THE CHURCHES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1902, 10 November 1913, Page 5

THE CHURCHES.

A SPECIAL PRAYER. VARIOUS PULPIT REFERENCES. At the request of the Bishop of Wellington (Dr. Sprott) the following prayer was used yesterday in all tho Anglican churches of tlie Diocese of Wellington: "Almighty Father, Creator of land and sea and all' that is therein, Who in Thy providence hast appointed to every mar. his work, assuage, we humbly beseech Thee, the present unhappy strife and contention between those who are engaged in labours of industry, and those who employ their labour; deliver both employers and employed from all greed and covetousness, and lawlessness; and graut that they, seeking only that which is just and right, may live and work together in brotherly union and concord, to their own well-being and tho prosperity of this country: through Jesus Christ our Lord." ST. JAMES' PRESBYTERIAN.' A REASONABLE REQUIREMENT. Preaching on text Micah vi, 8, "A reasonable requirement. What doth the Lord require of thee, to do justly, to lovo mercy, to waik humbly with thy God," the Rev. William Shirer, of St. James' Presbyterian Church, said the ministers went last Lord's Day evening to parties concerned, in the interests of peace and conciliation, not as partisans They would continue to act without that "fear of man which bringeth a snare." All parties should make their positions clear, that they desired peace, and that they were determined to make adequate efforts to preserve law ana order. 'The rioter was the enemy of all. Two questions were receiving attention, viz., how may the trouble bs ended, and how may a recurrence bo avoided. Patient, practical effort was required. It was easy to theorise. Theories must bo tested by work. It had been said in the "Outlook" of November 4: "The strike, o,s wo know it to-day, is not an economic, but a psychological problem, and all attempts to deal with it on pruely economic—which, after all, are material—grounds must inevitably fail."

"We could not expect peace to continue, or any needed reform to bo adequate while men of all classes'ignored the teaching of tho text. Tho Church endeavoured to impress oil all their relative responsibilities, to look on duties of the seen and temporal in light of the unseen and eternal." The preacher quoted the words of Principal G. Adam Smith (Aberdeen): "No organism can thrive whoso. various limbs are ever shrinking in upon themselves. There is no life except by living to others. We need a character which fulfils all the relations of society with tho fidelity, generosity, ,and grace which are the proper affections of man to man." "Cain may ask, Am I my brother's keeper? Christianity teaches not his keeper, but his brothor."

OPEN DEFIANCE. LAW mustbe"upheld. Preaching at St. .Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, on Sunday morning, the Rev. Father Eccloton, of St. .Patrick's College, made an interesting reference to an extract from t-h.o epistle appointed to bo read on tho day. "Above all these things havo charity, whieh is tho bond of perfection," was the extract. . Charity. or love, said i'atlwr Eccloton, was beautiful: lato was diabolical. Love was of Heaven, liato of Hell. Hate camo from Hell, and would return there. Truo charity was essential in any Chris" tian community. Hate In a community was a fearful thing. In our own streets wo could see what a dreadful thing it was.. In-tho-city at present we could seo men upon whoso faces was written torriblo hatred of their fcllow-cotuitry-lrien. It was only in a Spirit of truo chanty that men's differences could be properly settled. To what a shocking state tilings had come in a community when tho law was openly deiied and men were encouraged to defy it! The law of the land must bo iipheld; it was overy man's duty to seo that it was upheld. He hoped that all Roman Catholics would think of this, lest any of them had boon temptod to flout the law.