THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 9763, 20 July 1895, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

THE STUDENT.

A thbughtflil and practical address was delivered on this subject liy the Rev. R. Waddell, M.A., in St. Andrew's Church on Sunday evening. The texts which formed the key notes to his subject were I. Timothy, iv., 13 : " Give heed to reading "; and John xviL, 3: " This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesua Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The rev. gentleman said that he was to speak to them of the student or scholar—he preferred the word scholar, for a reason that would subsequently appear. Of the Other ideals of which he had already spoken he might not have had much experience, but he could not say the same of this. He had been engaged in it for a quarter of a century, and five-and-twenty years' experience should teach a man something. There were four points that he would touch on : (1) The means, (2) method, (3) dignity, and (4) purpose of scholarship. It would not be modest of them to expect that he should exhaust all these, or any one of these, in the thirty minutes which their grace allowed. He would set out the bare points of the subject, leaving it to them to fill it up with what life and power they could. He had nothing profound to saysimple commonplaces ; but until truth became fused into duty it never could be commonplace and must never cease to be

other. . 1. Roughly speaking, the means of scholarship were books. Natuie was a book ; man Was a book ; they were thoughts dressed up in matter and flesh. But the books of which he was thinking specially were printed books. They preserved knowledge, lhey enabled each generation to start where its predecessor stopped. Let them think for a moment of the miracle of books. There was he speaking to them, using words. Words expressed his thoughts and conveyed them to them. These words set their minds working. What a miracle was thought! Certain vibrations of the air set in motion by him (the speaker) struck on their ears and were transmitted into the:r brain. 1 articles of matter were put in motion, and that motion passed over into the immaterial and issued in that inexplicable thing called thought. That was a wonder and a miracle. No one ever yet had been able to explain the nexus between consciousness and the movements of the particles of the brain. But let them open up a book, and the result was still more miraculous. lnere were certain signs called letters. Letters in a certain order make a word. We learn to read the word. By-and-bye the word was passed, and ceased to report itself to consciousness. It became a symbol through which we touched thought. Another thing which must fill them with wonder was the multitude of books which issued from the press. Let them think of the time when they might have gone through a whole country and counted all its books on the fiDgers of their hand. Only one here and there could read. Now all was changed. Every week printing presses poured forth a continuous ana ever-growing stream. There was a danger of being Bwamped and drowned. How could a person classify it, or how could one select? That was very difficult, but it brought him to his second point. 2. Method.—lt was perfectly clear that they must specialise. No mortal man could read everything, nor be a scholar in all directions. It took some courage to say " We don't know," but it was a courage that must be cultivated if we were to learn to say "We do know." The idea of an all-round scholar was an illusion. It was not the individual but society that -was the organism. Each person was only a unit, and an allround culture might be predicated of an organism but not of the unit. They might as well ask that the hand should have the function of the foot, the eye, and the ear. One must give up therefore the idea of the all-round scholar as impossible. Hence one had to find out what books he should read. It was very hard to do this. They must first settle such questions as these : What time have I? What talents? What books would be most useful to me ? Books might be divided into three classes : (1) Books of knowledge, ('-') books of law, (3) books of inspiration. These corresponded to the three parts of personality : mind, will, and soul. Books of knowledge were those that presented us with facts and truth. Books of law, those relating to nature and morals—they set forth duty, and appealed the will. Books of inspiration were those which set knowledge on fire—they woke the spirit, and put the will into action. They therefore were incomparably the most valuable. A cookery book or a railway guide were valuable compendiums of knowledge, but were not a high sort of literature. A scientific treatise on the laws of health was excellent, and we could not do without that class, but it was not the highest. Let them compare the difference between " The brotherhood of man " and Burns's ' A man's a man for a' that'! For one that would be stirred by the prose of it, a thousand would be *tirred by the song. And so these that move the emotions were the best, and should be selected. Specialisation was the first means necessary to scholarship. It was wise to read only the best in every department. There were always a few great original minds. It was a waste of time to spread themselves out over the whole surface. They should not be in a hurry to read the latest productions. Let them wait; the books will not run away. Let time test them. Time was a wonderful sifter. In a year or two he carried off cartloads of literature that the critics praised and chucked them into the dust heaps of the ages. Emerson's rules (and he might say that he knew no more luminous and inspiring writer) were: (1) Never read any book that is not a year old ; (2) never read any but famed books; (3) never read any but what you like. He (the speaker) would like to add this: "Never read, or rarely ever, any book that you do not intend, and that is not worth, reading twice." 3. They should read with a pencil and a note book. In reading Emerson one was amazed at the number and aptitude of his illustrations. These were all gathered out of his note book. So were Montaigne's and many other writers. It was a good thing after reading a book to make an abstract of it. Gladstone wrote down on a fly-leaf the points of a book that he thought valuable. They should note down in their books ideas and commit them to heart. This served a twofold purpose. It strengthened the memory, and gave it valuable thoughts that came in scores of years afterwards. He (the speaker) could bear witness to this. Every now and again he found notes made long ago coming iu, and fitting in in a most extraordinary way. They should mark their books, and then in the odd minutes that they might have—too short to read—let them glance over their note books and read what they had marked. That would fix it in their minds.

