RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 24, 27 January 1906, Page 10

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

\ RECOGNITION OF LABOUR. By the Rev. H. Q. Woods, D.D., Master of the Temple. "We beseech you, brethren, to know them i&at labour among yon."—L Thess. v., 12. The Apostle's injunction -was a perfectly reasonable one, as addressed to the small Christian community at Thessalonica. But how impossible it seems if we think of it as addressed to Londoners at the present day. We can none of us say that we know., or have any chance of knowing to any considerable extent, those who labour among us. We know our "way about London; "we have our own sets and circles; we talk of London society as ■though it covered the whole of London; we know more or less those with ■whom we are brought into daily contact in our work or in our moments of leisure. But London itself as a whole ■—who can. venture to say that he knows it? Our widest circles of acquaintance are but as drops in the ocean of London life. The millions of •workers that labour among us are almost as unknown to us as if they lived on another planet. London, is not a single city; it is many cities rolled into cnc. How little we know of one another! How strangely ignorant people often are of even the name of their next-door neighbour. Mere contiguity becomes meaningless as a bond between man and man in London. We live among strangers whose London is different from our own. We are continually being brought across people of .whom we know little or nothing.

Let mc take just for a moment one special instance of our ignorance of one an instance closely connected with my text. I think we may infer from Paul's words that his Thessalonian converts were not, in his view, sntiicientJy in touch with their'spiritual pastors. At any rate, we may feel sure that he thought personal relations between pastor and flock a very desirable thing. "We beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you, and are over you in the Lord.' , No doubt nowadays also this personal relation between a preacher and his congregation is a very good thing, hut how imposeible it often is in a London church.

There is another way in which we may apply tho text. The spiritual agencies in London life are not 'confined to preaching or public worship. There are innumerable societies which ■undertake religious and philanthropic work. There are missions, guilds, armies, funds, charities, brotherhoods, sisterhoods, and organisations almost innumerable all at work among the people and the poor. We daily recejre by post appeals- for help to this, or that good object. We respond, it may he, to some. We recognise, it may be, the duty of giving a certain portion of our income in charity. We take, it may be, a little trouble in discriminating between one claim and another, so that we may feel sure that our money will be well employed. We do all this, and we think that we are doing our share. But if that is all are we really doing all that is required of us? The text says, "We beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you." It would "be vl great thing if we could each of us get to know by personal experience the working of some one society or institution; if we would serve on its committees, and satisfy ourselves that it is being wisely administered; if ! we would take some definite personal interest in some special branch of religious or philanthropic work. That would j ie both good for us and good for the work. Such personal service is "twice "blessed: it blesseth him that gives and him that takes." There are many indications that people's consciences are being aroused on this point. The numher of volunteer workers in London has largely increased of late; but when one thinks of the immense need, how •inadequate is the supply. There are many institutions which are crippled j even more by want of -workers than by want of funds. They cry out to us, like the man of Macedonia in Paui's ! vision, "Come over into ____cedonia and help, us." We of this generation have not merely to keep things going, we ha.ye to make np the arrears of apathy in the past. We must not merely support, we must know them that Sahonr among us, _ L (To be eonc_uded.y i :r~ * " *■ , JCHUKCH .SEWS AND NOTES. i ; f A' portrait of the Rev. Hainsiord Bavin 'twas receatly unveiled by tho Rev. W. G. [Taylor, superintendent of the Sydney Central Methodist Mission, It is to be hung permanently in the Newcastle Central Mission Hall, as a memento of the ilate eruperintendent of that institution. Sister Pattie, the "Sister of the People," from the Manchester Central Methodist Mission, England, who has come out to join the staff of the Sydney Central Mission, York-street, arrived by the s.s. Moravian. Sho comes with very high credentials, and through the inilujence of the Rev. Dr. Fitchett. The consecration of the Bishop-desig-nate of Adelaide, the Rev. Arthur Thomas, has been fixed for February 2, hut it is not expected that he will arrive for two or throe months. The consecration will be by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted probably by the Bishops of London, Rochester, Southwark, and Bath and Wells. The new movement in the diocese of Salisbury, England, known as the "Effort of United Prayer," is being shared in by Nonconformists as well as Churchmen. The Bishop of Salisbury, who inaugurated the movement, and who has heen holding conferences on the subject throughout Wilts and Dorset, when sending out his pastoral letters, special litanies, and other papers to the clergy, al_o sent copies of all these to about a hundred Nonconformist ministers, who were in sympathy and desired to cooperate in the effort. Already, fruits of united prayer are appearing in various ways. The Bishop strongly urges the cultivation of extempore prayer, for the laity as well as clergy. The London City Corporation has decided that the imposing building erected on the site of Newgate prison shall be known as "The Central Criminal Court." It has been resolved by ai majority of 30 .votes that the inscription on the building, suggested by the Dean of WestmHister, and which had criticised—'Defend the children of the poor and punish the wrong-doer' (72nd Psalm, Prayer-book • version) —shall be retained.

