THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19240, 2 August 1924, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING ECU THE HOME. JUST AS. OF OLD. Ho stood on tho teach at the break of day. And He beckoned to toiling men ; Famished and &j>ont, they hcn.nl Him say, In the old kind voice, in tho kind old way, (Tliat voice to bo heard again!) “Boys, have yo aught to cat?" "TTs He!” Cried tho weary Ushers of Galileo. To-day and forever the One who cared! Still, as of old, the sumo. Questioning kindly how thov fared (Though their souls to Ilia loving gaze were bared). Calling them each by name. Dead? Their Master? The Crucified ? Nay! Though a thousand deaths Ho did! A PRAYER. Most gracious God, our heavenly Father, in whom alone dvvolloth all fulness of light and wisdom; ill nnino our minds, wo beseech Thee, by Thy Holy Spirit, in tho true understanding of Thy Word. Give u.s grace Chat wo may receive it With reverence and humility unfeigned. May it load u.s to put our whole trust in Thco alone, and so to servo and honour Thee, that wo may glorify Thy holy name, and edify our neighbours by a good example. Ant! since it hath pleased Thoo to number us among Thy people, O help us to pay Thee the love and homage that we owe, as children to our Father, and as servants to our Lord. We ask this for the sake of our Master and Saviour. Amen. —John Calvin. IF SOMETHING GOOD BE SAID. Whan over Che fair name of friend or foe The shadow of disgrace shall fall; instead Of words of blame, or proof of this and so I/et something good bo said. Forgot not that no fellow-being yet May fall so low but love may lift his head:

Even the cheek of shame with tears is wet, If something good bo said. No generous heart may vainly turn aside In ways of sympathy; no soul so dead But may awaken strong and glorified, If something good bo said. JUDGE NOT. Tour judgment of others is in reality tho most complete betrayal of yourself. What you think of them is the key to your own soul. Your careless utterances are like the boomerang of some clumsy savage, often missing thq mark toward which it is thrown and returning to smite the man who threw it. This is a strange reversal of tho common notion in which we think of our relation to the* 1 other life. We fancy tliat another life is perfectly interpretablo in its motives and aims, but that our lives are much disguised; whereas the fact is that nothing is more mysterious and baffling than the interior purpose of another soul and that nothing is more self-disclosed and transparent than the nature of a judging life. One man goes through tho world and finds it suspicious, inclined to wrong-doing, full of capacity for evil, and ho judges it with his ready gossip of depreciation. Ho may bo in all this reporting what is true, or ho may be stating what is untrue; but one truth he is

reporting _ with entire precision—the fact that ho is himself a suspicious and ungenerous man; and this disclosure of his own heart, which, if another hinted at it, he would resent, he is without any disguise making of his own accord. Tho cynic looks over the world and finds it hopelessly bad, but the one obvious fact is not that the world is all bad, but that tho man is a cynic. Tho gentleman walks his way through the world, anticipating just dealing, believing in his neighbour, expecting responsiveness to honour, conaiderafencss, high-mindedness, and ho is often deceived and finds his confidence misplaced, and sometimes discovers ruffians where ho thought were gentlemen; but this at least he has proved—-that he himself is a gentleman. Through his judgment of others he is himself judged, and as he nas measured to others, so, in the final judgment of him, made either by God or men, it shall bo measured to him again.—Francis Greenwood Peabody. PRAYER ON ENTERING CHURCH. Heavenly Father, help mo to draw near to Thee in sincerity during tho worship of this hour. Enable me to put away worldly thoughts and cares, and make this place a house of God to mo and a gate of Heaven

