THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 11062, 14 October 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

JEWS AND SUNDAY SERVICES.

A correspondent writes to the London • Times': "A movement has arisen within the Jewish community of London to establish a synagogue wherein complete services will be 'held on Sundays as well as on the day that has been distinguished by the custom of untold generations as the Sabbath.. The would-be innovators contend that for the great majority of working Jews in England cessation from toil and business cares on the Saturday have become impossible through stress of competition. Many of these Jews, they argue, are eager to take part in Jewish* ceremonial services, but through their inability to attend the synagogues on Saturday mornings they are cut off from all spiritual intercourse, and. unwilling for the most part to enter any other communion foreign to their traditions, they spend lives which they feel to be incomplete. The supporters of the movement are not the originators of the idea of Jewish Sunday services. Synagogues have already been established in Berlin and Chicago where services are regularly hekl on Sundays Ihe attendance at these services has not been verv large, nor can the movement in Germany and America be considered by any means successful. The English ultra-re-formers, however,- contend that the innovations have not had a fair trial, and that the conditions in London differ considerably from those in force in Berlin and Chicago. Ihe representatives of orthodoxy in this country look upon the movement with hostility. Immediately upon the publication of the suggested scheme the call to battle was sounded by the Chief Rabbi in a sermon in which he appealed to all Jews, whether orthodox or reform, to strain e\ery nerve in repelling the attacks on the central pillar of their faith—the saeredness of the seventh day. The leaders of the Sunday movement did not avoid the struggle, and the columns of the Jewish Press have been deluged for weeks past with correspondence und addresses on the expediency of Sunday services. No practical steps have as yet been taken to put their ideas into shape, but it is understood that it is the intention of the Sunday service sympathisers to establish a synagogue that will meet their needs in North-west London, and it is expected that upon the return from the holidays the present lull in the contest will cease, and that the disputations will be resumed with redoubled ardor." - Another correspondent of ' J. lie limes savs: "The movement, present contemplated, is not for the'benefit of the poorer classes of the Jewish community, but is avowedly for those members who are unwilling to submit themselves to the possible pecuniarv sacrifice of abstaining from business pursuits on the Jewish Sabbath. This is manifest from the circumstance that the place of worship for the Sunday services is to be situated in the West End of London ; -whereas, as is well known, the Jewish workman resides in the Eastern district. The movement is initiated by some two or three kind and well-meaning members of the c inmunity. but those who believe in its being carried out and taking permanent root are iiilinitesimally small in number."

AN UNPOPULAR CLERGYMAN. A sermon entitled 'The Degradation of Dancing,' with special reference to a fancydress ball at Barmah, and a faimers' ball lately held at Nathalia, was delivered at the State school in Barmah (Victoria) on September 17 by the Rev. G. Gladstone. The .usual attack on these amusements with which his name has been associated was made by the preacher, but was resented by the audience, expressions such as " You're a liar," and some even stronger, being employed. Interruptions became so frequent that the rev. gentleman found it impossible to proceed, and made references to " the low Irish" as being the cause of a great deal of the (trouble. These remarks were hooted. Barmah, Mr Gladstone said, was the worse place he knew of, and could not be compared to any place within 100 miles of it. At the .conclusion of the sermon the audience were eo angry that when Mr Gladstone was leaving the building they attacked him, and seri•ous violence might have been done him had he not been quickly taken to a farmer's " trap " and driven off. CAUSE OF THE CHURCH COUGH. I wonder if it ever struck The ministers by coughs annoyed That they themselves may be to blame, Their hearers are so ill employed; That if they preached with fire or finish The coughing quickly would diminish. yet while, as often is the case, They deal in platitudes inane. And what is not worth saying once Repeat with iteration vain. St need arouse no kind of wonder "That nervous coughs are not kept under. "Tis strange our preachers are exposed So often to this sort of thing, XVhereas our actors never seem A similar complaint to bring. Ufrom which one reasonably determines "That plays are not so dull at sermons. Even when blizzards are about And influenza fills the town, U've heard no hero on the hoards Annoyed by coughs much less coughed down. "The pit, in some way or another, Jts wish to bark contrives to smother. 'fThe cause is clear—when interest holds The house's ear with grip sustained, The yearning tendency to cough Is automatically restrained; \\Vhen hearts are thrilled, and tears are trickling Throats cease instinctively from tickling. JLet, then, the ministers wlm^nnd Their churches filled with hacking barks Take, in all earnestness, to heart .My plain but kindly meant remarks, And make the coughing less emphatic By means of sermons more dramatic. —London ' Truth.' GLEANINGS, The death was announced on the 7th of August of Professor A. B. Bruce, who had filled the Chair of Apologetics and New Testament Exegesis in the Free Church College of Glasgow University since 1875. He was a voluminous writer, but his views, particularly with regard to the inspiration of the Scriptures, did not always commend themselves to the strictly orthodox-; andl m 1890 the Free Church Assembly admonished him as a, professor of divinity to be more .careful in handling theological subjects. Mormonlsm has taken refuge in Switzerland. Recently-published statistics apprise us that there are no fewer than 1,100 Mormons scattered about the Swiss Republic. These are divided into fourteen communities and missions, with a governing body composed of eleven "seniors." They are pursuing a vigorous propaganda. —'Petit Journal,' Paris. . The following, which speaks for itself, appeared in the last issue of the 'Melbourne Punch':—"ln your issue of the 7th September, under the heading ' Church and Organ ' you ask did Sir Frederick M'Coy die a Roman Catholic. In reply, I have to inform you that during the last week of my grandfather's life, at a time when the doctors attending him had pronounced him to be unfit to attend to anybody or anything, •Father Kennedy called and asked Dr Rudall if he would allow him to see Sir Frederick >l'Coy, and the doctor refused. On another day, when my late grandfather had been pronounced by Dr Rudall and Dr Maudsley to be mentally unfit to attend to anything, Norse Kennedy, during my absence, admitted Father Brown against the ■doctor's orders. Nurse Kennedy was discharged that night, und another nurse engaged. The two servants were also discharged next day for disobedience of the doctor's orders in allowing Sir Frederick to 1)6 disturbed. On the afternoon of the same •day Father Carey called and attempted to -gain admission, and was refused by me. Tather Brown called again the next morning and wa« also refused admission. I lave other eridence to disprove the statement, but I consider the evidence of the medical men to be quite sufficient in itself. I lived with my late grandfather, and at no time did he express any desire to see a Ttoman Catholic priest. I make no comment on the conduct of the gentlemen who, •without a request from any member of the family, attempted to force their ministrations -on a dying man, but eimply let the facts -speak for themselves. I have stated the facts in a condensed form, as they-are easy i«f:yEoef,.&nd,.l)imng again contradicted sie

