SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1917, Page 6

SUNDAY READING

I THE CHURCH'S REPENTANCE. SERMON PREACHED BY REV. A. H. COLV ILK, M.A., at St. Mary's Church, New Plymouth, on Sunday, January 21. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, bewtuse thou has left thy first love. Remember then from whence thou h;i.st fallen and repent and do the first works: or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.—Rev. ij. 4-5. Tile short letters to the seven Churches of Asia, which you can read in the second and third chapters of the book of tlie Revelation, have, J am sure, a special message for us in these times, and this solemn warning given to the Christians of Ephcsus, the Church of our own day may well taJrc to herself. True, the words had a particular and local application, and we do not know what the local conditions of the Church at typhosus were, but we do know th-at they were bound to afl'eet seriously the welfare of the Church as a whole. The Church in every little town, in every big town has its own difficulties, its own trials, mistakes to de.plore, sins to repent of. But it does not and cannot stand alone, liy its zeal and wisdom the whole Church of Christ flourishes and grows strong: by its slackness and folly the whole Church of Christ droops and withers. We do not know whether the warning given to the Church at Ephesus was in course of time fulfilled; we do know that repentance and immediate repentance was demanded. Wo do not know what- influence the little body of Christians there had upon the town, but we do know that the once' glorious city of Ephesus no longer exists a.s a city. And a similar fate has overtaken many, other cities of the old world. Now churches are more persistent than cities. The Armenians, for example, have seen their land laid waste and drenched in blood over and over again, yet the Armenian Church still exists. The destruction of Jerusalem scattered the. Jews to the four corners of the earth, but did not destroy their Church. So the disappearance of Ephesus from the face of the earth wa.s not a fulfilment of the warning contained in the text. The threat that its candlestick or lampstand should be removed was addressed not to the city but to tihe Church, that i« to 1 small body of Christians who existed in that pagan town for 110 other reason than to bear witness to the. Christ and to hold up before th,i eyes of their fellow-citizens the

GRANDEUR OF THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL and the glory of the Christian liofic To tliom the warning wa.s given, to them the threat was made—"l wil! remove the candlestick out of its place except thou repent" Now what of the Church of our own day? Does she stand in need of repentance? If so, is that need so great as to call forth for her that solemn warning given to the Church of Ephesus. "I will take thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent."

It is quite pkin that the leaders of our Church at any rate recognise the need of repentance. There has lately been held in England a great mission, the ''National Mission of Repentance and Hope" it has been called. This mission was first of all a call to the Church itself to repent. The mission began with the clergy, as every true mission must do. I believe that the reason why the general mission in New Zealand has had so little lasting ellect is tli At it did not begin definitely with the clergy. The life of a clergyman in this country is not 11 particularly easy one. * True, he has not as a rule to live, iu great poverty as some of his brethren in England have to do, but he is altogether too dependent, on the whims and moods of the people among whom he lives and to whom he ministers. He may be subject a-t- times to great humiliations and unworthy intrigues. But that very fact should deepen within him the sense of dependence on God; it should keep him near to God, Whose Holy Spirit alone can sustain him and as his temptations to depression, to petulence and impatience, and even sometimes to despair are very real, a.s the urge to take a low view of what constitutes success and to rely on worldly and superficial means to compass that success is always with him, so too must 'he constantly feel the great need of penitence, to receive humbly and thankfully every morning r-f his life the pardon of the Lord Jesus which will set him free for the duties of the day and bring hope anew into his heart. ' Yes, my friends, we clergy in this country at any rate, need badly a mission of repentance and hope; repentance for past slackness and ap&thy, for failure to rely on spiritual forces to bring our message home to the people, for pettiness and envy and unbrotherliness, for want of courage and want of faith. We need a mission of repentance and we need a mission of hope. Our responsibilities in the near future will be greater than they_ have ever been before perhaps in the history of the Church. What will ha.ppen when the. war is over and the men come back from the front? Will the accredited ministers of religion be fit to meet them wii.h a message that shall interpret their experience to their own souls, a message that shall bring Christ and His love into their lives? Are the clergy lit to be their spiritual guides and the Clnuvh to be their spiritual 'home? There is no doubt about it; if we cannot meet the new world and interpret its longings and answer its appeals then we clergy will be "left stranded," ;.]id it will not be our critics, our enemies who will bring this about, hutCod Himself. Thelites of hell will not prevail against the. Church, but the sates of heaven may prevail against the clergy. Our candlestick may be left in its pi-ace, but a candlestick is not very impressive when the light has gone out. It is here that

THE CLERGY NEED A MISSION OF HOPE—hope t.lint by the inspiration of tli.e Holy Ghost the spirit of Christ may shine forth not only in Mum- words but in their lives, anil this country be brought to the feet of Him Who 'has once more boon lifted up from the earth that He may draw all men unto Him. Yes, there will come a great responsibility on the clergy in the future, so great that it may well seem a cause for dread rather than hope. But doubt and fear will be changed to confidence and great expectation if you will pray for them earnestly, constantly, hopefully. There are plenty of people who understand tha.fc the clergy need criticism, but don't realise that they also need prayer, and

that to administer one without tlx? other is like trying to cure a wound with drops of poison. There are plenty of people who can well understand "that the clergy need repentance (to recommend sackcloth for someone else, though you don't think it would suit you, is always a popular occupation), but do such people understand how much the clergy need hope? That hope >°u can bring them by your svmpathy, your loyalty, and, 'above all, vour prayers. Repentance and hope are' the two great needs of the clergy in this country to-day. They go hand-in-hand. He who said, "I will take thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent," said also, "lie thou faithful unto de-.ith and I will give thee a crown of life."