4. If they marked their books they must be their own. Therefore, let them begin the formation of a library of their own. He would not say never read a borrowed book, or a book out of a library. But they should read as few such as they could. He was amused and amazed sometimes at the stinginess of well-to do people in the matter of buying books. He thought the public libraries should be to supply the community with books of reference mainly—books that were too costly for the average man to purchase. His advice to them, therefore, was absolutely buy your own bookd. They oould do it easily. We lived in a time when for a sixpence or a shilling you might be the possessor of the greatest classics in all the languages in the world. Therefore, every man and woman should resolve to invest in a book. It would be the best investment they ever made. It would repay them wonderfully. One of the best—he had almost said the very bestlibraries be knew of belonged to a young m*.n, a clerk in Dunedin, and had been purchased out of a comparatively small salary. Evtry time he (the speaker) looked at*it it almost made him break the Tenth Commandment. - Thereiore, with all their getting, let them get their own books. Let them be sure it was a society which it ought to be their ambition to keep. It was a companionship which it was ennobling to cultivate.

And, finally, let them read a little every day. It was the continuous little bits that made the scholar. He was speaking for the most part to business men. It was just to such as them that the term scholar applied.

That "ft** why' he , preferred the Word scholar to student. A scholar Meant a man who learns in his leisure time. And how much leisure time they must all have or might have! Reoent legislation had doubled it for many of them. Who was there, then, that might not have one hour in the day, which meant 365 hours in a year? What a number of books they might get through in that time. Let them think of the waste of time over things that did not deserve it—over the newspaper, over absolute trush iu the form of all kinds of papers and tit bits that flew up like chaff On every wind of heaven. History was crowded with the records of those that made themselves scholars Faraday was a worker at the forge. Paul was a tent maker. Christ was a carpenter. Janet Hamilton, iriarried when she was seventeen, started housekeeping and reared eighteen children, yet she taught herself to read and write at the age of fifty, and wrote some of the most beautiful poems in our language. The father of the most celebrated literary women of this century learned mathematics by tracing with a burned stick on the hearth stone. After quoting the illustrious example of Dr John Cairns, the speaker went on to speak of the diguity of scholarship. All empty lives were the result of intellectual slovenliness and moral ruin. Dawson said that almost all the sins of youth might be traced to the empty mind. The young man who had not interest in moral pursuits outside of his own occupation was like a mere lounging animal. He (the speaker) was often struck with a pathos for men who give themselves up to one object. He saw it in the case-of men who lived for nothing but business, and id the natural course of time, wheu they could not do that one thing, they went about miserable themselves and made others miserable also. The Purpose of Scholarship.—We might seek truth for three things: (1) For truth's sake ; (2) for our own suke ; (3) the world's sake. All these must enter as elements into the full conception of scholarship. (1) For the sake of truth : to amass knowledge or truth. The ultimate purpose of scholarship could never be that. See how that theory works out. A school of art argues that art must be pursued for art's sake, and must have no other ends except its own laws and principles. Let them read any history of Greece or newspaper of to-day that had been telling us of the great apostle of the school—Oscar Wilde. (2) We sought not to know for knowledge's sake, but for selt's sake. That was an element in the process of scholarship. That was an immediate object of scholarship, but not an ultimate object. What, then, was the ultimate object ? It was for the world's sake. All our learning must be held in trust for others. All our truth and knowledge must be made servants not only of our own life, but of others. This was the temptation that ever dogged the steps of scholarship. It was only a scholar that kuew how strong and how masterful was thattemptation. It had tobeguarded against. We must carry our truth and knowledge into the service of the life of others, or they turned into poison. Scholarship depended on life. Books pointed out that scholars were too often pedants. Their manhood was dead or only half alive. " What our colleges need—and it has a very local application — is not more learning for their men, but more men for their learning." And so they came to this at last: that what prepared for scholarship was life. Life could only come from life. He lived most widely, most deeply, most intensely in whom God lived. No scholarship reached its fulness or freshness that ignored this. Coleridge said : " Never yet did there exist a full faith in the divine word which did not expand the heart. 1 ' Therefore, let them not forget who was the Truth. With all their efforts to deepen and expand life, let them make the first and last this : " This is life eternal to" know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent."

