RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 72, 24 March 1906, Page 10

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

THE CHIEF SHEPHERD. By A. F. Winning! on-Ingram, T).D., Bishop of London. "And when rae mv; sn-eprier.: shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory thar fadeth not away."—l. Peter v. 4. (Continued.) The Church is said to be in the Bible the Body of Christ. Therefore, it is a priestly body. The laity of the Church are holy because they are part of the body of the Great High Priest Himself. "They are baptized unto Christ Himself.- a> St. Paul says. And priests who are ordained are organs of tbe priestly body with special functions, no layman can dare to assume, iv the celebration of the Holy Communion and the giving of ab-olution in Church to sinners. But the laity, the lay people, are holy as The clergy in the New Testament, and. therefore, pleading to you to prepare before the Chief Shepherd shall appear. 1 ask. "Who are you helping:" "He that is not with Mc is against yie." 1 do urge you To pi ass home this wanting upon your own souls. Is there no working man that works alongside of you in the great works that you can gather, that you could not bring round, like Andrew brought bis brother Simon. What about the parenTs here who have children given to their charge? Do yon suppose tbe Chief Shepherd is not watching the way that you are bringing up those children and the example you ?et them: those Jambs of His flock whom He has trusted to you—they are not yours, they are His. You are in The relation of under-shepherds to them. What about the father who laughs about religion in the presence of his children. what about the father who never kneels down and said prayer in his own home, or said a syllable that Father who. is gathering lambs into .the great -fold? What about the mother who never takes the trouble to teach her children even the elements of the Christian faith? Why, we most of us learn our first lessons of religion at onr mother's knee-. aDad the awful thing in London is to think of the thousands of mothers who never teach their children anything at all. I would not for a moment. 1 do not for a moment, preach an easy Gospel to London. I want to preach the truth, and 1 say the fact of the certain appearance of the Chief Shepherd, who will demand His flock from our hands, and even the few lambs He may have trusted us with, is a warning thought. CHIEF SHEPHERD'S NEARNESS.

But then, secondly, how wonderfully comforting is the thought of the. Chief Shepherd being alive, and so near, and so certainly going to appear. It is a •wonderfully comforting thought. But for this I don't think we could carry on. some of us. at all. U_en I first ■went to take a mission as under Tni?sioner. I felt comforted by the thought that I had a chief missioner of whom I conld seek advice. We are only under missioners. It is Jesus Christ who takes the London mission. Ue asks our work, but not our success. As an old Latin proverb—a play upon the 'words has it: "1 demand the care not the cure.'' We have only to be Saithful. and Christ takes the responsibility of the success of the mission. A wonderful comfort to us! Is it not also a comfort to you Sun-day-school teachers? Is it not a comfort to you, after your hard week's work, to take that class of unruly boys or girls, conscious that the Chief Shep herd knows your work, welcomes that little bit of self-sacrifice every week, find esteems it at a priceless value? '"And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glyr.v that fadeth not away." Is it no comfort to you whose sphere lies in the home, who appear to spend hour after Jiour in a little round of apparently unimportant duties—is it nothing to you that the Chief bhephei _ knows the whole of your little life? Those who spend nearly the whole of their time in the home are doing, if that is their duty, the very thing which the Chief Shepherd expects them to do. And when the children they teach or care for (and very often the unmarried have larger families to look after spiritually than, even the married), when those children are grown up, doing a splendid work in the world, God-fearing, earnest, loving men and women, the Chief Shepherd looks down with a smile of happiness and approbation, for already, even before the time comes for the crown, they are receiving a crown. ""What is }.Iy glory and -My crown, are. not even ye in the presence of the Lord? CHEEK FROM THE CHIEF SHEPHERD. And, therefore, while. I press the. ■warning, I do not forget the comfort I may be preaching to some who have got weary of well-doing, who begin, to think it is not very much good working away down in a district or in a Sundayschool, who have got a little tired of trying to induce men to come round to Church. Never mind, go on; the Chief Shepherd says. "Go on:*' "Be not weaiy in well-doing, for in due season ye shall reap.'