THE CHURCHES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 53, 26 November 1907, Page 6

THE CHURCHES.

• $ — ST. JOHN'S SUNDAY SCHOOLS' ANNIVERSARY. Tho fifty-fourth anniversary of the Sunday Schools connected with St. John's was commemorated 011 Sunday at three services, of which Dr. Gibb' conducted the morning and evening, the afternoon being taken by the Rev. It. ' Wylic. The church was filled to overflowing, especially in tho cvoning. The decorations were plentiful and in excellent taste, and the singing of tho children's choir, who displaced the- usual leaders of tho service of praise, was tuneful and hearty, and gave ovidenco of carcful training. In the morning Dr. Gibb • delivered a sermon based ,on the words, " Tho promise is to you and to 'your children." Ho said there were but three conceivable ways by which tho kingdom of God could come—tho method' .of conquest, the method of: tho leaven, and the method of growth from within. Conquest was in evidence in tho mission field, and in all aggressive evangelistic effort. The leaven indicated the quiet but pervasivo influence of Christian life and character oil human society. Both of these methods were valuable, and, indeed, indispensable; but the key of tho problem they had to solve was growth from within. if they could retain the natural increase of the Church, all would bo well. Tho trouble was that they lost through lapsing almost as much as they gained. The feeling was steadily growing that this leakage must bo stopped. The children of the Church belonged to Christ' and tho kingdom of God. Tho promise was to the children of tho believer, as well as to the believer himself, and,- if parents and 'the Church but did their duty, 110110 of these young lives would ever bo found straying beyond the pale. Tho ideal was that tho children should be filled with tho spirit of God from their earliest years, and it was that this ideal might bo realised that tho Church was bestirring itself in the work df tho Sunday School. Dr. Gibb indicated what the schools might become, and pressed homo to the hearts of his hearers their individual and collective duty to the agency through which tho Cliurch strives to make, good its claim on lifo of the young people. Mr." Wylio, addressing the children in tho afternoon,, took as his thome .tbo parable of the talent 3. He regarded the talents as a symbol of religion, and proceeded to show the/value of religion in the life, of a child. At the close of the address, Dr. Gibb handed to the successful competitors the prizes and certificates they had/gained in tho recent Sunday School examinations of the General Assembly,. In the evening, Dr. Gibb's tliemo was a study in temptations, based 011 tho words, " Blessed is tho man that endureth temptation." Tho sornion was specially addressed to'young men, of whom there whs a very- largo number present. He dealt .'with tho nature, tho incvitableness, and the sources of temptation; and then gave a number of counsels as to'how. to meet and overcome it-. Temptation was to be faced cheerfully with a sure hope in the heart that victory awaited the soul. The weak and vulnerable parts of one's nature ought to be forti-, fied. The man who was sometimes tempted to falsehood should be very carofiil when under no temptation to guard his speech and be clijar of all exaggeration. Let them exerciso themselves in acts contrary to their besetting temptations. Some temptations were best resisted by looking them straight in the face—temptations from the spiritual side of one's nature; and others were best resisted by taking, to flight — temptations from the fleshly side. Prayer was indispensable to victory, and tho valuo of ojaculatory prayer ,in moments of stress was insisted upon. A great master of tho spiritual lifo had called temptations " tho raw matorial of glory;" they were at least tho only means by which manhood that would issue in glorymight bo developed. What, was,tho virtue worth that had not been tested; what was , the character worth that had not been shaped in conflict with temptation ? Temptation was to tho soul what exerciso was to tho body. It strengthened tho spiritual fibre. Tho lifo of cloistered security, the life that sat safe and sheltered from tho shock of battlo was not tho supremely desirable life. A cloistered life was what Browning called " a ghastly smooth life, in God's contempt apart. Let them play tho man in the strength of tho strong; victorious—Son of God. Upper Hutt was ' favoured on Novomber 22 with a visit by Mrs. Miller, of 'Wellington, president, of the Presbyterian Association ol P.W.M.U.'a,. and Mrs. Milno, wife of tho Pioneer Missionary, tho Rev. Peter Milne, of Nguna, Now Hebrides. Arrangements were made for drawing-room; children's, and public meetings, and the attendances were very encouraging. Much interest in tho mission work. of the Presbyterian Church was - ovinced. Tho public meeting was presided over by Mr. Francis Shaw, tho .local Homo Missionary. Mrs. Miller gave an account of the work done by tho P.W.M.TJ. delegates lately in Wellington. Sho was listened to with great attention as she dwelt upon tho innnnors and customs of tho New Hebrides natives, and the difficulties, dangers, and encouragements of the missionaries. A. collection, taken up to assist, in purchasing a motor boat for tho Nguna station—a means of conveyance'as requisite as a trap and horse-to a country minister—amounted to £2 ss. 6d., whilst tho sale of Foreign Mission booklets realised lis. '•