MISSIONARY WORK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 87, 6 January 1908, Page 5

MISSIONARY WORK.

THE LONDON.'DEPUTATION' IN THE . . , ; PUM'IT. • "■ ; SERMON. BY. THE' I?EV. r A!" N. VJOHNSON;. •There is at present in AVellington a deputation, consistingot the Bcvs. A/N. Johnson,M.A. (Home Secretary), and Joseph Kin?, and Miv Edward .Smith,'•representing- the; London Missionary Society, who-are visiting -New.'Zealand, for the purpose, of seeing what caii be ;done : in tho: co|onies to ;assist a scheme for-, extend-' ing tho kopc of the Society's operations.' The', 'members,of. tho .deputation-, filled. ; the, pulpits of the ;Congregatibnnl Churches'of Wellington yesterday. • . ■•'•• /■ 'r j At the C'ourtenay Place Congregational Church last' evening .the'Rev. : A. !Ni ;.Tohrison, M.A., an earnest and; scholarly .preacher, took for his. text—Whereof- I, Paul, am made a minister, .who ■ now rejoice in my sufferings for' you and fill up that..which, is behind of the afflictions of .Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is tho Chnroh"' (Colossians i '24). The 1 preacher said that' part of man's-diit'y was to pass the Word'on, and' how were tney to do that without preachers;.to preach..the Gospel ? And ikey, not. only , had, .to., preach, but., they- to go ; further—to plead and- per-' suade men to accept .tlie message.' paul-not only preached, but .• he t. practised -! what He preached gloriously , and completely.He; said"Life is Christi".'not. an- occasional ;day,'.no odds. or . ends ,of time, but life with all'its pomp, the.whole of,it"was Christ. Ho remem-. bered'when a teacher.'at Sunday. School 'tho' superintendent .saying that if ' Christ wished ho could convert the whole world' in -fire minutes. Since then'he had 'come >'to': doubt 'the truth of that. 1 He. had'not:converted;it in five , years, in-'five' l hundred years, nor. ,in fifteen hundred years.. He rather believed that it was part of the system 1 that tho Gospel should'be pasted on ;by. human agency. • Some might ask: what\was"ithe filling ,up for the. afflictions of Christ? Let such try to preach tho .Gospel or deal' with a few individuals, they would find out where tho afflictions came in. But just, as others hod filled up for us; they had'to .fill'up for others. There .were 1,000,000,000 of them! Not only is ;tho number great, . but .; the ■ variety, is .great, also. They, .could not 'deal with all in one language or method.. They had on one hand, ■ race's of- cultured people of. keenest intelligence—there were . more subtle, intellects in; India than .in any, other part'.of the world—and there, were others, dull, brutish, /savage. Between the,two extremes there

was a range of, heathen races, each of which had to be appealed to in a special way. There was the;, department of' languages,', and ' Bible translation ; whicli had to be attended to.'Blit there were even lands which, had; no-written

language, as was discovered byifoffatt, when ha visited Africa! Ho' had, in-., the first stance, to reduce" the .language. to writing, and then teach r the natives to ■ read it. ; Another, case'was. that' of-Robert Mollison, one of the. first -'-missionaries'. to China. He ' had .'to deal with n people educated and cultured,' who ;hnd been used to reading; for hundreds of years; He had to learn the language, to'enable him' \tj do his gi-eat work; of "translating tho whole of the Bible into Chinese. Be also published a comprehensive' Anglo-Chinese' dictionary— (lid it- for those that-;were coming after-liim',-knowing that other..missionaries'would, follow, who would be handicapped if the work .was not done.' The .Bible'..hnil been translated' into 400 languages, and there were as many again into which' it had - not- been translated. Two hundred of the. translations .had been made within the' last;'.sixty, years, i Another 'thing that had to be.attended to was the preaching and proclamation of' the gospel' tidings. At all tbeir ,station's , the' old, -old story had'-to be told; in divers . ways,', under wonderfully diverse . conditions. Then thero'was the edti-i cutional-, branch.- Tli/i Society had over■2000 •schools; - thousand* Sunday sohodl's, 'apart, '.from.,-.;t.hq„ ..theological .... collegesfor the training of .missionaries,'apostles, aridevengelists. They were-hot to think that, they had sent.'out; enough' missionaries'-to evangelise tho millions in China and.lndia. Thev had 1000 ordained;, native ministers' and (1000 native. worker's, still they wanted moro white, missionaries. The rev... gentleman made. an .appeal for funds , to" support and . extend- the missionary work,' and- asked for thb prayers of the'public for those "fighting at the"front." '■ •• ADDRESS iBY'-JIIt..JiBWARD,SMITH.' ' • At' the Tcrrace./Congregationar Church, ;Mr: Edward.'Smith,- "J.P., of Bewdloy, prsachod from the;Hvords of Paul"in Eoni. i. 1(5

—" I am 'riot ashamed' of 'the Gospel- of''Christ,' for. it. is tho-'poweiyof' God unto'salvation ."to every one tliat ■ lielicvetlr''—ancl fho words : to 'Timothy s "For-'.we -have 'not .the... spirit-'-of fear -but- of power and of love and. of. it sound mind." -The. speaker said , Christians to-day -were ready; to talk about their '-denominations,, old theology, now theology, higher criticism, music, creeds, institutions, but were not ready to witness' to-what the grace of God was in their, own hearts. Dr. Creighton, the late-Bishop of London, said there was more harm done-in tho world through the limitations of good men than the deeds of bad-men —much evil now existing which • Christians could- suppress if, they wore .bold for .'.-Christ.

How many were ready from the- goodness of heart to minister to bodily suffering—ready to suggest remedies for toothache, headache, ctc. — but were too often dumb to recommend the Great Physician ' who,. alone could heal the broken heart, givo comfort to- the many who ,were suffering- from the' ills of mammon worship, worldly pleasures, and -disappointment? How w.is it? The preacher gave several instances from his personal experience how reminding the sorrow-laden of what Jesus could do and of His power to restore had brought peace 'and, rest.- Instancing, the many powers- of God, such as wind,''compressed air, oxvgen, dynamite; elqctricty, gravitation, he said 110 one was ashamed-to speak, of their effect and power, yet they were invisible, but the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was evidenced on every-hand. Why -.then, should there be hesitation to speak,and. testify:-' Dr. ■ Chalmers often spoke of-tho-expulsive power of ,1 new affection. There was 110 power (0 equal thatiof ,the. glad tidings,of the love and-forgiveness of God t)fat came to the repen'uuit sinner. I'aul had witnessed its power in • the . deuih' of Stephen. who, when crushed bv tho falling stones of 'his. enemies, had prayed that God would not lay .that sin to their cli'arge. He had witnessed its power-in his own life by changing the blasphemer and persecutor to the apostle and preacher. When in prison 'in Knme lie wrote to the Ephesians the. prayer he offered 0 ntlieir behalf was, that they might know the exceeding greatness, of His power. If; was this power which saved. Salvation was not just getting a man inlo .heaven,- it. was getting'heaven into a man. that lie might know the true meaning of-the-abundant, life— the life- of .love, Joy, Peace, and Goodness. -

At Courtuuay Road Congregational Church on Wednesday evening 1 there will. be a pnblic meeting in connection, with the London Missionary Society. Mr. Smith invited-not. , only, those interested, in missions, but those who were' prejudiced to- come ami hear' what' the deputation had to , say.