assertion, I do not feel called upon to discuss the matter further.—l am, etc., Fred. H. M'Coy, ' Maritima,' Brighton Beach." In the old days a prebendal stall in St. Paul's was a very good thing, indeed, meaning a laree annual income, with the possibility of a huge sum besides if the leases happened to fall in. One of the stalls was worth over five thousand a year, and when the leases of the prebend of Finsbury fell in about 1856 the fortunate occupant of that stall was said to have been £BO,OOO in pocket. We believe a .prebendary's 1 remuneration is limited to a fee of five guineas, which he receives for preaching a Sunday morning sermon in his turn. A Darfield centleman has promised Bishop Grimes a donation of 1,000 guineas towards the proposed Catholic cathedral in Christchurch. The- latest reports from Rome give an excellent account of the health of the venerable Pontiff. He has quite got over the effects of the recent operation, and, though he now uses a stick in walking, hj e carries it jauntily, and not as if it were a necessity. One infirmity of age he cannot escape, and that is insomnia. In his sleepless nights Leo XIII. gets up and works often till dawn, generally at Latin verses. In spite of the fact that he is always warmly clad, this habit results not seldom in a slight cold, and provokes expostulations from Pio Centra, his faithful valet. The sight of His Holiness is little impaired, and he never uses glasses. Until last winter the private apartments in the Vatican were warmed only by open grates, but at the pressing instance of Dv Lapponi the Pope has allowed iron stoves to be installed in all the rooms which he occupies. An allusion was made by the New South Wales Minister of Mines (Mr J. L. Fegan) at- a recent Sunday school festival to the attempts to lessen the rigidit- of Sabbath observance. Mr Fegan declared that if Sunday schools were closed for the space of Two or three vears, and the children allowed to run wild, a perfect saturnalia of sin would ensue. The Sunday schools were great instruments in the hands of those who believed in a reverent observance of the seventh day and the teachers should train the children so that they would permit not even Parliament itself to lay s.ucriligious hands on the Sabbath. , . , . A pauper woman in Paris has just been convicted of having had her child baptised fourteen times as a Catholic and twelve times as a Protestant, for the purpose of sccunr.y five francs and a dress each time. The Hev. Isaac Moore, S.J., died in Sir F Fitzgerald's .private hospital m Melbourne on September 15. He amved in Victoria in 1867, and was seventy years of age at the time of his death. The deceased clergyman was held in high repute for his scholarly attainments, and at one time was a powerful preacher. , At the recent Australasian Convention ot the Y.PC.F.., h«ld at Brisbane, the missionary banner was awarded to the Tasmanian societies, and the banner for the largest proportionate ui/.'rcase of active members during the vear was won by New South Wales. At the recent International Convention oi Christian Endeavor, held at Detroit (U.S.), Mr J. W. Baer, the secretary, stated the latest statistics to be as follow -.—55,183 societies, with a world-wide -membership of 3,350,000. In England, the. fkptists lead; in Australia, Wesleyan Methodists have the largest number of societies ; ami in the United States the. Presbyterians. During ten years over a million and a-half Endeavorers" have become church members. The net gain for the past year, .after allowing for all societies that from any cause have ceased to exist, is 2,000 societies, with 10,000 members. A suggestion respecting the Archbishop of Canterbury being jnyjted to visit Australia in connection with the coming General Synod was referred to recently by the Ballarat 'Church Chronicle' in the following terms: —"It will be remembered that a resolution was passed at the late Church Assembly, ' that the president be requested to convey to the Primate a suggestion that the Archbishop of Canterbury be invited to attend, or to send a commissary to, the General Synod of 1900.' The president conveyed the suggestion- accordingly, and the Primate consulted the Bench upon it, but the predominance of opinion was against any such invitation." Bow Church, Cheapside, London, famous for its bells, is showing signs of structural weakness, tracks having appeared in the walls, and the spire is out of the perpendicular.

