ROMANCE, FAITH, OPTIMISM-

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1029, 19 January 1911, Page 5

ROMANCE, FAITH, OPTIMISM-

: -ADDRESSES BY PRIMITIVE METHO- ■ • DIST MINISTER. There was a fair attendance in the "ponald M'Lcan Street Primitive Methodist Church last evening, when , three public addresses, were delivered by visiting ministers attending the annual conference... Mr. C. E. Bellringer presided. The Rev. J. Olphert, of timaru, who delivered the first address, spoke on "The Romance, of Protestantism.". Drawing many, illustrations from the story of- the martyrs, Mr. Olphert contended that Protestantism was incomparably, ths grandest form .of religion that the world had ever known. Tho namo of Protestant implied i "witness," and to-day Protestants were nobly bearing witness to their faith by scattering it over the .world. In the past there had been more martyrs than one could, sec stars in the sky. So long as Protestantism was upheld by the integrity of its adherents they would continue to Teap abundant blessings. "The need of faith and its efficacy" was the subject selected by. the Rev. B. Dudley. (Bluff). It was not surprising, he said in opening, that the Christian faith :had not made rapid stridts in the .world. Give the mass of'the people an animated picture, and you would Catch their eyes, but the: Christian faith had no such ready appeal to ordinary people. Still, there was no need to play upon-tho superstitions of tho people: - To-day the thankful, the wise, and the great were paying honour to the great Lord of all, while the careltss and thoughtless passed Him by. The .destruction of dogma itself would lead iu the future to tho rediscovery of Christ. Man was a religious "being. It was not the duty of the Church to implant tho religious sense, but-to Christainise it. The Rev. J. Cocker, of Auckland, recalled the fact that until about three years previously lie had himself been minister of the Donald M'lx-an Street charge. He had liorne his part in the movement which resulted in tho erection tif the church in. which they were fathered that evening.' Breezy optimism iva3 tho keynote of Mr. Cocker's address. The counsel that every man should bo an optimist and not ft pessimist, he declared, . was. never more necessary than in this materialistic age. In. his subsequent address tho speaker drew a contrasting picture of the severe faith of. the oldsn time and the feverish instability of the present day. In tho old days, he remarked, men lived above their shops. Now they wero more apt to livo above their incomos. Tho older age was one of faith, the modern faith too often was of the breeches pocket. Men should lift their eyes and livo in the sunshine. So they would como daily nearer to God. The conscientious efforts of commonplace men had an all-important share in the advancement of human endeavour, and in th? building up of,works that wero pleasing to God and man.