The reclamation of portions of the ITvrelith-century Church of St. Bartholo- ( mew the "Great, Sinithfield, has been practically completed by the recovery of three bays of the cloisters, which, a s fallback as 1560, were given over to gecular uses, Bind within a comparatively recent gerioA

were used as a stable. The dedication of the cloisters ■which formed a part of the ancient monastery was performed lately by the Bishop of London in the presence of a large congregation, including the Lord Mayor and sheriffs. A smn of £35,000 has been expended upon the work of restoration. The Rev. C. Ehsor Walters, the successor of the Rev. Hugh. Price Hughes, in the West London Wesleyan Mission, hag heen elected President of the Westminster Free Church Council, in succession to the 'Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, DJD. The Rev. L. E. Tranter, a young Baptist minister, who has laboured with success in London and Canada, and who is now in Sydney, is likely to become the settled pastor of the Wavcrley Baptist Church, negotiations being almost completed.

The contract for the erection of the new Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane has been secured by a firm in Bictoria, the price being £30,000.

The Free Church of Scotland, it is stated, has instituted claims to about 250 Church properties, including the High Church, Edinburgh, and the Grange Church.

In spite of the long discussions in the British Wesleyan Methodist Conference last year on the amalgamation of organisations affecting young people into one Young People's Department, conference rejected the detailed proposals of the Special Committee, and after adopting in principle the proposal to create a Young People's Department, remitted the matter to the consideration of the committee. This committee reaffirmed its recommendation of last year that the new department should comprehend the Wesley Guild organisation. Sunday-school Union and the Bands of Hope, and should be under the management of a committee composed of the president, ex-presi-dent and secretary of conference, the officers of the department, the secretary and treasurer of the Temperance Committee and the secretary of the Education Department, together with twenty ministers and twenty laymen and the ministerial and lay secretary of each distriot educational committee. A subTcommittee was appointed to draft a workable constitution.

There is a' pathetic passage in Alfred Russel Wallace's autobiography, in which, after speaking of the Church of England and Quaker services which he occasionally attended as a youth, he adds, "But the Dissenters' chapel was always a welcome change, and we went there not unfrequently to the evening service. The extempore prayers, the frequent singing, were' to mc far preferable to the monotony of the church service, and it was there only that, at one period of my life, I felt something of religious fervour, derived chiefly from the more picturesque and impassioned of the hymns." Musical workers in church should realise what a devotional .force they have in their hands; how searching is the power of congregational singing; and they should use every effort to encourage the people to yield themselves to the influence of music

Professor Francis G. Peabody, the American scholar who is giving a course of lectures on "The Modern World and Christian Character" at the University of Berlin, had Kaiser Wilhelm H. among , his hearers at the introductory lecture. An American observer who was present has given a lively description of the scene. To the surprise of everybody present the German Emperor entered the room as a personal escort to Professor Pea-body. He followed the lecture very closely, several times shook with laughter and once broke out cheering. At the close the Emperor walked t othe platform to greet the lecturer, -with whom he stood talking for fully ten minutes, perfectly oblivious of the audience, who could not leave before the Kaiser and dare not sit down while he stood.

Mr Evan Roberts, who as said to be looking the picture of health, is now engaged on a mission under the Carnarvonshire Free Church Council, and a further mission in Merionethshire has been arranged. He replied sharply at Pwllheli recently to the suggestion that the revival is dead. "It is not dead," he said; "it is as strong and powerful as ever. Some of the converts have gone hack on their professions of twelve months ago, it is true, but the Church is better without them if they could be tossed about like pieces of paper by the wind." Mr Roberts appears to have matured greatly since the spring. He is now less variable, and the eccentricities to which he treated meetings last winter have not been so noticeable. But the old personal magnetism is as pronounced as ever.

"Choir Recruiting" is the title of an article in a Toronto musical paper. Leader's are advised never to issue a general invitation to join the choir, but to examine each applicant thoroughly. A leader, we are told, should attend young people's meetings and weeknight services, and be on the look-out for good voices. The Sunday-school, we are reminded, is a great recruiting ground. To get congregational singing we are advised to have an auxuliary choir seated about the church, and to get the minister to exhort the people. A half-hour hymn practice for the congregation at the close of the mid-week prayer service gives opportunity for introducing- new tunes. These, after being thoroughly learnt in the week, are introduced at the Sunday service. Ten minutes' drill in breath control, vowels, consonants, attack and release of tone, phrasing, accent and tone colour should precede every choir practice. "Watch fox the singer who comes in on the second note. Wake him up."

"The place of amusements in Church life," was the subject of a discussion at a provincial Methodist Council in England recently. A vigorous attack was made on the progressive whist parties and billiard-playing now common in Methodist households. It was alleged that many Sunday-school teachers regularly frequented the theatre, and that in connection with a Wesleyan Church institute the young men who made use of the billiard-room were in the habit of making bets on the result of the matches before entering the buiMing. These views were strongly combated by a number of speakers, who upheld the view that healthy amusements are beneficial to Church life.

In connection with the week's mission just concluded by Gipsy Smith at Westminster. Chap el, a remarkable scene was witnessed in the surrounding streets on Friday evening last week. A procession of over 3000 people was formed, and, headed by a band, a number of leading ministers and the missioner marched through the streets to call attention to the work of the mission. Gipsy Smith is continuing his London work at the Public Hall in the Prince of Wales-road.

Rev. J. H. Shakespeare, MJL, the secretary of the English Baptist Union, received one Ot the great surprises of his life last month, when, at a .dinner at the-Holborn Restaurant, he was present- , cd.with a cheque for £500, as a recognition' of the work done by him in connection ' jeith the Twentieth CeaturyJF^d.