THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17693, 2 August 1919, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME. HELP US TO PRAY. God malco ua prayerful day by day And_ keep us sweot; As Thine own friends lot us bo known By all wo meet.. Koep us unstained in thought and deed, Thy mind impart; May the desire for what is best Fill ovory heart. Keep ua aloof from needless care, Teach us to pray; And givo us light and grace to serve From day to day. So may Thy helpful love through us Tho answer bo To some who pray for needed help, Dear Lord, from Thee. Load Thou our life, devout <md true, Through prayer to Theo; And grant us strength and poaeo and rest From day to day; So may we ever keep tho way Tho Master trod, And gain at last that beet roward, " Well done," from God. —Annie A. Preston, in tho British "Weekly. PRAYER. O Lord, wo commend to Theo all Christian teachers and preachers, for all who, in any fashion, aro seeking the welfare of mankind; especially wo pray for those who aro seeking it by spreading the knowledge ot Christ and His great work. We pray for our country and our Sovereign. Wo beseech Thee that in this land " puro religion and undefiled" may abound. O Lord, arm 'Thy peoplo with greater energy, zeal, and wisdom in their conflict with the sin that runs down our streets like a river. And grant, wo beseech Thee, that not only in name but in reality this may bo a Christian nation, and Christ its King. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amon. TRUE WORSHIP. Tho proacluug ol practical righteousness'is tkorctoro an essonual part ot sruo worship, for tho righteous and brotherly spirit had <o be cherished and developed in mon. It is useless for anyone to say that ho loves God if ho does not lovo his" brother. For where ia tho divine life to bo lived except in tho world of human relations? The urging of social duty is thereioro an essential part of worship. And in view of the needs of the world it is a part that should be very prominent. I think it must be more prominent in church than it has been in tho past. For if worship -bo taken to bo merely tho ascription of praise to God for His goodness and love there it lifctl© point in it. This feeling; that goes forth in praise to God for His goodness and love must also express itself in practical goodness and love towards our fellow men in tho world. And it is only by the practical test that the world will acknowledge it; indeed, it is only by the practical test that you 'yourself can be sure of it. You cannot bo sure that you have -worshipped God unless you are also ready to servo yonr fellows. Nor have you found your true solf until you do. Worship is homage .paid to God, and homage to God involves homage to humanity. In true worship the consciousness arises that '' God, the world, and humanity aro one." You may test and measure $he reality of your worship of God by the strength or the weakness o£ that consciousness of unity with all the world and with all men. If it stops, for example, -with, your nation then you are worshipping a tribal god. If it stops with your sect, then you are worshipping a sectarian idol. If you wish to worship the God of the wfiolo earth then you must feel the oneness of all, and admit the obligation of care for all and. goodwill towards aIL The worship of the highest means service for the lowest. You do not believe in the Fatherhood or God unless you believe in the brotherhood of man, and you do not believe in tho brotherhood of man unless you_ practise the brother everywhere. I know it is a high standard, but it xs the standard we must aim at. In worship it is the standard we acknowledge, and it must bo our constant endeavour to bring life into line with it.— T. Rhondda Williams.

CHURCH UNION. A novel feature in the proceedings of the General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church was the appearance on tho platform of the Right Rev. Dr D'Arcy, Lord Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore. Dr D'Arcy was introduced by . tho ox-Moderator of the Assembly, the Right Rev. Dr M'GranaghNa, and in a> few wellchosen sentences welcomed, in the name of the Assembly, by the Moderator, the whole house standing to receive him and applauding vigorously. Dr D'Arcy spoke on tho report on cooperation in other churches. He emphasised the need o£ studying each others distinctive principles, not in order to minimise them, but to understand them so that they might bo able to get into such of position of harmony and co-operation as would enable them eventually to grow into complete unity. The bishop's speech was received with the greatest enthusiasm, as his earnestness and sincerity are well known. He was the first Bishop in Britain to open hia pulpit to Presbyterian clergymen. ! ECdtEStSiSnOAIi HEDGES. GIPSY SMITH WOULD BURN THEM DOWN. Gipsy Smith, speaking, at the East Anglian Wesleyan Synod: in March to a vote of welcome to representatives of other churches, said that some of the things' ho had heard had been quite new. They had not heard them at the front, where ho had with the soldiers for the past 3i years. Not ojao soldier had asked him: "What church do you belong to?" They were too big. They did not talk of tho Church of England -or same other body. They were one in Christ. He spoke of a service in which be took part with a Roman Catholic bishop and a Jewish rabbi, und slid they could not tell which was which. Why could they not do that a little more? Let them burn down ecclesiastical hedges. If there was anything in a church that prevented the realisation of the prayer that •He prayed, that they might be one, it was man-made and wicked, and was not in harmony with the will of God. He referred to tho common use of hymns, particularly those of Wesley, and declared that their hymnology was bigger than their theology. Hie Church m England was bigget than the Church of England. There were lots of Christian people outside tho churches as good as thoso inside, and they had been proving it in France. Ho had' not seen many people at home who were willing to dSe for one another—people who profossed to be religious—but they did it out in Franco without professing to be religious. When they got to heaven they would get surprises. Hiey would see people there whom they never expected to see; and they would miss some they expected to sco; but the greatest surprise of all would bo to find they were there themselves. He was a pretty broad man when he went to lV'.::ce, but the boys had made him broader. He waa a better Christian for having been v, il.li them. NEWS ITEMS. President Wilson accepted from the American Bible Society a specially-bound copy of . the Bible for use at the table of the Peaco Conference as opportunity might afford. It is printed in small pica, royal octavo size, and is bound in white morocco, with a gold cross on the cover, tooled simply on tho inner edges of the cover, with thp words at tho foot of tho insirlo front border: "Peace Conference.—Presented by American Bible Society." The volume was sent to Washington, and was thenco forwarded in the oflicial mail to Paris. It was sent " with the earnest hope and expectation that the spirit and- teachings of Christ, as revealed in the Book, will provail in the Peaco councils." Dr Campbell Morgan has accepted a professorship in the White Bible Training College at New York. Out of tho college scfeion Dr Morgan will conduct Bible schools and conferences on tho lines of the Nort.hfield Extension Campaign, which he conducted in America before settling ;it WttitrruTistor. Dr Morgan expects to leave Lng/ind in July. The Boston Congreg?.tionabst writes: "Just what induces Dr Morgan to accept a professorship in tho Biblo Training College in New York is not indicate!] in the brief cable announcing his coming. But the teaching element has always been so dominant in all of Dr Morpan's public worfc that it is not surprising that he i.i ready to connect himself w'th v a-n American institution which stands preeminently for instruction in the EnpFsh Bible. Dr Morg.m. it will be remembered, onci had a similar relationship to the Northfield schools, and having lived for several years in America and having conducted fv.wgeliolie meetings and held 1-reo "Bib'o r-!a«sre fn all parts of the country. hr> will be welcome in many elrflos when hn puts down his stokce in New York City.''