The Sabbath

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18378, 11 July 1931, Page 18 (Supplement)

The Sabbath

“HOLD HIGH THE TORCH." "Hold High the Torch." Hold high the torch 1 You did not light Its glow; ’Twas giv.en you from other hands, you know. 'TIs only yours to keep it burning bright, Yours to pass on when you no more need light. For there are little feet that you mustguide And little forms go marching by your -side; Their eyes are watching every tear and smile, And efforts that you think are not worth while May sometimes be the very helps they need. Actions to which their souls would give most heed, So that in turn they'll lift It high and say; i'l watched another carry it this way.” —N. B. Bradley. A DAILY TEXT. Sunday. Eternal Life.—Thou shult love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy nqlnd: and thy neighbour as thyself. This do, and thou shalt live.—Luke 10:27, 28, Monday. Praise the Good God. —Make a Joyful noise unto the Lord. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. For the Lord is good.—Psa. 100.; 1,4, 5. Tuesday. Deliverance at Hand. —I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him.— Psalm 91:15. Wednesday. Thy Keeper.—The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. —Psalm 121:5. Thursday. The Only Creator. —In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All tilings were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. —John 1:1, 3. Friday. Self-praise.—Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. Proverbs 27 :2. v Saturday. The Richest Fruitage.—The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. —Gal. 5:22, 23. religion and national life. ADDRESS BY MR BALDWIN. Mr Baldwin gave an address on "Religion and the National Life" at the annual assembly of the Congregational Union in the City Temple. He took the chair at one of the centenary gatherings, and his presence on this auspicious occasion was greatly appreciated. “Religion, we are all agreed," Mr Baldwin said, “is not merely an affair of Christians in churches; It. Is an affair of Christians in politics, in diplomacy, in trade, in industry, in school, in sport. But, if we admit this claim of religion to he able to inform the whole of life with its spirit, that docs not mean that, the sanctifying of the eecular has been achieved. •■That there are aspects of the secular revival with which religion cannot compromise on any tor ms is true,"

Mr Baldwin proceeded, “and it is the truth which the churches should he first and loudest in proclaiming. To elevate every desire, however obscene, into a good bocause it is desired may be the way of all flesh, but it is not the way of the Cross. And the moral anarchy which is said to pervade our youth and which is reflected c* imagined in much modern Action, and in some more serious publications, is not going to be countered by lowering the demands of religion, but by insisting on them. Entirely to Misjudge Them. "The notion that to enlist the support and enthusiasm of youth it Is necessary to condone their vices is entirely to misjudge them and to forfeit their respect. The churches are much more likely to fail in the long run because they demand too little than because they demand too much of human nature. “You cannot have a world war and expect to And everything unchanged. It is hard to equate the gospel of human brotherhood, w r ith embattled nations engaged in mutual slaughter. It is hard to equate the gospel of human brotherhood with the harsh economic Inequalities and enforced idleness of modern civilisation. “That young men and women should be shocked and stung into revolt by these features of our day is the best hope of the future; that they should riot in pleasure and forget them would be to write their country’s doom. New scientiflo knowledge, new economic power, new political enfranchisement combine to set perplexing problems but though we may not give heed at once to sound doctrine we 'are not incapable of learning from experience. Nor is conscience dead though modern psychologists call It by another name. The 'English are the last people who are likely to be rid of it, if their history proves anything. "What is the function of the Church in a time like the present?” asked Mr Baldwin. “The churohes should cultivate their own garden —• the garden of religious life. This is their own peculiar field, and within it. they should strive to grow the Anost fruits of the Spirit. They should welcome the increase of knowledge in every branch of learning with wide open doors. The popularity of the writings of eminent physicists and mathematicians must rejoice all of us. The revelation ‘of the poetry of the mathematical world, of the harmonies of the innumerable spheres of the astronomers, of the InAnitesimal subdivisions and motions of matter, the mysteries of growth—all this splendid drama described with such literary power is tremendously impressive. Difficulties on Moral Plane. “But do not let us Imagine that discoveries in the world of the higher mathematics, of physics, or biology are going to remove or even reduce our difficulties on the moral plane. It is not necessary to be a great mathematician to be a saint or even a good citizen. There are simple truths which seem hidden from the high and mighty and revealed to farm labourers and char-women. I am not despising science. lam only suggesting that moral values, eternal in their quality, transient in their form and application, are the foundation of a country's greatness. “If moral values flourish In our common life," Mr Baldwin concluded, “all will be well with the nation, and we -may feel confident, as we try to keep Ihe vision of the Kingdom of God on earth in our hearts, that though if remains and will remain to us and for our children a land which is very far off, yet Ihe day will surely come at some great distance from this evening-. . . that ihe Kingdom of God on earth may be seen with the visible and seeing eyes of mankind.”