CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 120, 21 April 1932, Page 8

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

EVANGELISTIC ADDRESS

Ia dealing with the subject of “Backsliding' 1 last night at the Congregational Church, Mr Andrew Johnston, the blind soldier, took for his text, “And Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom.” “Crises do not make character, they only reveal it, ’ declared the evangelist. “The choice which Lot made that day only revealed what was already,/m his heart. From the world/ viewpoint his choice was a wise business-like one, but what of the end or the journey i Lot went out of Sodom with nothing; +he end was a sad bitter disappointment and so will the end of every backslider be who puts the wor d before God. Beware of the old prophet,” said the evangelist, he who is living on a lower plane than he knows he ought to be, and does not like the young enthusiasts’ zeal, and seeks to turn him aside by his plausible reasonings. Thus many a one is turned into the track of the backslider. If you are there,” exhorted the preacher, “return to-night and, like the prodigal of old, leave the barren wilderness of experience for the bounty and rest of the Father’s house.” Mr Johnston will continue his addresses to-night at 7.30-