THE CHURCHES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 213, 2 June 1908, Page 3

THE CHURCHES.

METHODISM IN WELLINGTON. A FORWARD MOVEMENT. Tho Methodists of Wellington havo resolved to raise £4000 within tho next three years for purposes of church extension in tho city and suburbs. ' The money will be spent on sites for churches in thoso places whero tho connection owns no site at present, and in the early erection of church buildings, whero sites aro already possessed. A forward movement is to be made, in fact, to repair the inactivity of the past. The Methodists' have already sites, for churches in Brooklyn, Northland, Wadcstowri, and some other suburbs, but in others they must be acquired. Had a far-seeing policy been followed ten or fifteen years ago, sites might havo beon purchased at a moderate chargo, in view of future needs. Tho opportunity was allowed to' pass, hut a spccial effort will bo mado now to. obtain sites for future Methodist churches, while property, though dear, is still obtainable! . It is also hoped to establish a central mission in the city, similar to thoso in Auckland and Dunedin, and, on a much larger scale, in some of the Australian and English cities. The Melbourne Central Mission carries on an immense , and complex institutional work, but most'of this would not be needed , in. New Zealand. The Wellington Mission would resemble more the orio' con-, ducted at Dun-edin,. where it is stated, that an'evening congregation of 2500 persons is addressed weekly, a certain amount of institutional . work, being also carried on. Deaooncsses would bo employed for work .among tho 'poor. Tho Methodist Church 1 in Wellington is not without its agencies for social work at present. Subordinate to Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, are missions in Tory and Aro Streets, and, in connection, with these, a good deal of relief work among'the poor .is done. The Taranaki Street Church employs, two deaconesses. One feature of their work is to hold sales' of second-hand clothing, which it is thought better to sell to deserving persons at a nominal price , than to givo them gratis. In odo year Sister Isabel raised £20 in proceeds from these sales, tho amount being devoted to tho furtherance cf philanthropic objects. As tho result of its contemplated forward movement, the Methodist Church in Wellington hopes-to do much more in tho future than it has done in tho past. ' • • ■ ■ The now policy has evolvod from a series of meetings, of delegates from all tho Methodist churches in tho city and suburbs. A Methodist Church Council, representing, all tho ohurches, has been appointed to proceed with tho schemo. Of this Council, the Rev. W. G.: Williams (Newtown) is president ; Rev. S. J. Serpell .(Taranaki Street), ;'vicc-.-president; Rev. E. P. Blamires •'(lsland Bay),' secretary ; and Mr. • C.- H. Jones, treasurer.: : '• :■ •A re-union tea'. and Mothodist family gathering, to be followed by an inaugural public meeting .in connection with the sphorao,'will bo . hold in tho Wesley Schoolroom,' Taranaki - Street, • next' week., • : :

RELIGION AND.SCIENCE. ''Man's-True Dignity,; qr Roligion and Scionce join Hands, was tho titlo of tho fourth of tho series of " Plain Talks on' Puzzling Problems" given 'by;the Rev., Arthur' Dewdney in the Brooklyn Baptist ,Church-on, -Sunday night. .'.There, was a distinct return •oh: the part of sciontific men .from-',the. ina-/ tqrialistic trend of a generation back, declared Mr. Dewdney. Such clear pronouncements of.belief in tho Divine Personality and Immanonco as those of ; tho late Lord Kelvin, and the equally : dccisivo declaration of Sir Oliver Lodge that-ho beliovcd in'one Infinito and Eternal Being, a guiding and loving ..leather,' in Whom all things consist, wcro -representative utterances..,. .Haeckel, with his aggressive agnosticism, no loss an' authority 1 than Sir Oliver Lodgo had declared' to be " a lorip .voice.." \The church-herself, said the preacher, had.been-to^,blame.;for muchaof, the antdgohism of theSpastiV'Hei'i'attitude 'towards .scientific .pronouncements ''had .oftenbeen quito unworthy;.'of the- spirit, 'of: tho" founder' of'.Chiistianity. It. must, not-be ex-pected.that-Scripturo should-'speak in . tho language of science, nor that science should Use necessarily the language of Scripture. • It became them to , lot tho Scripturo speak its own message to them:; too. often they had read:.into ;it; limited >. meanings of their, own. And on the other hand, many scientists had fallen-'into the error of supposing' that tho discovory of ■ the process of -creation rendered .needless a creator. - But the knowing •how . a'thing was made did not by any means do away with the need of a maker.' The knowledge of ,a process did not -necossarily explain-the power that operated along it. So in regard to tho origin of man, if they admit that he is tho last 'of a series, " the crown,-and -summit of all 'being; -yet, ;having,come to his.high place not different from other.'forms, of;life,"' that,admission v in no wise robbed man of his dignity nor God of his honour. Was his individual manhood ■less honourable because ho knew that its beginning was'a tiny protoplasmic embryo, that stage by stage, through protracted processes, he came into his perfected being? Rightly understood, science, was-but re-echoing tho voice of the Psalmist, who declared of man: "Thou madest him.a.little lower than, God.", The last witness of the scientist had been anticipated by Paul in his wonderful utterance: "The earnest expectation' of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the' sons of God.'" The preacher quoted representative scientists that on earth thero will never be a higher creature than man, tliat the human system is the highest form of life possible subject to tho, conditions ,of matter on tho surface of the globe, and that tlio structure completes the design of-tho animal kingdom.Man was neither the master,nor the slave of nature, ho was its interpreter and living word. Man consummated the universe, and gave Voice to the mute creation. If he was of ' the earth earthy, he was yet above ■ that from which ho, sprang. Ho could stand outsido that physical nature, could study its secrets; and in measure mafce it answer his will. Tho voice of his inner consciousness declared—_ Thou wilt not leave him in the .dust, - Tliou madest man he knows not why; He thinks ho'was not made to die; And Thou hast made him,. Thou art just. And his conscious longings were met by the declaration of . Scripture and the revelation of Jesus Christ. "Thou visitest him" was tho great word-of the Psalmist, and man knew that though ho was "of tho earth earthy, ho was destined for the hoavon." The lowest man had the capacity'for fellowship with God, his being was incomplete until he had entered upon that fellowship. Jesus Christ had come to bring God down to man, to lift man up to. God. To reveal the ideal of .tho Eternal Father in. the Divine-Human lie, and to win .man from his sin and-wayward-ness, to inspire him with this noble ideal, and to empower him Jby His almighty graco to reach up to it. ■ '