CALL TO PRAYER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 14

CALL TO PRAYER.

GIPSY SMITH'S MISSION. CAMPAIGN IN AUCKLAND. An appeal to the men of Auckland to come face to face with God was made by. Mr. Gipsy Smith, *the noted evangelist, in an address at the Baptist tabernacle last evening. He spoke in simple words, but with a penetratjng force that hushed the large audience. He recalled incidents of his youthful dayshow as an illiterate,-boy in a gipsy encampment ho had made the decision that changed his life. But the eyarigelist did not dwell long on the, note>of pathos. Sharp shafts qi wit flashed across his sentences, a challenging note crept into his voice. "I ain po magician," he sajdi' ; "I have no magic wand in my portmanteau." Nevertheless, there was a touch of personal magnetism in the manner in which his message was delivered , and the audience was swung from grave mood to gay at his' will. The ringing. note of sincerity in his voice and the robust, practical Christian philosophy he preached held the gathering in thrall. "I want to ask you," he said, "how much your Christian life really counts. Is ypur city feeling the impact, tho force, the moral momentum of your spiritual march to the Kingdom of Gad ? Some of you profess to have followed Christ for years, and yet you have not led one soul in Auckland to Him. Jesus wants you to help Him to save His world. If He only wanted to save yon, He would have taken you to heaven when you were converted. "I want you all to feel during this campaign that it is your business to bring men, women and children into contact with Christ," said Mr. Smith. 'Bring him to Me!' That is the programme of redemption. The chief care of the majority of us is to save our own miserable souls and leave the world to perish. But there is a joy in bringing a soul to Christ that cannot be put into voids." Referring to the war and its aftermath, Mr Smith declared that the Church in England made a bad mistake with the coming of peace. Instead <*f taking the boys lo church to give thank" for their freedom, people took- them ( o the world—the jazz and the theatre. Small wonder that the men asked: Is that what we fought for ? The evangelist made a strong appeal that men should pray. Church prayer meetings, he had heard, were becoming old-fashioned. "You must pray," urgld Mr. Smith. "You must be" intimate with the Infinite. You must know God."