PULPIT MESSAGES

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 274, 15 August 1932, Page 10

PULPIT MESSAGES

Wellington Churches PREACHERS IN SKY] A Study of Astronomy “A Devotional Study of-Astronomy" was the subject of a sermon preached by the Rev. Harry Johnson at the Cam* bridge Terrace Congregational Church. The text was Psalm xix, 1: “The Hear* ens declare the glory of God.” “Mentally picture the Psalmist when he uttered these words,” said the preacher. “It may be the. shepherdking was in the Syrian desert, his tent pitched in an oasis, near a cluster of palm trees. It is night, he stands ia flowing garments, and with a long spear in hand because of prowling wolves. As he looks up at the blueblack sky studded with stars, his feelings are solemnised, his mind is exalt ed, and from his lips bursts forth. ‘The Heavens declare the glory of God? “David is not alone in feeling th« mystic influence of the brilliant star* lit sky. Pascal, at

he gazed at th« starry-dome, cried out, “The Eternal majesty of the Infinite terrifies me? Thomas when a friend, pointing to the starstudded heavens, said, ‘A glorious sight,’ replied, ‘Man, it’s awfully solemn.’ The famous preacher, Thomas Binny, wrote th®

popular hymn ‘Eternal Light’ under the inspiration of a starry night. Also, Mark Guy Pearse has left it on record that a mighty uplift of his soul, which never died out of his life, was due to a walk under a diamond-studded sky. “Grand as seemed the midnight canopy in David’s time, its grandeur is unspeakably vaster now, owing to discoveries that have since been made. Th® universe is unspeakably larger than even our fathers thought. The frontiers of space have been steadily pushed back. First the telescope, and then the photographic plate have become instruments of revelation. Now, even a schoolboy knows that the whole Solar system is but a speck in the surrounding immensity of space. “Let me remind you of a few wellknown facts concerning the vastness of the universe. Think of the number of the heavenly bodies. With the naked eye, in either hemisphere, are visible only about three thousand stars, but by the aid of the telescope 60 millions are brought into view. Combine the photographic camera with the telescope, and the number is increased to fifteen hundred millions. Now think of distance in space. Light travels at the amazing velocity of 18 a,OW) miles per second, so the light of the sun reaches this planet in eight minutes. The nearest'fixed star is Alpha Centaur, one of the two pointers to the Southern Cross, and it is so remote, we are told its fight takes nearly four years to reach us. If that is the nearest star outside the Solar system, how awfully remote are the more distant 0I1 “The Bible declares these remote heavenly bodies are sky’ daring the glory of God. How true. You cannot thoughtfully look at tbe stars but the problem of origin arises. Irrespective of method, whether mechanical or evolutionary, there can ba no effect without a cause; further, the effect can never be greater .than tte cause Blind chance cannot evolve order and organisation, hence in looking at the starlit sky we are driven to think of an Almighty Creator. To the /invnnt- the stars are ‘for ever singing aftW shine, the hand that made us too, they proclaim the Creator’s power, the might that called Into being Jupiter, a sister planet, a thousand times larger tha ” and created our sun, a million times larger than the earth. Then we think of ’the hundreds of millions of such worlds carried on their tremendous journeys as though a feather-weight. Thus we are compelled to cry, with the Old Testament seer, ‘The wonder of His power who can understand ? “These sky preachers also declare the Creator’s goodness. Think of! the b _ Ings He sends to us through a star. The star we call the Sun pours upon our earth its light and heat, and so calls forth life and beauty. To it we owe the light of day, and the cheery warmth of summer. Its- rays open the petals of the flowers, give blossoms their co - our and fruit its sweetness. With this gracious gift, how beautifully the good God gives it. Though sunlight travels at so stupendous a speed, as over ten million miles per minute, yet it is so gentle ‘it ruffles not the eyelid of the sleeping child.’ Truly the more close y we study God’s works the more brightly His goodness shines forth. _ “The proclamation of the stars is not sufficient for man’s need. It has no gospel of deliverance and salvation for the soul, therefore we need the fuller revelation of the Holy Scriptures and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Yet for the message of the stars we thank God, and hast given me eyes to see, and love the stars so rair, Give me a heart to Ami out Thee, and read Tlicc e'-erwhcff.”

SOUL AND SPIRIT Christian Science Churches “Soul” was the subject of the lessonsermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, yesterday. The Golden Text was from Heb. 13: 38, 39, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw tiack, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Among the citations which comprised the Lesson-Sermon were the following from the Bible: “Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalm 62:1, 2). The Lesson-Sermon also included the following passages from the Christian Science text book, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy:—“Soul, or Spirit, is God. unchangeable .and eternal; and man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God’s image.” “Soul is the substance, Life, and intelligence of man. which is individualised, but not in matter. Soul can never reflect anything inferior to Spirit. Man is the expression of Soul.” “Soul is immortal because it is Spirit, which has no element of self-destruction. All sin is of the flesh. It cannot lie spiritual. It is a sense of sin, and not a sinful soul, which is lost. Evil is destroyed by the sense of good” (pp. 120, 477, 311).