RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 177, 25 July 1908, Page 12

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

WHAT IS A CHBISTIAJJ ? (By HENRY F. COPE.) '•Whosoever doth not hear his cross and come after mc cannot be my disciple." — Liiku s*y. -'7. A Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ. Tit there are many who are called Christians who are not the disciples of the lowh Prophet of Nazareth, and there are many who arc truly his disciples who are D"i known a> I hrislians. h may be that there are those who are Christians and who do not know it; it is certain tiiat there are those who are not Christians according to the simple standarl of the foui ler of Christianity, who nevertheless comfort themselves with the delusion that they belong to Uis followers Urganisation.--. churches and sects do not make Christianity: they arc only the instrument? for its work, the vehicles for ito expression. One might have his name emblazoned in the largest possib!" letters on the olliciary >> r thr plain membership of thi , ( him:!, and still be altogether a stranger to I hri-ti.mity. There an , many able to prove by argumi nts elaborate and carefully erected th.■ historic accuracy of the various accounts if the life and word' of Je-sus, usually proving more for Him thau He cL'im"i| fur Himself, who yet are utter strangers to His spirit: who. while bitter! v ilt-iemiing His reputation, by all th'ir lives entirely misrepresent His coaractiT. Thi'sp are they who. while with their lips they in\ite men to become the discij'lv- el tin , i iii at Teacher, with all their p<r.\.'r> air erecting barriers and creating diihVulties. They say you cannot he a Christian unless you will go through these mutinn- or imiiv- you will bring yourself to ai't-vpt these and the other notions.

The must striking evidence of the value and vitaliiv of the ideas and iueals of Ji-iu ii.~ in the fact thjt despite the mi-taken zeal in which His followers have endeavoured nt make diaeipleship an intricate and duHicult affair oi intellectual prupo.-itions, ritual, and organisations, Christianity still stands in the world as on the whole synonymous with the highest iv character and conduct.

To be ;i Christian is the simplest and yet (vii- oi ill" nio~t far reaching thimjs imaginable. It means ouly that any man or woman takes life °i» the terms that thU 'tip wbnm men call Christ took it, that His is the type of life to which they 86"k to conform, and His service to the world that which they seek to render.

The di-tiniruishinii marks of that life of lon«r ago were ils sense of the intinit", so clear ;i consciousness of the most high that it expressed itself in terms of re-btion.-hip ami so taught men to cry

"i)nr Father,"' and a dear failh in humanity, a consciousness of the worth of character, that led Him to see the broth r in every Iran and to frive His life in sincere service tor even those who opposed Him.

Here. too. was a litp lived tor tile ni;rne r values anu on the highest levels. A life tiiat ever reminded us how much more tiie man hims&U is worth than the sheep, the person than the possessions, the toiler than tlie tools. And so He lived, not only for character in Himself, but that all znijrht have the right o£ freedom, fullness ami joy of life.

Tin' essential elements of such a charactiT nre few and simple. We readily reci»irT]i>t' its faith in (Jod. not in any narrow or dofrmatie .-sense, but in the consciousness of the infinite spirit working for •Tii.id: faith in man, in his possible worth end goodness and faith in that high goal oi ail society which the Teacher called the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whoever turns his life towards these things, whoever loots out on life with eyes of faith and love, whoever seeks the ideal ends lor humanity, whoever serves the eternal propaganda of righteousness, jH-ice and brotherly love, even though he never had heard of Christ, still belongs to Him.

To be animated with that spirit, deliberately to choose to live that land of life, to taie its pains and joys, to do its work, to strengthen one's self with its motives and dynamics, to be satisfied with, its high gains, to pay its price, to follow its path, is to be a Christian, because it is to be a full man and brother to all men.

The Hyde Park Unitarian Church at {Sydney opened its pulpit to Mrs. Annie Besant recently, and was packed to the dioors long before the customary time for service. The Sydney " Morning Herald " says that her address on " Mystic Christianity- "' was an able and eloquent, though perchance to some not convincing, exposition of the hidden and mystic eleEjent which underlies the various Christian churches. In language which could hardly have displeased the disciple of any form of faith, she spoke of the deep spiritual realities under the superficial difference.-? of creed andi dogma. Nor did the hannonisfcg influence end with Christianity itself, but extended to all the great religions of the world."

