SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 30 April 1927, Page 8

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

(By'M. M- Fostcr-Barham). In the Nelson "Mail'' of 7th April (United Press 'Association), under the heading, "Face tho .Facts, Discrepancies in the Bible" Bishop West .Watson is reported to have said in Christchurch Cathedral, "What position ate we to take up? . . Of one thing I am certain and that is, if we nail our colours to the mast and refuse to change our opinions, and in face of all hold the Bible to be infallible in every point of science, history and literature, we may comfort some of the old people and allow them to pass without, knowing their religious beliefs arc being challenged, but we will lose tho /lower of youth lor God and religion." What position are we to take up? This question is occupying the minds of all thoughtful people and has to be faced. Fortunately it can be met, for though We have to change our opinions, there are no discrepancies in the Bible. When 'rightly translated and understood it is infallible in every point of science, litstorv and literature. If One has the key to the four Gospels, they each tell parts of the same story—they are not contradictory, but .complementary one to the other, and lit as exactly as do the parts of a jig-saw puzzle—on c detail missing, the whole marred and incomplete. It is the attitude of the Luman mind which must-be changed—not the Bible. Rightly understood, that Divine Stream of Light can meet the needs of to-day and to-morrow as adequately as it met those of the past. The churches must change—and the churches are changing. In England the , greater majority of the Anglican Churches are using a very beautiful little compilation'called "Acts of Devotion." It has been sanctioned for use in the following Dioceses:— Aberdeen and Orkney, Bath and Wells, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol. Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, lEdiuburgh, Ely, Gibraltar, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Liverpool, London, Manchester. Melbourne, Nowcastle. 'Oxford, Peterborough, St. Albans, St. Andrews, St. Ednjundsbury and Ipswich, Salisbury, Sheffield, Sodor and Man. Southwark. Sydney, Truro, Wakefield, Winchester; and is in use in St. Dunslan's Chapel. St. Paul's Cathedral, London ; and in St. Faith's Chapel,-Westminster Abbcv. It-can be obtained from any branch of tho S.P.GK.

i On pages 40 and 41 of this little book one may find the sign for which the followers of Rudolf Steiner have been waiting for nearly 30 years. In the "Form for Silent Worship" on these two .pages the- Church comes .to her own 'again, and teaches man lliow ho may "Go out into.the silence where Christ lives and reigns, where God is, and- where God works perfectly, where man .can -open his whole being to God, realising Him not merely as an intellectual fact,.-but the Living Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, the answer to every need of the human heart. In this silence many may.'come to feel as if the whole world were \obrating with the Presence and power of God, with absolute peace and stillness, yet with intense and ceaseless energy—the energy of perfect self-control. To realise this is to find the poise and quiet strength so needful in the stress and rush of daily life." ("Ac.ts of Devotion.") ' ,Tn February, 1910, all the leading newspapers mentioned, the fact that scientists by the aid of spectro-analysis were able to assert that the comets contained cyanogen compounds (compounds of carbon and nitrogen). This great achievement was rightly hailed with acclamation. When Dr. Steiner, however, at the Congress of Paris (1906) called attention to the fact that anthroposophy from its knowledge of (he nature of comets was able to say: "As the combinations of carbon and hydrogen play the same part on-our earth as did the, combinations of carbon and nitrogen (cyanogen).on the old moon, the comet* ary life must contain cyanogen com-pounds-rcombinations of carbon and nitrogen"—as those people who follow these thing*; attentively will remember, ho. met with no acclamation. Only the few took notice of what the majority termed fantastic nonsense. Meii of science have; however, at last come to the point where they fee] they must go bevpncl the evidence of mere physiea! sei/se-perception. and are turning to so-called spiritualism and psychoanalysis: the first a danger to themselves and a deadly sin to the medium, —-mental and moral, prostitution—towards brie who is of a type degenerate. and atavistic in predisposition—the second a sorry broom which though it sometimes sweeps the house of one unkind spirit opens'."the door to ten of Worse Da tin-.- more deadly than the first. And yet mankind must consciously cross the barriers between the sensible and the .super-sensible world —but how? The church indicates the wav in this form for silent prayer. Rudolf Steiner in .book after bo ok.'decline after lecture, shows eh/arly step by step, every step of tlie way, 'no new teaching—meditation and concentration. The Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament who meditated on the Works of God both day and night. Plato and Aristotle, the letnole at Ephosns with ffs inscription "O'Mnri 'Know Thyself," St. Paul with] his "No 1 lmt Christ, in me." Each of these, showed the humanity, of his age how to get in touch with God. "in tunc with .the Infinite." This was life message of the Christ. AYho came as the fulfilment..' After-. 2000 years we arc on tho fringe .of- His teachings, for in the first, miracle the turning of water into wine, we -may see the mission of alcohol which was to turn men's thoughts from tho spiritual to the eonruicsi of matter and the birth of clear thought. Manv. years ago Dr. Steiner foresaw (tie .movement which is now setting in • {prohibition), which indicates that men's mind in masses are turning away from alcohol and its results. Futile the agitations for prohibition.' Men are now, free-.and roust of themselves decide what' they shall or shall not do: but if is a sin that •tlie world has entered a new phase of -evolution and that natural science- and spiritunl science together can fulfil I lie need of a new age.