-' And the consciousness that the Chief Shepherd is alive, is near and will appear, should brace aud stimulate you in i-Loo.ins the difficult right to the easy wrung. So, again, what a. difference it make- to our prayers. "He that hath seen "Mc has seen the Father.-' When I kneel down in the mornin_r I think of someone like -l--si_-- Christ to whom [ am going to ]>ra; --someone as fond j>ml as loving, who says: '"Ask, and y<* shall hay", "Seek, and ye stall find.** ''Knot k.and it shall be opened to you."" Every morning you must get the day's grace for the day's w rk. Yesterday's grace will not do: we have to get grace afresh every day for the day's work before us. The manna did not keep over the day until the next day. What a stimulus, what an inspiration to our prayer to think as we kneeldown that the Chief Shepherd kneels down close by!, The Fathers hand, full of the gift of wisdom, strength, and love—all to l>e had for asking! Does it not make the time of prayer the most delightful part of the whole day ? The wonder is we do not want to look forward to prayer more than we do. So again, and lastly, what a stimulus to work.' I often think of that story which I have often mentioned because it made such an impression upon mc as a boy, of the tradesman who lay dying. A friend, who thought him unconscious, remarked to others present: "What a pity that a man should die in the prima of life, when he might have made a fortune-if he had lived." The dying man heard this, and, turning on his elbow, said: "If you could only change places 'with mc, not all the gold in the world v.ould bring you five minutes of life. In five minutes I have to meet my God, and I have to meet him empty-handed.'' Are £here any in this church who, if they rn!^b__S_ r " would to meet the >_.ef _.epherd.mpty ; ]_wtded? I do._p»y

them not to lose a chance that life still gives them, the little time —it may be la little time—before the Chief Shepherd | appears to summon them, but to see tthat at least one soul, one living per--1 son, has been bettered by their life. j CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES. In an important niew volume on Com- ! parative Religions, by Louis Henry Jordan. 8.D.. late Special Lecturer in Comparative Religion at the University of Chicago, it is shown by the aid of charts, 1 which have been prepared with the help :of the advice of the leading statistical j societies and some of the ablest living specialists. Christians number -.20,000,----000. or a little mon- than one-third of i the whole population of the world; Con- | fuc-ians -2441.000.000. Hindus 210.000.000. | Mohammedans "20.-i.000.000. and Buddhists 130.000.000. Tn the British Empire there are only 00.000,000 Christians I out of .M(.."..000.000. The Christians of j China are estimated ai 1.250.000 out of 400.000.000. Thos.. of Japan are not included, as a Total of one million of per- ' sons had been adopted as the unit. I Ibe Kni_- of (.recce, having expressled his willingness to accept a copy of the Bible in remembrance of his recent visit to England, the Bible Society fori warded to Athens the English Bible in four volumes, similar to that presented to Queen Victoria on her first Jubilee, and also Nestles Creek New Testa- ! mem. for presentation to His Majesty. Consequent on public discussion that- ; has recently arisen on the subject of ' alleged ritualistic practices at St. Peter's. Church. Eastern Hill. Melbourne. Archbishop Clarke communi. rented with the rector, the Rev. E. S. i Hughes, and he called a.meeting o[ the ■vestry. A resolution was passed at i the meeting.. "That in deference to the i expressed wish of Tbe Archbishop, the> ■ use of incense he discontinued." Echoes of nu almost forgotten controversy will he awakened by the T idlings of the death ar an advanced age L of the Very Rev. James Green, who ' had been for nearly fifty years Dean of j Maritzburg. Many years ago he was a : strenuou- supporter of Dr. (.ray. the . "Tractariun" Bishop of Capetown, in 'the prolonged campaign which culminated in the deposition of Bishop Colenso and The creation of a schism from 'which the Anglican Church in Natal' ; has hardly yet recovered. i The Rev. K. .1. Campbell, in an article iin the "Sunday Strand." makes for I peace among The Churches by suggest- | ing a "Chnrch Congress at which only 1 such subjects should be discussed as