N.Z. STATE SCHOOLS’ MISSION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1790, 16 February 1918, Page 1

N.Z. STATE SCHOOLS’ MISSION.

UNISECTARIAN BIBLICAL OBJECT LESSONS.

Missioner, Rev. H. Braddock, L.C.D., c/o Y.M.C.A., Wellington. In Wellington and Auckland Provinces, 1913-17 (4J years), 115 schools missioned, 1,560 talks to 21,450 young souls, total of voluntary attendances, 137,400. Dei gratia. “MASTER MASONS.” (Address given at Foxton to Freemasons, their friends, and to all Christian workers. I Cor. iii., 9—16, This love-letter —sent by Paul from Ephesus, across the blue waters of the iEgaean Sea —in this portion of it, lovingly deals with divisions, splits, coteries and cliques, which, like the deep crevasses of a glacier, extending into icy, unknown depths, were splitting up the Church of Corinth and his beloved converts there, into factions; over potty, childish, indeed babyish (as ‘babes’) questions; like a big church which finally was rent in two; and it all began in a dispute at a bazaar, between two ladies, as good as Euodias and Syntyehc, all over a pair of babies’ bootees! St. Paul reproves this return to carnality; their new “party names” showed their going back strangely into immaturity, and he assures them that both the planter and he who Avaters, are simply nobodies; God is the only Somebody Who increases; God is tlu; only Great Architect of the Universe, and the only Builder: verse 9, “You arc God’s Building,” and repeated at A’ersc 16, “You are God’s Temple” — part of God’s great erection, every part “kept holy”—parts of one great Avhole. So verses 10 —15 are parenthetic; the human instrumentality is put into its right place —parenthesis, inside the Divine grasp, the hand Of man under the good Hand of God upon it, the little child’s band, its pen on its copy book, inside the Master’s hand.

Ascribing, then, all glqry to God, St. Paul introduces himself as a wise Master Builder, God’s handicraftsman, gifted with compass and square. Just as Bezaleel and Aholiab, some fifteen' centuries earlier, and again as Hiram of Tyre, ten centuries before Paul, all skilled artificers, Avere grace-gifted for (he completion of glorified Tabernacle and of Temple—so Paul, separated of the Holy Ghost, received his ordination gifts by the prayerful “laying on” of hands, and this gift he stirred up, with all the zeal avc felloAv craftsmen should folloAv, and which is akin to genius in spiritual masonry. “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” “Be filled with the Spirit.” For the Tabernacle (or Wilderness Tent), shifting, perishable, is comparable to the individual Christian, mutable and frail, as he is, and yet in whom God will tabernacle or tent Him-' self; and then again the superbly splendid, sacredly symbolic Temple of King Solomon, resembles the final great Church, the Ecelesia, the “called out” or separated ones of all nations, all ages, in whom God Avill evermore dwell; therefore for tabernacle or for temple building—for the ones and the lavos, or for the thousandfold body let our own. gift, I say, be stehdily applied; Avhcrever lie be stationed of the Supreme Governor. May avc also, ever humbly, thankfully bear in mind t hut pit, bole or quarry out which ourselves were pulled, dug or blasted, as living stones pro deo atque ecelesia —for God and the Church!

St. Paul next applies his gift with eeaseless labours. There spell” amongst us. A pipe of tobacco with us men folk or time wasted in argument, too often accounts for religious work ill-done, half done or left undone! “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” Paul’s three journeys or missionary tours (in irregular circles, 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 miles; three ever-widening circles still!) —apparently erratic and fortuitous—were, in reality, the very painstaking and prompt execution of Plans given him at his conversion and all through his converted life. His ‘Clerk of W*’ worked with him. Like Moses, he may have received his general plans on the Mount, possibly during his early hermitage amongst those very mountains to which he went during those three yeafs in Arabia’? These outlines he followed out, by breaking ground and laying foundations in Corinth and other fresh spots, unvisited yet by other . men—-“lest I should build on .another man’s foundation,” and he adds “according to the Pule (measuring line) stretching afar, though not so fag as “to Pome or Spain as yet*” Behold, brother, the obedience, the faith; the zeal of this mighty

