For the Sabbath

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16815, 5 June 1926, Page 14 (Supplement)

For the Sabbath

THE COMMANDMENTS. (B. B. Vallenlinc.) I am God I thou must adore me. No other gods shall be before me. Thou shalt not ever make to thee A graven image that may be Like aught that’s in the heavens above, Or earth beneath if God thou love; Or waters that are underground, Or in the lowest depths profound, Before such shalt thou ne’er bow down, Then need not fear God’s wrathful frown. Forever, too, thou shalt refrain From taking God’s great name in vain; For guiltless held thou wilt not be, But punished for eternity. Holy keep the Sabbath day— Remember that the Lord did say: Six day's may thy work be done, One day to rest for every one. In it must there no labour be For servant, man, or maid, or thee; Repose for cattle, ox, and ass, As well for stranger who may pass That Sabbath in thy home, or stay, For God hath blessed this holy day. Be sure thou keep’st this fifth command For length of days upon the land, Of which the Lord is gracious donor, Thy father and thy mother honor. Remember ’tis against God’s will To murder, slay, assault, or kill. Adultery is a grievous crime, Forbidden by this code sublime. Thou shalt not rob, nor trick nor steal, Or wrath divine thou‘ll surely feel. Against thy neighbour have a care, False witness thou dost never bear. If thou wouldst lead a godly life, Thou must not covet neighbour’s wife, His house, his cattle nor his land. Break not this last and tenth command, And envy' not his fame or health; Let him in peace enjoy his wealth. “PEP” INTO RELIGION. AMERICAN METHODS. Are the churches losing their grip on the public because they do not advertise ? is a question asked by an English paper, which points out that America has been quick to see the possibilities of boosting religion with publicity “stunts,” and that at the present time the majority of churches are using the Press and the hoardings as their week-day pulpits. Not only have attendances in many instances been trebled by progressive parsons who can frame an “advert, with a punch,” but a large number of churches have been able to wipe oil long-standing debts and put in hand much-needed renovations. The campaign may be described as ‘■‘putting pep into preaching,” says the English critic. Exactly as the proprietors of a cinema theatre or a music-hall might bill their attractions, many of the churches advertise their Sunday night fare in coloured posters and striking type. There Is No God. Tills startling announcement in letters nearly a foot high greeted passers-by from ttic walls of the Grace Methodist Church, New York, the other day. Thousands stopped to see what it was all about. Then underneath, in much smaller type, they read: — Some Say it. Dc You? The advertisements put on by Ihis church alone would need a whole hoarding to display them properly. Aonthcr arresting line in black type which brought good “business” formally weeks was:— Always a Homelike Church. The invitation was aci-ephvj. J-’or weeks the church was parked to 111 c doors, and llic wardens had In turn would-be worshippers away. Those, who boost religion in this w.i;! have found, in common with profes-

sional publicity men, that to attract c public attention and hold it arc two very diiTerent thing's. Once the interest of the public has been gained it ” must never be allowed to flag. So the n churches keep on putting out a variety of posters in their effort to consolidate d the ground that has been worn 1, The latest “stunt” of tho Grace - Methodist Church is to issue a card c which, together with one cent, will e admit a boy or girl to a Saturday n afternoon motion picture show, held “ in the church building. Printed on ' it is a comic paper caricature of a r baseball player, with tho announcement underneath that a dollar will be ’ given to the one who finds the best j title for the sketch. Keen rivalry exists between churches that go in for advertising. ’ Two churches on opposite sides of the , street employ professional boosters to l invent their “stunts." ! One day one publicity man had a “brain wave” and put out a poster:— > Half-Way House to Heaven. | The following day the church on . the other side of the street —a wooden building with a tin roof had a huge placard with the words:— Tin Lizzie that Gets You There. Though such methods scarcely would be tolerated, perhaps, in this country (says the English paper from which we quote), there is no doubt they make a special appeal to the type of American mind whioh prides itself on its business pep. The catchier the advertisement and the more snap there is in it the bigger will be the congregation tho following Sunday, for the average churchgoer takes it that if a parson can hit you between the eyes, so to speak, with a poster, ho can also put a solar-plexus punch into his preaching. Concerts and Picture Shows. The movement to popularise religion does not end, however, with advertisements and posters. At a large number of churches cinematograph shows and concert parties have been introduced as a regular part of the campaign to attract worshippers. SIN. FACT AND THEORY. It is with no desire to avoid the consideration of theories which deny the reality of sin that wc profess ourselves content to appeal to tho Bible as an authoritative guide in this matter. On any estimate tho literature of an- | cient Israel and of tho early Christian j Church is the record of a great reli- j gious movement in which men have j attained the clearest and most com- i prehensive experience of the moral j significance of human life. Its writers ( show a supreme knowledge of man’s f heart with au unrivalled insight into I the mysteries amidst which he lives, I and all of them testify to tho fact of siu. The Bible has no meaning if sin is merely a convention of religious feeling. i Nowhere is the reality and baneful power of siu more explicitly declared j than in the Gospels. The life and teaching of Christ is an idle tale if men f are not sinfuL He came into the world to save sinners. That was the purpose of the Incarnation. It was j also the purpose of His death. His j ministry was devoted to the task of j dealing with sin’s awful power and its I malignant activity. He calls men’s j attention to its influence in terms of g urgent warning, of stem denunciation, | of overwhelming judgment. It is l ß true that Christ delights in declaring 1 1 the Fatherhood of God and His love | for even the least worthy of His | children, but this serves to give all the | greater force to His declaration of the j jj Divine judgment against sin and the | condemnation of those who wilfully jj give themselves up to its power. If j sin has no power Christianity has no purpose, and the Gospel has no meaning. We may therefore here and now crave leave to ignore the arguments .of those who deny the reality of sin, attributing what they find to be evil in life to tho working of fixed laws for which men cannot be held responsible. Nor need we consider the grounds on which it is declared that sin is an un- g avoidable condition of human life, a j necessary factor in moral progress. As | for the notion- that evil Is merely the absence of good we have to remark | that such a theory renders all experience aq illusion and wrecks moral dis- jj tinctions altogether. We may confess j that .from a philosophical point of

