RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 25, 29 January 1921, Page 14

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

CTTXTRCH NEWS AN~D NOTES. The Kor. K. n. Wcston. of the Raptist Tabernacle. Tauranga, has rcf'neil a call , 1 >uucdin. I , _ Tlie Key. W. TYnnk Browning, who j perved throujrh ihe «ar in the. U.A.M.C.,! rrrirt entered upon :'. shiirl course at 1 College jircpareiory to j into the Melanesion Mis-ion work. I T)r. Elliott C.riflis. who addre-tßed the] Pilfrrim Fn titers nipptiitc- ni Boston, is 77, Y\ ar in Aini-rii'ii. \n he >j ivp up his • church nnd went in .i.-ipan :'nr four veurs at. the en.l uf the feudal period in dial , has bee:i decidisl to concentrate ill' , j Marisi Fathers in Canterbury nn,l Wei-I linpton. This mean.* the transfer from Oreymouth of the Kcv. Fathers M.--(irntli. Airhrry. LaCroix. and from j Jlokiuka of the T>or. Father Sullivan, j Tho R.'v. Pan Roberts, brother ot Mr. Kvan Roberts, the We! "i tleviva- ; list, ha" been ordained to the full work : of Minister at the Welsh Presbyterian j Association of the I'nited States, held j Jn Wisconsin. A sister. Mr?. Sidney | Kvan?, has gone to Khasia Hills, India. under the auspices of the Welsh CalvanMtio Methodist Missionary Society. Arrarrecments have been completed foj | tli" Rev.'James Fyfe I.auchton. of West- ! port. New Zealand, to Take up the work I of captain of the <iospel ship,! Fukuin Marti. in ssurces«ion to | tho late Captain Luke Uickel. on tho inland sea of Japan. Mr. T.aughton has had experipnee as a marine | engineer, builder, and navigator. He is the son of a missionary and was born in North-West China 32 years ago. Dr. Orchard, preaching at King's j TN'eigh House Chapel, state 1 that in his i view. Nonconformity was in some dan- i ger lest it-- central tires be cooled | through being so widely spread in the attempt to warm everybody. Catholics on the other hand, always insisted that lowever wide were the Church's bounds, it must have a responsible core. At the same time, he said, in the Catholic : Church there was a great conservation about social reform, and great panic over free thought. The well known Methodist Mission ir. Manchester has just celebrated another moet successful anniversary. Some concern was felt lest the absence of the chief missionor, Rev. S. F. Collier, now in Australia, would prejudicially affect the interest and the contributions. An appeal was made for £3,500, being £500 more than wae asked for the previous year. Extensive repairs to the mission properties—kept back by the war—were imperative; one of the halls needing £1,000 to be spent on it. But in spite of a dense fog in the city, the great Free Trade Hall was crowded at all the anniversary meetincs. Representative Methodists and leaders of other churches took part in the iratherings, and at the end of the day it was announced that they had received more money than was asked for, the sum received being £4,085, instead of £3,500. The question of tho revision of the Prayer Book was mentioned at the Xational Assembly of the Church of Encland. The Bishop of Gloucester said opinions had gTOwn that the law of public worship was too narrow for the present generation. The power of self adjustment should he inherent in a living church. He claimed that additional elasticity was needed. Lord Hugh Cecil expressed the hope that the literary side of tho Prayer Book would receive all due attention. On the motion of Sir Edward Clarke, a committee was set up to consider and report upon the answers of the convocation to the Royal letters of business on the revision of the Prayer Book. A second committee was also set tip to consider and report on the revision of the Psalms and their nee in public worship. The Society for the Ptudv of French Protestant History has established a remarkable museum in a house in the recesses of Cerranne.j. The bnilding was formerly the habitation of Roland, a famous Hujjuenot leader in 1685-1707. The house has been restored and fitted up with furniture of Roland's time, the hearth being piled with logs, and the kitchen fitted with bygone utensils. On the sideboard is the pike which Roland carried in battle, also the sword of his companion, Jean Cavalier, who subsequently went to England and was made Governor of Jersey. Handsome exhibition rooms have been erected outside the house in which are stored paintings and engravings illustrative of events in Huguenot history. There is also preserved a history and collection of the warpings of justice in the case of the unfortunate Callas family, whose defence was so ably taken up by Voltaire in his trenhcant writings. A copy is also in the museum of Napoleon's great proclamation of liberty of conscience. The Rev. n. H. McNeil, Superintendent of the Methodist Mission in Sheffifild. preaching on the subject of had language s.iiu , , "Some were so accustomed to the habit that they hardly knew when they swore. Some, born in wretched RUrroundinsts, accustomed to coarse oaths from their cradle, began Ihemselvc to .blaspheme by following the example of their elders. Such people were not nearly so guilty as those, who. having been brought up in better surroundings, had fallen into this wicked practice. He wished swearers would consider the words they uttered. A minute's thought, would show the folly uf the practice. A common expression need by swearers is. "God damn you."' When a man was annoyed he ofU'ii allowed this oath to defile his lip=. This was t sking God's name in vain, because the man did not mean if. What swearer would like to see •that oath carried out on his fellow? What terrihle trifling with the name of God, askin? Him in thousrlitless anerer to do something not only that He does Tiot wish to do. but something that He never docs. <; O fi never damns a man. Ood's work is mit of damnation, but of salvation. When a man is lost, it is not the n--t uf Cod: it is the act of suicide. God never casts men into hell: they go there of their own nccord. Xμ man goes into the outer darkness except by his own act. Cod never does it. Yet the idea-that He damns men is kept alive chiefly through this ■wicked habit of using profane language. Buch oaths are slanders on the character of God, and help to debase and demoralise the thought of man."