soul, energised by, under and within the good Hand of the Ruler of the Universe —and straitly enquire of thyself, how much oftener in the future dost thou intend to disobey, distrust and grow lqx? Thou workman r -needing to be ashamed of thy past slackness, repent, return! “So, like a skilled architect, I (once foi- all time —Aorist, etheeka) laid the foundation.” No re-laying needed. I, Paul, not Peter laid. Here one may urge' St. Paul’s claims to ecclesiastical supremacy, as are St. Peter’s claims, made out by Roman Catholic writers. What do the Romanists make of this statement by St. Paul, just as strong in its way as their own great text re St. Peter, “On this rock, etc.”*? But a greater than Paul or Peter is here, and great, very great preparations for the laying of the Foundation Stone were imperative; a digging deep and tremendous clearance were called for and carried out.

In preparing foundations for his temple, King Solomon had to clear and level the top of Mount Moriah; tens of (housands of tons of limestone rock had to be cleared off, and were cast into the Kcdron Yale or Valley of Gehenna. St. Paul, mentally measuring plans and places for the final Temple of God, was met by similar mounds of vast obstructions. Like the cry of the discouraged Jews to Nehemiah, he 'might have ceased, saying “There is much rubbish, so that we arc not able to build.” To-day we are faced in New Zealand materialisms. Let us up, like Nehemiah, the man of love, loyalty, energy, faith, prayer and of organising gifts! Like him who so wisely enlisted women-masons too; the Lodge in Jerusalem, led by the four daughters of Shallum the ruler!

St. Paul avus familiar with all the tons of Rabbinical rubbish, heaps of rites or trivial ceremonies, loads of traditions, confused glosses, mixed-up superstitions, crowded and piled upon the pure old Mosaic Law and Ritual —readings radically the reverse of original renderings—all very hard to break up and remove, even though already intolerable to every true Jew. Jesus had said truly, “Ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne.” TAvice he said it to mark their magnitude. But, fortified in his hour of need, Paul went for his mountain of difficulty, Avith his big grain of faith andihis gift of grace, clearing, levelling and preparing for The Foundation.

As no one, however, dares disturb a ruin Avifhout rousing the oavls and the bats, no sooner did he begin to remove these Avorthless deposits than the lovers of tradition —those who AA'ere putting a false confidence in the mere externals of their religion ; regarding it, like many modern Masons, ns an opiate and not a stimulant —raged against this “disturber of their peace,” raising the dust of bootings, outcries and furious attack, fiercely folloAving him about to do him to death if they could! Again, in the Avider field of their Roman Empire all these brave builders with Sword and Trowel—the Spirit and the Word—encountered the very much rubbish of Paganism. Rotten rubbish verily! Classics reveal the pollutions of those foul, effeminate days, and satirists mention mirthfully vices noAV unmentionable. Their superstitions Avere puerile and grovelling, their sacred rites orgies of lust and revel. Their priests had turned vice into religion, and under the guise of mysterious Avorship, pandered to the lowest of passions. When their very gods were monsters of crime, what bettor could their worshippers be? Corinth itself, Avith its cult of Venus, Aviis a byAVord for licentiousness. Th» student of to-day, sifting over the records of Greek and Roman mythology, bus need to guard bis mind from pollutions prolific.

