RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 57, 30 November 1907, Page 2

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

ANGLICAN MISSION FOR NEW ZEA- : • ZEALAND. > WHAT THE PROJECT MEANS: 1' roni the Rev. C. C. Harper,■" of Palmer# ' ton North, Secretary of the Executive Com- ' mittee of the ..scheme, a representative 0f...... Jill', Dominion gained some interesting in- " formation as to,-the, Church of : England •g'enolal mission which will be asked to' visit this country in 1909. The project' Was suggested by the great success of a similar visit, ill 1904, of thirty-six English .missionaries to - South Africa. Not only Church, people, but" politicians and other prominent men of all ■ classes have testified to tlio permanent good work which was achieved by this mission. Alter an interval of several years it is claimed that its effects are still visible in a deeper and fuller religious life. The Now Zealand mission;will bo divided ' into two parts. Four-ministers will coma out early in 1909 to hold a'preparatory mission, and to-form- their own opinion of the best methods-to adopt "for subsequent, work. ■ From the time of their arrival, thorough pro- ■ p'aratory work will bo carried on through all ■: the ordinary Church agoncios,. loading up to the mission -proper of some sixteen or eighteen ministers, who will arrive ill the latter part of the same year. They will .remain in the Dominion for some months, ■■ visiting in: turn every' parish and district. Six or eight- of them will' probably devote their attention to' Wellington for about three weeks. They will-hold public meetings, not necessarily in the Churches, and will lhdividually get into touch with numbers of people whom they will be qualified to help. • The Church at Home is very enthusiastic on the • subject of sonding out . the best men "possible to strengthen religious work in the colonies, : and it is not anticipated that thero will be ' any danger of secohd-class men coming out. The New Zealand bishops who are going to England for the Lambeth Conference wiu • select the missioners from those available.: ■ ■ The great ; feature of the mission will be that it will not-be of a spasmodic nature, but the climax of a long course of thorough preparation on tlid part of the Church. The influence of these: new men, 1 intellectual and ■ enthusiastic, is'expected to prove a great stimulus in the Church's work. The Church' in New Zealand will have to ' finance the entire • scheme from' start to finish, paying the expenses of the visiting -. missioners from the time of their leaving England. The; cost of the whole mission is put down at £3500, and no steps will be takenf.till the siim'of £2000 has been subscribed or .guaranteed. .Subscriptions are. >• now comingnn. very, freely, and the secretary-' . has no misgivings.in regard to the financial' aspect of the-:s'enomo. ■ I

