TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16052, 20 April 1914, Page 6

TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH

. . o The Rev. W. Arthur Hay commenced his ministry in Trinity Methodist Church yesterday under encouraging conditions. The occasion was ako.the harvest thanksgiving celebration, which Was made the subject of the morning service. In the evening Mr Hay preached on "The Gospel According to St. Paul." The preacher gave a glimpse of the life of the Imperial City of Rome, showing the need for the life which Paul brought. The primary need to-day was not light and knowledge, but life. Thi6 was seen in the deep-breathed response of the human heart to a declaration of the Gospel gift of life. The Gospel was good news. To be good news it must b» true news. It rested on certain facte—viz., that Christ died, rose again, and ascended into heaven. The Gospel in theso facts was that Christ died for men, rose again for v their justification, and ascended into heaven (God's acknowledgment of His Son as the Saviour), and brought gifts unto men. Paul's conception of the Gospel was that it was the power of God; God's p'.an for saving and redeeming mankind. At the heart of it lay all the Divine energy inviting men to Christ, and bringing them from 6in and shame to glory. It was the power of God as opposed to the Eower of man. and thus it dealt a blow at uman righteousness, intellectual pride,' and morality as substitutes for grace. The Gospel successfully battled with the deep-fixed permanency of sin. It had changed the tacc of tho globe, and shifted the centre of power from east to west Wherever it had gone it had transformed men and communities, arid given a lustre to the noblest powers of race. ■