RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 68, 20 March 1915, Page 15

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

CHXTItCH THEWS AND NOTES. The demfii of the Rev. R. F. Macnieol removes one of the most highlyrespected clergymen ever stationed, in Auckland. Without being a brilliant preacher, Mr. Macnicol was a most successful pastor of St. James' Presbyterian Church for a very long period, and made lasting friends of all with whom lie came into contact. In last ■week's religious column reference was made to the lengthy services of various roinistere, including the Rev. R. F. Siiicnicol. One name was, however, omitted which should not have been overlooked, namely, the Rev. Canon C. M. Nelson, who was vicar at St. Paul's Anglican Church for no less than 372 years. The Rev. Percy X. Knight, 8.A., of Durham Sitreet Methodist Church, Christehurch, who filled the pulpit at Pitt Street last Sunday, came to New Zealand from the Victorian Conference •when the Rev. J. Burton left the Dominion to take up the duties of secretary to the Board of Foreign Missions in Australia. Dr. Timothy Richard, of Shanghai, has resigned the secretaryship of the Christian Literature Society, which . position he has held for the last 22 ..years. . The Rev. J. S. Wood, who left the Congregational for the Established Church, Jias been elected to his first Anglican charge by vote. Dr. Richard started h.13 missionary work with the •Baptist Church 35 years ago. Dr. W. E. Orchard, speaking on the doctrine of hell, said men turned to extraordinary things when they rejected that idea. He mentioned there was the idea that the soul was reincarnated in this world again, or that the spirits spent their time in rapping tables and proposing idiotic riddles, or that man was dissolved into his constituent elements, or sucked back into the essence of the All. On the whole, he greatly preferred hell; it was tragic, but at least it was big—it was dignified. The Rev. Victor L. Whiteehureh, Yiear of Aylesbury, has an article in ' "Pearson's Magazine," in which he states:—"The command of Christ to *preach" the Gospel,' to offer moral and spiritual salvation, rings out as clearly in the twentieth century as it did in the" first." The first men who started to-obey thJe command used the best methods "the first century had to give; they, aimed at what every true advertiser aims at —'publicity. , " Rev. J. W. Burton has added another to hi 3 missionary books, he" having written a book for children called "Brown Face 3." It deals with" the children or the Pacific Islands, and is written admirably for its purpose. The Mission Board has thanked Mr. Burton for his work, and has commended him highly for it. Mr. Burton is a New Zealander, though he is at present in Victoria as Foreign Mission secretary. Reporting .from Samoa, Rev. Niel, Methodist missionary, speaks in very - favourable terns of the new adminis.tration and its work. He saye that i every missionary society has had per■i feet:-liberty to carry on its work with-out-"-any. irksome restrictions whatever • —a* contrast to conditions obtaining before the British occupation. The Samoans have come through the crisl3 with -honour, and it is quite apparent they w3l make no great public demonstrations "until the future rule of the islands is absolutely settled. At a gathering in a Cathedral in the 6outh of England, which, was attended ■ -mostly by soldiers going to the front, the speaker—probably, to keep the men's spirits them fiat about sixty per cent, of the 5000 present would see liext Ghristmae aJSve, while the remainder would be in all likelihood maimed for life. '"T don't think somehow that ie the true spirit of religion," is the laconic comment written upon the service by one who was present. A Mr. W. Moore, who retired from tie clerkship- of 'Lauder Church Kirk Session, held .that position for 47 years, and ' aever once missed communion. Rev. Dinsda£e Young, President of the British. Wesleyan Methodist Conference, - . promises, to be.as.. great a success at the Central Hall,. Westminster, as he was at City Road Chapel, London. A correspondent of the "British 'Weekly" reports that the large building i≤ nearly filled on a Sunday evening, and that four-fifths of the worshippers were between the agee of twenty and thirty. On that occasion he took as his text: " iPaul's Sister's Son," and from this unfamiliar text preached a sermon that held the attention from start to finish. Bβ mentioned that he had a son who had joined the colours. Men in khaki were greatly in evidence in the ■ congregation. As showing the - intense devotion of the foreign missionaries, the Mettiodist Mission Board of Australasia reports that all its agents, missionaries, mis- - eienary sisters, and secretaries have - ;made an offer to accept 10 per cent reduction of their salaries. This offer has been accepted, and will mean a saving of £1,300. In view of the offer the Mission Board is making a special appeal to tne Home church to wipe out ■" the £7,000 deficit "this year. The New Zealand "Conference" fas decided on a self-denial week during the coming winter/when it is toped that New Zea- ' land's quota of the debt will be more than Taised. The observation of the day of intercessory prayer really started in the Jewish synagogues on the Hebrew Sabbath, and were continued the following day in other churches. In the Russian Church in London the service was attended by a number of Muscovites who lad come across with the Canadian contingent, which they had joined upon the Czar having notified that his people abroad were at liberty to become members of the troops raised by Great Britain in the respective dependencies. A dismissed Moslem employee at St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem, being unable to recognise the difference between "cannons" and those belonging to the Cathedral body, reported to the Turks that two of the former were concealed in the edifice. This resulted in the Chapel of the Knights being removed and the floor taken up, naturally without any warlike weapons being discovered. It would be interesting to know how the informant fared afterwards at the hands of the" Turks. Bkhop Taylor-Smith, the ChaplainGeneral of the Forces, has written to Mr. Charles M. Alexander, the well-known evangelist, expressing his thankfulness for the work being done amonget the eoldiers oh Salastiirry Plain by "The Pocket Testament League." It is stated -■<thatrlO,qOO-eoldiers quartered on the ~ _Hhi and elsewhere ' have joined the T.'.]g»JF*?! ""agT«a to carry a, New with them . a °d to read a . Bound in khaki-coloured ; doth, the Testament is a ■-JjeLSSlLSF , ™* wMch •*•■ te carried