CURRENT NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

CURRENT NOTES.

In Danish churches it is the custom for , the congregation to remain seated dur- . ing the singing of the hymns. The late Mr. Jost, of Guysboro, Canada, left £50,000 to the Bible Society of that Dominion, for colporteurage work in that country. The minister of an Edinburgh rtiurch told his congregation at a recent social meeting that there was so much harmony between tb« members of session, that during his 1? years ministry with them, they had not once had recourse to a vote in the conduct of business, "The devil has his own trade union," said Dr. Thomas Phillips, president of the National Free Church Council when speaking recently at Plymouth. _He added: "The only way we can fight it is to have in Christ's Church a federation of all its forces." One of the two or three most remarkable churches in Scotland is St. John's Presbyterian Church, Perth. It was built early in the 12th century, and is, , now over 800 years old. It is described by Scott in his "Fair Maid of Perth." It has just been restored as a memorial to the men of the county and city who died in the Great War. Dr. James Black was the preacher on the occasjon of the 73rd anniversary of the Congregational Church, Bournemouth, of which Dr. J. D. Jones is the senior minister. At the evening service he remarked that a church had far more to do with the making of a minister, than the minister had to do with the making of the church. There were some churches in which he would defy the Apostle Paul himself ,to preach. Speaking of cathedrals, the Dean of Peterborough said recently that they had been described as alms houses for elderly gentlemen of indefinite opinions, content to maintain a traditional cycle of services, in attendance upon which they were themselves not too assiduous, and' the relation of which to reality it was not easy for the uninitiated to perceive. x Mr. T. A. Edison, states Bishop William F. Anderson in "Zion's Herald," said to him: "The Christian people of this country should get together and formulate a code of morals upon " which they could agree, founding it upon the Saviour's Sermon on the Mount. This would help to take religion out of the realm of unreality and relate it in a more practical way to the everyday life and concerns of the people." Mr. Basil Matthews, M.A., in an article on "Currents in the Life of the World's Youth," says: "A fresh alignment of life is called for. Should not tlio churches now address themselves to a closo examination of their own presentation of Christianity to youth; their educational equipment; their grasp of their own faith; and set themselves to a fresh presentation of the eternal verities in terms that will- carry conviction 'to and will, at least, reach the ears of the youth of the world to-day —terms that he can understand and must, then, either accept or reject for ' himself