Wank, pride, passion, prejudice, confronted our hero, but his heroic excavations in those filthy accumulations (aided .by his unseen FcIIoAV-Avorkor-together-withdii}fi,_ I mean the Christ of St. Mark’s Gospel) were so triumphant that the sacred Fire of God, a subterranean Hame, long kept alive in the vast catacombs under the city of Rome, finally burst forth and SAvcpt aAvay the' demon deities of Jupiter, Mars,. Venus, and a hundred others, back into the limbo of Gehenna Avhence they came. In A.D, 325 a Pagan Empire avus outAvardly Christianised in a day, under the Emperor Constantine, an ieonoelast as useful as he was called great. But that was long after St. Paul’s day. Let us recall the philosophies rampant then, like modem Rationalism, a rotten rationalism, tainting our teachers, and mostly made in Germany! Socrates, Plato, the slave Epictetus, a few of jlhg sort, were grop-

ing, a l ind of “feeling, after God,” if haply they might find Him. Blindly, proudly misdirected, all of it missed the mark. Socrates tells very beautifully how a man should die, but he also taught a woman of the town how to conduct her infamous business. The very name “Gnostic” proclaims in a word, both its folly and vainglOry< (they “knew everything,” did they, in the first century!) and,when Pride was broken, Despair rushed in, therefore suicide was usual, even honourable. “Life is a stage, we fire players; the door is open; when tired, quit,” said one of their own writers. The young, the dauntless? religion of Jesus, amidst many a weary and effete philosophy, found the town of Mansoul, and its Eargate, filled with the deaf, the blind; the lazy, the luxurious! In spite of, all obstructions, superhuman and infernal the obstinate clay of rabbi-rub-bish, foul . dunghills of pagan, and flinty piles df philosophy, St. Paul —a Heaven-energised Hercules, cleansed the foul Augean stables by turning in thither the River of Life, sweeping bare a bed-rock need of humanity, and firmly, fairly laying the only supply Stone —not una spes, but Uniea Spes, the Uni/ que Hope, the,Unique Rock, which all the storms and earthquakes all the centuries settle but more solidly on the square!

“And on this Foundation, another man ’builds” —His retrospective look now alters to a prospective

quest. He gazes afar down the Valley of Time, He sees emerge other “builders.” No human vision could then forsee the future changes, none knew of the apparent revolution in the religion of an Empire early in the fourth century, and how the State Paganism of the then civilised world would give way to . “Christianity” («il early disciples , thought of the Caesars as AntiChrist, soon to be swept away by a speedy second Advent), but, surely, a prophetic instinct was Paul’s; he felt, without knowing it,

that external conformity to a converted emperor’s command could conceal hdacomhs of hypocrisy; many, many would be then, as nowadays, Christians only in name, and formalism be fearfully fashion-

able, so he rejoices with trembling, sounding out a trumpet warning, •‘.But, let each man take heed what ho builds thereupon.” At the outset of this chapter we

hoard that deep divergence had rent the faithful Pseudo- builders had crept in; Paul does not condescend to name and thus immortalise them, but he signifies them in type, naming himself, Apollos and Cephas—the very last men in the ehurgh to have tolerated mere party names. In anxious emphasis, he reiterates, “Pur other foundation can no manlay alongside (-para-) the one already there, ‘Jesus, the Christ.’ ” “0, hut other teachers,” say some

moderns, “Mahomet, Buddha, Confudm, laid other foundations as

good.” The inspired apostle scouts the very ideal U'hat builder would select a heap of what architect a mass of decay ns & fit foun-

dation? The Koran has a few jewels fd truth, in heaps of filth, the Bible is nil jewels through and through, piled up id ji real Paradise. All other bases are as a dream, this One alone j* ppalterable, incomparable, the adamant of Eternity, our Hock of Ages, past, present, and future! 'And, as a foundation, laid out, supports and also shapes the 1 whole erection, •Christ is the first, the middle and

(he last of Hi* Church. Alt'other I creed* —religion* of a dead hand — can he but mentally ethical /dubs; the real Ecclesia is glued together by the Blood, and contain* the whole man tripartite, mind, soul, and body. Every Freemason can fairly eulogise the ethics or Masonry, but we might as well expect a caterpillar to tly, before its new birth in Nature, as expect pn unconverted Mason to live up to tha right spirit of his lofty vows, till he he born again tpom above.. Note the earliest Fat ha/;*,. You may not hear ,mueh about justilka.tiou by faith, trait there is a great deal about the Free ions Blood. They were not all clear on the doctrine of regeneration, but they dwell upon the indwelling Emmanuel. "Pardon” to. them i/ah expiating