... PHARISEE AND. NONCONFORMIST. : BOLD SERMON BY REV. R. J. CAMPBELL. The' Rev. R. J. Campbell has disturbed.',, another hornet's liest (says the "Christian /. World") by-a'challenging sermon preached ■ at the City>Temple.- .His subject was "The • False Emphasis on' Sin," , and early-.in his,; f discourse he asked and answered,tho. ques-,..,i tion why Jesus was so hotly,opposed to tho-; ■ Pharisaic type of character and thought, .- ■ and why the Pharisees felt the same about Him. They called Him a sinner- just (as ~ uncompromisingly as He called them hypo- - crites. "Now here is something,'-' said Mr: v.Campbell, "which is not'altogether pleasant ' for us to contemplate, but it ought to compel us to think. Tlieso Pharisees were ,tho ■ Nonconformists of their day.' . The-scribes -• were the theologians.,- The Sadduces were . tho State Churchmen, associated; with .;ther..< aristocratic priestly order. This comparison-.:,; is not fancil'ul, mind you! The corres- j. pondence is really 'striking. Tho Pharisees i«u wore terribly in earnest-about their religion, and looked-uppji .the*. Statey Church ■; party as, mere triners; • they regarded 'themselves as the,salt of the earth. • The.; Nonconformist conscience of/:that time . was un» ' : doubtedly ; the -Pharisaic standard of : morality." ~ .' v ,v? •>« v . Having argued that ;i tho-real point at issue between jesus and the .Pharisees . was-the-, question of.sin, Mr. Campbell said: The, Pharisee did not knqw he was guilty of spiritual prido. He just took for granted •. that ho was-deservedly the custodian of the . moral ideal, in a frivolous ,age—in fact, precisely, what .the Nonconformist conscience is to-day.: Listen to a typical Nonconformist • -assembly cheering,its:own; moral superiority, ~-:! and at once, you have; the ; pld--time I,'harisee thanking God that ho is-not as other men - : are, or oven as this—brewer 1 . • . .: . .We • have fallen into precisely tho same error for ' precisely the same reason—namely, our assumption that sin is. a matter ■ wholly be- > ween the . soul - and God,, a , corruption of> ' human nature which pollutes us in the sight ... of tho all-Father,, no . matter what our reflation to our'fellow-men may-be. . This, I- -;, contend, is false.and wrong; and it is all the ' more mischievous.; because it js. difficult to:, assail. it without; seeming to - lay - too - little; ■ stress upon tho reality, ,oF.wr.png;-doirig. And . . yet, unless we do make clear tho falsityofi "i this view, we -shall nover-secure that .indivi- .'■ dual sensitiveness to social , is the crying need of tho present day. The fact is, my friends, it is not Jesus but the Pharisee that has won after all in the history of official Christianity. It is the Phari-; see who lias drafted our creeds, our liturgies,.' our public-confessions of guilt and.wicKed- > ness. - 1 - - -- • All this talk about our foulness before; God (continued Mr. Campbell), is quito consistent with 'ai great 'deal of hardness and ; arrogance■ and want of conscientiousness-in .: the treatmbnt -of- oncts 'neighbour. "People// tell God how desperately wicked they are, - " but if any one else says so they want tb " know precisely what he means, and if he is foolish enough to particulariso tliey!brin& an. : . action against him'for defamation bfcharac-. tor. We must get rid of the- falso notion ; that sin against God is different. from ' sin,. against man.", ". ' . The Rev. Dr. Clifford, who stood by Mr';. , Campbell throughout thoucw.tlieology.oxcito-'-,. ment, doscribes his statements about Nonconformists as ' 1 "quite unwarrantable." .. "They aro,?' lie, says, "a misconception 0f.,/ Now Testament teaching, and they'.are a mis,- , conception of Nonconformist history.and tlio ~ Nonconformist conscience." ... i ... ENGLISH BAPTIST UNIONr : I There wore several features of more than 'usual interest- in the autumnal' meeting's//of the English Baptist Union recently -held' at Liverpool. Tho great foreign missionary gathering was marked by extraordinary enthusiasm. The chairman was Mr.' W. P.\ Hartley, the woll-known Primitive. Methodist' layman, whose benefactions to that Cburch, and to needy"chariticsj reach an enormous total. The meeting' began under; a' cloud. . Missionaries in binding farewell' complained • that there was a debt of £900 on the past year's working, and' deplored the. apparent'! indilforence. But under' tho mfluonco of the . chairman's "speech on systematic and pro-, port-ionato giving, and a passionate appeal,; by Mr. A. H. Baynes, the cloud lifted. Spontaneous from. all parts of. tho great audience 'pr6mis'os aud gifts .wore handed in ■. until tho total rcachwj £1675, thus not 0n1y,., wiping off the adver'so, balance, but, giving tho society a credit of over £700. Tho offerings wcro from rich and poor. Several £100 were given. -A now sixpence was sont up by a sailor boy-; four shillings, the entire con- . tents of one delegate's purse, the tram fare homo being retained. - Sevcrali.of the mis- ■ sionaries sent; donations; ..one pastor of a village church gave. 305., lyhich had been his . l'eo for preaching on a previous Sunday.: Twice the Doxology was sung, and over and over again there wore bursts of applause and cries of thanksgiving. •' Another meeting which aroused tremendous .enthusisih was held in the Central Hall, for the exposition and enforcement of Free Church principles. The great, hall was densely crowded, and an 'overflow mooting had to bo 'arranged downstairs to accommodate the-crowds who'could not get into : tlio main building. Dr.' Clifford, the veteran hero ■ of a hundred fights /".was tlio' chief' • speaker. The Doctor is just oh his 71st'/' birthday, but. his speech is described: as one of "torrential eloquence and s fibrv' passion' that kindled his audienco to -'enthusiasm." For over half-an-hour lie lielfl'' the vast 5 ' throng, nsver onco losing grip;' Tho great i work of tho Free Churches ho declared to bo

