VOICE OF THE CHURCHES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 110, 3 February 1930, Page 12

VOICE OF THE CHURCHES

SERMONS FROM WELLINGTON PULPITS

NEED FOR HUMILITY The Rev. H. W. Newell, M.A., preaching at the Terrace Congregational Church yesterday morning, took - for his text, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” —1 Peter 5. v. 6. “It is a striking thing to notice how often Jesus emphasised the need for humility, if we are-to be true citizens of the Kingdom of God,” he said. “This docs not easily fit in with our natural ideas. How much manlier, it seems to us, that we should be self-assertive, vehement, superlative in our statements. What place can there be for this gentle quality in a world of competition and advertisement, of fierce national egoisms, and class rivalries? How far away sounds the voice of Jesus: “If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister of all.” “But the fault is that in thinking of ‘humility 1 we commonly cease by thinking of its negative side. Jesus was one who said ‘Yes.’ not ‘No’ to life. Though He counted His own life not as dear, and had nowhere to lay His head, yet He was one whom Herod the. King desired in vain to see; and when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred. . We must go a little deeper if we would rightly understand this matter of Christ’s humility. "Let us try to express what is the opposite quality to humility as Jesus meant it. I believe its opposite is vulgarity, blatancy, cheapness! For ‘humility’ at bottom means a recognition of God as ' " the most real fact of all; whereas, a blatant person is one who recognises himself first. There are three pictures of unhumble persons in the New Testament—the wisdom -proud man, the purse-proud man, who, having as he thought made his own personal future secure, said to his soul. ‘Thou hast mucli goods, take thine ease’; and the soulproud man, who entered the temple .to pray, wrapped up in the thought of his own righteousness. ' In each case. Jesus would have us note that the basis of the unhumbleness was that- he himself, not God, was the centre of his universe. “The humble man is then one who knows God’s presence as real, and is dominated by the thought that He infringes on him. altering values, renewing conceptions. How can I, who know so little of Him, dare to speak to you of God? Oh, that in this church we might, even sometimes, know with great certainty God’s presence! He is an ocean of infinite powers flowing round our weakness; of infinite light of wisdom, flowing round our foolishness; of infinite love (yes, the Gospel dares to tell us even that) —God. “When this reality comes home to us, we become humble men, as Jesus was humble, as He directed His followers to bfi. The humble man lives a part of his day in the awful presence of God, and at other times has the ‘Voice in his ear.’ He looks at life’s molehills with the eyes i of one who is accustomed to see the snow-peaks. He hears the .world’s blatant sounds with the ears of one who has heard a far-away echo of God’s own music. And this but brings more nobility to his soul, makes him gentler, more forgiving. “There are certain affinities between I. . humility, as Christ put it before us, and the ideals of a true man of culture. For the cultured man is the man who has learnt to know the great ones who have mightily moved the world in past days, and so he cannot be deceived by pigmies I ’ of an hour. He has thought the .thoughts of great minds, and cannot easily be moved by passing sophistries. Similarly does the Christly humble man bring a very mighty yard-stick, so to speak, whereby to measure himself, his concerns, and the world about him. The humble man neither underrates nor overrates himself. He knows himself as he is in God’s sight, and walks in this knowledge. “We have been thinking of what is the raw material of all religion. What damage we do to ourselves, and to those with whom we have to do, by living as though God were not I ‘Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He careth for you.’ ” SALVATION ARMY IN CHINA * An opportunity of gaining some idea pi the state of affairs in China, as well as fi / what the Salvation Army is endeavouring to do in that country, was afforded Wellington people during the week-end, for J ’ Adjutant and Mrs. Sowton, missionary officers, on furlough, conducted several meetings in the cty. Adjutant Sowton is a son of Commissioner and Mrs. Sowton, and his wife t is a New Zealander, a daughter of Lieut.Colonel and Mrs. Carmichael, who are at present in charge of the Central North Division, with headquarters at Palmerston. On Sunday morning they were at the Wellington South Corps in Constable Street, and in the evening they conducted a service in the Vivian Street Citadel. To-night the Adjutant will give a lantern lecture on China in the Vivian Street Citadel. Adjutant Sowton, speaking in the Vivian Street Citadel, said that economic conditions in China were appalling. There were thousands of soldiers living on the couptry, and wherever these were quartered the people had to feed them. The abnormal taxation was crushing. Famine, floods, and locust plagues added to this 1 had produced conditions disastrous beyond description. The official figures stated the population of Peking to be 1,342,000, and of this number 400,000 were either very poor or in absolute destitution. There was no work because • of the lack of money and'insecurity. “The number of bandits,” he continued, “has greatly increased, and robberies with murder and violence are rapidly becoming more common. The kidnapping and holding to ransom cf the rich is an everyday affair, and a considerable number of missionaries have suffered such treatment, some being brutally murdered, i others maimed. Bandits, sometimes in companies of over 3000 strong, swoop down on city or town, overcome the soldiers (if there are any), loot and shoot, and if there is resistance, set fire to the place. Other bandits are met in twos : and threes, scores, fifties, and hundreds. Life is ‘dirt cheap,’ but the cost of living has more than doubled, and is still rising, i “In spite of the chaotic condition of affairs, the Salvation Army is struggling to carry on its work, and is slowly gainI ing ground. Whereas, formerly strong national prejudice militated against I ■ people joining an organisation with for- » eign connection. Army halls are now 1 crowded with people, and open-air meetings call forth respect and attention. “To preach the Gospel and simultane'ously hold out a ‘helping hand’ is the ' Army’s policy in China, as elsewhere, 1 and realising the dire distress which inevitably follows in the wake of civil 5 was banditry, and drought, such as has come upon certain provinces, plans have been made to ameliorate the distress of some of the hundreds of thousands of SU “Apart from the usual winter relief carried on by the Army in. Tim-tsinwd Peking, by means of which, this year, food i was provided daily for over ten thousand people, the Army . undertook similar operations in the famine-stricken areas. Conditions were found to be appalling; men literally dying as they walked about —and when, finally, they dropped in the streets, they were being thrown outside the city to ravening dogs. Using funds allotted for this purpose, some sixteen thousand are being fed every day at the great kitchens opened by the

