JOTTINGS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12849, 6 July 1907, Page 12

JOTTINGS.

Enplish 'Wrfrlfyin Methodists are in jrood heart at tlio brightening prospects in connect inn with Foreign Missionary income. Tho iri:ort of the senior trensuier shows that the total Homo income for 100'J is £174.222, as against £13:. 101 for KHVi, in inoroa.se of £3°.121. As -a result of this revived intcippt in missionary operations a debt of £15.651 fios hern removed, .Tint a «urn of i - 10.433 left available, for future extension. The collection at the final Exeter Hall meet ing in the morning was £321 l.Js 9:1. at tho Roy*l Airport Hall meeting in the evening CS2i5 I? Id. and at the Women's Auxiliary meeting £212 3e Bd. The total income from all sources amounts to £20?.307. The Ilev. E. IV. Matthews, hole and lienrty after );i>-»ori''-tour in the c«t««-f the B:-iti*h ai:d Foreign Sailors S-.ciety, gave r.n nrootr.t of his travels at tho annual meeting in tK" Mansion Ilonee. I-ionion, la<>t momn. Mr Mstthewe spoke of tho gre.it success of the iSoeif-ty's ntv.]T at tilt* New Zealand E-.-fc'iMtioii, jind told ho-.v. in his eijlit monthe' tour, he hail awakened interest in sailors and their v<t]\-ht?\v<r in Spain, South Africa, A!istrala&in.*"FiM. and tSatidvvich J;>laiwU, C-innda, and th l'nit«i States. In tho last o&untry

Mrs Russell Sago is eroding a eecond Jiiok'h i'aiacti at a cost of over JL'JK).UUiI. l'iie nev. Woslcyan Methodist CJouferem-o is to bo hold thin mouth 111 Wesley s Chapol, City road. Tho President-elect is tb« l{ev. John Simon, littvernor ot tho l)idsl>ury branch ot tho Tiu-olojjical Institution. -Mr iSimon entered thi» ministry in ISG3 lio is a foremost authority on .Methodist law and discipline, and tho author of a standard work on that subject. A vigorous effort is being made with a vii'w of securing a vote in favour of holding the next Conference in York, liio Coniorence. has never yet bwa held in that citr.

An account was given in "Tho Press" ot Juno U'Jnd, of Mr 11. "W. IVrks's scheme of world-wido mututil help for .Methodists. The views of Mr l'«'i"ks liavo iiioiibod respectful con-sidf-ration in many quortere, and especialiy oniony proic&sed uvlhercutb of tho -Methodist Church. On the wholo the criticism has Lkh-ii favourable, and thero soems to bo a disposition to give tho provoeils a fair trial. Tho reniarlvs of Mr Frederick Howard are. brief and e.\pr«**ive:—"The fer-ftecinj; and far-reaching pronosal of Mr l\. \V. l'erk.i. M.1 , ., 1 eonfijently hope will bo cordially welcomed, calmly considered, and event irjliy adopted." A proiuiner.t minister, in reference to Mr Perks'* Transatlantic visit. Bays: —"If tho bishops, older.s. end trading luvinon of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America, and tho Methodist Churches of Canada and Australasia, nccept tho idea ; no human power can hinder its realisation."