■ (Ist) "The task of securing free- '. dom not merely for thomselves but for evory human being, for all races and for all creec^i"; (2nd), "Tho task of maintaining the purity of religion" ; and (3rd), "That or reorganising socioty in tho sonse of brotherhood," Free Churchmen, according to Doctor Clifford "are sano. socialists recognising tliat social change comes slowly and by persistent and steadfast effort," a sentiment which tho great audier.cu cordially endorsed. . , TWO SNARES—THE PRESS AND MONEY. " The Rev. Dr. Horton, in an appeal mado to ministers at'the recent meeting of the English -Congregational Union, for tho deepening of their spiritual life, said that a ■'difficulty of tho ."modern'world, largely tlio creation of a übiquitous and exceedingly . intelligent-Press, "was that, the Press—not the religious .Press only, but the irreligious Press, not 1 only the weekday ■ Press, but the Sunday Press—talked about them so much that, they could scarcely keep free from selfconsciousness. Tlie Press was always putting into reports what they said, it gavo ■ interviews with thom, . it gave character sketches, it even came in,to take shorthand notes of their prayers—when thoy" wero trying to forgot everything but God, behold the reporter them reporting their prayers for publication! They, began to think they must attract, the attention of the world; they 'wore tempted: ■to •; think that their success was measured by the notice that ■ was taken of them: "When you are praised . in the papors," ho ,said,, "burn tho papers .- ,quickly—don't read them! It is all sedu'c- ' tion and '.delusion." . ■ ' . The minister must live the crucified life, Dr. Horton went on, ; .he must practice the yirtue of humility- Ho was ■ ashamed to warn 'thep —for- tho self-revelation it implied—against the.Jove .', of ..money. '.'Brethren," he pleaded, "do be candid with yourselves. Do you love money? It is—or rather the dove of it-is—the root of all evil. And it is not; only the rich who love money. The . poor love, money. ■ Dr. Horton stated that lie hated, money. Ho often subjected himsolf to the-discipline of refusing money that was due \to him. He feared it. It. was by poverty ,that they overcame the\ world. . One of the greatest perils' arid seductions. of the. Church to-day was-that the ideal of poverty had been lost. The sense of dependence, on God. had always been the greatest source . of the Church's spiritual power. He closed with a passionate appeal to. them to flee "the base lowsrosted figure of Mammon," tho : primal curse, the love of moneyj.-and ,to-."get rid of all .this flummery of the modern' Press that talks- so much 1 about -our personalities." DANGERS OF: SHORT SERMONS. Tho Archbishop of.: Canterbury, in tho Bourse of-a visitation at Dover,' made some remarkable, comments on the danger's of the short sermon. . "I wonder," he said,; "whether; in'the reaction against the old exaggeration of sermons and preaching, the pendulum ,has now swung much too far, or rather, I do not won- • der, for lam sure that it has. ; '"•We hear clergy rejoicing in the fact that the brevity of sermons no.w enables ..a man to say what he has to say in ten minutes. Rejmce by .all 'means, if it is really a pithy,' pointed, brief bit of message,and teaching which you have been able to comprise in that time,- but it requires'v'three,'times as much " preparation-for. a thoughtful .man: to prepare one ten-minutes' sermon as would be vneeded for', one-'lasting ■ twenty ; to'thirty minutes. , , . . ..... ; ' ;., ; be-that*we are enabled, by pains taking study' and elaborate preparation and care,- to produce, that-which will be-pointed and, make itself, felt as - a.; direct message from- God, to the human soul in ten minutes —then be it so, and thank God. "But if it be merely that we .think people are pleased And satisfied now'with-the ten minutes rather than with the slightly longer time which used ■ to., be found necessary— then, surely, we aro missing some of the . largest: part of the trus't which God has laid on us.- . ■;■■.;-??■'n ■ ■ SUNDAY'; GOL-FAND TENNIS. , ~ iiundiiy Golf and Tennis", was thesribject of a conference of Presbyterian workers in Melbourne;-last week. . The speakers' u'nani- ■ mously condemned the. practice, .but were puzzled what to do about it. One minister said 'he> was ' alarmed- when he heard of a Presbyterian- leaving tlio Comriiuriiori Table on a Sunday'morning to play tennis, with his and'a ' voice- cricd shame-!.-' Another speaker, while admit- ' ting-that Calvm was said to have plaral bowls on the Sabbath; and "that godly English vicars of old played cricket, unhesitat- \ ingly declared that if Calvin saw* the perils confronting the Church' 'to-day he would not usei his liberty as he had done then. other. minister declared that'the tone or tlio Church, was worldly, selfish, and' lowland, : unfortunately,, the clergymen, who had to earn their-bread and butter from'the people; nadpto. square their teachings to "the-views of those people. The preached (he \added) \were not- sufficiently faithful .in their-toach-"s%' T m , U3t ' -wplift the' spiritual tone of-the Christian Church. Needless 'to add, theh'charge .'against clergymen was strongly •, repudiated -by some of .those' present. Even- : ■ tually a "pious!'-resolution-was- passed, urg- i ing.'the necessity for "preserving the Lord's - , Day as far as possible as a day for physical j rest, work,' ana ; • .

