CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVII, Issue 8911, 11 November 1907, Page 5

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

SERMON BY REV. J. REED

GLASSON.

Congregatioual Church services were held, morning and evening, in the V.M.C.A. Hall, Masterton, yesterday, and were presided over by the Rev. J. Reed Glasson, of Terrace Church, Wellington. At the evening's devotions, Mr Glasson preached an enlightening sermon, based'on the text—"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider (Isaiah, Ist chap., 3rd verse). The speaker pointed out that one of the hindrances to the progress of Christianity lay in the fact that people do not consider, aud he emphasised the ueed for thinking in religious matters. One of the distinctions of the Congregational body was that it urged its members to think independently and freely; to thiuk without any set standards. It could not be said that the church had no creed ; but, at the same time, no strict body of doctrine was insisted on. The trouble to-day is the same as that which the prophet Isaiah had fouud---*the people do not pierce through the husk aud shell to find the religion which is theirs. There was no need, many good easy- , going souls would tell us, to consider [ the social problems of the age, to seek i methods of religious training of our youth, and to probe other questions; they would say, iGave I: the Divine will. On the contrary, the preacher asserted that failure to grapple with problems ourselves is the sure roßtl to stagnation nntt cieatm Religion is very lufpiv a question of reason. Many people hold that religion is a thing of emotion, of feeliug, and of sentiment. The -waiter did not believe in obscurantism iv He conic! no* 8 ?* the theory "that his rejection of iihf article of belief od couscieutiotts grounds, would incur the penalty of eternal death. God reasons with mau; religion is rational aud reasonable. God works ou mau through his mind and couscieuce. The keynote is: Come, let us reason together; and the Lord appeals through the reason and the conscience. The speaker came to the conclusion that Christ had rarely appealed to the emotions, except through the reason and conscience Herein Christ had differed from the Scribes and Pharisees; He had never appealed to auy external "authority." The Scribes aud Pharisees, when pressing anything home, said: It is a matter of authority. Christ attacked the dogmatic attitude with a distinct appeal to reason. The minister quoted, as an example, Christ's reply to any undue display of emotionalism—'' Yea, rather, blessed are they that know the will of God and do it." It is enough to make an angel weep, exclaimed the minister, when we consider the modern conception of Christianity and discipleship. People have not realised the true conception. Christ, in tiie broad sense, was a rationalist, and a rationalistic teacher. He had fought man's enemy at every point. It was commonly said that Christ died that we might be saved. Some people thought the speaker's views on the Atonement were not very orthodox, while he characterised their thoughts on the subject as crude. His views were these: That Christ died, not that we might not die, but that we might die as he had died, to rise again; and that He bore the cross that we might; be able .to bear ours. Christ rose that we might rise. He has "blazed the trail." More than ninety-nine per cent, of those who criticise Christianity do not understand what it means. Why is it that Isaiah, Christ and Paul appeal to men to think? The answer would be found among the Proverbs—"As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." What a man is, is determined by his thinking; thus we shape our character, and determine our destiny.

Mr Glasson referred at some length to the religious researches of the brilliant leader of Christian thought, the Rev, Father George Tirrell, who was recently excommunicated.

Iv conclusion, the pastor reminded his hearers, the youuger members particularly, that to think is thenprivilege and duty. He urged them to think about life's meaning, responsibility and duty, aud to give themselves, without reservation, to the God of reason as well as to the God of love. -