THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21538, 9 January 1932, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME ; HIS LOVE IS' NEVER 'BLIND.. .' When the weary and the lame • • Cannot move another foot— :; ■ - And-the: sinner, bow’d with shame,, ■ Stands in shadow; .still and mute — Be comes walking through the dark, . All their hopelessness to mart; . -t. •; As He stirs their hope to singing. As a minstrel wakes his lute. Jesus never will, forget you, Whensoever you may Though your sins and sorrows set you Where the stars you dare not see. He will seek you till He find — For His love is never-blind. Do not doubt it. Well I know it: For He did it unto me! —Liuchlan Mac Lean Watt, in Life and Work." r,'' ‘ PRAYER. Help me, 0 God, to receive the blessings «f each day as Thine unmerited gift. It is of. Thy bounty that I.enjoy health of body arid, freedom, from anxious .care. I thank Thee for .sacred memories which abide with me, for lives which admonish me,by their consistency and, devotion, for •Thy.word which reveals-to me the-way of life, and above all for Jesus-Christ Thy Son,, the Mediator between God and man. May I know the power of His grace in my heart, and be subject to His will in all . things. Keep me from conduct that would separate me from-the influence of opinions that -would,. tempt me to think lightly-.of Him or of the greatness of His ■alvation.—Dr A. B. Macaulay.

A TEXT FOR EACH DAY’S MEDITATION. "“THE UNCHANGING ONE.” Sunday.—“l am the Lord, I change not.” Malaciii, 3:6.; . “■ Heaven and earth ■ shall pass away,. but My word shall not pass away. Watch, therefore;., for’, ye know not what, hour your ,Lord doth come. Matt. and 42 ' ' • ; . ' Monday.—“My ■ sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they, follow Me. And .1 give, unto them eternal life; ana they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. Jolm 10:27 and 28. . . , ... Tuesday.—“My Father winch gave them Me, is greater than all; and no rriau is able to pluck them out of my Father s hand. I and my Father-are one. —John 10:29 and 30, “ Jesus;. . . having loved His own,.which were in the world. He loved them unto the end.”-—John 13:1; • . , >. Wednesday.—" God who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. box’ all the promises of God. in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. —2 Corinthians 1:4 and 20. Thursday.—" He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for.My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may test‘upon me.”—2 Corinthians 12:9. Friday.—“ Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, tindefijed, separate from- sinners and made higher than the heavens.”—Hebrews 7:20 *nd 26. , - . ~ Saturday.—“ Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, ..and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty;‘dominion and power,.both now and •ver. Amen.”—Jude 24 and 2p. .... —H. R. Higgeus in A.C.W I THE UNPOSSESSED LAND.. It is a sobering as well as an amusing -thought to recall, that the Missionary 1 Board under which 'David Livingstone I went to Africa hesitated, at first about accepting him. because of his qualifications 'and Warning? ‘ , ~ The Missionary Board was also disturbed when the young missionary sent

.from South. Africa some kindly but very frank judgments on- the board’s policy iri South, Africa. W. P. Livingstone says in his recent book: “Livingstone’s view was that the field there was overstaffed; too many men-were clustered in a region where the number of natives was comparatively small;.' they ought up into the unevangelised interior.” Are there not many indications to-day on the/mission .fields of the world that God would have Mission Boards .restudy ■the; unoccupied, and .unevangelised areas of - the ; world,, reappraise missionary methods and.-.emphasig. to-day, and reapportion the missionary forces that the unrcaehed millions might in our day hear the Gospel of ,their salvation?-,-• ■ • .

