THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19282, 20 September 1924, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. THE HIDDEN HAND. I would go forward, stumbling through, tho dark. After tny wayward will; A hidden hand withholds mo suddenly. Firm, strong, and still. I would go back to what I left behind — The laughter and tho night; The iuddcn. hand quick grips me, turns mo round Towards tho light. I feel the red wound in its heating palm; And, though I cannot boo, I guosg that somewhere that deep bitter scar Was borne for me. For me, or such another as myself. Wounding, and pain, and loss,— So I go forward, all tho way of Love, Led by a cross. —Lanohlan Maclean Watt.

A PRAYER. Almighty God, our most loving Father, wo thank Thee for all, young and old, who are baptised into Thy holy name. Wo pray for all the little ones who, by tho solemn act of their parents, have been dedicated and consecrated to Thee. Grant that as they grow up to manhood and womanhood this act of tho parents may be confirmed by personal choice. May nothing that is done by father or mother hinder the young from coming to Jesus Christ. And do Thou accept every consecration, of life, and baptise every consecrated heart with Thy Holy Spirit, so that every life may bo given to the service of Thy Kingdom and of Thy Son. We ask it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

ARCHBISHOP LEES ON EXCUSES FOR SUNDAY DESECRATION.

The Archbishop cites five main reasons which are often given, consciously or unconsciously, by the non-church goer, and the blame is laid in five different directions. “ One man - says: ‘ I don’t worry much about religion. It is not in my line.’ He lays the burden upon God. Who is not attractive «noagh to draw him, or necessary enough for him to consider. “A second says: ‘l’m not irreligious, but I’m not wnat you call churchy. Give me the church of Dr Greenfields.” Ho blames (lie Church, which is less inspiring, or at least alluring, than the golf links or the open road. Now I am far from suggesting that a man cannot be a Christian unless he gees to church, but I do assert that the most living Christians find that they must go to the house of God. simple or ornate, for worship with their fellows. Let us be candid, and say that we do not worship with golf clubs or in motor oars. Wo may give a passing thought to God, but that is not what is meant by worship. ‘A third person says: T don’t think very much of the parson, or, to be quite frank, about most people who go to church.’ This man blames tho congregation or its leader. Yet we go to church in the name of Christ to worship God, and we don’t dream of stopping away from a cricket match or a levee because we do not care about tho company. The teams, or the. King’s Majesty, are what we think of. The argument really is valueless. If a man cared enough ho would go and worship. “A fourth says: T am really too tired on Sunday to bother about church-going. I want to be quiet.’ He blames his work. Now w© must all respect and sympathise with the weariness that comes from exhaustion, the sentiment of the charwoman whose epitaph said: “I am going to do nothing for over and over.” But this reason scarcely seems compatible with exciting afternoons on the football field, and Saturday nights at the play-house and tho dance. We are not too tired for them. W© cannot, therefore, bo really sincere in this reason. Everyone needs a restful Sunday, but is our non-church-goer’s Sunday restful? Very seldom. It is another Saturday. Church would be much less exhausting. “The fifth reason is not an excuse. T Want to do as I like, and, though 1 suppose I ought to go to church, I fear that I haven’t tho least intention of altering my ways.’ He blames himself. I would therefore ask with all respect, but with all earnestness, what the effect of tiffs neglect is on

“L The man himself? Are we not startled to find how pagan wo can become when we never enter a church door, open tho pages of our Bibles, or kneel to pray? God help the man who is content with the instincts of tho ox, and has no other thought than mere going through life pleasantly and harmlessly, taking all from God and giving nothing back. Besides a negative position is not really harmless It influences wrongly. “2. The effect on his children. Are you quite content that your grand lads and splendid girls should have no living part in fellowship with Christ? If you are ruefully careless yourself, do you like to think of their meeting the temptations of the devil without Christ to hold them up, or the troubles of the world without God’s loving arm? If they will need Him ever, they will need Him always. It is a scurvy trick to treat God as a mere insurance. “5. The effect, on tlje community. Do you believe commerce can be uplifted, politics cleansed, public life ennobled if every church or chapel were closed, every parson dismissed, and all religious societies buried? “France came nearer to it than any modern civilised nation, but tho war killed that madness in her. Yet that is the logical outcome of profesed non-church-going. If it is good for a community to have this influence at work, it must be bad for large sections of tho community to neglect it. Do your share. Christianity is a brotherhood. If you think it lacks anything, come in and contribute tho amendment”

OHRIST, REFORMER AND REGENERATOR. The Rev. Dr E. Stanley Jones, who has spent some years in India in evangelistic work among .the educated classes, says:— T know of no reform, whether in the moral, social, religious, economic, or political realm—if it bo a reform and not a reaction—that is not tending straight toward the Christian position.” In line with this he tells how on one occasion tho Hindus and Mohammedans of Palwal were going to have a public debate on the question of which religion makes men most moral. They both agreed, beforehand, to leave out Christianity from the discussion, “for,” said they, “Christianity is head and shoulders above us both.” He tells how a Mohammedan student, in giving his address in tho closing exercises of his college, said: “Wo must study the Bible There are many things in our religions that need correction, and wa must correct them by tho Bible.” Then Dr Jones adds: “Jesus has changed the whole moral and spiritual atmosphere. Ho is forcing modification everywhere. But he stands unmodified. Wo have had to modify nothing in regard to Him in the clash of things in India. “Some non-Christian lawyers,” relates Dr Jones, “were having a banquet in North India. At the close they were being entertained by a professional entertainer who made the company rock with laughter as he 'mocked the old gods and told funny stories about them. He then began to mock Jesus Christ. A silence fell upon the company. The silence turned to resentment, and then they angrily hissed him off the stage. They could laugh at the old gods, but not at Jesus Christ.” What a commentary is this on the new situation in India, or this other that Dr Jones gives: “A life of Ghandhi, put out _by Hindus, is filled with reference to Jesus Christ, on nearly every page, and yet, as far as I remember, not a reference to Krisna or Buddha is to be found in it.”

NEWS ITEMS. What would old Robert Radios, the founder of English Sunday Schools in 1780, have said if he could have entered the recent Convention in Glasgow, stood upon the platform, and beheld men mid women of 49 nations, representing 300,000 Sunday schools with their 30 million scholars! At the last General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in India and Assam, it was reported that the total membership of the Church was 240,000. The question, of the ordination of women as elders was vigorously discussed, and it was resolved by a majority to send down the matter to Presbyteries for consideration. The Assembly also declared prohibition as its goal of all temperance agitation, local option being accepted as a step to it. Madame Marie Karinskaya, once a Russian Court singer, now a Baptist missionary, describes the great change in her outlook on life as “a real modern miracle.” Before the revolution Madame Karinskaya toured Russia, singing folk-songs and ballads. For 15 years she sang all over Russia, and appeared in the Czar's Court. “In Russia and all over the world I had had everything I wanted.” said Madame Karinskaya, “success. applause, wealth, honours, yet I felt I still had not gained what I was seeking. Platform applause is just a bubble which bursts at the first pin-prick. Life was empty, and I was dissatisfied. I have at last found real happiness.”

The Rov. Jonathan Goforth, the renowned evangelist, was the means God used in bringing about this great change. When travelling from Shanghai to Amoi.ca she made the acquaintance of Mr Goforth, who was a follow-passenger, and it was through his talks with her that she was led to believe in Christ and give up her career to become a missionary of the Russian Missionary Society.