THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1596, 13 November 1912, Page 4

THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

DIFFICULTIES AND HINDRANCES. ■NEED 'FOR AN ETHICAL -REVIVAL; '■ WITHIN THE CHURCH, .; - The following is a condensed report .of the, address: of the'new Moderator to the .Assembly:— '-' ■",, ,'■ •-.-. , '■': 'Fathers and Brethren—l thank you for the honour conferred'upon me by calling me to this chair. The honour I appreciate, while from the responsibility, accompanying it I shrink. I cast myself on your mdulß?'nce,: l and;,askj l tJjfl l of your prayers. ' >fe Before entering upon the-subject of my address 1 - this evening, permit me the; privilege of referring in a word to two of the brethren-winy have entered into theirjrost in tiw presence of the Father in Heaven. The Rev. David Borrie was known to everj\member of this assembly ~as;a brother beloved;' 'As ; fi minister and clerk,of assembly he spent himself and his substance in the servioe of -the. Church with , rare ; , devotion. Evident to all were his .-(sagacity, integrity,-'and- saintliness, .but 'bhly those who enjoyed the- privilege of his friendship knew: the richness of the gift. God, gavo-.tisin him. '-' •'•The- Kev.'William Will was not so well kuown in this assembly. Before the union ''of''.the Churches was .effected the burden of-years.had'called him'from the active duties of the ministry.' But surely no man ; in : the'Synod of Otogo aiidivouthlaiid did more to; secure ,the union'than Sir. Will. His.kindness;;.ge'nerosityi■■'.and chivalry made hirii a leader beloved and admired, 'iw'liile' his '.whole-hearted consecration to [Christ. and' His kingdom'gave confidence to su<;h:'as accepted his leadership. Others '..ha've'fallen from bur ranks: who deserve 'ito bo remembered(by-iis,.and in duo course ■■memorial minutes will be placed on our •records' as a: tribute to their worth and ; '■-.-.• '. ...'*'•. .-. ; -..'■ I l .' 'Several subjects more or'less' clamant have suggested.themselves as.topics for an. I'-address this evening, but they have been set'aside in favour of one near to my own heart, which refused to be silent: ;T.ho Present. Pressinn Need of the Church. ; . -What is it? :. Can it- bo met? As we ask'the- Question' various answers come fronydiffereht. quarters., Almost every report presented to'you,will tell you of our need'of mcn.an.d money.- For lack of these the work of Church extension within the •Dominion and in the foreign mission field is seriously-hampered.-,-. Pioneers have gpiio into the-remote places of this land to build for.themselves and their families 'new homes. The State follows them into : the wilderness with school and schoolmas-■. ■ter; -and'"td'rusr:is"given the privilege and' duty of seeing that they do not suffer for .ld'ck,of ,th 6; preacher and his' Divine mes•sageit.:This''is our duty; but with the men and means at the disposal of tho Home iMission Committee it seems more than wo can accomplish. Unless we are to allow -tho .pagan spirit' to posses the hardy pioneers who are- settled in the lonely places of tho land, more men and more ■: money, must be put into, the hands of our ' '; i -As; you read the report 'of tho Foreign Mission Committee you will see that we arc. face to face with the question, Must .'We-halt'? .or dare we advniice? Is this a crisis in our work?. Are our-missionaries to shut their-ears to the call for help? Are they to look in helplessness on the ■multitudes of India and China, who know -.not-God and;, the ..Gospel of His grace? AVJieii '.will Church'members awake to their opportunities':, in .relation to this work?' Congregation's-.here and there are undertaking tho support, of individual missionaries. But has the time not yet come when;men and women , iq whom God has given riches- should' undertake the support of; a missioriary.'at-hohie br-in the foreign field? 'As yet tho Christian Church is only playing at missions. The magnitude ;<ind glory of the work has not been realised... ■ ,'■«','.'•■.'' -i' '•'. When the vision does come in its magnificence and-beauty—when, far and near, ■men''and women, who-have been'them-selves-redeemed, see'in every child of the .teeming millions of India and China, in every_ dark-skinned African, and in every individual of every nation arid language a brother for whom Christ died, a son or daughter who may be made an heir of tho kingdom, one who may oil the other hand become the prey of the' wicked one, then surely the company of preachers and teachers, of healers and helpers, who will go forth in the mime of Christ to make disciples of all nations will bo great- beyond our present dreams. This was tho vision which brought the Son nf-God from heaven to earth and nailed Him to the Cross. This is the vision we must seek for ourselves and others that men and money .may., never be wanting".for the work of God at home and abroad.. Much as wo need more labourers and more and larger gifts for tho maintenance and extension of the work given 'ns'lo do I do not think thai: those ari tho present pressing need of the Church. Let us'be. right in other directions, and neither men nor money will bo lacking. • Facing the Facts. What are tho facte we have to face? Is irreligion confined to the places where there aro no • preachers and no churches? Is it .only in the book-blocks men are forgetting God? For the great comDanj ci the faithful