A striking illustration, at onco of the direction and oi the p-act? of prctHMiiduy morouiont in tJun&s ie furnished by tlie dunMixl for ci'tH»d rt- ,- vkioa now Ixing iua<l« by both tdvo leadijig eeotMs of Scott i-ih PnvsbyOna of th«> principal topios at tlio Gciipiiil Aeeenvbly of the Olimrclj of Soottand is tho roviaio'n of the formula of suliK'i'i-ption to tho Conitession of Faith. What tho fci'.imr is on t>his enhjec , !'., both in the and tho I'nitod Free Clmrcih, is fiflicn-n, (\vritps tho London "Oiuistian W T orl<I") in the volume jiijt publitJuxi by Oiitrarn n.iul Co., of (ilasgotv, entitled ''Orecd llurieion in Sootl.uid," tilie oontribufore t«) ivh.ich nro dw.mibcxl as "lea-dine; SwW.ish mini 6U s rs." There aro eight'.'f.'ii coiitributoie, u3\ of whom, with the •exception of Dr. John Hunter, of Gwi.sgoiv, aro Proebj-toriaai dle.rgy. What first etrik<?s one - in studying those utterniioee, whiah appearVd first as artioke in blio "Glaegow Jierald," is their ai>lonishmg unanimity on tihe subjocx ot the Westminster Confession. l>r. Moffatt, who writos an introdiuction, quotes an influential layman aa saying the creed had lx?coTne to him "repulsive and hateful,'' T\-ihdle he himeelf descrilies iit os containing "irrelevant and antiquated features.-" The next writer obsorres tihat "it lies co outeido. our -vvaye of thinking that wo havo no roal relation to it at ail, not- even that cf opposition." Frofeesor Me>nziee tlie Churches have found out that the Confession "ie, as tho creed of a living Church in the present day, im/pos&ibl©." "The professed creed of tfoe Church;" another contributor, "does not any lender, as a system, -ha-v* any particular relation to its roUgione life.' , "Tlie Confession of Faitih," says yet another, "must go."

Dr. Griffith John wrote recently on the state of China: —"I have been thinking a good deal these days of the ease with which the idols ore being dislodged and the temples converted into schools. Thero was a timo when it would havo been dangerous for tho officials to attempt such profanation of sacred things. fciomo great change must have come, over the minds of tho peoplo, and tho question is to what this change is to be ascribed. I ascribe it to tho missionary teaching that has been going on during the past fifty years, and I have no hositation in ascribing it in a largo measure to the Christian literature that hae been (•own broadcast on the face of the land. Tho people's faith in the idols has been greatly undermined, and this will account to a great extent for the things wo sco to-day." Dr. Griffith John adds: "This is a most interesting period in t-he history of this great people. Tbo China that I found asleep on my arrival at Shanghai fifty years ago is now all alive and going to school again, and is doing so willingly, gladly, eagerly. I have just been looking over something I wrote about China and the. missionary work in China ten years ago, and it reads like ancient history. It is perfectly truo of the state of things as then existing, but it has very little application to what I sco around mc to-day. Wβ are in a new China already. What an opportunity is opened up before the mission in China in those days! There is no reason why China should not be evangnlised within this century, so far as China herself is concerned."

"From every diooese, from the crowded aroas of almost all our great towns," cays the "Saturday Review,' , '-'comes iho «ime cry, 'Wβ cannot get curates. , Wβ have made enquiries at the two great home mieeion societies of the Church. At one o>!" them the figures wore not kept In such a form that the information asked could be readily given, but athe ct/hor wo were told that out of 753 grants made for additional curates, 125 are at this moment inoperative, almost ontirelv because the men cannot bo found. Strict enquiry lias proved the need! of those, parishes to be groat; the money is waiting, b'lt there are no qualified men. The confirmation candidates have fallen from to 222,8*53, a uecreaw of come 8000. . . . The figures that are really calamitous are those that tell of fho failure in tiro eupply of clergy. Four years ago the deacons numbered 740. in J9oo they were only 024, and this year they have fallen to 537." The Rev. John Hornabrook, secretary of the English Wcsleyan Methodiht "Conference, has been looking into the affairs of the Now Zealand Methodist Church, and studying the printed minutes of its Conference. His impulsions are distinctly favourable, and ho roiers to the "splendid organisation" which characterises the government of tho Church in this colony. In accordance ■with tho decision of the Scottish OhnrclHw Commission, and with mi arrangement having for ite oHjwt the providing of the- Free Church with a suitable .Assembly Hall in time for the faith com ing moetitigrt ol' thoir General Assembly, St. John's Unitel Free Church—the scene for many year.; of the pulpit ministrations of Dr o'ithrie —was in Mny last formally hniided over to the Free Cliurch. Hnvin'j; held their last eccn'iwe in the church on Sunday, th« United Free Chnrfih congregiition, under the miimtiy of the TLev. I?obert L. Jaffray, parted! with the last symbol of possession, the keys of the chim-h and other build inpr.i. Tho o'ltxvard appearance of tho historic building bore silcu< testimony to tho change; for the outgoing congregation took with them the large lntico-board on which tho name and othor congrcgat-iona! information were given. T!ie necossa-ry arrangements y/iil bo made forthwith for tho meotiij'.js of the General A*eembly being held in the church. With regard to tho future <ongre£!<tional occupancy of the church, no decision have y«t been mine to by the Free Church outhoritiee. At tho funeral of the lato Dr. JU»l»rl Dr. Matwlen. an old lri".ml, i.: the course of uu address, said ''I could

