BAPTIST MISSION

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2545, 5 July 1909, Page 3

BAPTIST MISSION

THE OPENING MEETING

His Majesty’6 Theatre was taxed to its utmost seat:n" capacity last night to accommodate the very large congregation that assembled on the occasion of the opening service of the Rev. It. S. Gray’s ten days’ mission in connection with the Baptist Church'of Gisb : no. Prior to the commencement of the service a large choir and orcliestr ;, under the baton of Mr. H.' J. Brownlee, rendered a number of attractive items of sacred music in a most efficient manner.

The meeting was opened by the singing of a hymn, and prayer by the Rev. \V. Lamb. After the reading of a portion of soripturo by the Rev. R. S. Gray, the choir gave another item, and Mr. Brownlee, sang a solo. . After an offertory had been taken up, Mr. Gray' gave a very earnest and powerful discourse on the subject of the. Prodigal Soil, taking as his text Luke V.i 12: '"‘'And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of goods that* falleth unto me. And he divided ilnto them his living.” In opening, he said that the parable of the prodigal son was the most beautiful ever spoken by Jesus, and more than all others had reached the human heart, because it dealt with the elemental things of life as no other par- , able had done. The story contained everything that could possibly apply to .any man who had wandered Loin God at any time, and it was the story of every man and woman in the it u lienee. In-the first part ofi tins verso the prodigal was asking for his equipment to enable him to start out in life bv himself, and in this it showed all the awful responsibilities of individual living. It was quite right and natural that-a. man should want to stand by himself, and his hearers should remember that the time would come when their own sons would have to nave their homes, carve out their own dt-.--tiriy, and either make or it u themselves. Up to the time of ill's leaving his father’s roof, the prodjgal had lived a sheltered life, and there was no sin in his desire to go out into the world, as it was in this manner that God had fashioned men. Man liad been sent into tlie world innocent, but untested, and sin had entered into the world by man’s own deliberate choice between good and evil. He (the speaker) would not thank God if he had been created a mere machine, and debarred from the power of choice, as it was tho con--scionsness of this power that made him feel a man. The* young prodigal, by leaving, his father’s home and going, into a far country, had done no barm, but the harm was that in that far country he had separated himself from his father, and had done things which were wrong. Whatever a man’s sin, be it any in the whole category, it could he classed in the one phrase, listing his substance in riotous living.” They' shoud ask themselves if they were in a “far country,” in the wrong sense, and what were they doing with what God had given them as their portion. Many were frightened to die; but death, was merely God’s angel, and there was nothing to fear in death if only they had learned to live. If th°y misused the powers that God had given them, they were not only cursing -memselves, but also their fellows, and the kingdom of God, and it was an awful thing to live, if -they were not living as God would have them, but a magnificent tiling to live if they were. "Let the weakest go to the wall,” was the cry of some scientists, but the survival of the fittest was not Christianity but, rather, tlie survival of the unfittest. When the young man in the far country lufd said that he would “arise and go to his father,” he knew that there would be forgiveness for him, ancf for every man who returned to Christ there was forgiveness and regeneration from the God who would refit them., restore tlmm, and make them men again. God could not do this unless they came back to Him, and as sure as they stayed away sin would do its fatal work, and no power on earth would save them from hell. Men who found satisfaction in a publichouse or a .gambling den, could not live, in a prayer meeting, as they were living in a different atmosphere, and on the garbage and. husks that swine eat. If God asked sinners of this type to go to heaven they could not go as such because they could not live there. They would go to their own place, and although many might laugh at the mention of hell, they would not laugh when they realised that' hell was reaching for the*;... Like goes to like was a law of God’s universe, and as the steel flies to the magnet, so when" Christ came every good man and woman would rise to meet him. There were men who had told him that their hell was on this earth, hut they must remember that while God must punish sin, no was always ready and willing to forgive. The speaker concluded his address with a stirring appeal to 'liis hearers to turn away from the “lmsks” of this life, and hack to Christ ; to lot Christ break the chains of their bondage and save them from the love of sin and* the power of sin; to- open the door of their hearts to Him, and to let Him come in. At the conclusMn of Mr. Gray’s address, the Rev. W. Lamb and Messrs Brownlee, Holland, and Eastcott sang a quartette, entitled "Gome, 'Sinner, .Come,” and the meeting was brought to a close by the sing’ng of a hymn and the pronouncing of the. benediction.