PERSONAL.

Mr. Balcombe Brown has been re-appointed ® njember of tho Wellington Diocesan Board of Trustees,- the Porirua -Trustees, and the rapawai and Kaikolfirikiri Trustees'. l'he Ilev. James Fussell has resigned the curacy,of St: Andrew^ 1 Church,. Cambridge, haying- accepted -an. appointment as vicar of Copmanhurst, Now South Wales. Mr i<'usBell will leave, New Zealand at the eud of trie year. ' . :• - . Prince Lowonstein, a direct descendant of ireueric the Victorious, Elector Palatine and one of the chief-founders of the German Catholic party, has just received the Dominican habit and is' to-day plain Brother Raymund. At tlio ago of seventy-three ho nas followed the example ot his,sister Adelaide, the widow of King Miguel I, who in 189? was clothed m the habit of'St.,Bchodict in the, monastery of St.. Cecilia' it Solesmes Brother Raymund,-has also three daughters who have/entered religion; the Eldest, tho princess Mary, died a Benedictine - liim at Solesmes, where her sister; 'the Princess Agnes, was also professed. Another sister the Princess Frances, choso the humble Jifo of a poor Sister of St. Francis.' . Father- Thomas, Rodriguez : has been reelected .General. of tho Augustinians. Tho election was presided over by his Eminence Cardinal -Rampolla, Protector of tho Order, and. was attended by delegates'from all parts of the world. ■ -. . Archbishop Nuttall,'of . the West Indies, is still suffering in his domestic arrangements from the results of the Jamaica earthquake, lie recently told-an audience in .Washington that for the last seven nioriths ho had- beeip living with his family and servants in a lit-1 wooden coach-house. On his return from his American visit he hopes "to be promoted to the stable. ' .' . '' .' The foremost theologian in England, says the -London 'Christian World," is Principal Fairbairn, and the foremost-preacher is Rev. J. H, Jowett, both of them beng prominent Congregationalists. ... The Rev. Matthew who has been working- for seven years in Now Guinea, is in Auckland with -his wife on a six months' furlough. Part of his "holiday" will bo spent in translating Scripture portions into the Kiriwina language,.for which purpose he has brought a- New Guinea "boyi' with him.

JOTTINGS.

