VOICE OF THE CHURCHES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 52, 25 November 1929, Page 12

VOICE OF THE CHURCHES

SERMONS FROM WELLINGTON PULPITS

MOST WIDESPREAD COMMON SIN THE PERILS OF NEGLECT Speaking on “The Perils of Neglect, - ’ in the De Luxe Theatre last evening, the Rev. T. R. Richards selected for his text Hebrews, chapter ii, verses 1 and 2: "For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just ~recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” The Gospel came from God; its purpose was to evangelise the world and lead the world back to God, said the preacher. The Law of God was not an uncertain thing but was of fixed purpose. Every omission of sin and every transgression was marked by the pen of the recording angel and received a “just recompense of reward.” If men trifled with the law of God, God would not trifle with man. The purpose of God was to seek and to save which was lost. He sought to enfold all men in the mantle of His forgiving love, but the unfailing law ot God tracked all sin to its lair—“Be sure your sin will find you out.’ “Salvation is a word of vast content, he declared. “It means deliverance from any danger. It is chiefly used in relation to man’s spiritual nature and destiny. Salvation is great because it is a divine provision embodied in Christ, whose name means salvation. ‘Thou shalt call His name Jesus —for He shall save His people from their sins.’ It is great because its issues are great—Life and Death. These are the two things which on one hand men seek —life being the great prize and death the thing most men turn from. ‘lt is that marble monster,’ says one, ‘beneath whose fleshless ribs there is no compassion.’ “Neglect is the most widespread common sin of life. The results of . neglect in all departments of life are inevitablein the material, mental, moral and spiritual life. A retrograde law runs through all life. The sun and rain are the ministers of life to the healthy plant that functions. The rain nurtures it, the sun paints it into beauty, but instantly the plant fails to “correspond” the ministers of life become the ministers of death; the sun withers it, the rain rots it. Accept God and He becomes to your ‘life of life’; reject His provision and life is exchanged for death. One has given his very fine definition of life eternal: ‘lf there be no changes in the environment but such as the organism has adapted changes to meet and should it never fail in the efficiency with which it meets them, then there is eternal life and eternal knowledge.’ Depth is refusal to correspond. “To hope for escape is absurd—to effect it an impossibility. The law of the natural world —and of all nature —is the unfailing law of the spiritual world. Refuse to take the antidote and the man bitten by the poisonous serpent must die. Neglect to pull against the stream and by a natural law the man in the boat will be swept over the rapids. Neglect to educate the child and it will grow up in lawlessness, vice and crime. Visit our hospitals and asylums and there you will find ‘nature’ squaring her accounts with sin. When God gave nature her rules into her own hands He gave her one unfailing law on which all her decisions were to be based : ‘lf we neglect, how shall we escape?’ And it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of .God —if the hands of the living God are but the hands of nature. Sin, and nature’s inexorable and universal law demands, ‘Thou shnlt by no means come out until thou hast pajd the uttermost farthing.’ Neglect the soul and it will drop off in atrophy and decay.”

