SUNDAY CIRCLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22836, 21 March 1936, Page 2

SUNDAY CIRCLE

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME JUST FOR TO-DAY.' How comforting a thought to know 'Tia not our Father's will . That wa should throw our puny weight And tax our feeble skill Against the abstract years. Just for to-day—for well He knowi How strength of good intent Falls at a single shot upon The heart's frail battlement Of strivings and of tears! Just for to-day—and He who knowi How long a day can be Before its freighted moments slip Into eternity, Into His tender care; Will He not take the tangled web " The flying hours have wove And make of it a semblance of The shape for which we strove? A pattern somehow fair? —Gertrude A. Brown. A PRAYER. We thank Thee for the dear and faithful dead, for those who have made the distant heavens a Home for us, and whose truth and beauty are even now in our hearts. One by one Thou dost gather the scattered families out of the earthly light into the heavenly glory, from the distractions and strife and weariness of tune to the peace of eternity. We thank Thee for the labours and the joys of these mortal years. We thank Thee for our deep sense of the mysteries that lie beyond our dust, and for the eye of faith which Thou has opened for all who believe in Thy Son to outlook that mark. May we live altogether in Thy Faith and Love, and in that Hope which is full of Immortality. Amen. —Rufus Ellis in Great Souls at Prayer. FAITH AND WORKS. Faith should be something more than mere mental assent, said the Rev. S. C. Bradley, in an address at the United Intercessory Service at the Sydney Town Hall. There must be a readiness, he added, to act on one's belief, to apply it to every-day thought and action. Belief in God should be a growth according to Christian experience. Jesus Christ did not say, " Come lo church; to an institution; or to an organisation." Christians should ask themselves what service God would have them render, and be prepared to carry out His will. A TEXT FOR EACH DAY'S MEDITATION. "Real Peace." Sunday.—" Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them."—Psalm 119 and 165. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."—lsaiah 26: 3.

"Ye shall go out with joy and he led forth with peace."—lsaiah 55: 12. Monday.—" I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord: thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then ye shall call upon Me, and ye shall go 7 and nray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you."—Jeremiah 29: 11 and 12.

Tuesday.—" Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."—John 14: 1 and 27.

Wednesday.—" Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ' By Whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." —Romans 5: 1 and 2. Thursday.—" The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Let ua therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." —Romans 14: 17 and 19. Friday.—" The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit:"—Galatians 5: 22, 23, and 25. . _ . Saturday.—" And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."—Philippiana 4: 7. , "Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. . . . . The grace of our Lord Jesus' Christ be with you all. Amen."—3 Thessalonians 3: 16 andl 18. —H. R. Higgens, in A.C.W. CHURCH PROGRESS IN 1935. One of the encouraging features of the work of the Church of England in the year 1035, reviewed in the customary article by the secretary of the Church of England Press Bureau, has been not only the arrest of the steady decrease in the missionary contributions of the home church through the missionary societies, but an increase of £72,698 in such contributions—which means that the societies' receipts from parochial and individual gifts were 8 per cent, greater than in the previous year. During the year the schemes of amalgamation decided upon included the Religious Tract Society (one of the recognised associates of the Missionary Council) and the Christian Literature Society, the resulting organisation to be known as the United Society for Christian Literature. Among the more pressing church problems at home has been the provision required to be made to meet the spiritual needs of the vast new housing areas which have come into existence or are being developed. This problem is common to all the churches, Anglican and Free, and is rendered the more difficult by reason of the financial stringency ot the time and the amazing rate at whicli new districts are being populated. The churches of all denominations are, however, keenly alive to the need and are doing their utmost to meet the heavy demands which it involves. THE STATUE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE. After it has stood for over 20 years in the hall of Trinity College, Glasgow, a statue of David Livingstone is now being removed to Rhodesia. It was meant for that purpose originally, but the war intervened, with aJI the difficulties of transit, and the authorities of the college were asked to house the statue for a time. Now, after the lapse of all these years, the donor, Mr J. M. Mowbray, has written to say that the statue has been accepted by the Southern Rhodesian Government through the Prime Minister, Mr E. M. Hoggins, and arrangements are being made for its shipment. MISSIONS IN ABYSSINIA. The Bible Churchman's Missionary Society, the only British society with British missionaries in Abyssinia, began work in that country a year ago with live Cambridge men helped by trained teachers and evangelists. In the B.C.M.S. compound at Addis Ababa daily Bible studies have been held. In the provinces stations at Ashe Taferi, Fiche, Harrar, and in the Adal country have been established Moreover the 17 B.C.M.S. missionaries (two more will soon sail) are helping in Red' Cross and hospital work. Already they are responsible for the running of hospitals at Harrar and Ashe Taferi About £SOOO has been spent by the society and £llOO worth of drugs, etc., were sent recently. The gratitude of the Ethiopians has been expressed by a letter from the Emperor, through his Foreign Minister, thanking the society for its work. WHERE IS THE NONCONFORMIST CONSCIENCE? "In what way," asks Canon Peter Green in the Manchester Guardian, " doea the present age fall most short of tha age that preceded it? 1 should be inclined to say that it does so in a lack of moral emotion. Where to-day is the 'Nonconformist conscience' of Victorian days? "My friends of the Free Churches will not suppose that there is any trace of ridicule in my use of the phrase. Far from it. I use it in whole-hearted admiration and gratitude. In the matters of which T am thinking I could wish that my conscience were at all times a nonconforming one; one, that is to say, that refused to conform to the popular standards of the day." WHAT'S IN A NAME? Ascertain church official, discussing one day the difference between the preaching of to-day from that of other years, said:

"The good old creed keeps the same for all, though they change the words they use. Look at me, here. I used to he the' janitor. Then we had a vicar who called me the beetle. The next one called me the sextant. Our last one named me the virgin, and our new encumbrance says I'm the sacrilege." CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SERVICES. " Matter " is the subject of the lessonsermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, to-morrow. The golden text is " The fashion of this world pasacth away." (1 Cor. vii: 31.) Among the citntions which comprise the lesson-sermon are the following from the Bible: —"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly scdn, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." (Romans i: 20.) The lesson-sermon also included the following passage from the Christian Science Textbook, " Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy: "The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the camera of divine mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. Whore shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind?"