THE CHINA MISSIONS.

Miss Blakely, formerly connected with the Helping Hand Mission at Auckland, in' the course of an interesting letter to the 'Monthly Record,' dated Kui - Kiaugsi, China, May 3, 1895 (en route for Jaugk'eo Kiangsi), says:—"l do feql very solemnly that now I am here I belong to China, and oh, there are so many things one can learn for this people's good ; and the language absorbs much time. I am picking up what I can of medicine, etc., in order to be moie fully equipped ; and I was glad to avail myself of a course of medical lectures that Dr Cox, of Chin Kiang, gave some of us. lam appointed to a city and district on the Kwang sui River in this province (beautiful Kiangsi), where iu the city, if I remember rightly, there are 18,000 people, and then thousands in the villages around. Eighteen thousand and one lady missionary, and she has been quite alone for six months. Yet God can send her to hearts prepared by His Spirit for receiving the Gospel. It is utterly impossible at the present rate to reach all, even for once, and so we pray that the Lord will direct us to those who will be willing to hear. 'Tis true, as the poem says, ' They cannot find the door,' and often when the door is opened they seem quite too blind to enter in. Two of our women servants at Yangchau are vegetarians, and still cling to the belief that they accumulate merit by so doing, and do not accept Christ's finished work. The Chinese are firm believers in the idea that any good deeds performed go to their account in another world. ' They only hope for exemption from punishment.' 'There is no heaven predicted in any of their religions.' And so our presence among them calls forth the remark,: ' Ob, you just come to accumulate merit; it is all iu your own interests.' much encouragement in some provinces last year, but in Kiangsi Ihere was not one baptism in 1894. We have been so glad to give the start for 1895 in Yangchau. Our gatekeeper and a man from the west gate had been inquirers for twelve months or more, and in April they were baptised in the chapel. It was on a Thursday at nine o'clock, and the place was packed with men, women, and children. They seemed to realise that to us it was a solemn ceremony, but they did not comprehend the spirit. It was such a different audience to any we would get in the homeland on such an occasion, and a very definite witness for Jesus. Mr and Mrs Hudson-Taylor came up to the Home on Good Friday, and remained nearly a week. Both he and Mrs Taylor were far from strong, but the change did them good. In passing, let me say Mr Taylor really hopes to visit Australasia this year. Mr Stevenson only spent one full day with us, and on that eventful day nineteen of us received our appointments. Miss Roberts (my travelling companion from Australia) has been sent to Mr and Mrs George NicolPs station in Sui Fiu (or Sui Cheo), Szohucu. Wc reached Chinkiang safely, and had a pleasant day there with Dr and Mrs Cox. This is a treaty port, and there arc some eighty to ninety Europeans here, mostly Government officials. The hills are charming, the roads broad and well metalled —a boon indeed. Other Christian missions are represented here, and one of our lady workers it at present occupying the office of lady doctor at the American Episcopalian (Methodist) Hospital while the regular lady doctor is away on furlough. This is in gratitude for kindness received from her to our sick missionary (C.1.M.). One young Christian girl at this place, and a teacher, had been betrothed years ago, before entering the Home, to a heathen man. He, knowing she was a Jesus disciple, thought he would make money out of her, and agreed to sell her for a life of shane. The poor girl would not submit, and she would rather be killed. The relatives on both sides were furious, and she had a woful time. At last the Mission friends, who could do nothing for her in her extremity, agreed to advance her enough ito buy herself—between 200 and 300 dollars. This she gladly availed herself of, and now she is free, and. working hard to pay her debts. We heard her sing, and she is a beautiful girl."

