RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 740, 12 February 1910, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

CHURCH,AND BIBLE,

THE/ ROMAN. GiTHOLIC.' ATTITUDE. Bishop Grimes, the ...Roman^Catholic Bishop - of'- Christcliurch,/ has issued a Lenten pastoral in. which he urges Rouian' Catholics'to study the Bible, und iu do■iug so ;lio -replies to .'charges .'that have been made . against the Roman "Catholic Church, that it' lias .always under-valued the Bible, .that the 'study, of Holy Writ has never been . encouraged among ' the clergy, that the laity have been forbidden to read it, and tlijit until tho time of Luther the people complete ignorance of.. the Bible. "These -assertions,"' says the Bishop, "are not borne out by. historical facts. .To refute them wo need only call in the aid of historians not of our. faith.., "Both the Old aiid NAr Testa-., mont,' says an Anglican clergyman, Rev.' C. Buck, 'were tiMnslated into-Latin .by the primitive Christians, and while the Roman Empiro subsisted in' Europe, the reading of the; Scriptures in the italiu'n tongue, which was .the .universal. language of .that Empire, prevailed, everywhere. To say that'the Catholic Church ever umler-. valued the Bible is a fallacy!as wickedly, asserted as it' is false., Has. she not al-, ways taught that it is one of the 'two great sources of' revealed!: truth from whic!'..she derives the materials of. lier faith' and teaching? Has she .not : sol-, cuinly! deolared that we can-ot bp # true children .of-the we canhot be saved except we: love and revere, the Bibld and every part, of the: Bible as the word of ..God Himself ?, ' Did she not for, centuries before the invention, of printing, order thousands of lier leai rh'd and holiest priests and monks! to spend their lives in translating! and transcribing the Bible' from the learned/languages! in! which it was .first penned, and., this, in letters of gold' and on; costliest parchment and most elaborate binding,, which is, even nowadays;-the admiration Of all who liave seen 'thohi in the Vatican, the British Museum, and, other great-, libraries of Europe ? : In ; her .'gTeat Council does v not tho Bible/always hold .the place/of honour, before- the! altar of. God in- tho midst of 'the . Assembly/of. her Cardinals and Patriarchs; /Bishops; i: . Abbots, •- and ■Priests? : At. every solemn iMass!'is not' /the Book of Gospels bjrne ill procession to a- place of honour in the' sanctuary, surrounded by. lighted torches, . inccnscd with hallowed fire, and during.,the singing of the Gospel do not all, high and low, young and old, stand up with the deepest reverence, whilst at the end it is kissetl by the Pontiff or prelate or priest who - presides Did/she not, as soon 1 ' as printing was • invented, ; employ it to spread abroad .! tho Saered Scriptures ? Does she not'. oblige every one of her' sacred ministers,., under pain of mortal sin, to devote more ithan an hour every day to the Teading of" the Bible by ; the' recitation of the Divine .Office, besides his morning meditation, his;daily and. private, studies, which . constantly ' bring the Biblo before his-mind'' and his heart? Whore-will you. find Catholics treating/the' word of ,Go([ with.aught bordering, on- disrespect? ; Are' they known/; to-use the pages of the Bible to -wrap up' articles of commerce? . Never. will!!they 'employ them' for'profane, much loss for vile 'or. degrading purposes." ~ ' ' 1 ?•

jottings; The Rev.-. G. Silvester,, Home, who has just been to Parliament "for an English electorate, began , his' connectionwith politics in" his student days at Glasgow,.when he associated himself with tlio 1 . Glasgow/University-'Liberal Club. ..One of his fellow-members was Hugh Black, and in the. rectorial elections- Charles Home and Hugh Black were in,tho thickest of the fray, 'their red gowns being more thaii ojico thickly smeared with tar, fir.. Homo became president"!of 'the /TJiiiveristy De.bating Society,'.and has:not forgotten.tho difliculty-.he had .at, times.in;maiutaining : .order. In .-.his/ .early-.- years, ;he!'-has;-con-fessed, he i _a>pired; ~.,t0 ; ,be v a barrister. Later, SvlienV with'tho ;other young 'Congregationalists. of - Newport;" lie astrong supporter' of- Str.-T Chamberlain's, "unailthorised programme;'-' his:,-thoughts, ■turned .to.,the Hoiise of Commons, and ,lie.' had A'isions—probably -now. to be fulfilled' Trof !liimself addressing, that assembly. .Some of. Mr. Jlorne's,best.;political work, lias been' 1 jlo'ne in' Norfolk, whero'-lio used to;,drivo;,with Lord;. Justice. Cozons-Hardy';! Mrs; ; Horhe's';father.'"ftheii MrtVCozen's' -Hardy,', Q.C.', ' i .M."Pi),; '"from ;LetlliiriifgsPtt Hall .'to.'the,'villages ill -thp''northern'";dt■vision, and do !his. .part/.in '.building/up" tho.,! substantial. majorities by; which'.; the future Judge was returned., ).;.,,' , / ...•

