RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 235, 27 June 1908, Page 12

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

THE LIGHTS OF HOME. | Pilot, how for from homo? Not far, not far to-night: A flight of spray, a sea-bird's flight, . A flight of tossing foam, And then, the lights of homo. And yet, again, how far? Seems you the way so brief? Those lights beyond the roaring reef Wero lights of moon and star, • Far, far, none knows how farl Pilot, how far from home? Tho great stars, pass away Boforo Him as a flight of spray, Moons as a lliVlit of foam! I seo the lights of home. —Alfrod Noyes, in tho "Cornhill Magazine." CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of tho Church Missionary Socioty was held recently in the Queen's Hall, London, Sir John H. Kennaway, M.P., presiding. There was a vory largo attendance. In a general review of tho year, which was read by Prebendary Fox, it was pointed out that when the Committoo met their friends at last year's anniversary they were warned of the possibility of a check in tho advance of tho Society, which had been uninterrupted for a quarter of a century. After making all necessary adjustments, tho figures . then to be published showed a small decrease of six in the roll of missionaries for the year. A still largor diminution would, no doubt, appear when tho figures for tho forthcoming report wero finally made up. The Committee made it' known that 110 new recruits would be sont out unless their necessary cost up to tho end of this year was provided, and tho money required was subscribed within a few weeks. Tho amount thus specially contributed was, of course, only partly available against the expenditure of the year just closed, besides which most of tho reductions ordered by the Committoo wero only now beginning to take effect. The Society's finances, therefore, had not yet attained the desired equilibrium. Tho total amount recoivedjiad been £376,104, as compared with £375,757 last year; but, after adjusting the appropriated contributions, only £372,897 could bo set against the year's expenditure, which had been £376,212, besidos £3018 applied to tho Sinking Fund under tho new

schemo for providing tho needed Working Capital Fund. Tho deficit on the year, therefore, was. £6333 to be added to tho previous accumulated deficit of £21,240. Tho Chairman moved a resolution adopting tho report, expressing regret at tho necessary retrenchments, and urging the important of continued efTort { in view of tho national movements spreading over India and the Far East, especially in China. Bishop Tugwell (Western Equatorial Africa), in seconding tho resolution, spoke of the outlook in Africa. Since Europe was responsible for 9,000,000 squaio miles of that country, it was perfectly obvious that, in considering tho problems of Africa, they must first turn their attention to Europe. If there was one subject more than any other which needed thought and discussion it was tho attitude of the European Powers in their relations towards nativo races. Great Britain was the liopo of Africa. Blot out Great Britain, and thoy might regard' tho outlook in Africa with despair; but let Groat Britain riso to a sense of her wonderful op- , portunitie's and of her great responsibilities, and lot her lead tho nations, as she alone could lead them, and then they might write across,tho country the word "Hope." But did Great Britain so regard her position; notably'in West Africa? If so, how could j they account for tho fact that' she per- i mitted to be imported into her ports every ' year millions of vile and noxious' spirits? j It was disquieting to notice that tho traffic j was increasing, and in this matter Great < Britain sinned grievously against the people ■ committed to her care.

Colonel Williams;- M.P., in speaking of tho outlook at Home, said there had 1 been a growing interest in'missionary?work during tho last few years. Ho also referred with thankfulness to the fact that in a year of financial'depression they had been able to raiso so largo a sum for tho C.M.S. There was, however, a great and eirnest desire and longing to wipe away the reproach of retrenchment. Dr. Dattaj of tho Punjab, said that India, once a divided and downtrodden country, was* now under tho operation of two. great constructive forces—a neutral, just, and impartial Government, and tho general education of tlio people on liberal lines under tho wise auspices of well-organised University Boards. Just as English was the futuro languago of India, so the Western, or Christian, ideal of morals was destined to bo tho future r'ulo of life. Under its influence casto prejudices \voro fast breaking down, and superstition was giving way to Christian' enlightenment; The , outlook for the future was bright and highly encouraging. : _ Tho unrest in India was not a sign of disloyalty, but rather of an awakened dosire on tho part of tho educated Indians to tako their full share, in time, in the .government of their country.

CARDINAL HUMOURIST. ANECDOTE OF A VATICAN ELECTION. Cardinal Logue, tho Primate of Ireland, is rivalling the Bishop of London in the affections of Americans (states a New York correspondent). Since his arrival here to attend the mammoth centenary celebrations of the establishment of the diocoso of Now York his Eminence has earned a reputation as a gonial humourist.

