RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 145, 19 June 1915, Page 14

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

ARE THE TREE CHURCHES PROGRESSING . ,!i_v ANHI.ICANT-.l In your issue of <aturdav. .Innc sth, Cere appears an article dciiin. with ■ , ~,,. tool from a contributor who ;;',,..' ninisci:' --Prcsbv tor." Notw'th- .-',.. lie • this designation, and notwith- ' vvith 1 reference :■> our present r',"';,_i",',us life gencraiiy. .1 is easy to.cc that ill, article .- wiillcii from a so,' tarian an I pan--." standpoint. A celebrated Krone), cynic on.'.' -illd til;'! there w.i.s so nelhing 11-i whu..y _ .!■- ---pleasing .0 us in Vi.c mi-for'. nib's ol on. .best friends, and " Pr. .-by ter certain,' does „.,t Been, ovorw helmed will, sorrow Ot the decline i" una; he is p.ca.sod to cull "the so-ai c.l I'rcc ' hutches, the cntrarv. h- — very proud to ho | d lip for one'- alniifattoii what h, regards as the -a t i-lad ory position ol the Anglican Church, and il lac state of mailers wore sue., .is ho claims in 10 card to that Cni.ro'i. so far Iron, grudg in_ such -t..-'-'. I. I'.f one. would be clad to knew it. Alter .jiiolmg statitics to prove the decline 1:1 Hie J'"'« Churchc., he accounts for it by th-' fondness of llu-ir ministers loi ta. garish day of the world of There mv an .. ~ a-'- ■''.- '• '• " .elf-. 1. .;'• '■ -' the live l hurch riiuns.-'i-have ' ' " assert somewhat str.vi'.-ly the religion- „,uai.ty, and ii that -limes led ,ac:u """^ ItmiV."" .'hcniXmld be .he S'ate-csta'.. lis-hed ami endow,.l Chur.-n of Ku?.-in.|. Surely she i.- 'ci.v iniicti in ":!«• gaii-i day of the wo, II of politics" when 1* appointment ol her l.isliops to men '■-''- is in the hue.ls oi llie Suite Wlicn a M'imster of the < wn for the tune being, who may bo an agnostic or a dew. has the power to say to one go. and he gooth. and to another, .nine, and ho comet-. Surely it is getting \p>_ c"oso to the parish day of the world of P»l't"'*

when her chief ministers arc privileged to occupy se-ats ill the Mouse nf 1..,!•!----to make', or help to make, -tho laws under which the people nf Crent Britain and Ireland have m live. Not only 5... but time and again they nave used their privilege to tinker and tamper with the legislation jva-sscd by re; escntativ os appointed hy the pen,,;c. Whatever polrt. cal influence the lie ( hur.-h ministers ni-av have tried to exert, they have never gone that length yet. It lac charge be intended to apply to New Zealand, 1 do ■not know to vviia: your conuibiitor refers, unless it bo t.he 11..-'license nr Biolc in schools is-sues. In both these movements. I am glad t . say. ihe Ire Church minister* have taKen an active part, and if they have sinned in doi. T 60 they may plead that. 'U all even;, they have done sn in the excellent company of bishops and clergymen ,'f the Church of England. Bishop Julius, of Ohriitob-reh. and many of the be-t cloron- of the Church nf Kngland. have thrown themselves heart.'iv into the advocacy of no license and temperance reform. All honour to them for doing sn. In the matter of P.ible in schools it i- sraree-1-v ton iiiuc'a To say that the Amdioan Church, greatly tn her .relit.

Im< boon the prime mover. Has "Prcs bvicr" over heard nf a clergyman called Canon Garland? Is lie not aware that several of the Auckland clergy with-, drew for a time from pulpit and parish | vv,,rk in order to .!• vote themselves. wnoHv in this cause, which must now I he deemed tn have onored into tho "garish day of the word nf politics"?! At last election, largely through the influence of the Church of Kngland. this was made a lest question in many places. •whereas the last Presbyterian ('.moral Assembly definitely rejeted a motion In make it a tost qnos'tioll at tho polls. When " Presbyter" has succeeded in taking the beam out nf the Anglican eye. it will ho i_ order for him to try tn extract tho mote from the non-Anglican eye. Dealing with statistics relative; to religious decline, your contributor quotes from a bonk, the author of •which he refrains from naming, in -which it is stated that in London, one by (inc. nonconformist places of worship are hcing turned into workshops <md picture palaces, etc.. leaving the inference to '~0 drawn hy the reader that nonconformity

