IN A TURMOIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 67, 21 March 1938, Page 10

IN A TURMOIL.

THE WORLD TO-DAY. SOLUTION OF METHODISM. "GOD WORKS THROUGH MEN." "AuMiia has been lavished niul rnl.be<l of her iiiitinnliniHl; Abyssinia lips bleeding in Hie dii-t beneath the heel of a conqueror, and Cliiim has lieen butchered by •Jμjinn, hi Sjinin dip nation has boon rent asunder l>y civil war. mid the whole world is in ji turmoil." So siiifl tlm Rev. C. Trving Bensnn. noted Methodi-t preacher from Austmliii, in ,'iil(lrc*siiirr the congregation thnt crowded the Town Hull yesterday afternoon lit a great rally which is "a preliminary to the celebration of the bicentenary nf Methodism which will take place in May of this year. The Rev. K. D. Patehctt was in the chair. Not Enough to Eat. •'Tμ ndditioii to thnt. there nre millions of people in the world who. from the day they nre born until the day they die, never have a ttiif ixfnctorV nipnl." said Mr. Menson. "There are also millions nf otherx denied the right to work.' . People could not help flaking themselves what fiod whs going to do for the 2nth century. They realised whnt (!nd had done for tile IMth century with the aid of John Wesley, but it was so easy to speak of fiod in the past tense instead of keeping in mind the fact that He was our contemporary. We believed tlint. Cod had brought this world into being and sent it spinning

through space, but we were still inclined to think of Him as a Being exiled Romewhere in the blue sky in majestic idleness waiting for the incense ' of human prayer. "It was Jesua who gave us the revelation of God as a worker," said the speaker. "When we conceive of God as taking no part in the world's affairs it shows that we have not grasped this truth that He is a worker. . Actually, God ie toiling to make the world what it was intended it should be. Any man who is satisfied with the world to-day must ha ve a hard heart or a soft head. It might be said that if God was omnipotent, why must He be a worker? Why could He not make everything right, crush the cruel and turn back the warring hordes ? That was #? childish conception of the Creator on the same level as the question of the child, "Can God make a stone so big that he can't lift it?" Man Given Free Will. The fact was that God put certain rcetrictione upon Himself, and when making man He limited Himself and gave man personal freedom and freewill. Man could oppose rebel against Him. God wanted a family capable of deciding and choosing for themselves, and if He usurped their privileges or took away any of their freedom they would only be automatons. "Certainly God works in the world," the speaker continued, "but he works through consenting minds and surrendered lives. Wherever there are such, there are channels of entry to the world through which this work. can. be done. God can help them to save Hie world. If the problems of the present.day are to he solved it must be through' human brains and hand*. When .these are at the disposal of God the work is done." Willing Instruments Needed;. God required willing; Instruments to carry out hie work. ''It was no uee waiting for the world to be changed. The thing was to change it. I "If God's plan i» held up it Iβ because your life is not surrendered, and at His disposal," Mr. Benson concluded,' stressing the fact that the lack of direction of individuals wae this basic cause of the turmoil and lack of plan in the world at large. With the regeneration of the individual would come the regeneration of the whole world and the establishment of an order bf" 'efcnity and brotherhood. It wae the duty of all to devote themselvee to.the great privilege of being channels for this work. God was anxious that people Should assist Him in building a world , that would be what He had drcamediit , would be when He create*d it. , >••;,.