RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 205, 28 August 1909, Page 12

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

' THE GLORY OF A NATION, jr (B|y HENRY F. COPE.) : "And the deeert shall rejoice and Bloiiom ai the rose."—lsaiah xxxv., 1. The glory of a nation depends on its gifts to fts own day. We mar please •urselves with boastings of tne past, fcut, after all, in the long te3t of the ■ges this only counts, in what way have we enriched the earth, in what way lave we made its moral and intellectual ijeserts to blossom as the rose, and how far have we converted its parched ground into pools? The greatness of a people depends not •n what they have, but on what they five, not on what they may store up tfithin their borders, but on what they may share with others. If we boast of Independence we can no better prove our fight to it than by a bounty and love that makes others dependent on us for Abe ble3sing3 we now enjoy. The gifts we can give to our world iWill not be in gold or silver, not in what we list in our export reports. Ultimately these gifts can be measured in one simple way, the kind of manhood end womanhood we are giving , to the World. Every nation must play its part ha. the world's affairs, but the great part we all have to play is that of educating the whole human family into finer end fuller living. ■ No matter on how many islands we Jnay plant onr banners, no matter how Bany ships we may have on the waters, no matter in how many markets our goods may find largest sales, unless in £he mastery of islands and manning of chips arid making of goods we a.re making finer men and women, and giving the world richer, fuller lives, our greatness Jg-that which fades before the breath, of the infinite. No people can ever be greater in fact ihrin they are in faith and in ideals. The people make the nation. What we are our nation is. Our greatness is wholly a matter o{ our real worth, our worthiness. All splendour and pomp, all parade and display of power that is any more than the expression of the real life and work of a people is a fool's mockery. Sometimes we think that the days are ipast when a man had a chance to play a man's part in the affaire of the nation, (when he might, moved by a splendid heroism, lay down his life ior his people. Our day needs men who will lay down their lives not on some altar of immediate sacrifice, but on the field of long end toilsome service. There is still all a man's work, indeed there is holy and divine work to be Iddne in making the nation and what it might be, in serving the principles and. •ecuring the ideals which for us make national greatness. People have been great in the measure that they have iorgotten ,all self-seeking and everything fceside in serving some great principle, in living and dying for some high aim. Our fathers gave themselves to great principles with bayonet and sword; their eons muet do even harder service, for they must toil in quiet ways, without the contagion .of the mob and the plaudits of the throngs. We can first Bet the things that are first, honour, truth, justice and love. We can, if we will, make sacrifices that the ages will recognise as just as truly heroic as any that fcava been made on bloodstained , fields. Eternity will reveal heroes in undreamt, of places, plain mothers who •acrificed social ambitions and the temptations of life that they might train their children aright, giving not their own lives alone, hut giving to the world other lives rich in usefulness and character worth. Whoever helps lives to Worthier ends enriches, ennobles the life of all the people. The glory of the days that; are gone lies not In the fact that we conquered an imbecile king, nor in that we set million* of slaves free; it lies in the fact that men everywhere could give Up home end business success and the eaae of life !to support a principle, to die foE an j Ideal, Though we compassed l all the earth in »ur possessions we could be no greater ' .tjroh our souls j though we possessed no more than little rooky Greece or barren ho measure could be made of our worth if we but glvo the world such ideals, ■thoughts, aspirations, and visions *s have sprung from these little lands. Thie U the finest, highest, holiest and most truly religious service that w e may fenow; this is that which sets each one Into the glorious company of the great of all ages, just to live such a life and ■glye, Bueh.. measure pf service that the Wl* world is. richer, that men think •I better things and live for nobler ends »nd tho flowers of love spring in the deserts of old desire. '

CHURCH NEWS AMD NOTES.

