THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19015, 10 November 1923, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. SUNDAY AFTERNOON. lIIS GARMENTS. God I have not scon Kxcopt in spirit.: But His garments hung In the sky to-day Patent to everyone. I knew they were His Because no human hand Gould weave such fabrics — No mortal chemist Mix such dyes, In shades of gold and grey, Purple, rose, and ivory. Low they hung in the blue expanse When tho rain was over And tho sun had gone west To spend the night: And I know Though darkness gathered ’round, That God Himself Was not far away. —Lucio Gill Price in the British Weekly. PRAYER. O Lord, wo bless Thee that Thou dost train u» by all the variety of ’lhy dealings with us, and that though the dispensations of Thy hand may vary and bo contrary, the purposes of Thy heart do never change. Wo thank Thee tor the day and night which both come from the one source. IV e thank Thee tor the summer and winter which both make up the year. Wc thank Thee for ali which Thou dost give. Oh, help us not to hold back our thanks if Thou dost withdraw. And may we ever ba able to say about great and small mercies, when they come and when they depart, ‘The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away; blessed bo the name of the Lord.” Through Jesus Christ oin - Lord. Amen. MAN AND THE UNIVERSE. SIR OLIVER LODGE IN THE PULPIT. At Softon Park Presbyterian Church, Liverpool, on a recent Sunday morning Sir Oliver Lodge discoursed on “Man and the Universe” to a congregation that filled every available portion of the building. In welcoming Sir Oliver Lodge the minister of Sefton Park, Rev. J. S. Macdonald, referred to him as one who had ever sought to defend the spiritual interpretation of the universe. Wearing a plain black gown, and speaking throughout in a conversational tone, Sir Oliver briefly referred to tho days when the truths revealed by religion, and those revealed by science, were in conflict. Scientific men had begun to realise now that in the pursuit of truth there were avenues of approach other than their own. His own researches had led him to a firm conviction of the truth of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. Referring to the truths revealed by astronomy. Sir Oliver said it was well to remember that, after all, the world was “a heavenly body,” though it might bo difficult to consider it one when they' thought of what went on upon it. Astronomy showed that there was one system of law running throughout tho universe. The laws of physics and tho laws of light held alike in the most distant stars. Tho same chemical elements existed throughout the universe, and the chemical analysis of the stars further affirmed tho existence of one system of law and order. Wo used to think of the atom as a little, hard, indivisible thing. Now we had learned that it was the nucleus of a solar system, with revolving planets, not crowded, but moving each in its own orbit, with interspaces as big in proportion as the interspaces of the solar svstem, and all governed by the same beautiful system of law and order. Man, on his bodily side, said Sir Oliver,, was found to have had an animal ancestry. This idea at one time excited hostility. It was thought to be repugnant to the dignity of man. But tho truth was never inferior to our conception of what we should have liked it to be. Man, at first, was no doubt in a state of innocency, like the animals; but there came a revelation of free will, a power of choice, land with that revelation entered the human soul, that genius of the race, apprehending that good and evil were before man, and he was free to choose. Tho “fail” of man was an upward step, though he tripped over the upward stop at •first. One could easily imagine a mechanical universe; but God’s was a higher problem—namely, to create a universe which went right because it would, and not because it must. Evil was merely the result of man’s immaturity. lie had not risen yet to the desire of his Creator, but be was on the way. Meanwhile we enjoyed the privilege of existence —a marvellous gift. Once in existence, we had within us tho seeds of immortality. We should continue to exist to all eternity, developing our characters, accumulating our memories, and this present state was but a preparation for that which was to come. Wo could acquire tho knowledge that God’s service was perfect freedom, and that in so far ns we rebelled against what we know to be good, we did it to our own hurt. Man alone possessed the prerogative of sin—knowing the belter and doing the worse. Free will removed all idea of mechanical perfection. The Creator’s problem was to make a race worthy of His owtj companionship. _We wore God’s agents, and could help or hinder. Some things would never bo done unless we did them. We were a conscious part of tho universe, and might possess powers of development beyond anything we could now imagine. Tho son of man might also be a son of God. ZION AND HER STAKES. On September 22 it was a hundred years since—on Hill Gomurah, near Palmyra, in New York State —Joseph Smith received from God, according to his story, the engraved plates from which he translated the Book of Moimon. The occasion was to bo celebrated by a grgat Mormon encampment on the spot which holds such a sacred place in the history of tho Latter-Day Saints. In preparation for this centenary observance the Eastern States Mission of the Mormon Church sent out 150 or more missionaries on a propagandist campaign. They have made their way, without purse or scrip, through a considerable section of tho United States, preaching and leaching tho doctrines of Mormonisrn, and relying the while for food, shelter, and raiment on the charity of their hearers. They converged on Hill Cornurah to take part in the centennial celebration. When the encampment, which will continue several da.ys, is broken up, plans will be set on foot for an even more ambitious effort, at proselytising. The whole of the Eastern States will be mapped out into “stakes”— a term adopted from tho Scriptural passage, “Let Zion be founded and her stakes enlarged.” According to a statement recently made by Mr Brigham 11. Roberts, an elder of the Mormon Church and a member cf the Council of Seventy, that church is about to establish throughout the Eastern States parochial schools and seminaries in which the doctrines of Mormonism will ho taught in conjunction with the usual secular subjects. They will be maintained by subventions from the Mormon Church, private subscriptions, and tuition fees, in tile same manner as parochial schools of other denominations are at, present carried on. “On the centennial of its hirth,” says Mr Roberts, “the Mormon Church, finds the purpose of its Western mission completed, and we now turn our faces eastward to accomnlish onr appointed task of redeeming tho old places where our faith was born and cradled.” Utah was only a resting-place, and was never regarded by our church as a permanent homo. That permanent home will be in Independence, Missouri.” NEWS ITEMS. The Rev. Professor George Milligan, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, preached the sermon in St. Peter’s Cathedral, Geneva, on the Sunday on the eve of the League Assembly. Tho Moderator chose as his text, “'lhy Kingdom corno” (St. Matthew vi, 10). lie said : “There can he for ns no more rugont duty than to make the great vision of tho League of Nations a reality, and more particularly to ask whore can we look for (ho driving' power, the inspiring motive, by which alone its goal can lie reached. For (ho League will not work by itself; or attain its ends by purely legal or political machinery, however necessary in its own place that machinery may bo. Only, wo believe, in the domain of moral and spiritual truth can a lasting solution for our perplexities and dangers be found.” An impressive and largely attended service was recently held in Holy Trinity Church, Ship street. Brighton, to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the death of the Rev. Frederick W. Robertson, M.A. The Bishop of Chichester preached a powerful sermon taking as his text; “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” 110 said that Robertson was a man in advance of his day, fearlessly favouring the study of physical science and intellectual liberty m Bible exposition. He advocated the break-