CHRISTIAN WITNESS

Evening Star, Issue 21218, 27 September 1932, Page 11

CHRISTIAN WITNESS

CONCLUSION OF CAMPAIGN IMPRESSIVE SERVICE IH TOWN HALL With an impressive united service held in the Town Hall last night the United Act of Christian Witness campaign, which has been carried on during the past week under the auspices of the Council of Christian Congregations, was brought to a conclusion. The building was packed to the doors, mainly by worshippers who had converged on it in march formation from the four different points where dwellers from the various suburbs had congregated. As the lengthy procession drew in towards their objective they were played up to the hall by the Salvation Array Band. The chairman at the service was the Rev. R. Ferguson Fish (president of the Council of Christian Congregations), with whom on the platform were the Mayor (Mr 11. S. Black), the speakers of the evening (the Rev. D. C. Herron and Dean Cruickshank), clergymen representing various churches, and members of the City Council. . . The service opened with the singing of the hymn ‘ Fight the Good Fight ’ which was followed by the Lord s Prayer and a reading by the Rev. H. E. Bellhouse. After the Rev. D. C. Herron had spoken, the hymn ‘ I’m Not Ashamed’ was sung. The Rev. E. S. Tuckwell led the assembly in prayer, and the Moray Place Congregational Church Choir sang the double quartet 4 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.’ The third hymn, ‘ Jesu, Lover of My Soul,’ was followed by the remarks of Dean Cruickshank, ONENESS OF DESIRE.

“ Let me preface my words by calling your attention to the fact that the personnel on this platform bears witness to the degree of oneness of desire and purpose of the leaders of organised religion in this city,” said the Roy. Mr Herron. “ There are still to be found people whose objection to Christianity is that the churches are fighting among themselves. Such a statement is no longer true. They are repeating the shibboleths of a bygone age. This year the Archbishop of Canterbury visited the Presbyterian General Assembly in Edinburgh and invited the Church of Scotland to an unrestricted conference, and that invitation was accepted. Yearly we are witnessing an increasing understanding and a closer co-opera-tion between the various sections of the Protestant Christian Church. The respects in which they agree far overshadow the respect in'which they diner As you see to-night, the churches ot this city present a united witness to their faith that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution of the moral economic and social problems of life. For years Christianity in the socalled Christian countries has been not so much opposed ns largely ignored, and the nemesis has come upon us. The foundations of the universe are spiritual and moral. To fail to recognise that soon results in chaos. We have not recognised it, and chaos stands with its paw outstretched over the institutions of the world waiting to strike. Science has filled our lap with her rich treasures and men have attempted to be satisfied without God. She has increased the world’s material wealth, but nob made us more content ; her discoveries have made this a much more interesting earth. U ith motor cars and aeroplanes, wireless and moving pictures, and a score of other recent discoveries, it has been almost impossible to fill in pleasantly all the waking liours without requiring to trouble our minds with questions about God and the spiritual realm. Almost —but not quite! The leaven of secularism has just failed to leaven the whole lump. But even those who have made profession of Christianity—although they would scarcely put it into language —have felt that in 11 1 new environment, religion, if not fighting a losing battle, at best was only holding its trenches. As many of you know, simply holding trenches is the most demoralising of all types of warfare. “ That triumphant belief that in Christianity man has the solution of the world’s problems, that confidence that the most deeply entrenched moral evils must give way before its advance, that assurance that the power of the Spirit of Christ can and will conquer the life of the world—which caused the early Christian Church to spread like a fire over Europe and which often since in the church has amazed men by its daring attack upon and defeat of apparently impregnable citadels of evil —in our day lias been largely absent from our religion. We have been suffering from what the psychologists call an inferiority complex. Materialism in its myriad forms, not Christianity, has seemed to bo master of the situation. The call for men to buckle on their harness, to go over the top into now territory, and undertake fresh moral and social reforms in the name of Christ has fallen upon cars dulled by a kind of spiritual paralysis. I shall not stay to-night to diagnose causes. I am here to declare my conviction that that phase is passing. Even if the changed conditions have not simply obliterated at one fell swoop the material ambitions of thousands, signs are not v,'anting that some people who had tried out the whole gamut ol possibilities that wealth ami pleasure placed at their disposal aro beginning wistfully to say, ‘ Vanity of vanities, all is vault

