RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 18, 21 January 1905, Page 10

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

HOPE. (By the Rev. W. H. B. Allen.) Ccjne, come quickly.--Rev. xsii. (Jit the shores of a small island in the miaVt of tJV Aegean Sea stands one whbst? hair is jiow silvered by the hand of time. pizJng* reverently up into the everlasting; heaver, l;, as if communing again with the one he had loved so much. Friends .and companions have passed away. Sow .alone he stands awaiting, the sun'inaons- expressing his feelings in the words: "E\\en so. Lord Jesus, Come quickly." As the waves beat upon that lonely shore memories surge in upon him— precious memorie* of the past. To him for a time comes the past with its ques-

i ion.~. its strifes, its' turmoils, and its Jen.-. Well docs he remember the. hour when Christ called him. And those wonderful works of Jesus. hOnv well dors be recall them all! The daughter of Jsiirus returned again to her jiaremts alive. The happiness that falls to the widow whose -mi is restored at Xain. The chiding , of the sea of (ialilee. and their the pearte ; as the wind and waves obey his voice* The joy of that-moment when his head : rested lovingly upon the Sawiotir's breast. ' The sorrow of that judgment hall; the j great grief at Calvary. Then tha doubts. • the questionings, the denials of those, j who ought to have known him. And as tlier place the "Messiah in the tomib tht» candle of faith flickers anrl wanes. <lark- j ness takes the place of joy, weak f.\irh falters. How human, how true, to .ill time! Then comes the news of the resin*- 1 rection, bringing visious of the true lite j to'eome. How well does St. John see again those eager faces pressing-around the Redeemer to learn of Him the things concerning the work and life of each. How he remembers when Christ commanded them to go out and preach the gospel or salvation everywhere. How cheerfully did they obey. They endured persecution and martyrdom without murmuring. One by one They had been called away from their labours to enter upon their life in paradise, and now he a lonely exile in Patmos. was the only survivor of the 12. He had been spared to see the* fulfilment of many of the Saviour's promises. The Holy City was a, h.ap of stones and ruins. The sacrificial worship in Jerusalem had ceased. Many C hristian churches had been organised; he himself banished. Why had he been left while his companions were taken? Why was he doomed to linger among the burdens of life while there were suon spiritual joy* to be had in the home beyond the - grave? Do you wonder he w&« gazing so earnestly upward and asking God to come —yea. come quickly?

The Christian life of St. John is one that ought to cause us to live like him. H;i- not his lonely life appealed to you? Cray haired, silvered if you like by the hand of time; there alone, never murmuring, never questioning, never doubting, only waiting, perfectly satisfied to abide by His will. As a vision of that life comes to mc I feel as if we to-day of lost somewhere the faith once cou- '. -.. -«:.tt before men in t-hc person of Christ . us. To-day the harping and piping :re on-all things but the hope of the eternal to-morrow. Why are we not lik-e him looking for the coming Christ? Need I answer. Does not the heart make response that the reasons are clear? Men become servants of self rather than cJiildren of God. Women become men pleasers rather than <iod servers. The family is not taught that. Cod is a friend, and helper. Vanity rules, ana God is forgotten. To us the cry of St. John. ''Even so.' come. Lord Jesus." is his meaning and spirit is almost unknown. To St. John eventide meant peace, lasting peace, the presence of God —eternal life. To us in the twentieth century eventide' means a life spent in sordid gain—a loss of love of God. Xow and again we meet a servant of God, but ■how few. . Brethren, these things ought not so to be. What is life but a daily round, ever tending to the end? In it success, position, and earthly power may come. But they must end. These may have many rose coloured and tinted rays, but over all falls a shadow—the shadow that sooner or later overtakes all. O, to be like St. John! To be able, like him. to look unflinchingly into the unseen and say. "Come. Lord Jesus."' To be able to rest where peace, eternal peace, resides. Why is it men hesitate between a few years of doubtful enjoyment, liable to be broken at any hour by -ickness and death, and the eternal rcyt founded by the Rock of A<?es?

