The Sabbath

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19663, 24 August 1935, Page 18 (Supplement)

The Sabbath

THE THING THAT MATTERS. I The tiling that matters be it mine to j see, To know, oh, Lord, the thing that matters most, To guard, that pettiness may never govern, Grand though it seem, and allies knoweth host. “This,” let me say, “is not for me to i serve, I I must wing higher, though it lower seem.” Small is the deed that oflentime is kindest, Lowly the thought which yet may brightest gleam, Strains uninspired fall as sweetest musio Gently upon the ear where din has sate. These are the things—ahl these the things that matter! Lord! for the power to differentiate 1 —Merrick Webb in A.G.W. | DAILY TEXT. Sunday. “The Lord is my Hock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge, my Saviour.”—2 Samuel xxli, 2-3. “I knew that Thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden from Thee."—Job xlii, 2. Monday. "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.. And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee, for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee. He forgetteth not the cry of the humble.” —Psalm ix, 9-10, 1.2 Tuesday. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. 0 taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is' the man that trusteth in Him. There is no want to them that fear Him.”—Psalm xxxiv, 7-8, 9. Wednesday. "As for me, I will call upon God: and the Lord shall save me. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee; He shall never suffer the righteous to moved.” Psalm lv, 16-22. "In God I will praise His Word, in God I have put my trust.” —Psalm lvi, 4. Thursday. "Be merciful unto me, 0 God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in Thee; yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.”—Psalm lvii, 1. Friday. “I will cry unto God, Most High, unto God that performeth all things for me.”—Psalm lvii, 2. “In God is my salvation, and my glory; the rock of my strength and my refuge is In God.”—Psalm lxii, 7. Saturday. "Thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be fTllcd with Thy praise and with Thy honour all the day. Thy righteousness, also, 0 God, is very high, who has done great things, 0 God, who is like unto Thee!” —Psalm lxxi, 7-8, 19. ENRICHMENT OF LIFE.

WHAT THE CHURCH HAS DONE. AS A LAYMAN SEES IT. (By Sir R. Murray Hyslop, J.P.) It is said that the onlooker sees most of the game. Perhaps this is true in some respects of the layman in the Church. The layman may be, as 1 happen to be, immersed in what may be called the secular interests of life. He may know little or care less for the theological and ecclesiastical matters with which the pulpit is so largely concerned, but he may perhaps see and understand the values of religion to the average man who has to take his share in the everyday business of the world, whether as employer or em-

ployed, much more clearly than does | the preacher who stands somewhat j apart, from the common life of the I people and is bound to concentrate i largely on study of the intellectual | problems of the faith. From my boy- j hood I have been Influenced by Church Associations, [ and I feel impelled to acknowledge how much these associations have in many ways enriched my life. It has been my lot to have had increasingly heavy managerial responsibilities, which have taxed my time and my mind. Such responsibilities limit one’s opportunities for serious study, and even for the enjoyment of the lighter literature. I have had to leave it to the preachers to tell me what they thought of the "modern mind and how to keep up to date. lam bound to confess that mine is a nudVictorian mind, and that I feel more at home with a pulpit that keeps at its centre a faith that is simpde and human, that is in close devout touch with the Bible, and appeals to the heart of people who are not and cannot be expected to take an interest in questions that puzzle men whd have been trained in theological institutions. I owe an unpayable debt to the excellent preaohers I have sat under, but I think I have been quite as much affected and helped by what may be called the By-produots of the Church. There is the fellowship of the members and the fellowship of brotherofficers In the diaconate and fellowworkers in the various activities of the Church. In such fellowship I have found the firmest and most valued friendships of my life. And those friendships have meant continued refreshment and purest pleasure. I have had neither timq nor inclination for relaxation in the way of sports or other relief from business responsibilities, but not only in the local Church fellowship, but in the larger fellowships of the Congregational Union, and the County Association and in many committees on which I have served, I have enjoyed the companionship of the best men I have known. Though some of my friends have thought that I have given more time than 1 could really afford to so many causes, yet that time has been most gladly given, and in the afternoon of my life I feel it has been about the most profitable of my investments. The worship of the Church has been infinitely refreshing to a man who at the close of his week’s work has needed the relief of a change of Interest from material concerns of the working world. Worship—praise and prayer and Sorlpture reading and preaching the Gospel—has kept the ideals one cherished in early years from fading out, and there has come serentlty of mind, and, 1 hope, a calmer, sweeter, more charitable temr per. May I add a word not so much of criticism, but of friendly questioning when I compare the atmosphere of some Churches to-day with the atmosphere of the Churches In my youth. I do not think It is altogether .the distance that lends the charm but I

fancy that in those mid-Victorian days there was a more genial atmosphere in the Church, a more diffused and closer fellowship, and that the pastor was in closer touch with the rank and file of the members. I have the impression that there was more general joy and gladness in the worship and the fellowship. I know how modern distractions compete with the Church, but there is no reason to ass; Jtt. that there has been a

Deadening of the Vital Instinct of religion in the hearts of the people as a whole. As president for nearly •iO years of the __ Beckenham Men’s Brotherhood, I was able to gauge the strength of that instinct In the average man, "and to note how readily he responded to warm-hearted Gospel messages, most of all when those messages were linked with the interests of his heart and home. If preachers and /writers were to think mudi more highly of the average of humanity, and did not assume from the follies and misdeeds of some that the some were samples of the whole, they would be less pessimistic and would be more successful In rewinning to the churches those who are now outsiders.