RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 192, 15 August 1925, Page 22

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

i PRESENT DAY OUTLOOK.

(Contributed). ---.WARDEN OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE. The esteem in which the vicar of St. Michael and All Angels', Wellington (the Eev. A. W. Payne, M.A.), is held by Ma parishioners was evidenced, when upwards of 200 assembled recently for the purpose of bidding him farewell on the eve of his departure to take up the appointment of sub-warden and tutor at St. John's College, Auckland. The people's churchwarden, paid a high Vibute to the work which Mr. Payne tad performed among them for over _ine years, and said that, though the call of service took their vicar away from them, both he and they could look forward with confidence—their'B born of •heir knowledge of his qualities—the further great service on his part, service (falling for gifts which had been befctowed upon few men as richly as upon felm.

The Bishop of Wellington (Dr. J3prott), speaking for the whole diocese, laid that fortunately they were not losing Mr. Payne, because in going to Bt. John's College he would be working for the Church of the Province of New Zealand, of which the Wellington tllocese was a part. Aa Bishop, he (wished to express to Mr. Payne his own gratitude and appreciation of the entire land absolute loyalty which he had always experienced from him. Mr. Payne showed this specially as his je—amining chaplain and as the editor of "The Church Chronicle," which he had taade the best of the diocesan papers in New Zealand. (Applause.) He was Jeaving behind him a most beautiful Church, the beauty of which they knew (was due chiefly to Mr. Payne's exquisite taste. So much was this the case that Ihe hoped when the church was completed those responsible would take the Utmost care to follow out most closely fehe lines Mr. Paynt had laid down, so |hat the church wonld retain its great peanty and dignity. (Applause.) Since (pir. Payne was leaving them there was |io work which he would sooner see him {lake up than that to which he was going. So long as St. John's College was under the control and teaching of two such men as Canon Tisdall and Mr. frayne, he would always have perfect confidence in accepting any students recommended from there, because they would receive from those in chaTge a wholesome, sane, healthy, and manly Christian training. They all wished Mr. Payne the richest blessings in the new work for which he was so eminently knitted. (Applause.) Mr. Payne said he was only leaving ibecause he felt that the work here would not suffer, and he could do fcetter work for the Church as a whole bt St. John's College.

DEAN INGE IN AMERICA.

On his arrival in New York the Dean of St. Paul's (Dr. Inge) was cornered by thirty reporters. Asked what he thought about Prohibition, he replied, "I shall only he here about three weeks." This retort he later amplified by saying that it was fiurely a domestio question on which a oreigner is wise to hold his peace; but he added: "Cold water, with which the wild asses quench their thirst, is a dismal beverage for human beings." When an over-bold reporter asked: "Are you the ecclesiastical crape-hanger of England?" the answer came, "I neither affirm nor deny." He said he was a constitutional monarchist, but it was not true to say he had written harsh things about American democracy. "I think," he added, "that two of the greatest achieve, ments in political history are the American Constitution and the British Government.'' Liberalism in the Church he declined to discuss other than to express the view that liberals should be allowed to be liberal, so that both sides might be heard. Some questions he parried with great skill, but one he answered with emphasis: asked what values he had to offer, he replied: "I am a humble disciple of Plato. His values were eternal: goodness, truth % beauty—the aspects in which the Deity is revealed to man." Preaching in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, the Dean took as his text the words, "For unto whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required," he pointed out the unique privileges and responsibilities with which America had been entrusted." "The last great war," said he, "almost wrecked European civilisation. Another year of fighting would have rent it beyond recovery." Amid a stillness felt throughout the cathedral he declared—"Europe looks to America to save it from the fcnenace of another war. If America does not like the League of Nations, she ought not to rest until she has put something better in its place. If you do nothing but look on in selfish isolation, will you not hear God saying, 'What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Mc from the ground.'" CLERICAL ELOCUTION. The suggestion made recently at Westminster by Mr. Arthur BnrrelL a former principal of the Borough Road Training College, that women should be occasionally invited to read the lessons in church is not likely to be adopted in view of the strenuous opposition which is being manifested in England to any proposals for allowing women to take part in the services of the church other than singing in the choir. Mr. Burrell has been led to make the proposal owing to the poor reading of many of the clergy. The fact must be admitted Very few clergy receive adequate training „ elocution and voice management- a Jarge number never receive any training (it aIL Why this should be so it ii difficult to say. In the Anglican Church |the whole service is read with the exception of such parta as may be rendered by the choir, and therefore it might have been expected that the clergy 0 f this church would receive proper instruction in what is one of their main duties. But no one who has attended any number of Anglican churches will Bay that the reading of either tho prayers or the lessons is in most cases at all worthy of the beautiful English of the Prayer Book and the Authorised Version. There are passages in the Bible, notably David's lament over Absalom and St. Paul's defence in the Acts, which lend themselves to the very finest reading, and yet both these and other almost equally impressive passages are frequently read in the same tone of voice that an auctioneer's clerk might adopt in reading a list of goods for ea i o . Tho church service is thus jobbed of one of Its main charms and the full meaning hnth of _M» prayers and tha lessons I j* «_«& » PkTU *-«"* *a

