THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21906, 18 March 1933, Page 2

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME “INASMUCH . . .» 0 ye who bear the sacred name of Christ, , „ , .. What thy defence, when fearfully alone, Thy soul must stand before that awful throne? Ye deemed that ye were free —Him sacrificed: Ye look’d to find Him in the Eucharist; But deaf thine ear to Suffering s low moan . Of anguish; naught of pity have .ye shown . E’en trusting that the name to live sufficed. “ I was anhungered, and ye fed Me not: .tit In prison, and ye came not unto Ale: I thirsted, and ye gavest Me no wine: The widow and the orphan ye forgot. Therefore, vain hope before Gods -throne be thine That mercy will be meted out to thee.” L. A. PRAYER. 0 Mighty God, Who by the birth of Thy holy Child Jesus has given us a great Light to dawn upon our darkness; grant, we pray Thee, that in His light we may see light to the end of our days; and bestow upon us, we beseech Thee, that most excellent Christmas gift of chanty to all men, that so, the likeness of Iby son may be formed in us, and that we may have the ever-brightening hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen, 0 Lord, Thy Word is before us. Give us a meek, and reverent, and teachable mind, whilst we read and study it. Open to us its sacred truths, arid enable us to receive it, not as the word of . men, but. as the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Be Thou, 0 Blessed Spirit, our teacher. Enlighten our minds and prepare our hearts. Shine, 0 Lord, upon Thine own sacred page, and make it clear to us. What we see not, show us; and where we are wrong, correct us. Bring home some portion to our soul, and thus make us wise unto salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen. May we be kept humble and zealous, and may God give us grace to labour m our generation for the good of our brethren and for His glory. May He keep us His by night and day, and strengthen us to hear aud to do His will; through Jesus Christ. Amen. A TEXT FOR EACH DAY’S MEDITATION. Sunday.—“ Redeeming the time because the dtfys are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” —Ephesians 5:10 and 17. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.”' —Isaiah 55:6. Monday.—“ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”—lsaiah 55:7.' Tuesday.—“ Jesus spake again saying— I am the Light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. . . . And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." —John 8:12 and 32. • Wednesday.—“ Yet a little while is the Light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he (hat walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”—John 12:35. . Thursday.—“ And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. . . - The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Romans 13:11 and 12. , ' Friday—“ For He eaith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee; behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”—2 Cor. 6:2. Saturday.—“ Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Walk in wisdom, toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” —Colossians 4:2 and 5. ’« Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10, , . —H. R. Higgens in A.C.W. A MISSIONARY THOUGHT. KEEPING TO THE MAIN CHANNEL. “There are men and women whose faces possess a radiance that shines from within,” writes Mies Rachel Lawrie in the Philadelphia Evening Ledger. This spiritual quality in faces and lives belongs to those who have come out more than conquerors in the melee of crosspurposes and counter-currents of life. Many world currents eddy and swirl about the missionary enterprise of the Christian Church. ; There are some who are in danger or being swept off the course and who would follow by-paths and side issues. The controlling aim, the primary purpose, the supreme passion of the missionary enterprise is to share with all men the Gospel of redeeming grace, to emphasise the religious rather than the philanthropic, and at all times to be evangelical in belief and evangelistic in practice. THE PREACHER. Scene The Stony Desert. The preacher: And now, my friends, let us for a little consider the properties of what we call water. Water is a colourless liquid which on being raised to a temperature of lOOdeg Centigrade or 212 deg Fahrenheit becomes what is called vapour. If, however, on the other hand, the temperature be lowered to Odeg Centigrade or 32deg Fahrenheit, 10, it is ice! It has also been carefully analysed, and, although in solution there are frequently found traces of copper, antimony, bismuth, and potassium, in the final analysis it is discovered to consist of two portions of hydrogen to one of oxygen, or we may say one of oxygen to two of hydrogen. Hence arises the name H2O. Water is also capable of. . . Dying man: For the love of God, mister, a drink. —M, in C.W, A PIECE OP GOOD ADVICE. “ In my younger days I once told a young curate that I liked to go and hear all the great preachers. He replied that I should get more good by sticking to my own church and hearing second-rate sermons. I ■ took his advice for a time, and found there was a great deal in it,” writes W. C. B. in the Birmingham Post, “because the vicar of my parish, though an unknown man, was the equal of many men in the front rank. Probably if ho had been a feeble preacher I should soon have wandered away. But it was not the preaching only that attracted me; it was the sense of feeling at home.” “TAKE A LOOK.” In his “ Death Cannot Sever,” Dr Norman Maclean says: “An eloquent demagogue proclaimed to the soldiers in the war years that they had no need of repentance, and went straight to heaven. Studdert Kennedy replied to him thus; When he says you are splendid fellows I am with him all the time, but when he says you are all saints, well! take a look at one another.” SCOTS CHURCH, MELBOURNE. The congregation of Scots Church, Mc-1-bourne, is appplying to the General Assembly for permission to call a minister, for a fixed period. It is felt that tha special position of Scots as the cathedral church gives it a claim for exceptional recognition. The petitioners have in view solely and entirely the needs of their own church, and have no desire whatever to raise the general question of the tenure of the ministerial office. CALVIN AND EDUCATION. The Rev. William J. Baxter, speaking in Glasgow of Calvin’s achievements, said: “No one did more for education than Calvin. The religious instruction of the young was so thorough that it was said a boy of Geneva could give an answer for his faith as ably as a doctor of the Sorbonne. The academy founded by Calvin was through him staffed with the ablest preceptors of that age, like Cordier and Beza, and attracted men from all lands. The world owed to Calvin a theory of Church and State which avoided the extremes of Hildebrandism and of Lutheranism, but which,” remarked Mr

