VALUE OF TRADITION

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 449, 3 September 1928, Page 14

VALUE OF TRADITION

DISCRIMINATION NEEDED CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIETY Tradition can be good or otherwise, said Mr. Reuben E. Howie, A.V.1., Ph.S. St. 8., who addressed the congregation of St. Hellers Presbyterian Church yesterday. It was for the people to the traditions of Christianity to secure the progress of society. The speaker pointed out that he had a definite object in view in taking up these questions. In the 2nd Thessaldniaijs 11., 15, St. Paul advised the Christians of his day to “stand fast and hold the traditions which they had been taught/* Now Christ before him had told the Pharisees that they “had made void the Taw through their traditions/*

Tradition had been defined as “opinion, belief or custom, handed down from ancestors to posterity/* Therefore traditions may be good or otherwise; but, scepticism had often assumed that traditions were altogether evil. Now, some traditions should have been strangled ■ centuries ago. Evil influences had brought them into existence, and good influences should have burled them. But, we believe that much of the good in society today was due to the noble traditions handed down to us. St. Paul stated he was “zealous of the traditions of his fathers/*

We are to-day very largely the product of the past, continued the speaker, and thinkers need to discriminate, and eliminate the wheat from the chaff. Traditions that are blessing mankind, which are enshrined in the Holy Book, must be contended for. The Gospel of Jesus. Christ with its beautiful soulinspiring traditions can, alone, save humanity. It alone can solve the problems of to-day. We must contend earnestly for the faith; once for all delivered to the saints* error in its various forms must be examined, and, if need be, exposed. The Christian traditions of to-day are as potent as ever to emancipate the individual and renovate society. More attention ‘must be given to thi§ phase of church work, for we can “give every man a reason for the hope that is within us.** Therefore, we must “prove all things/* holding fast all those traditions that are good. SINS AND VIRTUES CONSCIOUSNESS OF OFFENCE FATHER SPEIRING’S ADDRESS The litany of sins and of virtues read in the gospel of the day, was the subject of an eloquent sermon preached by the Rev. Father Speiring at All Souls’ Catholic Church, Devonport, on Sunday, He said that a consciousness of offence against divine law, whether provoked by some unusual method, or by introspection, was always a beneficial happening; and those who aspired to the high plane that is won by self-denial, must disregard the actions of those around them who had no such ideals. A number of Maori students from St. Peter’s Training College, at Northcote, of which Father Speiring is in charge, were present, and gave much edification to the large congregation by their devotional attitude.