DR. HENSON AND THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 164, 13 July 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

DR. HENSON AND THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL.

REMARKABLE TESTIMONY.

Preaching in Holy Trinity Church, Darlington, the Bishop of Durham (Dr. Henson) said that ninety years ago,, the remarkable religious revival, known as the Oxford Movement, was in the vigour of its first enthusiasm. The strength of the Oxford Movement lay in the fact that it called English Churchmen from the merely subjective and individualistic Christianity, which then prevailed in England, to the half-forgotten article of the Creed, which declares belief in the "Holy Catholic Church," and restored to its rightful prominence that Sacramental worship and ordered discipline, which are integral parts of the Christian religion.

"Christianity," said the Bishop, "is a historical religion. It stands on certain facts, which, like substructures, sustain the weight of the whole edifice of faith. Its distinctive creed is primarily a rehearsal of these crucial and constitutive facts. These are the substance of the Apostolic Witness, and if they were disproved, the foundation of the Christian religion would have given way. The New Testament is the register of the original Apostolic testimony, and fulfils in the Church always the function of a Court of Appeal against traditional developments." Alluding to the discussions of modern churchmen at Cambridge, and the appearance of a remarkable, and, in his judgment, excellent, commentary on the Bible, the Bishop said: "I think' that some of the speakers of the Cambridge conference failed to remember, or, at least, gave no place in their discussions to, the value of the Apostolic Church as authenticating the original witness of the Apostles. "The New Testament is the Church's Book, and can never be rightly so interpreted as to contradict the truth which it was written and compiled to express. The notion that critical scholars can go behind the testimony of the Apostles, and in the twentieth century provide a truer version of the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ than the Apostles, His chosen companions and witnesses, provided in the first, is'altogether unreasonable, and cannot for one moment be entertained. This is certainly not to deny to criticism a legitimate and indispensable function. The critics can help us to understand how the Apostolic testimony, delivered in the first century, ought to be understood in the twentieth century."

CURRENT NOTES. The golden jubilee of the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda was recently celebrated by Bishop Hinsley. There are now 300,000 native Catholics in Uganda. The clergy of St. Mary's, Somers Town (England) are establishing a choir school for boys taken from the mean streets around the church. The intention is to supply St. Mary's with a first,rate choir and the boys with a first rate education, and to help along lads with a vocation to the priesthood. There is only one thing big enough to break down the barriers which divide us, and to unite us together in one great fellowship, and that is the common sacrifice which is entailed by the resolute pursuit,,'joff the one supreme object, of winning the whole world for Christ.— Bishop of St. Albans.

A gathering was held in Berlin to celebrate the 125 th anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Congratulatory telegrams were received from the Berlin Missionary Society, also from the Prussian Bible Society. Appreciative reference was made by Professor Bichter to the way in which the British and Foreign Bible Society had frequently rendered assistance to German missions.

In the course of a sermon on "The Sacrament of Failure," preached at Palmer's Green Congregational Church, the Bev. Joseph Pickthall said: "The only Church worthy of the name is. that which is prepared to accept failure, prepared to go out of existence, rather than compromise the truth which it is her mission to give. If the Churches would study less the effect of preaching —i.e., as to whether it draws folk or not; and more the nature of it—i.e., as to whether it is Christlike, perhaps the Church would , again become a living power. The Church must be prepared to fail, and, when she fails, to make a sacrament of it." .

. Reaching on "The Means and the End" at Highbury Chapel, Bristol, the Rev. Frank Ballard said: "The Church exists to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to set at liberty them that are bruised. It is easy to say this and yet become so intent on" maintaining one's own institutions and balancing Church accounts that the end is almost forgotten. It is especially easy in these days, when old supporters are dying off, and new ones reluctantly coming forward to take their places. But' whenever the congregation becomes more concerned about maintaining itself than serving the community, it loses its reason for existence, and mortification sets in."

The French Council of State has made a rather curious decision as regards religious processions. The cure of _an Ardeche parish, Saint-Georges-les-Bains, had placed before the tribunal an order of the Mayor forbidding processions in the public streets. The Mayor, in defence, declared that the majority of the people in the commune were Protestants, and that a large number of them belong to the Salvation Army, Also, he said, "processions had not taken place for a long time past, and it was only the new parish priest who wanted to revive them. The council would not accept the Mayor s case, and annulled his order as being contradictory to the principle of the liberty of religions authorised m tiie Law of the Separation of Church and State.

A manifesto was issued by the Council of Christian Ministers on Social Questions urging the nation, in deciding for whom to vote at the general election in Britain, to have in mind five questions of paramount importance. The first is international peace, and the manifesto suggests tliat candidates should be asked to pledge themselves "to insist on the reference of all international disputes exce Ption to arbitration or conciliation, ' and when that is secured, to press for a drastic reduction of armaments. Secondly, the' manifesto urges rr j 11 ?, 01 ! 6 iNtense and comprehensive effort to grapple with industrial problems. The third question is slum clearance; the fourth, the continued education of children beyond the of fourteen; and the fifth,'the generaf problem of unemployment. The manifesto was signed by a number of bishops and by many Anglican and Nonconformist clergy.