Churchmen and Nonconformists could I agree upon." I The increase iv the number of enrolled members of the MethodisT Church in Victoria and Tasmania for 100."). as reported to the conference was Tot). The Rev. 1. G. Wheeu was chosen as presi-dent-elect of That conference for 1907. Dr. F. K. ( lark. The President of the. .World's Christian Endeavour T'nion, | who is on a prolonged visit to Europe, i has visited . .eueva, and met the Contention Committee. Its president is ,M. Cliarles Briquet, a business man. Ist. Peter's Cathedral, where Calvin preached, is to be used for an English j service on Convention Sunday (July 29), and Victoria Hall will be the TieadI quarters of the English-speaking dele- | gates. The hymns will be printed in j French. Cerman, and English for simulI taneous use to the same tunes. There. ! are now 000 societies in Continental | Europe. i Commissioner Coombs, of the Salvation Army, has arrived in England from j Canada with the news that the Canadian Government hits land and to spare ' for colonists with or without.capital. ] The Army will have no difficulty in S placing .he 10.000 emigrants (going out ! under tha General's scheme) on the i land between March and the autumn. i There is also a tine field awaiting domesf Tic servants in Canada. The Army's acj tivity in sending out men is practically . only limited by the capital at its- disposal for emigration expenses. • The Manchester Congregational Board, of which Rev. J. Ross Murray. M.A.. is | secretary, is planning the erection of an 1 institutional church on entirely new '. lines on a central site near the Ship I tana I. . The idea is to have a large hall, j with shops on the ground floor, and to | make men's club-rooms specially proI minent. The financial outlook is pro- | misijig. one generous offer having been j made already. | The interest which the recently dej ceased King of Denmark evinced in the | progress of Christianity was emphasI izqd by the messages which he fori warded to the Bible Society in connec;tion with its Centenary. " On March l-th. 1904. he telegraphed from Copen- | hagen. "Ood speed tbe. Bible. Society. jHis blessing for the work. Christian I R," And in November, 1905, he sent j the following in connection with the j Bible Society's Great Thanksgiving, j "My best wishes for the prosperity of i iyour work, and Cod's blessing to the Society and its leaders. Christian R." Mr Gladstone was. apparently, right : when he once described the Church in Wales a., "an advancing Church, an ; active Church." The figures lately ; quoted by Canon Beck, vicar of RoaTh . land rural dam of Cardiff, relating.to j j the Welsh dioceses, arc very striking. ' 'The commiiiiicaiUs. who. iv JSSo. num- j bered 74.775. were, in 1004', no fewer.l than ].")2...80: the Sunday scholars dnr- | ing The same, interval having -increased | from 9-2,000 to 140.:i70. On January 29. the final service was held in Krr-streel Chapel. Devonport. England, one of the few Wesleyan ! chapels in which John Wesley preachjed. In the "minutes" of the Wesleyan I Conference for 1779 permission r is given | for The erection of a new preachingj house ar Plymouth Dock, as it was then called. Wesley conducted the i opening services, and preached in the j building on many subsequent dates, tbe place being so crowded on one occasion that he. had To be lifted into the ! pulpit over tbe heads of the people. j After Ihe recent service the old meet-'mg-hoiise. which Wesley described as I "one of the finest in the. country," is to !be handed over to contractors, who I J will replace it by a. twentieth-century . Wesleyan church. I Judging from the comments appear- j 'ing in those newspapers understood to express their views, Episcopalians are jmuch disturbed by the Liberal majority won as the result of the General | Election in the United Kingdom. The,' •return of the Liberals to power with such numbers behind them will, it is | thought, lead to a distinct revival of i the propaganda carried ou by the Lib- | eration Society. In many parts of the j country, notably in Wales, the attacks J upon the Establishment became more militant as the Election approached. No doubt that was due in a great mea-. sure-to the last Education Act, which aroused the hostility of the great majority of Nonconformists. Now many Episcopalians appear to be dreading the consequences -which may follow the acceptance of that Act as a settlement, lasting or temporary, of the Edu- I cation question. It is recognised that I by a slight modification' of the Act, j Churchmen could he deprived of all the I advantages which, came to them under J $ie p_=asure. ~ - -\ *'- " " " It