HINTS TO SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

I.—THE KEASON FOR KEEPING THE TEN COMMANDMKKTS. 1. They are right. Our conscience sayß Yes to every one of them. 2. There are penalties for breaking them, rewards for keeping them. God suggested

the penalty in appearing with thunder and lightning and in great majesty. This ia not a God to be trifled with. 3. God loved men, and saved them. This is the reason He put forward; the, others lie behind. So did Jesus. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. God had saved the Israelites from slavery. [Teachers should describe American slavery—the whip, the insults, the auction,sales, the escape and the pursuit with dogs, etc. —or African slavery. Egyptian slavery wasasbad,] He has saved us from slavery too. [V Led captive of the Devil." "Holden with the cords of his sin."] "■■.'• lI.—THE COMMANDMENTS." Generally observe that they are not a complete account of duty. 1. Several of them forbid only the extreme forms of sin. E.g.— Not to kill is something; but conscience requires you not to strike. So the seventh and ninth.

2. They are negative. To refrain from" wronging people is not enough. E. g. —Not to kill your enemy is something; but conscience requires you to help him to defend himself when he is in danger. 3. They are external. It is not enoug'i even to help your enemy out of danger; you must love him. Jesus said the whole law could be put in two words-t love God supremely ; love your neighbor as yourself. The tenth commandment calls for something inward, and suggests that God requires iuwaid affections as well as outward actions. It is a code for the childhood of the world; but none the less it expresses, though not completely, the eternal law which is as old as God, and in which He lives and works. Particulars: The First Commandment. The way most boys and girls break that is by making themselves their god and serving him.

The Second. God Spirit. No image or picture can express Him. If your father were far away it would be belter to have no photograph than to have a caricature. The only picture of God we have is Jesus Christ; and the picture of Himself Jesus has given is the bread and wine of the supper. The Third. A boy will fight another who makes light of his father. This commandment forbids making light of the Father in Heaven.

The Fourth. Many people keep the Lord's Day in a way, and really break it. The commandment means spending the day with God. A boy away at school likes to have Saturday at home with his father and mother. God is Father and Mother to us.

The Fifth. God puts in one commandment for children only ; just as a mother on a journey writing home will put in a few lines separately for her little girl. The Sixth. People think this commandment is of no use to them ; they are in no danger. So did the murderers once. Hatred is the beginning of murder and the first step on the road to it. The Bible says more: "He that hateth his brother is already a murderer." The Seventh. Translate this into the language of boys and girls and it is: Do nothing, say nothing, read nothing, look at nothing you would be ashamed to tell your mother of.

