THE CHURCH

Southland Times, Issue 20002, 16 October 1926, Page 12

THE CHURCH

GENERAL NEWS AND NOTES. FROM PULPIT AND PEW. The Supreme Evangelical Council of Germany is planning the issue of a gigantic Luther Memorial Film at a cost of £50,000. The Right Rev. Maxwell Homfray Max-well-Gumbleton, D.D., has found it necessary for health reasons to resign the See of Ballarat. He is the third Bishop of Ballarat, having succeeded Dr. Green in 1917. Major Von Brandt, who commanded the German troops in South West Africa, and whose wife, Baroness Von Horning, died during the war, has just said his first Mass in Bavaria as a Priest of the Order of St. Benedict. A special song service is being held at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, South Invercargill to-morrow evening when visiting soloists will be present and special anthems will be rendered by the choir. In the morn ing a young peoples service is being con ducted. In connection with the Self-Denial Appeal the Salvation Army is holding their altar service to-morrow night. Captain Taylor will give a special address suitable to the occasion and Bro. N. F. Sansom will be the soloist. The usual meetings will be held at 7 a.m., 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. This year is the tercentenary of B'shop Lancelot Andrewes, and commemoration services will be held in Southwark Cathedral in September. When he died Bishop, Andrewes was buried in the Lady Chapel of Southwark Cathedral, which was then St. Saviour's Church. In 1676 the canopy above the tomb was destroyed by fire, and the tomb moved to a position immediately behind the high altar. The coffin was moved again in 1919, to the right-hand side of the high altar. # The Centre Bush Presbyterian Church social will be held on October 19 at 8 p.m. in the Limehills Hall. A good musical and elocutionary programme has been arranged, and addresses will be given by the Rev. J. H. Thomson, of Kennington, and the Rev. C J. Tocker, of St. Paul’s, Invercargill. In addition to the above a “Welcome Home” will be extended at this social to Mr W. J. Cowie, the church treasurer, who has been absent for a trip to the Old Land. A great missionary campaign is being organised to cover the whole of South Africa, in the course of the next two or three years. Two teams of experienced missionaries are to visit the dioceses of Grahamstown and Capetown this year, to hold meetings and preach sermons in all the parishes. The Bishop of Johannesburg will lead the team for Capetown, and the Bishop of St. John’s the team for Grahamstown. The object of the campaign is to awaken in the hearts and minds of churchpeople the paramount need to evangelise the vast hordes of heathen within our town borders. —The Guardian. An article in the Church Standard, dealing with the question of the marriage ceremony, states: “To most who come to be married, the Sacrament does not exist nor the realisation that they are undertaking a life-long contract before God. The wedding takes place in the Church because it is the custom, and is ’nice,’ and it is carried through with outward display of beauty, but the inward and spiritual beauty is missing. A priest rejoices when the atmosphere is sacred, and he gives th® Church s blessing with a glad heart, knowing that the parties are ready to accept the Christian ideal of marriage.”

On Sunday last at the Leet street Methodist Church the Rev. A. Mcßean made appreciative reference to the generous response made by his congregation to a recent appeal for help by means of straightout giving for their new Sunday School. Promises to the extent of over £425 had been made to that appeal, and a large portion of this amount had already been paid in. In addition to this, during the same time the congregation had been asked to support the scheme for the building of a New Zealand Methodist Theological College, and £260 had been contributed for this purpose.

At the Leet street Methodist Church tomorrow, the morning service will be conducted by the Rev. J. R. Metcalfe, a missionary from the Solomon Islands. The Rev. Angus Mcßean will preach in the evening, his subject being, “Reasons for World-wide Evangelism.” The missionary anniversary will be continued on Tuesday evening when Mr Metcalfe will give a lecture on “Life and Work in the Solomon Islands.” Those who wish to‘'hear an eloquent speaker tell a good story of work amongst an interesting people should avail themselves of these opportunities of hearing Mr Metcalfe.

It is one of the signs of revival in the Church that laymen are taking again their ancient place in her life and work. The restoration of conciliatory action has opened -to them a wide door of usefulness in synod and council, enabling their experience and practical wisdom to be used in her service in the great matter of government. The formation of societies within her borders to be the organs of her corporate action in missionary enterpri. . in social reform, in all activities she was founded to carry on, and, in addition, the immense -work of the Sunday School, upon which we build our , most confident hope for the religious future of our race, have brought into active service vast numbers of men and women who recognise that in baptism they were made her ministers, and who desire to make full proof of their ministry.—Ballarat Church Chronicle (Anglican). The following is a brief extract from a letter recently written by the Rev. J. F. Goldie chairman of the Methodist Solomon Islands Mission, and reveals the wonderful work of Grace that has been accomplished there. Anyone coming on to the head station here to-day cannot possibly realise the change that has been made. The fine college buildings, the fine church, the residences, water supply, electric lighting, wireless installation, sawmills, workshops, plantation, and beautiful avenues; and yet when we landed there there was nothing but dense forest and tropical jungle. It was Easter Sunday yesterday, and I preached the Risen Christ to hundreds of eager listeners crowded into the church. The scores of blackfaced students had their notebooks, following with evident interest the preacher’s address. The full college band played the ‘"Gloria” from Mozart’s “Twelfth Mass.” The choir sang in English with’ the music in front of them the “Hallelujah Chorus,” and Jackson’s “Te Deinn,” and sang as though it was nothing unusual, or very wonderful for them to do so. To me, as I stood before them to preach, it was more than wonderful. What power on earth could offer any other explanation of this moral miracle ?

