METHODIST CHURCH

Southland Times, Issue 17347, 19 May 1913, Page 2

METHODIST CHURCH

JUBILEE SERVICES. . . The jubilee services in connection with the Leet Street Methodist Church, which were inaugurated last Sunday, were continued yesterday, when the Rev. A. Mitchell preached at both the morning and evening services. At the former he spoke upon the subject of “The Backward Look,” taking as his text the second verse of the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy: "And thou shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” That was the nearest approach he could find to the term they were celebrating that day, and ho thought it. permissible to make it read fifty years. By memory character and destiny were moulded according to the way in which this gift of God was used. Every experience created a sediment in the memory, and by it the past lived in the present- By the images their memory created the characters of men were judged. These preliminarywords led them to ask what was the highest use of meftnory. It was to seek an expression which would link them to God’s eternal plan. Such memory as that would inspire hope and heroism. The people before him were what they were because of their pious mothers. Good influences must bring their result, and the tendency of success wae to forget God. Mon trenched themselves in with insurance against fire and against accident until they made the mistake of believing that they were Independent of the Almighty Providence. Their pilgrimage of fifty years had been very hopeful, and remembrance of it would consecrate the future. The Rev. 4- Mitchell also occupied the pulpit in the evening, and in referring to, the jubilee, he stated that, as a past minister of the Leet Street Church, he wished to congratulate the congregation and the circuit stewards on the attainment of the church's jubilee. It had been one of his greatest joys to renew his friendships, and again to preach to his old congregation. They should thank God for all his past blessings, and pray that these blessings in the days to come would be more abundant, and that the church would.be thoroughly consecrated to God. He hoped that the jubilee services would be attended not only with numerical, but spiritual success, and that God would bless them individually in the church and in their domestic life.