THE GENERAL MISSION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 126, 6 September 1910, Page 8

THE GENERAL MISSION

MONDAY'S SERVICES. lliere was Holy Communion at 7.30 and a service for Intercession at 11 yesterday in connection with the Angli- 1 can Mission. There was a very good congregation at the Mission service at 8 o'clock. The Missioner took for his text St. Luke, 15—11., from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He pointed out that both sons, the one that staved at home and the prodigal, were from the same father. This was the foundation stone of our religion; the foundation of all God's appeals to man. It applied to every single human being, apart from circumstances of life. The Missioner proceeded:—All are like God, for all have been created in the image of God. ''God made man in His own image." If I we want to know what God is like, we must look, not at the elements of 1 nature, but at a human being, a chila or a man. And when God wanted to reveal Himself to man, to the world, He took human nature. And God in Jesus Christ revealed Himself in the only way He could reveal Himself: as man. So He is all Divine: all have the image of God. Yet how little people reflected God's glory. We are all so selfish, and slack, and unworthy. In England there are the ruins of many old churches and abbeys. As you visit them you realise that thev were erected for the worship and glory of God. Yet they are now ruined and desolate. So human nature was intended for God's glory: to reflect His wonderful attributes, and yet how often used instead for the vilest purposes. A French painter nnee began to paint a picture of the "Last Judgment." He found a young man as a model for the figure ol Christ. Afterwards he put aside the painting for years. He one day began to finish it. He asked for permission to paint a criminal who was awaiting the death sentence as a model for the figure of the damned. To his astonishment he found that the man was the snine one who had sat for him before. This was a picture of sc manv human lives—bes'un so well, and yet becoming so depraved and ungodly. Even the best of people would not like their thoughts to be known to their nearest friends. Now the work of the mission was to bring men to ask the question. f: What does God think of me?" And then to press home the question, "What am I going to do to restore the defaced and warped image of God?" To-day there will be Holv Communion at 7.30 and 11. A meeting for women will be held at 3 o'clock, and the mission service at 8.