THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19760, 10 April 1926, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS HEADING FOR THE HOME. Whenever fortune smiles upon us Our purblind faith grows lass. And thus the faith that seemeth greatest Is faith without success. I dare not ask for wealth or glory. Since, Lord, Thou knowest best; And as Thou givest all things freely, I am already blest. I ask not poverty nor failure. But what seems good to Thee; Be then my constant, only prayer—“A thankful heart give me.” —Alexander Grant PRAYER. O Thou, who art the Lord and giver of life, quicken what is dead within us, we beseech Thee, and awakeu that which is asleep; that so we may serve Thee in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of tlie letter. Enable ns also to lay aside every weight of care, anxiety and fear, that so wc may run with patience the race that is set before us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. • METHODIST UNION IN ENGLAND. The movement towards Methodist Union in England has advanced so far that it is hoped it may be possible ■to submit the enabling bill' to the Parliamentary Committee in the spring of 1927. and that Parliamentary sanction will have been given by June, 1928. The Union Committee lias been working at the scheme for six years When the scheme of union had been prepared it was sent by each of the three conferences to the circuit quarterly meetings. This question was put to each of them: “Are you in favour of organic union on ihe basis of the scheme submitted?” A direct yes or no was required. In the Wesleyan Church 650 quarterly meetings voted in favour, 101 against, and there were 11 ties. There were 27,250 individual votes in favour, and 11,364 against. The percentage in favour of the quarterly meetings was 85.30, and of the individual votes 70.19. In the Primitive Methodist Church 578 quarterly meetings voted for, 92 against, and there were 11 ties. Of the personal votes, 11,684 were favourable, and 3799 adverse. The percentage in favour of the meetings was 86.33, and of the personal votes 75.4. In the United Methodist Church 280 quarterly meetings voted for, 67 gainst, and there were seven ties. Of the individual votes, 7963 were in favour, and 3294 against. The percentage of the meetings in favour was 80.23, and of the personal votes 70.74. With these facts before them the last conferences of the three churches declared definitely in favour of the union, “provided that substantial agreements can be secured as to the measures to be adopted for effecting union.” In the representative conference of the Wesleyan Church this was carried by 597 votes to 126, a percentage in favour of 76. In the Wesleyan pastoral conference it was carried bv 309 to 174, a percentage in favour of 64. The Primitive Methodists carried it by 148 to 13, a percentage of 93, and the United Methodists by 226 to 21, a percentage of 91. The Union Committee considered these figures as a command to complete the arrangements for union. CITY EVANGELISM IN SEOUL A very remarkable evangelistic work was carried on last summer in the auditorium of the Young Men's Christian Association in Seoul, Korea. The effort originated with a group of young Koreans, members of the religious committee of the Y.M.C.A., their purpose being to interest arffi enlist first the Christians in Seoul, that through their activity, all non-Christian Koreans in the capital and, if possible, throughout the country, might come under the influence of the Gospel of Christ. The mission began with a week of meetings for Christians from all the .churches under one leader, the Rev. Mr Kil, of Pyongyang, a preacher of great spiritual power, who is almost totally blind. After this week of preparation came the senes of evangelistic appeals, made, for the first time in Seoul, under the auspices of a united Protestant Church. Thirty-four churches of all denominations combined under one banner for the purpose of pre senting the claims of Jesus Christ upon the lives of the people of Seoul. The preparations had been carefully planned several months in advance, and each church congregation had thought and prayed that the results might be pleasing to G 0... One of the striking means used for keeping the prayerful attitude before the individual members was the noon whistle. The sound of the city siren was a call to silent prayer, and during (he hot summer months Christians in all parts of Seoul bowed their heads and asked the “Giver of all perfect gifts” for His Spirit to become manifest in the coming days, when lives wore to be challenged with Christ’s appeal. Some 40 prominent laymen and pastors were selected to bring present-day messages of the power of Jesus Christ to change the lives of all those who will trust Him. These men spoke each night durin" the first week in 15 churches throughout the city. Each speaker had the same subject in all the churches. For the second week, this plan was duplicated in the remaining churches that were selected as being suitable for such meetings. Members from _ the 54 churches spent each morning in visiting the homes in their respective ■ neighbourhoods, telling the story of Christ to those who knew Him not. The results of this earnest effort were most gratifying to those engaged in it. Mr W. L. Nash, who writes an account of it for the Korea Mission Field, sa ; “This attempt, which has been more than satisfactory. should lead us to expect with increasing hope, and courage that more of the churches throughout this land v forget all the western ‘isms” of denominations and take a new stand under one banner and one Lord for the extension of that Kingdom for which He gave His life.” NEWS ITEMS. Rev. Jonathan Goforth, a former Presbyterian missionary in Korea, has accepted an invitation from Marshal Feng, the Chinese Christian general, to serve as chaplain to his army. Mr Goforth, on one of his furlough visits to England, some years ago, attracted much attention by his evangelistic addresses. Professor Motfatt, of_ Glasgow, who has been preaching at Westminster Chapel, London, had large congregations. Nothing (writes a correspondent! could have been more simple, ye* more inspiring, than Dr Motfatt’s evening sermon. It was a study ot the text in Luke’s Gospel. “1 came to send fire on earth. No doubt, said Dr Moffa.lt. Jesus was not the only one in his ago who tried to set the world on fire. It was not difficult to start a ..re: but the fire Jesus had kindled had never died out. A Church might be, like an individual, enlightened and free from superstition, but with little fire. No attainments in worship or doctrine were of avail unless accompanied bv personal devotion. The faith that kindled the world was a faith on fire. , Mrs Philip Snowden, at the Baptist Sisterhood’s annual meeting at Bloomsbury said that when she was “a very young speaker,” that famous English Baptist. Dr C. F. Akerl, who had since become an American citizen, gave her this counsel: “If you undertake a sermon or speech, first of nil discover all the facts about the particular subject, then find out ihe reasons for those facts, and then npplv thorn.” With a twinkle in her eye she added that she had an idea that Dr Akcd might have been repeating to her the advice he had himself received m class at college. When Rev. M. E. Aubrey rose, he said Mrs Snowden’s story had recalled another to his mind. A Southern negro preacher who drew great congregations was approached by a younger man, '-no desired to know “how it was done." “Well.” said the older man. “first of all I tell ’em what I am goin’ to tell ’em; then I toll ’em; and then tell ’em what I've told them.” . . At a dinner recently given in New York in honour of the editor of the American Encycloptedia of Christianity, Dr Samuel Parkes Cadman made a remarkably outspoken speech. One of the great needs to he met to-day, he said, was “the appalling ignorance of religion,” even among people supposedly otherwise well-edneated and intelligent. Ho spoke with feeling on this subject, because lie received thousands of letters every month which revealed an amazing ignorance of religions thought. If a vote were taken throughout the length and breadth of the world that night as to whether the world was round nr flat, the flats would have it. The New York Churchman confirms Dr Cadman’s diagnosis, and declares (hat even church people, on the whole, do so little solid reading nowadays that they know nothing of the able discussions being carried on by the greatest theological scholars, and fail even to come in contact with popular or semi-popular translations of these discussions.