The quarterly meeting of the officials of the Central Methodist Church was held in the Leet street Church last Tuesday evening. The Rev. Angus Mcßean presided over a large attendance. The membership returns showed 280 senior and 60 junior members. Bad weather on several Sundays and the prevailing influenza, etc., had to some extent affected attendances and finances, but the balance sheet disclosed a satisfactory credit balance, enabling a grant to be passed to the trust fund. This being the meeting at which the question of invitation to ministers must be considered, the circuit stewards, Messrs P. A. Pearce and F. W. Preddy, moved that the Rev. A. Mcßean be invited for a fourth year. This was darned unanimously. Mr Mcßean intimated his acceptance of the invitation, and thanked the meeting for its appreciative references to his wife and himself. Messrs A. S. Froggatt and A. Noble were re-appointed auditors of the circuit accounts. The Otago-Southland District Synod is to open in Invercargill on November 24, and a committee was set up to make arrangements in connection with the same. The circuit stewards were appointed delegates to the Synod, with Messrs A. Noble and J. Hall substitutes. It was announced that the new Sunday School would be opened on Sunday, October 31. There will be special celebrations on that day, among those to take part being the vice-president of the Methodist Con-

ference, Mr D. C. Cameron; the chairman of the district, Rev. H. E. Bellhouse ; and the Mayor. Anniversary music will be rendered by the children, conducted by Mr J. E. Taylor. A children’s concert, arranged by Mrs Stanley Brown and Misses Thompson and Service, will be held on Monday, November 1, and a sale of work, organised by the Ladies’ Guild, on Wednesday, November 3.

OTAUTAU METHODIST CHURCH. ! The leader of the Young People’s Bible Class (the Rev. M. Ary ton) held m connection with the Otautau Methodist Church, dealt with a subject of more than passing importance last week. The lesson was taken from the Book of Romans, chapter 8, the subject being the doctrine of election. It is a remarkable thing, said the speaker, how an extreme position held by a group of men in one age will beget extreme opinions in a later age. The Calvanistic controversy was a case in point. A school of thought at one period existed, and was quite satisfied with a Being who, before the foundations of the world, selected some of His own creatures for eternal torment simply to illustrate His sovereign freedom. Let us hope that the world will never again be darkened by such a dreadful spectre. Happily, through the Person of Jesus Christ, we have recovered the gospel of God’s Fatherhood and His free grace to all. On the credit of Calvinism it must be recorded that strong, heroic men were produced, of which Oliver Cromwell was a type. Our task to-day was to find out the real meaning of election. What are the selective processes at work to achieve God’s ultimate purpose? We should be fading in our duty if we ignored the doctrine of election. To take the idea further back the twelve tribes mentioned in Old Testament history claimed to be the chosen people of God. The ground of their belief was that Jehovah had selected them, and they, too, had chosen Jehovah to be their King. The Jews misconceived the meaning of election. In their judgment they were God’s favourites and enjoyed priv/cgv from which others were excluded. Je:'.i Chrst found in the days of his m-mstry that hs

deep-seated national pride was d.fficult to penetrate and remove. The Jews confuted the principle of election with a whole nation. And as a matter of fact during the life of the prophet Elijah there were to be found only 7000 who had refused to bend the knee to Baal. In a later period Jeremiah found a difficulty in Jerusalem in finding an honest man. Isaiah mentions the fact that only a remnant of the tribes proved faithful to their ancient faith. It appeared to him (the speaker) that election was not based on heredity, born in a particular race, nor of descent —was a moral and a spiritual relationship. Real religion was an experience of union with Christ. And its value to the world in which we live was revealed in the quality of service that one is capable of giving for the benefit of one’s fellows, and for the promotion of God’s Kingdom of human love. The attempt which was now being made to identify the British race with the lost ten tribes of Israel appeared to him as an effort to revive the mistaken conceptions of the Israelites. We should not be unmindful of the spiritual contributions of other races to the enrichment of civilisation. For instance, the world would be correspondingly poorer without the legacy of the Greeks, Egyptians, Persians and Romans. Surely there was no need to flatter one’s racial pride nor to pander to national prejudice! No nation was an end in itself. The best purpose of human well-being would be served and God’s purposes fulfilled by each nation regarding itself as a means of promoting a kingdom of right doing, based on human justice and common honesty, and every man and woman walking humbly with God. It was an absurdity to imagine that God worked w’ith any nation whose policy was in any sense contrary to all that the idea of God connotes, or for which Jesus Christ lived and died. To alter a word in the prayer of Browning appeared most fitting: “Lord, make no more favourites; elevate the race.”