JOTTINGS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 9

JOTTINGS.

The outstanding features at the meetings of the General Assemblies of- the threo Scot-' tish Presbyterian Churches . have boon 1 tho) celebration of the quatir-centonary , of. 'tlia; birthj'of. John Calvin , and _tho rooepiioai accorded to the communication from tho; Established Church on the question of union, and co-operation. Tho olive-branch so far :

< as union is eoncernod has been carefully ro-: le turned by both the United Free and Freo. 'j Churches, accompanied by an expresskih' of! 1 ' d tlie. desire by the United .Free- to confer on ' ,-. general questions,, such as tho existing ecclo- . siastical situation, and.on the'main caososV that keep the Churohes apart. But of union.' ig not one word. Hie Established Church ad- ), heros uncompromisingly to tho principle of g Establishment, _ and tho f United Free. Church'. i- insists upon Disestablishment.-.;' 1 ■ , v . . 8 ' The Rev. Mark Guy Pearse'ihafl given "to > I tho West London Mission Hall'in all £10,500 J® since tho Mission began. r- Of ; 'Uxo 80,000,000 people in tlie United": ir States, more than ; 50,000,000' are ■ outside of ! d all Church affiliations and profess.no religion, it Of. tho remaining 30,000,000, 15,000,000 aro, it Allowing for tho 1,000,000 Jews'■ g who are in the United States to-day, there j i- remain 14,000,000 to be divided among tho. c Various Protestant Churches— San Francisco II "Monitor." " -/ J Archbishop' Bourne, of Westminster, cell*. 10 ls-ated tlio date of his sacerdotal silver jubileo J on Juno 11. His Graoo has -throughout, lifo been an/indefatigable; worker (says'- the:, r > "Catholio Timps"), and has'laid tio ChurcliV " in England, under a heavy debt. As thai' d founder 5 arid rector of tho Diocesan Seminary.| ■ a ' at Wonetßli; coadjutor to the. late Bishop,, e Butt, .of, Southwark, and his successor;. and I •t Archljiishop of Westminster since September g 11,1903, he has taken a loading part m many,.' o groat works of religion, education, charity,; i- and social enterprise, and has. well preserved ; tho. great traditions connected with the offico - of: the,head ,of tlie English Episcopate, this., having been socially evident on tho occasion,, of the Euchanstic Congress. Something like a escaped tho lips of > the United Free Assembly when tho convontjr o of tho Advisory Committee, in tho course of 0 his report, unexpectedly indicated-the start-, ' ling amount of the legal expenses in con-1 8 neotion with tho Churchcs Commission. Tak- - ing all into account, ho said, he was not far V wrong in placing tho estimate of these at; 3 at £100,000. He hoped it would not bo supa posed that: the .Church had failed to get yaluo J for tho expense so incurred. On tho oonr trary, great as tho loss liadv been, ho 1 was > personally satisfied that but for the able s conduct of their case and the efforts of their 1 law advisers, that loss would.hav-o been very i much greater. . v . Tlio late Bishop Doyle; Roman Catholicr Bishop of Lismdre, N.S.W,, was-worth, Row '■ • • Father Williams, of Balliua, said,_ at tho time .v of his death, precisely one shilling and six- . ponce. When tho old Lismoro church was: ' burnt down, on it was a debt of £500, which i Dr. Doyle converted to a private debt of his;. own. Only a fortnight beforo his death a' sum of £400 was paid to his credit, being tho Easter, and Christmas dues, and tho Bishop gave tlie whole amount to reduction of tlie parish building dobt, as well : as every, month having contributed £3 to' tlio parish!' , funds. In his will,.made 1G years ago. tho, , , Bishop stated'that whatever personal belong-ings-he had they .were to bo handod over to ■ tlio parish funds.: He always expressed a' wish to die wort'n nothing, and that desira has been fulfilled. The question of foreign mission work haj again received!attention by tho Young Men's: Christian- Association .of Australasia, and it." is:likely that tlio members will undertake to, support a student secretary at Hyderabad, which is; about' tho ; fourth largest city in India. A university student is available. . The continued secession from tho Lutheran: .State Church in Germany is causing uneasiness. At tho end of this year .nearly 12,000 will have surrendered their connection with! ' the church of their fathers. Various reasons are given (says a Berlin correspondent) for'-'' ' tho, movement, which is not by any means ■ confined, to Berlin. There is the increasing' 1 influence of social democratic views, which in this country at-loast aro bitterly opposed to tho Church. Thero is tho' further wellknown tendency of tho clergy of the State Church to identify themsolves with the interests of those in power. There is likewise- - a growing lack of sympathy between the clergy and tho peoplo in ali that pertains i to-pastoral work, and a dislike of paying' church taxes. There is also a growing- spirit , of rationalism in theology, which is rapidly ■ [ sapping the foundations of tho older relig. ious bolief. The Church seems powerless wk stop this drain. ' • Commissioner and Mrs. Hay,'.who aro to succood Commissioner and Mrs. M'Kie in command of the Australasian territory, havo boon for many years officers of the Salvatibn - Army. They, have filled leading positions in Great Britain, outsido of Which centro they • havo not yet laboured. Commissioner Hay , - is a skilled organiser and goodplatform ' speaker, and exorcises a wonderful influonooover his subordinates. Tho couple leavo Loodon on July 30,