RELICIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 271, 13 November 1909, Page 14

RELICIOUS WORLD.

-: {By V. -COPSjP

BEXIGION IN LITE.

T wTF. lift fcp iniae. eyes -nato the -hills front trbecce cometh. nrj- help." — Psalms, cxxi. i. It i= not so strange that many should say they have no need for religion in their lives. To some it seems rather a mark of weakness than of strength, a vieldins t-o superstitious fear or to popular custom, or a sacrifice of the independent judgment, in favour of a .scheme irhich has been devised by the few for the deception of the many. is a good deal that goes under the name of religion that one ought to be ashamed not to disown; there a-re type? of piecy that are but confessions of DOTerty of intellect, and there are forrnr of faith that are only evidences of cotrsrdly and superstitious fear. "WhereveT religion means being less a I man. means dwarfing, shrinking the | lifp. then one dare not acknowledge alle- ' giance to it. But there are so many imitations, so many pretensions of religion simply because the thing itself is so essential to the life of man. So far from the religious life being one of lesser living, so far from religion signifying the sacrifire of powers, the denying of reason. judgment, and the will, the truth is that no life can be in any sense complete without it? spirit and power. If there is one thing of which a man might well be ashamed, it is the loss of the spirit and ideals of religion in iis life. Those characteristics which mark the trained, developed, ordered, educated life are the attributes of religion. There is no fullnese of life, no mastery of the spirit, no conquest of the art of living without this. Xo man can be a gentleman by the process of memorising books of etiquette any -more than he can find fullness of health by reading books on medicine hygiene. The life of courtesy and the life of vigour and health have their hidden sources. Every life that realises fullness and beauty has its hidden sources in the religious spirit. This is the power and secret of the perfect life. The world is full of half-developed live?: men" and women who are competent in spots, as strong in some things as they are weak in others, brilliant as to some of their ways and ■walking in darkness as to others: the man of affairs lose? vision, the philosopher loses practical sense, the scientist becomes an animated, soulless scalpel, and all for the want of an aim that "would preserve balance and harmony in the life. A man can so give his hand to business in that he becomes nothing but a hand: another can give his mind to intellectual problems so that he becomes only a brain carried around on stilts, while y?t another becomes a stomach and no more. But religion gives to all live* the spirit and aim that apportions to every part its true function, subduing an to a purpose great enough to enlist all the powers and to bring them to harmonious fullness. Religion means living life for the sake of life itself: it means finding a sufficient motive in living. It is the point of view and the spirit in life that sets things in right relations, helps one to 2nd true values and to know the things that, are worth living for, to set the tools of life and the products of life in right relations. Who is sufficient for living without this spirit? He who lives the right life knows that lie has struck time and tune with the eternal !aws of the universe; he who lives for love niids the Teal law of life. Seeking the good, we find the inhnite goodness; the life and love that are the heart of all become a certainty to all cf those who follow the -licit they have, wl o do the will of love. The life of faith is living in loyalty to laith in life's best, in its highsr val?l S " * I ?[ S the faith we need *o nourish, faith in the righteousness of the universe, faith in goodness, truth, honour, and right, as over and against lust and meanness, falsehood, and cowardice He only has the truth who da-ea be true to the vision he has, who lives In the freedom of his light. V CHTTBGH HEWS A2TO NOTES. The British Admiralty has- appointed the following ministers of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand to discharge the duties of chaplains to the men of His Majesty's fleet when o n shore in the Dominion:—Auckland, the Rev. A. A. Murray; Bluff, Rev. A.- Laishley; Lyttelton. Rev. J. J. Bates; Port Chaunere, Rev. E. C. Tennant; Dunedin, Rev. D. Nesbet; Key. Dr. Gibb. The Rev. Q. Brooke, Methodist Home Mission Secretary, has ju3t concluded a successful canvass of the circuits in the :Wanganui district. He has visited 14 circuits, and has secured 182 new annual Eubscribers, (representing ym aripfeased income cf £200. A mission hall built with moneys raised by the Methodi3t Girls. 5 Bible does Unions, has recently been opened at Okaiawa, for the use of deaconesses .working amongst the Maori people. The Rev. L. W. Munhal!, D.D., a Methodist evangelist of Germantown, Pennsylvania, who is 04 years of age. recently from his pulpit issued a sweeping chal-u lenge to all drinking men to meet hi*n in ten athletic contests. He said: " I •want to challenge any man between the ages of twenty-one and sixty-four who has been a moderate drinker to meet mc at any time and any place which suits his convenience in ten contests of strength, agility and endurance." The contests for which Dr. Munhall has thrown down the gauntlet are as follows:—Standing broad jump, running hop, skip and jump, putting 10! b. shot, throwing 151b. hammer, 50 yards dash, five-mile walk, handling a 501b dumb-bell and a bicycle ride oJ! eighty-four miles. Gipsy Smith is to conduct a series of missions in Chicago and Cincinnati before Christmas, and it is probable he will also epend the winter of 1910-11 in America, The annual meeting of the Society of Friends throughout Australia has just concluded at Adelaide. Many representatives were present from "the other States and 2Jew Zealand. The special feature of the gathering was the presence of the English representatives, including Dr. Hodgkin. In a minute on Peace and Arbitration, " the constant 7r3pa.ra.tion for a possible strife," it was -rsjed, kept a nation sensitive and restless, creating an atmosphere which developed discord, when its temper should be one of calm judgment and courtesy. Dβ- ' Pγ*'" judgment was to be preferred .to .OTve, with its attendant horrors. The . rami'- „. a cc nviction of tMs fae( . would 1 make tho settlement of international disI "f «<>-•». by a court of nations seem as > *^L^l° luiioU M tte settlement fcffJSSWea in. flu, cwife.