' The first annual meeting of the MethoBJst. Women's SJissionajy Auxiliary has ■just teen held. The' membership has reached 106. Monthly meetings have foeen held In turn in various local ehurohes, and the sum of if 80 has been realised by the Auxiliary. The officers Sot -the ensuing year are: President, Mrs. Pacey; vice-presidents, Mrs. Dellow, Mrs. IWinetoae; secretary, Mies Gunson; corresponding secretary, Mrs. J. H. Gunson j Itreasurer, Mrs. Lawry. ■It is likely that Bishop Lenihan will attend the Catholic Congress, to be held tU Sydney next October, at which representatives will .be present from the /Whole of Australasia. Papers will be read at .this Congress written .by eminent |nen all over the world. The Rev. Father Jlahoney, of Onehunga, is the local secretary for the Congress. The great missionary congress of layirien in Toronto recommended that the Canadian churches should raise annually 1*260,000 for home misions, and £640,000 , for foreign missions. There was a further. recommendation that the churches ■hould consult together so as to avoid a duplication of missionary activity. This was greeted with prolonged cheering b" • »QOO delegates. ' During the English summer Mr. Josiah Wix and the Bey. S. Chadwic-k are touring the villages and country towns in a motor-car, and conducting services. The method is fo r Mr. Ohadwick to preach In fehe afternoon, after tea a great open»ir meeting in the market place (led by Mr. Nix), and this is followed by a service in the chapel. Tho President of the English Wesieyan Conference has acknowleaged to,to»aey: S. Lawry the recejpt'of-the resblutior lot thti -last New Zealand: Conle-rettce," ex-1 pressing approval of : hui, anfejit the late X/icenaing* Bill of; the. British -Goyernnieni : Dr, Scott Lidgett greatly .'appreciated ■tiie 'action of the Conletence. * Mr. W, H.Holloway:has been appoinb*d;PreebyterianHome Mipsioner at Hikuitlflgli s&ft has' «»<jn;iWftss9rls 'srlth mttoli encouxfcgemeat. ~ : , a'■':"■