".Shedding” —conversion a Calling t(j walk with-Christ. Easter joys wert f a risen, glorified, ever-present Jesus. .Doctrinal preaching is good, experimental often better,

but best of all is' to lift jip the Crucified. This is our more

way. I rend of a well-meaning man preaching Morality without its true Mainspring, till there • wasn’t a moral man in Ms village! We may extol this or that fl;s divine; St. Paul’s whole body .of w<M that only embodied Divinity—

our Lord! Birth, education, eon-

duct, devout rite are all rotting planks, save as tilled and encircled by the Saviour, our good and.gracious Genius for all that is gracious, all that is good in thought, word, deed! Language fails; even the elasticity of the &reek snaps in the 4 effort to enlogise our Emmanuel; let no laudation be 100 loud, hop long, too lofty‘for the dear Divine Mtm Who died for me* Who rose again, for even me! “But upon *Ms Foundation one may build gold, Mlver, precious marbles: another, wood, hay, stubble.” St. Paul, dictating this over-sea letter from his house at Ephesus, pauses, and, closing his eyes (were they again so painful?) he Bealls Corinth to mind. Once more he sits on the tedw of the Acro-corintlnd hill, 2,000 feet above the . divided

seas, gazing down on the isthmus city and suburbs, and the two seaports. Its temples and palaces rise under him, the isthmus reappears, crowded with buildings, crowned with monuments of, art, graced by great mansions built of rarest Parian , marbles —mansions adorned with gilded pinnacles —their ferny, coot courtyards tiled in rich mosaics, with trees and fountains, with-' statues and ornaments of gold and silver—amidst them towered the palace of the pro-consul Gallic. In sharp contrast under the palace shadows he .can, mark the wretched hovels of the poor; mere thatched huts with interstices stuffed with straw, hastily run up b£ some fourth-rate builder, or by their miserable occupants. He has known skilled architects of the marble palaces openly honoured and under the special favour of the rulers;, their artistic and inventive skill encouraged, their bid age honourably pensioned perhaps by a royal gift from the ‘Emperor of one of these very mansions'?. Then, in fancy he pictures a city fire at midnight such as 'occurred in the reign of Mummius —the loud alarms, the fearful scenes, the flames sweeping round the walled palaces, but hungrily • licking up the little mean abodes, the wretched, terror-struck inmates of which escape through the flames with just their Jives! So he goes on, “But each man’s work shall be made manifest” (i.e., shown up), “The Day” (not a day, the day) or Period of Fire will make'it known.” Because that day shall be revealed by fire—“ The fire will test each work.” A fierce judgment for works, for awards, will play bu all workers, from the Eyes which are as a testing flame. Roman historians relate of tires and lire brigades, but here, nothing can escape from destruction hut the indestructible, and, so finally, the long parenthesis of verses 9 to 15 concludes: “He whose building stands unharmed shall receive . . . . for his labour . . . he'whose work is burnt shall forfeit his reward, yet shall he not himself destroyed, but shall be saved, as it were, through the flames.” How forcibly would this splendid illustration, sublimely simple, appeal to all, even the children! (even a child shall be finally known by his doings, whether his works be good or whether they he evil!) See! we are to be saved as-sons, hut are to be rewarded, as servants, of the Emperor everlasting. A judging of our Christian life, words, works, is ahead. With the Corinthian community the inwardness, the otherworldliness of their life was fading away, faith was enfeebled, zeal gone, love grown cold —mutual jealousies, dry rot of legality, perfunctory performance, all had undermined “every man’s work,” Better to pull down everything and start rebuilding on the Redeemer —for all were judging of motives by actions, ' hut God would judge actions by motives, Quality, not quantity, is wanted. All had been busily building, but the Day was coming that would “burn as an oven” —the Advent Day—when the saints, viz., all saved sinners, past and present, are to hhycaught up to meet the Lord “in the air” —for their Adjudications, ere the Aerial Wedding, and after descent, for their mutual Millenigl reign. “One day is with the Lord as “1,00.0 years” —the Dawn of that millenial Day (soon, we hope, to be here —“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus”) -will witness the Rapture, and the judgment for worksjn4 gS its late Eve will see the setting up of Gm great white Throne, “for the rest of (ho dead lived not til! the 1,000 years were finished” —that final Judgment of unbelievers, the heathen, and of the wicked (j.ead, after Armageddon.

