A STIRRING SERMON.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144668, 30 April 1915, Page 2

A STIRRING SERMON.

DR. GIBB’S APPEAL. At tlift service at Knox Church, Christchurch, last Sunday evening. Dr. Gibb, of St. John's Presbyterian Church. Wellington. preached a powerful sermon, in which the Empire crisis was touched upon. Dr. Gibb took as his text John viii.. 24. “it ye believe not that lam He,’ye shall die in your sins,” In expounding this great assertion. which was tho greatest that otor toll Irani the lips of man. the preacher said it was a challenge to history, the history of the past behind" Christ, and the history of the future before Him. He showed from the history of t.hr Greek. Roman and Hebrew civilisations how the nations that ignored the spiritual, and exalted the gross and material, had degenerated and faded away. Even tho civilisation of Israel, founded on the letter of the Law, was, on Paul’s own assertion, the most gimiiitic failure under the sun, it was ■'weakened through the rfesh.” The salvation of the individual and the salvation of a nation could only be brought about by following the law of Christ. The great malignant nation with which we were now warring had thrown down the challenge to Christ, and it was inexorable doomed, not only, or oven mainly,' from the prowess of the arms of the English. French, and tho Russians, but from its opposition to the spirit of Christianity, which must prevail in tho end. Germany, which had outraged all public morality ami decency, and also outraged all human rights.' had said that ‘'might was right." Christ said that "right, was might,'’ and it was evident that the Germany of despotism had the seeds of death and destruction in her breast, mid was doomed. A typical example of tl;e attitude of a section of 'German thought was their paraphrase on the Sermon on tho .Mount— they said;

"Blessed are 1-lir* valiant; blessed are, the great ill soul and strength, for they shall enter the A’allialla; blessed aie the war-maker. for they shall be railed the children of God, or of Odin, who is .greater than God.” AVii-ii a creed such as this, uho could doubt that those fighting on the side of the Allies wore fighting on the side of God and Christianity b Dr. Gibb went on to say that he was tempted to lash the people of this Dominion for their placid attilndo towards the war, but ho knew the difficulty of envisaging r lie awful situation in Europe. .Men had said to him complacently that it was a pity that England was not doing so much, proportionately as Mew Zealand. lie did not knoii how many men had gone Irom Now Zealand, but bo know that Australia had sent 10.000 men. and if she was doing the same proportionately as Great Britain she would have sent 250.000. .He did not know what the colleges of Ne.v Zealand had done, but ho knew that the colleges of England and Scotland had been almost depleted of their students, and that over 1700 men ifom the Edinburgh University alone were at tho [rout or in training. It was tho urgent duty of all men of age and physically tit to offer themselves at once to their country, and it was tho duty of nil the women to surrender their' men, nay, to bring pressure to hear on them to do their duty to the Hag. The preacher concluded by referring to the great work done by the men of the Army and Navy, and ho asked his congregation to inquire of themselves whose side they were on, the side of Christ or tho side of the powers of darkness.—Press. .

Brisbane reports that butter has advanced 12s per cwt. and. is, now, quoted at 194 s (equal to Is BJd per lb.).

At the last spring show of the New Plymouth Horticultural Society there were 23 competitors in the classes for decorated tables, suitable prizes being awarded, to the winners. At Thursday’s show, when no prizes were offered and the judging of the tables was. by popular vote, only one lady of the soora or so who had taken part in the spring show competed, although all were notified that the competition would be-held. There appears to be a want of the proper spirit somewhere. Tho annual Chrysanthemum Show of the New Plymouth Horticultural Society, which was livid at the Good Templar ■Hall on Thursday, was fairly well attended during tho afternoon and evening, and, general satisfaction was expressed at the beautiful display of blooms. There were eight competitors for the decorated table competition. This was judged by public vote, and was won by Mrs J. Gibson. Miss Kate Jackson and Mrs. Scanlon tied for second prize, and Miss M'Kcllur. was third.

A new tablet exchange device has been successfully tried at Obau station, under the direction of Mr. Wynne, chief signal and electrical engineer of the Government railways, states the Horowheuua Chronicle. The now machine does not swing round rapidly, as the ordinary-tablet exchange does, with consequent risk, to bystanders, but the bar which holds the tablet sinks slowly on its return, while the other’arm points straight upward. The inventor of this simple and effective machine is" .Mr. Prank Wallis, manager of the-depart-ment's construction works in. Wellington. It is one of sevei'a) inventions which tliis gentleman has contributed to the service of, the New Zealand; Railways.

An interesting graph prepared by the Labour Department shows the amount of unemployment existing throughout the Dominion since war broke out. The general direction of tho curves shows that unemployment increased greatly from tho middle of September to. about October 10. The highest total''was reached by Christchurch. where there were over 300 poop'e applying for work, between-October. 5 and 10. Afterwards the mini her of applicants decreased considerably, though there' were occasional local setbacks at various places until the end of December. ..During the last- few months the lines have moved round the fifties. Auckland had an excess of unemployment at the beginning of January, but in no other centre .was there any marked ,upward movement. During the summer there was a remarkable and continued fall in the number of men out of work ,and the .position is now more satisfactory than,at any time since the war commenced. Practically since the end of January the, normal state of affairs has been maintained or improved upon. This ..graph will be extended regularly by the Department, and will probably form an appendix to the departmental animal report. Tho Melbourne Clothing Company announce the arrival of the following new goods: —Womep’s shilling hose, boys’ navy jerseys with button shoulders, hoys’ double-brea-sted warm tweed overcoats, men’s khaki mittens, woollen neck scarves, men’s heavy double-br.easted overcoats (some with leather lining), heavy winter-weight cashmere socks, hoys’ white tennis shirts, boys’ warm dark union shirts; men’s pyjamas Is lid, "s fid, and 8s fid.*