THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20708, 4 May 1929, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. * FAITH. In the darkest night of the year. IV hen the stars have all gone out, I know that .1 need not fear, For faith is better than doubt; And fierce though the fiends may fight, And long though tho angels hide, I know that truth and. right Have the universe on their side, , And that somewhere beyond the stars Is a love that is better than fate. When-the night unlocks her bars I shall see Him and I will wait. PRAYER. To Thee, 0 Father of the world, -we commit the keeping of all souls; desiring, at Thy feet, counsel for , the. perplexed, consolation for the afflicted, with the grace of patient endurance, corrective infineness'for the erring and the disobedient, deliverance from deterioration pf heart for the outwardly busy and the men of numerous cares, good influences and sound training for the young, unexpected friends for the desolate, a spirit of meekness, with ambition to serve, for the possessors of brilliant gifts, guidance, for, those who are called to guide, and wisdom for , those who • rule. /Thou, Who hast . made and lovest all;' in Thy - hands we leave all, trusting and. worshipping. Thee •in the faith of Thy Son Jesus , Christ, both now and for ever, world without end.—Amen. POST-WAR RELIGION. The Rev. P. T. R.-Kirk, of the Industrial Christian Fellowship, points out, in an interview in the Sunday at Home, the contrasts between pre-war and postwar religion:— . "Up to the war," says Mr Kirk, “life was in compartments—not only in classes, hut compartments., Christianity Vas not allowed to reach any farther than Sunday. It might have a place in the home, but in the outside life it was seldom allowed to enter into politics or business— ‘ Business ■:s .business,’ you know,' It was denied a place in.national and-international affairs; it must not think of dealing with economies: and- as for, war—rit was the duty of the Church to bless the guns and the flags and proclaim war as a way to glory. But of the last I believe there is an end, for if statesmen were to talk seriously of war again, democracy would reply with one voice, ‘Do your own fighting,’ and there would be no war. An enlightened democracy means the certainty of peace! “The. future is full of hope. It is being learned that smashing up is no good. The futility is being realised, too, of the extraordinary Victorian idea that the whole aim in .industry must be to get money, to make profits. We seek to teach employers-as well as workers that there is a duty one to another, to serve their fellows; that the aim ought to be'public scrying—souls before property. The way to peace and progress is evolutionary and by education. The power for good in the individual is the strength of the nation. What a man is rather than, has or does must become the standard of values; and that, we hope, may lead to the realisation that proposals for the common weal which may appear economically unsound are ethically deserving of consideration as good investments.” DISTORTED FAMILY LIFE. When young people do form opinions of their own; says Dr A. Herbert Gray, writing in the. St.- Martin’s Review, parents often .handle these 'opinions roughly. “They laugh at them, treat them with contempt, or rudely push them aside. The result is that the young retreat into silence and reserve, and their relation to their parents is spoilt—perhaps fatally. If in our homes there is no security for tho young while they express themselves, it is a necessary consequence that those homes cease to-be places in which the young feel that'they can really live . . . if ahome is to be really a place where the young can feel at home, it must also be a place in which minds can work freely find in which opinions may find spontaneous expression.” “What.” continues Dr Gray, “about the sacrifice of sons and daughters to the comfort of the aged? Thousands of women remain tied to a 1 dreadfully dull life, and see themselves-losing all opportunities of. congenial .- work while they patiently serve old people who are sometjmes delightful companions, : blit sometimes selfish, querulous, and exacting. Of course, in some cases there is no help for it. The old people’cannot- be left alone, and sometimes there is nobody but a daughter to look after them. ... But the demand is often made when it need not" be made. The old batten on the young. They let the idea of family obligation and its sacred claims mask a sheer cruelty.” HOW A GREAT SCIENTIST TAUGHT RELIGION. Professor William North Rice, a famous American scientist, and also a devoted Methodist, once gave an illustration to one of his of the dividing line between religion and science. Some years ago,” hfe said, “I made the ascent of Mount Vesuvius. I took with me a little Italian guide who knew but two words of' English, and those two words were ‘ all right.’ If I said to the little guide I was tired he would say, ‘AIF right,’ and walk on. If I said I was thirsty lie would say ‘All right.’ It made no difference what remark I made to him. The invariable answer was ‘All right.’ What did ! want with that little Italian guide? I didn’t wanthim to tell me about the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii. , I didn’t want him to tell me how many extinct craters there were there. I did not- want him to attempt to explain the mysteries of Mount Vesuvius. I knew more about those things than he did. What. did I ■ want with him?. To guide/nio safely from-the base of that dangerous mountain to the summit, and return, that was all. Young gentlemen, God didn’t put Moses and Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Paul and John into this world to teach us science or philosophy, to explain all the mysteries that environ ns. What were they put info this world for?' .To point out to you and to me the road from a sin-ridden world to a sinless heaven, and we claim they, have done their work so well that the wayfaring man may not err therein.” ' NEWS ITEMS. Dr G. Campbell Morgan, as the result of negotiations with Mr. W. Gordon Sprigg, has practically, decided to spend six months in Australia and New Zealand. next year on a “ Bible Exposition Crusade.” Dr Henry. A. Atkinson, of the World Peace Union, is now on a visit to' India, China, and- Japan, promoting the. plans for the Universal Religious Peace Conference to be held next-year. He returns to. Europe in June. , “ The .world has a contempt for easygoing religions,” said Bishop M'Corinell, president of the Federal Council of the Churches of America, at the opening of tlie Madison Avenue .Methodist Episcopal Church. New York. “ The great calls,” he added, “to which men have responded in tiie founding of religions have been heroic—calls to hardship.” In an in menioriam tribute to the late Dr Joseph Wells, warden of Wndliam College. Oxford, the Church Times says: “Born at Rending of Nonconformist parentage, lie and his two brothers ali found their home in the church; it seems hardly- a paradox to say that, ns the Church of Rome in this country recruits its strength by converts from the Church of England, so the Church of England derives fresh vitality by converts from Nonconformity.” Mr P. A. 'Mackenzie, flic indefatigable journalist and publicist—who. by the way, hag just been refused re-admission to Russia—has written a vivid “secret hi story ’ of the Salvation Army crisis, under the title of “ The Clash of the Cymbals.” General Bramwcll Booth is depicted here as a “ very successful managing director,” who failed to realise that the Army is more than a business concern. His dealings with his officers seem to have been either tactless or unduly harsh. “The main cause of the uprising . . . was_ the feeling among many of his high officials that he had turned a benevolent autocracy into a tyranny.” , Mr Mackenzie reproduces a curious document cirsecretly in 1925 among Army officers; voicing the discontent then prevailing;. also the “ fifteen points ” which Commander Eva Booth presented to her brother in 1927, the general’s reply, and other hitherto secret documents. The reader is left with a strong impreauon that an explosion was inevitable, and that the Army is fortunate in the possession of leaders who have weathered the storm without losing the ship,