Are nipn or women sartisflerl? Does' not something tell them of the life t.o conic? They know the truth: why do they not confess it ? How often we hear the cry. "0. if 1 could live life over, how different I would make it." My readers. this is a simple story with some simple questions. The gospel of Jesus Christ ■is a simple narrative, but how much we enn draw from it if we only try! Let us Jearn from to-day to live a holy life tilled with charity, love, meekness, and, when the dark shadows fall, to utter truthfully'from the soul entirely Christ's "Even so. Lord Jesus, come, come quickly."

CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES. Preaching at evensong in St. Paul's '(Wellington) last Sunday, the Rev. If. T. Stexiley spoke at some length on missions and the mission of the Anglican Church. There were over "200 bishops and 10.000 clergy connected with the.English Church who were working beyond the shores of Great Britain, and the Anglican Church was now to be found at woik in every part of the world. The Chapter of St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, after mature consideration, have decided to discontinue the |' Sunday afternoon service, usually held j at four o'clock. This is not an entirely ] new departure in the Anglican Churches | .-..-• far as .' ustralia i- concerned. In i; ■Melbourne, where there is a handsomely- j paid and very efficient choir, and where M there are no watering-places easy of '< access to draw the people from church, !- it was also found necessary through pan- jj city of attendance to dispense with the h service. Even in such a centre of learn- j' ing as Oxford, where the University ser- j mon has been for years one of the features of the day. the four o'clock service j at St. Mary's has been abandoned. A , correspondent, writing from London to \ the Rev. P. ,T. Simpson- Precentor of $t. 1 Andrew's Cathedral, says: "There is , no doubt that motor ears and biceles , have much to do with the falling off m . attendances: they certainly have in London, where half the population move or , roll out of the city evei'v Sabbath morning." In Sydney the Art Gallery, the i Zoological Gardens, free musical recitals , at" fhe Town Hall, and harbour excursions, are held to be factors in bringing about diminished.attendances at Sydney churches. '"The Continental idea of Sunday is becoming prevalent," says a pro- j

i minent clergyman, "and one wonders where it is all going to end." During Lent and Advent and on special occasions, services will be held at the Cathedral as formerly.. The Sydney "Methodist," dealing with | "The Sunday Question,'' says: "This is a ! question for the Churches and the j Christiansgenerally, but it is also a question for the people. We ought to settle ; whether, as a professedly Christian people, we are going to be true to Chrisj tiau ideal*, or whether we intend Ito abandon our profession with our ideals, (hie of the greatest offenders against our Sabbath rights and privt leges is the Government of the country, .the members of which, and indeed those of the Legislature too. look indifferently on while there arises iv our midst a ■practice that, to the mind of the thinker • and to the eye of the. observer, is full of the gravest possibilities. The demand of ;i section of the people is allowed to the scandalising of thousands upon thousands of the purest and best citizens of the State, and the plea is that there is this demand. And so probably there would be a demand tor the allowance of a great many things that arc now put down by law if ir were but shown that the only thing necessary to obtain that allowance is the demand for it. If the Government of the country would but take the trouble to analyse this subject, it would probably find some startling and not very palatable facts." One of the first acts of President Uoosevelt after his re-election to the Presidency a few weeks ago was (says a Catholic contemporary) to attend the 110 th anniversary celebration of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Washington. Cardinal Gibbon, several Archbishops, and other dignitaries of the Church were present. The streets in the vicinity of St. Patrick's were packed with people, the President received a great reception.

St. Mark.- Cathedral, at Venice, which bus been recently declared by experts to lie in imminent danger of falling thi tough some subsidences having affected the foundation-, must he specially dear to Ibn present Pope (says a Catholic ex St. Mark's having been the Cathedral of the Pope before he was electa I to the Pontifical chair and hee;sme jPius X. The Cathedral of St. Mark is ,as famous as St. Peter's itself, and dat<>s back to the old imperial days.

