STUDENTS IN CAMP.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 December 1907, Page 8

STUDENTS IN CAMP.

CONFERENCE AT TRENTHAM. VALUABLE ADDRESSES. The pleasant village of Trentham, treeclad, and girt about with hills, is witnessing another, sido of New Zealand university life than thoso that are displayed in examination successes, or Degree day- antics of undergraduates. About sixty members of tho Australasian Student Christian Unions, representing the four New Zealand university colleges, and othor institutions of .'higher education, are there combining high moral aims with vacation pleasures. Trentham, long redolent of ■ races and Sunday golf, is breathing a new atmosphere with astonished' gnsps. The location of tho Conferonco is not ideal. Tho men students have their tents pitched in a picturesque, Veil-shaded nook, opposite the racecourse, but the girls were not provided for so easily. Somo of them are! lodged in houses, and some at tho hotel, tinder the wise surveillance of Mrs. W. A. Evans, of Wellington. The hotel is separated by a mile of sun-scorched road from tho men's camp, and most of' the Conference addresses are given in the Oddfellows' Hall, which is' quite close to the hotel, and to which tno men liavo to trudgo onco and sometimes twice daily. They seem to do so very willingly, aiid a Dominion representative who visited. the students on Saturday, found them very contented with their lot, and pursuing their programme'of meetings, rambles, and sports with a most cheerful zest. The Conference affords a pleasing example of' the unity that can already 'exist among Churches. Studonts themselves belong to all denominations, and ministers, whoso theological beliefs are just as varied, take turn in addressing' the mixed but attentive audienco. Most of them are paying special visits for the purpose, returning to the city after their meetings. , PRELIMINARY MEETINGS. -". ■ Most of the students arrived on Friday afternoon,,' aiid tho samo - evening a preliminary meeting ■' was held,. which was addressed by members of tho Union. On Sat-, urday morning the Conference- was divided into' about - fivo groups : for, separate" Bibje stiidj-.' ' Each group selected Its.own course of Scripture, which will be'studied during hourly periods to he allotted from'time to time. , ' ' • The second liour of Saturday morning's pibgrammo was dovotbd to a! discussion on work for new 'studonts,. which' was introduced by a'paper of Mr.-H. W. Monaghan, of' Wellington, read in. the author's absence. Tho .discussion dealt with the best means, of enrolling in tho Union's ratiks students who como up for the first time to tho' University.' ' ' '- ': : SCIENCE AND CHRISTIANITY. The' third hour' of 'the morning was devoted to' an address . by the Rev.. A. Dewdnoy, of the Baptist. Church, Brooklyn, 011 _ tho ■ attitude , of -scienco towards Christianity. . Mr. Dewdndy said that a very popular'method of deciding tho attitude of men of science towards religion was to quote various'great scientists,, as being oitlier supportors or opponents of Christianity. • This, method was quite useless,' though many of the,greatest 1 scientists had been arid wpro.' Christians. He' admitted that the attitude of: orthodox Christianity to scientific investigation -, had often been unreasonable. ' The Church liad uo. authority to pronounce judgment on scientific questions,- but; 011 the other hand/science alone *yas not competent to pronourieo 011 religious questions, such as tlio Incarnation or tho Resurrection. Sciontific men, by malt-; lrig a speciality of one subject, might loso the faculty of religion; the, specialist must keep in remembrance the wider world. No scienco supported the conception of tho universe as a. portentious conception of atoms. As regards tho miracle of tno Incarnation, it nught.-bo-just as natural for God to beconic man as for Him to creato man. Vicarious sacrifice inhered in tho very heart' of things. Somo details of the creeds might have to bo modified, but the essentials' -were eternal. The best revelation of God was" Jesus Christ. , . SPIRITUAL DIFFICULTIES OF . , STUDENTS. . Saturday afternoon was occupied by a walking-excursion, and in tho evening Mr. • ?, y ' I>nncl P al of the Wellington Train-' '!■§■ , ge ' £ avo ' an address 011 tho spiritual difficulties of students. He said that of recent years scientists had given much atton-' •tioir. to-the special characteristics manifested at various periods of life. During the period of adolescence, which tho majority of students spent at college, peculiar difficulties wore experienced owing to the great physical, mental and moral changes which then took P'aee. The freshman, coming straight from tho restrictions of home, was apt to use unwisely the freedom of college, life. Tho atmosphere of tho university, also,-had a bias to the intellectual rather than the spiritual ideal, and students were very apt to get thoir spiritual life worn away. As the ideals 'of tho student widened- it was inevitable that tho doctrines of his faith should undergo a severe trial. Let him but hold,-however, to the essentials of his faith, and any minor, defects in his religious attitude could bp laid aside for the time; Mr. Gray concluded his address by suggesting- certain' methods which tl)c Lnion might adopt- in order to lielp students in their spiritual difficulties. BISHOP WALLIS ON CHRISTIAN " ' SCIENCE. The Right Rev. Dr. Wallis,. Anglican Bishop of Wellington, .addressed tho students and' a number of Trenths.m residents who assembled with th'em' in" .tno Oddfellows' Hall yesterday afternoon. The Rev. F. C. Long presided. After . a religious service, the Bishop said that he had come with particular willingness to the meeting, because for- some twenty happy years he liad been associated with students at Cambridge. He had l chosen a snbje'ct that .they might think rather 'remote., from practical life, bccause tho Cnristian Science movoment was gaining, ground very fast iri many parts of the world, especially in the United States, and to a certain oxtent in England, and already it-had ad-,, horeiits to tho number of some hundreds of , thousands.The theory of Christian Scicnco had its origin in certain curbs of disease that wore performed! The theory vas- that tli'ero was no such thing as a body or diseaso, tho world was full of the prosonco of God Himself, who was-all lovo and holiness, and in His presenco there could not bo 'sin or disease. Matter —all that tho sonses could perceive—had no existence at all. If only wo could believe that there was nothing wrong with us wo should never bo-'ill. It was true that a good deal of healing was being done, especially in tho caso of nervo complaints, similar to that which had suggested Christian Scienco. Tho theory offered in explanation was that man had, two minds, or, rather, two layers of mind,: commonly called the objective and subjective minds. The pbjective mind was that with which tho sonses communicated, and which reasoned. Tho subjective mind.governed all tjje senses of tho body; it did not reason, but worketl. more by intuition; and it was peculiarly liable to suggestion. In the case of the sort of healing ho had a suggestion was mado to tho objective mirid, by whigli it was communicated to the subjective mind, which controlled .tho functions of the body. That was a modo of healing which God had created just as Ho had created drugs.. But from this process it was not reasonablo to deduce the doctrino of Christian Scienco— that disease and matter did not exist. Our oxporionco taught us that tho doctrino of the' absence of matter was not truo. Thoro was' no reason why tho universo should not lie filled' 'with God, and yet- leave room for material things. Tho teaching of Christian Science that sin was merely an -error would not satisfy tho Christian, to; whom it was much more than that. Tho question of why God should let sin "come into tho world was ono which 110 could not answer, but oven sin had its value in mailing moil strong, and itwas not answering tho question to deny tho existence of sin and call it a mistake! ■ The. Bishop was accorded a very hearty voto of'thanks for his address. TO-DAY'S PROGRAMME. To-day's programme• is as follows: — 9.30 a.m., mission study, subject, Moliammed-