(who still joy to worship in tho houso of God wo give Him thanks. Hut what of tho thousands add tens of thousands who livo within tho shadow of our churches and never cross their thresholds t No do'iilit mnnv of tlicso may be true followers of Uio Jlnstor, though they keep not compnity with us or our fellowChurchmen. Others, however, and not a few, seem to hnvo lost all interest in God and Itis Gospel. Ono sad feature of our times is that not only nro many .indiffer-ent-to tho.Gospel of God, but many nro bitterly opposed thereto. This is perhaps not so marked in English-speaking lands as in 6omo others. Yet wo are not free from those who liato the Church, riot because it condemns them and their sinssuch hatred is the Church's honour—hut beennso it seems to lie contrary to their schemes of reform. A steady and alarming drift towards godlessness is one of the facts that claims our nllention. It proclaims itself in many ways. For multitudes the Sabbath has ceased to bo a holy dav; it is their weekly holiday. I ho Word of God—tho supreme rulo of faith nnd duty-is neglected for the newspaper and the novel. Popular opinion prevails where tlis Ten Commandments can hardly bo-hoard. Li ttlo. wonder, thon, that in tho lives of many gold has dethroned Cod, pleasure supplanted duty, nnd vico darkened tho face of /virtue. Theso evils wo deplore. Against this dead-weight of unbelief the Gospel preached seems to break in helplessness as waves of the sea which waste themselves in spray against tho unyielding rock. What Hinders? Here we touch our rcnl problem. This is the question which should search our hearts. How comes it that tho wheels of God's chariot drag so heavilyF Why do the armies of tho Lord so halt .in their onward march? Must we let our hands hang in weakness, and conless failure.- 1 God forbid! Amid all discouragements, can we not see and hear our Lord? .Ur.es •Ho not bid us make disciples of all nations? When Ho calls us to pray, Jhy Kingdom-come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven, . docs He not give us tho assurance that our. prayers arc not vnin-that the kingdom will come? Special difficulties seem to hnvo arisen in- our own time. First, wo have tho great advances made by science, lolstoi says "the mark of our ago is the lost sense of God." For this loss many lay the blame on the scientist. .His discoveries of law seem to have tied the hands of God, and pushed back His throne, if not, indeed, to have overthrown it altogether. Forgiveness to many is a vain dream, and answers to praver an impossibility. Then comes the' Higher Critic, who seems to many as eager to- destroy the Word of God as Israel's king who sliced tho prophet s Toll with n penknife and cast it into.the fire. That criticism has often beer, rash and unreasonable goes without saying;. that many timid souls have been shocked by its conclusions must be -admitted., lhat not a few.have made the critics conclusions a cloak for their own too ready and glad forsaking of the AVord of God is evident. But neither the discoveries of science nor the labours of reverent and worthy criticism need cause us fear. Nay, they are coming to our help as the messenger of truth, and in their hands we l-ill find new and larger gifts from God. What we have to fear is the hasty and ill-considered conclusions and deductions of tho half-informed and ignorant. Christians in past days have seen the foundations tremble beneath their feet at new discoveries, only to find their fears a vain conceit. But" it may be said the Work of tho Church is specially difficult to-dav because of the increase and 'wide' distribution of the- things which minister to the comfort and material well-bomg of men. Life has so many gifts to bestow, so many open doors leading to lands of rich promise, that earth rather'than heaven attracts, and the need of a Heavenly Father's • help and comfort is lost. Someone has described the Gospel ns God's word of hope and help for poor devils. Are w-e, .then, to regret the increase of wealth arid .the multiplication of tlie comforts of life because they seem to shut the hearts of men. against God's greater and better gifts? Nay, verily. No Christian can' but 'rejoice : that men in ever-increasing numbers ore receiving a; richer measure of-Go"d'§'>'gootiJßiftsf''The Gospel does 'not depend'.for its progress on the poverty or ignorance of those to whom it is offered.'