THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21976, 10 June 1933, Page 4

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE , HOME ~ . : , JESUS IN THE TEMPLE. With His, kind mother, who partakes thy woe, ■ ■ Joseph, turn back; see where your Child . doth sit, ' Blowing, yea, blowing out those sparks of wit ■ ■ ■ Which Himself on the doctors did bestow. The Word but lately could not speak, and lo! It suddenly speaks wonders; ■ whence comes it ' V , „ , That all which was, and , all which should be writ, . A shallow-seeming child should deeply know? ■ . His Godhead was not soul to His manhood *. . , ■ .•’", . ■ Nor had . time mellowed Him to this ripeness; . But as for one which hath a long task, ’tis good ... . With the sun to begin his business, He in His age’s morning thus began, By miracles.exceeding power of man, —John Donne (1573-1631). PRAYER.

Holy and ever-blessed God Whom angels and archangels worship beholding Thy Face, hearken unto us Thy children, and turn upon us. the light of Thy Holy Countenance as we bow awaiting Thine approach. In shame over our sins; in gratitude over Thy former mercies; in anxiety over those dear to us;_ in fear for ourselves with our tasks; in confidence that in our emergencies Thou wilt not let us fail, or failing, ■wilt not forsake us; with that which is most real within us looking unto Thee alone, •we await Thy benediction; for the sake of Christ Jesus, Try Bon, our Saviour. Amen. A TEXT FOR EACH DAY'S MEDITA- '■/. , TION. : . Sunday.- —“ I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” —Job 19:25. i “ I know that Thou canst do everything, and that ho thought can be withholden from Thee.” —Job 42:2. " - Monday.—“l know, 0 Lord, that Thy judgments are,, right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. —Psalm 119:75. ; ■ • : “ For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.— Psalm 135:5. , h Tuesday.— “l know..that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks' unto Thy Name; the upright shall dwell in Thy presence. Psalm 140:12 and 13. ■ , Wednesday—“ I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall, be for ever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God doeth it that men should fear before Him.”—Ecclesiastes 3:14. 1 Thursday.—" Though a _ sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.” —Ecclesiastes 8:12; Friday.—“l know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him-against that day.”—2 Timothy 1:12. “He is faithful that promised. Hebrews 10:23. i Saturday.—l know, * Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometji down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”—James 1:17. “We love Him, because He first loved us.”—l John 4:19. . —H. R. Higgens in A;C.W. 1

MOODY’S INSPIRATION. D. L. Moody had the gift of inspiring men in good social positions to dedicate time and money to evangelistic work. His works still follow him. A man came to him one day and said, “Tam always living on the mountain top.” “Indeed,” replied Moody, “You, are, are you? And, pray, how many souls have you won for Christ up there? ” , 1 . During a mission in Scotland a man came to Moody boasting that he had been converted 20 years ago. " Yes,”, said the great evangelist, “and what have you been doing since?’?' > ' ' ■■■ THE SOUL OP THE WAR. “There will be no hope of peace until the peoples of the world recognise their brotherhood and refuse to be led to the shambles for mutual massacre. If there', is no hope of that; if, as some students of life hold, war. will always happen because life itself is a continual warfare, and one man lives only at the expense of another, then there is no hope, and all the ideals of men striving for the progress of mankind, all the dreams of poets and the sacrifices of scientists, are utterly vain and foolish, and pious men should pray God to touch this planet with a star and end the folly of it all?—Sir Philip Gibbs.

USE YOUR KEY! And Shakum met a Christian with the appearance of a hunted hare. And inquiring what was amiss, Shakum discovered that this Christian was neither an .atheist nor did he hold that the power behind the universe was a vacant-faced idiot, but that he read his Bible, said his prayers,' and believed in God and in Jesus Christ. And when Shakum had looked for some time upon the face of this Mad-Hatter-cum-March-Hare, he opened his mouth and said unto him; “Art thou not a man shut out upon the doorstep because, haying a latch key of promise, you yet never use it Art thou a creature ever standing upon the draughty platform and taking chills incessantly, because, although you believe in a railway guide, vou do never board the train? M., in Christian World.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND STATISTICS. The official year book of the Church of England for 1933 furnishes some interesting figures in its statistical tables, from which it is evident that the vitality of the church has not been sapped by prolonged world-wide depression. The ordination statistics show that in 1032 there were 585 men ordained as against ' 498 in 1931. This figure is the largest in any year since the outbreak of the Great War. There is l evidence that there are many young men anxious to enter its ministry, and that an increase in church funds would enable more to be trained. The number of church people of 18 years and over registered on the electoral rolls of the 12,767 parishes making returns is 3,648,729, a slight decrease on the, previous year. In the Sunday schools there are 1,780,288 scholars and 101,726 teachers, but this represents only in part the work

of the church among young people. During the year 1931 the total voluntary contributions received by incumbents and parochial councils for parochial work amounted to £6,529,160. ONE SECRET OF LONGEVITY; '‘'The absence of wear and tear of mind is probably one reason,” writes Dr Bernard Hollander in “ Old Age Deferred,” a little book of sound advice by a physician of international repute on the prevention of the disabilities and diseases of old age—“ why most centenarians ' are found in the country, usually among the poor and ignorant classes.”; .• •■' “ They have not worried because they have taken things as they came with the fatalistic resignation of the poor in spirit. The intellectual and other problems, which press so hard on tins generation, leave them untouched. With them sufficient for the day are:the needs thereof.” THE DOG DID IT. Returning from Sunday morning worship recently, the minister’s wife remarked on a sudden revival in,the choir ' stalls. One whole family Was there; This was so unusual that when, the minister, in ■ihe course of his pastoral duties, called at that house during the following week, he remarked on the. ; pleasure that the neyrs had given him. This, to his surprise, sent the whole, household into'broad smiles that broke into hearty laughter bn the ypunger faces.. The good man of the house, himself a member of the choir, called attention to a small dbg, six weeks . old., at the moment interested in the minister’s shoe-laces, and said, as be-pointed to the pup. “ That’s the explanation. We only got hip on Saturday night. He Hfted tip his- voice in the night hours. By 7_ o’clock on Sunday morning Jack andhis sister were downstairs to. get the first hug of him, and as at an ■ unearthly hour for Sunday morning we were all up and breakfast over, we had nothing else to do blit turn but to church.” ’

. The minister is considering how he could supply nix-weeks-old pups to several 1 families in his congregation.