OUR SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS. O Lord, to what a .pass are, we come! Behold, we bewail a temporal loss; for a pitiful, gain we toil , and run; . while the spiritual harm we incur is forgotten, and hardly at last do we return to a sense of it. That which little, or nothing profiteth, is minded; and that, which, is especially necessary ? is negligently passed over;- because' the whole man doth slide off to external things, and unless he speedily recover himself,' be; gettleth down in them, and that willingly.—Thomas A. Kempis. ;. - THE TRUE BEGINNING. Religion is the first thing arid the last thing, aiid until a man has found God and been found by God, he begins at no bo ginning,.-lie works ,to no end. He .may have, his friendships,, his partial loyalties, his scraps of honour. But all those things fall into place, only with God.—H. G. ■Weils. ... • ■ , EVERY MAN HAS A STORY TO TELL. • What a broken-hearted world this is: “The grey threads of. sorrow are woven into every life.” Many go about their daily toil with an aching heart and a secret caire. The causes of heartbreak are many. A single wrong may take all the sweetness out of life. “We spend our years as a tale that is told.” Every man has a story to tell and a part to play, and well for him if he tells his story truly and,plays his part well. Thank God,, it is possible for us by.',His grace to write onr pages clean and fair. Happy is tile man who, as he nears His journey’s' end, surveys life’s scene without shame and bitter regrets. O Lord our God, give all Thy children strength, which is both courage and fortitude. Keep us from easy compromises and cowardly accommodation. Help us to realise that in Thine eyes our failures may be successes. THE UNIVERSE A POEM. The Bishop, of Southwark (Dr Garbutt), writing in his Diocesan Gazette on the relationship of religion to science, says: A new spirit has been born. Within the church there have always been individuals who welcomed scientific discoveries, and to-day there are'increasingly-large groups of convinced churchmen who unreservedly accept the methods of science, who know and share its fearless search for truth, and who believe that every truth discovered, however perplexing it may be at first, will eventually be found to be a further revelation of the majesty, the wonder, and the purpose, of God. Not less remarkable, proceeds Dr Garbutt, is the change on the part of science. ... . . Now the trend of scientific .thought appears to be towards a position more in harmony with the presuppositions of revealed religion. The old mechanical view of the universe is giving place, to the conception of it as a poem still iri course of creation; as a picture which the. artist continues to paint out of sheer joy ill his work; and as a thought which man is slowly comprehending.

WHAT IS YOUR SUNDAY LIKE? Let every Christian try to do a little work for his Master each Sunday, to scatter a little of the good seed of God’s Word, to lighten the burden of some afflicted one, to read a chapter to an aged friend who cannot get out, to repeat all you can remember of the sermon to someone who cannot get to church, to give away a few Christian books, to teach half-a-dozen little, children in a loving spirit about the’ love of the Good Shepherd, to do something or other for Christ that will sanctify , the day and make, you feel it has not been; lost.

CATHEDRALS AND -CATHOLICITY. Mr Hugh Redwood, the author of “ God in the Slums,” writing in the NewsChronicle, suggests that St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, should be used periodically lor interdenominational services at which “once a month, or even once a year, we might be helped to forget our differences of dogma and possession,, and gather to hear the evidences of God that are above all denominational littleness.” “ Let us make no mistake,” says Mr Redwood, “ there is a turn of the tide towards eternal truths. More than that, there is an almost universal feeling of expectancy. Of what? Perhaps we are- shy of definition, but these are most certainly the days when, on the one hand, there is a failing of men’s hearts for fear,- and, on the other, a lifting up of heads in the belief - that redemption draweth nigh.” Professor Percy Dearmer, canon of Westminster, commenting upon Mr Redwood’s plea for interdenominational services in St. Paul’s, said that, in view of the opportunities before all our cathedrals and central .parish churches he heartily supported Mr Redwood’s main idea. “Emphatically at the present time,” said Professor Dearmer, “we need the help of all who have vision and a sane arid wholesome message. It would be wrong,” he continued, “and, as it seems to me, unChristian, to confine such special speakers to the Church of England; and there is no intelligent reason for the exclusion of laymen. I should like to see addresses given in all our cathedrals for poor and rich, he added, by men with a message.” ■ . - '

A GESTURE OF UNITY. Rev. M. E. Aubrey and Dr Sidney Berry were the speakers at a joint assembly of the Nottinghamshire Baptist and Congregational Unions, held at Castlegate Congregational Church, Nottingham. “An historic and unique occasion,” said Mr A. Armitage, the chairman, with pardonable enthusiasm —though such united assemblies are rare rather than unique. “We are trying in these united gatherings,” said Dr Berry, “to tell the world again that in all but comparatively minor matters we are at one.” SOUTH AFRICA. ' The ■ annual assembly of the South African Union was held in Capetown from October 14 to 21. Rev. Alfred Olver, in bis address from the chair on “Leaves from a Minister’s Diary,” said the greatest need in all the world just now was to restore faith in a living God; and he thought the secret of success lay in making men aware of the God that is in the earth rather than of the God in the heavens, to realise the divinity that was in man. A MARK GUY PEARSE STORY. A new story of the beloved Mark Guy Pearse, Wesleyan preacher and writer, has recently been told. Not many days before he died some repairs were being made in an adjoining flat, and his daughter was afraid that the noise of hammering and banging would distress the patient in his weak state. She expressed her concern to her father.. “ I hope the noise won’t upset you, said 8,1 “No, my dear,” was the grand old man’s reply. “No. its all right. ’ And then, with a flash of that unfailing humour of his, he added: “When one is getting close to the Promised Land one must expect a little troubles from the Hammeiites and the Hittites! ”