BAPTIST CHURCH, VIVIAN STREET.

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 7

BAPTIST CHURCH, VIVIAN STREET.

The forty-ninth anniversary services of the Vivian Street Baptist Church ou Sunday last were combined with a harvest festival. The church was beautifully decorated, and appropriate anthems were sung by the choir, under the leadership of Mr. A. R. Don, with Mr. Charles Collins at the organ. The preacher for the day was the minister, the Rev. JF. E. Harry, who preached in the morniug on the first Psalm, and in the evening on "Each man saying to his neighbour, 'Know the Lord, until all shall know. Him from the least to the greatest.'" The preacher appealed for a fervent witness born of experience of the saving grace of God, for the Church has no need to maintain an apologetic mood: rather should it display an aggressive, positive spirit. Christians are spiritborn, living in fellowship with God, buoyant, joyous, possessing a vision of the unseen, and sustained by omnipotent resources. Their witness to Christ should be unfaltering and clear, and their lives should adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. He pleaded for rd'ality in religion, and for personal evangelism in the power of the Holy Ghost. A Christian who failed to witness or work, who was neither an intercessor nor a toiler, should seriously question himself concerning his relation to God. The world could only be won by the individual efforts and strenuous co-.operation of believers.

A social gathering to . mark the anniversary was held in the school hall on Wednesday evening, when the Rev. F. E. Harry presided, and the Rev. M. W. P. Lascelles conducted devotional exercises. An excellent musical and elocutionary programme was provided by the Misses N. Gray, G. Morgan, M. Samson, and V. Nicol, and by the chor under Mr. A. R. Don. The secretary (Mr. Arthur Donovan) reported a year of steady progress. In spite of many deaths among the older members,, and many removals, there had been an increase iv membership, which now stood at 330. The finances were good, about £400 having been raised for missions and more than £100 for other purposes, and this was without seat-rents or endowments of any sort. Mention was made of the close bond existing between the minister and his people, and reports of the various activities of the church told of progress and prosperity. The chairman, in his address, referred to the advance of the denomination all over the world. The returns indicated that they were now the largest Protestant church on earth and numbered over thirty millions, lhe simplicity and purity of their worship their freedom from political propaganda, and their devotion to the spiritual welfare of the people exactly met the needs of a democratic age. The glory of their Lord must ever be their passionate aim. The Rev. S. R. Weeks was the visiting speaker, and congratulated the church on its progress and called for increased fidelity to Christ.

The discovery of the X-ray in 1895 opened a now field of photography which has grown go vast that at the present time more films are used for radiography than for portrait photography. The namo of the street where the Bank of England stands was originally Three-needle Street. The property was owned by the Needlemakers' Company, whose arms were three needles. |