RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 213, 8 September 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT-DAY OUTLOOK. ''"Contribute!. THE METHODIST CHURCHES. WES LEY AN VOTE FOR T^XION, vn important step forward in i.lie direction of Methodist union was taken recentl;* when the representative session of fh>; Wenleyan Methodist Conference, • j'tiiio; n.t Liverpool, voted by a, great major f<>r union with the Primitive Methodists and the United Methodists. \ll three bodies have now voted in favour of union. An-Enabling B'lll_ is to be promoted in .Parliament., but this will, if passed, not, take effect until 1931, and another vote, with a 75 per cent majority for union, will be necessary before union is fin/illy agreed upon. The Three Stages. Discussing the subject before the \ote at Liverpool was taken, the "Methodist Recorder" observed:— "This year is critical. While last year's conference adopted the report of the committee containing the resolution to approach Parliament for an Enabling Hill, it did riot give the majority of tteventy-tive per cent, which it has determined must l>o secured before it takes the step. It, therefore, directed the committee, enlarged for tlio purpose, to consider whether any method of approach to union can be devised which may lead to greater unanimity. The Blue-Book contains the committee's answer, which is accepted also by the committees of the other Churches, It commends a policy of three stages:— "(1) Proceed at once with the enabling Bill; re-appoint your committee to prepare detailed plans of departmental administration, re-arrangement of district,s and the like; set, up area joint committees to prepare the way of Methodist Union in various [>a,rt3 of the country. "('2) Take the final vote on union in 10.11, the synods of May, 1931, being asked. 'Are you in favour of putting the (Emmling) Bill into operation at the conference of 1031?' The uniting conference to meet in 1932 subsequent to the meetings of the three conferences, 'o eurilirm all preliminary arrangements .'igreed upon by the three separate conferences, and to pre;/are for tho functioning of synod-', conference and departmenfal committees. "i.'i i The first united conference elected under flic new constitution to meet in A Big Majority. Vi, Liverpool (wrote the "Times" correspondent), a delaying amendment, which, if carried, would probably have killed the union owing to the difficulties which it would have created with the Primitive Methodist and United MethudUt, Churches, was moved and seconded ifter the present state of the union scheme hatl been explained on behalf of tiie committee in charge of it by the Rev. E. A. French and Sir Robert Perks. This amendment was rejected by 4tt'J votes to Hit. Tho substantive motion that tho union committee's report be approved was then carried by 482 votes to 77—a majority of 8<(.3 per cent, A third vote of the conference was necessary to authorise the presentation of a Union Knabling Bill to Parliament in the session 1928-29, and this yielded the following figures:—For, 473; against, Go—a majority of 89.5 per cent of the votes given.

The Rev. E. A. French, who, as secretary of the Wesleyan committees in charge of the union negotiations, moved the adoption of the report of the committee's proceedings during tho past year, said I lie task committed to them after the insufficient majority at the lrst conference was to consider whether any method of approach to union could bo devised which would tend to a greater degree of agreement. A larger proportion of "the other side" was introduced into the committees, and the utmost liberty of suggestion was allowed, and a sub-committee considered the proposals made, with the result that agreement began to appear. Thereupon the scheme was re-drafted, and as re-drafted was admitted by everyone present to be a reasonable and just settlement, except that one member asked for an addition, since granted. The revised draft was adopted by both the representative and the ministerial Wesleyan committees, und was then sent to the united executive. There the representatives of the other two churchea considered that the contemplated delay was a grave disadvantage; but when it became apparent that there was a real attempt to sccure agreement inside the Wesleyan Methodist Church the other Churches agreed to adopt the revised draft and to waive certain concessions for which they had asked. The united executive then adopted the proposals by 154 votes to Hi, and subsequently the two Wesleyan committees met to prepare tHeir present report to the conference and the new proposals were adopted by both committees with only three dissentients. The Procedure. These proposals were the result of an agreement, to which the outstanding Jead'Ts of both sides, for and against union, were parties. The Primitive Methodist Conference had adopted the revised seht.me by 175 votes to 22 and the United Methodist Conference by 274 votes to 10, and of the foreign missionaries of tho three Churches, 87 had written supporting tho proposals and only li\e against them. Explaining the procedure to be followed in the next live years in making the approach to the union of the three Churches, Mr. French said the amalgamation of departments and the codifications of regulations would be achieved largely through the formation of area committees representative in the different districts of the three Churches. I'he stoppage of competitive chapel and school building in the new residential areas would be involved. Sir Robert i'erks seconded, and said the days of talking about union were over and the days of action had now come. Referring to the change® necessitated by the revised scheme in the Enabling Bill to be presented to Parliament, he said a concurrent provisional order would have to be obtained in the Scottish Courts to effect in Scotland the objects of tho Enabling Bill for England and Witlos; but Ireland had moved more rapidly than Great Britain and had already secured the necessary legislation from the Parliaments of both tile Butt and northern Iralud. j