“ Thinking men to-day arc recognising that unless there is a spiritual solution to our problems, unless God can help us where we cannot nelp ourselves. unless He can furnish oewilderocl mankind with guidance and lead us back to the path ot life, our case is well-night desperate. hrom most unexpected quarters this note is being sounded. At the time ot the unancial crisis in America there appeared this statement, not in one of the religious papers, but in tbe ‘ Wall btreefc Journal ’• ‘ What America needs more than railway extension and western irrigation, and a low tariff and a bigger wheat crop, and, a merchant marine and a new navy, is a revival ot piety the piety of our fathers that counted it o-ood business to stop daily tor family'prayers right in the middle of harvest, that stopped work half an hour earlier Thursday night, so as to get to tho prayer meeting.’ Not long afterwards there appeared in the London ‘Financial News’ a paragraph which ran: ‘ The deep spiritual truths which have moved and energised humanity tor so many generations remain the same. When our children’s children ask what sustained Britain through centuries ot struggle, plain truth will point them to the English Bible.’, . “When that conviction appears at tbe two centres of the world’s material wealth it is like the sound of a gong in the mulberry trees which indicates that a hotter day is dawning. ton have the same recognition ot the fundamental need of our day in the decision made recently by more than one public onmnisation in New, Zealand to open their deliberations with prayer. 1 am full of hope for the future if only a

more vital form of Christianity at this stage makes its appearance inside the church. The problem to-day is not outside, but inside the ranks of .Christianity. That restlessness which is everywhere apparent iu the life of the world is due to the fact that man who is essentially a spiritual being cannot find satisfaction in material things. Instead of trying to lull that element in human nature to sleep by inventing _ palliatives, it is the task of tho Christian Church and for individual Christian men and women to show that there is no satisfaction for spiritual beings outside of fellowship With Christ, and the radically changed scale of values which such fellowship involves. “ Let us be quite frank. The restlessness of which I am spcaki.ng has not halted outside the church door. It has invaded the strongholds of Christianity. Often we Christians have tried to combine Christianity with expedients which are simply opposed to the fpint of Christ. Jesus said: ‘No man can serve two masters.’ We have tried to do the impossible. Take one example—the tendency to introduce * stunts into religions is an attenTpt to outwit worldly spirit by playing its own game. It is morally certain that the .Kingdom of God is not going to come through human cleverness. It is an indication of a lack of faith in the power of the Gospel when we endeavour tot.mix it with a certain degree of worldhtiess m order to make it palatable. We have become almost afraid to say that it is a difficult thing to be a Christian or to speak about sin. _ “ That is not the method of Jesus. When we examine the Gospels we are startled at the way in which He emphasised the difficulty of discmleship: sometimes it looked almost as if He did not want followers. Once a man came to Him—one of those shallow., emotional type whose promises are big and whose performances, are small, and said; * Master, I will follow Thee wherever You go.’ Jesus looked at him and said: ‘Very well, but remember foxes have holes, birds have nests, bub I have nowhere to lie down.’ If the man had expected to be enthusiastically received it must have been a chilling reception. If that man had come to join the church we would probably have placed his name on our membership roll and not very confidently hoped for the best. It is that line of least resistance attitude that is so largely destroying the distinctive witness of Christianity in the world to-day. I know how it works in the church. You know know how it works in the business world. “ As I see the situation wo are at the parting of the ways. The world is desperately in need of a lead. Its life has been broken up and is ready to be poured into a fresh mould. There are uneasy rumblings and a deep undertone of discontent. In such an hour as this we may expect either a landslide in the direction of anti-religious Bolshevism and with it the destruction of the present mode of civilisation or a revival of vital religion which, like an inrushnm tide, will simply sweep away the moral abuses and social and economic injustices which rise up before us now like unscalable mountains. Here rye come to this question of Christian witness. Tho direction which the restless, pent-up forces of the world will take depends largely upon the degree of reality or unreality men see m us professing Christians. If men discern m us a power that is giving us a nobler scale of values and a satisfaction m Jiving, a genuine interest in the well-being of our fellow-men, a joy in service, and a conquest of our meaner nature, that will tend to make the tide of life set towards Christ. On the other hand if, while our lips profess a form of Christianity, our lives deny the power thereof, there will seem to be no hope in that religion, and then ?—Bolshevism at least is worth trying. Bolshevism in Russia is the scourge of God upon an effete church. Let us, therefore, not.be high-minded, but afraid. “ Every economist lias his own panacea for the industrial ills of the world, and we are confused by the clang of their conflicting voices. However, the problem is not with their excellent schemes, bnt with human nature. Probably any one of their schemes would work if we were different. If men loved God with all their heart, soul, and strength and mind, and their neighbour as themselves in this fabulously wealthy world it would not bo long before ways were discovered of finding men work and relieving their want. It is not more reconstruction schemes we need so much as more of the dynamic spirit of Christ to put them into effect. It is only the spirit of Christianity that at the present time is preventing civilisation from collapsing. People write letters to the paper girding at the church for doing nothing. But let anyone here analyse the situation to-day—investi-gate the personnel of tho relief depots and the social workers in the city, and you will find that most of them draw inspiration for their difficult work from Jesus Christ. There is humanitarian interest in the church to-day, but there is not that triumphant note in its life which comes through the power of the spirit of Christ. “We are here to-night to bear witness to our conviction that in Christ is tho hope of the world. Let us, there' fore, open our lives more to the promptings of His Spirit. Let ns determine to know Him better that we may better share His life with others. We have been thinking—thinking until we are mentally exhausted about ways of bringing better material concl’tions, but we have not been thinking sufficiently aljont the unseen forces upon which all life depends. We have had too many engagements, too many meetings and conferences and committees. We have been busy here and busy there. Bnt we have not taken time to be nuiet with God. That buoyancy of spirit, that confidence in the future which is needed most of all just now will come through an altered emphasis in regard to the Unseen. Let there be a time in the day when we shut the door and listen. Let the weekly tryst in the House of God be a solemn engagement. (The person who is always in his or her place in the sanctuary—wet or fine--is a kind of spiritual tonic to the minister and the other worshippers.l When Moses came down from the Divine presence, although bf> knew it not. bis face shone. When Jesus«canie down from the Mount of Transfiguration, there was something about Him which caused the people to be amazed. “ The man who in the morning conies out from the presence of God carries to his business an indefinable atmosphere which makes him different. Tt is that, indefinable thing that the restless world is groping for. They will find it onlv if they find it in yon. But if it really is in your life, men will follow yon into the House of Dod and into the presence of Christ to discover bow yon rot it. Tf yon who can make to-morrow different are not prepared to pay that price, I can see nothing ahead but black darkness. Bnt given at this time vital Christianity in the chnvchos, I am confident that we are on the eve of wonderful days in the life of the world. ‘ Ye.’ says Christ, ‘ are My witnesses.’ ” STABILISING THE FAITH. In supporting the remarks of Mr Herron, Dean Cruickshank said be could not help thinking that if all those present were determined to go out and bear witness for Christ they could make a great deal of difference to the life of the city. “We are all assisting in what is called an act of

