THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18896, 23 June 1923, Page 18

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS HEADING FOR THE HOiME. THE JOYOUS DISCOVERY. I can ! What rapture rising, like to wine Of flame fresh borne from out the fires of God, Knns lurmilf-riolous, aye headlong tumult Through veins that once were like a sod-

den clod. Of hopeless, useless flesh that meant so small A part in Heavenly plans. I heard the voice Of Him, rny soul's great passion, say io me. “Stretch forth thy hand" —and then I made my choice. And now. I can ! the works of Him that sent Me as His messenger is mine. The plan So plain. .Dead live. Deaf hear. Blind see. Because The Lord of light and life commands, I can ! PRAYER. 0 Lord, give ns Thy gracious help and abide with ns, whilst we wait before Thee,

from whatever trials and perplexities, tasks and joys, wo have come. May these only influence us in so far as they bring us nearer to Thyself. And may they be dismissed from our thoughts in so far as they may interfere with onr communion with Thee, or perturb the stillness of the sold in which Thou dost mirror Thyself. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. CHRIST, DIVINE, BECAUSE HE IS HIMSELF. Theologians have long discussed the deity of Christ, and they have supported their arguments with weighty beliefs. What they failed to do in seeking support for their opinions was to turn to the man himself. It is this that Dr Robert E. Speer has done in “The Deity of Christ.” “I believe, first of all,” he writes, “in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ because of His character; for it seems to mo, in the great language of Horace Bushnell, that ‘the character of Jesng forbids His possible classification with men.’ . . . Christ was

such a ninn that no could not have been a mere man. Ho was a man so great, so perfect, that He must have been more (ban just a man. Now we can put tho matter in a very summary fashion at this point. If our Lord was only a man, if His character was merely human, then Howdoin, Yale, Bryn Mawr, and Vassar ought to ho turning out better men and women than He was. If our Lord was only a man, it is strange that tho nineteenth century cannot produce a better one. Ho tVas_ born in an obscure and contemptible province. Ho grew up in no cultured and refined community. Ho was tho child of a poor peasant’s home, of a subject race. Yet He rises sheer above mankind, the one commanding moral character of humanity. Now. if Jesus was all that just as a mere man. the world should long ago have advanced beyond Him.”

THE MASS MOVEMENT IN INDIA. The village Christian community under the care of the Punjab Mission has increased to 40,000, chiefly by the unabated momentum of a great mass movement among (he Chuhras (sweeper class), according to a preliminary note by Mrs Arthur E. Harper in tho annual report of the mission. Continuing tho report, wo read: “But (ho dramatic fact of great numbers of converts need be no more interesting to tho intelligent, than the duller annual facts of Iho growth of these thousands in tho life that. is in Christ. This infant church, has it power? This groat challenging multitude, is it becoming in its hostile environment. 'A city set upon a hill that cannot be hid’? This movement of a mass, is it moving towards the organised kingdom of Christ?

“The workers, missionary and Indian, who arc responsible for shepherding these people, answer these questions in their yearly reports. Tho secretary of the district work committee has prepared a summarised report for tho year, from which these facts are culled: A total of 3283 persons_ have given themselves to Christ in the rite of baptism. The baptised' community has, however, gained by 4632, the additional increase being duo to Christians moving in from odier '('elds. The converts are not to be credited alone to tho preaching of missionaries and employed workers of the church. Many of them arc brought tin largely through the influence and witnessbearing of humble village Christians. The admission of converts to full participation in the communion of tho Lord’s Supper is a test of their progress. The number considered worthy of Ibis promotion this year

v;o6 602. A most encouraging increase is reported in giving. Last year, because of conditions due to drought, the contributions chopped 15 vor cent. This year that 15 per cent, has been made up and 12 per cent, additional gained. “The beginnings of a church are made in any group, when duly elect'd ‘Chandries’ or- ‘Lambardars’ are made responsible for the lay leadership of ttxe group. These men are the natural ‘elders’ of tho congregations, and their training and growth is a criterion of the progress of the Church. There are now 318 ‘ Chaudries ’ who have passed tho examination proscribed by the mission for this office; and 350. regularly appointed, who have not yet passed in the examination. This is a total of 668, an increase of 159 over tho previous veur. “ Lenders of the Indian Church are planning a forward movement throughout thewhole Church. Wisely, they have set objectives for progress, which embody the needs and are within the posibilities of the infant churches in tho villages. The first call to advance has gone out this fall —a ringing cal', to the whole Church to- give itself to two months of prayer. This call. “ Awake, awake,” is heard and understood by the humble followers of Christ, and they are being touched by a new sense of their share in the great, Indian Church, and their responsibility to it. Here and there in the villages, the people are Writing to pray, forming earnestly habits of private prayer. limidlv gathering their children for family prayers in the mud

huts, haltingly leading their neighbours in nfiver under great village trees or in tho fields beneath the stars.” NEWS ITEMS. The doctrines of the “ House of David ” originated, it is said, with, an English woman who, in 1702. wrote a hook, based largely on her fantastic interpretations of the- seventh and fourteenth chapters of the hook of Revelation. She was generally hailed as a fanatic. An early outgrowth of Iter writings was the Holy Roller scot. The beliefs of the “ Davidiles” are built for the most part around the prophesies of the resurrection, a fundamental feature being the interpretation of immortality. Tho sect teaches that the body as well as the spirit is immortal and that men and women will live forever in this world as man and woman instead of gyrin'- to heaven, who.ro they are only souls without bodies. Immovfhlitv is reserved for - the 144,000 chosen Israelites, and all the members of the House of David arc among the elect. Tho Methodist pastor in Pittsburg, who told a. Kit Klux party entering his church during worship’ lime that they must either fake off their masks or leave the building at once fsays the Continent) hit on the exactly appropriate reception for such a visitation. Elsewhere it has been assumed that since these intrusions were friendly in intent —perhaps especially because thov prein ised some replenishment to tho church treasury —they must: be permitted without protest! But there are proprieties in Christian worship more imperative than deference to strangers or the courtca- of an open contribution box. And surely none of these proprieties is more inherent than the expectation that overy_ attendant on divine worship shall appear in his own proper person, as undisguised from his neighbours as from the God he means to worship. Concealment of identity is unthinkable where men meet, together in tho hrot ■herhood of a common faith. The objects nr influence, of the Ku Klux Klaii do not affect the question. _ Masked men can never have proper place in God’s house, no matter what they represent.