CHTTECE NEWS AND NOTES,

The episodes chosen for the great Engglish Church Pageant, which is to be held in Brighton in July of next year, all have a special educational bearing, and cover a wide field, ranging from the fotmtiing of a British Church at Silchester to the acquittal of the seven bishops. Suggestions have been invited for an eighteenth century episode, and. , for an episode and tinale illustrating the expansion of the Church during the nineteenth century. Authoritative committees for music, art, archaeology, history, and costume are' being forcurd. Two thousand performers will take part, and it is expected that most of the religious pa,rts will be taken by prominent clergymen in the South'of England.

The new Katikati Presbyterian Church will probably be finished "by the end of this month, and will be opened by the Taurunga visiting commissioner of the Presbytery.

The Bishop of Connecticut (Protestant Episcopal) recently asked the clergy of his diocese to listen to an address from the Rev. Dr. Xewman Smyth. This eminent Congregational divine, in retiring lately from the active ministry, gave utterance to his conviction that Protestantism was passing- away, and that a new Catholicism was rising, and he exprp«s?d the hope that the appearance of Modernism within the Roman Communjnn might indicate that a preparation was making for some great advance 1 owarrts Christian unity, suggesting also that the Anglican Church would be able to exercise no little influence in the matter. Bishop Brewster invited him to preparp a paper on the service which he thought the Anglican Communion might ypnrior in the matter. The paper suggested that the Anglican Church might grant to those of Presbyterian Ordination a hypothetical, or supplementary. or confirmatory Ordination, such as Archbishop Bramhall administered, and such as Bishop Charles Wordsworth wished euthority to bestow.

The Ad-laide "Commonwealth" records an incident that happened during the holding of the Methodist General Conference in Auckland (N.Z.) in 1897. Pomp of the ministers were invited to a picnic out to the Pine-tree country (One Tree Hill?) The ladies having spread lunch, the South Australian President was asked to "say grace. - ' The genial cleric was not afraid to be a little unorthodox at times, but always liked to say and do appropriate things, so, instead of asking a blessing in the usual formula, he 'gave out" the first two lines of verse 4 of the hymn 225 in the old hymn book — iTe rankes the prass the hills adorn. And clothes the smiling fields with corn. A New South Wales brother started the tune, and the company joined lustily in the singing. All went well until they approached the end of the second line and began to think ahead what the third line was like. Then the trouble began, for they remembered that the third and fourth lines ran — The beasts with food his hands supply, Ami tne young ravens when they cry. The humour of the situation struck everyone, and the verse remained un--sim?. an impromptu laughing-chorus talcing its place. There are 121 different Catholic Sisterhoods in the United States (says the New York "Catholic News , '). ' The various Franciscan Orders. 24 in all. count 6GOO Sisters: four Notre Dame Orders count oTOO Sisters, and six Sisters of Charity Orders count 5000 Sisters. Thus these 34 Orders alone, with 17.300 members, outnumber all the secular and regular clergy. Education and charity form the life work of most of this great and noble army of women. If wo allow one teacher to every fifty pupils in our parochial schools, it will require 24.nnfl teachers to take care of the parish school pupils. Fully ■20.r,r>0 of these teachers are Sisters. On Sunday afternoon. June 28, sit Christ Church, Enfield. London, the Rev. Dr James presiding, Mr Henry S. Craik,

pastor designate to the Congregational Church at Bcresford-street. Auckland. was ordained to the work of the Christian niinistrv. n*. , is expected to arrive hen- before the end of August, though no definite news as to his movements vet available.

