we will fail. But the kinship must be real. Balance of power, expediency and economic advantage will create no secure foundation. To whom shall we go but to that elder Brother who became in very deed one of us, who belonged to no race, but to every race. When we realise that we live with and buy from and sell to men and women for whom Christ died—that will make all the difference. To whom shall we go for such a brotherhood but Christ? "And we are at the cross roads for another great help—a passionate love of right and an equally passionate 'Hatred of what is false. Human wellbeing is founded on morals. Who but Christ makes the things that are true and lovely and right supreme? There is nothing more wonderful about human nature than the fact of how good man can be, how true, how unselfish. He can go to the leper camp and live with lepers, and love them, and minister to them, even until the fell disease claims him. Aye, and how vile, he can be, how selfish, how cruel and unjust. What crimes the sun and moon and God see? Lord, to whom shall we go to transform us ? "A philosopher and student of'history ,tells us 'The best things history has to tell are the best fruits. of ' Christianity,' and another man writes, 'John Wesley and his fellows did, more for social reform in England than all the politiijirians of his century.' > Ring it, ye hella 0' the Kirk, That the Lord of Love Came down from above To live with the men who work. Motives of Love. "As a man thinketh in his heart, .that is his life and history. The slum was there before the mean street condemned him. He has risen or fallen under the influence of the things he loves or hates. His best deeds, the deeds, in which he glories, were once passionate ideals. He has destroyed slavery, built the school and the hospital, and has introduced great and' uplifting missions in every land. Why? To whom has he gone to find the motives of love and brotherhood? Christ has* begun with us even as He did with the twelve. He has called us to follow Him. Under His leadership we have .Visions of what ought to be, and' we are impatient until they are realised. To ■whom shall we go for the inspiration ifeo attain the new height?

"Cardinal Newman, gave the . answer 'when he said, 1 love the people because I love Christ.' . la there such another creator of human brotherhood aa , -

«THE SONG OP SOLOMON." 1

OLD AND NEW INTERPRETATIONS."

Our forefathers believed that the Book We call the Song of Solomon, said the Eev. Morrison Sutherland in. the course of a recent sermon, was inspired in the same sense in. which they believed that Isaiah and the Psalms were inspired. They (believed that it described, and was intended by the Spirit of God to describe, under the cover of' a love song, or collection of love sngs, the tender regard of the* Church for its Lord, and of the Lord f or the ChuTch. It was one of their favourite books, both in the pulpit and' in 'rf 1 ® P 9^ r », an d they were wont to say. ofIw ? *** no took in the Bible £"££***•« <*.—*■ ttwiMi/e. to anon by tha giw, Bon ff ©* ®olol&igher critics, ifi-w arr ™» the for either the

that they do not see anything religious or spiritual about it. They may value it as an old Hebrew lyric, or as a collection of old Hebrew lyrics, and they may admire it for its opulent and alluring literary beauty, but they make no practical, or homiletie, or devotional tise of it. Let anyone question Bible students or look into current books of sermons and addresses, and he will see how taboo it is. Then let him turn to the sermonic lore of even a generation ago, and he will see what a field for sappy discourses it was. Or let anyone try and recall how many sermons or addresses he has heard preached from the Song, and then sound old people as to the practice of their early days, and he will find the result significant of the change that has taken place even within the memory of some who are still living.

