JOTTINGS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12969, 23 November 1907, Page 12

JOTTINGS.

'Miss Gertrude yon Petzold, of Leicester, tho only ordained lady minister in England, has been taking part in i the Conference of Liberal Thinkers at Boston. She preached at Brighton, Moss., to a largo congregation, and seems to havo most favourably impressed her hearers. The opening part of her sermon was a defence of liberal theology, but included an earnest plea at the close that we all unite in an endeavour to -'make Jesus a spiritual reality" to a sin-burdened world. Tho Rev. Dr. Bigg, the venerable mentor of English Methodism, met with an accident la.>t month. He fell while descending tho staircase of his own house at Brixton. Although ho was severely shaken, the injury was not ; « groat, and the effects were not so try- , , ing as might havo been the case to one in his 87th year. - Tlio pulpit erected by the priests of y the' Archdiocese of Wellington to the ,'! : :; memory of the late Very Rev. Father

Lewis, S.M., Y.G., in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Hill street. Wellington, was blessed and dedicated by the Archbishop at the 9 o'clock Mass last Sunday (says the 'New Zealand Times"). The pulpit was designed by Mr John S. Swan, architect, and erected under his supervision by Messrs Hickmott Bros., of Christchurch. The base is a semi-octagon with pilasters and panels, all of Oamaru stone except the inscription panel, which is of whit© marble with the following lettering:— "In memoriam. The Yen- Rev. Father Lewie, S.M., V.G.. June 27th, 1907. Erected by the priests of tho Archdiocese." Tho pulpit is a beautiful piece of work, and is quite an ornament to tho church. Its cost was about £100. Tho London West-end Mission inaugurated by the late Hugh Price Hughes in connection with the Wcsleyan Methodist Church has been much obstructed in its work owing to the want of a settled home. St. James's Hall was sold, and the historic Exeter Hall, to which the Mission moved, has been dismantled. There is now, however, the prospect of a permanent base on freehold property in a splendid situation. Tlie Great Queen Street premises have a prominent frontage on tho new Kingsway. It is proposed to expend some £40,000 in a new building, and this will be the starting point for work in connection with the evangelisation of West London. 'This is the last meeting I shall address for many years," said General Booth, speaking at a meeting held in Chicago last month. This was interpreted to mean his definite retirement, but in London it was not so interpreted. "Frequently when ho is addressing a gathering," said an Army official, "the General says something like this: 'I am an old man now; at any moment tho call may come. It is the last timo you will see me.' He has probably been speaking in that strain in Chicago, and people have hastily supposed he was announcing his retirement. He has np more intention of resigning than the man in the moon. He is not built on those lines. He is a fine old warrior to his finger tips, and he would fall in the battle rather than retire to an easy chair in his old ago." At the same time there is no doubt that the rank and file of the Salvation Army is gradually being prepared for the eventuality of the General's passing. No doubt ia entertained that his successor will be his eldest son, Bramwell Booth, the present Chief of the Staff, who was born in Halifax in 1856. A united declaration and appeal regarding "Sunday observance in New South Wales his been issued by the heads of the various Protestant denominations. The document hae been signed by the Archbishop of Sydney (Dr. Suamarez Smith), Moderator <xf the Presbyterian State' Assembly (the Rev. Philip Norman), the president of the N.S.W. Methodist Conference (the Rev. John Penranan), the chaiirman of the Congregational Union (the Rev. Jas. Buohan), and the president of the Baiptisit Union (Mr A. Priestley). It is moderarte in tone, aavd concludes:—"We do not desire to advocate the observance of Sunday so as to make it in any way a day of gloomy austerity. We think thait it should be c day of sacred cheerfulness, *amd unimpeded by an impraoticable uniformity of regulative demands; but, with reasonable allowance for the freedom of the individual conscience, we consider that all should unite in the effort to maintain a general respect for the religious opportunities implied in its being set apart for rest and worship, and thus distinguished from the ordinary usaigete of the weelff working dnya."The annual Synod of <the Methodist Churdh of Otago and Southland _ commenced it* *««on* on Novwriber 19th ait Bfilclutha. and the Nelson Synod at Roefton on November 216*. The Auckland and 'Wellington Synods, the latter ait Napier, open theni- sessions on Novemiber 26th, the Canterbury Synod at Chrietchiuroh on December 3rd, and the Wn.ngjaivu.i Synod at Palmersiton North on December 4th. On December 18th, 1907, two hundred" veare will have ehpeed since the birth of Charles Wesley. Whale his brother Jdhm was the great organiser and administrator of the Methodist Church system, Charles epriohed the Church by the wonderful fertility of his poetic pen. The Irish Methodist Church has made preparaitrions for a fitting bi-centenary celebration, and its Conference has formally directed by unanimous resolution "that on Sunday, December 15th, the occasion be recognised in all our churches by the delivery of addresses on life and work of Charles Wesley, with special reference to God's great gift to the Universal Church. of. Charles Wesley's unique ministry of sacrt*- song. The Conference would also suggest tha.t the praise part of public worship on this Sunday should be .selected exclusively from Charles Wesley's hymns." The Rev. C. E. Bland, in a paper on "Nonconformity at Cambridge," in the organ of the National Free Church Council, has an appreciation of Mr Johnston Ross, from which the following is taken: —"There is no church in Cambridge, not excepting Great St. Mary's, that exercises a more wholesome and inspiring influence than St. Columba's Presbyterian Church. The Rev. G. A. Johnston Ross, M.A., whom Marcus Dods is said to regard as the best preacher in- England, has been rken 6f as the unofficial preacher to University; and, if one may judge from the number of Doctors and M.A.'s, and undergraduates in his congregation, the honour is deserved. Mr Ross represents a type that is gaining a great hold in English thought and life; it is the rich blending of culture, and spiritual insight and fervour. He deals with social nnd public questions, not so much directly as by his presentation of a gospel so man-fold and vital that both these and other problems find their solvent in it." Tho Bishop of London Hid a right royal time in Canada and the States, though he was nearly workea to death. The correspondent of the "Guardian" says that the Bishop "has taught us a much-needed lesson, which, in spite of our youth as a nation and our democratic spirit and institutions, too many of us are very slow to learn, namely, that the Church must adapt itself to modern conditior*- and to changed circumstances. He as done this by letting us see, incidentally rather than of set purpose, that even the Church in England, which many j Canadians regard as the embodiment of all that is conservative and unprogressive, is keenly alive to the neeessitv of continually reconsidering and readjusting tlie methods by which it endeavours to brine home "the truths of the unchanging Gospel to the hearts and lives of men. He has also done us immense service by commending the Church to those who are not of our communion. He is so thoroughly human, and is so free from anything like stiffness or conventionality, that many whose previous conception oFthe Church of Kn eland was of a body who«e life was stifled by starchiness. have, to tWr crent surprise, been obliged to confess themselves mistaken. And. above nil. his kindliness, nnd sincerity, and depth of conviction have done more than any of us can reckon to commend to many who are careless and indifferent the cause of the Mastei Whose he is and Whom he serves." "The Art of Rending and Preaching" formed the subject of an addresi