All our Christian life work must puss through “Fire.” Jmt every cleric .or Ipy, ‘‘ta-kp No wfledwoyk, jhpweyjer prettily painted to mimic tbg pregiops garble, will resist that ordeal, Any pension granted by our Caesar will have no flavour of favouritism; perfect impartiality is assured. Two gpeat brilliants, out-shining the stars, flow those two mites of the poor widow m hpf love-crown on high; rightly given, they oup: weigh two millions wrongly offered —transiqflje by the magic alchemy of love, trijie Jove. Far too many, says Paul, may l\e “burpt ouf” Jjke Lot, Jpjdng his all, escjipipg, j}§ .Job quaintly say#, “by .the skip of his teeth,” with pojhipg Jo show for P lifetime of religion! Vanity, conceit, grace-pride will ruin all! 0! to set up that Judgment Seat in this church, here and now! 0 for a present “purging of ourselves from dead works” to truly “serve the living Cod,” rising to the' high honour of His call to us to share His WPfk. Then even a “cup of cold water** wijl call forth His “Inasmuch.” Then the Divide £)ove can descend on our daily dinner-tabfe and teach us how to “eat and dyb?.!f. tp the glory of God.” May the Re%er fgfisp ps now; ipto sipghir nes of aipj and jpofiye, like ,tJie sanctuary silver, sapro.sjppd, »ef apart for carrying heaven’s bread to the hcaruhufigry—the rich wine of God’s joy to the soul-faint! And equally ready, like that same Silver, to be. humbly put away in the dark again! Pure love, pure humanity, doth the High Priest seek for His chosen temple—vessels of silver /md gold for His Service! In .Cprlmh, much of this silver had alloyed to dross. Earthenware vessels serve a brief but WOffld presently be broken .to sherds., They were loudly warped. Just as a gardener uses a dead sfipk to help steady a young fruit tree, so a dry stick of a minister or teacher may help steady a young Church or growing Christian, but he would

soon be removed. A proud, “dead member”- may be a financial pillar; a self-sufficient official* rotten af heart, may have a passing use, serving as a scaffolding might, a brief purpose of the Great Architect. But He stood ready to purge, to refine, to renew. He is the true Toiler, exceeding magnificial are His tyils. Tis He Who uprears the final, great, ghostly Temple of the future. Its Materials, in the silence of centuries, .without sound of axe or hammer, come to His pierced hands for, shaping and for setting, continuously come from the north and the south, from the east and the west. Sanballat sneers, Tobiah plots, and legions of ghostly adversaries rage on all sides, but our Nehemiah builds on, and, like Zerubbabel, His Hands shall finally finish it.

Revelations reveal its walls, stone laid’on stand, course upon course, the emerald on chalcedony, thq sardine on sardonyx, the berylj)ased on the chrysolite, chfysophagus piled on topaz, and joyfully the ja-. cinth and amethyst shall complete the coping thereof! Then, ah! then the Crown of all, the Headstone, cut, prophetic of the Blessed Virgin (without a hand to do it), out of the mountain of Daniel’s vision, growing, growing to fill the whole Earth —that Chief Cornerstone, the Christ, glorified of God, shall be brought forth with shoutings from all created Worlds, of u tj race, grace to it!”

With jasper glow thy bulwarks, Thy streets with emerald blaze, The sardius and the topaz in Thee unite theix* rays. Thine ageless Walls are broidered with amethyst, unpriced, Thy Saints build up the Fabric, the Corner-stone —the Christ. My brothers! So mote it be! —The Manse, Foxton, 13/2/18.