SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24337, 29 June 1940, Page 13

SUNDAY CIRCLE

PEACE My soul, there is a country, Far beyond the stars, Where stands a winged sentry All skilful in the wars: There above noise, and danger, Sweet Peace sits crown'd with smiles, And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files. • He is thy gracious Friend, And O my soul awake! Did in pure love descend, To die here for thy sake. If thou canst get but thither, There grows the flower of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress, and thy ease. Leave then thy foolish ranges, r For none can thee secure, But one who never changes Thy God, thy life, thy cure. —Henry Vaughan. PRAYER Father in Heaven, Whose blessed Son, beholding Jerusalem, wept over it because it knew not the things which belonged to its peace; look down in mercy upon our distraught and fevered world. Forgive the mistaken aims, the selfish passions, and the presumptuous claims of men. Check in ourselves and in others every temper which makes for war. Give us to see every question of policy in the light of our Christian faith. Remove our suspicions and misunderstandings; and constrained by the redeeming love of Christ, our Saviour, help us to labour unceasingly for the coming of Thy Kingdom. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A.BIBfcE KNOWLEDGE TEST Who spoke the following words, and on what occasions? X, "Why is they countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart." 2. "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us. and not, unto the world? " 3. "The soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God. 4. "I have set my affection to the House of My God." 5. "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."

6. "Only lake heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget. . . ." THE BIBLE FLOWER MISSION The London hospitals representing its major fields of service, the Bible Flower Missien was naturally faced with unusual' difficulties owing to the evacuation of large numbers of patients in the first weeks after the outbreak of war. And yet, in spite of this fact, and the disorganisation inevitably arising therefrom, visiting has been maintained on an encouraging scale. The welcome given to the "flower ladies" shows how their work is appreciated, and may be summed up in the remark made recently by the matron of one of the large voluntary hospitals: " We are glad to see you," she said, "and the patients appreciate your visits." Another visitor wrote shortly after the evacuation: " In visiting different L.C.C. hospitals four days a week. I find the opportunities are greater than ever, and I am struck with the quiet calm and faith of the Christians in the wards. Going one afternoon to a block I had not visited before, I found that ten wards were occupied, several being quite full. This means not only ah extra day's visiting, but that extra lavender bags and texts will be needed. Both are so eagerly welcomed by the patients." BIBLE SOCIETY'S LATEST VERSION The latest version to appear on the language list of the British and Foreign Bible Society is the Gospel of Luke in Kado, bringing the number of versions published or circulated by the Bible Society ur. to 736. The Kado tribe live in China, in South-western Yunnan, and the translation of Luke's Gospel was made by a gifted Lisu teacher named Mr Ch'i and six Kado assistants Mission work among the Kados was begun in 1932, and the missionary who made the request for the Gospel wrote to the society: "We are very anxious to give the individual a solid founda tion of Christian teaching before baptism. What is the use of getting large crowds who have only been awakened? " Another missionary gives an interesting account of the building of a place of worship. "In the beginning we

used to have our Sunday services under a big tree," he writes, "and the strong winds and rains often disturbed the services. The people themselves soon wanted a place of their own, and the work began. The offerings from the harvest thanksgiving service were given to build the four mud walls; each family gave 50 bundles of mountain grass and four rafters. Others went to the woods and cut trees for the roof. It was a great joy the day we had the first service in that house. Nobody noticed that we had no benches, chairs or table. Eighty to 100 people stood all through the service. Bur help came; old Mr Pe'ng said one day, after the service, that each family could easily supply a bench—it did not matter about the size high or low, small or big, long or short. So the hall wes filled with benches." ' BLIND EVANGELISTS IN ARMENIA Blind Biblemen and Biblewomen of the Friends of Armenia are keen and effective evangelists, and are doing a splendid work in the villages of Syria. Comparatively few people in the Near East are literate, and consequently large numbers will listen to anyone reading aloud. As these evangelists find their way about, or are led by a guide, they soon attract attention; the word goes round " Come and listen to a blind man reading." and soon a crowd gathers. Stories from the Old Testament, and of the Lord Jesus Chist. are heard with the greatest interest. These men and women are indefatigable; they make visits from house to house, and take the Gospel to hospital wards, shops, market squares, and other places. CHURCH ORGANISATION The Bishop of London (Dr Fisher), in his first letter in the diocesan Leaflet, discusses organisation. The Church has an organisation, he says, necessary to serve its true end of relationship to Christ in faith, worship and service. Parish priests and lay people have to give much time End trouble to organisation, especially in difficult times like this, when things are disorganised At the best of times it may easily become our master, even our tyrant. It has no value, except in so far as it serves the true ends of the Christian society, and, as I have said, they are always personal, the uniting of living

persons to the spirit of the living God and so bringing them to true fellowship with one another in the manifold activities of human life. A diocese has an organisation. It is a femily, a part of the whole family of Christ, with its family life of worship and charity, with its obligations within the family, and always with its obligations to its neighbours, to whom Christ sppoints us to minister His gospel. It is one of the most encouraging signs of renewed life in the Church that the laity are again taking their proper place'along with the clergy as active witnesses before their fellows of the saving faith of the Church. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCHES "Christian .Science" is the subject of the lesson-sermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, to-morrow. The golden text- is: " The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter i, 21). Among the citations which comprise the lesson-sermon is the following from the Bible:—" Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that believeth on Me, the works that I do he do also; and greater works tha» these shall he do; because I go unto My Father" (John xiv, 12). The lesson-sermon also contains the following passage from the text book of Christian Science. "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy:—" To-day there is hardly a city, village, or hamlet, in which are not to be found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue and power of truth, as applied through this Christian system of healing disease."