RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 22

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT DAY OUTLOOK. (Contributed.) 1 15 THE WORLD GETTING BETTER OR WORSE 1 i The Rev. L. B. Dalby, of the Pitt Street Methodist Church, speaking on the question "1? the World Getting Better or Worsen" came to the conclusion that our world is getting better and not worse. Since the coming of Jesus there have been vast changes in the peoples of this world, and yet human nature is the same. But the thing that we call civilisation is in many ways a mighty improvement on the past. Take the child-life of the world, for instance. When was it that children had the care and consideration they have to-day? There is a widespread anger when the sufferings of little children are heard of in anv land. We hate to hear of cruelty to them, of any kind, and students of every nation concern themselves, whatever" the colour, that human kindness should prevail. It is so, too, with the life of women. Who was the best Friend women ever had? The foremost nations of to-day are the nations that protect, and guard the life of their women and . children.

A Spiritual Epoch Awaits Us. So it is with the treatment of the men and women who do the rough, hard work of the world. The miner was found out to be a wonderful man in the war, and so was the road-maker. The dust-man is of more use than the mere ornament of society. Who can say of any age before ours that this was so! Think of it, this revelation of the burdenbearer. All statesmen of repute are for a fuller, freer, nobler life. Behind the turbulence, tumult and turmoil of this tremendous age is there not something of the spiritual! In the fiercest protests of our age is there not a yearning for a better world! Dare we think so? Maeterlinck has it somewhere, "A spiritual epoch awaits us," tad in the heart of the worst of us there is something like that which is in the heart of the best of us. Time is ample. We move on. The scientist is not the materialist he was. Often the scientist strikes one as being more spiritual than the priest. The chemist and the astronomer are wonderful. Their work causes Mr. Blatchford even to say, "Let us give the soul a chance!" Sir Oliver Lodge is described as one of the greatest spiritual l personalities of our time.

A Mightier Congregation. Amidst the horrors of the war, the Red Cross glowed amidst the gloom and smoke of it all. It is not unusual to hear the name of -Brother Lawrence on the lips of the most unlikely people. He lived in the "Presence of God." He wrought there, too. As Lord Haldane puts it in the "Conduct of Life," "To' those who are worth most there comes home early in life the conviction that, in the absence of a firm hold on what abiding, life becomes a poorer and poorer affair the longer it lasts. And this only sense of what is abiding is the sense of the reality of what is spiritual—the constant presence of God, who is not far away in the sides, but is here within our hearts and minds." So much for philosophy. Perhaps then in our abased age there is a mightier congregation than we can imaging represented by a handful of "Greeks" who came to a disciple of the Master's—that supreme Genius m religion, and said, "Sir, we would see Jesus." It may be so. This is all for the better!

CONGREGATIONAL SINGING IN

CHURCH.

At a meeting for religious art in Paris, Abbe Debout, who, with Henri Elie, will shortly publish a HymnBook, spoke about his opinion of congregational singing in church. He wishes to keep this singing clear of all that is bombastic, of all superfluous embellishment of 6tyle, he wishes the hymns to be plain, fitting the dogma, suitable to touch the mind and heart of the lese educated. Such hymns can easily be found among the old French popular hymns. Abbe Debout was able to have several such hymns sung to the audience and thua to support" his theoretical explanations very effectually. Henri Potiron, bandmaster at the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur and Professor at the Gregorian Institute, spoke on the same theme. He especially emphasised the importance of the congregation singing together at the celebration of Holy Mass, and expressed the wish that the clergy might make more and more use of eoqgregatioqal singing to concentrate the attention of the people more upon the liturgical ritual on the altar; excellent results for art as well as for religion would certainly result.—"The Month."

THE AVERAGE MAN AND THE PRATER BOOK.

"The average man hates the idea of anything like standardisation in the Church. He believes in' allowing as much liberty as possible for varieties of religious expression. He revolts from the discipline of the drill sergeant. On the other hand, he does not think the riot of extremes a legitimate exercise of liberty. He wants freedom and discipline combined* a comprehensive Church which, just because it is comprehensive, is sparing in the use of labels," writes "Optimus" in the "Westminster Gazette." "Eor that reason the average man is inclined on the whole to support the revised Prayer Book. He feels that the Bishops have done remarkably well in an extremely difficult situation, and that a good deal of the criticism Is of the wrecking variety. At the same time there is in the background of his mind a dim suspicion that some of the thing? about which rival parties grow so heated to-day are not among the weightiest matters of real religion?'

At a conference between representatives of the National Council of Free Churches in England and those of trade associations, the following report was agreed upon:—"The representatives of the trade associations strongly deprecated the soliciting of goods from shopkeepers or manufacturers for sale at .bazaars, especially where a suggestion of boycott was used in support of the demand, and the representatives of the churches agreed that, from the standpoint of Christian ethics, this must be condemned. The representatives of the churches and the trade associations regard as unfair to shopkeepers undercutting of prices at bazaars, and all "were in agreement that direct giving is preferable to trading methods in ecclesiastical finance. At the same time there he no objection to the sale of. JrtKfes of for <*urch pw-