OBEDIENCE TO BIBLE THE FINAL, AUTHORITY IN RELIGION I "The Final Authority in Religion” was the subject of a sermon preached by Evangelist W. M. Garner last evening in the I’etone Church of Christ. “The question of authority is one that, has to be considered, and rightly answered in every walk of life,” he said. “Whether it be in the home, the school, the business, an authority must be recognised whose word is law and whose decisions are final and binding. This applies also in the religious world. It is essential that in the Christian Church there be a recognised court of appeal whose decisions shall be final and authoritative. And if Christendom to-day presents to the world a scene of chaos and confusion, it is largely because this question has not’ been settled, or the authority has been vested in the wrong direction. The Protestant world, while theoretically recognising the Word of God as the supreme authority in matters of faith and practice, repudiated its own teaching by allowing human creeds and theological dogmas to usurp the place assigned to God’s Word., The Restoration movement, represented to-day by those churches known simply as Churches of Christ, dealt with this matter very early in its history. The dictum, ‘Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent,’ is an indication of the definiteness with which these ehiifhes decided the issue. “The leaders ol the Restoration movement. in adopting this position, were not doing anything new. Luther. Calvin, and other leaders of Reformation times, appealed to the Bible as the only final authority, and the reason why they turned to the Bible as the final authority in religion was because they recognised it to be the Word of God. Self-styled prophets arise from time to time with the claim that their message is a revelation of God. But unless that message agrees in all points with the teaching of the Bible we can safely regard it and treat it as spurious. Nowhere have we God’s voice preserved for us save in the Scriptures. This being so, it should be perfectly clear that no authority can be higher than God’s. “But the question that seems to trouble many is: Apart from this, is there any other authority? We all like to be broadminded. but care must be taken that we are no broader then llm Word alfriws us to be. , , “Recognising, then, tliut the word ol God as we have it in the Book called the Bible is absolutely final and authoritative, what then? Acceptance of its statements and obedience to its commands must follow. The Bible makes some striking statements regarding man, and his relation to sin. If the Bible is authoritative, these statements are true, and if they are true important issues are involved. One of these striking statements says, ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’ This is not only a statement, it is a definition. Not only are glaring nets of wrongdoing sin, but missing the mark, failing to measure up to the Divine standard is also sin. This means that not only are immoral and openly wicked ,people sinners, but also that those who fail to meet the Divine pattern arc in need of a Saviour. The charge that all men are sinners frequently fails to strike home, because there are thousands who have no sense of sin, “Our opinions do not save us. Pilate had correct opinions concerning Christ when he said, ‘I find in Him no fault at all,’ but his opinion did not prevent him from saying. ‘Take ye Him and crucify Him.’ And it is possible for you to crucify Him afresh to-night in spite of your orthodox beliefs. Coupled with belief in these Apostolic conversions we find action. Not only did these early converts believe, but they repented of their sins, openly confessed, their belief in and acceptance of Christ, and were baptised into His name 1 his then is the Apostolic order, and when fulfilled brings the assurance of sins forgiven and of everlasting life.

THE PRIVILEGE OF CHRISTIAN HOMES VITAL PROBLEM OF THE DAY At the Sunday School Anniversary Service at the Newtown Congregational Church, the Rev. D. Jones. M.A., took as his text: Matt. 18:2, “He called to Him a little child, and set him in the midst of them.” “The blindness, complacency, and callousness of the vast majority of Protestants everywhere is one of the most depressing and serious facts of history, he said. “The willingness of people in all stations of life to accept things as they are and their reluctance to change conditions pass comprehension. In the midst of prevailing optimism, many voices of warning are being raised. Some of the keenest minds of our time and in every land, are calling attention to the instability of the foundations upon which we are building, and are pointing the inevitable collapse of a social, as well as economic and religious order based upon prevailing attitudes, practices and institutions. „ ~ “At the heart of the world’s problem, jis the child. 'We must take our children in our homes to-day, and set them at 1 the centre of our attention, and realise i that unless we nourish them into a vital faith in God, in Jesus Christ, in the Church, there is no law, no legislation, no penal code, no discipline or programme by which society or any of its functions or institutions can long be saved. An experienced philanthropist tells us that he had inquired of thousands of prisoners what was the starting point of their criminal career. In summing up the various sources that he gives, he says, ‘I find that four out of every five criminals began their ruin through some defect in their homes or from the want of a home.’ “We must somehow bring to bear upon our children early in life, specific motives to produce conduct that is righteous, m personal and social relations. Character, moral character, cannot be produced without religious training. The pity of it is that many of us who have had that training, and unconsciously live in the light of it, are not seeing to it that it is established for the next generation. Many perfectly moral people say that they do not understand why so many young people go wrong. Why in heaven’s name shouldn’t they go wrong, for all that happens to prevent it in many of our homes to-day? “Those who neglect to train their children in moral and religious character are enemies of the race. If the atmosphere of the house is Christian, the chances are nine to one that the child will go rijjht, for the child is an accurate reflection of the home from which he conies. If the home is irreligious, he is likely to go wrong. The first essential, then, is the right kind of home. “I tell you the vital problem ot the day is not our mineral wealth, our splendid harbours, our splendid buildings, our fine motor-cars, our football team, our good racehorses; not our political parties, not whether we teach that man’s ancestry is traced back to the monkey or not, even if many act as if they did. The great issue of the twentieth century is thai all children should have the privilege of Christian homes, where, through training and discipline, they may be developed into well-rounded, magnificent specimens of manhood and womanhood. How perturbed we become when we detect a physical defect in our children, how we immediately send for the doctor. What about the spiritual and moral defects in our children? These defects are far more insidious than the former. ■ “Now is the time to save your boy and girl before they are lost to the home, to society, to civilisation and to God. “The children are the Empire’s greatest national resources. To develop out of them big unselfish men and women, who will furnish the leadership that is needed to-morrow "in the affairs of the State, the church, and the nation, is the supreme task that challenges all who truly love their fellowmen. and long to see God s Kingdom of righteousness, and truth and Justice established on this earth.”