iiu* wny nave I been talking to you of jftc clergy? Well, for one thing, beI believe the people ought to be reminded of the dilliculties and temptations 01 the clergy more ofteu tlma they are. else how can one expert nnv bond of sympathy between them? For another thing, because the clergy are in the eyes of (be world the representatives of the Church, and their failure means to outsiders the failure of the Church: and for another, because the clergy cannot preach cither repentance or hope to the people unless both are in their own hearts. The message nf the text would come lirst to the leaders, to the exhorters and ministers of that little Christian community at Ep'hesiH, and they would- deliver it to the bodv ot disciples, and the disciples would know perfectly well that it meant them. So if we aro to apply that warning to our own times, it must be received not only by the clergy but by the whole Qhurch. "Except thorn repent"- -yes, hero i? the trouble. 'People don't like repentance—they are inclined to resent the idea: neck? nre too still', heads too swelled, hearts too hard, lives toe comfortably padded. From some quarters there was a great scream of indignation at the idea of a mission of repentance. A well-known journalist calls the idea "nauseating," and wants to know (in headlines), "ARE THE BISHOPS MAD?" "If."' lie says, "the Huns had successfully invaded our shores we might have wondered whether God was punishing us for some great national sin.,but as it is, I ask in the name of high heaven what have we as a nation to repent of today, and what reason have we to pay for hope? No, what is wanted is a national mission to the clergy to arouse them from their slumber," etc. Well, you see it's the old story—sackcloth for someone else, not for me. not for us. Wo have no need of repentance because our shores have been preserved from invasion? Belgium 'has been laid waste; were the Belgians then sinners above all those who dwelt in Europe ? New Zealand has been wonderfully free from all the horrors of war, and not even a Zeppelin raid has discomfited her. Are the New Ze-alanders, then, saints above all the other inhabitants of the earth? We know quite well that they are not. Ts New Zealand, for example, in tliis matter to stand afar off like the Pharisee and thank God that she is not as other nations are? Remember, the trouble with the Pharisee was not his conscious hypocrisy, but the fact that he

. HAD NO SENSE OP SIN, that tic felt 110 need of repentance, tiliat lie deliberately placed himself outside the mission of Jesus Christ. Now is that the trouble with New Zealand? Is that the matter with the Church in this country? Let us come to closer quarters vet and asl; is that tilie matter witll the Church in New Plymouth? Do we not need here n mission of repentance and .hope? What did the Spirit say to the Church at Ephesus? ''l have somewlv.it against, thee because thou bast left they first love." How true is tilt for us! What is the "first love" of all real Christians-? Not love for humanity, not even love for one another, but love for Jesus Christ, out of which these wider loves spring;, and in which alone they find a true inspiration. Can you love. limniinitv? Can yon give humanity n blank cheque ? We need to know what it is we are, to love in humanity, what it is we are to love men to be, and only love for Jesus Christ will tell us. only love for Him will give us a right attitude towards the world. And we as a Church will have to eoine back to love for our Lord through storms of pfnitonee, trampling as we come upon the luxuriant growth of our selflove and self-satisfaction, We must get a new vision of llim. We are moderns. We cannot recapture the romantic love of the first Christians, nor the simple love of mediaeval piety nor the fervent love of the evangelical revival. We must sec Him crucified afresh, lifted up in the midst of the world to-day, suffering with the suffering of the world. And when we see Him set over against the false loves that had seduced us, the false gods we had worshipped, Mammon with his brutal, blotched, grinning face, and Mars with his cruel smile and reeking Miands, can -.ve say, "There' is no beauty thpt we. should desire liini?"

Can we refuse to give ITim to our hearts once more ? "Repent ami do the first works." Let us apply those 'words to our Church here and to ourselves. "The first works,'' that is, the works in which the early Christians, filled with a love of their Lord, delighted. Every man, every woman who comes to this church must he Christ's evangelist, preaching not to crowds, exhorted from'Mie pulpit. but to individual souls sought out and persuaded through long patience and prayer. Von are all anxious to know who will he your next vicar. Well, there is a sense in. which each one of you must he a vicar helping others, ministering to others. That i.s the "first work" in 'which every roal Christian must take part if tliis' Church is to retain its place. Don't leave all the evangelising work to the new vicar, whatever liis power of preaching may be. Don't think of your ehitrch as a preserve for religiously-minded people. Bring others in. And then another of the "first works" is a real fellowship, not one reserved for hours of worship., for _ v nnont ami prayer, hut <i fellowship in the common things of life, a W"iv,-!ii» outside the Church where "(hey wh ofear the Lord speak often one to another."

Because we have thought too little os these things, you and I, my brethren, and our whole Church need the grace of repentance. We have not, 1 am sure, thought enough of our responsibility for the unconscious people living around us, nor borne in mind that for this neglect of God and of His Church we shall most certainly be brought to account. Let us acknowledge this humbly in our hearts, and we shall get a good hope for the future. Let us pray not only that our candlestick he left secure in its place, but. that our candle may bum more brightly in this country in the difficult days that are coming, that men. may sc.; our good works and glorify the God and Father ot us all.