amount of teaching will make an inspired reader. Really good readers are born and not made. But training could remove most of the main defects which are so noticeable at present, and it would at least give voice management and a certain measure of right emphasis. Canon Ainger was in his time accounted the best reader In England, and crowds used to go to the 'Temple or Bristol Cathedral when it was known that he was going to read the lessons. His fame as a preacher was largely due to the manner in whioh he read his sermons. Reading them in book form, one is inclined to wonder sometimes at the great reputation he enjoyed in the pulpit. But those who heard him preach recognised that one of the main charms of his preaching lay in the exquisite intonation of his voice and the emphasis he placed on important words and phrases. We may be quite sure that many churches would be far better attended than they are if the prayers and lessons were better read. Over and over again the solemnity of a service has been marred, or at least robbed of its full emphasis, by the meaningless manner in which it has been rendered. Womn ac often better readers than men because they are more sympathetic and able to enter more readily into the pathos and the charm of the written word. There seems no reason why they should not be allowed to read the lessons, except prejudice. They could hardly read them worse than they are often read now, and it is highly probable they would read them better.

THE CHURCH'S GOSPEL. In a fine address as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in England, Dr. R. C. Gillie said: The Church is entrusted with a Gospel, and a Gospel is, in the first place, "Good news," not "Good advice." God in the heart of man; God in the world, shaping it t neither shut up in the world as a prisoner, nor shut out of the world as an exile; God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. "He must reign until He hath put all things under His feet: God all in all"; —that is a Goßpel of inexhausviuie content and scope; that is the Church's Gospel, however unfaithful to t. —o may bo at times. There is no other. It is no idle boast to say so. I here is no other. The alternatives rise and fall, come and go, none of them can stand. The latest of all alternatives, "the life force," obscurely struggling into something of which it is unaware, and of which we, its products, more discerning than itself, are unassured —that is not a gospel, for it has no purpose, having no personality. It may call for heroism, it cannot inspire hope. No, if hope is to abide for men and for mankind, it must be lit at the sacred hearth which the Church guards and cherishes, the hearth on which burns the fire from heaven, the fire of the love of God. The Church is guardian of all the hope there is, and it is sulucient _ope —hope with splendour, lit by God, cherished by God, and, one day, to be consummated by God..

CURRENT NOTES. Laßt year Bishop Newton admitted the eighth Papuan to Holy Orders, and the report comes from Melanesia that several whites and natives were ordained to the diaconate and priesthood during the year; in fact, our native clergy now outnumber our white.—"Church Standard" (Sydney).

At the close of his visit to New York, Sir Henry Lunn will travel with Lady Lunn round the world through the British Dominions, and has been asked by Mr. Amery, the Colonial Secretary, to speak to the churches especially on the necessity for welcoming and caring for immigrants from the Home Country.

Among the reports from overseas lately received by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, one encouraging feature is noticeable—the increase in the number of native priests and deacons. During the past year six native priests were ordained in Blpemfontein diocese, two priests and three deacons in the diocese of St. John's, Eaffraria; four priests and three deacons in North China, and two priests and one deacon in Labuan and Sarawak. Of the last, the deacon was the first of his race— he is a Sea Dyak—to be ordained.

Interest centres round the series of Leadership Talks at present being conducted by Rev. E. P. Blamires, general secretary of the Young People's Department of the Methodist Church. Similar series have been conducted at other centres of the Dominion, and have proved very successful. They have been arranged by the New Zealand Methodist Bible Class Movement, and are part of the campaign instituted by' the movement in order to help Bible class leaders and boys' workers to face many of the difficulties' which confront them at the present day. The first talks have been held the last two Thursdays at the Pitt Street Church, and will be followed by others at regular intervals.

Dealing with the training of leaders in the Church in a sermon preached in Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, the Rev. J. O. Carlile, D.D., said: "It may bo desirable for the Church to discuss questions of ordinaceous authorisation, and sacraments, but all these leave the average man cold. They do not belong to the things that make for our life; the great problems are always questions of life; they are matters of experience." He said later: "It is not enough that the Churches should support the League of Nations to abolish war. The Church is the League of Nations. The teachings of Jesus, fully apprehended and honestly applied, would make war impossible, would settle the conflicts between Capital and Labour, would sweep away the three million one-roomed tenements that disgrace our great cities, and would abolish the evils of lust and drunkenness, root up the deeper sins, the lust of money, the pride of position, and the glorification of aelf."

"When Jesus Christ came into the world he did not write a book—he founded a definite society, with its own definitely appointed officers and ritual," said Archdeacon Hawkins in the course of a sermon in St. Paul's Church last bunday morning. "Having formed that body, he instructed it and sent it forth "?'** ble3 . sin S f or itself, but a rTrfc. *%*&**» of m * blessings to the world. If we are not willing to recognise the fact that we do not fxist Go r d OU Th e e ™ are no SeSte' 0-od. The Church does not exist for the benefit of the Church, although all organisations and congregations are in danger of forgetting that. A a B oon as a church or congregation focusses upon itself and forgets its purpose, it misses the mark. We want to remember more and more, in these days when another phase is being emphasised, that the Church was not founded for the service of ourselves, but for others. If we know what God's will is, and do not do it, then God's will is not dope. If the body will not function properly then wf come abort of what God. Intended ps/i