BAPTIST UNION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 8 October 1936, Page 11

BAPTIST UNION.

ASSEMBLY MEETING.

FIRST SESSION OPENED. ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT. r Close on 200 delegates to the fifty- ' fourth annual assembly of the Baptist ) Union of New Zealand were entertained , at a welcome tea in the Tabernacle last [ evening. Dr. Alexander Hodge, chair- , man of the assembly committee, pre- ; sided. Addresses of welcome were deliv--1 ered by the Rev. C. Chant, president of the Auckland auxiliary, and the Rev. J. A. Thomson, retiring president of the • Council of Christian Congregations, the Rev. J. K. Archer (Christchurch) replying on behalf , of the delegate's. The chairman of the session was the Rev. J. Laird, who took the place of Dr. Charles North, who is in England. He introduced the new president to the assembly. An- expression of ■ appreciation of the services rendered by Dr. North was contained in the following resolution, moved by Mr. H. H. Driver we express to Dr. Charles North our warmest thanks for the efficient services he has rendered during his year of office as president. We feel it most appropriate that as a son of the late Rev. Alfred North he should have held the office in j the jubilee year of the Baptist Missionary Society. By his gracious personality, by his wise chairmanship of our last assembly, and by his visitation of. our churches, he has fulfilled the duties of his high office most faithfully." Problem for Church. "It may be said that the sense of sin produced the Puritans," said the Rev. A. Anstice, of Christchurch, in the course of his presidential address. He took as his subject "Puritanism and To-day," and traced the history of the Puritans at great length. "It wedded them solidly to the central doctrine of their faith. They gathered the symbolism of the Old* Testament and the teaching of the New around a substitutionary Atonement. May we gather with them there. The tiny rill from the heart of the Redeemer is swallowed by the thirsty soil of Golgotha. But that is not all. It has flowed on ever since, a river deep and wide. It is a crimson river R. J. Campbell has spoken, and many have echoed his words. It is unethical say they. But our Sovereign Redeemer, who placed His bow of mercy in the sky, will compound out of its glorious bands of light His own redemptive hue. "A river deep enough for the deepest needs of the human heart, and broad enough to bear away the sins of the world, solving sin into nothing in its acid flow, and bearing our transgressions into the ocean of His loving forgetfulness. May not the need of this Baptist Union of believers be this primitive need? Is our machinery clogged by disobedience and unbelief ? The River of Life, as it flows, meets an ever-present need. God will do a new thing through us when we are renewed." The break up of Christian home life was a sad and disastrous feature of to-day, and presented a most pressing problem to Church, Sunday school, and social worker alike, said Mr. Anstice. Good men of all shades of thought deplored the loss of home life, though they appraised the issues differently. That was natural. Some regarded it hopefully as a part of the birth pangs of civilisation in its evolution into better things. Students of Bible prophecy saw in it a sign of God's ripening purposes as the ages grew old, and came near the fulfilment of His will in them. A missionary address was given by the Rev. 11. A. Jones, of Brahmanbaria, who is on furlough. He brought greetings to the assembly from India, and thanked the members for their assistance and sympathy. Under the baton of Mr. A. E. Wilson, a combined choir rendered Jackson's "Te Deum," the "Hallelujah Chorus," and a tone poem.