to my soul. May my needs bo met by the aU-sutficioncy, and my longings be filled by a sense of Thy presence. May the unseen things of the spirit become great realities in my experience, and a conviction of my Saviour’s nearness and all-embracing love fill and satisfy my soul. For Jesus’ sake. Amen. THE CITY TEMPLE. LONDON. The City Temple in London is—outside St. Paul’s —perhaps the best known place of worship m the city; and it has a history wnicn runs back to 1640, when it was founded by Dr Thomas Goodwin, Chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. Just now, it Jus been celebrating its jubilee festivities; the Corporation of London, in 104-J, built Uio church, and tho present Lord Mayor and Corporation were present on jubilee Sunday, May 18. One of its ministers, Dr Joseph Parker, has perhaps done more than any other minister who ever stood in tho pulpit of this famous church to create its tamo. He was a great preacher, loud ot voice, rich in imagination, tho master of

exquisite English, and a man of great spiritual power. Ho became the minister ot tne City Temple on May 19, 1384, and his ministry ran on without a break for 55 years. "That mighty voice,says lus present successor, Dr F. Vv. Norwood — who, by the way, is an Australian by birth, and was lor years a scholar in the Sunday school cf tha Brunswick Street Methodist Church—“reached the far corners of tho earth.” ■Dr Parker was a preacher by both nature and grace. “What is your hobby. Dr Parker? ' someone once asked. The answer came at once, “Preaching.” “Yes, that is your occupation, but what is your relaxation?” And again he answered “Preaching.” For his telegraphic address ho registered tho words, “Preacher, London.” But Dr Parker, groat preacher though ho was, certainly was not a pastor. For him the whole range of his pastoral duties

began, and ended, within the circle of his own pulpit; and that was his limitation. Jowctt and Dr White, of Edinburgh, were preachers in their own line as great as Dr Parker, but they were tireless pastors as well. They not only drew audiences, they built up churches. Now when Dr Parker died after a ministry of 55 years, the membership of the City Temple stood at 77 —figures which might have broken the heart of a true pastor. Tho City Temple, while Dr Parker preached in it magnificent sermons, had practically no literature—but his sermons. During his whole ministry Dr Parker held records and statistics, and perhaps committees, and ail human organisations in sublime contempt. “There was no church meeting for more than 20 years, nor any thing that could he called an ordinary deacons’ meeting. There was not much need for a church roll, for the membership at Dr Parker’s death only stood at 77. The bookkeeping arrangements wire quite primitive, and, 'such as tliev wi re, have gone into oblivion.” The official report of the City Temple says; The City Temple is a triumphant vindication of the power of the Preached

Word. But it might be added that (his particular church supplies an almost pathetic proof of tho inadequacy of the church whose solo asset is the voice of its preacher, and in which all the organisations of a church--and all its activities other than that of the sermons preached from its pulpit—ire nonexistent. Us present pastor. Dr Norwood, is hy no mean.- equal to his great nredeee.ssor in preaching power: hut while Dr Parker left at the end of his 33 years’ ministry, a membership of only 77, Dr Norwood, whose pastorate has lasted n little over n year, has gathered a membership of 530.—The Southern Gross, NEWS ITEMS. The recent Presbyterian General Assembly. at Grand Rapids. Mich., nnani-

mously adopted a resolution pledging to tho ‘‘ outlawing of war and to Du* hasten rng of the dav when nation.- shall learn to war no more.’' The Chinese Government- recently bestowed 13 deeomtions of the Order of Merov on the women missionaries connected with tlie Presbyterian Mission at Honan, in recognition of the relief work done at Die time of the famine. An attempt is being mad.-* to reconstruct the scones of David Living-done s life, labours and death for a moving picture, film, ami a eornpanv is now engaged m die work in Africa, dhe Hriti.-h Weekly say-; that the film parly are_ receiving splendid support from the missionary centre cn route. Manv of the natives Mill posr-e-s vivid memories of slavery days, so much so that in arranging the scene for one of the pictures relating to die release of slaves the members of the party had considerable difficulty in persuading the natives that it was not a real raid. The prediction is regarded ns one likely to lie of immense service to the churches and missionary societies and its educational value will bo enarxoouA.”