Now the change is not only marked; it is a matter for regret. It may be true that sexual love is the theme for this fine old Hebrew classic, but it is also true that the Hebrews read into it spiritual meanings, and drew from it spiritual lessons, and saw in it an allegory of the ideal relationship that ought to subsist between them and their Maker. And that was why it was given a place in the canon of Scripture. It filled in the mind of generations of pious Jews a felt want. It was not only one of their most beautiful literary fragments, it was one of their most spiritually suggestive books. What our forefathers did, then, was to follow on the lines of the spirituallyminded men and women of the Old Testament Church. They saw in such passages as, "He is altogether lovely"; "My Beloved is mine and I am His"; "He brought me into His house of wine, and His banner over me was love"; they saw in such passages as these beautiful and appropriate references to Christ, to the soul relationship subsisting between Him and them, and to the accumulating experience of His friendship and fellowship that they had in their religious services. They may have erred in failing to see that the book was a collection of antique love songs, 1 originating in the experience and tinctured with the emotions- of a man in whose breast was kindled the celestial fire we call genius. But they were wiser than we are, who call both its authority and its value in question, and" give it the go-by. Let us hope that the day will come, and come at rm very distant date, when men will again be captivated by its charm and rich spiritual suggestiveness, and when preachers without seeing in it literal metaphors and allusions for which there is no ground, will yet see in it metaphors and allusions that are appropriate to a spiritually-minded man and his Saviour.

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

PROPOSED TEXTUAL REVISION,

In 1926 preliminary work was e tar ted at Oxford 011 the textual revision of tue New Testament, and some time ago appeals were made in the New Zealani papers for contributions towards the cost of the work. A letter has now been received from the Dean of Christchujrch, Oxford, on behalf of the Revision Committee and himself, conveying thanks for the assistance from New Zealand. The report of the Revision Committee states that owing to the magnitude of the work financial help is still required. The report of the editor (Rev. S. C. E. Legg) states it is difficult to estimate the amount required to* complete the work, but a sum of not less than £10,000 should be aimed at. The balance to credit of the fund on January, 1929, was £682 19/2. It may be added that the expenses so far have been Mr. Legg's salary, which is only £250 per annum, and money spent on purchase of books.

The work was started in 1926. The important points aimed at are accuracy and completeness, which will necessitate a revision of all past work, a?, states the report, "it has been 'found that the existing editions and collations are far from accurate." CURRENT NOTES. An Association of Organists has been formed in England with an office in Manchester. The object of the association is to improve and advance the knowledge of their art among organists and choirmasters.

. Among the intimations recently made in the English church at Wimereux was the following: "There was put into the offertory, at early service to-day—l am sure by pure accident —something that was not a coin. It will be returned to the owner if he or she will apply for it at the close of this service."

On all sides, among their German neighbours, good is spoken of our Army of Occupation. The men have been called an "army of gentlemen," and now that their task is ended they are genuinely missed. Tribute is paid to the Y.M.C.A. for its work in canteen and recreation hall; for time must have hung heavy many a time with soldiers who had little to do but put in time and keep their buttons bright.

The Literary Society in connection with St. Columbus Church,. London, recently held a delate on the question, "That our electoral system is out of date." Among the' lectures given was one by Dr. Clark Wilson on "Now and Then: A Medical Retrospect." The debate and the lecture aroused considerable interest.

Writing in appreciation of the gramophone records of psalms and hymns sent out. by St..Columbus Church, London, a minister in a remote parish in New Zealand says: do not get the chance of hearing a good choir very often. I am minister of a scattered' parish. Often I have to play for my own services, and am my own choirmaster at the central church. On& evening, when the choir met for practice, I gave the members' an agreeable surprise by taking along my portable instrument and a folio of records. How delighted they were!: They sang to the numbers, and I played the organ " ; ' • •

In the monthly record of the work of \ the British and Foreign Bible Society a tribute is paid to the labours of a «Christian pioneer missionary to the Sahara. As far back as 1904 Charles de Fcrarcauld, a Freach army _ officer and a member of the old nobility who had already acquired a vast knowledge of the Sahara and travelled through Morocco disguised sa a Jew, heard, the call and gave up all to follow the Master.: He became a Trappist monk and settled among the. Tuaregs at Ahaggar. There in the silence of his hermitage he laid the foundation, of a missionary advance by a through study of the people and' their lahguaga. Among other works he prepared a dictionary in the Ahaggar dialect of the Temajegh language which is' still the standard work on the subject. He was engaged on the translation of the New Testament when he was killed on December 1, 1918, by a raiding party of Arabs. This precious manuscript disappeared at ihis death, but has recently com# to light again.