give you numerous ineUncea goodness. Let ono suffice. On OM 21 onsion ho was very ill in bed. temperature of over 101, wheti came that om« of the miseianeSSf wives -wae -rery ill, and had eont -—- >- sago for him to come. Without *" moment's hesitation he rose fr©» Y \ sick bed, and, ill as he wae, tanaf*' , over ono hundred mike in an opea'wJTJ. to take fiiiccour to this lady miaMnai* 1 although it meant spending »■*?!< part of tho night in the midst oTa!' l «vi iii an open boat. Such act* ii' these to black nnd white alike mafal Robert Lamb the man ho wan the** t prontly beloved, full of the nriJTi? Jesus Chrut. F«w will bo elite to JS up tlie valuo of his work in tlie'alaaj?* Ko gioat it wan. To my to this dny the nativtw look upon feS" as some groat soul which hnd boon ml* <;«wn to th«m straight-from tiie IITeIS of God! Of his life in wShnft lall« 1 need not speak. You «il uJJS? him: I think you all loved him. H&. illr.«w» t« a great extent sot him fcp»t/ but thoro h«> wan, his winsome peru*!* l nlity triumphing over every prejudisk J Jut you <lid not know, as come of » did mho jrot into Uie inner circle oV liiß lift». how nour to God he lited W* istroiiß his boliof in goodnees wae' firm ns adamant hie fnith in tlie'h«Z( J after was. Among hie last wonfc W mo woro, 'Of a person»l imnvM-tJJtj , , I am quite sure, und I can ther«f«i" say good-byo with oonfidence. S* shall meet again.''' ,J Tho Into Hon. Ebcnewsr Vicker* ,t ! pixiininont Methodist of Sydney ig'JV ported to Invo left over half a niiUW' Hiorhng. Ho has bequcvathed £24tt' to tho Centenary Half, York ttiStb £2000 to the AV««loy Church Suiffl' tion iin-cl Extension Society, of X*** .SMitli \V«Ie«, and £1000 to the iul eions of the Australasian MethodSt Church, besides £5000 to Twtota pluhuitliropic inetitutione. " Tho Victorian correspondent of tW "Outlook" writes: — The Re? fir . Cairns (of riaHnraO, who has just tired from tho Moderntprial chair k»i' won golden opinions for tho way in', which he discharged the duties of hfc office. It will l>o remembered that hi was formerly minister of Bydonha»,i His urbunity and liberality, eeooudji , so nbly by the devotion of jire Csirii , inn do his eighteen months' moderatorship a boon to the Church and a pUasure to hisbi-o.thren. Ho intimated to his session his deeire to retire from tho pastorate, but at thnir urgent request no will accept an a«. r sistant. His popularity in Balltr»t' so far from waning nftor 20 yean of , residence there, was never greater than it is to-day. In more sensoe than tat ho is an all-round man. ;