THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19505, 13 June 1925, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. EVOCATION. By A.G. Give me that I may give again, That, having nothing, I may give Freely to all way-faring men Water of life that they may live. Illumine me that by Thy light I may enlighten those who stray; And guide their wandering feet aright Into the splendour of Thy way. That I may speak, speak unto mo; So shall I speak uo words of mine. Blind, thirsty, dumb, then shall I be A lamp a well, a voice of Thine. —The London Graphic. A PRAYER. O Lord our God, wo confess and acknowledge before Thee that our hearts are poor and bare and empty: we have no joy, no peace, no power. And we confess that Thy Church is failing in the great task which Thou hast given her to do because of that emptiness of our hearts. Grant us Thy Holy Spirit, we humbly beseech Thee, that Jesus Christ may dwell hi our hearts by faith, and that we may manifest Him to all men, so that multitudes may be drawn into the Church of those that are being saved. And do Thou pour out Thy Spirit upon all preachers of the Gospel, that they may win many souls for Thee. For Jesus’ sake we ask it. Amen. WHAT IS A SERMON? What, then, really is a sermon? I suppose in a general way wo may define it as an orderly presentation of truth, a disquisition upon some moral or spiiitual theme. To-day 1 want to regard it rather as a creative achievement; at the hour of its delivery, to be worthy of the name, it must be the finest product of . the combined intellectual, moral, and spiritual resources of the preacher’s personality, hie sermon is the preacher’s mode of 39! f-ex-pression : it is to him w r hat the picture is to the artist, the song to the singer. At its best it is a personal achievement of momentous consequence to tho hearer, but even more to the preacher himself. Therefore it challenges by its own high office an exercise of the best powers we possess, and it is just because the demands are so urgent and exhausting that we are ever m danger of drifting into indolence. It is always hard to do one’s best. Therefore wo ought to give the more earnest heed. Of course, a sermon is a message, the expression of truth through the medium of language; yet such a definition is too vague to really prove of value to us A sermon is not simply a declaration of abstract truth, nor the repetition of something that was told us another. A sermon is the expression of truth a s it is seen and known by us. It is a proclama tion of our own gospel; the declaration of truth which has become our own. As Bunyan has it, wo should be able to sav, “I preached only that which I did feel, that which I smartingly did feel. It is important in this connection to remember the difference there is between tho absolute truth of religion and that truth when it has become an effective power in human life And this difference has a profound bearing upon the real meaning of a sermon as distinct from the lecture. The latter is the setting fortlj of truth as an object ot interest, of information; something to be examined and remembered, but the sermon is designed to become an effective power in the lives of others.—W. Lorne-Cormsh. CHURCH UNION IN CANADA. Elaborate plans for a General Assembly of what is being called Canada s auld kirk,” representing the Presbyterian congregations and ministers opposed to tno church union, are being made in Canada. The first assembly of the continuing Presbyterian Church was to be held on June It) in St. Andrew’s Church, Toronto, on the same day "which witnessed the union of the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congrcgational denominations of the dominion. On the same day, also, there will convene in Massov Hall, Toronto, the General Council or highest court of the now United Church of Canada. A week before, June 3, the General Assembly of the present Presbytrian’Church was to meet in College street Church, Toronto, and the last annual meeting of the Congregational Union of Canada was to be held on June 0 in Bond Street Church of the same city. The assembly of the continuing Presbyterian Church is expected to number hundreds of members, possibly 1000. About 600 congregations have voted not to enter the union, and tor this first assembly each of these is permitted a lay and clerical representative. (>no condition favouring a large assembly is the fact that about 400 of the 600 churches are located in Ontario, the province of which Toronto is the capital. Under date of April 15 the number of Presbyterian congregations which have voted for or against entering the union was given by the Church Union Bureau as follows: Ontario—For, 487; against, 407. Nova Scotia—For, 133; against. 50. Quebec— For. 106; against 41. Alberta —For, 112; against, 27. British Columbia and Yukon Territory—For, 201; against, 26. Prince Edward Island—For, 45 ; against, 21. Saskatchewan —For, 458; against, 14. Totals For entering the union ,1542; against, 586. The Presbyterian Church Association, representing the anti-unionists, however, gave the total number of churches in Ontario Province voting against joining tho union as 603. It states also that the vote of the members of tho congregations in Ontario ,to be distinguished from congregations themselves, which by terms of the merger and of the Federal law are alone to determine whether they enter the union or not, thus far is as follows:—Against union, 75,292; for union, 61,756; —majority of members in the churches against tho union, 13,536. Consideration of the above figures and of plans for the church assemblies and meetings is following the adoption a few days ago by the Legislature of Ontario of the United Church of Canada Act. This law, which determines, in general, the disposition of the property in Ontario belonging to tho present Presbyterian Church, was argued vigorously both in committee and in the Legislature. Numerous amendments were proposed, and a few of these were incorporated in the law as enacted. It is understood that the Act gives complete satisfaction to neither unionists nor antiunionists, yet it comes so near to meeting the essentials of the unionist position that much opposition now is outspoken only among anti-unionists. A central principle of tho Act is that three denominations, not merely parts of them, are entering tho union. The buildings of Knox College under this law go to the anti-unionists, with some special provisions as to their contents and the college income which give tho United Church an equity in them. A GREAT GATHERING. What is expected to be tno most comprehensive gathering of religious loaders that (he world ever has known has been called by the Church Peace Union to meet at Geneva, Switzerland, in August, 1928. Preliminary organisation plans for this meeting are being financed with part of tho income trust fund set aside 11 years ago by Andrew Carnegie for.the promotion of international justice and good will. These call for an international religious congress which will be participated in by 11 religions, each of which will bo represented proportionately in a “World Committee of One Thousand.” The 11 are as follows : Christians (including Protestants, Roman and Uniate Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) Jews, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Confucianists, Shintoists, Taoists, ’ Hindoos, Parsecs, Jains, and Sikhs. Tho active work will be under tho supervision of a conference committee of 60, which will appoint a cabinet of seven members. According to the official announcement, (he purpose of the congress is to bring together representatives of tho world’s living religions to discuss the questions relating to international justice and good will, to mako known tho content of each religion relating to these questions; to compare the' ideals of human brotherhood and world peace of each religion, and if possible secure agreement on these propositions: ‘‘Emphasis on human brotherhood as essential to all religions; world peace can be established only through recognition of universal brotherhood ; the religions of the world can co-operate by each working in its own sphere for the attainment of these ideals; and adoption of general plans looking toward this end. Dr Fosclick, who, since his liberation from First Presbyterian Church, New York, has been visiting the West, sees a new Reformation on tho way. ‘‘ It may,” ho says, “carry over tho evangelical churches into a new day. ... It may have to split away from them as the Lutheran Reformation had to split from • the old Church. ... At heart it is the endeavour to recover for our modern life the religion of Jesus as against this vast, intricate, largely inadequate and often positively false religion about Jesus.” Dr Fosdiek quoted the Fundamentalist preacher who was asked tho question: ‘ Suppose that someone among us should live out perfectly