The Rev. W. Roajy. whose full term of five years at the East Belt (Christchurch) Methodist Church will be completed at the ensuing Conference, has agreed to accept an invitation to take the Hiprrintendency of the Auckland ( circuit, in succession to the Rev, .1. A. Luxford. who lv.is accepted a call to the Wanganui circuit. Mr Ready's previous term of rive years was given to St. John's. Pon.-;onby. This church, which was then a part of the Pitt-street circuit, is now an independent circuit under the pastorage of the Rev. fieorge Bond.

The death is announced at Shrewsbury of Mr James Crump, who was the father of the Rev. J. A. Crump, of Blenheim, and also a younger brother of the Rev. John Crump, a supernumerary of the Methodist Church, who celebrated his eightieth birthday aUt month at Nelson.

The N"e\r Zealand Congregational Union ha.s been represented by the following at the meeting of the International Congregational Council:—The Rev. John Wilkins, Messrs W. Guttridge. A. Lindsay, J. Postles, and Wesley Spragg.

It is pronable that Bishop Neligan will return to New Zealand before December. Canon Mac Murray, his Commissary, has received no definite intimation as to the date of his departure from England., but is looking forward to his return about November.

Possibly the most notable appointment to the Anglican diocese, or, indeed, to the clerical ranks of Auckland, from the [ scholastic point of view, is that of the | Rev. E. H. Strong, M.A., B.Litt. (Oxon.), whose services have been secured by Bishop Neligan. Mr. Strong is a distinguished, scholar, who graduated from I St. John's Auckland University College, I and then went Home to study at Oxford, where he obtained distinction in the B.Litt. degree. After leaving the University he entered the Church, and was employed in the diocese of Birmingham, j He has volunteered for service in this diocese, and will be attached to the Home Mission staff, which thus is strengthened by the addition of about eight clergy, all the result of Bishop Xeligan's activity in England. Mr.' Strong, whose return to Auckland will be welcomed by all who know him, will probably sail for the Dominion at the end of the year, and take up work here early in the New Year. Mr. Ralph, who has been a Home Missioner in the Presbyterian district of Ekstahuna, has been appointed by the Ministers' Association as its missioner to the Sailors' Home. He is also the representative of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, which, through the Ministers' Association, financial assistance to the Mission. The Key. it. Wilson, of Glanville, in the Hawkesbury (X.3.W.) district, arrived last week, and preached as a candidate for the vacant Presbyterian charge of St. Peter' 3 (Gt. Xorth-road) on Sunday last. He preaches again tomorrow. Mr. J. C. Sutherland, Presbyterian Home Missionary at Whakatane. who went to South Africa some months ago, on account 01 cue critical illness of his father, has returned to New Zealand. The Rev. R. Wylie was his locum tenens in his absence, and Mr. Sutherland has gone up to relieve him. By an obvious misprint last week it was made to appear that the Rev. Mr. Dewsbury had been invited to the Auckland West (Ponsonby) Methodist Circuit. The context probably made it clear to readers that Auckland East was intended. The Rev. Mr. Bond, of the Auckland West circuit, has, in fact, been invited to continue for another term. When Morrison went to China in ISO 7, there was not a Protestant native Christian in the length and breadth of China. Thirty-five years later the members of the Church, could be counted on the fingers of the hands. In ISCO, at the time of our Opium War, there were not 300. Since that date 300 foreign missionaries have suffered martyrdom, and tens of thousands of Chinese Christians, besides, yet in 1000. the year of the Boxer outbreak, there were about 00.000 Chinese Protestant Christians, and at the present moment, seven year? later, the number is returned at 190,000 members, and in all 750.000 adherents. At that rate of increase, a simple calculation would show that China would be as Christian as Er.grland in thirty years. The Chinese have great qualities—solid, steadfast, peace-loving, laborious. They possess the martyr-spirit too. It will never be known how many died for the name of Christ during the Boxer trouble. One man was asked whether he would serve Christ or Buddha. "Christ," he said.and they cut off his ears. Again they asked him. "Christ," he said, and they cut off his nose.' A third time they asked him. and he still said Christ, and they cut his tongue out. When they again put the question he could not speak, but he signified "Christ," and that man was slowly cut to pieces j but he never flinched.