CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 8835, 15 July 1905, Page 3 (Supplement)

CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES

-W'uAT THIXK YE OF CHRIST?"

You know Bach's Passion music, decide lv the grandest thing that Bach himst ever wrote. I shall never forget hearii Handel's -Messiah" for the first time. Tl -openinc notes of the overture soon pi jje in" touch with the great thoughts < tfie composer, and as the beautiful words < the tenor ran:; forth, "Comfort ye, comfo: ve, My peop'-e,'' a s they song '"Unto us child is born, a Son is given," as the mus enfolded we saw also the unfolding of tk Old Testament expectation of the Ri (Jeemer. Tbeji we are amongst the Betl iehem mountains as the touching strains < the Pastoral Symphony fell upon our ear; jjid as t'ne. life of Jesus unfolds now an ar-iin you can see that the old propheti ecstasr is forgotten. They are face to fac ■jrith facts, facts very largely of pain Jlir-or chords prevail. You see how sad jess, is beginning- to make itself felt in th lifa of the Redeemer. And as you listei cr.. soon you can hoar the very hiss of th iasi as He gives His hack to the smitc-rs ■Jben the rfins-k: seems to become wore am s ore in the minor key, until almost uu consciously you are brought-, almost agains; vour will, involuntarily before the cross. the music 'alters, falters, falters ;K r cs to cease. "Tl Is finished '." almost invc'unMrlly comes to your lips. Finished! xiark .liain. The very heavens ft re split iri:!i the cltorus, "Lift up yon? lieads, 0 ■ve sates, ever lift them up, ye everlasting <!oo:s-~ "Hallelujah, King of kings and J,ord of lords." Tiic- angels axe shouting jo ireicome Him. Listen again. "King oi kin-s and Lord of lords." Hark! Wliat voice is that —tremulous yet triumphant—like words from the cliamber where death j«; -I know that my Redeemer liveth." listen again. '■Since by man came death, £r man came also the resurrection from the dei'L"' Reason is catching the strain, and since He lias tasted death for every man, oi-ain and .acam comes the outbreak of the chorus, '•Haileiujah '. King of kings and lord of lords," until, as the musicswells towards the end of the great piece, yon catch, "Worthy is the Lamb that wa« jlaaT;and then I think east and west, and jorth and south, all unite in the great cry." "'Amen! -Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelajah!" What think ye of Christ? , There are some questions of purely intellectual interest in this "world of ours. Many a scientific question is purely a matter of intellectual interest. Ihere are large portions of Christian truths that are only matters of intellectual interest. But I venture to say that- what you think of Christ a the most supremely practical question [ that can be brought home to any man's soul. And I ask you, therefore, Wnat think ye of Christ? Ts He to you the Son of the Father? Is He to you the iniase in which yon were created? Is he to you your Redeemer? I do not know how it is, but I am perfectly sure that if we move our eyes when we are in mental perplexity away from the cross of Jesus we are in darkness and bewilderment atonce. I do not know how it is, but- I am sire it is a fact that if we can keep our eyes fixed upon the cross of Jesus, asking ourselves what it irjeaßs, and what it- means for us, it is true, that, as has been represented for us, %e burden falls from our hacks. I ask "you. therefore, What think ye or Jesus ? and in one word I close, that He should taste death for every man.— Flinriptl Cave. ITEMS. African Islanism is now divided int-oj mysterious religions orders, of which there' ire said to be at least forty-five in French Alders, in the Soudan, and along the Morocco Hinterland. The number of foreign missionaries in the world in 1904 was "12,400 (5814 men an! 6586 women), and of native workers 64,347—making a total force of 76,747. The communicants of all mission churches number 1,209,011, 120,494 being received list year. In Xew York the Baptists are building a sky-scraper church. This ten-story church is to stand on Broadway, and is to be the home of the Broadway Tabern.icle. The lecture hall, class-Tooms, library, baths, and gymnasium, are all to be on different feors of the same building.

