SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16189, 26 September 1914, Page 12

SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE , HOME. DEVOTIONAL. The Gbace of Humility. Lord, I am email, and y<.t so great, The whole world stands to my estate, And in Thine image I create. The sea is mine; and the broad sky Is mine in its immensity; The liver and tho rivers gold; Tho earth's hid treasures manifold; The love of creatures small and groat, Save where I reap a precious hate; The noontide sun with hot caress, The night with quiet loveliness, The wind that bends the pliant trees, The whisper of the summer breeze; The kiss of enow and rain; the star That shines a greeting- from afar; All, all are mine; and yet so small Am I that, lo! I needs must call, Great King, upon the Babe in Thee, And crave that Thou would'st give to me The grace of Thy humility. —Michael Fearless. Supplication. Our Father, we commend those before Thee who have great sorrows darkening their lives. We beseech Thee to let Thy consolations be near all such at all times, and may those not be spurned or neglected by any of us. Help all who are in slippery places to stand safely. If any. one is on the edge of falling into the sins of youth, do Thou help him to remember the God of his youth. And for all of us, according to our different necessities, bestow Thyself, in the fulness and manifoldness of Thy great gifts. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Meditation. THE NOBLE ARMY OF MAIITYBS. Could anything be more paradoxical than to associate a condition of suffering with the possession of the blessed life? And yet this paradox is given to us by our Lord in tho familiar beatitude which links blessedness with the persecuted. The association is typical of the abiding wonder of tho work of God. He opens up springs of refreshment in tho very centre of the bitter marsh. Fountains of life gush forth in tho dryness of the horrible waste. He makes the wrath of man to nraise Him. _ What are the characteristics of the life which is thus' associated with spiritual blessedness? These saints are first of all people whoso life has witnessed for Christ by a certain contrast —' for righteousness' sake.' - Their motives and habits were conspicuously different from those that were found in the world. " The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse from the raiment of any that traded in the fair. The people, therefore, of the fair made a great gazing upon thom; some said they were fools, some they were bedlams; arid some they >vere outlandish men." And so I say they presented a startling contrast to the Von and women who did not acknowledge the Lordship of their Christ. The contrast was between "dark" and " light." In their ideals and principles there was nothing shady, ambiguous, and obscure. The contrast was between "crooked" and "straight. "heir dealings were marked by candour, frankness, and simplicity. It was the contrast between the corrupt" and that wh:ch was " whole." They were pure in life, and they were the ministers of purity arid their entire conduct among their fe lowmen emphasised their virtues in vividness and reality. —Dr J. 'H. Jowett. Exhobtation. THE MIBBOB OF THE SOUL. Here is a short piece of precious word revelation, for instance, "God is love." Love! yes But what is that? Tho revelation does not tell you that, I think. Look into the mirror and you will see. Out of your own heart you may know what love is. In no other possible way—by no other help or sign. All the words and sounds ever uttered, all the revelations of cloud, or flame, or crystal are utterly powerless. They cannot tell you, in i,hc smallest point, what love means. Only the broken mirror oan. Here is one more revelation: God is just." Just! What is that? The revelation cannot help you to discover. You say it is dealing equitably or equally. But how do vou discern the equality? Not by inequality of mind ; not by a mind capable of weighing, judging, or distributing. If the" lengths seem unequal in the broken mirror, for you they are unequal; but if they seem equal, then the mirror is true. So far as you recognise equality, and' your conscience telfe you what is just, so far your mind is the image of God's; and so far as you do not discern this nature of justice' or equality, the words, "God is just," bring no revelaton to you. "But His thoughts are not as our thoughts. No; the sea is not as the standing pool by the wayside. Yet, when the breeze crisps the pool, you may see the image of the breakers and a likeness of the foam. Nay, in some sort, tho same foam. If the sea is for ever invisible to you, something you may learn of it from the pool. Nothing, assuredly, any