Tho other night the Cardinal treated his hearers at a grand banquet to an unconventional disquisition oil tho Papal election. It was an after-dinner speech, but it is nevertheless fully reported in.the New York papers. "Sure," lie said, with' a rich Irish brogue, "I am hero without the Pope's permission. I did not ask him for it, bccauso I was afraid ho wouldn't give it. Consequently there is a chance I shall see tho Holy Father sooner than I expocted." His Eminence nearly reduced the audience to tears by describing with touching pathos oho sad condition of the Pope, immured in tho Vatican after a lifo of freedom spoilt as a parish priest among tho poor. But tho tears were suddenly changed to laughter as tho Cardinal intimated, witn a comio twist of the lips, that perhaps, after all, tho Vatican garden in which the prisoner walked was not so very small. . "But for the fact that it was a broiling day," said the Cardinal, "the Popo would ! not havo been elected so soon as ho was. 1 The Cardinals had to hasten tho ballots because of the insufferablo heat. When the result was declared to tho new Pope, ho, it ■is said, foil in a doad faint.

"Had I been in his placo," whimsically added the Cardinal, "I think I would have waited for a chance, jumped out of tho windon-, climbed over a wall, and rim back to Iroland before they could oatcli up with mo. Once an Irishman was elected Pope, but ho fled to tho mountains and hid in a cavc, where he probably still remains, for he was pevor seen again."

MODERN MISSIONS. NEW THEOLOGICAL STANDPOINT. The Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson, of tho London Missionary Society, one of tho greatest authorities on foreign missions, dovoted his addross from tho chair of tho Congregational Union, in England, last month, to tho missionary problom. A greatly changed problem it has become. Mission's now (the London "Christian World" says) have to maintain their position and mako their appeal from a changed theological basis. Tho religious outlook in which they originated no longer exists. Tho Churches no longer believo, as the fathers believed, that tho heathen world is under tho ctirso of God, that its innumerable millions who havo lived and died without Christ aro irretrievably lost. As Dr. Thompson puts it, sinco the beginning of the modern missionary era, " the influence of foroign travel upon an ovor-incrcasing number, tho fuller and moro accurate knowledge wo now possess of tho sacred writings , and roligious systems of tho non-Christian world, the remarkable growth of onlightonmont on man's physical nature and his relation to tho rest of animate life especially as unfolded in tho theories of evolution, and tho application of tho critical method to tho structure of tho Biblo and to the doctrines of our faith, havo produced results far more widespread than wo havo yet fully rocognißcd, and havo imperceptibly tho standpoint of yery, many to a

groat distanco from that they occupied in tho beginning of life." "This statement," adds the "Christian World," "is as true as it is brave. The old appeal is gono. Tho platform calculations winch somo of us still ,'ninninbfr, as to how many heathen souls por minute were passing into eternal misery, if offered to-day, would bo resented as blasphemy against God. We think better of Him than to suppose His word was constructed on any such hideous principle. And with this ' hell for almost all idea as a missionary basis, havo gone also other allied notions equally alien to the modern mind. Amongst those is tho view that tho Christian obligation to tho heathen has been fulfilled by tho more passing proclamation of the Gospel by lying heralds, hurrying to bo through with their work ere the crack of doom sounds. The idea reminds one of Xavier's motliod of evangelising islands he was unablo to land upon, by making oyer them tho sign of tho Cross as ho passed in his vessel, and pouring out in their direction a libation of holy wator. Wo know nothing about tho crack of doom. Tho suddon-and-imminent-catastropho idea, with whatever it contained in tho way : of missionary incentive, no longer holds. Instead, we havo perspectives of infinitely long, infinitely slow processes; of a planet millions of years old, of life upon it developing through aeon after aeon; of humanity emerging to its present consciousness through measureless prehistoric ages; of religious growths hoary with ago, entirely natural, inevitable, one may say, to tho places and epochs that grew there." Tho Rome correspondent of the London " Daily Express" states that the Pope, in receiving Cardinal Agliardi on May 8, announced that Archbisliop Bourne, of Westminster, would shortly bo created a Cardinal. This statement is interpreted as meaning that the elevation of Archbishop. Bourne will occur at tho Consistory to bo held nest September. Sir J. Compton-Eickett, M.P., who presided last-month at the 76th annual assembly of tho Congregational Union of England and Wales, said that they had been very fortunate as a great organisation. He doubted whether any other Protestant Church could have gone through what they had gono through without losing many members. There had been no divisions, no heresy hunts! Though some seemed inclined to shed theological clothing and go untrammelled, they might say "Still wild in woods the noblo savage runs." (Laughter.) Congregationalism trusted its sons, but it clung to one great article of its unwritten faith—the inspiration of a Holy Spirit ever present.

