PACIFIC MISSIONARIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 621, 25 March 1929, Page 14

PACIFIC MISSIONARIES

WORK IN THE ISLANDS “The world to-day cannot do withj out the products of the tropics, and j the best way of exploiting - the vast un- ] developed resources of the Pacific is i by the development of the fine native j races which inhabit those beautiful . islands,” said the Rev. J. F. Goldie, , president of the Methodist Church of ; New Zealand, at the Strand Theatre i last evening, where the film, “The j Transformed Isle,” was again shown. I In speaking of the picture Mr. Goldie | said that the Pacific Christian missionaries were doing for the Empire things that the State could do by no other means. The picture, he said : illustrated some phases of the great | work of the Christian missionary in paving the way to civil government, | and giving something of a literature I. to these once savage people. OLD PEOPLE ASSEMBLE ENTERTAINED AT TABERNACLE Over 500 old people attended the eighth annual Old Folks’ Day at the Baptist Tabernade on Saturday afternoon. The Rev. Joseph Kemp presided, and short addresses were given by Pastor Wallis, director of the South Seas Evangelical Mission, and Mr. Andrew Johnson, the blind evangelsit. Mr. Johnson read a portion of the Gospel of St. Matthew from a Bible printed in Braille. The Tabernacle chorus choir led the old folk in many of the more pupular hymns, and Mr. C. Mains sang negro spirituals. Afternoon tea was provided by the ladies, and the visitors returned to their homes in cars which friends provided for the afternoon. GOOD FRIDAY OBSERVANCE A recent meeting of the National Council of the Church of England Men’s Society in Australia passed the following resolution concerning the observance of Good Friday:—“That the council calls upon the manhood of the Church of England throughout the Commonwealth to stand firmly behind the episcopate and the priesthood in their attempt to secure the continuance of a sacred observ. ance of Good Friday, and requests all members of the society in each State to do their utmost to prevent the holding of sporting fixtures and other types of amusement not in keeping with the deep significance of this most solemn day.” “ANCIENT AND MODERN” HYMNS j STANDARD OF SAFETY It is interesting to note that Ilymns, Ancient and Modern, have become a standard of safety and respectability, says the “Standahrd,’ a church newspaper circulating in Australian and New Zealand. They are only this because they are so familiar, and in many cases so familiar that no notice is taken of the words. Like the old lady who fell asleep regularly every Sunday when her own vicar preached, because she was sure that he would be preaching sound doctrine, but was very watchful for heresy when a stranger entered the pulpit, so it is with people’s attitude to the familiar and the unfamiliar hymn books. “Aren’t we going to have, ‘Christian, dost thou see them?” someone asks, “it is such an old favourite.” Yes, it is, particularly the smiting verse, "Smite them by the virtue of the Lenten Fast.” Then with solemn faces, we all sing, “Accept the tearful prayer wo raise in this our fast of forty days.” The solemn -singing of it makes such an excellent substitute for the reality. Do people ever stop to think what they have been saying? Does it help to go on, year after year, using expressions which have lost their meaning for us? CONAN DOYLE’S TOUR VIEWS RECEIVED COLDLY Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has toured South Africa in the interests of spiritualism. Tho “Church Times” correspondent says, however, that he has not met with any marked success in CapeThe Press directed on his propaganda a cold jet of criticism, acute, caustic and exceptionally well-in-formed. from which there was no dignified escape, and Sir Arthur left for the less critical North, inveighing against parsons and journalists. Large audiences listened to him with perfect courtesy, but they dispersed laughing.