YOUTH EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21668, 11 June 1932, Page 16

YOUTH EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGN

REV. LIONEL B. FLETCHER The final meeting for this -week in connection with the North-East Valley United Mission was held last evening, when the Presbyterian Church was again packed by an enthusiastic audience that entered fully into the spirit of the gatherin#. The evangelist preached on “ A King Who was Sorry,” taking as his text Matthew ivv 9, relating to the incident of Herod and his execution of John the Baptist. In his effective manner, Mr Fletcher drew for his hearers a mind sketch of John facing up to the mighty monarch and condemning his evil living. The truth often made enemies, and it. was because of this that John was Herod knew that John was a good man, and yet he killed him. So it was that to know the good and then to do the evil was moral and spiritual insanity. Those who sinned must pay the price of their iniquity. , , . There was a man rvhom he knew well, continued Mr Fletcher, who was now a leading doctor in one of the big Australian cities. When he had first gone to Edinburgh to study his profession, he had left with the words of his sweetheart and his mother on his heart, “We both trust you! " He satisfied a life-long ambition by going to London. There came to him as he stood in the midst of the millions, not one of whom he knew, the voice of evil. A young man full of the vigour of manhood, it came to him that there he could do as he liked and no one but himself would know. In that moment of temptation, when he was about to be swept off his feet, there came to him the picture of the two women he loved best bidding him farewell, and their message, “We both trust you!” By his vanquishing of temptation he had achieved that beauty of life that some men tarnished. If there were any among his hearers who were on the brink, he urged them to turn from sin to Christ. _ There were three reasons, said the speaker, why this ancient king sinned — Because of a silly oath, a silly fear, and a silly woman. Very often, he said, it was one of these three things that caused us to go into sin. Why, said Mr Fletcher, should we go out and mar our life by sin when we could enter into a life of victory in Christ? A good number answered |he final appeal to signify their intention of following Christ To-night there will be a united gathering for prayer.