SPIRITUAL NEEDS Preaching in St. John’s Presbyterian Church yesterday on the text “Up a rock that is too high for me, do Thou lead me” (Psalm Ixi. 2), the Rev. J. R. Blanchard said that the text was the cry of a man in sore trouble. He was an exile whose life was in danger and who felt himself unequal to the trials through which he was passing. Life was taking him along a steep and perilous way in which he needed God to guide him, if he was to be at the end of the road where God would have him be. The rock that was too high for them was an experience which came to most people. When green pastures and still waters were their lot they felt confident of their power to manage life with honour and success. But before the steep hill of difficulty and trial many became overwhelmed. In such a circumstance it was unworthy to waste their spiritual substance in the riotous exercises of self pity. “Up the rock that is too high for me, do Thou lead me” was the one attitude which was true both to God’s purpose of goodness and the best and lasting things within their own souls. It was no ill-will which brought people face to face with such difficulties. Without them they would never learn to see beyond their own height, to appreciate the hidden wealth of those other lives which trod the slopes of difficulty with them. Without the rock too high for them life would be but the breeding of a race of spoiled and sickly bipeds, rather than the creation of a race of men and women who were children of God caught up into an enriching fellowship of brotherhood and sisterhood. In many ways modern life was a demonstration of men’s overcoming difficulties by using a power above their own. “Raising my own voice,” said the preacher, “I can hardly be heard across the street, but speaking into a microphone I may be heard in the twinkling, of an eye right round the earth. Running on my own errand, I am exhausted in a short space of time, but in an aeroplane I may cross a continent with the speed of the wind and arrive fit arid ready for the thing which requii-es my doing when I land. Assuming my own little burden, I am oppressed by a trifle, but pressing into my service an atom of power in a bit of dynamite, I may remove mountains.” ... , Thus were the invincible things of time and space being surmounted. In the process two factors were at work: the inner resources of man and the constancy of forces beyond and above him with which he could co-operate. In that way he was being led up rocks that were too high for his unaided powers. . That was an analogue of the spiritual life. The resources of God in relation to their spiritual needs were as sure in their existence rind as constant in their exercise as those other forces beyond and above man which enabled him to achieve such wonders as the radio and aviation. But men had to exercise all the resources they already possessed to benefit by them. God did not carry them up the rock that was too thigh for them: He led them up it. They had to do the climbing: God did the guiding. That was the high assumption of faith which only experience would prove a reality. They saw it wrought out in the earthly pilgrimage of Jesus Christ, who Himself was led up the steep ways of difficulty by the Father’s love and wisdom and strength. As in the days of His flesh He ever stooped to the low and precarious levels of human need and fear, so He still came .to where men and women were to lead them on. Theirs was to “strive and hold cheap the strain," knowing that the Father who failed, not the Son in working out His destiny, would not now fail the Son when He sought to guide men and women in working out their eternal destiny. ' ■ COMMUNION WITH GOD “Alone with God” was the subject of a sermon preached by the Rev. D. Jones, M.A., at the Newtown Congregational Church yesterday. “In this tense and throbbing time of ours,” he said, “do we not feel ’ the necessity of quiet-and calm spots, where we may have contact with God? lam not pleading for a separation from active duties, which means asceticism, but I do claim that no man, however gifted or zealous, can live the full and abundant .life without constantly , and faithfully meeting his God alone. It is when the heart’s door is closed to the outward world and the eyes are shut to the demoralising chaos of affairs that the Holy Spirit reveals to us the Christ, whom it is His mission to call to remembrance. At the beginning of the day as well as throughout its course and at its close we need to be alone with God. “We need to be alone with Him that we may rest. Constant association with God rests the soul and nerves us to vital action. In His presence also we gain inward courage. Christianity- has never been' a great popular movement for multitudes of people. You will notice that the Saviour did not encourage the exultant cries of that day of triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Roman powers and universal conditions of popular sins in. high place's did not seem to disturb Him. It took courage for the Founder of Christianity in the quiet confidence of God to found a religion thus than to emblazon it upon (lie banners of the nations. That inward courage dictated those wonderful words on the Cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The greatness of the cause of Christianity in the world needs the inward courage of men who, silent with God, with faithful persistence amid difficulties, know the secret place. “This leads to the outward power which is the result of such companionship. The man of greatest power is often the most modest-among his fellows. Unconscious of that influence which controls, no time is spent in self-complac-ency. So busy are his mind and soul in the active purpose of his life and work that he is seldom retrospective, but the power is there. “Another result is seen in the reserve energy of such a life. The man who is in living touch with God is a very storage battery of reserve force. He cannot but speak the things which he has seen and heard. He will not be perplexed ami anxious for the message of the hour, but from his very soul messages will come thick and fast as occasion offers. He will impress his. friends ns one whose words and work indicate his having been alone with God. “The greatest lesson is the simplest. Being alone with God /means possession of self-control and restraint. Ordinary experience, the commonplace duty, will reveal the Christ. A man’s public address does not always reveal his character. A Japanese educator was asked how he became a Christian, and 'his simple reply was: ‘The daily life of my father, who found Christ.’ The life of self-vic-tory will hear the words, ‘He that overcometh shall inherit all thinrs. and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.’ ”

Thrift was the ruling factor with a man in Missouri, who recently walked two miles to pay a school tax of' IJd, because, he said, the journey would have taken IJd. worth of petrol by car. Of the 12 biggest banks in the world eight are British, and the first five have their headquarters in. London. They are the Midland’s, Lloyd’s, Barclay’s, Westminster, and National Provincial. Paint was used in very ancient times, and the Greeks painted their statues ns well as their walls. Polygnotus, who lived about 450 8.C., is said to have been the first painter of pictures. Although Captain Cook, the famous explorer, died over 150 years ago, a tortoise which belonged to him is still alive and flourishing on the island of Tonga, where it enjoys the native rank of “chief.”