in London is in artkulo mortis. I do not know tho book reierred tn. hut 1 have no 'hesitation in saying that the statement is an unfair and one-sided, statement. Many of the old ill-venti-lated <in<l uncomfortahle places of worship, such as the old Surrey Chapel, have undergone such chances. Many of the districts of London onco Christinn are itn* almost entirely inhabited _y Jews, and churches have been built clso-whero. In some cases great institutional agencies ha-vo taken their place, fntch as the great Whitfield Tabernacle movement, so successfully founded and carried on by the late Rev. Sylvester Home, _nd the splendid Wcs-l L, ndon Mission of the Methodists, of which Harold Begbie has written in glowing terms. There are many other such movements in London and throughout the crties and provinces of Knglund and Wales, and they arc a sufficient refutation of the in.-fin.atro- iii.it the nonAnglican Churches in Kngland an 1 Wales arc in articulo mortis. ■"Presbyter" goes on to qimte statistics ■from' a Free Church .'tsar Book for' 1013, showing the doiiine in the I'Yco Churches for a period of five years, t'nfortuna 1 ely I have not access lo Ihe Year Bonk tn .-heck his lifruros, but. even admitting them to bo correct, why | docs ho not quote a I the sane lime tho 1 startling facts of t lie decline in the | Anglican Church for the year 1014? He! Bays that "'he cabled statist-. (March' 8, 1011) show a decline nn previous in- 1 creases, but nn I lie whoso the position! of the Church nf I.iiglnnd i.s sal isfac- j tory." What arc i ho facts as cabled? The Church of Kngland Year Book fori lftl-1 shows, for a -ingle year, bo it noted, a do"rei-i. nf 13.8'Kl baptisms as compared -,vit!i the previous -ear. n decrease I of lOO.lifin Easter communicants, and a decrease of ]7:ll,0 Sunday-school scholars. Tlioie is. I am glad to nolo, an | increase of 4,033 communicants, but that,' does not necessarily mean an addition to I the numbers ol" tho Anglican Church. "Prosbyl.-i" I hen cr..s-.' S the Atlantic, and gives v - a fine sample of his method of ii:m King slatistios hy his Toforotloo In th- Prcs-bvtorian Church of tho United!' Slate-. There lie finds :-.-..iro "dry rol."| In proof of the fact, he quotes a. minis-j ter ~f thai ('hiircli as stalling in Ifll.ll that for tlie past live years "more than ' _~',..!1i0 members have been placed nn tile j pus'.cnded roil." "I' e-bvter" makes no comment, bill leaves the reader to infer that these have been lost to tho Presbyterian Ohurcb. What is meant by the suspended mil is probably the same thing as I s found in the Presbyterian •' Ohurcb of New Zealand in _nc "Reserve Roll," a roll mi which are placed the ' names nf those invalided or residing too i far away (o attend tho church fo which 1 they onco belonged, but desirous of still . keeping up some connection with it. t

Con-id-ring that the communicants in the Ol lurch referred to nuni-orcl 1.300.0110 in 1013. there is nothing very rcrrrarkiblo in the fact of 50,000 per 11.11111 un being placed on the "suspended roll." .Moreover, most of those persons -would be returned year after year as ho.no on this roll, so tliat to multiply by five, -and so gef 2-0.000. its clearly an unfair and one-aided use of stati.s ■tics. But. vr-hy cross *o many oceans to 2o'-■stati-srics- .of relative decline or progress':

Why did lliil "Presbyter," if he wanlcl to get at. lt.be tr nth." give us .some statistics of ti'lo position in Now Zealand and Austral/a, which we have the means of verifying. What story i-s it Ilia! those toil? According to 'the last con 1 siis returns for the Commonwealth ol ■ \iist.riilia in tho .period of ten years. . from HUH to lull, we lind lhal ihe'p.'l" l l.tioii for thin time increased at Ihe rate ~' is per cent. During thai period Ihe Unman Catholic i'liun-h Increased at tiie rale of S jicr cent, the Anglican . 1 liiiiv ii a(. 1 I per cent. an.l the Preshvlorian IU per cent. The numbers wore: I I Vnglioans ~ 1.710. ll.". Roman Catholics .... !_l,-t_"> I Presbyterians f.--„i:ii' Methodist .".17.SI1". 1 CiTining slill nearer home, and 'iking the census of New Zealand in l!'. 1 as . ..nr basis, we find the following facts:

In April. 1011. there were persons bo bunting to the Church of Knglaii.l -111 i. -s I-J : I'l-c-bv lorian Church. 2.'it.lil!-"; Mclho.lists. IM'.X'J.: It.mian Catholics 1 10..Y-H.

