SABBATH DAY IN NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2190, 1 July 1914, Page 10

SABBATH DAY IN NEW ZEALAND.

DRIFTING?

A TOLERANT CRITIC

'.At. the YvM.CA. rooms yesterday tho Rev. J. D. Jones, M.A., i).D., the cmv .iue'iit Gongrogationalist leader from England, was entertained at lunch, in company with a representative ■ gathering of citizens, which included several of tho clergy; • Tho chair was occupied by Mr. William Allan, who said, initially, that they wero there to honour , the Koy. Mr. Jones, a man who had a very high standing in England and Wrilos, and was , an-ex-president of tho Congregational Conference in.England. He had been eeiit out as o Commissioner of that Church, and as such they welcomed him But lie was not only a notable minister; of tho Gospel. Ho was an organiser and financier of the Congregational Church, and just prior to leaving for New Zealand had been instrumental in collecting over £250,000 for tho.welfare of tho ministers of the Congregational Church in England and Wales. (Applause.) A Gentle Reproof. Mr. Jones, replying to the welcome accorded him, said that lie had como to Mow Zoajand as a v Christian minister—a catholic minister to. all who love• Jesus Christ, and ..espe'eially on a visit to his brethren working in this Dominion. Whilst he rejoiced to see the people so comfortable and well cared for, he wondered how it was with them religiously and spiritually. He fancied that he perceived the same difficulties as were being experienced in England. He thought wo had indifferentisin just as much as England in tho observation of tho Lord's Day this was just as pronounced, if hot more so, than it was at Home. Perhaps the sunshine —which lie, hud heard of but had not seen—conduced to an open-air life, but he found that Christian folk did certain, things .hero '■ as if they were the natural things to do, which Christian folk at Homo would look askaiico at and shrink from.. .Ho did not, either, think that our Labour movement leaders were imbued with the same Christian spirit as ..were the leaders at Homo. There they were all Christians, and such a man as Avthur Henderson was still a local preacher in the Primitive Methodist Church pulpit,, where he had learned how to speak. Th-i pleasures indulged in were just as pronounced as it was at Home. .He *vis astonished at the number of picture palaces everywhere in this part of, tho world. When they, stopped at Suva, they made an oxcursion to a placo about twelve mile's out, and the first tiling to greet their eyee was a picturo theatre. They had plenty of picturo palaces at Home, but ho thought wo had more hero in proportion. . . . . Sunday Golf. ' ; Then there was u great deal of Sunday golf. ■ The tqtui council whore l:o came from did n'ofr allow play ou a Sunday. They had two municipal.golf links—which were a great success—but they- do not permit play on them on a Sunday. He thought that rhe iC'hristian. Church' should bo more alert , "and go on full of confidence and courage, remembering that He who was with them was greater than all against them. He was all forjziving everyono a means or livelihood, decent conditions, and every child bom on earth a chance, but was there not danger in the gospplof , comfort, wealthy and hixury2;f::'.'Lh(u;e !t ' had liever contributed'to' a people. . Sparta was. great and powerful so long as she obeyed theSpailan laws, arid Rome was strong just so long as she was simple, but' when wealth' and luxury we're poured into-her lap, ~she crumpled'up. Greatnesß was for the nation/iyhich built on the strength arid : purity of-lier manhood, and which set God before; it. Ho thought that, tho churches, vwero not reaching "the man in the ;* street." Ho.advocated going out ijito the streets to meet the class that never went to church. Ihey should ho aa keen on the Gospel of Christ as otheVs were of tho pspel of SocialismV-'dnd-shouW bo jusfc as bold and courageous as thoso people.- The Church; bo allowed' to drift any more:than » man should. ' (Ap./.a,'',, ! , . '. . Mr. ■ J., Ilott moved a vote of thanks > to the speakei-j, : and mentioned tho •happy circumstance that the degree of of Divinity had been conferred lupon.tho' Rov. t Mr. Jones during his etay in'New*Zealand,. -Hβ hoped'-that in the: not' far-distant 'future' that' he would rnake'a return visit to New Zealatid.'.""T,. :,-v-' ,'LT '. ' ■■■ '•'■■ v , '--"- : " •' "