The Eighth and Tenth. God sets these two on a level. The man who desires to take and is hindered by fear is really a thief. The Ninth. The third and this are against sins of the tongue. Guard against irreverent speech and lying speech. The lies specially forbidden" here are those that steal people's character. Speech should be of things rather than of persons.—'Australian Weekly.' A MAIN OF GOD. [By J. G. S. Grant.} After the long period of fourteen calendar months, Knox Church has secured a successor to its first pastor. The Rev. William Hewiisou, the chosen of the congregation, delivered his inaugural sermons on the 14th inst. He was for seven years assistant to the Rev. Mr Macvean, of Brunswick, Melbourne. He was the first of the ten ministers who periodically supplied the pulpit. He made, apparently, so profound an impression on the people that, after hearing all the candidates from Melbourne, be was chosen to be their pastor. Of all the lot he is the only one that I did not hear. Well, last Sunday I went to church and heard the man. He is, in appearance, tall, dignified, and of an imposing presence. He is a native of Australia, and his manner is unique. Every word is intelligible, and he uses no sqrt of gesticulation. His attitude is one of repose, and his articulation slow and deliberative. In devotion he is intensely solemn. He has a pleasing style of preaching, which is what is technically called hortatory. To whom shall I liken him ? He greatly resembles the portrait prefixed to the first folio volume of Edward Irving's works. He has not, indeed, the learning of living, but he has a better regulated mind. He is not likely to make shipwreck on the rock of miracle-mongering. He has too much discretion for that. The salient characteristics of his delivery are simplicity, sincerity, and piety. His mode of procedure is so measured and reverential that he throws -a deep spell over the people so- much so, indeed, that I never witnessed such deep solemnity seated over the faces of a numerous congregation. They were enveloped in a spiritual atmosphere of profound tranquillity. Mr Hewitson is an exceedingly pleasing speaker. But there is an undertoue of melancholy pervading his speech, such as one feels when rapt in the Elysiau sweetness of an Australian sky. It arises from an inspiration of the deep mystery of life, that ever and anon obtrudes itself upon the quietest souls. He stood up before his immense audience saturated with the idea that God called him to that pulpit to be a witness for Christ, with a message from God to man. Hence the gravity of character and demeanor and the independence of action requisite for so great a function. He spoke from personal experience, and not from hearsay. In short, lie spoke with authority, and not as a sycophant. As Burns sang so Hewitson preached—from the heart to the heart; hence a ring of conviction prevailed. As an ambassador of Christ he delivered his commission, modestly, nobly, andauthoritatively. By the power of the Holy Spirit he promul* gated the awful but cheering message of reconciliation between an offended Deity and sinful men. While the power is from God, the preacher is left to clothe his message accord' ing to his own culture and garniture. There are diversities of gifts, but only one Spirit. Every Apostle has his own individuality, and so has every preacher. Study is, also, a necessity; for piety without culture is not edifying. Hence the necessity of .careful preparation for the pulpit. Above all, character is essential to give effect to the message. Mr Hewitson would never accept a pulpit or a chair under false pretences. His example is not likely, directly or indirectly, to repel aspirants to the pulpit or communion table. The efl'orts of goodness are magnetical. Grace attracts but hypocrisy repulses the sinner, and hardens him in his pernicious career. Mr Hewitson has a clear perception of truth, and he also is sensible of the necessity of purity of heart as a medium to convey grace and truth to the sinner. To witness for Christ is not only the vocation of the pulpit but also of the pew. Doubtless the four-and-twenty elders that surround his pulpit shall in due time have each his sphere of action portioned out to him,*and thus relieve the pastor of many arduous and perfunctory duties that otherwise might divert him from the conscien-. tious discharge of pulpit ministration. Let me, in fine, congratulate Knox Church upon her acquisition of a man of God to guide her people in the ways of righteousness, and to preserve them safely " out of the paths wherein destroyers go." Whatever shallow fools may say to the contrary, religion is a moral necessity to humanity. Israel's wise king sweetly sung three thousand years ago: . - .. Like as the hart for water brooks In thirst doth pant and bray, So pants my longing soul, 0 God! That come to Thee I may.

Philosophy as well as religion confirms this wise and holy utterance of the Hebrew psalmist. Finally, let me advise Mr Hewitson to roll all mechanical duties upon his assistant and his large body of elders and deacons. His business mainly lies in his study.- Let him embrace retirement, reading, and contemplation. Dr Miller, in his preface to Dr Goodwin's works, Bays;— "As a rule an ignorant clergy, a' clergy undisciplined by habits of study and uninformed by reading, will fail to be effective in an enlightened and inquiring age. Their preaching will be vapid,