The Very Rt. Rev. Monseigneur Gillan, V.G., of St. ißenedict'e, is making efforts to reach the Austrian Catholics in his widely-scattered parish, which includes a portion of ithe gumfields. With that laudable object in view, circulars are toeing cent to the Austrians wherever they reside, notifying the time and place where Masses will be said. Gipsy Smith has been very warmly welcomed on his Teturn to England from America. He was greatly impressed by the size of hie audiences in the States. At one place he had audiences of 15,000 nightly, at another 18,000, and at Kansas 40,000 people marched through the stroet3 at midnight. He had a good word for the Press. He never once saw in the American papers an unkind report of anything he had said. Many wrote to him to say they had been helped by reading the newspaper reports of his addresses. The way the ministers assisted him was another fine feature of his visit. . . Sister Mary Peter, of St. Patrick's Convent school, who underwent a very serioue operation at the Mater Miserecordia Hospital, Mt. Eden, is slowly recovering her health, but it will still be some time before she is fit to resume her duties. The Rev. Knowles Kempton gave a talk on character building at the Auckland Brotherhood P.S.A. last Sunday afternoon. In connection with Brotherhood work in the Old Land, a letter •has been received this week from Mr. L. C. .Ridge, hon. organising secretary of the National Federation Council P.S.A.'s and Brotherhoods, London, seeking information re work in this Dominion and Australia, to place same before the National Council meeting in Cardiff, September 19 to 22. Unfortunately, this memo, came too late to get a reply back .by date specified. Other information also to hand shows tha.t the founding of a Brotherhood in Brussels and Ohaleroi last Whit week (June)» was a big success, representatives froni all leading societies in England and Scotland being present. The beautiful banners of the principal societies were sent to be iieed in the big processions, for an outward expression of goodwill; while for all meetings one of the finest cornet soloists in England led the singing and music. For the big service on the Whit Sunday, at 11 a.m., hundreds of thousands of leaflets—in French and Flemish—were spread amonget the workers of Brussels, and the meeting will be long remembered in that city. The Right Hon. Lloyd George, presi-dent-elect of the Baptist Union of Wales, has fixed October lfor his installation into the chair. In view of the rapid spread of building' in the Mt. Eden Borough, Bishop Lenihan has purchased an area of land in Epsom-avenue, adjacent to "Rockliinds," for the purpose of erecting thereon, when required in the future, a. building for the | Roman Catholic church. A successful sale of work was held this week in connection with Beresford Congregational Sunday School. Friends have been working hard for some months past for the purpose of getting together goods for this sale, and the result was satisfactory from a financial point of view. The latest returns on the voting on the question of an independent Methodist Conference for New Zealand ?*e as follows:—103 circuits and hom'a mission stations have voted; there were 1524 persons present, of whom 1044 voted for separation from Australia, a,nd 384 against, while 96 were neutral. There is thus an overwhelming majority for separation. One or two belated returns cannot affect the result. The Rev. T. A. Nbrrie was inducted to the charge of the Cororr.andel Presbyterian Church on the evening of Wednesday, August 25. The ceremony was performed by the following ministers, who formed the commission of the Presbytery: Rev. J. M. Simpson, G. B. Munro, and R. Ferguson. Apropos of dismal accounts of attendance at Sunday school comes a cheering report from the Methodist Sunday School at Ashburton. On August 1, out of a roll number of 163, there were 141 present. Of four boys' classes three were perfect, and of" nine girls' classes five were perfect in attendances. The absentees, all told, were 22. In an article on the "Gospel for the Rich," published in "Appleton's Magazine," the Rev, C. F. Aked lays down these propositions: First, money is only honourably owned when it is the proper equivalent of services rendered; second, money has been dishonestly obtained when men and women have been used merely as instruments for producing wealth; third, no argument of moneygiving can atone for money-stealing." The Rev. J. Tolefree Parr hae been elected president of the Christian Endeavour Union of Great Britain for 1009-10. Mr Parr has earned popularity as a Free Church federation missioner, in which capacity he has conducted missions in all parts of the Old Country, and also in South Africa. Something like a record has been put up by the Young Men's Christian Association of Indianapolis. In February, 1907, £53,000 was raised in 18 days for a new building. In less than two years the new building w a 9 opened free of debt. During the opening week more than 60,000 visitors attended the building, and in a week's campaign for 1000 members 1572 were secured. Senator Beveridge addressed an audience of 3408 men at the men's meeting in the opening week exercises in Tomlinson Hall. Mr Fountain, Presbyterian honw missionary tit Hunua, has tendered his resignation, and Mr Adam Madill, a student, has taken his place in thai district. That very outspoken divine Bishop Thornton sent a shiver through the Representative Church Council (writes my London correspondent) on July 9 by stating that many of our best and wisest divines believed in marriage with a deceased wife's sister. But Bishop Thornton is a prelate who has had his mind opened by rubbing shoulders with all sorts and conditions of men in all parts of the world. Londoners, whose memory goes back for half a century, will remember a certain rector in Bethnal Green who obstructed the thoroughfares by the crowds listening to his open-air addresses, and accordingly was twice arrested by the police. That was Thornton. Birmingham had a tastt of his mettle, and so did Ballarat, where he was the first Anglican bishop, and held the post for twenty-five "years, coming away to England with presentations valued at £1,000. His Australian diocese was a vast one. and involved long journeys at all seasons. Ono dark night, 'tis said, he landed in a small town, and made his way to the local newspaper office, the only lighted building. "Who's there!" cried a voice from the top storay. in response to the Bishop's knock. "Would you kindly, direct mc to the nearest hotel? I am the Bishop of Ballarat.". . There avme a, burst of laughter, and then the head.in the top storey remarked, "Old , man, .youVe had enough hotel to-night! ; home, quietly, or, you'll be run in «L 8 1 re aS i e ßg s -" The Bishop classes 3 kSSmlw."* the : i " eSinativ '; effortß [^-"'■-^-—^-—--■._•__ ■ !■'.:•■.-.■■■