THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22422, 17 November 1934, Page 23

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME LORD OF THE LONELY AND FORSAKEN THINGS. By Constance Davies Woodrow. Lord of the lonely and forsaken things, His heart was all but broken by the cry Of errant lamblings grieving for the fold. Or broken-winged birds that could not fly. He shared the anguish in the pleading eyes Of wounded curs that knew His gentle speech; He mourned for Magdalena’s bitter days, Nor drew His feet beyond her wistful reach. When in the darkest hour the world has known, His sundered heart gave forth that tortured cry— My Father, why hast thou forsaken me? His mother wept and could not answer why. PRAYER. Almighty God, Who dost truly love mankind, and Who desirest that none should be lost, suffer no longer that men should harden their hearts and close their ears to the pleading of Christ our Saviour. Awake within their souls yearning tor Thee, and teach them to find in Christ full satisfaction. Make our feet swift, and our hands strong, and our tongues eloquent for Him. ... Grant that we may diligently seek, by our life, and our example, our labour, and our character, 1 to be earnest and diligent to bring Thy message of salvation home to men’s hearts and to awaken therein fervent love for Thee; and this we ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen. A TEXT FOR EACH DAY’S MEDITATION. Sunday. —“ Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”—2 Cor. ix, 15. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” —John iii, 16. Monday.—"lf thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” —John iv, 10 and 14. Tuesday.—"He that hath my commandments and keepeth them: he is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” —John xiv, 21. Wednesday.—“ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His spirit.”—l Cor. ii, 9 and 10. Thursday.—“ But God Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us. Even when we were dead. in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved.” —Ephesians ii, 4 and 5. Friday.—-" For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”-—Ephesians ii, 8. “ 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 iv, 10. ... Saturday.—“ Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God; God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath for us. God is Love: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”—l John iv, 15-16. — H. R Higgens. CHARLOTTE BRONTE’S CREED. Life appears to me to be too shqrt to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. We are one and all burdened with faults in this world, but the time will come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptive bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us and only the, spark will remain, the impalpable principle of life and thought, pure as when it left the Creator to inspire the creature. Whence it came, it will return, perhaps to pass through tions of glory. It is a creed in which I delight, to which I cling. It makes Eternity a rest, a home; not a terror, and an abyss. With this creed revenge never worries mv heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me injustice never crushes me too low. 1 live in calm, looking to the end.— Charlotte Bronte. , , NEW LANGUAGES. Among the latest versions to appear on the British and Foreign Bible Society s language list, which now numbers 679 languages and dialects, are two for Abyssinia—Sidamo and Gofa. The Gospel of St. Mark in Sidamo has been prepared by Mr Glen Cain, a missionary of the Sudan Interior Mission, who has been working in association with the Abyssinia Frontiers Mission. Sidamo is a distinct language, spoken, it is estimated, by about 150,000 people. This is the first Gospel to be translated for the. peoples of Southern Abyssinia. Gofa is one of the provinces of Ethiopia, and the language has been reduced to writing by Mr Walter A. Ohman, also of the Sudan Interior Mission. THE SCRIPTURE GIFT MISSION. The following appeal, which has been received by the secretary of the Scripture Gift Mission, is an indication of the urgency of the requests now being received: “I write again, asking for other grants of your splendid gifts, especially your little red and green booklets full of the Word of God, which are very much to be desired. I would b'e glad of a generous allowance, if that suits you. There will be a midsummer convocation, wdiere we want to divide them among the workers, and we are also beginning to visit again the scenes of the Honduras catastrophe that occurred last month. People there are now' opening their hearts to the Gospel, and we are anticipating rich harvests. ’ TRAINED SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS. A modern movement that bids fair to revolutinise standards of Sunday school teaching is the Evangelical Teacher Training Association. Five American Bible Institutes have agreed to promote a course which will train the Sunday school teacher as adequately as the teacher in the secular, day school. Its major subjects are Bible study, personal evangelism, and missions, and only orthodox textbooks are approved. The association confers diplomas upon all teachers completing its courses, and also awards a pupil’s diploma to Sunday school scholars receiving instruction under its graduates. The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago offers the standard training course in both its day and evening schools, and the preliminary training course in its correspondence school. THE REV. LIONEL B. FLETCHER. From the Life of Faith we learn that the Rev. Lionel Fletcher’s last meeting in Capetown was attended by over 2500 people. Probably a quarter of a million men and women listened to him during his African campaigns, and cabled news shows that 7627 decisions were recorded. MEMORIAL TO PREBENDARY WEBB-PEPLOE. Shortly after the late Prebendary Webb ; Peploe passed away it was decided that his 27 years’ service as president and chairman of the Barbican Mission to the Jews should be commemorated by the erection of headquarters for that mission in Poland. A considerable sum of money having been collected, a large plot ground was bought at Bialystok, on which w’ere built a chapel, a reading room, and a house for the superintending missionary. God has blessed the work there in a wonderful way, and Jews have been crowding to the services and meetings since the chapel was opened. As it is now impossible to accommodate all who try to get in, the committee of the mission has decided that the chapel must be enlarged, at a cost of £BOO. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES. “Morale and Immortals ” ig the subject of the lesson-sermon in all Churcheg of Christ, Scientist, to-morrow. The golden text is: The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Among the citations which comprise the lesson-sermon are the following:— “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.’’ (1 Corr. xv, 50.) “Good demands of man every hour, in which to work out the problem of being. Consecreation to good does not lessen man’s dependence on God, but heightens it. Neither does consecration diminish man’s obligations to God, but shows the paramount necessity of meeting them. Christian Science takes naught from the perfection of God, but it ascribes to Him the entire glory.”—“ Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy.