FEE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18323, 13 August 1921, Page 5

FEE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. A RIDDLE. The mild noon air of Spring again Lapped shimmering in that sea-lulled lane Hazel was budding; wan ns snow Tho lealless blackthorn was a-blow. A chaffinch dankl, a robin wnko An eerie stave in the leafless oak. Green mocked at green; lichen and moss Thy rain-worn shite did softly emboss. From out her winter lair, at sigh Of the warm South wind, a butterfly Stepped, quailed her honey; on painted fan Her lahrinthino flight begun. Wondrniiilv solemn, golden and fair, The high sun's rays heat everywhere; Yea, touched my cheek .and month, as if—’Equal with stone, tree -Man ’iwonltl give Its light and life. <1 restless thought. Contented not! With “Why” distraught. Whom asked you then your riddle small V “If hither canto no man at all “Through this grey daydream Cornish lane. Would it mere blackened naught remain? frit rives it its beauty and life to express Only in human consciousness?’’ Oh, rather, idly breaks ho in To an Eden innocent of sin, And, prouder than to be afraid, Forgets his Maker in tho made. —Walter do la Marc, in Tho Nation. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE, Whether we can got this modern world to look at things m Christ's light and to act upon His law or not, we at least must make His law clear and try to explain on what great principles it rests, and in this matter of marriage and divorce, which is agitating tho minds 01 men today, we may say without any hesitation that if all men would earnestly and honestly see what Christ meant they would seek to establish lifo upon His principles, they would grasp the point that the only sound, wholesome and progressive life of men must rest upon a durable marriage tie, not a terminable marriage. It must rest upon tho belief that that union is divine in its authority and therefore must bo maintained in the face of all its difficulties and trials for the greater good which comes from endurance, from courage, from unselfishness If men would consider Christ’s view and SCO why Ho urges it upon us, they would surely see that this spirit which has come into the modem world is t lie ruin of society. The idea that ntaruago could bo a terminable agreement to live together if you like and to break it oil when vou are tired, the idea that-God has nothing to do with it, that it is simply an arrangement between a man and a woman on the low basis of the desires of tastes of the moment, the idea which at the present moment is filling the Divorce Courts and demoralising the public who read the accounts, the idea which gives an opening to any libertine suggestion and is prepared to discuss any abomination in the relation of the sexes—it is that disorder, that essentially ruinous disorder of the moral foundations of our human life straight on to rum, and if it cannot tie ar S it will lead to the destruction of our S„ world and tho society of civilisation to which W O belong. Man cannot do without Christ because Christ is man s better sed, rmd the laws of Christ always prove on examination to be. the basic' laws human w«». ~ <lO »t understand them,, bcennse « further acquaintance with Chnrt andt » methods that we have m Jesus the reve H‘° violate Christ violate life, and men who violate cn chnst God, men who r 3 their Maker, and turn their backs upon thei I despair . that leads to to^^

“ NOT FOR SALE.”

AMERICAN EMPLOYERS AND THE CTIUKCHEb. Dr H. Emerson Fosdick, who is. P er “ ap .®’ the most popular preacher m■ Yoto just now, has been giving a o = h uin '! ’" Radicalism and Bolshevism in \ he e^’ 11 crusade of the Federal Con net of the Churches of Christ m Amu tea. Jh Employers’ Association went so f.u to threaten the discontinuance by bers of financial support to tho dim cmunless then withdrew all moral.and to"cial support from the hcdcrnl Counctl. Preaching at First Presbyterian Church, New York—where he is the Sunday morning preachet—Dr Fosdick said it was no use wasting time answering a charge like that “For one thing, he. said, ‘ the persons who have launched this attack appar ently propose to settle the matter of the social application of tho principles of Jesus by money. ‘Determined to discontinue financial support’ is their proposition. will buy you,’ they say to the churches and in particular, to tho ministers of the churches. ‘lt you will do as wo say. money; if not, no money. May 1 ho permitted to suggest that these gentlemen have somewhat seriously misapprehended tho temper of the Christian ministry of America? lam speaking for multitudes of my brethren when I say, ‘Before high God not for sale!’ Indeed, I suspect that there has been a crop of sermons on the social question preached throughout this country that would not have been preached if it had not been for this public attack, so that those of us who are interested in having such sermons preached might almost thank these gentlemen for their unintentional assistance. If anyone wants to make sure that the social teachings of ,Te«us shall be the centrally absorbing subject of the Christian pulpit in the next rear or so. tho easiest wav is to oner to buy our silence for money.”

LIVING WITHOUT GOD.

DR HORTON ON HUMAN LIFE TO-DAY.

D r r F. Horton, preaching at Doddridge Chapel, iNotUiauipton, on a recent s;mmay said ho did not believe that men are more atheistic to-day then they were, i’eoplc do not argue against God now; they forget Him. I’oople were hying wituout Cod. “What are people thinking of or talking of to-day? in toe streets, in the railway carriages, when do you ever hear even the least suggestion that tho thought of God is in thoir houits *dl the time? They are thinking a great deal of what men say; they are vastly interested to read tho ncwspapois and to get tho opinion of their fellow-men. 'they want to know how the stock and shares are going up and down; they are immensely interested, almost incredibly interested, in learning ‘all tho winners,’ in knowing what happened in the great international football match. They are intensely interested, hut not in God. r J he old saying, ‘Vox Dei, vox populi,’ means to-day ‘wo are taking the voice of the people instead of tho Voire cf (,od where the Voice of God runs counter to tho voice of tho people, as it docs repeatedly and constantly. ITio result is apparent. The hollowness, tho shallowness, and paltriness of human lifo to-day arc almost incredible. The whole of human life is going to pieces for want, of God. We must return to God, not. only in tho formal souse (these formal religious exercises do not count so much as they used), but to bring onr whole personal, family, national and business, life up to the presence of God. and trt live jl, in the certainty that God sees it, and that before Him we must render account, for it.”

\K\VS TTKM>. 'I ho Rev. K. il. St radian. of St. An-(li-psvs Chinch. TMinhurgh. lias been saying nornf sensible ami 1 inii'ly things on the nc.w view nf t lie i’.ih'e to the IMA Church OtTirp Hearers’ Association in Glasgow. Tlio nnnlcni view of the. Bible, said Mr Slraehan, was not to he thought of as something that got hold of the younger people who must "always find something new. Rather the modern point of view had to h- thought of as bringing out of the the Word of God a splendour and power that even those who had known it long never realised that it, possessed. Modern scholarship had ar-fan-ed and catalogued this wonderful library nf Jewish literature, and enabled ns to understand the successive stages of revelation. It Is of great importance that our younger hiytneii should lie m touch with tbe younger ministers on this question. Th"re are too few meetings of young muhp. lers and lavnien for the discussion of theological and critical finest ions. 'lids is a defect that, can he easily remedied.