CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10580, 8 October 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES.

DEVOTIONAL. IT TAKES SO LITTLE. It: takes so little to make us sad, " Just a slighting word or a doubting ' sneer, ~_" Just a scornful smile on some lips held .;• ""''-, dear; J. And our footsteps lag, though the goal ''"._-' ''seemed neai, = - And we lose the courage and hope we , - had—- ' - *,So httlo it takes to make us sad. -It takes so little to make us glad, Just a cheering clasp of a friendlj }i ' , hand, i Just a word from one who can under- ■ ~. ' stand: And we finish the task we long had planned, ■>', And we lose the doubt and the fear we had — So little it takes to make us glad. PRAYER. . Our Father, may be take Jesus with -> „ us* wherever we go; may we keep close by His side in the way, that we maj ~ ~ understand fully the strength and ' power of His companionship. Our - -."' •' Keaits'will burn within us on the journo v, and we shall have His aid to . fight the giants of sin. Amen. ' - • RELIGIOUS REFECTIONS. When Paul Jones, the American pu- ' - - vateer, in pursuit of piratical profit and revenge, sailed his ships up the Firth of Forth, intending to bung undei lev\ Hl>e rich ports to the north and south, rlifstorv tells us that hi dl-omened fleet 1 was blown out to the German Ocean" bj , ' a might\ storm. It is claimed that this storm came in answer to prajer A certain Rev. Shaw to the south and the , ' Rev. Shirra, at Kirkcaldy, on the north <if the Firth, were instant and earnest ' in prayer to this end. To commemoi ate the event there remains, moie durable than brass or sculptured stone, the srrnole tiaditionary couplet: f"M-iister Shura an' Maister Shaw ''\ Prajed Jaul Jones .iwa'." Like the Rev. Walter Duulop, of Dumfries, another Secession minister, Mr Shirra was we,ll-known in his day as a '' .wit. His freo and easy speeches from - „ .the pulpit are even jet "tasted" in '' -the Lang Toon o' Kirkcaldy by admirers ' ,* -o'f clerical "will" One of his best concerns "Beef and Greens." . Meeting Widow Stocks, one or his own flock, making her w ay to the parish church, having been suborned thereto by. a gift from the parish minister, he -;s*asd,to her: "Where are jou going this -"■ ,-uioruing, Jenny?" • - --'"Oo! A'm gaain' for a diet or sae - _ hear the doctor. He's been verra ' %. 'to me." I Jr_ for a diet, are ye? Just ",'i * come _ back to yer auld seat an' ye'll" '- ' gotsbeef an' greens the day." "\ -X.-?3.'hus enticed,, Jenny turned back?and '*\*~-° Jfdllowed her pastor to the Seceder kirk "the' West end, and was a devout wor- ', i her" place at the foot of the '„ / pulpit*. 1 ,' - <«v ~'i . and prayer were followed by PJa'X ihe'jsorinoii, and Jenny heard the text L& _*.?_* (Prpvcrbs, iv., 17) given out with no I -;? if' I "misgivings. She prepared to listen .it'TV ."tentively and religiously.—for was she to "dine with the minister on beef •%%*«; and"greens? She was looking up .u and he was looking down at her "K*"'" \ as.he repea ted his text with greater eni- -«-, ''pliasis. "Better is a dinner of herb* *' —('That's the gieeTis. Jenin") —wheie ~~? love is than a stalled ox—("an' that's ■the beef, lass')—and hatred therewith." I promised \e Reef and giecu the da\ an' if yo listen weel, ye'll l.iot go empty away." "Slake and rice" appears, when spoken, lige another kind of dish ; yet itrefers, in Scotch, to the method' of prepnring sermons. It may be ihus explained :—Rice (variously spelled reise, rice, ri.se, ryse, rys. and ryss by Jamiepoji) means twigs, brushwood, scrub, or wattle. It may lve used "to rice .the water,'' that is, to beat or thresh a

stream to dislodge- and drive the fisli to the most convenient place, when, with -torch and "three-taed leister," the water poacher fares forth to fill his bag with trout or salmon that he must not touch "by day. Those who "rice the water" are the beaters of his peculiar game.