Between IOIHI .-md li'li the rale of io.'ivi-c h.u been: •Cnti-ch of Kn-I.ind. ]_...: Prcshvt.-riaus. I.V-.ii: Me:h,.,li-ts. 'i-ili; liv 1111111" Catholics. Ill.ii.i.

i huivhc.s wn, l.iket'.. but tor some i,i-,,n or ~liier it has not b mm included in the wen- printed, however, in the public Press at the lime, and 1 have by mc an extract from the "Outlook" newspaper which give-- |hem as follows, under the 'heading "Positi, n of the Churches": - Pi-oVhytori.il --.'-oil Anglican .*,.">-.",s Id-ma- Catholic 4-.l4ii Methodist :i:.:.tn Primitive Metho.lt,t .. 8..11-1 Salvation Army S.I 111 Baptist (;o:i_ Congregational 4.2:\7, I cnmniond lliese figures tn the consideration of "Presbyter.'- Tlicv show that, as far as progress is concerned, flic Presbyterian Church easily holds the lead, both in Australia and Now Zealand, and I think he will have t,, recti sider his conclusion tiiat "tiie position of the Church of Knglan.i is ,01 tlie whole satisfactory." The fact is that none of tiie Churches are in .as s-ti>f.uTory a position as they ought In be. and the way to improve that posit:,,ll i- cor tainly n"t the method adopted by "Pies bytor." At a time when our Kmpiro iengaged in a life and death cunllict, it is surely no time for tho whipping up ~f sectarian animosities. CHURCH -TEWS AND NOTES. Tlie Aic'al.i.-.ip nf Armagh (Dr. .rower), presiding at the opening of General Synod i.f the Church of Ireland, protested against the misuse winch was sometimes made uf ( hrl.t's command that »,■ should love ~nr enemies. Nowhere 111 ll.ilv Scripture were they told to love other 'people's enemies or I.i love. the men win. were doing the Devil's work in God's own world.

Wo have received several letters from readers, expressing a desire that we Should resume the regular printing in this column of sermons by Pastor Pus sell, nf London and Brooklyn Tabernacles. It Ls not. in our opinion, desirable that the tea'iii-g-s of any one man should have precedence over all others, hence the partial cessation; but we Imp.' still from time tn time to publish a sermon by tin- popular pastor. Tbe Lev. Dean Mclxenna. who bar. been at New Plymouth fur the list twentyfive years. h;i_ gone to the Old Country for n vacation, on account of the st iin iif hi- health. The Dean was presented, prior to leaving M. Joseph's Knman Catholic congregation at. New Plymouth, with tokvtiH of I'stccm from the children of the ' nivetit and parish school:-, the members of tiie Congregation, and also .from the ponj.Je of liig'owjin 1 parish, where he was for some time in charge. The action of clergy in enlist nig in . o:n----batant force- wan .•ritioit.e.l by ( nm.n Simpson when preaching at St. Paul's C.tliclral. Whatever might be -aid ~f individuals who had maintained a dillieiilt, role, the lighting, no bvss than tlie bunting, parson would in the long run injure the spiritual ideas ho was pledged to uphold. "In the treiiolin-, y. *; rillo in hand, no," maid Canon Sim.j-im. "Tho task nf tlie evangelist is to wield the sword nf the Spirit and publish the everlasting (>ospol of peace." Recently, fays the "British Weekly." the Lev. Tin,ma- Phillips a*kisd bin eon groin tion to join together during the month of April for an hour's -ilcnt worship and intercession .on Thursday evenings. Un .haul read a book by a clergyman of New Zealand, who had found a little band of Anglicans nnd Quakers meeting .together in this way in New Zealand. -Mr Phillips firmly believed that through the iriteni-o thought of thct-o quiet mooting-, their lads in Prance would fool a bracing glow of spirit. It will be intcrc-tin.. t., watch the progress of this "experiment Interesting figures have been submilted to the Glasgow United Free Church Preshytery siiiowing the line part played by the rank and file of the. membership of the churches m connect inn with the war. lb-l ministers were asked to send in returns of members serving with the forces. BIT sent, in lists total" ling 0.i!)"2 men. If an -forage bo struck

for tbe 27 non-reporting churches the tolal would be 11.131. .'.--11111, if the other Presbyteries of tho Church have contributed on the same scale there must be something like 10 per cent, of the membership who have boon enrolled. In olher words, the Pnitod Free Church of Scotland has placed an army of 50.000 mon in the field. Mis. Mary Stressor, who died recently, wtus Pritish'Consul of a. large district of Nigeria. She vvas born in Scotland seventy years ago. and as n child was a half timer in a jute mill al Aberdeen. Later she was sent by the I'nited I'rei-byt-rian Church ns a mission worker, and was sent olf in 18715 to Duke Town, in the Calabar territory of South Nigeria. In the nineties Sir Claude Macdonald noted her extraordinary power over the natives, and appointed Miss Stetsi-rr British Consul. Later, the High Commissioner appointed her Consul for the whole of Southern Nigeria. Tho natives called her iWhitc Ma." She was for thirty-nine years a missionary n Old Calabar, and had oonforred on hor ihe Order of the Hospital of .St. John of Jerusalem, for her service, in tlie .'cailsc >'f h_manity.