Dr. J. Wilbur : Chapman and llr. Chas. M. 'Alexander, with , their colleagues, have reached' Boston'; after their:,world-round tour; and wore;.welcomed, at a- monster, banquot; to' which nearly 2000 people sat down;;. .cpuyer across, " was 'broken 'at Minneapolis,.' Chicago, ; Pittsburg,'' : Phila-. delphia, Brooldyn,; rnid.'vSpringiiold, and' everywhere th'ey were 'enthusiastically' received. !Next wpnth .tho'/riiissioners begiri an evangelistic ' campaign- at Ppi-tiand, Maine. They liave already .received an invitation to , pay a .return visit to Australia. ,- - ,

, A curious ecclesiastical development is .reported'-front Denver, :, Colorado.,'.-. The Bethany 'Baptist Church in,that city, asserting that it stands for • tho original principles of the. Baptist. Church, from which the parent body lias departed, has voted to the Baptist name; - but to -' transfer " its fellowship.; to , the "Unitarians. . In; a. series. of carefully-prepared resolutions;the members! of! Bethany a'yow a. proper pride iii the name "Baptist" .'as standing for! those radicals of. tho -Protestant, Reformation' .wlio: were ;most thorough in repudiating externarauthorify.in religion; they, deplore 'the fact that "those who identify/their own opinions with the mind of ;-Qod" have departed from the. principle of individual liberty which'was characteristic, of ..early Baptist . tradition; and they welcome to church privileges all who desire to follow Jesus in-loving ser-, vice to man,"whatever their theological opinions. This remarkable action is the outcome of'-'a.'local controversy tliat began. ten years. ago, when tho Bethany Church refused to dismiss its pastor; Rev. Henry W. Pinkham, on. his teachings being declared by the.Rocky Mountain Baptist Association to.be out of harmony with the doctrinal, position l of tlio denomiria-. tion. There are in England,: of course, many Baptist churches which have fellowship with the Unitarians.

Dr. Warschauer has accepted the pastorate of ■ Horton "...Lane: : Congregational Chiirch,. Bradford. Yorkshire is not new ground to - Dr. - Warscliauer,/'. For/some years after coming to England from Germany,' lie . was ; engaged i n business • in Leeds, and it was tlirongh tlie ministry of the Rev. Charles Hargrove, at ,Mill. Hill Unitarian, Church, , that the young Agnostic Jew who,; lip to then, had . never opened a: New Testament, became, associated.with'a Christian church. I'rom Leeds, lie went to Oxford, thence to .Tena and' theuce' to Bristol, When* in ."Unitarianism his preaching was .always , and increasingly Christocentiic, and it' was quite a natural transition-for him to enter Congregationalism. In the last, four years (states the "Christian World") lie lias moved steadily towards a broadly evangelical standpoint. Though. still a Modernist, the" emphasis ho puts on, sin and redemption satisfies most., evangelicals. Dr. Horton has .described, him; as one of the most valuable oi .Christian apologists. At Horton. Lane Church he is promised a free pulpit, aud though tlio old central church has been passing through anxious times, Dr. Warschauer's vigorous and attractive preaching is . certain to attract'.a'large-regular'.congrega-tion. Apart from his preaching power, Dr. Warschauer is a striking personality. His scholarship is beyond question, he is a quito extraordinary linguist, and lie is an excellent;reciter-as well as a popular lecturer. '