otherwise. "But this poor, miserable Mo! Is this, then, all tho book I have got to read about God in ?" Yes. truly so. No other book, nor fragment of book, than that will you ever find; —no velvet-bound .missal, nor frankincensed manuscript; nothing hieroglyphic nor cuneiform; papyrus and pyramid are alike silent on this mater; nothing in the clouds above, nor, in the . eart<h beneath. That flesh-bound volume is the only revelation that is, that was, or that can be. In that is tho image of God paint'ed ; in that is the' law of God written; in that is the promise of God revealed. ' Know thyself, for through thyself only thou canst' know God. Through the glass, darkly; but. exccpt. through the glass, in nowise.—Ruekin (Modern Painters.) ANGLICAN AND METHODIST. An Ar.ig'lionn deputation, waited upon the recent Methodist Conference in England. Tho Bishop of Ripon said the whole Christian Church tried" to do full justice to the name of John Wesley. "We meet in Wppy days," continued the Bishop, " for time was when the Churchmen cast in tho teeth of the Wesleyans the fact that John Wesley steadily adhered to the Church of England throughout his lifetime, and I am afraid tho Wesleyans cast in tho teeth of the Churchmen thrt fact that John Wesley did not always receive very kind treatment at the hands of the Bishops of the Anglican Church," To-chiy they wero united in work for the Master, and these recriminations had to a great extent, if not wholly, coascd. He added that he' had followed with great interest the meetings of the Conference. He had 110 intention of decrying all undenominational effort, for it certainly contained religious activities which had done great goodl in the world, yet unde.nominationalism, if it were exactly what the word meant, could not preach the full Message of the Gospel. It could never build up a permanent Church, it could never bring about the union, of Christendom. Dr Bickersteth said they might be quite certain that the clergy of the Church of England kept a warm oorner in their hearts foe "tho people called Metihodists." They bdiervod that they wero nearer to nono than the Methodists. "You and we alike are baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and tho Holy Ghost, and wo aro therefore one in (hot fellowship. Also, to mention only one of our debts to you, we pre conscious of how much you have dono to emphasise the essential need of conversion." There could be no doubt that if the Cnur-h of England had been as keen in the eighteenth century in prcaohing conversion as she was now, very 1 ikolv they would have been all one body in an organic sense to-day.

KING GEORGE AND THE NKW GIiNERAIi BOOTH. ' General Brumwcll liootii uns recently received by the King at Buckingham l'alace. "Tho King received we with grout kindness," siiid the General aflerwarrk, "and .it once drew me to a chair near his own, utul plucixl by his writing table." His -Majesty expressed hits syinfmtiiy in the "so pathetic" . loss of the Ciiriiitlii-.il 'delegates on tiie Empress of Ireland, iiml went on to declare Ins admiration for the self-sacrificing' toil of the Salvation Army ollicers. -He then," «iys GeiK'i-dl Hooth, " entered upon a most inI cresting and delightful conversation with mo, in (lie eonise of which he showed not only his well-known interest in the wellbeing of tho great msi.ss of the people, but manifested a remarkable insight on nuiny of the great, questions of the duy as they affect the less fortunate and the sorrowful.' . King George's seriousness mid reverence in speaking ot religious matters specially .inpressed the General He was also much moved by the sincere affection with which the King spoke of his father, the late General Booth. The Court. Circular, by the way, prints the General's title without quotation marks. THE GO-TO-CHUIICII MOVEMENT. The Rev. John Gray, of VVarrnainbool, writes a cheering note of the success of tho " go-to-church " crusade held' recently in that city. Sunday, August 2Z, was the :lay set apart, and tlie attendances a.t tho fiveProtestant chuixhps wore increased by about 50 per cent. The local newspaper did splendid service. For a fortnight previous special leaderettes appeared dealing with the churches and their work from various points of view, larger and smaller bills were displayed, and thousands of cards of invitation circulated. Every house , was visited twice — first, throe weeks before the day, and again a week previous. "Many attended church who had not crossed Uie threshold of God's house for years. Whatever breaks the habit of non-churchgoing oyon once may be tho occasion of a new beginning. Tho collections of the day were in proportion to the consrreeations.