OUR SUNDAY CIRCLE

North Otago Times, Volume CVI, Issue 13975, 8 September 1917, Page 2

OUR SUNDAY CIRCLE

WHAT THE CHURCHES ARE DOING. '• COLLECT. Fourteenth Sunday after. Trinity, Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the incrcase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost ,command;' through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen, PRAYER. • 0 Lord, we come to Thee with our many wants, and we beseech Thee mercifully to look upon our necessities and to cntisfy these. Wo would not confine petitions or desires to ourselves, but joyfuiiy remember the ninny who live in our hearts, and wonld give them a place in our prayers, boseechiug Thee that Thou wouldst draw near to all whom we love, and wouldst give to them what ivb can but desire for them. Be Thou Thyself their allKiiflif -eiit Helper, Light, and Strength. Especially do we pray for nny umongst us, or dear to us, or known to us, who may be in any sorrow or trouble. Draw near to all who are walking in darkness and have no light. Comfort and build up those that are dejected, cast down, the perplexed, the broken in heart,\the solitary and the weary, Thou icnowest the manifold forms which men's sorrows take; Thon seest the LM'iefs'lhat wrap the world better than we see them. Help us to keep hearts open for swift sympathy. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

THE SILENT I'IGHT,

To light aloud is very brave, But gallanter t know Who charge within the bosom The cavalry of woe. , Who win, and nations do not see, Who fall, aiid none observe, Whose dying eyes no country Regards with patriot's love. We trust, in plumed procession, For stidi the angels go Rank after rank, with even feet, And uniforms of snow. —Emily Dickinson

1 I SUNDAY fJCHCOL LESSONS, ' September 9th. Temperance Lesson; "The Benefits of Total Abstinence."—Daniel i. Golden text: "Daniel purposed in his heart that lie would not defile himself , . . with tlic wine which be drank,''—Daniel i, 8, September 16th, "The Fiery Furnace,"—Daniel iii, Golden Text: "When thou ivalkest through the lire thou shalt' not be burned, neither shall the (lame kindle upon tliee, , '-];j;iiali xliii, 2.

FIXEDNESS OF CHARACTER, By I?ev. J. H. Jowctt, D.D, "I have made thee ... an iron pillar,"—Jeremiah i. 18. That great, divine word was spoken to a young prophet who was timidly shrinking; from liis stem commission, The odds seemed all against him; Principalities and powers were ranked in fierce antagonism. The priesthood was his foe. lie had not-even the support of (lie people. "Aii, Lord God, I am a child!'' lie felt like a broken twig in the fii'ive current of a river in flood. Me felt like a desert-reed in a tempest. And it was just in that season, when his .heart trembled before a-lre-mendons task, that the Lord spake to him and raid: "Be not. dismayed; 1 have made thee-,'in iron pillar!" The young prophet was divinely equipped for his divine commission. He was to lie matched with the hour, Ilia mind wan-lo he established in the (ruth of Cod, His heart wan to be confirmed in the purpose of God, His will war, to tlic devil.

In all the great crises these divinely fashioned pillars are 'the salvation of the .Slate. The crises are not always limes of war. There may be times of luxury, and apathy and ease. The /{rave dangers, maybe, abound in Lotusland, i,n heavy and 'slumbrous afternoons. There are subtle perils on the Kneliantcd Ground as well as in Vanity Fair. Indeed, a warrior'may fight his way 111 rough Vanity Fair and collapse on Ihe Enchanted Ground. And so we need stalwart Grcathear'ts who are invincible in every place and season. We need men'and women of absolutely setlied and vital convictions, who arc "rooted and grounded," an the Apostle Paul says in his agrieoltural-architcc- ! ma! figure—men and ■women who are able to stand against lho\>iH\rvnting airs from ,'the south ami the tierce •jjasis from the icy north, It is the •mils lot' I his order, steady and determined at all limes, who are the pillars )1" a'people's hopes. In his hero lecture on Cromwell, I'homas Carlyle lias these words: ''Perhaps of all the persons in that antiPuritan struggle, from first to last, the lingle indispensable one was Cromwell, To see, and dare, and decide, to be a fed pillar in a welter of uncertainty; i king among men, whether they called ■1:111 so or not." And that is the purposed office and 'distinction of every soldier of flic Lord Jesus Christ, mid ore-einineiitly so in the times through which we arc passing. "Wei are to be as fixed pillars among folk who are shaking in • uncertainty'. We are to. stea'dy those who are trembling. We arc to be strong enough for timid hearts to lean upon, And this glorious strength we are to receive from our Lord as fhe gift of His grace. Ho is the fashioner of this royal .character, .and in His hands the reed, which is shaken by the wind, is transformed, into an iron pillar which cannot be moved,

NEWS AND NOTES.

