ST. PAUL, STATESMAN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 533, 10 December 1928, Page 14

ST. PAUL, STATESMAN

ORGANISED CHRISTIANITY SERMON AT ONEHUNGA "If every man did what was right in his own eyes, and there was no organised Church, all moral and spiritual activities would speedily disappear from society.” The Rev. D. D. Scott made this assertion in the Onehunga Presbyterian Church last evening. Preaching from the text, “Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof” <1 Cor., xii., 27) Mr. Scott traced the history of the Church from its earliest days, pointing out that a profession of faith was sufficient to admit Jew or Gentile in any part of the Roman Empire into the brotherhood of Christianity. it was no fault of the policy of the early Church that divisions and schisms had subsequently developed. Paul’s organisation was that of a statesman, in that he laid down the law that whether a convert was a citizen of Rome, Ephesus or Corinth, all were equal and parts of one main body. He stood for a common interest and a common discipleship in the small Christian community, surrounded as it was with the surging tides of paganism. Christian congregations were grouped around a centre, with no thought of detachment irom each other. There were many to-day whose ideas were by no means clear as to the inner meaning of the Church. They were quite indifferent as to which church they attached themselves to, if any. People could stand very close to important objects without discovering their real meaning and value. Others have harboured a grudge against the Church because it had not taken the part of the toiling masses. Many had left the Church because they had been hurt or wounded by someone in official authority. Others felt association with the Church might press a man further along the way than he wanted to go, but it was every man's duty to take up arms against doctrines and dogmas which he did not regard as true. Christ’s keen insight into human nature was shown in the parable of the sower. WITHOUT THE CHURCH Just as there were different kinds of eoil, so there were different hearers and attitudes toward the things of God. There was a growing number of people professing to have little use for the Church on the ground that they did not require it. They held that they could be Christians without the aid of priest or Church. They urged perfect liberty of conscience and action, and joining a church encumbered them with a distasteful creed. Religion with them was a private concern and they resented being dictated to on such a subject, and were in no mood to wrestle with theology. Fresh fields and flowers, sunshine and the open air appealed to them more than Sabbaths spent inside cathedrals. It certainly was true that God could be worshipped outside any temple made with hands. That was true Christian teaching, and •there need be no thought of abandoning God thereby, but the vital necessity of an organised Church still remained. Those who proposed to do without it had but a defective know-

I ledge of the history of the Church. 1 and of Christianity. All we knew of | spiritual matters to-day come to us by the medium of missionary propaganda j sent forth by the organised Church. -Vo form of Christianity could be coni- ! pletely independent of the Church. All | our religious ideas and subjects of i belief had assumed shape front Christ- | ian teachers who belonged to the j Church. Religion, like all secular activities, must be subject to some discipline and organisation. No branch j of human activity would work without it. There was no such thing as living I alone, and fellowship was absolutely I necessary to human life. That was ; why an organised church was essen- | tial > an d we served God’s kingdom best by a life of loyalty to His Church.