THE CHURCH

Southland Times, Issue 21773, 30 July 1932, Page 10

THE CHURCH

NEWS AND NOTES.

FROM PULPIT AND PEW.

The 254th yearly meeting of the Society of Friends (the Quakers) took place recently in London. An edition of the Old Testament from which certain “unedifying and unhistorical passages” will be omitted will shortly be published.

Sir Josiah Stamp, the chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company, says that America is In a morally critical condition. Its Press gives no moral lead, its cinemas are not run to elevate morals, and the spiritual is in the background. “The Unfailing Word of God” will be the theme of the Rev. C, A. Olds, 8.A., at the Central Methodist Church, Leet street, on Sunday evening. The anthem will be “Lord, for Thy Tender Mercies’ Sake.” In the morning the theme of meditation will be “The nature of Spiritual Growth.” At St. Peter’s Methodist Church tomorrow morning the Rev. O. S. Pearn will continue the studies on the Lords Prayer. To-morrow’s study will be “Hallowed be Thy Name.” In the evening at 6.15 Mr J. Hensley will lead community singing prior to the commencement of the people’s service. The subject will be “Religious Indifference, a message for the times.

Mr R. P. D. Snow, missionary designate to the Poona and India Village Mission, and graduate of the New Zealand Bible Training Institute, will deliver an address entitled ‘ India s Search,” illustrated by moving pictures of the actual conditions and work of the mission, in St. Paul’s Schoolroom on Friday next, August 5, at 8 p.m.

The local service to be broadcast to-morrow evening will be that from St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. The pulpit will be occupied by the Rev. C. J. Tocker and special music will be provided by the choir. The male voices will sing the negro spiritual, "Steal Away to Jesus”, and later in the service the choir will sing the anthem “My Soul Shall be Joyful, the solo part being sung by Miss I. Brown.

Mr F. W. Martin Taylor, LL.B., of Auckland, who is one of six young missionaries accepted by the China Inland Mission, will arrive in Invercargill on Monday, August 1, and will address meetings on Monday and Tuesday evenings. His tour of the Dominion commenced on July 15, his itinerary covering meetings in 15 cities and towns and concluding at Rotorua on August 12. Thence he returns to Auckland, when the whole party will leave for China.

One of the greatest effects of theosophical knowledge in the lives of its votaries is its union of their religious and secular activities. Indeed, these two are seen to be one by the theosophist. There is one God, one truth, one world, and one life, the religious life; for each experience that presses upon us, each duty that has to be done, is not merely an earthly passing thing—it is part of our training and development of character, whereby we become more like God by the use of our powers, will, love, and understanding, and so draw nearer to Him in the realization of life. —Professor Ernest Wood.

At First Church at the family diet at 11 a.m. the subject will be “The manifold Gospel of Christ” (5) “Optimism.” At 6.30 the fifth sermon lecture on the ancient world and Christ’s influence will be given. For nearly 250 years the earliest Christians suffered the most intense persecution, torture, and martyrdom at the hands of the Roman Empire. Will anyone on earth ever know the full record of these hideous sufferings? If persecution came upon the Church to-day could we endure as they endured? Were they different from us? Was the spirit of the Church in those days different to the Church Spirit and life to-day?. The subject is “Christians to the Lions.” Original records, classical and otherwise of the period, will provide much light on New Testament difficulties. The anthem will be Gounod’s impressive setting to psalm 137, “By Babylon’s wave.”