CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 272, 14 November 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES.

A stained-glass window, costing £350, was unveiled early in September in Bo'ness Church, "in memory of the late Queen Victoria." Dr. William Carruthers, of the United Free Church, has been invited to fill the chair of Natural Science in New College, Edinburgh, next session. In January, 1904, the thirteenth centenary of the Bishopric of London is to be celebrated. The form of the celebration will doubtless be made known at an early date. Miss Booth ("Commissioner Booth"), of the Salvation Army, who recently made a remarkable tour in the Klondike district, has broken down in health, and has been seriously ill. The Queen Victoria Clergy Fund income for last year amounted to £17,----470, as compared with £20,859 in 1901. The latest statistics show that there are in England and Wales 14,243 benefices, of which 6195 are under £200 a year. The Pope notified his accession to the Pontifical Throne directly to the Sultan of Turkey, and not, as was the custom in past centuries, through the medium of the French Embassy. A memorial to the late Hugh Price Hughes is to be placed in Wesley's Chapel, City Road, London, and a fund is being raised in England for the purpose. The memorial will consist of a window in the Chapel (the Cathedral of Methodism), and a portrait of Mr. Hughes, by an eminent artist, is to be placed in the new church centre at Westminster.

The Jubilee of the Immaculate Conception Dogma is to be solemnly celebrated this year. The Pope has addressed a letter, under date September 8, to the Commission of Cardinals appointed by the late Pope, relative to the event, and conveying the Apostolic Benediction, and announcing an indulgence of 300 days. An interstate conference of the Bapist Unions of Australia will be opened at Melbourne on November 11. The chief object is the consolidation of the unions, so far as the congregational independency of the churches will permit. The Rev. C. Silvester Home's "Popular History of the Free Churches" of England is very highly spoken of, not only in the United Kingdom, but also on the Continent of Europe—the "Frankfurter Zeitung," for instance, bein" very appreciative in its notice of this work. The National Free Church Council of Britain, in anticipation of the coming general election, has resolved to raise an election'fund of £50,000, to provide Free Church speakers, to scatter broadcast' literature on the education question, and to meet in part the expenses of some candidates. » Bishop Thornton, formerly of Bairarat, Victoria, now vicar of Blackburn, Lancashire, England. addressing a congregation of men early in September in his own church, referred to "the submerged masses," and said that it is inconceivable that God sent men into the world to exist under such conditions. A great shaking of the social system was impending, but no remedy would last, which divorced sacred from secular things. No wise man, looking to the future, could possibly help being both Socialist and Christian.

The question of ecclesiastical precedence in New South Wales and the Commonwealth has been under the consideration of the standing committee of the Anglican Synod of the diocese of Sydney/which has requested the Primate to take such steps as he may think fit to assert the right of the head of the Church of England in Australia to precedence in Commonwealth and State functions. The committee consider that precedence for the Primate should be claimed (a) on the grounds of the historical connection of the Church of England in Australia with the Church of England in England, (b) and the priority of the existence of the Church of England in Australia, and (c) of the larger number of adherents." The Primate has communicated the above resolution to the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, and has now been informed that "the matter will receive consideration."

The Right Rev. Charles Waldegrave Sandford, Bishop of Gibraltar, who has] been in harness 30 years, is about to resign the spiritual jurisdiction of the English churches which have sprung up with such amazing rapidity during his episcopal charge. His diocese extends throughout the whole region of Southern Europe; and in many of the large towns in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece handsome churches have been built for the English residents. One novel feature of the scope of his work must be remembered by all passengers on ocean-going vessels in the Mediterranean. Besides exercising authority over the English clergy on the Mediterranean seaboard, the bishop's jurisdiction extends over the sea itself, and at his disposal there is quite a fleet of floating churches manned by trained crews. Their mission is to board liners on the outward and homeward voyages and hold services at sea for English sailors. The cutters employed in the Work are fast sailing boats, and a great deal of attention is always bestowed by the bishop in filling up vacant appointments as they occur, it being an attractive life to young men at the universities who are of the athletic stamp.. A story is told in a few words of the rejection of a university candidate who aspired to this novel life. The bishop wrote him: "You are too much of a razor and not enough of a hatchet." The Vatican art treasures have been recently appraised by professional experts (says a Catholic contemporary published in Sydney). They valued the picture gallery at 14,000,000 dollars, reckoning Raphael's "Transfiguration" at 1,200,000 dollars. The Egyptian Museum was valued at 11,000,000 dollars, the collections of coins at 4.000,000 dollars, the Borgia Museum at 3,000,000 dollars; various other collections, 8,000,000 dollars. The Vatican Library was valued at 40,000,000 dollars. Altogether, collections and art treasures were rated at 120,000,000 dollars. The- furniture in the Vatican was valued at 2,000,000 dollars, sacred objects 10,000,00U dollars; jewellery and precious stones, 14,000 dollars. The Baseilica of St. Peters has statuary mosaics, sacred objects, etc., which are worth 20,000,000 dollars. These figures are not based on guesswork, but were obtained after a minute and searching examination by experts. Therefore the "movables" of the church and palace cannot be worth much less] than 175.000,000 dollars. Certainly no two buildings in the world can approximate these figures, and the Vatican and St. Peter's including their contents, will amount to about 275,000,000 dollars, or £ 55,000,000. I