THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 245, 26 January 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

We may congratulate ourselves on the beautiful weather we have had to commence our New Year with Hence record meetings have held at our various religious camps during the holidays. The Presbyterian Bible classes at Oamaru have had a registration of nearly 800 delegates, which speak for itself as highly successful. Lectures, Bible study classes, and healthful relation packed in between have been Sought enjoyed by all those who were present. There is little doubt that the voting manhood and the young wonanC S of our Dominion wdl come back from these camps very much better able to fill their part as atoms of our country than those who have wasted their substance on the totalisaSSa'we read of £56,855, put throng on the last day, and the total for the meeting being £257,228, against £236,182 Last year: an increase for the meet, tng of £21,046. And what is the spiral effect of all this ? Are these peom« going to their home 'better fitted S be our leaders in City affairs and conntrv Hfe? Where is our solution of this problem? It should be sought for by the Christian Church of to-day It is madness on our part to pass it by without comment The kingdom of our Lord the King of Kings <k™ n + £ these His subjects .be J""«f * f X under the power and influence of ttas monster evil The problem of the future will be tho binding of the flatons together, but we as a nation musbe bound together ourselves; but the race meeting and the Bible class camps seem a< far apart as tho Poles at the pi }>•>-1 time Yet if all the Churches would only combine to produce more attractive than the raceeou's*, it could be done; and these anmial wd rational holidays cou.d be used l** ge of the best means ot undoing the w I cr s o tho past, and building up a-State af tar the P grand ideals so often. PjaceJ before us. We cannot afford .o b-an these holidays unleavened bv U■ »t, and unwon for the Kingdom of G d, a .ny more than wo can afford to e the 7 heathen world as it is to-daj, v. rotout trying to evangelise it. *****Z our grand opportunities for wejdi..g ourselves together. into Church w0... and healthy recreation, and so bm%«, on the Commonwealth of Christ and the Kingdom oi all tha'nations.

God send us men with hearts abh/*, All truth to love, all wrong to iate. These are the patriots nations ue.-, These are tho bulwarks of. tho *tit •

Wo must say a word on behalf of doings in tho Religious Wd m the Old Country. We are told by eablc, that things there have been vary qui... this Christmas. At the same tune there is a season of heart-scarem.ig. The Mission of Repentance and ll«. amongst tho Anglican Churches !■» been a great success. Large trowwer„ attracted in many of the ernes and large towns; quite a imwl f some places took place; open an pi caching was resorted to, m order to get at the people, and we believe has been done. In London, Bishjp Ingram, who is really a fine type or & l»iuon, and whom everyone must love and respect when once they have heard Inn. held large open-air meetings >n tjr. James' Churchyard, Piccadilly, when he denounced the infamous lite of those ,vho lived on tho immoral practice.of others in thosa localities near by, and on Tower Hill,'in quite an opposite; direction, where ho had quite a different audience to listen to him. Hero the Freethinker and the Socialist attacked him with charges of cowardice on the part of the clergy in not going to the front as eoldiera "his counter attack tho Bishop said "that there were 1300 chaplains under fire in tho Amy alone, and 300 naval chaplains; 16 had given their lives in the Army, ind 16 in the Navy; and man,-mors had been wounded.' Holding up a cony of an illustrated paper he said, ■•Hero is a picture of a chaplain s tuni after he had smothered a bomb winch was about to explode, and this saved seven mon-and ho was a parson " "That is the answer to people who say our clergy are cowards, tie was going to see this clergyman :n hospital t . , . There is now going on a week o praver among all the Evangelical Churches united together for this ob,ec during tho first wv-ek of the new ioar We trust much good will be done, and we may hope for good results for our beloved soldiers, and Christian W An e outsider will sometime, ask what is the use of. prayer? It,«n he an* werod in various ways, but the best 2r we can give, is results of haying Sone to pray <or * paragraph which speaks foi, ltsclt , . P "Mr. Ernest Lush, son of the rector «f Stretton-en-te-Field, Ashby-de-la-7L.ct has had marvellous escapes rem flonth whilst serving as an office! in tue Kin* l s Liverpool Regiment. One. morntoduring the great advance, he was went ove.i u.-' y«'"i' > . ... .. • niv one of the party not killed! A HtSo later with a gun and nine men, K wa ordered to capture a certain ~t Thev started, and again .he Cc'wassaVd! For the third time &K ) rnin,J ! esta,^^tliM VS , ■ .... A*uh ne- over No Man s han't *tJZ fell into a sheU hole, taring Sjed ove some barbed wire That ' i l,i YV for a moment after- ;: aT, - shell burst in front of , ra , which.' humanly speaking mnrt r St •^gatho-stheon.y %?*sfftSfM AUinnce ~ ,J n posed of representatives of neay ?\ n Christian d« n< mi.int.ons, loth * |!1 and abroad; it is who and enough to include miK- & of Christendom It Jnj que .........nt'-v commemorated its s. \'»u nl wsarv at the Mansion Hoiis- " ]|,m tb, f.ord Mayor prcs.ding, w!.enh-gnvoexpr r .ontothe pre. i ♦ !,,* AH nner had done, and i« "fall Christian Chure - „uniting for non-soctar.an, and nonS„SS "us work, *ithont surrender,.!* JJ,i i,.t.a of the distinctive t-ncts ol ea.-h individual body." ~ , '■" ■ jowe.tt ..gives us a beautiful tl ., „„ N t in on,< of hi« .went -ermon, ii in i'rre St, George's, EdmKkln "T1.7 Inspired Soc-of thn '. £of the world consolidated m a .„.,'« union in whirl, each nation will Assert its own distmi-tivo genius, and

'exercise its own native function."' (Rev. VII., 9.) "When this war is over, hew are we going to unite the sundered people? Unat jnust be the question l'or the Church. How are we going to unite the scattered peoples in Christ? I proclaim the way to union will be by thb Throne, the Lamb, by the white robes .and the palms. And if that is the way to union, what i 9 the work of the Church ? It is to bring the peoples of the world before the Throne and the Lamb, and to clothe them n white robs?, and to put into their hands the sovereign sceptre of the palm. Everything else is subsidiary. Tho Church is not here to fill up the lesser gaps. It is here to fill up this one appalling gap with t.ie glorious presence and fulness of the Lord." We trust as indicated at honia and abroad, that 1917 will be noted as a year of prayer to prepare us for a lasting Treaty of Peace among the nations, a great revival of religion throughout all our Dominions, and a fuller and dteeper spiritual life among all our citizens. CIVIS.