THE MISSION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10033, 2 May 1910, Page 5

THE MISSION.

DR HENRY'S ADDRESS.

A SUCCESSFUL OPENING.

Dr Henry commenced his six days' mission in Masterton at the Town Hall on Saturday evening, to a very large audience, "considering," as Dr Henry remarked himself, "that it was a Saturday night, when most people had domestic duties to attend to." The choir, principally composed of ladies, was accommodated on the stage, and the proceedings throughout were marked by great enthusiasm, Previous to the Town Hall ceremony, Dr Henry and Mr Potts were officially received at Knox Church, and a procession, headed by the Salvation Army Band, in addition to parading the principal steeets, afterwards escorted the missioners to the Town Hall. DR HENRY'S ADDRESS.

After the singing of several hymna by the choir, led by Mr Potts, and in which the audience joined,

Dr Henry, who was received with aDplause, said it was a great joy and satisfaction to him to visit Masterton. Ordinarily they should have taken Saturday as a day of rest, especially after holding over forty meetings in Wellington, He was anxious that they should all join in the singing, because he had been told that everybody in New Zealand could sing. They were in Masterton to teach them all to abandon sin, and to choose Christ, so that in the end the churches should be strengthened, homes brightened, and men and women brought to God; that there might, in fact be a deepening of the spiritual life. They wanted spiritually to make "a clean city, a clean home, and a clean life in every other department." Mr Potts now sang the hymn "In the Old Time Way," spending some time in teaching the tune and words to the audience.

Dr Henry again spoke, this time on the question of the services for the week. He said the missioners would on each occasion spend as much time as possible in song service before the sermon. Mr Potts would also contribute certain solos. Dr Henry explained at length a number of details for the guidance of visitants and workers. _ THE SOUL WINNER.

Passing on to other matters, he'referred to the well known Scriptural texts, "He that winneth souls is wise," and "He is wise that winneth souls—he that be wise shall shine as the stars of the-firmament." A great many people, he said, wanted tn shir.e in society, in art, politics, literature, I 1"!; was it not plain enough tr'jth that to shine in "the great raidance Beyond' in the service of God was the highest dignity—the highest aim—that could be reached by humanity. Soul winning was the wisest, the happlset, and!'the md2t productive business in the world. It was the business of Gud, the business for which Christ had suffered. Every Christian should be a sort of Christ to his neighbour, "and seek his moral and spiritual rescue. Soul winning was one of those things that the more a man or woman entered into it tha more they began to grow with it and like it. . ""rr, A MIGHT if AND NOBLE service:

It was a mighty and noble and blessed service. But every individual who wished to be a soul winner muat be himself or herself a good Christian, otherwise they would be very poor and inefficient and unsuccessful soul winners. It seemed to him that they could all understand the simple methods of the glorious gospel of God if they made up their min Js to be saved,and realised that it was Goti's desire that "none shall parish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth." God's desire was that all men should be saved -the gambler, the drunkard, the thief, the murderer, and all the sinners of the earth. Men and women were asked to make the most of their Christian life, and accept the best that God had given them. God was calling for their best, and when tney gave Him that they were doing all they could. They were abandoning sin and giving the Saviour, and that was the thing that God wanted. FORSAKE ALL KNOWN SIN.

Dr Henry told many stories of the adventure 3 of earnest and sincere soul winners, and the difficulties they had had 1 to surmount to win hardened sinners and criminals to God. Mr Moody was once asked if all men and women could be successful as Christians and soul winners. He replied that there were two conditions on which any Christian could be made a blessing toothers i.e. "that they are clean as a vessel, and as a vessel they are near at hand," and "the vessel that is clean will be near at hatid, and the vessel that is near at hand will be clean." One condition that they must observe to be a soulwinner and a Christian was that they must forsake all known sin, another that they must give up all questionable practices and all questionable indulgences, and they must be willing openly to have and to declare Jesu3 uhrist as their Saviour.

