THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17936, 15 May 1920, Page 4

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. COD BLESS THE PRINCE OP WALES. Among our onoiont mountains And from our lovely voles Oh, let tho prayer re-echo God bless tho Princo of Wales. With heart and voice awaken Those minstrel strains of yore, Till Britain's name ond glory Kosound from shore to shore. Should hostile bands or dangor E'er throaiton our fair isle May God's strong arm protect ua, May Hoavon still on us smilo, Abovo thft Thorno of England, May Fortune's star long shino, A*d round its sacrod bulwarks The olivo brandies twine. Among our ancient mountains Aad from our lovely vales, Oh, let tfio prayer re-echo, ' God bless the Prince of Wales. A PRAYER FOR, THE ROYAL FAMILY. Almighty God, tho fountain of all goodincas, wo humbly boaopch The© to bless Edward Albert, the Princo of Walea, Alexandra, the Queen Mother, and all tlio Royal Family; endue them with Thy holy Spirit; enrich them with Thy heavenly grace; prosper them with all happiness; and bring thorn to Hiine everlasting kind* dom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.— Amen. A PATRIOT PRINCE. A young Prince, at that - period of life which,is commonly given up to frivolous amusement, sees at onoo the great principles by which Ke should be guided and steps at once into tlio great duties of his station. Tho importance of educating the lower orders <rf tho people is never absent from his mind; he takes up this priwcple f w»e beginning of his life, and in all tho change • of sorvatns, and in all the struggle of parties, looks to it as a source of permanent ,improvenjonfc. A gpo&fc object of his affections is tbo preservation of peace f bo regards a etato of war aa the greatest of all human evils; that the lust of qpnquest » not a glory, but a vast crime; despifis the folly and miscalculations of "war, amd is witting to sacrifice everything to peace but tho clear honour of his land. The patriot Prince, whom I am painting, reverences .the National Churoh—frequents its worship and regulates his faith by its * precepts; but he withstands the encroachments and keeps down the ambition natural ' to all establishments, and by rendering tho privileges of the Church compatible •with the civil freedom of all stets,. confers strength upon and adds duration to that wise and magnificent institution, then this youthful Prince, profoundly but wisely religious, disdaining hypocrisy, and _ tar above tho childish follies of false piety, casts himself upon God, and seeks from the Gospel of His blessed Son a path for . his steps and a comfort for his soul. Here » a picture which warms every. British heart and which would bring all upon their bended knees before Almighty God to pray it may bo realised. What limits to tho glory and Empire if the Creator should in His mercj have placed in the heart of thu Royal Prince the rudiments of wisdom and and if, giving them two to expand and to is WjSfyt j, H can only expect to see the begirmnur of such a splendid pcidiet; but when I do see it I shall exclaim with the pious Simeon, "Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes havo seen lny salvation/'—Sydney Snath (adapted). AMERICAN NEWS ITEMS. Dr Henry van Dyke preached in the pulpit of hM son, Rov. Torifans van Dyke, at Park Avenue Church, New York, on Cadman has entered on lus twentieth year in the pastorate of Cental Congregational Church of Brooklyn. The congregation celebrated the event with 6pecial services. . The story of the widow's mite receives a modern setting in the church at North Bend, Ore. One of its members, a widow, finding herself unable to give to missions as much as she. desired, earned 30.dolktrs for missStos by manual labour outside her home. i The Rev. Dr Charles Augustus Stoddard, who will soon be 87 years old, waa host recently to Chi Alpha, _ one of the oldest of. the ministerial clubs in New York City. The dinner was served at his home, No. 200 West Seventy-second street. Forty olergymen sat down to the somptuous repast, after a discussion of religious truths and ecclesiastical movements. Tne need of on efficient Christianity in present-day industrial and commercial relations was recognised by resolutions recently adopted by the Woman's League of Highland Park Chnioh, Chicago. In the resolutions the members of the _ league pledge themselves as workers to give conscientious service; as employers to furnish the best possible conditions and standards of work and living; a consumers to investigate conditions of production; _ and as citizens to support legislation against injurious woman labour and child labour. Madison Square Church, New York, long famous as the pulpit of Dr Parkburst, is boing removed from under the shadow of the tall metropolitan building, where it has stood so many years. It will be taken to Hartford, Cbnn., where it i 3 to be recrected as a home for the Hartford Times. As rebuilt, the edifice is not churchly in appearance as it was before, but the western facade, with the stately columns, is practically unchanged. Tho Rev. Dr Harlan, G. Mendenhall, Moderator of the Presbytery of Now York, has been appointed one of the four Presbyerian delegates to tho World's Conference on Faith and Order, to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, next August The others are tho Rev. Dr William H. Roberts, of Philadelphia, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian General Assembly; John 'JTOlis Baer, Moderator; and the Rev. Dr John A. Marquis, of New York, senior secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. An -unknown invalid girl in Georgia wrote to the pastor of tho Second Baptist Church of Atlanta, telling him that sho was unable to do any active service in tho groat financial.drive of that church, but that a strong impression had come to her that sho would pray that some of his members would be stirred up to liberal gifts. Tho pastor road the letter to his congregation the following Sabbath, and during the week received a gift of 50,000 dollars bv ono who had been touched- by the reading of the letter. The Knickerbocker Field Club of Brooklyn recently met to deride whether the club, houso should be open on Sunday. Tho vote proved, 192 to 124 against opening. A letter sent out by 16 of the 19 officers and directors of the organisation says in part: "Tho Knickerbocker Club has prospered for _30 years because of its conservative policies. It has tried to bo a good neighbour and not a nuisance to tho community! . . Twelvo out of tho fifteen of our neighbours with houses abutting the ichib have expressed disapproval of tho suggestion .of Sunday opening, and the members signing -this letter feel that, if thoir homes adjoined tho club, they would act in tho same way." There is considerable feeling among the conservative ministers of New York because tho Rev. Dr John Kelman, pastor of the Fifth Avenuo Church, has accepted olrction as a director _of tho Union logical' Seminary. The directors of Prnceton are especially disappointed, because they expected to ask Dr Kelman to accept a directorship there. One could jiardly servo both. George B. Agnew.. president of the Board of Trustees, stated' to the press that he would support Dr Kclm;in "in anything he wants." It was Mr Agnew who went to Edinburgh and po'<-rrl the seed which eventually brought Dr Kelman to America. The JO-day campaign of the Billy Sunday party in Syracuse dosed on' March 14. It was tho first time Mr Sunday had ever returned to a city a second time to conduct an evangelistic chjnpaifm; local newspapers called it is first "double play." Representative opinion in tho city asserts that tho success of this undertaking estiblialies a precedent. Tlio sentiment of the Billv Sunday Business Men's Club and of of Syracuse Evangelistic Association, composed of ministers of tho co-oncrat.ing churches, is tlint tho short campaign was not. onlv n success but that greater results would have been possible if it. hnd bor>n of linger duration. More than 64.000 persons attended the meetings in the Arena, and there wire nearly 2000 " trail hitters." The freewill offerincrs for tho evangelist amounted to 3364 dollars.