PULPIT MESSAGES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 87, 7 January 1935, Page 8

PULPIT MESSAGES

Wellington Churches

A SUPREME PURPOSE

New Year Resolutions Preaching in the Trinity Methodist Church, the Rev. W. Bramwell Scott look as his text: "Brothers, I for one do not consider niyse.f to have appropriated this; my one thought is, by forgetting what lies behind me and straining'to what lies before me, :o press on to the goal for* the prize of God’s high call in Jesus Christ,” Philippians Hi, 13-14 (Dr. Moffatt’s Version). "We choose this season of the year for a great fluttering of new leaves,” said Mr. Scott. “New calendars are hung up with a spirit of hopefulness. New diaries offer white pages for the clean record of blameless lives. New ledgers open in the sanguine expectation of recording a credit balance. A disillusioned age is tempted to shake its head over this New Year turning of the new leaves. What we need to remember is this: It is the new man that makes the new leaf and not the turning of a page in life’s history. It is simple wisdom to dwell upon' the thought that at every moment a virgin page lies overleaf, an.! that it is in our own bands what shall be written upon it.

“This question impinges itself upon our mind as the vear commences, ‘What is the purpose of life?’ As a Christian, I want to assert that it is impossible to live a full life if our t inis, aspirations, thoughts and endeavours are restricted by temporal things only. At the very best such a man can only use a fraction of his life. The New Year reminds us-that we are not consulted as to the circumstances or duration of our life in this world. If we allow the control of Christ to master us, we shall be sure that the Christian life is not the sport of chance nor is it under the duress of fate. We shall realise that life is a Divine gift which we must use to the 'uttermost. We shall face life boldly, knowing that life met with courage confers its own ;eward in a greater wealth of lift: a life that is clean, strong and abundant. "In the text the Apostle defines the Christian’s attitude to time. Over the space of 1900 years canies our'message for 1935: 'The past cannot be altered: forget it; the present speeds past on eagle’s wings : lay bold of it; the future lingers along the road: reach out to it.' In the faith of Christ the future is bright with the promise of God. The Christian hope is such that with the passing years there will come -to him a clearer vision of God; a closer communion with God; and a growing resemblance to Jesus Christ. With such an idea we shall fight on. expanding that hope far beyond an individual expectation. The only way that past faults and sins can be atoned for is by the onward press up to the will of God. The scars will be left, but the sting will be gone. By diligence in the present and courage for the future we may wring victories out of the very defeats of other years, but only along the lines followed by the Apostle.” CHRISTIAN SCIENCE God was the subject of the lessonsermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, yesterday. The Golden Text was I Timothy 1:17, “Now unto Die King eternal, im mortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever." Among the citations which comprised the lesson-sermon were the following from the Bible. "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven aud earth? saith the Lord.” (Jer. 23:23, 24). Also the following passages from the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy: "Lite, Truth and Love constitute the triune Person called God—that is, the triply divine Principle, Love. They represent a trinity in unity, three in one—tlie same in essence though multiform in office; God the Father-Mother; Christ the spiritual idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter,” (P- 331.)