FOUR MINISTERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 121, 24 May 1937, Page 7

FOUR MINISTERS

CAMBRIDGE TERRACE CONGREGATIONAL

The jubilee celebrations of trie Cambridge Terrace Congregational Church, which began yesterday and will ... continue until next Sunday, are made 'dpubly interesting for the congregation by the fact that four ministers are - taking part in the "order in which they- have ministered in the church. They are the Rev. A. ■ Macdonald Aspland, who preached yesterday morning, the Eev. Archibald E. Hunt, who preached/last evening, the Key.* Harry Johnston, who . will preach next Sunday morning;: and the Eev.- Arthur 'Muriel (the present 1 minister),'who will preach next' Sunday evening. Both services held.; yesi terday were well attended, many old ■friends being present. The Eev. A. Macdonald Aspland took for his text: "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ!" 1 Cor., 3-11. His topic was: "The Church and Its Founder." He said there was room in the Church for many builders, and a variety of materials for a wide variety of thought, but it must -never be forgotten there was only one foundation, which had . been laid, not by men, but by God. • .The Church had been founded upon a person, not a creed. Paul stood for ■ two great truths: "The Incarnation and ' Ihe Atonement." These, the speaker said, were to him the vital facts of Christianity. "God was manifest in the flesh." Faith must be exercised in Christ who was Himself the atonement. ' Eemove Christ and the structure fell .to pieces. The Church of Corinth was not. built on philosophical statements. Not only sacrifice was required, but C- faith in a personal Saviour. The true Church was made up of believers in all parts of the world, owning the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Church must labour that all men might bow the knee to Christ as • Saviour and Lord. ;.. EVENING SERVICE. / Another, large congregation assembled : in the evening, when the Eev. Archibald E. Hunt occupied the pulpit. Tak- ; ing as his topic "Assessing Life's ■ Values," and for his text "By their . fruits ye shall know them" (Matt, vii, 20), he said that all life was governed .by law—"Nothing walks with aimless feet." In every phase of life the mea- ;. ; sure of progress was that of the fulfii- • ment of its purpose. Life was not only ; a pleasure but a duty—not only an asset but a liability—a function to . '.fulfil. When Jesus said, "By their • fruits ye shall know them," He was ■ enunciating a law by which all life was ;to be assessed —whether moral or . spiritual. A fruit tree was not judged by its : appearance, but by its function to , bear fruit. How few grasped the moral • -significance of fruit-bearing. Fruit did ■ not grow for the benefit of the tree but for others. All life must be mis- . sionary, every day influencing others , and being influenced—a determining ■ factor in the assessment of life's values. "■.■ "Jesus has made fruit-bearing, the ' test," he said. "A man's Christianity . is no more to be gauged by his official connection with a church than a fruit . tree by its connection with an orchard. Many names on church rolls merit removal. There is no question as to what is done in the invisible Church ' of God. Jesus has presented the fate . of the defaulter: 'Every branch in one that beareth not fruit He taketh away' '.■—a fundamental law of the spiritual , life. Psalm, singing, Bible study, and prayer are means to an end, but they do not take the placs of fruit-bearing. ' It is what the Christian does outside that counts supremely. Christianity > should make for better fathers and \ mothers, employers and employees, and lead to service in the spirit of . the Master, who went about doing good." The choir sang the anthems, "I Will '. Extol Thee,* O Lord," and "O Sing Unto the Lord." The celebrations are to continue to- . morrow, when a reunion banquet is lo be held in the church hall. For Thursday a musical festival in the church has been arranged, with an augmented*choir-%nd*special-soloists.