NOTES IN PASSING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 249, 21 October 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOTES IN PASSING.

A text: It is the will of God that with well-doing ve should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.—St. Peter. _ Next year will ho the centenary jf the birth of Spurgeon. Preparations are already being arranged for in celebration of the event. - A good deal of interest has been aroused among Church people in Auckland by the discussions of the Anglican Synod and the Baptist Assembly. One of the latest social enterprises of the Salvation Army is the "City of Refuge," a building 11 storeys high, about to be opened in Paris. It is intended for homeless poor people, for stranded mothers with their children, workshops for out-of-work men and women, and other means of help. If you have wasted your life, if you have squandered your powers, if you have lost your hope; if you think you have forfeited your claim to the "other country"—far away as it may seem—the Son of Man can meet your- desires. And because His death on Calvary avails for everyone, the way is open—wide and clear. You can tread it with others who are saying: "We are on tho way to God."—Albert Lee.

There is a curious article in the September issue of "The Empire Kcvicw" by WV Tj. Speight, of. Capetown, on witchcraft in South Africa. In the course of the article he tells us that a few natives have developed an abiding faith in the magical properties of horseshoes, but that the superstition is more strongly developed among South African farmers. Many of them, he says, would not rest at night if a horseshoe was not nailed securely to the door.

Interesting archaeological discoveries continue to bo made in Palestine. Among recent finds have been decorative panels and other fragments of ivory in Samaria, upon which were written "the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory houses which he built." These discoveries take us back to Samaria of 2500 years ago, and the days of the prophet Amos, the days when the wonderful ivory palace of Ahab was one of the great buildings of the city. In those days ivory, partly because of its costliness, and partly because of its hardness and durability, was largely used by the Israelites and other ancient peoples in the decorations of their most sumptuous buildings. It is said that the Pope, who is in his 77th year, has not had a holiday since 1922, the year he was elected to the Pontifical chair, and that he works almost as hard in summer as in winter, although the climate of Koine is such that the city is almost emptied during tho hot months, when the temperature frequently exceeds 100 degrees in the shade. He is an early riser, getting up a little later in winter than in summer, but even in winter he rises every morn ina at six o'clock, jjnd often the lisrht in his library window is seen burning lonsr after midnight. He is extremely frugal. His principal rnea\, seldom taken before two o'clock, consists of fish, or meat, ve.£T"'ables and fruit. His evening meal is simpler. In obedience to an unwritten law of the Vatican, he takes all his meals alone. A recent report says that during the month of August (this being Holv Year) lie received no fewer than 30,000 pilgrims, divided into 126 groups, and that he delivered 120 addressee