Baxter <r by one of those ironies of history, had been tried out, not in Geneva, but in other lands, especially France and Scotland.” THE BAPTIST CHURCH. The Life of Faith says:—A report just received from the Rev. J. H. Ruahbrooke, M.A., D.D., general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, shows that church membership throughout the world is on the increase. During the past year there was a total increase amounting to about 190,000. The totals for every continent are enlarged. In Europe, a small loss in Britain is more than balanced by increases in Continental countries. In Asia the steadiness of the Chinese Christians under their difficult circumstances is most gratifying, whilst in India, Burma, and Ceylon church membership still continues to rise. The increase in Sunday school scholars, however, has not been maintained. Each section of America reports losses in this department, but in all the other continents there i a a net gain, the reports from India and China showing increases of 9000 and 4000 respectively. SPURGEON CENTENARY. Among the famous preachers of a bygone generation none exercised a wideror more powerful influence than the greet Baptist minister, C. H. Spurgeon, whose name not only became a household word tlu-oughout the British Isles, but was known and honoured throughout the world. The centenary of his birth falls to be celebrated in 1034, and already the Baptist Union Council has engaged the Royal Albert Hall for April of that year, during Ihe sessions of the Union Assembly, for a great gathering in commemoration of the event. THE REV. DOROTHY WILSON. Probably the most prominent person at the moment in Melbourne is the Rev. Dorolhy Wilson, M.A., B.Litt., a noted Congregational preacher, who has been

filling various pulpits and incidentally filling churches in various parts of the city. One of the latest gatherings of welcome was in the Independent Hall when the Women’s Congregational Association invited representatives of religious and political societies of women to meet the noted preacher who is at least a good second to Maude Royden. The only drawback to the meetings was that music and other speakers left Miss Wilson inadequate time to speak, to tjie disappointment of many. ’NEATH MARY’S MANTLE. More than GO students, says the New Zealand Tablet, are to be in residence at Mount St. Mary’s, Greenmeadows, the Seminary of the Marist Fathers, fay the end of February, when classes resume Of this total 22 are new enrolments, of whom 14 are from St. Patrick’s College (Silverstream), four from St. Bede’s College (Christchurch), and four from Australia. In addition 18 novices will be making their novitiate at Highdon (Palmerston North). There are thus over 78 students for (he priesthood under the mantle of Mary.