"DUMB" CHRISTIANS. He did net now how it was in Mastertcn, but he knew that in other places in New Zealand the cause of Christ was suffering severely from "dumb" Christians. Their

mouths were shut. One of the grandest and greatest things that could happen in Masterton that night would be for the audience to go home and «ret their mouths opened with regard to the great psssibilities of the six days' misaion which had been commenced that evening. If they wanted to gain the great reward and tie blessing of Christ they must openly acknowledge that they were Christ's disciples. They could do it if they liked, and the miss'onera were ffceFe to co-operate with them to try and reach the men and women and child ren in Masterton who had r.ever before known Christ—(hey weie there to give them a chance to rtake a hcai.fc declaration and a personal dedication of themselves which woiJd mean cltansing them from all sin, and make them so that they might be a blessing to all those others who sat in darkness, "

THE CHALLENGE OF THE MIS3IONERS.

There were many in Masterton who wanted them, as Christ's disciples, but Masterton was not alone in this reapect, for there were men and women everywhere who did noi know the Saviour—so many sois going astray, so many daughters growirg up in ignorance of Jesus Christ: Now, this was the opportunity of the missioners, and they were there to challenge them that night in the name of the Saviour to identify themselves in some practical manner with the work as soul winners; to identify themselves with the work of the Saviour so heartily and so determinedly that they might reach and save, and show the desires of their hearts to those friends who might have been waiting for them for a long time. There might be scores, there might be hundreds, and there might be thousands in Masterton and its vicinity, who had only been waiting for them —waiting for the chance to say, ''l thought you would never come."

AN EARNEST APPEAL. He asked them were they willing fosr their Saviour's sake, for their soul's sake, for the sake ot their church, for their children's sake, for their neighbour's sake, .and for their companions' sake, to put foith their energy into that campaign and that great work within the next few days, so that the greatest moral and spiritual awakening that had ever been seen in Masterton might be the outcome of their sympathy, their prayers and their services ». the great and livine work of the r.ort'. AN ENTHUSIAST *0 FESPONSE. Dr Henry chen asked all those who were willing to do as he had indicated to stand up, and practically aeven.eighths of the audience gtopti. Tbesg volunteers, foho numbered quite as many men as women, were . afterwards met in conference by Vk Henry, and supplied with details and directions for the work they had promised to undertake,

The service coriCluikd With thfc shiging of a hymn by Mr Potts, in the chorus of which the choir and the audience joined enthusiastically. The hymn hooks used at the services are those of the Alexander series, and are on sale :it the mest* ings.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

There was a packed house at the Town Hail 2to greet the arrival of the missioners on Sunday afternoon, and several public conversions took place during the service. Mr Potts, as usual, led the singing with a full choir, and Dr Henry delivered a powerful and convincing address, based on the text Mat. 27-38, "Then were there two thieves crucified v itb Him, one on the right hand, and another on the left;" d The sermon wis illustrative of the beautitul Scriptural story of thieves on the cross, and their relation to Christ, one being glad to have the opportunity of finding Salvation, while the other rejected it. In the evening a crowded house greeted Dr. Henry, when he>appeared[ on the stage of the TowrrHall. The gallery and the main body of the hall, as well as the Btage, were crowded, and there was scarcely standing room in the aisles and stairway. The most [marked feature of tne attendance was the presence of a very large number of young men. The singing, under the leadership of Mr Potts, and a mixed choir of over ore hundred voices, was most heartily entered into, and Mr Potts himself contributed several solos in

a most impressive and winning manner. .Before delivering his address Dr. Henry urged the audience to join the Pocket Testament League. Requests for prayer which had been handed in were also referred to, and the subjects commended to the prayers of those present. Dr. Henry then took several New Testament texts as the basis of his address, and delivered a most stirring and convincing plea for an "open discipleship"—a frank and candid confession of Jesus Christ as King and Saviour.

At the close of the meeting a large number of people publicly acknowledged their acceptance of Christ, and the proceedings concluded with singing and prayer. This evening there will be another big meeting in the Town Hall, at 7.30 o'clock, at which Dr. Henry will speak, and Mr Potts will, in addition to singing saveral solo?, lead a large choir in the'hyma £