THE QUEEN'S THEATRE SERVICES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1319, 10 March 1877, Page 5

THE QUEEN'S THEATRE SERVICES.

The religions services voider the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association were re-commenced last Sunday at the Queen's Theatre, which was crowded to excess. Mr A. Barr occupied the chair. After devotional exercises, Professor Salmond delivered an address, in which he said that the secret of the power of the Bible was that it mirrored the heart of man. Whatever his joys or sorrows, a man would there find a full expression of his feelings. And this led to the inference that there is in the Bible the hand of the very God who made us. He took one of the utterances of a man who was deeply afflicted, and asked the attention of his hearers to it. It was Job's utterance : "Oh that I knew where I might find God; that I might come even to his seat." These were Job's words long years ago, and how many men had since then read them, and wondered? For, as Job thought then, so do men think now, and, seeing his words, they take courage ; for if before their time one found God, so may they find 'him now. What did Job mean when he asked ' to find God ? He felt that he wanted God. Sometimes we can do without God — in prosperity ; for then we make a god out of the world and ourselves. But in adversity, bodily and spiritual, men be-, gin to cry out for the living God, and for Him alone ; for theyTnstinctively feel that there is no hope in themselves or .in man. All the arguments of atheism and infidelity disappear 'before' the heart's sorrows ; for strike the chords of a'jnan'a heart roughly, and they .will -giv,e, out the, cry of H God." What- did Job .want yjrhen he asked for God? .To^feel God coming into his heart and working in him, to turn his darkness into light, his' evil into good,' to say to the storm raging I there " Peace be etilL" . And it is to accomplish this same, thing thai Christ is revealed-ia-the'Gospel ; it is for this purpose that-ttuTHoly Ghost is sent down from Heaven.' There is ample testimony that this 'is what thS Gospel does for man. How ace we, to find God? There is no, temple or" holy place now. He is as near here as anywhere. There have been spots looked upon as most sacred, on account of the solemn events that transpired upon them. But Sinai, Bethel, the Lake of Galilee^' G'ethsemane, and Calvary itself, possess no special sacredDess now. The temple of a man's heart is the only place where God manifests himself. If asked where they had found God, Christians would not give a uniform reply. One would say, " I found Him on my tended knees in prayer;" another, "I found Him as with earnest gaze I read His Holy Word ; " a third, " I found Him as I fixed my face upon the Son of Man, and saw in Him the glory of the Father revealed ; ". and a fourth would say, " I found Him at the cross of Christ." Are these things true, or are they a delusion ? If our faith is the disease of a diseased mind, what is the health of a healthy mind ? If the finding of God in the soul is a delusion, what is left to live for ? These thing 3 are the greatest of realities. They' have been the life ot the world — the source of all that is good and grand in it — aud if the world ever come 10 regard the cry of the soul for God as delusion, evil will befal both moral and intellectual life too ; it will be like withdrawing the sun's light from tho earth. The Professor concluded, encouraging any who were yearning for God, by repeating this promise to those who were seeking. Mr Weight spoke of his labours at Invercargill recently, and exhorted Christians, not to leave their own Churches to attend the Theatre services, but to pray for their success, and to endeavour to influence outsiders to attend them. Mr Paterson then prayed, and Professor Saljiond pronounced the benediction.-