CHURCH UNION A REALISABLE VISION The Rev. James McCaw, preaching at Knox Church, Lower Hutt, yesterday, drew some present-day lessons from the union of two great Presbyterian churches in Scotland consummated on October 3. Many were asking why was the Church ever divided, he said. The divided church held the same system of doctrine, their form of worship was the same, they proclaimed the love of God to man and salvation through Jesus Christ in the same form of speech. To answer the question one had to go back the centuries, back to the time of the Stuart kings, who determined to thrust upon an unwilling people a form of worship and church government. They sought to hind men’s souls to the chains of State. The result was a period known as the “killing time,” when those who would not adhere were forbidden to gather for worship in any other place than that allowed by the king. The persecuted had to take to the fields and the moors. They .were shot down like grouse on the mountains and the king’s troops inflicted unspeakable cruelties on men. women, and children. ’Toward the close of the 17tb century the Prince of Orange came to the rescue and the reign of terror ceased.

This persecution drew men near to God, and spiritual life attained to high altitudes. Alas, a reaction set in before many years. Tired of conflict, the people became indifferent, and ere they were aware the British Parliament passed in 1712 the Patronage Act, whereby the State, through the patron of u parish, presented the minister to the parish church. The patron sometimes was a dissolute man, but no matter, the people were required to submit. Many did not mind, but ninny more would not submit to the abuses wrought. These abuses, often aggravated, were endured for more than 100 years. The disruption of 1843 followed, when n large number of ministers left the Church of Scotland and State control, mid formed what was known until 30 years ago as the Free Church. Time would not allow to relate many tilings of importance. Suffice it to say that these things in the Church of Scotland that were so objectionable to many were gradually put away, until at Inst the church’s affairs had been divested of the last shred of State control, anil the church was free to manage tier own spirtual affairs.

The .preacher briefly told of some moving incidents connected with the coming together on October 3. Some personal friends had written . and declared the day was one never to be forgotten. The Archbishop of Canterbury, himself the son of a Presbyterian minister, who was a former Church Moderator, said his emotion was too deep for speech. It was declared by many speakers that this great event was the beginning of a series of unions that would make the churches flow together. Isaiah's vision was realisable. The churches were doing much by cooperation. but it was believed that a corporate union would alone fulfil the desire of the heart of the founder of the church. Side by side the church must lead the assault on the evils that were a festering sore in the community. She must lead against gambling, intemperance, Sunday labour, sweating, bad housing conditons. Sabbath breaking in the search for a form of pleasure that wearied the body and dissipated the mind. These and other evils a united church could combat with confident assurance of victory. Then the “mountain of the Lord’s house will be established on the top of the mountains and erected above the hills and all nations shall flow into it-”