BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10462, 23 May 1910, Page 1

BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY.

The anniversary services of the Baptist Sunday School were held yesterday, having been postponed from last Sunclay (Swing to the national mourning. The church was beautifully decorated for the occasion, and the children took foremost place in the service of praise. They had been carefully trained by Mr Hiett, an<l with t-lie able assistance of Mrs 'tonkin at the organ, Mr Palmer (cornet), and Mr Rosie (flute) they gave a beautifully sweet rendering of the special hymns selected for the services. The morning service was conducted by the Rev. T. Roseveare, of Weston, .who addressed the children from the text, "When I am weak then am I strong." The sense of the text was strikingly_ illustrated by bits _of string of varying strength. The thin bit and the bit with a flaw in it, although apparently strong, could not withstand much strain, but by binding the weak pieces around another and stronger piece they partook of the strength of the latter. So, •by binding our weakness to God's strength we became strong. In addressing the parents from the loth verse of the 14tli chapter of Exodus, "Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." The preacher shewed how Moses led the children of Israel step by step and little by little according to the command of God just at the right time for His wUI concerning his people to be done. They were not shewn, when brought to the side of the Red Sea, that after that great passage was accomplished there would be the bitter waters of Marah, the want of bread, and other trials and weary wanderings in the wilderness. It was theirs to obey the will of God and be led, little by little and step by step, until the time was come for them to be fit to enter the promised land by reason of their experience gained in the trials of the wilderness. Had the children of Israel been permitted to look ahead and see the suffering that awaited them in those forty years, they might have been discouraged. And our experiences are just so. It was of God's mercy that Paul, that Savonorola, Wesley, Luther, and such men were not permitted to see the suffering and cruel deaths that awaited them. God let them, little by little, through a long process of sanctification. The thing is to be ready to "go forward" when God calls, whether it be in adopting newer and better methods in our Sunday School ''work, enabling us to present truth in a clearer manner to the children, or in any phase, of our Christian life.

In the evening the Rev. It. J. Por-, ter preached to the parents from the! 16th verse of the 4th Chapter of St.; Luke's Gospel: "As his custom was, he: went into the Synagogue on the Sab-' bath day." In a forceful and earnest sermon the preacher shewed how t-lie Saviour was faithful and constant ill liis attendance at public worship, and although just commencing his great mission and pressed with thronging duties, did not neglect this duty to God. The welfare of our Dominion is dependent on our attendance at public worship, for our moral excellence and wellbeing. is dependent on our duty to God. Man takes a lower ideal if he loses God and will not progress to moral excellence. In the history of nations morality has gone down just as faith in God has been weak. The Roman Empire and French Revolution are examples, and our criminal classes come from the homes where God and his Bible are ignored. As a. rule, the man who does, not go to church does not- worship God anywhere, and is.practically an atheist. Every man who neglects public worship contributes to his country's degra-: dation. The father who idles his time at home, leaving his wife arid family to go to church without him is a corrupting influence in his own family, and later may have to answer to God for the ruin of his own sons. By the example of our .daily lives we are forming our children's character. The preacher concluded a stirring address by entreating the parents, for their childrens sake, for their own sake, and for their country's sake, not to neglect the assembling themselves together for public worship. The children led the singing as at the morning service. The children were addressed by Mr Buckingham in the afternoon on "Men and women in the making." The anniversarv concludes on Thursday with a tea at '6 p.m. and an entertainment to follow.