view no single explanation _ of the origin of evil or of its place in human history is entirely satisfactory, and that much which has claimed the sanction of revelation as to sin’s source and development must be rejected; but we would now plead that nothing is gained either of truth or of moral strength by ignoring the witness of conscience to the reality of sin and our responsibility for it. It is obvious that our conception of sin is conditioned by our conception of God. If we regard Him, as apparently many people do, as one whose mercy overrides justice, and whose benevolence ignores the eternal law of righteousness, then sin can have but little meaning. But when once we have considered the awful holiness of God, His eternal justice, the identity ol' bis will with perfect truth and goodness, and recognise that there is in us, in our actions, in our thoughts that which contlicls with His will and opposes it, and must therefore meet His certain and overwhelming judgment, we are shaken in our complacence and find new reasons for fear in what we might have so easily condoned. Sin is "scon in its real nature, when wc grasp tho fact that evil is not mtiely disobedience to a law, or even a rebellion against a Divine Lawgiver, but the contempt of Infinite Love thwarted by the perversity of Ilis children who through their sin defeat llis purpose for themselves and the world. But it is useless • to tell men they arc sinners and to think that they will therefore repent. It serves HHlc good if wc only insist on the reality of sin or draw sLern pictures of its punishment, for men do not deliberately make themselves victims of l'ear, and so long as the results of limit* evil doing are distant they are always ready to wager that some sort of exception will be made on their account. We are all skilful in pleading extenuating circumstances in our own favour. Sin is felt to be sin only as men learn to interpret their life in Hie light of the revelation, of God disclosed in Christ. If we would put ourselves to school with Him, learn to look at life, as it is seen in Ills Presence, love what He loves, hate what , lie hates, desire what He desires, then we should begin lo learn what sin really is. We should find iL lo be that which darkens conscience, perverts* moral judgment, hardens the hearts of men; llm source of men's haired of each other, Hm | poison which drives nation to war against nation; tlm spring of that agelong misery of alienation ironi \\li:u is pure. Irue, and merciful which lias amide'll Ihe human race llirouglioul ils shadowed history. These considerations are miwelconi"., but they arc none the less necessary. |

If we contrast the prominent aspects of religious life iu even the most earnest circles of Christian people to-day with what was dominant among their predecessors 00 years ago, wc have lo notice the lack of austerity in pre-sent-day religion. We must acknowledge that too often devout men have made Christianity a thing of gloom and terror, and that few things arc more contrary to its spirit than the .excesses of perverted asceticism or the fear of wrath without mercy; but this is no justification for our refusal to face what is dark in human life, the sin which is present in ourselves aud in the world, and the guilt which wc cannot disown, however we may attempt to ignore it. These are facts which no theory can abolish, and when once wc acknowledge them, wc find in our religion an element of austerity which drives us to discipline aud leads us to recognise not only tho goodness buL the severity of God.