THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18453, 14 January 1922, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE H.OME. THE MOUNTAIN High on a summit of mountain. With tho far world at its feet. Mine be the wide horizon Whore earth and rky shall meet! By day I shall have the sunlight And the vast blue dome of sky; By night I shall have the starlight And a white moon drifting by 1 Tho free wild wind shall sing mo Tho chant of the far away I That comes from beyond tho daybreak With the first dim dawn of day ; And I, in the chant of the wind’s song. Will find my dreams and bo . Free like the wind on the mountain — : That sings of its dreams to me. —Patten Beard. PRATER. O Lord, ho near us, and with whatever hindrances and impediments wo have come into Thy presence may we be able to leave all these behind and beneath us, and rise into the calm regions where God dwells; in tho secret place of the Most High may we /worship and be blessed. Teach us how to pray, - subdue our desirds, direct the will aright. May we not follow after vague conquests which can lead to nothing, but seek that face the light of which is life and love, and is never hidden from them that seek after it. Through Josua Christ our Lord. Amen, THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER. PRESIDENT HARDING’S APPEAL. Thanksgiving Day is one of the annual celebrations universally observed throughout the United States. We append the full text of President Harding’s appeal in connection therewith—it strikes a deeply religious note: “ The season has come when, alike, in pursuance of a devout peoples timehpnoured custom and in grateful recognition of favouring: national fortunes, it is proper that the President should summon the nation to a day of devotion, of thanksgiving for blessings bestowed, and of prayer for guidance in modes, of life that may deserve continuance ol divine favour. Foremost among our blessings is the return of peace, and the approach to normal > ways again. The year has brought us again into relations of amity with all nations, after a long period of struggle and turbulence. In thankfulness therefor, we may well unite in the hope that Providence will" vouchsafe approval to the things we have ’done, the aims which have guided us, the aspirations which have inspired us. Wo shall have prospered as we shall deserve prosperity, seeking not alone for the material things, but for those of the spirit as well; earnestly trying to help others; -asking, before all else, the privilege of service. As we render thanks anew for the exaltation which came to us, we may fittingly, petition that moderation and wisdom_sha.il be granted to rest upon all who are in authority, in tho tasks they must discharge. Their hands will bo steadied, their purposes strengthened, in answer to our prayers. Ours has been a favoured nation in the bounty which God lias bestowed upon it. The great trial of humanity, though, indeed, we bore our part as well as we were able, left us comparatively little scarred. It is for us to recognise that we have been thus favoured, and when we gather at our altars to offer un thanks, we will do Well ito pledge, in humility and all sincerity, our purpose to prove deserving. _We have been- raised up and, preserved in national ' power and consequence as part of a plan whose wisdom we cannot question. Thus believing, we can do no less than hold our. nation the willing instrument of the Providence which has so wonderfully favoured us. Opportunity for very great service awaits us if we shall .prove equal _to it. Let our pravers be raised for direction in the right paths. Under God, our responsibility is groat; to our own first, to all men afterward, to all mankind in God’s own justice. Now, therefore, I, Warren G. Harding, President of the United hereby designate Thursday, the twenty-fourth day of November, to bo observed by the people ns a day of efianksgiving, devotion and prayer, urging that lat their hearthsides and their altars they uh’ll give thanks for all that has been rendered unto thenij and will pray for a continuance of the divine fortune which has been showered so generously upon this nation. In 'witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the seal of the United States of America. _ Done at tho capital of tho United States, this thirty-fim day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and twentv-one, and of the independence of the United States, tho one hundred and fortysixth. (Signed) Warren G. Harding. By the President: Charles E. Hughes, Secretary of State. NEWS ITEMS. . .Dr William A. Sunday dosed his six' weeks’ evangelistic campaign in Sioux City, lowa, oh October SO. The evangelist preached 84 sermons in the tabernacle to audience that numbered more than 326,000 persons. There were 16,884 “trail hitters,-’ which "includes nqw converts and those who made reconsecrations. In addition to tabernacle sermons Dr Sunday made more than 40 addresses before luncheon clubs, employees of factories and business houses, at miscellaneous gatherings and in nearby towns. The offering for the evangelist, amounted to 13,584 dollars. Thirty-three Sioux City churches co-operated in the meetings. Instead of discussing tho question of whether a person is or is not too busy to attend church, Harris Street Church. Atlanta. Rev. Bov T. Brumbaugh, pastor, distributes cards carrying tho message “A Boon to Busy People. In part the card says, “You have had a hard week. Your nerves are shot to pieces. You are on the ragged edge of collapse. You need relaxation, diversion, tonic, and that before Monday. We guarantee to put you on your feet before the work hour fit in every way if you will take our treatment.” This is followed by a description 6i the services to be held the following Sunday morning and evening. In honour of Fred B. Smith,, the noted lay evangelist, James H. Post and James W, Jarvis recently entertained a large company of friends at thq Union League Club in New York on the eve of Mr Smith’s departure for an around-the-world tour in the interest of international peace and Christian evangelisation. Mr Smith will be gone eight months and will visit the principal countries of Europe and Asia. Mr Smith exhibited 46 letters he had received from many State Governors within the United States. He had asked them two questions—first, whether the people of their respective commonwealths believed in disarmament and world peace, and second, whether they themselves regarded prohibition as a permanent American policy. All of the 46 gave an affirmative answer to the first question, and all but one an affirmative answer to the second question. The sole exception on the latter point was Governor Edwards of New Jersey. To find out whether there are in China or elsewhere Presbyterian foreign missionaries who do not heartily adhere to the Gospel message was the instruction issued by the General Assembly at Winona Lake last spring to the Board of Foreign Missions. It was the Assembly’s response to loose accusations then being bruited about which hinted at extensive heresies rife among workers sent by evangelical churches to non-Christian lands. The board accepted the charge and undertook the inquiry—or rather continued to_ prosecute* inquiries which it ihad. voluntarily begun when complaints of this nature were first hoard. Report of its investigation is contained in a circular letter just issued to the entire denomination. And tho answer is simply that no evidence whatever has been presented from any source substantiating in the case of any individual the suspicion which the sweeping generalities of a few critics had fostered. Not a line of definite indictment had been received. Surely this finding—really a “finding” of nothing—is enough to put a quietus on_ agitation derogatory to Presbyterian missionaries. A young missionary in China feeling, as he says, no intellectual doubt of any item in the declaration of faith put forward by the Bible Union of China, nevertheless expresses in a letter to The Continent deep regret that such an organisation has been formed there. He calls it “a bit of superfluity.” And ho adds this modest word of exhortation which no impartial man can deny in its pungent appeal ,to histroy and which no spiritually minded map can afford to ignore in jjts call for prayer at home: “1 wish that people could realise that the mission field, through the very nature of the case, simply must be a reflection of thehome cnurch, and remember what history teaches us—that doctrinal controversy smothers out missionary zeal like tares crowd out wheat; and whether they are conservative or radical, lot them pray for tho unity, the hstio ardour and the ■ genuine jjiety too whole church.”-