The seventy-first birthday, of thojlov. Dr. Clifford (Baptist) ; was signalised on Octobor 16 . by the opening of "Clifford's Inn," a '.'public-house without beer," which^has been built and attractively furnished, on his, suggestion, at a cost of £3300, in the heart of the slums of Kensal-grcen. The working 'man in search of warmth, society and comfort will be attracted by a huge "public-liouso light" over the door, and on ontoring will find himself in a bright, low-roofed spacious room, bearing ,a pleasant resemblanco to an old country hostelry. Opposite tho entrance is the bar,' where breakfasts, dinners, teas

and suppors will bo "going" from 5 a.m. to midnight. On the lett is a men's clubroom, and upstairs are a splondid billiarctroom and club-rooms for women and uoys. At every point Clifford s .Inn hopes to miprovo upon tho public-house. It will open and close only when tho public-house opens and closes, and will keop open even on Sundays; Tho inn is not a branch of Dr. i - ford's church. It is a business affair, managed by a limited company with a capital of £5,000. Dr. Clifford's people, are, however, the chief movers in the scheme, and aro taking up many of tho shares. The'Bisliop of Ely has been p: filing or lecturiil-:; to an open-air audience of fifteen thousand people at Cambridge, on the subject of Temperance; and his lordship, one is in-' formed, "concluded by a prayer delivered through the megaphone." It can 110 longer •bo said that the church is not advancing with' the times. Tho recent session of the Congregational Union at -Blackpool was attended by over 1700 delegates. » The Christian Unity Association for Scotland, a small but influential body, is surely facing in the right direction (says the. "Christian World"). At is fourth annual meeting and tenth Conference at Edinburgh, Bishop Ellis, of Aberdeen, presided, and" among those present were Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Professors MacEwen and Cairns, and Drs. Cameron Lees, Forest, Kelman and Craig. It was stated that it has-134 members belonging almost equally the Church of Scotland, the Episcopal Church" in Scotland, and tho United .Free Guurch. 'A committee of the Association has been appointed u> draw up a statement of the points on which the three Churches are agreed and of those on which thoy differ. ' Canon Honsley Henson, preaching at West-.: minster Abbey at the festival of tho transla-.-tion of King Edward the wno founded tho Abboy in 1065, referred to t-he : canonised monarch as a symbol of tho union - of Church and State. - Jio asked, "Will any;candid Churchman to-day deny, that tho main strength of the case' for disestablishment is drawn, not from tho arguments of those who are avowedly seeking to de-Christianise English lifo, but from tno alienation of the national conscience? The fate of the historic. Church of England depends on this point, whether or' not; oven, at the eleventh nour,' the national conscience can bo reconciled andthe national confidence recovered." . The Roman Catholics of Rome and neigh-, bouring parts of the country have decided 10, unite against the ■ anti-clericalism which is gradually invading Italy, and over six thous-' and of them met the other day in congress! at Frascati and discussed tlieir future organisation. --The congress proved a complete' success. , . '' 1 Dr. Goro has all along been one of theforemost advocates of the Church Reform movement.for giving laymen a more responsible and active share in the. management of' Church alfairs. He told a large: gatherings "of 'Birmingham. Church workers recently ' that -' he -'wanted the Diocesan Conference to be the acting Parliament of tho diocese. He was quite pre- : pared to subordinate his own wishes,.lie in-'; timatcd, if only the Conference would wake lip and seriously and honestly tacklo diocesan affairs. At? present bo thought tho. Conference was too ready to do what it was told. That, he was afraid, was because the mombcrs were not sent to express any very : vivid interests of their electors. He wished the. really popular suffrage on which the Conference members were elected to become a ■ reality, so that each parish could make its,' voice dieard. The Bishop did.''riot hesitate to', refer, frankly jto .the possibility* of 'Disestablishment and its consequences. Thoy might, ■ he said, be suddenly, required to manage their own affairs, and it was important that ■ they-should learn how to do it.'', Ho was an-' xious that all church members 1 should feel the responsibility of-their votes.