It is reported from Warsaw that, since the promulgation of the Czar's ukase abolishing the religious disabilities of the Cimrch of Rome and other Christian comF,imities out-side the Orthodox Church of Russia. 26,000 persons in the government cf Siedlee and Lublin alone have changed their religious affiliations.

One of the finest points of President Ixteveit's character is his fixed habit ot ■*. ing to church. Even isolation in the vflds of Colorado was not sufficient to Jiceak his custom, for the President and Lis party rode several miles to a little HouDtain mission church and attended service in their hunting clothes. The art treasures of the French churches, it is said, far surpass in value those of her museums. From an inventory of church treasures supplied to the Minister of Fine Arts, in answer to a circular calling for returns, an estimate of their aggregate value has been made which gives the •enormous sum of £240,000,000 " The increase of Jews in the United States has been attracting attention. A century vo there were less than 3000; 50 years later there were 50,000. Last- year alone there- arrived in America 125,000. At- the present- rate, America will have more Jews than anv countrv in the world, except- Russia. In" Xew York there dwell 28 times as many Jews as in Jerusalem.

Three Americans, Dr and Mrs Sheldon and Dr Susie Reinhart, have reached the borders of Thibet- and rented quarters for two years. They are the latest additions to the company of almost one hundred missionaries along the border who have hsz been waiting to enter Thibet to do missionary work. Mrs Reinhart once penetrated well into the interior of Thibet- with her husband, but the latter was killed or aptured—she docs not- know which—and Ao herself barely escaped. >"o feature of religious life in America today (writes Rev. W. J. Dawson in the Christian World) is more hopeful than the writ or open admission on all hands for the renascence of faith and righteousness. Men are uneasy and restless over the condition of religion. They begin to recognise the menace to national greatness that exists in the practical paganism of the masses, and the reckless pursuit- of wealth by a few. The policy of the church hitherto has been one of non-intervention with the larsxer affairs of politics. There are many siens that- this policy will not- be maintained. A wave of national anger Ecainst the abuse of power by the trusts, a.-.itnst- corrupt politics, against the wholesale robbery of the people by the lords of wealth, is slowly Trsing. and the church will have'to take sides. 'Such movements in America appear to me singularly slow. But slowly, yet surely '. the old ethical passion, derived" from Puritan blood, is tn&kinjr itself felt. The Puritan conscience «:II lives in the American, and, if I mistake r.ot. the hour is near when it will once moTe vindicate itself.

The Christian Work and Evangelist, of "Sew York, speaking of tire missionary spirit in Mohammedism, says—"Mohanimedism is winning its way outside the domain in which a little while ago

i: was a subsiding force. Xow an.l then a mosque goes up in this countrv, and one lias for some yeaTS been supported in Liverpool by a few converts from Christianity. In view of the mowing number of Moslem residents in London, a movement is on foot to build a mosque at a cost of 750,000d015., which will be situated in some central part of the metropolis. Meetings of a Moslem mission character have Tecently been held in Liverpool and London. "The Christian Commonwealth portrays a recent occurrence in Hyde Park: 'Some strips of oil-cloth were* spread under the trees, and here twelve worshippers took their places, with fices turned towards Mecca, while Sheikh AHul Qadir, wearing a turban of white and 3>M, chanted melodiously in Arabic the ordained verses of the Koran. The worshippers took up the chant, touching the earth from time to time with their foreLeads. At the close, a little missionary speech was delivered by the Sheikh. It is suggestive that whereas Christianity is yearly encroaching very aggressively on Islam, comparatively little counter-influence is exercisr d by the disciples of the prophet on Christendom. Its chief missionary suc-

cess is among- the heathen natives of Africa.' Islam is about to extend its mission, work —in fact it seems to have caught the missionary spirit—it will doubtless win new laurels. All religions that are non-mis-1 sionary are virtually dead religions. That Islam has iiot become such is due to its I efforts at pushing itself into foreign lands •. the same holds true as to Mormt>n^ m ' ~^ s between which there does not s&em m ' uc j, to choose."