THE HENRY MISSION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15334, 17 June 1910, Page 8

THE HENRY MISSION.

ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN

Dr Henry gave an eloquent address to a large gathering of business men in the luncheon hour yesterday in His Majesty’s Theatre on the “Resurrection of Christ,” the address , being in continuation of his subject of the previous day. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, he said, established once and for ever the truth and authority and integrity of the Word of God. A good many people, among them sceptics and infidels, were continually cavilling about minor matters in the Scriptures, such as where Cain got his Wife, the flood, Jonah, the destruction of the cities of the plain mid a thousand and one tilings which, even if they were proved and the resurrection of Christ was not proved, would amount to absolutely nothing concerning the moral and spiritual regeneration of the race. What- the world wanted to know was that the claim of Christ was-a true claim and that His pretensions as to His mission to the world were rooted in fact. The open sepulchre confirmed every claim He made and the faith' of the believer refused to rest until if - had found proof of this supreme and indispensable miracle of tbe whole superstructure of the Christian religion. The resurrection of Jesus Christ confirmed not His divinity but His absolute deity. The resurrection guaranteed to every Christian man and woman a finished atonement. a complete redemption, and guaranteed beyond all peradventure their own resurrection.

THE EVENING MEETING

A CROWDED AUDIENCE.

There was an overflowing attendance at tho evening meeting in His Majesty’s Theatre, and the choir and congregation spent three-quarters of an hour in singing hymns, and prayers were also offered prior to the address of Dr Henry. Dr Henry’s text was “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” This, he said, was one of a serios of unanswered questions propounded in the New Testament. One of the most common things met with in daily life was the simple fact of neglect. Darwin had given mere contributions in illustrating this fact than any other man that ever lived, and Iris work had been phenomenal, especially in its'illustration of the growth and development of life on the one hand and of decay and degeneracy on the other. He had taught not only by experiment but bv observation of the fatality of the law of simple neglect in the natural world. The working of the law was seen in tho experience of men and women. Most of them fell through neglect, inattention or carelessness in the performance of the duties they had in hand. The Word neglect implied the habit of neglect. Not. more than a hundredth, perhaps, of the time given to the ordinary activities of life was given to the consideration of the moral anil spiritual interests of the soul, and a man might devote bis attention to earthly considerations until his spiritual opportunities just slipped away from him. and the spiritual privileges, otherwise his. were lost for ever. All he had to do was to let them slip, and he would simply go down under the weight of his own sin by sheer neglect and negligence. It was impossible for the man who persistently neglected his spiritual concerns to do other than be deprived of the last source of escape. Salvation was a definite process, the introduction of a divine life by which the soul in its entity was lifted up in conscious and blessed fellowship with God. There was only one power than could do it. and that was God’s Christ. The man, therefore, that neglected that great, salvation or deliberately cut himself off front this one wav of escape, must inevitably perish. At the close of the address several persons confessed, and the remainder of the evening was spent in prayer and hymns.

The subject of Pr_ Henry's talk to business men at 12.15 p.m. to-day will be “The Lordship of Christ.” At three o’clock Dr Honrv will speak on “ Heaven, and How to Got There,” and at 7.30 p.m. on “Sowing Wild Oats.” A united demonstration in connection with the mission will lie held in Cathedral Square at 7 p.m.

TO TUB FIitTOR

Sir, I noticed in a recent issue, of your paper the report of an anecdote, attributed to Dr .Henry, of a man whom he met who pronounced evolution “ eevolution.” and who was therefore promptly abandoned as hopeless. Now. I have heard men who called themselves “ Cher-is-tinns ” and others who called themselves “ CbreeK-tions.” ail'd who evidently believed what they said. would be interesting to know Hi' Henrv’s opinion ns to whether I lie rnisprounmt*tion would militate against