| Or the brandies may be used to twine 1 together to form fences, or walls which, when finished with clay, become the "wattle-and-dab" erections not unknown in lural New Zealand, where temporary jards for sheep and shelters for horses and cows are formed by driving in ! "stakes" at equal distances and twining manuka scrub between. This is no newidea begotten by the necessities of I colonial life. It is, as you see, the very one expressed by the phrase "stake and rice." 'Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictionary, remarks in further elucidation: "This phrase is sometimes metaphorically, used in regard to the composition of a discourse which is not fully written: A minister is said to prepare his sermons in the 'stake and ryse' way who wirces them only in the. form of skeletons, without extending the illustrations." —Attic. Alan. ITEMS. On August 14, the Primitive Methodist Charch at Filey hold its annual services, conducted by fisheimen. A 'toro hearty and unconventional servico than that in the evening could not no imagined. ' A dozen hshei men filled tVo pulpit, and conducted the whole son'co. Their tanned faces, their bluo jersojs and mufflers, then sturdy nimes and strong voices, were in .-triking contrast to the usual occupants of tho pulpit . The giaces of 'diction ' and''.logical! statement were more than made up for bj theii natural and manly utterances.

Aocoidmg to advices m a Loudon journal from Yasnaja Poliiana, Count Tolstoi, who takes great mtoiest m Oriental literature, was recently i i°itcd by a Japanese savant professor in one of tho oldest educational establishments in Japan. The learned lapaneso spent a whole daj at Yasnaja Poliana, and had a long couveisation uth the Count about Chiistianity. The professor is himself a Christia-n. Amongst other things he infoimed the Count that during the lecent excavations made in Japan theic was disco\ercd an ancient hbrar\, and from some books it contained evidence was found that Christianity' mado its way into Japan even in the fourth ccntuiy. At the present moment then; aie about 160,000 Christians in Japan, and the majority of them avoid the use of alcoholic drinks.

- The ex-pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle (the Rev. Thomas Spuigeon, who is uell known in Now Zea T land) has returned to "England after a five ' weeks' absence in Switzerland. Oue s of tho objects of this excuision was tp find new subjects for Ms pencil. Unfortunately this sketching tour 'was "grcatly\ hindeied by ' exceptionally, heavy", ram, or semi-wintry weather; and by severe pain. Nevertheless, by seizing favorable opportunities, -Mr hpuigcou sepured about forty which will afford him material for congenial winter w'ork. At or about Michaelmas he' has arranged to return to. his. favorite South Devon ictreat at Paignton, and to occup\ the pulpit of the Baptist chapel theie on Sunday mornings during\ six months. His medical adviser warns -him against fatigue and excitement, so that caution and partial rest are, stilly necessary

John Haime, one \of Wesley's early preacheis, and at one'.time a trooper of the Queen's Dragoons, was born at Shaftesbury in 1710. To commemorate the bicentenary of this event the Rev. J. Alfred Sliarp, tho English Connexional Temperance secretary, and himself a native of the town, lectured on the soldier-preacher in tho Charles Garrett Memorial Church at Shaftesbury. The chairman, Mr Arthur Haimc, of Cardiff, was a collateral descendant of John Haime. The Rev. .T. A. Sharp cave a vivid presentation of Haime's life: his early wickedness air.!

his adventurtes in the Netherlands campaign, where he took part in the battle of Fontenoy; and finally his return to Shaftesbury, where he , .introduced Methodism, became one of Wesley's preachers, was imprisoned in Dorchester Gaol, and subsequently accompanied Wesley on his journeys to Ireland and elsewhere.

A correspondent, writing to tho British Weekly/from Pretoria, states: —"lt is a matter for regret that the 1 question of Church Union in South j Africa lias now been abandoned —temporarily at least. Although the ncgoI tiations opened under the brightest prospects of ultimate success, it was early seen that, the difficulties in the way of arriving at a common basis of I uuion were very great, and these now i havo proved insuperable. The Dutch ! Reformed and Anglican Churches never ! entered the Conference, while the WesI leyan Church withdrew on the grounds that their 'very existence is inseparI ably bound up in tho Mother Church in Great Britain. Thus tho .Baptists and Presbyterians only wero left to tho consideration of tho question." At tho meeting of tho Presbytery of the Transvaal, held at Johannesburg on July 13 last, the- Presbytery, by a largo .majority, resolved to transmit an overture to the General Assembly recommending that, in" view of tho 'Draft Constitution adopted at Kimbeiley being obscure, or unacceptable and impossible m vital -particulais, the Assembly determine that negotiations be suspended meantime.' "