CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 65, 16 March 1907, Page 10

CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES.

...Another," distinguished historian has _been _nammat.es.;' tor tne IvJoderatorship next- year" of the -General Assembly of the. United Free Church of Scotland. This i s _JoryCi._;GL McCire, of Ayr, who is an n ..nan, and who is seventy years ', •_?._-. e i__?6''ha_sytvritfeb much, and- is an acknowledged on the- history of the Church of Scotland, and on questions of public worship.

Attention is called at the Vatican to the misleading reports that large offerings' from all parts of the world are pouring into the Holy Se?. The truth, according to the Vatican, is that while as a result of the Separation Law in France the Church there loses £1,000.000 yearly, the Peter's pence revenue is constautly diminishing, and the ordinary revenues of the Holy See are scarcely sufficient for right months of the year.

The account of the visit of the Amir of Afghanistan to India will remind many people that Afghanistan i. one of the few lands closed to missionaries. The Church Missionary Society recalls the fact, "however, that the country was not always a closed land. Dr. Joseph Woolff having preached there in 1832. and was invited to remain. From 1840 to 1879 it remained unvisited by the Christian missionary, and then after tho victory of Sir Frederick (now Earl) Roberts, it was visited by the Rev. Imam Shah, Indian pastor of Peshawar, for the purpose of baptising some Armenian converts in Cabul. The Indian pastor, however, returned, when the British Army- left, and once again the curtain fell on that littl. Christian congregation in the Mohammedan citadel.

- Dr. John Watson, the famous preach-er-novelist, widely known as " lan Maelaren," spoke on the " new " theology recently at Liverpool. " I have always contended," he said, "that the full powers of literary criticism should be allowed to play round the form of Holy Scripture. I welcome everyone who is looking at tilings with his own eyes, and I welcome everyone who is seeking to help his fellow men into clearer lisht. But I register my conviction that our Church shall stand or fall according as she goes forth to the people, holding fast the centre of the Christian faith, and preaching clearly the two greai. facts of the Diviniy of Jesus Chri.t and the virtue of His sacrifice for the salvation of the world."

The world's statistics for the Society of Friends shows a larger increase than has been reported for some years. In Canada, and the United States'there are 94,603 members, and at their mission stations 3554—a total of 98.157, being a net increase of 2SIB. The returns of the British yearly meetings, which include 556 in Australasia (an increase of 20), and 226 on thp Continent of Europe, give a total of 23,764 members, an increase for the year of 242. This brings >up the total membership to 121.921, a : net gain of 3060.

A sermon preached at Truro, Eng., in January by the Rev. J. Cochin, Free Church minister, has created a sensation in the town. Mr. Cockin said he had been told of a Truro local preacher playing cards for money at a civic function, of an alderman of the city who was drunk on Saturday night and went to church on Sunday, and of mayors who were too drunk to find their own homes. He would rather go to bell with a speculative thinker whose mind was pure, and whose life was true, than he would go to heaven with drunken hypocrites who took the sacrament and gambled and blasphemed on the same day. He would rather go to bell with Stuart Mill, Dr. Martineau, Plato, Socrates, than go to heaven with some of the religious bigots who professed religion and did not live it. - .

That the influence of a pastor may be increased by the help of a sensible and diligent wife has long been informally recognised. The Lincoln-park Bap-

tist Church at Cincinnati, Ohio, has gone a step ahead of other churches in giving a definite status to its pastor's wife by appointing her to the post of assistant pastor, with a salary. In so far as it'means that the services of a lady in this position are not to be

claimed by the church as a matter of course, the innovation may br> approved, but we foresee difficulties if the Cincinnati example is extensivety followed.

To say nothing of the fact that the

payment of a salary to his wife may ultimately be taken into account in fixiig

the salary of the pastor himself, the new practice would seem to carry with it a certain responsibility on the part of the church for a choice which most ministers would probably wish to exercise, without external suggestion. An American Eoldier is about to be tried by court-martial for refusing to attend a. religious service! At the

Columbus "Barracks, Ohio, a regimental

order was recently issued requiring all Reman Catholic* not occupied with other duties to attend mass on a certain Sunday mprning. One of the sergeants in the regiment, himself a. Catholic, marched the Catholics of' bis company to tbe door of the room where mass was to be celebrated and then refused to enter, saying that he was a free American citizen and- that no one had- the right to force religion upon him. He refused to apologise and was accordingly placed under arrest. The court-martial will now have -to decide between the Army regulations, which require absolute obedience from' all soldiers, and the Constitution of the United States, which is generally interpreted as securing for every citizen entire freedom to worship or refrain from worshipping. Whatever the verdict, it is anticipated that it will be taken, to the Secretary for War, or even to the President, for revision. Students of the mission 'field will find an interesting table in the current number of the "Missionary Review of the World." In it Dr. D. L. Leonard presents a statistical view of the . Protestant missionary societies of ,the world. The Church Missionary Society has the largest "home income" (about £385,000) of any British or foreign society. The next largest home income is that of the Methodist.. Episcopal Society (U.S.A.), which received about £ 320,000. On the other hand, the C.M.S. income "from the field" compares unfavourably with that of some other agencies'. It is less than that of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; less than half that of the United Free Church: not very much more than half that of the 'Methodist Episcopal Society; and just under that of the American Board of Commissioners

for 'Foreign -Missions —the Congregational Society in America. In ordained (European) missionaries the S.P.G. and the C.M.S. are a long way ahead of other societies; but when we come to ordained natives the case is rather altered. The C.M.S. has 370 to the 460 of the London Missionary Society and the 616 of the Methodist Episcopal Society; the S.P.G. has 192. The society with the largest roll of "native Christian adherents" is the C.M.S. with 313 954- then come the Methodist Episcopal roll of 307,849, the L.M.S. with 292,430,. aad the W-esleyan Society; with '229,397, .