. It is indeed God's word of hope and help for poor devils. •But'.poor devils ore not confined to those who -are .children of -want. .'Lazarus in his poverty and pain was not the .only poor devil in.Dives' house. The rich'man' m his .luxury and selfishness was more worthy of this description than the beg-, gar. . Hieh -wages may buy more bread, it may fill the home -with, comfort, but. it can do nothing to deliver a man from the sin that enslaves and makes him cry when he sees himself, "0 wretched-man that I am! Who shall deliver mc,from the-body of this death ?" Over these and other difficulties special to our own time we may mourn so far as they are evil, but let ns not imagine that the hindrances in the way of. the coming of God's kingdom are more formidable to-day than in past days. They are not. With much to discourage us, we have much to encourage lis in tho service of our Lord. For every Christian the day begins with tho evening and ends with morning brightness, while with others it begins with the morning and ends in.night—darkness. Looklnn Within. Instead of looking abroad for the causes of the Church's weakness and.slow pro-, gress, we do well. I think, to look within. Heal- what Professor Clow, of'the U.F., College, Glasgow, has to say on this point: "The greatest hindrance to . the victory of the Society of Christ, and the supreme sorrow of all loyal hearts with-. in.it, has been tho low standard of its Christian character and the apostasy of those traitor hearts who have sometimes found a place'among its leaders." This is the witness of n friend. But could nn enemy say anything more startling? Our chief hindrance is hot tho strength of the enemy .without, -but the folly and. faithlessness of those within, the camp. If the. greatest hindrance to victory has been the low standard.of Christian character,, then surely tho present pressing need of the Church is a widespread ethical revival within. When wo speak of revivals we too often think of the strangers without tho gate. The revival we most need in all our churches is a revival within; and this revival, if it is to draw men from tho world of siri, sliould be a sound ethical revival. Many good souls are afraid. of ethics in religion. It smacks of salvation by works, to preach .the Ten Commandments. Death to sin and life in righteousness 'are as much parts of the Gospel as the forgiveness of sins. Do v/i3 set, before us the standard of righteousness to which Christ bids us .aspire? All around us the standard of ■morals has been raised by the teaching j of the Bible. Many who disown the Lorrf;snip of Christ Would scorn to lie or steal, .would bo ashamed to do a menu or unwind act. In business thev are trusted and honoured, while at home they are -loved and admired. What more than this 1 does the world that looks with honest icjres upon the members' of the -Church ;find in them? Aro they striving to love, [not: only their friends, but also their ;enemies? Do Christians really shine as : lights in the world by their unswerving honesty in word and deed—by their self:denial and self-sacrifice? Is the love.of , God a passion and the love of gold a minor influence in their lives, so that they find it easy to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? .Is tho fruit of the Spirits-love, joy, peii'ce, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, nieokness, temperance—always found where Christians meet?. Is there .no envy, no uncharitableness, no unforgiving hatred, no- back-biting in the Assemblies of the Saints? Are the hard things tho unbelieving- say against Christians groundless lies? These are. questions we do well to consider. May it not be that we are shutting the door.of. tho kingdom in the face of others because our low standard of Christian living repels them from rather than attracts thorn to Christ. Paul sueaks of the Corinthians as "epistles of Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone but in fleshy tables of the heart." Such' are the only epistles many in our day will read. They have shut up the Bible,"turned their backs on the house of God, and will neither open tho one nor worship in the other unless they are drawn to do so by tho charm of the lives of thoso who name the name of Christ. It is as the members of the Church rise into the nobler morality to which Christ calls them that tho great problems of the kingdom of God as well as the social and political problems which are vexing our day will find .their solution, and men bo gathered in ever-increasing numbers into the ki'ngdorii. It is not enough that we hear Christ's call to. follow to the heights of holy living. Wo must mo Him and h«lp _otk«rj to see Him if tho ideal k to b4_