The Rev. J. D. Jones, M.A., B.D:, the new Ohairman-elect of the English Congregational Union, is one of the youngest men ever elected to the chair. Ho is only forty-three, but during his nineteen years in the ministry ho has fully earned the distinction now conferred upon him by the extent and unselfishness of his denominational service. Ho is a Welshman, but ho was educated at Victoria University and Lancashire Independent College. His two pastorates have been at Lincoln and at Bournemouth, and in both spheres ho has exercised a powerful influence outside his own church. At Bournemouth ho might, had his inclination been so, have enjoyod an easy pastorate, but he has been a veritable Congregational Bishop of Hampshire, has led several church extension schemes, spent himself in _ fostering the weaker churches, and by his brotherliness and practical sympathy lightened the load of his brother ministers in the county. The latest of the Australian States to fall into line in establishing a Young Men's Christion . Association centro, is West Australia. At a meeting held at Perth last week it }vas resolved to begin a campaign with the object of raising £10,000 for the purposes of fin association. The health of Dr. P. E. Clark (founder of tho : Christian Endeavour movement) _ has been causing his friends serious anxiety. Tho overstrain of his Endeavour campaign ]>as hindered his complete recovery from his recent severo illnoss. He has now gone to Sagamore Beach, Mass., ono of his favouvite seaside resorts, for a long: rest. . The London Jews' Society has held its 100 th. annual Sir: i Jclm vlvp.ti na'vay presided;;. and the t; secretary n- ; reported • that the incoJne : for..,the,',yeap was £51,'251. the largest on record. The mission expenditure Wis £43.851. and, with a deficit of £5067 from 1006, the accounts showed a deficit of £363. The society has 46 mission stations in all parts of tile world whero largo numbers of Jows congregate. Its ■ missionary staff numbers 229. Parochial grants are made to incumbents of parishes in England containing large Jewish populations. Sinco-1809 the society has circulated 1,008,397 ;copies of the Holy Scripture in 18 languages. Mission schools, hospitals (including one at Jerusalem) and industrial and other homes cro other agencies of this useful society.

F ELECTION OF BISHOPS. i In an article in the "Church Times "the 1 Rev. \ Paul Bull, of tho Community of the | Resurrection, Mirfield, has some Striking '. things to say on. tho election -of. English I bishops. Ho writes:—Has not the time come when tho Church must claim her right to ■ elect her own Bishops? Up to the present the hopelessly illogical method by which they were chosen by the Prime Minister has worked fairly well, because the Prima Minister has dono his best for tho Church. But ever since the repeal of tests, which rightly admitted mon of every sort of belief and unbelief into Parliament, tho present method' has become increasingly impossible; and now that we have a Ministry so bitterly, hostile to the Church, tho timo has como.for a definite change. -This chango will not be accomplished without a fight, hut the persecution of tlie Church by tho present Parliament has awakened. Churchmen and hound them togother in a way unknown before. : The principle of election is preserved to us in our constitution. The couge d'oliio, and tho right to protest at the confirmation •of a Bishop's election assert the principle which lias never been lrsu, only left in abeyance, that f'e Church shall elect its own Bishops. Wily should we wait any longer ? Why not. organise at once to re-win this right which is so essential to tho well-being of tho Church. If at once we begin to organise, if whon'a vacancy occurred the Church ignored the Prime Minister and chose, by a vote of clergy and laity of tho dio'cese, two names for presentation to the King; if, where tho Canons have a right to elect, they were free to add a third nanio and then sent the threo names to the .Bishops of the Province, who might add a fourth, if then tho Archbishop presented the four names to tho King direct, and allowed him to choose one from among them, I boliovo we should have preserved all that is valuable in the traditions of the past and the practice of the present, and the rights of all concernod, and have rewon the freedom of tho Church. I hope no one will suggest the Statutes of Praemunire. Wo know all their pains and penalties. Wo know, too, that theso statutes could never in any circumstances bo enforced in this matter. No sensible man is really afraid of theso mere legal bogies, tho ghosts of a forgotten tyranny, with which clever lawyers Used to frighten the poor old Canons into obedionce. Can anyone even imagine to-day six doar old Canons going off to prison because they wouldn't elect an unsuitable man whom some infidel Primo Minister of the future might noriiinate to a bishopric! Besides, oven if they were put in prison it would be a useful experience for them tho life js very healthy and the food quite wholesome; and if their cells wore anywhero near those of tho Suffragettes, they mMifc catch more inspiration and enthusiasm for martrydom from those bravo ladies tlian 1 over likoly to learn in tho Cathedral Close! But seriously wo shall not win tins right for the Church till wo claim it , with insistence and determination. If tho Churchmen m the dioceso and tho Bishops had the courage to make their nomination, I don't believe any. power in England would dare to refuso them tlireo times in succession, because right is so obviously on our

Services in connection with tho Wesleyan Church at Brooklyn were commenced in Fulford's Hall last Sunday; Tho congregation augmented by soveral members of tlio orchestra from.Taranaki Street Church, under the leadership of Mr. Billman, was vorv oncouragmg. On Thursday evening, a most enjoyablo social was held, and taking into consideration tho counter attractions and bad weather, was well attended. Tho Rev J. R. Clark presided. Tho Rovs. Ronnie,' Dewdnoy, Serpell, and Jlr. Tiller gavo short practical addresses, and refreshments were providod by ladies of tho congregation. The whole affair woe quite a success.