anism; 10.30 a.m., discussion on the question of amalgamation between the Australasian Student Christian Union anrj following a paper by Mr. H. N. Holmes; 11.30 a.m., address on "Lessons from the Lives of Living Missionaries," by the Rev. J; D. Russell, Anglican minister, Potone. Afternoon, reception at men's camp; evening, address on "Tlio fuller realisation of Christian ideals in our social, public, and religious life," by the Rev. J. J. North, Baptist minister, .Wellington. The Rev. I. , Jolly, Presbyterian , minister at Palmerston North, will givo closing devotional meditations at the camp each evening, from to-night till Thursday. The conference will conclude on the latter date. A GROWING ORGANISATION.' Tlio Australasian Student Christian Union has' now about 2000 members in this country and Australia, including between 800 and ' 900 who belong to tlio University colleges. All of these colleges have branches, and altogether about 20 per. cant, of the students of Australasia meet in the .Union's Bible study classes, while about 33 per cotit. belong to its mcvubership. There are about 50; branch unions altogether.. Theological colleges, secondary schools, and other institutions of, higher education, as well as University colleges, are connected with the/organisation. In New Zealand-there are some 700 members, about half of whom belong to the University ■ colleges. . The Australasian Union is'coiitrolieu by a General; Committee, tho'executive of which resides in-Sydney. Mr. D. M. Lyall, who is in charge of the arrangements at tile Trentham camp, is travelling, secretary of. the Union; Mr. Hector M'Loan, of Otago University, has just been appointed an associate travelling, secretary, but has not yet taken up his duties. The object of the Union is to foster the religious and moral life of tho studdnts, and the oasis of membership is similar-.to. that'of the Y.M.C.A. .The present is the eighth New Zealand Tho. first was held in January, 1899, in Nelson; the second, in 1900; was also.held at Nelson, arid ■ since, then tho' conferences havo been held biennially, in 1902, at Wanganui, 1904 New Plymouth, and 1906 Oamaru. The Business Convention of tho Australasian Union,- at which New Zealand delegates attend, is held every two years" in Australia, and in alternate years a'summer conference is held in. the Commonwealth. Mr. Lyall state's "that the. membership of the Union is increasing. : ; •'