BAPTIST CHURCH JUBILEE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 143, 14 March 1938, Page 5

BAPTIST CHURCH JUBILEE

Special Services At Vivian Street

Yesterday diamond Jubilee services were conducted at the Vivian Street Baptist Church, Wellington. In the morning, the Hon. J. K. Archer, M.L.C., preached oii ‘-The Church’s ITace in Society,” and in the afternoon he spoke to a gathering of Bible class students to which former members of the Vivian Street congregation were invited. “The Lord shall count when He writeth up the people that this man was born there,” was the text of the evening sermon on “The Church’s Chief Glory,” by Mr. Archer, and he commented on the fact that it was unique in that it was the only portion .of the Old Testament that foreshadowed the universality of the Christian revelation. It envisaged the idea of the conversion of all peoples. The vision was yet unfulfilled, however, thab all nations should be brought into a great confederacy, impelled not by force but by good will. Turning from the international aspect of the theme, Mr. Archer contended that the chief glory of any church did not lie in its splendour, in its beauty of architecture, but in the fact that it marked the spiritual birthplace of men and women. The picture in the psalmist’s mind was that there would be a vast recording in which the place of spiritual births would be entered. Whatever achievement a church may have, its real glory was in the number of people who could claim it as their spiritual birthplace. The wonderful process of spiritual regeneration was open to anyone who would receive Jesus Christ. The jubilee of the church, he said, had been marked by much rejoicing and festivity, but there was no more glorious way of celebrating the occasion than that men and women should find Jesus Christ and receive him as their saviour. Talk to Bible Class. At the afternoon gathering of Bible class students Mr. Archer gave an address on the Bible in which he claimed that the Bible could never be superseded. “It is the most popular book in the world, judged by the extent to which books are publisher!, sold, and read,” he said. “It is a library in a single volume, and contains the literary work of scores, if not hundreds, of writers. “From the point of view of English literature it is superior to any otherbook in our language, both as to its general excellence, and its examples of biographies, poetry, devotion, and fiction. The parable of the prodigal son is the finest story in existence. “To read the Bible without bias for or against it, and to read it thoughtfully and wholly ,is to become convinced of its inspiration. God, Christ, truth and duty are too obviouslj’ in it to be missed, and this despite any difficulty about words, phases, authorship, or apparent contradictious to get the best out of its study, the books of the Bible, must be rearranged so as to put them in their chronological order, and therefore to be able to trace the development or evolution of its thought. The Bible Inspires Charm. “The. Bible is not anti-scientific but non-scientific. It shows us who the Creator was but not how He did His work. Wherever the Bible is read, and believed, and operated it» leads to reform. “Many past reforms were inspired by it and other reforms will issue from it. A complete application of its teaching would end land-monopoly, usury, unemployment, poverty, nationalism and war.”