A Canadian clergyman; who writes' appreciatively to'the" "Record" on tho Bishop of .London's.', visit,.to • Canada, relates that 1 after his' sermoii at'. St. Paul's Cathedral in -London,| Ontario,, the-Bishop was greeted-by a number.of'/'jiMr wpm'ori~'wlib' had kn'owiv him as! a friend in his Betlirial Green days. Ono of them gave him a shilling for the East London Fund, and also presented' him with a pair of woollen stockings she had herself knitted. •">

The Rev. Father Robert Hugh Benson, M.A., of Cambridge, who is a son of the late Archbishop/of. Canterbury, lectured recently on "The Experiences of a Convert before Conversion,'-' under the auspices of the Liverpool branch of ;the Catholic Truth Society. In'th'o course, of his introductory remarks lie' said"l do believe that the Catholic laity can do 'as much if not more than the Catholic clergy towards the crinveiv sion of England, because you know that Anglicans fight .shy of-the priests: They seonj to connect'them with gunpowder' plots, arid to think that they have concealed, about them some infernal machine,' to associate them with soft-slipporcd -listeners at keyholes.— (Laughter.)"' Tliero is a painful contrast, says the "Standard," between the rising walls and. steady progress towards completion 'of the new Liverpool Cathedral ■ and • the • alarming dccay and' threatened destruction 'of the voncrable cathedral-of -Winch eater. It is dif-ficult-to believe that-the Dean and Chapter's appeal. for aid in what is really a desperate strait can go unheeded. • It is a good' sign of progress .that this, liishop of .Zanzibar has felt' warranted,in admitting' three native Christians to the diaconate. Tho need of a nativo clergy has just boon discussed at a conference of negro Churchmen in the diocese : of New Jersey. The Bishop of Capo Palmas, Liberia, stated that in his. small jurisdiction. 1217 baptisms had . taken place in three years, 110 fewer' than 1050 of the baptised'being converts from heathenism.- As regards the negroes in /America; .the conference expressed an opinion' in, favour 'of missionary' l negro' bishops. The golden jubileo of St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilk'onny, has just been celebrated with befitting solemnity. . Fifty' years ago tho magnificent structure was opined to public worship by Dr. Walsh, Bishop of Ossory. Since l tlien it has undergone many . notable, improvements, no less a'sum-than £25,000 having boon spent on its renovation, decoration, and proper equipment by tho present Bishop, Dr. Brownrigg, and its re-opening being celebrated in 1899 with great pomp and corcmony. The increase of Catholics throughout China during last year is reckoned to have been nearly 90,000. .' ■ , . The "Church Times," discussing Disestab-r lishment, shows in detail how little there is left to disestablish. The seventeenth con-', tnry enforcement of-conformity' by legal penalties is gone. Tho legal imposition of church' rates and Easter duos is abolished. Almost everything in the shape of special Stat6 favour shov/n_ to the Church lias been withdrawn. It might be added that the one form of religion compulsorily established and endowed by-the civil government is not that of the Church, but- undenoininationalism. ■ . The Anglican Church in Brisbane is entering upon what is ca led "a new phase" of Christian work It Is becoming more "mis-' sionary, by holding out-door. services, making efforts to save the lapsed, and to relievo the poor, and providing for,the gathering in of the street toys. A meeting was held last week at tho Mission-rooms, irt ono of tho slums of the city, at which this new departure in Christian work was inaugurated. ■ "The times are .evil-that is, .thoro is much that is evil irt them," said President Roosevelt when welcoming; the Bishop 0 f London'in Washington. "It would bo to our shame and discredit if we failed to recognise that evil, if wo wrapped oursclves'l in the mantle of a foolish optimism, and failed to war with heart and strength against the evil. It would be equally to our discredit if wo sank back in sul'lon pessimism and declined to strive for good becauso wo feared the'strongth of evil. There is much evil; there is much good,-too. And one of tho good things is that, more, and more we must realise that there is such a thing as a real Christian fellowship among men of different creeds, and that the real field for rivalry among- and, botween tho creeds comes in tho rivalry of the endeavour to see which can render best serves to mankind; which do the work of tho Lord best by doing His work for the people best." :