superficial, and desultory, ultimately settling down. into an iteration of facile-topies * —, such as one sees in this century as contrasted > with thfr seventeenth century. Dr Miller adds that "the organisation and maintenance erparochial or congregational machinery, the arixiety and labor merely of raising funds for their'varied agencieß and institutions, the co-operation expected of them in the countless phikmthropical schemes and, multiplied religious societies of our age — these drive or draw them from their studies. The mental tone and habits of the student are soon lost.' A restless, desultory, excited spirit is engendered. And many an energetio minister falls into the fallacy that he is never working for his people unless he is going up and down among them, and busy in schools, visitation, committees, and public meetings." I hope Mr Hewitson will accept this friendly advice and act and shape accordingly. If he will he may, perhaps, in case his life is prolonged, be able twenty, years hence to thank me for this kindly forewarning. If he acts otherwise he Will, like some clerical contemporaries, fritter away his golden opportunities and become a retailer of light, frivolous, shallow, and desultory verbiage. - What Emerson says of the scholar is equally applicable to the preacher: "Ho should embrace solitude as a bride." No reformation of manners and morals can be effected by shallow, stupid, and shameless sycophants—lay. or cleric. Preach the Gospel, purify the heart, curb the passions, and , cultivate the reason, and enlighten the conj science.and society will runassmoothaudclean as a mountain rill. Avoid the idiotic jargon and society of self-styled social reformers and. all the various and unhallowed secular agitators of a godless and anarchic and degenerate and degrading age. Odi •profanum vulgus el arceo. Retire to your dens of darkness and ignorance, ye social scorpion? of this closing century.

GLEANINGS.

The ' Outlook' informs us that the Rev. James Gibb, of the First Church, is to leave Home for Melbourne by August 29 at latest, so he may be expected back about the end of October. The rev. gentleman is much astonished at the deplorable and unpardonable ignorance that prevails regarding the colonies, and especially New Zealand. The second annual service at Notre Dame to commemorate the beatification of Joan of Arc was held on the afternoon of May 12. Father Gardet delivered an address, in which he drew a parallel between Christ's Passion and the sufferings of Joan of Arc. The death is announced of Archdeacon Tucker, of Melbourne, one of the pioneer churchmen of the colony. He arrived in Victoria in 1861 as the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the colonies, had the degree of D.D. conferred on him by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1863, and in 1869 was appointed to the archdeaconry of Beech worth and Sale. For nearly twenty years he was closely connected with the development of the Gippsland district. Thus "Peter Lombard" in the 'Church Times': "Extempore preachers should keep their sentences well in hand, and always be ready to pull up (it was Bishop Wilberforce's saying) at any word. The curate of Wyeyerton was recently addressing his congregation. He turned to different classes of his hearers: "And you, old. men, with your hoary head," etc., etc. Then addressing the young men, he said: "And you, young men, with your blooming cheek —ahem ! I mean with the bloom still upon your cheek." But it was too late. A circular was recently directed to the clergy of Melbourne and suburbs bringing under their notice a resolution passed at a public meeting in the city, and setting forth tbe-evils of sweating. The circular showed how extensive the evil was, and asked the clergy to bring the matter under the notice of their congregations either by reading the circular from the pulpit or making it the subject of a special sermon. The Wesleyan Theological College of Montreal has conferred the degree of D.D. on the Rev. L. Fison, M.A., of Melbourne, the well-known philologist. Mr William R. Moody, sou of the evangelist, D. L. Moody, has won the favor of the members of the Young Men's Christian Association in Brooklyn by his practical addresses. It is said that he resembles his father in many respects, possessing a large fund of anecdote and a straightforward way of making home truths tell. At the May meeting of the Mission Board of the Irish Presbyterian Church five of the best students, who have just completed their theological course, volunteered to go as missionaries to ludia or China. It is remarkable that while in the churches which have no time limits for flheir pastorates there is an agitation in favor of it, those churches that have tried it do not seem to be quite satisfied as to its success. In the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States there is a strong feeling in favor of abolishing the time limit, and one paper goes so far as to say that it will assuredly be removed in 1896. The Primate of Australia (Dr Suamarez Smith), referring to the union ~of the churches, commends the Pope's motive, but sayß the movement is not calculated to effect the result desired. The Protestant Churches would refuse to be absorbed, and the Latin Church would not be content with less. He deprecates the patronising manner in which the offers are made by the Roman Catholic Church.