CONGREGATIONAL UNION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13906, 3 December 1910, Page 12

CONGREGATIONAL UNION.

REV. S. HORXE'S ADDRESS. Tlie first session of the Atitunin Assembly of tho Congregational Union opened on October 11th at Dr. Horton s Church, Hampstend. Over 1000 delegates were present, and tho pillery was crowded* with visitors. After a short devotional service conducted by the Rev. I). Phillios, of Xewport, the chairman, the- Rev. Silvester Homo, delivered his presidential address. lie received a jireat ovation on rising. Taking as his subject, "The Church as ; by Orac<? Established/ he said the mental and social independence of the modern citizen had made the old eccle- | siastical discipline impossible. I lie knowledge of this had too often weakened the Church's moral witness. Be- ! no loniicr provided with a ducking- ! stool, she eeo.ned to feel there was less ! nr-ed for a conscience. But she had I now to learn another lesson. She had to realise that she had worshipped false fods, and been seduced by worldly idolatries. She had to clear her brain of fantastic ambitions and her heart of carnal affections. She had to I become primitive in spirit, motive, ana aim. gladly surrendering to Ca?sar the thin"s that belonged to him, and to ; believe that to Christianise Cww is ! The surest way to render unto (.od the ! things that are Cod's. The first principle to be laid down was that nothing I the Fitate could do in the real sense either strengthened or weakened the Church. The fact was that the world had Ion" censed to be impressed by the formal of Chnst.an.ty by Parliaments and monarchs. 1 he one argument to which there was.no rnwer wrs that the Church is established by grace. When from some Christian centre redemptive influence was exerted upon a district, when the whole character of a slum was changed, or the attitude of hostility to the; kingdom became an attitude of sympathy and faith, more had been aceonmlished for the vindication of the divine authority of Christianity, and for the exaltation of the Church, than when orthodox declarations were put into the mouths of kings, or the machinery of the State was captured and made ito serve ecclesiastical ambitions. Two things emerged very clearly. Tho first was that the Church must cease to desiro to do the work of the State, and, secondly, the- Church must finally abandon the notion that the Btato could do the work of the Church, Just as the State had wrenched the whole administration of justice out of ecclesiastical hands, just as she was rapidly becoming supreme in tho care of the poor, the sick, and the destitute, so she was steadily and irresistibly taking to herself the charge of education. Tho Church had done much in the relief of social distress, but in the course of a few years all forms of social efforts would he taken over by the State in fulfilment of her sacred charge of the well-being of all her citizens. That ■would leave tho Church free to devote hrself to two great works, the simplification of ■ her ■ .faith and the amplificatio nof her mission. After devotional addresses by Principal Armitage and Dr. Ambrose Shepherd, Mr Horn© made a .statement on the progress of the central fund. During the four months of his presidency he had received in gifts and promises nearly £20,000. The total up to date "was just over £147,000. He hoped oefore th eend of the year to be able to announce £150,000, and before he vacated the presidental chair not less than £200,000. JOTTINGS. Preaching at St. John's Roman Catholiu Church, Islington, London, iVlgr. Grosch alluded to the Portuguese revolution, and said that poor nuns were imprisoned in the arsenal on the Tagus, and only nuus and priests who were .British subjects were tree. The priests of the Irish Dominican Convent walked about with little Union Jacks in their coats, and the roughs of Lisbon dared not insult them. England, to her honour bo it said, protected her subjects abroad, and, Protestant though she was, she extended her protection to Catholics in foreign lands, whilst powerful Germany, France, and Spain allowed their citizens in Portugal to be insulted, imprisoned, and ejected without a word of protest. Wesleyan Methodism has achieved a record in raising: over £.26,000 in one year on the appeal of a single circuit — that of the East End Mission., inaugurated by the late Rev. Peter Thompson. When Mr Thompson died last year this amount remained as a debt on the new buildings, which cost £27,000. Conference then appointed the Rev. T. E. Westerdale to take charge of the effort, and this week at the anniversary meetings, that eentletnan. mentioned that tho amount included sufficient to cover the current expense of the mission, for altogether £26,586 had been raised, and all, except one item, came from Methodist sources. The President of the Conference said he had. not known a fund in Methodism which had awakened the same sympathetic interest ; the result of the appeal was a revelation of the loyalty and self-sacrifice i and devotion, of the people, as well as a tribute to the character and work of Peter Thompson. Under the leadership of Dr. Herbert Vaughan, the Roman Catholic Missionary is showing considerable activity of late (says the "Univerpe")The'main object of this society Ss «to give missions and lectures to nonCatholics in Britain, and to train priests for that purpose at their headquarters, 'Tho Apostolic Mission Houf»e,' Brondesbury Park, London N."\V\ The monthly record of their work, the ''Missionary Gazette, is a most interesting little volume. It contains special articles by tho ablest pens in Catholic England, besides- reviews and tho 'Question Box,' a very valuable feature, full of instruction to both Catholics and others. The missions to non-Catholics are, of course, the society's leading object, and have beten most successful in spiritual effect. Father J. Arendzen, D.2X, one of the missionaries, recently concluded a week's mission at Brighton, through which forty-two non-Catholics placed themselves under instruction. This splendid result has"Yon for the Rev. l>octor and the society warmest appreciation on the part of the Bishop »f JSouthwark, who himself went down to Brighton during the last days of the mission and gave solemn Benedkttioi* when present. At the annual Assembly of the Baptist Union in. Glasgow the president (Sir Geo. W. Macaipine, Accrington). speaking of ''tho Tork of the ministry," said: —"We are told that the Church ought to have a social programme, and that economics should have a place in her teaching. Was not much of tho machinery of the Church based on the principle of securing for men the lesser good? What did Boys' Brigades, Pleasant Sunday Afternoons for Men, Wednesday Afternoons for Women, concerts and picnics, frequently accomplish beyond this? It would hardly be contended, that the Church had satisfied all the requirements of the case when she bad amused some- hundreds of men for an hour, even if she might have succeeded in keeping them from the streets or from the jniblic-houses. In view of the immense issues that remained unsatisfied, this was surely a comparatively small achievement. The Roman Catholics are steadily

winning back lost ground in Germany. The Berlin correspondent of a British Nonconformist organ, the "Christian World," states that according to statis- • tics to which a well-known religious ■ it tirnal in Berlin has access, the Roman , Catholic population of Prussia has increased within the last forty years horn #3.5G per cent, of the whole to >.->.W) per cent,, and the P«*«?tf"J* < population has decreased trprn 64.8J ~ er cent, of the whole to b2.09. *x> i that since the war with France there « has been a decrease of 2.30 per cent, in the Protestant population and ttie Catholics have increased by 2.24 Various explanations of this alteration in the relative proportions of Protestants und Catholics to the general pomila-t-on are offered. One is the rapid in- ' crease of the Poles in the eastern pro- < vinces, and another is the higher_averace of the number of members in Catholic families. The rise in the Catholic percentage may partly due to these causes (remarks a 1 toman Catholic napor) but it may also be safely attributed in part to the effects produced by the greater religious earnestness of "the Catholics. In that respect the Protestants cannot be compared with them, and in consequence converts are steadily, if not in jrrer.t numbers, entering the Catholic Church. It is evident the . time has conic when British Protestants are beginning to recognise that it is a mistake to imagine all the Germans are Lutherans.