RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 19, 22 January 1916, Page 14

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

TUTOT TO RELIGION. LESSONS OF THE TRENCHES. '(By PiREBENDARY CAKLILE, Founder 1 of the Church Army.) • The tronches are proving a wonderful missioner. They are bringing, back religion to men who had long since forgotten what the Word of God was, or wno had .considered -religion an unnecessary...ele-.mept-in their lives.. Side,by ,side with the misery and suffering this terrible ■war has brought on mankind we have to .note a strong current of goodness. Out of, evil has come forth a blessing, and the blessing i≤ the strong religious feeling that runs aloug the khaki line holding the enemy 'in J the ' different theatres of war. " A Church Army workeT who is among those fighting for his country said to mc when I was recently over in France: "There may be infidels in England, sir, l™t I can assure you there are none in the trenches."

There was a fresh-cheeked Lancashire Ta<} with whom I passed a few worde- tie tdld mc that before the , war ne never gave a second's thougtht to religion; now he realised its necessity and felt a strong sense of security in prayer. '"1 had never seen God before I went into the trenches," h< added, " but now I have the feeding that I see Him often."

Mtn?j talk has 'been occasioned by the eont'ovensy as to whether the angeis appr:ared to out men or not at Mous. My own view is very simple. I ask: Iβ

"ic a greater miracle to 'believe t— - .1 thin line of Englishmen could stand up against half a million Germans than to believe that God and His holy angeJs would not support in their direst hour men who were fighting for so u6ly and righteous a. cause as the deliverance ot the weaker nationalities of Europe? Our soldiers say that they saw the angels; there is not the slightest doubt that the Germans saw them too. A frien<i of mine overheard a conversation between an EngKsh. and a G-erman the .latter a prisoner, both of whom had fought at Mons. The Englishman eaid: "I never saw them." The German replied: "I saw them. We felt that the whole battlefield was lined with British soldiers brought together by some miraculous agency, and that it was hopeless to destroy you." A scene in a Church Army recreation hut is thus depicted by one of our earnest warriors: "At one end three young men are sen-ing soldiers with hot refreshments; at the other end before a little cross surrounded -with tiny vases filled with. Sowers men are praying—food for the body tetng dispensed at the samu tim&jLS- food for the soul. I speak to- a lonely-looking Tommy. He tellfr mc #iat he has left his home, his wife and his litOe children. I .remember his words ■werer~l have been a great fool. I wonder if you can put mc on the right lines. I have given a wrong name. I never enlisted in my proper name. In a tit ot anger I went away from. home, and i have' not heard since how those dependent on mc - are. I have a dear soul of a mother who I know is breaking her heart over mc; I am married to-the best -little woman a man ever" Rnew,"¥nd-ymi would be proud to have such children as have been given to me.' So he pours out his heart to toe and I think it ie pood thai a man's better feelings shonld ■thus rise "triumphant. - incident ends happily. I "am able to put him in touch with the chaplain. His name is made right; Be hears .from his wife and children and his mother, and to-day that man is not only a grand soldier but a very- happy one." Do you wonder that men possessed ot -sach moral qualities furn reaifilv. to- religion? I am rrot worrying aiout the man at the front; I am worrying about the people at home. The country- -has got to make itself worthy ef them, to set them an example in religions feeling Here we stiil ■have drink troubles and the scandal ot tile night crabs.- Only religion. will get »£■ through to Berlin, but it must be religion not peculiar to any one class of the community, tat to the whole country.

FRAGMENTS OF THOUGHT. I believe that a long step toward pub, lie morality will have been taken when ■Bine are; called by their _right_names;4- - Billy-Srniday. "~ The carpet in front of the mirroiß of some of you people is "ftorn threadbare, while at the side of youried, where you -should" kneel in prayer, it ie oe. .good as tiHTday you put if down.—Billy.Sunday. You can exhaust the cup,"or .drain the goblet dry, but you cannot exhaust the spring fed from the deeps. And ■just because the words of Jesus Christ -spring from "the depths of that Divine humanity, they 'will save an.d strengthen the obedient heart to" the last recorded syllable of time.—Gr H. Morrison. - "God is able to-make all grace abound -toward you"—there is the fountain. "That ye. always, having , all-sufficiency in all things "—there is the basin that .receixes the gush from the fountain. '"~3lay abound in every good work"— .there is-the stream that eoines from the basin.—Alexander Maelaren. . -Soareh - the. 6cri-ptures! Most people read aimlessly—and tliat "is no " search. If we read school books U3 carelceely as we. read the Bible, looking for nothing, ■we should never paes an examination. Read the word of God "with a. purpose— fo know more about God, Christ, man, human life, the way to,power and 6crvicd. ' Seek guidance, cany/ in reading. There are books enough. • - Persevere, even if results do not manifest themselves all at once.—Ecv. R. P. Anderson. The Bible fits all moods, bat it yields its treasures only to those that think it •worth their while to dig for them. We need to saturate the mind with its truths; read ite books over .and over - Choose a book, say,. to begin -with, the Gospel by John, and read it half a dozen times in the cdirme of a week or ten days. It will appear like a new book. Master the contents of the books in this way, and then study the iphrasee, the lessons, the suggestions.— Eev. R. P. Andereon. CHTJKCH NSWS AlO>-NOTES. The Eev. F. Warner assumes ehaxgo at Beresford Street Congregational Church, Auckland, to-morrow, for the ensuing six months. .-. .. .. : Until we harp international, honour accepted, there can be no international peace," remarked the Bishop of London m a recent sermon, during the course «rf •which he eaid: " I do not envy neutrals." The Bey. A. N. BlatcSiford vras for 49 years in charge of Ix>wijis Mead Unitarian Church,. Bristol. Upon his retirement he thanked the church for 49 years of unruffled peace and hftrmony with liberty to preach his sincere convictions.

An evidence of the good work done by Dr. Barnardo's Homes is that over 2,000 old boys are serving in the Annv and Navy at the present time. AJ -grand total of 81,200 children have passed! through the Homes since the first estab-] lishment was opened by Dr. Barnardo, in ZS66. All the workshops of Barnardo's Homes hare been placed at the disposal of the ilinister for Munitions. ■ ■ Preaching at Bow Church, Cheapside, Oanon Masterman -said <the-drvine- intervention came when men 'had honestly done their best. It "was a mockery to pray to God for success if they did not put forth all their energy, A gQod old rule was: Pray as if everything depended upon-God; -wort us if everything depended upon you. They should never allow prayer to become a substitute for human effort." At a recent meeting of the Society -for Promoting Christian Knowledge, it was, stated, by the bishop" of .Kyu-SKiu that, although, in Japan.. there '■wore only 120,000 Christians, counting "all "bodies, yet the whole nation were capable of acting according 'to Christian ideas, and their loyalty to those allied with them was a mighty force working far righteousno.=s. The S.P.CiK. might well be called tbe mother of the hifant Churches there. The Abbe Foulon, vicar at Starfeir, n Flanders, is the fiftieth Belgian priest murdered by the Germans. The excuse given in this particular case was tliat Abe Foulon had actod as a franc-tireur. According to evidence given at the Bolgian Commission of Inquiry, the Abbe Foulon, with some others, had taken refuge in the Presbytery cellar behind his church, when soldiers knocked at the door. The abbe opened it, when he was shot dead. Dr. Newell Dwight HilHs, pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, Henry Ward Beecher's former charge, has completed the payment of a debt of £20 000 which he was not legally bound to pay but for which he felt he was .morally responsible. The dobt was caused by the failure of a lumber company managed by Dr. HUlk nephew, in which many persons invested because Dr Hi is was a. large stock-holder. Dr JMlis has earned much of the money by literary work. 3 " At more than one big Church gathering a prominent speaker has been- Dr. G. R. Parkin, C.M.G., well known as the organising representative of the Rhodes Scholarship Trust, and an author and lecturer on "Imperial Federation " says the ' Christian World." His speeches are clear. Concise, and candid. At two recent meetings he has spoken out" forcibly with regard to the conditions obtaining'before the war, and asked. '-Can we honestly say we did not need the drastic lesson -we are being taught to-day P After the war, he says, we snail have about a quarter of the world under' oiir" flag, ' and if this does not convince us of the heed of greater missionary effort, nothing will. Dr. Parkin is an enthusiastic temperance advocate, and one of the most prominent supporters of the C.E.M.S. The doctor has visited Australia and New Zealand.

Count- yon Rodern, tho Secretary of State for Alsace-torraine, j e gravely concerned that a number of Catholic priests in Lorraine and in the Frenchspealing districts of Alsace have omitted to fly the German flag from their church . tQW.ers on -the occasion of" victories of the German armies, and wheii an official notification of these victoric-s has -been sent to them. Count Rodera has written to the Bishop of stating that he would have preferred to see the clergy .spont&neousy decorating their churches and manses on those occasions when "victory has crowned the Kaiser's armies, but as they have shown some disinclination to accede to the wishes of the authorities in this particular he begs tbe Biahop to see that his clergy fall into line with the Test of the loyal population, and in fnture to beflag their church towera at the news of victory or when the authorities desire them to do so.

"' One of the results of the present war is the dearth of ordination candidates for the ministry, and the closing of many theological colleges belonging to Anglicans and iionconlonniets in England. Jxirge numbers of students from the colleges still open have gone to the war, ,a,nd the problem- "will have to be faced, later on to provide a supply of new ministers. One probable result will be that men who have not been trained in colleges will be ordained. Those who have been. fighting at the front will have learned a. good deal about men which may be of use in the pulpit. The Mission to Lepers in India and the. East relates, in its annual report, _some touching stories of patriotic seff.denial. At - one small asylum the -lepers • collected- - among, themselves -about 5/8 -to buy cloth for bandages for the wounded. At a larger asylom they readily agreed that their allowances should .be so reiluced that the expenses ■were cut down •by. over £3 a month. The lepers at Calicut aTe denying themselves extra rations of meat. There . a.re no-w 4.20Q lepers the mission's .own, asylums, but 11,000 benefit in various ways from ttiis work. A new asylum is being erected in Korea. The evangelistic -work continues to 'be successful, "the mission new counting over 3,600-of its clients as Christians. ■ The -Bishoj: of Carlyle bad-a very vigorous and outspokeu .protest ■ against " Monoply in Religion" in the "Nineteenth Century:" , ~ ""Aβ ' the spirit" ofmonopoly contrives to intrude itself into religion, -whether in the form- of exclusive validity of doctrine or exclusive validity of sacraments, the wars ol churches can., never cease," says the Bishop., "Even.the Incarnation of God carmpt bring" peace except among men of good-wjlk_aad_mgnopoly in all its forms is the foe of good-will. If the Church of England decides to stand for monopolies (and the promotion of Charles the First, the misguided royal monopolistic.. a place in hej Calendar of Saints is n deplorably ominous sign), then must she prepare for the consequences, for Nemesis dogs {he actions of churches as surely-, as of individuals. Churches can choose their coxuise, "Trat'.'fhey cannot"'cnoQse the consequences of their choice. These are inevitable, inexorable.. And... ever drag the miseries of disruption, revolution, and dissolution in their train. A monopoly -which'claims: a. Bole validity in wil be resisted 'unco' death by all who.beEeve in tbe"abe'6liit4. freedom of the even of thoso who dearly love the-ChTtrch of England, and would willingly -givd their lives for it, will never submit to the substitution of the authority of the Church for the dominion of the Christ, or to tlfe appropriation of the blessed sacraments of His Gospel, as a monopoly of any Church, however ancient or venerable.