THE CHURCHES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14360, 4 February 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CHURCHES.

WHEN THE JEW SPEAKS. '111J& Cii. UUCiI ."3 l>Al\Ulilt.

"I sou tiio CnuivU'H great uaugcr in its ionnuias, .11 us UllO buddings, and si>loutlid ruuricy, in its grand oigans and btateiy processions wall that wouueiful ecclesiastical step that ulwayu u.corests me, and carries Lite proexsuon.st, forward at the rato of about an inch each step," said tho Hov. Dr. Xioviui to a large cougregatiou in tho t'itt street Congregational Church, Sydney. Tin.- occasion was tho preaching of a scrtuuii on the text. Hebrews xiu, 'J2, '•The city of tho 'living God.'' Tho preacher proceeded to sik.w the city's ciace in the history of the Church, and ci ntcndrd that the cities with tho Inrgist populations were not always the I'.e-t; the greatest cities were ir< fluently those that had the least population. Then he asked what we were to understand by the "city of God." It was the new social condition which the work of Jesus Christ was to produce upon tho earth—.social, ordered guarded, inspired, originative, for a c-ltv of God was a city full cf the life of Christ.

"What a contrast this presents to the rapidly changed .character born of the original church," continued Dr. Bevan. "The Church to-day has become dogmatic, official, institutional. It has censed to he the kingdom that Christ declared to he 'within you.' J'ost social conditions to-day aro those eir force and prop; rty, the individual holding in'one hand what ho possesses, and us.ng the right arm to keep off the man who would apnroach him for a share of it. The 'American Constitution has been regarded with great admiration because it declares that every man is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is a negative statement after all, and is largely belied in modern America, A litan is entitled to life, and yet' 10,000 murderers walk about untried. Libertv — where 5,000,000 people freed from sla'vedom live without the rights that are common to the average race. And the pursuit of happiness! where the most miserable man. is the one who has reached the highest ideal in America, and lias become a millionaire, is still •everywhere seeking for happiness. 'There is England, with her thousands of paupers and Australia, with her oldage pensions, two tilings which should not exist if all were right with tho service of man.

"And yet you talk about buying Dreadnoughts," added the Doctor. "The men I hear talk about citizen soldiers arc generally those who escape it on account of age, like the New Kngland minister who said, 'Fight for your country and your rights, the Lord will go before you. and I'll be behind.' Hut it will be fsked: 'How is social order to be gained or corrected ' Tim answer is, 'God will assure it' " It was pointed out how the Church had survived its ordeal, and reference wis made to the continuance of the .Tows and the safety of the Quakers. "You won't go to war till the Jew tells vou you may," said the speaker. "Not'till you got the permission of those who have never been defended since the fall of Jerusalem. You are dominated by a. people who are nationless, homeless. and despised—the scattered'children of Israel. Our whole treatment of crime, strangers, alien, has been false. "T?ns was to lie remedied hv a new hrcmarnty filled with_ the spirit of God. There would bo in this new humanitv seme order of life. This was the city idea, as it was the national idea,' but still ihere must be a universal consciousness to make a true city. There must ho ideas of brotherhood, service, conscious forecast, cud effort, for selfishness had had_ tor. much of a place in the nast. Cities must bo centres from which foTco emanated. If they were to become the resorts of wealth, nleasnne. and retirement they must decline, -for the citv oT Hod must nut forth the forces of rood truth, freedom, broihorho/ed. Tin's led him to a*k what wis the Ch«:-ch doing in +h>"s ''irvtjnn to-dav. and to d»elnr» that in +he rast, her estimate had become faulty. .NOTES. j Air J. J. Virgo, general tecreiary oi the. isvuauj' X..ii.vy.j., who is well known in .efew Zou.uud, nuj luu oner or ilio general auc.-claivyMiip 01 die Jjouuon Ai's,ociauuu. JUeoucTio U. tillo. Oil'c —It UIUOUUCS lo llle- ■■uiiw l'iLiiyju'- ot ussociuueu woi'K, since, .lie upojuued wuuia nave cnaige 01 uie b.e u llLuims Alcmona; In.-iiirde, j -.my, eo.ng ei-eeied at a c.-.t ui jjiOll,- | tWU. 'ilio now picm.sci will bo opened wv.arcU ili-o ouu of Uie year.

Hem autumn, ironi Ut lobar 4th to October lTihj worid-wide Methodism will n:o£t m council at Toronto, the official sermon oil tuo, first day will bo preached by ivev. i-loury liaigh, who Will then be President ol the v.cslcyaii Confeieiice. On October olii tlic progress of Methodism in tlio liasem usd Wcitorn section? since the last Ecumenical Conference ten yeas atjo will bo surveyed. October lith will be entirely occupied by the consideration of foreign missionary mattery, and .special interest will centre in t'.io subject of tlio imsiion of Methodism to the Latin races in view of Dr. Scott LidtteLt's proposal for a united .Methodist forward movement on Central -Mission lines in the French industrial cities. On October 7th Methodist thcologv will be dealt with in n simile session. On October Bth, Sunday, the unoi-ncon meeting will have for its topic "Koiigious Aspects of Industry and Commerce." The first session, on October Ofrh, will bo occupied by Hiblical questions, and the New Theology will come up for discussion in the afternoon, with addresses on tho newer forms of Unbelief, Christianity, and recent philosophical tcdencies. Other subjects to he dealt, with up to October 17th include the Church and .social service, temperance reform, adaptation of the Church to the needs of modem life, international relations, and the world's peace. Mrs Frances Victoria Sankry, widow of Ira David Sanke.y, the singing evangelist, died on Seiitem'wr 24th at her home, 148 South Oxford-street, lirooklyn after a short illness. With, her at the time of her death were two sous, John K. and Ira Sankey. One of the latest undertakings to which she devoted her time was the preparation of a group of memorial windows illustr.itirnr her husband's famous livnin, "The Ninety and Nine.-" The«o windows she presented to the First Methodis". Episcopal Church of New Co-tie. Pa., which the attended in her childhood. Rev. Thomas G. Solhv. ihe Trollkn,own Wesloyan minister, died at Bromley, Kent, last month, at.the age of 04. Few modern Wedeynn minister.? have boon known so widolv through their published sermons. Such volumes a.= "The Imperfect Autr-1," •'The Unheeding God," -The Ministrv of the Lord Jesus-.'• and "The Divn'o Croftslean." were !,.,;1.,. : l for and wide as lnasfrpieccs of the art oi preaching. Ilis fame was all the moo siiwulir in ihaf he hod a de.-id.-<llv unattractive d-livery a-- •■: pivieh r. and he never attracted largo congregations when he occupied tha pulpily