Referring to the air raid in 'LouJoi: in .the "parly days 'of July, tlio Rrivisli

"Weekly says;!. London's pulpit teaching last Sunday (July Bth) might have been summed up in 'tho words of a beautiful liyiiin by Dr-Bonar, which lias a strange apparent prevision .of our war. alarms:— Calm me, my Gifd, and keep mo calm,

. Whilo these hot breezes blow, Be like the night dew's cooling balm, Upon earth's fcvcrcd(brow. Yes keep me cnlm, though loud and rude The sounds my ears that greet- ■ 1

Calm as tlic ray of sun or star, Which storms assail in vain, Moving unruffled through earth's war, The eternal calm to gain,

The annual Speech Day of the Bournemouth Collegiate School was made memorable this yearly the visit of Mrs Lloyd George, who distributed the certificates and'.addressed the scholars am] parents and friends, Dr J. D. Jones, chairman of the. governors, who was entertaining Mrs Lloyd George, presided, and expressed the hope that she would take baeJ: to the l'riinc Minister a message i/their regard ami nf. feci inn for liini, and of their soiipp of the enormous service he was rendering this country in this time of stress. An excellent report was presented by the principal, who anounced 1 that the scholars had decided to forgo prizes and to give their monetary value to the Welsh Troops' Comforts Fund, in which Mr and Mrs Lloyd George took a warm interest, Mrs Lloyd George, who was evidently impressed with the record of work accomplished, testified to the- value of such schools, She and her daughters had been educated at similar schools, and she hoped that they would use their opportunities now and afterwards do their best for their country and their homes,

After a long ami tiresome voyage and much delay at Hong Kong, the senior missionary of the English Presbyterian Church, the Rev. William Campbell, D.D., of Formosa, readied England on July •Ith, accompanied by Mrs Campbell and Miss Campbell, who has done much useful work of an honorary character in connection with the mission. Dr Campbell is 'recuperating at Weymouth, where he hopes to get nuidi needed'rest after his tiring journey. Before leaving Formosa, where lie has served the mission for the long period of forty-six years, very special honour was done him by (he local Japanese authorities, the Emperor himself signifying his approval of Dr Campbell's successful work, especially among the blind, in a marked manner.

The Rev. Mary Guy ' Penrse is sliil going, and is as .breezy us ever. In a lecture at Ifipoii on "Wiiat'is the Matter witli Us?" he sai,| there were two sins of which 'Jesus Christ made more than of all other sins put togel her. The first was found in the "Lay iiot 111) for yourselves treasure upon earth." Yet we never, never li.oaril of that sin; it didn't trouble us; tiie, more we got. the better we were pleased. They talked about the decline of Methodism, while tlie decline really Wfls a decline of Christiaiiky. One of ' thc.,.<\pn,ditio)is, .of..being .ai.member of the Methodist Church was not to lay up treasure, but liati ever anyone heard of :t jnember being put out of a Methodist church for laying up treasure' Not a bit of it. The more we laid np, the more they thought of us. There was no oliicr sin of which Christ spake as tie did of that. The other sin was "worry," and the two always went together. Laying up treasure brought many things that mastered a man,

Dr Henry Aan Dyke, wiio recently resigned his position as United Stales Minister at The Hague, has been occupying his old pulpit in the Brick Church in Fifth avenue, New York, He stiir-tcd to preach from his manuscript, but soon broke ofl into an impassioned denunciation of what he repeatedly called "the Potsdam gang." He said America must take her part in ending the Potsdam gang if the world was not lo become a cage of wild IvaM.-, America in the war was m her right place, and rdie would slay there.unlil the war was won, lialpli Connor had also'been preaching war-sermons to large concretions iu .New York churches,