POPULAR PASTOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1023, 14 July 1930, Page 14

POPULAR PASTOR

REV. LIONEL FLETCHER CROWDS SAY FAREWELL Crowds were present at the Beresford Street Congregational Sunday School anniversary which was held yesterday at the Town Hall. This was the Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher’s farewell service in Auckland prior to his leaving for a year’s evangelistic tour of the world

It is estimated that more than 2.000 j people were present at the morning J service when Mr. Fletcher’s subject was \ “The Sex* The children’s service i was held in the afternoon, and Mr. ; Fletcher again gave a very interesting address, this time on “Fishing.” The attendance at this service was again more than 2,000. During the service, Mr. Grey Campbell, general superintendent of the Sunday School, presented Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher with a very beautiful album containing photographs of the children in all the departments of the school, and also interior and exterior photographs of the buildings which had been erected Fletcher’s ministry in Auckland. In making his farewell speech, Mr. Fletcher said that the years he had spent in Auckland had been some of the happiest of his life. He made a stirring appeal to his congregation to continLie in the same spirit as in the past, and said he was confident that the work would progress more and more. The Rev. A. V. Whiting, who will be taking charge of the Beresford Street Congregational Church during the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, wished them both Godspeed and a safe return, on behalf of the church ana the congregation. For the -evening service the doors were open at 5.45 p.m., and the Town Hall was packed by 6.30. Hundreds were turned away after the doors were closed at 6.45 p.m. Mr. Fletcher took for his subject that well-known war song, “Pack Up Your Troubles.” “Through all the sorrow and heartache in this world, if we trust in tb*» Lord, we can smile, smile, smile,” said Mr. Fletcher. “Even in the poorest garret, and the meanest home, the people can smile, if they trust in God.”

The choir of more than 600 sang special hymns and anthems under the capable leadership of Mr. W. Gemmell. Mr. Arthur Cherry played the organ, and Miss Thelma Gordon was at the piano. Mr. Fletcher was also farewelled over the air by “Cinderella” and “Uncle John,” of IYA broadcasting station. CHRIST’S SACRAMENT NEITHER HUNGER NOR THIRST “Sacrament” was the subject of | the lesson-sermon in First Church j of Christ, Scientist, Auckland, yesterday. The golden text was from John vi.: j 35: “Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Among the citations was the following from tlie Bible: "And as they were ] eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed , it, and brake it. and gave it to His disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat, this is 1 My Body, And He took the cup, and J gave thanks, and gave it to them say-1 ing. ‘Drink ye ail of it.’ ” The lesson-3ermon also included the ; following pasage from the Christian Science textbook: “His followers, | sorrowful and silent, anticipating the hour of their Master's betrayal, partook of the Heavenly manna which, of old, had fed in the wilderness the persecuted followers of truth. ... It was j the great truth of spiritual being, i healing the sick and casting out error, j . . . For this truth of spiritual being,! their Master was about to suffer viol-1 ence and drain to the dregs His cup ot sorrow. He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlasting vie-1 tory overshadowing Him, He gave thanks and said, “Drink ye all of it.” j PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE MATERIAL BASIS UNSOUW “The True Basis of Psychological Science” was the subject of an address at the Higher Thought Temple last evening. 1 The speaker was Mr. M. Walker, who said that the usual study of what is called “psychology” in schools and universities was altogether too materialistic in trend to satisfy the earnest longings of the ever-increas-ing throng of students of biology who wished to penetrate below the crust of appearances. They wanted to find out 'as much as possible of the hidden workings of man, which refused to be classified as a simple product of material evolution. There were only two schools of well-defined philosophy extant, the platonic and the Aristotelian, the former deductive in its entire system of reasoning, the latter inductive. Mr. Walker defined the soul as tho source of intelligence, the architect of the body, and the seat of our permanent desires and faculties. The t>ense of individuality lay properly at the root of psychology. Involution and evolution involved each other. The speaker said that the psychological basis of physiology placed physiology on a solid rock, while a physiological foundation for psychology placed that science on treacherous sand.

In dealing with the grey matter of the brain, and its memory cells, Mr. Walker stated that the psychical brain was the storehouse or repository for impressions, and though the physical brain underwent incessant permutations, no matter how frequently the molecules which constituted the outer structure varied, the inner structure remained intact, despite the alterations on the physical side of expression. The moral sentiments were as purely natural and inborn as the intellectual. The essential goodness of human nature must be adhered to. despite all apparent or superficial discord, by every parent and teacher. We were all good at the core, however we might be encircled with error. There was a great wealth of scientific truth and sound teaching from a late Jewish liturgy, “My God, the soul which Thou hast formed within me is pure: it came pure from Thee.” The speaker went on to show that environments were valuable, not as creators, but as educators. Circumstances could appeal to latent possibilities, and call forth hidden powers, but they could not change the essential nature of any human being. Education properly included what was rightly called mental and moral evolution.

FOOTBALL ACCIDENT

PLAYER INJURED AT OTAHUHU Playing for the Otahuhu Returned Soldiers’ Social Club in a charity match against the Passenger Transport Company, at Sturges Park. Otahuhu. oil Saturday, Mr. Alf. Billings fell heavily and received a fractured wrist, lie was attended by St. John Ambulance and later received medical attention.