NOTES IN PASSING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 153, 30 June 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOTES IN PASSING.

A text: "Trust in the Lord. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Eest in the Lord and wait 'patiently for Him."—■ David., Wise sayings: "Success is. due less to ability than to zeal." "Never strike sail to a fear." "The soul of all improvement is the improvement of the soul." "If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noticing them in others." Trinity Church, New York, is probably the richest church in the world, Its- annual, revenue- amounta to about 130,000 dollars, and its total assets to 14 million dollars. It supports eight churches and chapels, and gives £30,000 a year to. educational and missionary .work. Its donations to charities per year amount, it is said, to something like £50,000. Here is an indication of the influence for good of Christian missions. Two large granite stones are to be seen in Fiji on which the brains of those taken in cannibal raids used to be dashed. The last time this was done was in 1807, when a missionary was murdered and eaten. A Carnegie library now stands close to the spot, and 93 per cent of the Fijians can read and write. They are mostly Methodists. Speaking at a public meeting in Birkenhead (England) some time ago on "The Sovereignty of God in the Physical Universe," a professor (H. G. Wood) remarked that "We do not believe in a God whose existence ie only inferred from the universe as interpreted by physical science. Our faith rests on more intimate experiences than the data of natural science. The sinner saved by grace makes contact not with Theism, but.with God." An important Hungarian newspaper, "Pester Lloyd," had a leading article some time ago on the present state of religion in Eussia. The writer refuses to accept the view that the Christian faith will ever be banished from Eussian soil. He eays that a wave of religious enthusiasm is carrying with it thousands of young intellectuals and technical students, who are seeking refuge from Bolshevist- materialism and from the epidemic of suicide that is troubling Russia, in the bosom of a "new, virile, humane and joyous Russian Christianity." He adds that the Soviet rulers are powerless against the movement. Dr. J. D. Jones, in an article on anthems in the "Christian World" of January 11, quotes a humorous remark of Dr. Bevan in the grounds of Parkin College, Adelaide, some yeare ago; about starting a new denomination. On being asked what the new denomination's characteristics and principles were to be, he replied: "First, it will have no anthems." There are many churchgoing people whom one hears complaining of the weariness of hearing the same anthems sung , over and over again, week after week. They will doubtless echo Dr. Jonee' •emark that "a vast amount of poor and trashy stuff is sung—especially at anniversaries." Aβ he also says, the anthem can be made a great aid to worship "when well and reverently sung," but if it cannot be well sung it had better be left alone.