The Bey. Nicholas Manowitch, of the GraeeorEassiaii Orthodox Church, is shortly to make atoiir of the Dominion. The Church census of the United States shows a remarkable increasb in the number of Roman Catholics, the total being 12,078,142, as compared wißi- 6,241,----765. These, however, include all bapiis&S. Catholics over eight. yea.fsl~os. age. Altogether.-oirt oi.;a population'of "some eighty millions, 32,93f1,445 are communicants of some church. Amongst the Protestant churches the Methodists rank first in the. number with 5,749,538 of members, then come Baptists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians in that order. In every one of the Xew England States the Roman Catholics are in a majority. Massachusetts, the Pilgrim State, is found to be more pre-eminently Catholic than Louisiana, which was settled by Roman Catholics. The American churches now seat over 58.000,000 —an increase of nearly 20,000,000 sittings in sixteen years—and the total value in church property in the United States is over £250,000,000. The Maori Mission Committee of the Presbyterian Church has in contemplation the starting of a training farm for Maori boys at Manunui. The Rev. E. Ward, in advocating this step, pointed out that a similar institution was being established by the Mormons. After that argument the General Assembly of the Presbyteran Churcr agreed to "the proposal. Alderman J. H. Maden, J.P., ias been invited for the eleventh year in succession to the Mayoralty of Bacup. It is believed this is a record for the County of Lancashire. Mr. Maden is a wellknown member of the Wesleyan Church in Bacup. As the outcome of the recent meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Xew Zealand, it v.as resolved to form a X.Z. Presbyterian Missionary League with the object of looking after the interests of Home Missions rather than missions generally. Mr. Jas. Mitchell was elected the first president of the League, Mr. F. J. G.Wilkinson, secretary, and Mr. P. Hercue treasurer. The executive of the Christchureh Pre.=byterian Association were appointed a committee to draw up the constitution and rules. One of the Cheshire Wesleyan circuits, Altrineham, has initiated a new departure in its village missionary meetings. In order to improve the attendance, it was resolved that the meetings be held this year on Sunday evenings, when the farmers and labourers could more" conveniently attend. The usual preaching service was held in the afternoon. In the evening the chur-efhes werS crowded out, and the collections were trebled. Addressing the Harvard School of Theology recently, Dr. Eliot referred to the changing views en religion, and asked the students to recognise from these and other indications that religion is not fixed but fluent, and alters from century to century. He predicted the approaching downfall of dogma and creed, and declared the corner stone of th? twentieth rentury bedief will be love of God and service to fellow-men. The new religion, he continued, will not deal chiefly with sorrow and death, but with joy and life. It will believe in no malignant powers, and it will aiftack quickly all forms, of eviL The new religion will think first of the common good, and not afford safety primarily to the individual. The difficulties with which the British and Foreign Bible Society has to contend in carrying on its work of translating the Bible has just been illustrated in Calcutta. The local committee, deeming it desirable to bring out a revised version of the Gospel of Luke in Bengali, secured the services of the Rev. Willirrn MeOulloch, a scholarly missionary of the United Free Church, who is accounted one of the greatest authorities on the Bengali language. At his suggestion it was decided. that he should aim in his revision at using spoken Bengali as far as possible. When Mr. McCulloeh's version was placed before the Calcutta Committee, the Bengali members, who nationally cling to the old ideas of what constitutes a dignified language, were up in arms, and it was resolved, as a compromise, to print only a limited edition of the new translation. Some idea of the good work done by the London Mission Society may be gathered from the statistical report just issued, -which shows that the total of trained missionaries was 295, with 971 ordained native pastors, 4091 preachers, 1106 male Christian teachers, 442 female Christian teachers, and 235 Biblewomen. The ehufch members number 84,826, and there are 205,530 native adherents. In the 1754 Sunday schools there are 75,639 scholars, and in the day schools 80,477 scholars. The statistics of the Medical Missions report 37 fully qualified medical missionaries and nine missionary nurses. There are 55 hospitals, including leper asylums, containing 117G beds, with 1176 in-patients. In addition, 206,226 outpatients attended at the hospitals lost year, and the number of visits of outpatients totalled 408,561. The work of the hospitals is further augmented by 32 dispensaries, with 43 assistants. The total amount' raised at mission stations was £40,172, including £9769 for school fees and £7748 in medical mission reIcleipts. The general income of the Society for the past year amounted to £130,088, and with legacies and special funds, toeetlier with the nmonnt recpiyed and appropriated at mission stations, the income summary totalled £ 195,293. The accumulated deficiency at the close of the year's account was £40,087. The Rev. Dr. Aked, who left liverpool in September by the CunaTd liner Caronia on his Teturn to Ifew York, after a two-months' holiday in England, alluding to the difference between Nonconformity in Great Britain and America, said the conditions in Britain wanted readjustment. He thought the churches themselves were ill-condi-tioned, and their services required brightening up very much. They were very unattractive, whereas in America a large amount of the wealth of the community was spent upon religious endeavour- and external beautification. There was far more intellect gathered in the churches of America than in England. One reason to account for this was that the best intellect of British life was drained into public bodies, where only the good of the country— municipal and Parliamentary—was considered, and no payment was made for such services. In America the payment for such work drew men of a. lower type into public life for the sake of emoluments, while tihe higher class 'of citizens did not require or wish for it. Thus intellect being, as it were, barred from high places in these spheres in America, wealthy and good men found scope for their spare energies in religious endeavour, and, if one might call it so, religious luxury. Dr. Aked added that he had now taken the preliminary step 3 to. become an. American citizen.