The' Rev. Robt M'Xaughton. at present a.t> Fairmounr. Indiana. U.S.A.. who has Iwsn appointed p.stor of the Xapier Congrcj.yU'onal Church, was a resident of Now Zealand for m«'v years. He lived at rnie lime in Xapiei. where, as a layman, lie devoted much til, " successfully tm Christian work. He i. t Xew Zealand to undergo a period of stuu and training at Moody's College. Chicago, a. d after n three years' course iv that institution accepted a call to Fnirmounf. where he lias since laboured with much

In connection with the visit of General Booth, the folSowing dates have been fixed: —Tasmania: Land on Thursday, April 13; leave, next day for New Zealand. New Zealand: From Monday, April 17. to Moiaday. May 8. Xew South Wales: From Friday, May 12. to Thursday. 18th.' Quf«nr'-nd: From Friday, May 10, to Thursday. 2,lth. Victoria: From Saturday. Hay 27. to Friday, June !>. South Australia: From Saturday, dune 10. to Thursklay. loth. Y\"est Australia.- From Mo-nday. June If), to Moniday, 2011]. Sail for London.

According to a St. Petersburg message.' am artistic edition of the Koran, which is an. exact reproduction of the celebrated Ktfran transcribed by the Caliph Osman hertveen the years 644 and 656 A.D.. is expected to appear in the course of this .month. This edition is being brought out by M. Pissareff, in collaboration with M. Ouspensky, and under the auspices of the Archaeological Institute. M. FissarefT intends presenting a copy of this Koran to every Mussulman sovereign, nonably the Shah of Persia., the Sultan of Turkey, the Emir of Bokhara, the Khan of Khiva, the Sultan of Morocco, the. Khedive of Egypt, and the Ameer of Afghanistan. The new issue, which wall contain 706 pages, will be identical -ivith the original as to the text, and all the original coloured ornamentatiens will be exactly reproduced. Fifty cop ; es will he made, of which 25 at the outside will be on sale at 500 roubles each.

"See that place?" said a 'bus-man to a visitor as they drove past St.. Paul's Cathedral, ''that's the: Bishop of London's church. He leads the lessons there twice a -week, and gets ten thousand a year 'fir)r it." The Bishop of London himself told this story at a meeting the other day. to illustrate a popidar notion regarding the alleged opulence, of the bishops. He characterised the notion as "a.n extraordinary superstition"—as mythical as the equally popular delusion that; a bishop spent his evenings toasting his toes over the fire, reading a nice book! Dr. Ingram went on to say that he had to ask himself whether lie < ould afford to pay more than the £400 a ytear which he and his predecessors had alVays contributed to the Bishop of London's Fund for erecting new churches. He quoted some detail of his annual expenses which would surprise the above-mentioned "bus-driver and others who share his ••superstition." Here is the Bishop's balance-sheet for the year: — Rates and taxes M £840 tiueen Anne's Bounty. ~ 422 1 ncome-tax 300 Maintenance of housosi 1078 Repairs IMO Coal 250 Electric light and gas ."70 Four horses 3flo Garden ( ">'> acres, with 10 men) 722 Printing stationery and poster .' ~. 38S Total -' £-270 These, said the Bishop, were only preliminary expenseis, and at the end of three v'ears he was £5000 poorer than when he became Bishop of London. In o-h-rng these figures Dr. Ingram hopes that "he has succeeded in "pricking a gigantic bubble." "The life of a modern bishop is the life of a commercial traveller (without the commission), with every one noticing wh"n he shoulders his own bag, or gets into third-class smoker, and writing to the papers when be makes a mistake." That is the opinion of Archdeacon Boutflower, who. after being sixteen years in priest's orders, is now to be Bishop Suffragan of Dorking. There are a great many clergymen who would gladly acept the office, even though it is said to be "without the commission" of a commercial traveller (says an English exchange). There are, indeed, some 10.000 curates who would gladly accept the responsibilities of an ordinary living, even though it is too often —certainly in some 0000 cases—a "starving." But Canon Humble (who knows the system of preferment in the Church better than most persons, and as well as anybody) has just declared that when you have 25.000 clergymen and only 14,000 benefices, it is impossible to provide for the ! prelerrQent of ell.