THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22628, 20 July 1935, Page 27

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME TOYOHIKO KAGAWA. Kagawa, saint, philosopher, and seer! He came into our lives, and left us dumb With wonder at the measure of the man. He flashed across our shores from far Japan, A meteor to pierce our souls awake From lethargy, half-truths, and. deep unrest. A soul on fire, son of the mystic cast. He flung his challenge on our lukewarm hearts And shook us from our smug complacency. A man of prayer, he showed us how to pray; Of action, and he taught us how to do. Indomitable, lion-hearted, brave. He faced a hundred deaths without dismay. And fought disease and sin with fiery zeal. An orator, he poured forth burning words Of faith in One. who make'th all things new, The God of Love, who is not far away, But found among the lowliest and lost. He took the broken and the wretched in And loved them back to sanity and health. He shared the outcast’s life in vilest slums, _ 1 1 And sacrificed his life for their great need He preached the Cross of Christ, one sovereign power And remedy for worlds by sin dis-

, traught A 'scientist, 1 a poet, statesman, seer. So stooped, a great man, to a nation’s need. *—E. A. PRAYER. O God, Thou art life, wisdom, truth, bounty, and blessedness, the Eternal, the only true God. My God and my Lord, Thou art my hope and my heart's joy. I confess, with thanksgiving that Thou has made me in Thine image, that I may direct all my thoughts to Thee and love Thee. Lord, make me to know Thee aright, that I may have more and more love, and enjoy and possess Thee. And since in the life below I cannot fully attain this blessedness, let jt 'at least grow in me day by day until it all be fulfilled at last in the life to come. Here be the knowledge of Thee increased, and there let it bo perfected. Here let my love to Thee grow, and there let it ripen; that my joy being here great in hope may there in fruition be made perfect. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. —St. Anselm, eleventh century.

A TEXT FOR EACH DAY'S MEDITATION. “Hope in God.”

Sunday.—" Happy is ho that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord hia God: which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever.” —Psalm cxlvi; 5-0. Monday.—“ The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.”—Psalm clvii:' 11. “ Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the water ... her leaf shall be green"— Jeremiah 17-7 and 8. Tuesday.—“ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”—Romans v: 1 and 2. Wednesday.—“ Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good . . •. _ not slothful in business: fervent in spirit: serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.”—Romans zii; 9-11 and 12. Thursday.—“ Let us, who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love: and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain > salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” —1 Thessalonians v: 8 and 0. Friday.—“ Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people."—Titus i: 13 and 14. Saturday.—“ Beloved now are we the song of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: hut we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him: for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope ip Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”—l John iii: 2 and 3. —H. R. Higgene, in A. C. W. RESPONSIBILITY OF LAITY. In his pre-synod sermon at St. John’s Cathedral, Brisbane, the archbishop (Dr Wand) said it was as much the duty of the laity as of the clergy to win people for Christ. He considered the laity had a field to which the clergy have no direct right of entry—the homes of people; the shops; the factories. During -his 10 months in Queensland, Dr Wand said, he had confirmed over 100 adults, each of whom might be regarded as certainly a genuine case of conversion. Could his Grace take a peep into the workings of some other sections of the Christian Church, he would find many conversions that are the direct work of the laity—and always have-been. ,

NEW WINE IN OLD BOTTLES. The Rev. John Mackenzie, D.D., preaching in Trinity Church, Camberwell, Victoria, recently, took his text from Luke v: 37-39: “No man putteth new wine into old bottles, etc.” He referred to the wisdom of Jesus in dealing with the conflicts of His day, and pleaded for tolerance both towards those whose faith is rooted in the past and those who are impatient of the present. In the course of Ins sermon he told of a critic who remarked to a minister: “I don’t like the way you are doing your work.” “I am not very well, satisfied with it myself” the minister replied; and he asked: “How do you do it? ” “I don’t do it at all,” the critic answered. “Well.” said the minister, “ I like the way I do it better than the way you don’t do it.” CHURCH UNION. Speaking to the Methodist General Conference in Melbourne, Mr W. M. Hughes, Minister of Health in the Commonwealth Parliament, urged that church union, or at least an organised co-opera-tion, is necessary to “combat the forces unleashed by the depression, in their bold attack on Christianity.” “The forces of anti-Christ,” he declared, “ had reared their heads, and were marching for a frontal attack upon the citadel of the Church.” Continuing his line of appeal, lie stressed the point that “ the most precious thing in the Christian religion is the Gospel of Christ, which aione can give comfort, hope, and spiritual life to the people.” The speaker instanced the attitude of Russia and of Germany towards Christianity, as accentuating the demand for a firm, united front on the part of the churches. The world’s malady he declared to be “ one of the soul as well as of the body.” From such a source, this is a challenge to all the churches, which must not be ignored, says the Australian Christian World. PRAYER FOR INDIA. The Archbishop of Canterbury, in a letter to The Times, makes an appeal for prayer for India. . His Grace directs attention to the enormous issues at stake. “ for,” he says, “ India contains one-fifth of the human race. We who believe in a divine ordering of the world cannot doubt that in the long association of the two countries there is a purpose of God. At such a time as this our first duty is to lay the whole problem which now confronts us before God in prayer that His purpose may be fulfilled: and that He’ may give to men, both British and Indian, the sincerity and humility of spirit which may enable them to discern His.purpose an.l work together with Him towards its fulfilment. I therefore ask my fellow-countrymen whom my words may reach to join in sustained and faithful prayer that the Will of God may be done both for India and for ourselves, and that there may arise in both countries such a strength of goodwill apd mutual understanding as may overcome difficulties which may now seem to be impassable."

THE GOD OF HER LIFE. One afternoon when visiting 1 knocked at a door and a woman answered my knock and said, “We do not want any religion here.” I smiled and said • would come back. 1 had just reached the gate when she called out, “ There is an old woman up the lane who would like to see you.” I went and on entering I saw every evidence of poverty, but in a spotlessly clean bed was an old granny with a lace cap and corkscrew curls. I sat down and* talked, and at last I said, “Granny, are you happy?" ami she put out her old, thin hand and took a crust of bread, and she said.

“Happy? I have this,” atui her face lit iip and she added. “ I have my Lord Jesus” 1 said, “Have you known Him long?” She said, ‘‘l have known Him since I was a wee girl. He is the chiefest among ton thousand, and the altogether lovely One.” I went in to preach to Granny, but don’t you think she preached to me? God was the God of her life. —Archdeacon Langley. Sydney. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES. “ Life ” is the subject of the lessonsermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, to-morrow. The Golden Text is: “How Excellent is Thy loving kindness, 0 God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings . . . and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of life.” (Ps. xxxvi, 7-9.). Among the citations which comprise the lesson-sermon are the following;—“And He said unto His disciples, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment." (Luke xii, 22-23). “The fact is, food does not affect the absolute life of man, and this becomes self-evident, when we learn that God is our Life.” (“Sscience and Health, with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy.)

British shipping laid up at Horae ports on April 1 showed a decrease of 286,000 tons since the beginning of January. Allowing for ships broken up and sales to foreign flags, the increase in tonnage in commission is about 76,000 tons. Advertising pays its way, often many times over. It will permit lower' prices through increased volume. It can reduce selling costs. It can lessen the time in which a product moves from factory to consumer.