RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 76, 29 March 1924, Page 18

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT DAY OUTLOOK.

(Contributed)

APPLIES CHRISTIANITY. In his address at Winchester Cathpdnil on the occasion of his enthronement, Bishop Woods dealt with applied Christianity and said: This great church has seen many coronations of kings, many enthronements of bishops. To-day lam enthroned; placed, that is, officially, in a, position of responsibility and power. But in a true tensf, surely, when a bishop is enthroned his people are enthroned with him lie represents the whole Society of Christ, and the whole society, if it is true to . : is purpose, is in a position of responsibility and of power. Certainly the responsibility is clear enough. "Ye sire the salt of the earth." "Yβ nro the light of the world." Was there over a period when that salt and that light were more des|:e:':ilely needed'/ Two words, I think, can adequately describe the world's need in these dilUe:ilt (lavs. .Applied ClirielJanity. Wo hold the faith of Christ. 'J he New Testament enshrines it. Tht elercry teach it. But it is the responsibility of the whole family circle to Ppply it in the conditions of those latter daye, and on the largest scale of international affairs, as well as in those more domestic and personal aspects of life with which it is more commonly associated. The League of Nations may not be that- perfect instramret which -we "hope it may become but to the principle of Fellowship that lies behind it we are committed, as Christ's people, for it is simply the application of our faith to those relationships of nations which men have sometimes supposed were outside the scope of tiny moral principle. The earns is true of our industrial affairs. Wβ hare not yet discOTered the perfect Way of friendship between those who contribute the brain and the money and the labour which are all of them indispensable elements in any economic enterprise. But we know full well the foundations on which alone such a fellowship can be permanently built, for they are embedded in our faith.

I come to you at a time of grave anxiety. Europe is far from settled. England is on the eve of political developments —experiments —whose issue no man can foresee. How different were the circumstances •when the last enthronement took place within these historic walls. It was a pre-war world. It was the close of an era of peace and prosperity unparalleled in the history of our land. It was the time when men talked glibly of progress without either defining its meaning or counting its cost. Now we are disillusioned. Wβ have passed through the earthquake and the fire, and the question is: Are we prepared to listen to the still small voice? Are -we ready to realise that in affairs, whether of nations or of classes, it is the moral and spiritual with which, at bottom, we have to reckon? And here it is that the call comes to the Church, a call more pressing, more pathetic, more desperate than any we have known, for it comes from a world which is at the end of its tether." AW EPISCOPAL ULTIMATUM. It is an -ultimatum "which means war or complete capitulation of those who are in tho opposing camp," says the New York "Evening World" of Bishop W. T. Manning's recent reply to the challenge of the Episcopalian Modernists in which the New York Bishop asserts that there can be no compromise on the "facts" of the deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, and the other expressions of faith in the Apostles' Creed. "The historical significance of this sermon can be more accuratly appraised a few years hence," continues "The Evening World"; "but it requires no special gifts of foreeight to understand that the declaration belongs to history." The declaration is Bishop Manning's detailed and considered rejoinder to the attack made by the liberal element in the Episcopal Church on the Bishops who signed the famous Dallas pastoral. It contains his solemnly recorded belief that on the facts of the creed hangs the very fabric of Christianity; if they are not true, then Christianity is not true. As there can be no conciliation between views so widely divergent as those held by the Modernists and the Conservatives, the militant New York Bishop's reply contains more than a hint that the door is open for the doubters to go. The Apostles' Creed is the Gibraltar upon which Bishop Manning stands. It should be always borne in mind, he says, as his sermon is quoted in New York press reports, that the issue involved is not liberty of conscience or freedom of thought. "There is no restriction upon the conscience or the liberty of any of us. Each one of us is free to follow the truth as he sees it and to follow it wherever it may lead him." In times past there have been questions of lesser moment, but those before us now, says the Bishop, "touch the very soul and centre of our faith as Christians. They relate to the person of our Divine Lord Himself, His supernatural birth, His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven." TEE CHRISTIANITY OF DEEDS. Preaching on "A Christianity of Deeds" at St Martins-in-the-Fields, the Eev. H. R. L. Sheppard, M.A. said:— "There is, as you know, a crisis in religion to-day. Thank God that is so. The only ages in history where there have been no crisis in religion have been the spiritually dead ages. Whenever the spirit of God breathes upon the souls of men the effect is to awaken the Eonse of a great religious crisis. The crisis to-day in religion turns round the question as to whether Jesus Christ shall be supreme in the life of the Christian Church. It sometimes looks as if the spirit of convention and eecle?iasticism was trying to run iim very close. As things are now Jesus Christ is not Teally supreme." Later on Mr. Sheppard said: "Jf He came aaain, might not even the Churches combine together to persecute Him as a dangeroua fellow, subversive of all ecclesiastical law and doctrine. What kind of a welcome do you suppose He would have in the National Assembly or at the Vatican, or the Free Church Congress, when He spoke of the values of God'i How many would really listen to Him?" YOUTHS' DECISION AGAINST WAE. "War seems to have lost its glamour lor youth, for 7400 student leaders representing 1000 universities, colleges and theological seminaries have decided +hat I l b ?? \ iu fight only if all peaceful efforts I I £* the same time these students, I a i* the ninth quadrennial I vS i convention of the Student rSw i loyelnent ™ Indianapolis, ■ a formula, agamst war which presents

no departure from that now prominently before the public. Some criticism is directed against the "youngsters" for having ventured judgment on a question of national policy. On the other hand, the young prophets are not without honour in their own country.

The statement which was approved as embodying the sentiment of the huge gathering declares: "We believe that war is un-Christian, and that the League of Nations ia the best means of preventing it, but we would resort to war in case an unavoidable dispute had been referred to the League or World Court without successful settlement." This viewpoint was selected by the convention from four presented by student speakers, embodying every shade of opinion, from endorsement of prepared-rr.-s to out-and-out pacifism. On a shov? of hands it received about 6000 votes. The declaration for preparedness as the best preventive of war received the votes of approximately 300 delegates, and the statement sanctioning absolute j.i-.clnsni was supported by about 500 delegates. A statement which urged education against militarism, and said that non-resistance is now impracticable, received about 4000 votes.