The chief argument of the mover of the delaying amendment, Councillor Harold Jackson, was that agreement on Methodist union did not exist and never had existed in the Wesleyan Church, and that there was no mandate for it. Still he would be content to stand or fall by the result of an appeal to the members, and if the vote was for union his opposition would drop, BLACK MAN'S RESURRECTION. Britain's most travelled bishop (Dr. , John Taylor Smith) returned from a visit to Sierra Leone of which he was bishop from 1897 to 1901 (says the "Bath Chronicle") He is well known to exsoldiers a3 the former Chaplain-General. He went, to Africa last month to conduct the centenary celebrations of Wt. Georges Cathedral, Freetown. Dr. Smith said that two of his successors in the diocese had died, and the West Coast would never be a place where Europeans could live and bring up families. "It has been called 'the white man's grave,' but I prefer to call it, 'the black man's resurrection,' because of the pioneer work for the natives that hus been done there. The university there showed the way for the other African universities, and last year 300 graduates passed an examination as difficult as those of our universities and under much more difficult conditions. It shows that black brains are as good as white. "To-day tho West Coast of Africa is as civilised as Golder's Green. It presents a strange contrast to me to-day to what it was when I was there. Then we had cannibal tribes in the interior. I remember going to the interior with the Governor, and at a palaver with native chiefs being asked if wo ate 'person.' When we said 'No' we were not believed, "Of course, that has all gone, but I should not like to say that cannibalism has entirely disappeared. There are powerful superstitions attached to it, and I should not be surprised to learn of secret indulgence in it even to-day. "There was a powerful secret society, the Leopard Society. In order to become members natives had to kill a man and tear the fat from round the heart. This was preserved as a talisman. I can remember when three men were convicted for having killed a earner in this way. I had a two hours' talk with them before their execution. One of them said: 'I know we are to be hanged for killing that man. That is all right, but who is going to kill the Governor for hanging us?'" CURRENT NOTES. The Rev. F. A. Bennett, the Bishopelect of Aotearoa, will be consecrated at Napier on Advent Sunda\ (December 2). All the New Zealand bishops are expected to bo present. The Anglican Bishop <•£ Cnristchureb (Dr. West Watson) ha-; accepted an invitation to conduct a "Quiet Hour" for the Synod of tho Auckla ad Diocese in October. I confess T can form ho satisfactory understanding of the process which has led to the creation of matter as we now know it save on the assumption that some Cosmic Artificer has been at work. —Bishop Barnes. While Bishop Sedgwick was visiting Rotorua recently, the Maoris presented him with a case of pipe-, beautifully carved, and Mrs. Sedgwick with a carved bread board, three carved napkin rings and a lovely piupiu. in apprecia- J tion of his wholehearted support of the Maori Bishopric and his devotion to the spiritual welfare of the Maori people.

The Student Christian Movement is going to hold a pre-terminal conference at Cambridge in October at Westcott House. The addresses are to be devotional, and less time than usual is to be given to discussion, because, as the notice says, "we are not going to argue about prayer so much as try to learn how to pray better." The speakers will be "Evelyn Underbill" and the Rev. F. E. Raven (Dean of St. John's).

In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence; for he finds it impossible to imagine that he is the first to have thought out th« exceedingly delicate threads that connect hi» perceptions. The aspect of knowledge which has not yet been laid bare gives the investigator a feeling akin to that of a child who seeks to grasp the masterly way in which his elders manipulate things.—Albert Einstein.

Christianity is a religion, not of social reform but of spiritual regeneration. But though it does not aim primarily at material and social progress, it promotes progress very potently by indirect means. What it calls the Kingdom of God, which, as St. Paul says. Is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy, is a goal both more attainable and better worth having than what the nineteenth century usually means by progress. "The European talks o' progress," said Disraeli, "because by the aid of a few scientific discoverie he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilisation."—Dean Inge.

Several distinguished persons received honorary degrees at Oxford recently on the occasion of the completion of the Oxford Dictionary. But by far the most interesting recipient of a dearree was Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth, Honorary Fellow and first Principal of Lady Margaret Hall. She is the grand-niece of the poet and the daughter of Bishop Wordsworth, of Lincoln, whose Commentary on the Greek Testament still adorns the library of many rectories. She shared all her father's scholarship, theological learning and delight in books. "For nearly fifty years," says a writer in the Oxford magazine, "thirty of which was passed as Principal of the Hall, j Oxford has appreciated her wit and the dazzling diversity of her talents. In her the University honours a woman of genius."

How can we, even if we would, keep pontics out of the pulpit or out of the Uliurch ip these advanced days?" writes tt A]fef rt D- Belden, in the "Daily S?Mll » T r he „ pulpit BhouW lead boldly, not follow timidly. It should give free sanction to every activity calculated to help man in his social relationships. Once that is accepted as part of the preacher's duty and privilege how can a logical mind stop short of politics—man's dealing with his brother man in town life, in rural life, ana in our national and international relationships T Yet we still hear the injunction- ' Keep politics out of the pulpit!' For myself, it is impossible to decide where religion ends and politics begin. The two permeate the whole of life, and are often indistinguishable. No proper man —least of all the Christian teacher— wishes to take back on Monday wuat Jbf Mia on Sunday."