delivered by Sir Squire Bancroft at the Church Congress at Yarmouth (says the London "Daily Telegraph. ) Every curate should pass an examination before he was allowed to mount a pulpit, remarked the distinguished actor; a bad preacher would empty a church more easily than a good preacher will fill one. He regarded the bad preacher as more fortunate than the bad actor—the one could be hissed for his incompetence, the other must I be, at the least, endured. He ventured to paraphrase the words ot Shakespeare upon bad acting, and Bay, "Oh. there be preachers that I have heard preach—and heard others praise, and that highly-not to speaklit profanely. who neither had the accent ot Christian, pagan, nor man, they imitated humanity so abominably. Oh, reform it altogether." Let the young divine, however-provided «»«*»«« were justified in adopting his holy Sling, granted always that he were earned and devout, remembering always that his mission made simple oik recard him, in some way. as a link between the sen «nd the Inseen. the known and the I "known-let him take comfort, let him not lose heart *A 1 though he might not be endowed with that priceless attribute, the charm, .tho SSnSism, so akin to inborti gemus which in all public life must be Tupreme, yet by study, by e»W by sincerity, by cultivating character and autnoritv. by aiming at the h ghest Ss aliove'all by belrf »n* hm-j* md in liis destuiy. the light was bound "o shine through his> wo*, and Ihe would find himself upon the nigh recently-elected bishop, Yoifsu Honda, of the United Mc hodist Church of Japan, has bdave interesting career. Born in 1848 at II Ski. he belong to a hardy Samurai stock. In 1870 he studied Eng- [& under a minister of the Datcti Rg formed Church. He was more than 21 S!.of ago before ho saw a copy of the Bible. The reading of it was helpful in bringing about his convey He was baptised in 18.2, and four years later was received as a memjr of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He refused high political preferment and after serving as a lay evangelist he became the first ordained Japaneso Methodist minister. He- studied in the Drew Theological Seminary. United States, and has been President for some years of the An?lo-Japanese College at Tokyo. He holds a high reputation among his countrymen as a representative Jananese Christian. Tlie Rev. W. E. Bromilow, a minister for nearly 30 years of the Methodist Church.' the greater number being spent on the mission field,.has just completed J translation of the New Testament tor British New Guinea. The Board of Missions in Sydney has recognised the value of Mr Bromilow's work, and has expressed in a special resolution its sincere thanks _£ or the valuable service rendered, and its congratulations that he has by the blessing of God been embled to crown his lone and useful missionary career by giving to the people among whom he has lived the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue.