TIMELY TOPICS

Northern Advocate, 14 August 1935, Page 6

TIMELY TOPICS

PUBLIC WORSHIP. “The justification of public worship where sincerely religious men and women meet together is that something is felt and given by all which cannot be felt and given alone,

writes the Rev. Henry Gow, M.A., j D.D., of Brighton, in “The Inquirer. ’ j This is true not only in singing the ( hymns or in joining m prayer. It is j true also of the sermon. I believe it | to be true to our experience that a j sincere preacher can speak to its j congregation, large or small, of the | deepest things in his soul as he can j rarely if ever do in private conversa- | tion. There is a certain freedom of the spirit in communal worship, an atmosphere of mutual faith and brotherhood which makes the sermon not a mere lecture or address, but a sharing of spiritual experience and of ideals of life in the presence of God. This description of public worship and preaching may sound unreal or rhapsodical when we compare it with the actual services which we know. They often fall so far below the ideal. Ministers and laymen alike must be deeply conscious of the imperfection of their worship. But these imperfections and inadequacies must not make us disbelieve in the ideal.” <S> <S> <t> <S> UNEMPLOYMENT AND IMMIGRATION. “When all is said and done, there os no method of relieving our unemployment at the moment, and of enabling men, profoundly discouraged by adverse circumstances, to start the world afresh, more hopeful than that which is offered by emigration overseas,” writes Sir Charles Mallet, in the “Contemporary Review.” “We have an Empire with vast empty spaces, in Canada and in Australia particularly, crying out for population, which sooner or later, if not populated by settlers from Great Britain, will inevitably be populated by settlers from elsewhere. What of late has prevented our sending to these great undeveloped territories many families suitable for emigration, whom we find it difficult to support at home? Three things chiefly. The attitude of politicians and trade union leaders in the Dominions; the difficulty of absorbing new settlers satisfactorily; and the very serious cost. Of these three obstacles the cost is possibly the least.” <S> ■s> <S> <B> Words of Wisdom. We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, Who regards not the greatness of the work, hut the love with which it is performed. —Lawrence. <s. <*> Tale of the Day, Pat: “Moike, do yez know why an Irishman hits the pepper box on the bottom an ’ a Dutchman hits it on the Mike: “Oi don’t. Why is it? Pat: “Share, an’ it’s to get the pepper out, Moike,”