“THIS FREEDOM”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 881, 27 January 1930, Page 14

“THIS FREEDOM”

REV. C. G. SCRIMGEOUR ON NON-CHURCHGOERS BROKEN COMMANDMENTS Preaching in the Strand Theatre last evening on the subject, “Thou shalt have no other God betore Me,” the Rev. C. G. Scrimgeour, Methodist City Missioner, said that throughout the world religious reorganisation was slowly taking place. “The old order is passing away, and new methods with new ideas are being adopted to meet modern conditions," he said. ''Naturally, when the order to change comes, multitudes find themselves out of step, and many fall out altogether. There are thousands of people in Auckland who have broken away from the old ways of their parents, and pride themselves that they have ‘cut this religious stuff’ which would ipake them go to church twice on Sunday, and stop them from going to picnics and parties. ‘The whale did not swallow Jonah, anyway, and the Ten Commandments are out of date.’ With such trash they make themselves believe they are perfectly rational people, and flatter themselves on their sanity. If you are in that class,” said Mr. Scrimgeour, “I want to tell you right here and now that you are just, as mad as the rest of the lunies. “All history echoes with the disaster that has befallen the fools who have broken the First Commandment. If you do it, don’t be mad enough 10 imagine that you can get away with it all the time. Break all the others if you will, and you still have a God who is great in His mercy. But break the first, and with one mighty act you leave yourself without a God who itnderstands and can forgive. People living in this country would object to being called heathen, but that is what a lot of them are. The ancient idols may be broken, but the gods are worshipped still. Still Venus stands with swelling breasts, And sidelong glancing eyes; And lures lust-drunken devotees To trust her when she lies. "Venus, the goddess in whose temples public prostitution was part of the ceremony of worship, may be dead, but the thing that made her a goddess i 3 worshipped still. If lust is your god, it will rot your heart, kill your brain, and damn your soul. "Another god of the ancients was Mars, god of war, in whose temples the Romans prayed, ‘Mars, god of war, watch over the safety of this city.’ The picture of Mars driving his furious horses, Flight and Terror, is one with which we are not familiar, but the god of war is worshipped still. When German and British boys went out to slaughter each other, German and British wives and mothers prayed the same prayer, ‘God of Love, watch over my boy.’ “ ‘They that live by the sword shall perish by the sword,’ said Jesus nearly 2,000 years ago. but up to the present time we have found no place in our ethics for such teaching. “You were created with a soul as pure as Christ,” concluded the speaker. “Turn away from idolatry, and follow the Man "jfho spurned all the kingdoms of the world rather than break the First Commandment.” The film, “Moon of Israel,” depicting the idolatrous worship of the Egyptians, and the escape of the Israelites through the Red Sea, was screened to illustrate the address.