THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. A SCRIPTURE MESSAGE IN ; MODERN LANGUAGE. Well, my very first counsel is that supplications. prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving, are to be offered for all men—for kings and all in authority, that we may lead a tranquil life in all piety and gravity; it is good to pray thus, it is acceptable to our Saviour, to the God who. desires all men to be saved and to attain- the knowledge of the Truth. For “there is one God” and “one intermediary between God and men, the man. Christ Jesus who. gave Himself as a ransom for all,”—in due time this was attested, and I was appointed to be its. herald and apostle (I am not telling a lie, it is quite true), to teach the Gentiles faith and truth.—-(1 Timothy 2:1 to 7; Moffatt’s translation). PRAYER. 0 Lord, grant that bur hearts may be truly cleansed, and filled with Thy Holy Spirit,, and that we may arisa to serve Thee, in entire confidence and submission to Thy wil], ready to do and to endure whatsoever Thou hast appointed for us. Let us live for the not over-charged with worldly cares, but feeling that our treasure is not here, and desiring truly to be joined to Thee in Thy heavenly kingdom, and to those who are already gone to. Thee. O Lord, save us from sin, and. guide us with Thy Spirit, and keep us in faithful obedience to Thee; through Jesus Christ our-Lord. Amen.—Common Worship. DO AND SAY. Two brothers once lived down this way, And one was Do and one was Say; If streets were dirty, taxes high. Or schools too crowded. Say woud erv: , “ Oh, what a town! ” But Brother Do Would set to work to make things new. And while Do worked, Say still would cry: “ He does it wrong, I' know that I Could do it right. So all the day Was’ heard the clack of Brother Say. But this one fact from none was hid, Say always talked. Do always did. CHRISTIAN GROWTH IN GRACE. Some Verses for Meditation. Let the word of -Christ dwell in you richly -in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms , and hymns and, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.—Col, lii. 16. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.—Col. iv 6. ..That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according, to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.—3 Thess. i, 12. "Let us therefore ’ come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.—Hcb. iv, 16. Let us, have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.—Heb, xii, 28. Be, not carried about, with diver? and strange doctrines. For it is a. good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats. ' But He giveth ipore grace) wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but ■ giveth grace unto., the humble Submit yourselves therefore unto God. Humble yourselves in the sight of .the Lord, - and He shall-lift you up.—James iv, 6,7, and 10. The .God of'all.grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by ; Christ Jesus after that ye .have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. - Amen.—l Peter v, 10 and 11. Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.— 2 Peter iii, 18/ In whom we have redemption through His bipod, the forgiveness of sins according to. the riches of. His, grace.—Ephesians. i, 7. . .. REMEMBER' CHRIST OR REALISE . CHRIST. -i ■ There’s, a .word in one of ' Stanley Jones’s hooks which has a wealth of moaning in it: “ Christ did not come'into'the world to be remembered: He came into the world to be.realised.” ; Where Christ is only remembered He is ritualised. • The “ natural man tends to ritualism, . It. is a. substitute for reality, lulls the unawakehed.Jnto a-false security,' and leaves, the springs of life untouched. - .- • ■ To realise Christ is to be alive within, to be conscious of spiritual appetite, to throb, to thrill, to overflow., Christ comes into every, bit of, the day.’s life and. must be shaded -with all of the world's life. - When Christ, is ■ ritualised- the Church “beats the air ’’ and the world remains dead in sins and trespasses. Whcn'Christ is realised the Church becomes a ■ flaming, witness, dead men sit up, and the breezes.of God blow through a weary world,. ~ THE COMPANIONHe found my house upon the hill, I made the bed and swept the floor. And laboured, solitary, till He entered at the open door. ■ He sat with me to break my fast. He blessed the bread and poured the wine. And spoke such friendly words, -at last I knew not were they His or minc. But onlywhen He rose and went. And left the twilight in the door, 1 found.my hands were more content To make a bed and sweep a floor, —Gerald ■ Gould. DR NORWOOD ON THE INVISIBLE WORLD. ‘ “We ought to know something about the possible powers of the invisible world, ’ said Dr F. W. .Norwood, preaching on Sunday morning at Seftdn Park Pleebyterian Church, Liverpool. People to-day, he said, perfectly understood that the most real forces were invisible. They talked about electrons or about the ether --neither of which had • they ever seen, nor did they understand; they only gave them names because they must get on with their thinking~the veriest’ »tyro knew that since wireless telegraphy had improved, it was possible to hear things they would-have said through centuries had. do- sound, at all; that was provided they could niake attachments and were, so to speak tuned in. Then tl e silences were throbbing with voices, and it would appear they were going a step further under what they called "television”— not that they understood what they, were talking about, but they had so labelled it and experimented—and it would .not be long i before the distant and- the Vemotc would be brought not only close-to them, but- within - the 1 range of their vision. Every man knew now that there was an unseen world, and Jesus apparently both believed and experienced the fact that the realm of ethic is within us.”Ihe_ confident expectation of a future state is based on our relation to God. If He is truly our God and we are Bis people, the triumph of death 1 is not real and permanent, but will be ended- by the glory of a resurrection from the dead.— Erdman.