THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20330, 11 February 1928, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HO ME. HARVEST HOME. By George H. Hambly. Count that year loss whose anui\ersary dav Sees by this Church no progress on the way' Some gleam of light along the pathway Should show us nearer to our home and God. Some souls uplifted to the King of Kings; Some nobler way of doing little things; Some pathway brighter for our worship here; Some load made lighter, borne from year to year; Some souls that met with Jesus on the way ; To whom the Cross is dearer as we pray; These are the sheaves we carry as we come, These are the burden of our Harvest Home. PRAYER. “0 God I thank Thee that in Jesus Christ I know Thee as my Father and therefore I come to Thy footstool with confidence. My longing is to be a true child of Thine, and yet I constantly sin in thought, word, deed, and nesire. J make me clean. Take awav from me the heart so stained by sin, and create in me a clean heart, 0 God, so that 1 shall know victory won over my lower self ana shall glorify Thee in everything. Mould me till the world shall see m me the reality of that Christ-life which 1 profess to live. These things, and all else that I need to make me more completely Thine, I ask in the name of Thy dear Son my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. THE DISCIPLINE OF HOPE. Therein lie the strength of Joseph's life and the secret of his unflagging hope in the consciousness that there was a Providence above him shaping his life that God knew best and would work out His own will in His own way despue malice and treachery and disappointment. The man who can believe that can afford to wait. He will fill his place some dav, all tin more that he is filling it so patiently and bravely when his dreams are disappointed. J. E. M’Fadyen, D.D. THE NEW MODERATORS. As usual at this season the church moderators for the next assemblies are selected. THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.^ For the Established Church of Scotland the Rev. Dr Montgomery Campbell, Dumpries, has been chosen Dr Campbell is the minister of St. Michaels, and it is the cemetery adjoining this church where Robert Burns is buried. Dr Campbell has been 22 years in his present charge, and has taken his full share ot work in his parish, and in the life connected with Dumfries and district. Some time ago he delivered a course ot lectures on pastoral theology to the divinity students at the four Scottish universities. He has preached in Crathie Church oy invitation of the King. The .Dumfries folks are very pleased at the distinction awarded their minister. It is said to be over 100 wears since Dumfries has had a similar honour conferred upon it. AUSTRALIA’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR CENTRAL AFRICA. The Bishop of Central Tanganyika (Dr G. A. Chambers), preaching on Sunday m St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, said that a great call had come to the church in Australia, a call to recognise herself as old enough, developed enough, and with unselfishness enough to share the responsibilities of the church in the old land for the evangelisation and Christianisation of th 6 dark continent of Africa, In response to that call the Church Mis sionary Society of Australia and Tasmania had undertaken the responsibility of the new diocese of Centra! Tanganyika. “ What other reply could we £?ive to the old church at home,” said Bishop Chambers, “ than that Australia would be there. As in the war so in peace. We in Australia must guard ourselves against narrowness of vision. We are world citizens, and every other human being has a claim upon us. With our excellent edu cational standard and systems in Australia what else could we do than resolve to pass on the best we have to the African groping in the dim light of the dawn of civilisation. Everywhere there is thankfulness that the Australian Church has responded to the call and Australians abroad are looking with expectancy and hope, to a forward movement in Tan ganyika which, up till now, has been sadly neglected by the Church. Not only are clergy and evangelists needed, but educationists, doctors, nurses, industrial and technical instructors, jo that equipment for life will be the underlying thought in all that we shall seek to do. At least 20 men and women with real Christian experience and divine love radiating from them to others should go forth this year. The spirit of adventure is not sufficient to prompt or sustain die call to serve in Africa. Loneliness tropical heat, malaria, with other priva tions, hardships, and anxieties will soon break the spirit and drive them back any not truly called of God. So none should offer but those of God’s choice —God’ men and God’s women, and then the impossible will be achieved and miracles will happen.” DEATH OF MISS JANE MOFFAT. Oen hundred and eleven years have gone by since Robert Moffat sailed for Africa, and it is indeed a break with events that seem very far off to learn that it was only recently that there died, in a South London nursing home, Robert Moffat’s youngest daughter, who was also Dr Livingstone’s sister-in-law. Miss Jane Moffat was bom at Flexton in 1840, the youngest of her parents’ nine children, and the only one that was not born in Africa. She returned as an infant to Kuruman, the headquarters for nearly half-a-century of Robert Moffat’s work, but was brought back to England when six years old, for her education. Although Miss Moffat never married, the cares that fell to a mother’s lot were her chief occupation throughout her life. In 1857-58 she proved herself a capable housekeeper for David Livingstone and his wife (her eldest sister, Mary), while the explorer-missionary was writing his travels in a house at Hadley Wood. For 12 years she and her sister Bessie were responsible for the education of the little Africans at the mission sta lion at Kuruman. She devotedly looked after the broken health of her mother, and returned with her and her father to England in 1870. Her mother died a year j later. After her father’s death in 1883 Miss Moffat set up a home in South London for the children of her gister Bessie, while the latter and her husband, the Rev. Roger Price, resumed their missionary work in Africa. When a s an old lady she might have been expected to rest, she continually, until a year or two ago, travelled about interesting herself in missionary matters and personalities. She was then knocked down ’by a cyclist, and never fully recovered from the shock. Her last public appearance was with Mr Erl ward Unwin (who is only a fortnight younger than herself), when they went to ( bid good-bye to her grand-nephew, who > was leaving London for the mission field. She was for many years a member of the ; Clapham Road Piesbyterian Church.