"COME OVER AND HELP US."

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12529, 4 June 1910, Page 4

"COME OVER AND HELP US."

Referring to>the mission which is being conducted in' Cliristchnrch by DrT Henry, the Aineripah evangelgist, the " Lyttelton Tiines£ says it is one of. .those spiritual; stirrings of the waters of religion that help to clear away th«> accumulations--of "doubt' and indifference. . Dr. Henry Jias;won a name for himself in the world by some splendid feats of practical evangelism.. He is in no sense engaged upon a prosellytising mission.-and hia success- has been due in a very large, measure to the simplicity and directness of his appeal to the moral and ' feelings": of.; his audiences. ' He confines himself within no sectarian limits, and. his object is to stimulate the whole body of church life, and to awaken the social arid civic con--4.9/eiico^ tho., evils of. drunkenness, gambling impurity and Sabbath desecration. Greeds and dogmas may be set, aside for tho purpose of furthering this programme, which makes a call direct to-tha >f faith beyond the forms cf faith." It was Chades Kingsley who said that he "hated overdoing' anything—< especially religion," hut while this is in its way an admirable gospel thera is a danger in these days of mien' allowing their spiritual "life tb'be sacrificed, altogether to social and business demand-3 upon .their attention. Any rcothod cf stimulating the'public con-' scienco b to be commended so lon^-as it doe-, net interfere'with-the. outward ferny; of individual religions. Dr. Henry emphasises the fact that, his mission is intended only "to help the ministers and teachers of religion in the salvation of their loved ones," and our! south-em' contemporary : considers that ! if this end can be attained by a stirring j sorvico of prayer and praise, which! " looks on no religion scornfully thai! ever man-did find," the evangelist will j leava _^ho city better for his ministra-' ■ fiowi-,)■: Our cont-emporary is not sure ! that tho public, confession of .faith. which is an easy product of the entlux. siasm excited by mission, meetings, is a safe indication of a deepening of reli-! gio^is belief, but it holds that any force which legitimately helps to combat the modern trend towards materialism is a ' welcome upholding of the ..arms of all earnc-st churchmen. ' [