como rcnl. In contrast to this living fellowship with the living Christ, how readily we slip into a mechanical faith. Is it uncharitable to say that in all the churches there is too much of this mechanical belief—of Mere intellectual apprehension of Christ? Thu head is right, hut the heart is cold, and so mueli of our pleaching and much of our living fails to tell upon the unbelieving world. When Dr. Bruce defended himself in the Assembly of the Free Church against the chargo of heresy in his hook on the "Kingdom of God," among other things ho said: "I have been trying- all my lite to see Jesus and to show Him." Is not this our .present pressing need to see Jesus and to show Him? The unbelief against which we havo to contend is less of the head than of tlio heart, and if it is; to yield it must bo because tlie preacher has seen Christ and is preaching tho vision of Him to his hearers. It is not persuasion of the divine Sons-hip wonted; it is fellowship—daily and hourly fellowship with tho Christ Himself, which alono can bring w new power. Where logic fails, tho lovo that springs from personal fellowship with Christ will carry conviction,, Is this open vision possiblo to us ns well as to tho apostles of old mid tho great preachers and.evangelists of our own tinio? Surely. Is not the I<ord saying to each of us, "Behold, I steiul at the door and knock—if any mail hear my voice and open the door, I will como in to him and sup with him, and he with mo"? A new- Pentecost may bo ours, and heaven may bo oponcd to 'us if with one consent wo wait in prayer through days, of 'need before the presence of tho Father. It is not tho Lord's unwillingness that provonts this•open vision. It is cut faithlessness, our want of obedience arid love which bars tho way—and leaves us weak in fnoo of our foes. - The Crowning Gift. When Christ had given to His disciples nil that could bo given by word and: example, by death and resurrection, and open vision, He commanded them to Wait: for the Holy Spirit, tlie Spirit of Power. It'was through this Spirit (hey wero to work the greater works of Which He hud spoken. Even so to-day, Wo liiay have, so learned Christ as to hunger after' righteousness. Wo may covet, to ascend tho high hill of holiness to which 'He calls us. This ascent wo may be- making because the love pf God lias been shed abroad in our hearts through fellowship with our living Saviour; but tho crowning gift is not yet burs. Tho warm, living breath of God's spirit nV-isfi bo ; breathed into our nostrils; if we aro to become the.living witnesses who can do all ■ things through Christ, This is the Spirit that prevails—this is tho Spirit that brings to pass the new birth.which makes us sons and daughters Of Clod. When disappointment,fills our hearts because of weakness and fruitless 'effort it is ours not to be discouraged, but to turn in humble dependence uponi God that He may help us to open olir hearts to receive tho Holy Spirit. These, then, are the present pressing, needs of the Church. They,aro tlio need, of all churches and of all times—a quickening in righteousness of nil who name the name of Christ; the Open vision of the living Christ, present'.; and allpowerful; in whose service there can be no failure and no lossj and the presence and power of God's Holy Spirit, through whom the living Christ may be known and tho high heights of righteousness may be safely climbed. If these gifts be ours, .what can we lack? Neither men nor money for the. Church's scheme will he wanting if we thus know and servo Christ. If these gifts are not ours, what can all other gifts avail? Wo may _be rich and increased iii goods, and think'wo have need of nothing, and yet l:e wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked' and nigh unto rejection, May the .God of all grace accomplish His work in and through us, and.to this end may He preside over and direct .us 'in'our meet-. ings of Assembly; and to His name bo praise' and glory in earth and -heaven.. • TO-DAY'S jBUSINESS., : The Asiiembly continues its meetings i.n---51... John's to^ay. .' : ' At 10 a.m.. : the ; Communion : Servioe,,.,..j'w-ni be, .MS, a'nd'afterwflr(ls i i .go'u|tfal'.J , bus.iness will be proceeded with. In'"the. afternoon, the annual meeting of the P.W.M.U. will. be. held. The Moderator will preside, and Dr'. John Kirk, one of" the mcdicdl missionaries in.tho Canton ViilageS-'SlissiOh, China,-will 'speak. ■ In'.the..evening the reports of the Sabbath,-Observance and of the Church Life' nftd Work Committees' are to be presented. The combined choirs' from St. Andrew's and Kolburno will lead the singing at' the evening, meeting. '■ ,