witness, and, unless you and I resolve to go out and act in the manner indicated by Mr Herron, we are little less than hypocrites,” he said. “ Unless we aro determined to make the world a fairer place this campaign has been in vain.”

After referring to the unemployment issue and the disastrous earthquake only about a week ago, he stated that, despite all such difficulties, they were there to bear witness that their faith in God was still uppermost, and that they would glorify the name of Jesus Christ by stabilising the faith of those who were wavering. It was not sufficient to pay taxes and to give to relief depots. There were people who needed their personal sympathy. Those who suffered most often suffered silently, and to them it was necessary to extend a sympathetic kindly hand. If they seized their opportunity to help these people those who were in need of assistance, instead of losing all faith, would have their faith reinforced a thousandfold.

If they were not very careful—if they were going to leave charity at the present time to the administration of relief depots and labour departments —they would find that what should be a boon to their brethren in distress would be but an empty husk. He who served Christ best was he who went beyond the limits of his own denomination and endeavoured to help all ,humanity, for. however keenly and strongly ho held to his own interpretation of Christ, there was still a great area on which he could unite with others in the Christian faith. Their views should be positive, not negative. All who had faith were allowed to see the light-—even though it might hot come to them through the same window. Let them beware if they did not unite in the Christian faith. The Greek nation perished because it did not combine, and at the present moment the British Empire was realising that if it did not combine it would bo facing a real peril—hence the conference at Ottawa. And many great thinkers were of the opinion that there would be no peace and safety in Europe unless M. Briand's dream of a united Europe came true. He still thought that they were a long way from interchange of pulpits and still further from intercommunion, but they could still unite, and they could try that night to make an act of confidence in God's Holy Spirit, Who was promised to take them to Jesus Christ. Who was the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The service closed with the singing of the, hymn ‘ Onward Christian Soldiers ’ and the pronouncement of the Benediction by the Bishop of Dunedin. During the service Dr V. E. Galway played an organ solo. The massed singing was led by a huge choir representative of many churches.