Religion and Life

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23839, 14 December 1940, Page 7 (Supplement)

Religion and Life

AN address of wide scope and r\ interest was delivered recently at the dismissal service of one of our divinity colleges, by the Ilev. W. G. Blade, M.A., of Pukekohe. Taking as his text -the words of St. Paul, written on the eve of martyrdom—"l suffer hardship unto bonds .... but the word of God is not bound," the preacher spoke of the inextinguishable vitality of divine truth and of its power to outlast the assaults of its enemies and to overcome the subtleties and confusions of error. We are living, lie said, in an age similar iu important, respects to that of the apostle. Christianity and its Scriptures are feared and opposed. The Invincible Cause A movement is sweeping the world challenging religions freedom. Russia has swept away the Church and proscribed the Bible. Germany lias conlined Pastor Xiemoller and two thousand of his fellow-pastors in concentration camps. Within the last few weeks Dr. Kagawa has been imprisoned by the militarist regime in Japan. Yet, 'dark and difficult as the day may be for many, it is still true that men cannot bind the word of Cod and that in the long run violence promotes the furtherance, of the cause it would destroy. Such a faith may seem daring and wishful, but, said the preacher, it finds abundant confirmation in the pages of history. It was when St. Paul himself lay imprisoned that the very soldiers of Caesar's bodyguard and the servants of the palace came under the spell of the Gospel. He found "an entire congregation in the soldier to whom he was bound, every change of guard brought him a new opportunity, and the roll of his converts increased daily." So down the ages. The Revelation of St. John was in an ancient concentration camp. Savonarola at Florence, John Huss at Constance, Cranmer and the Marian martyrs at Oxford. Tyndale at Yilvorde, and thousands of equally stout-hearted men of lesser lame, were overborne and perished, but the anvil wore out many hammers, and the truth prevailed against the bitter wrath of men. We are reminded also of the moro | recent persecution, "equal in fury to

By PHILEMON

that under the Roman emperors," which broke out in Madagascar during the last century, when for twenty-five years the native Church was harried and its Scriptures sought out and destroyed. Yet the wrathful flames were powerless to extinguish the cause of Christ and when the missionaries were permitted to return they found its adherents more numerous than ever. When we look for the secret of this amazing vitality we find it in the quality of the truth which the Scriptures contain. It is unique truth about God, enduring and unconquerable because it is divine in its origin and responds to the deepest cry o) the human soul. It possesses at once, as the preacher skilfully expounded, the disseminating quality of light and the generating power of the living seed. As light, "it shines into the darkest recesses of the soul. . . . and renews the. mind in the likeness of Christ." As seed, "it falls into a sinner's heart and, taking root, it grows we know not how, till life becomes laden with the loveliest flowers and fruits of grace." The speaker supported his testimony by telling illustrations. A Moslem finds a Mible in a rubbish bin. It is a holy book and he may not burn it. He carries it home intending to bury it. He begins to read, cannot lay it aside, and is converted to Christ. A scolling tailor of Yenezuela. a Neapolitan thief, a Lithuanian drunkard read and are saved with no other ministry than the Bool; itself. A copy ot the New Testament is passed through the bars of his prison to Ishii. the condemmed murderer at Tokio. He is loath to read, but on a weary day opens its pages upon the story of the Cross. He dies upon the scaffold a changed and Christian man. Surely there is no limit to the transforming power of the Word. Note of Challenge The address ended upon a note of challenge and appeal. Much in the temper of our day is adverse to religion. The rise of militant nationalism, the glorification of the earthly State, the prostitution of science to' destructive ends, the growth of materialism and the lure of pleasure, all create an age which puts religion to a searching test it cannot avoid. How are we to meet the challenge? Never by submission, pessimism, timidity, defeatism. The world needs the Bible as never before and the Scriptures will carry their saving messages to thousands of men and women, many of whom the preacher cannot reach, if we set their circulation free. For, as Dr. George Jackson has said, the Bible "shines with its own quenchless light; what the hand of God has kindled, the breath of man can never - put out. It is for us to scatter its light under the j whole heaven." I