At the recent British Wesleyan Conference the record of ministers who have died during the year included the names of thirty in Great Britain, six in Ireland, and eleven on foreign mission stations. The Pope has accepted a motor-car offered by French admirers, but doe* not use it himself. He has even giveu up carriage drives, and performs his journeys about the Vatican grounds seated in a chair winch is borne by servants. The Queen has accepted a copy of Bishop Barry's work ' The Teachers' Prayer Book. Archdeacon Hogan, one of the oldest Catholic clergy in Tasmania, died recently from a growth in the throat. He was seventyfour years of age, was ordained at Hobart nearly fifty years ago, and was beloved by all classes of the people. An Italian newspaper has supplied an interesting and suggestive table of the number of persons beatified by the Catholic Church during the past three centuries. Thus, of actual saints who have lived and died between the year 1500 and the present day, there are ninety-six, while during the sumo period no less than 320 mortals were beatified. The following table shows the lmtinnality of the sainted and beatified members of the church militant : Sainted. Beatified. 76 Italians 28 ... 48 66 Spaniards 17 ... 49 37 Portuguese 1 ... 36 14 French 6 ... 8 13 Dutch 12 ... 1 5 Belgians 4 ... 1 4 Germans 2 ... 2 2 Poles 1 ... 1 Strange to say, the majority of these pillars of the church are men, only fifty-eight women being among them. And where are the British in this galaxy? The year 1900 will be celebrated in a unique way by .Roman Catholics all over the world, says the 'Sun.' It is to be marked ! bv the erection of a memorial cross in every church, and the lighting of a huge bonfire. The Rev. Di-Koss, M.x\., of St. Andrew's, Perth, has received #■ call to the St. Kilda pastorate, vice the late D,r Robinson Ross. He has not, however, yet dec'uted on a reply. About 120 clergymen'of different denominations assembled in the Melbourne Coffee Palace on the 21st lilt, to tender a welcome to the American evangelist, the Rev, C- _N. Yatman. .'n acknowledging the welcome Mr Yatman said he was not there to make a revival. He believed revivals to be merely ephemeral in result, and that revivalists were a curse to any country they set foot in. A fault of the'present day was that the life of Christ was preached instead of his death, and the tide of Christian life ran low as the result of neglect of the general worship of God.

The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's have decided not to accept for the present Mr Pierpont Morgan's offer to light the cathedral electrically. The redecoration of the cathedral, which is now progressing, almost makes electric lighting of the interior an artistic impossibility. The 'Daily Chronicle ' says significantly: " If it should eventually be decided to install the electric light, there should be no difficulty in securing ;ulequate funds in the ordinary way." News was received by a late mail of the death, at the age of sixty-two, of the Rev. William Wright, D.D., who for the past twenty-three years held the position of editorial superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He was the author of 'The Empire of the Hittites,' 'The Brontes in Ireland,' and 'The Illustrated Bible Treasury/ which he edited for Nelson and Sons. In his twenty-three years at the Bible Society he had acquired a-n extensive knowledge of scholars and missionaries in all parts of the world, and under Us care the number of versions of the Scriptures on the society's list had increased from 211 to 364, the last thirteen of which (the largest number ever added in one year) appear for the first time in the society's new report. He was a remarkable personality, and in his youth enjoyed great popularity as a preacher, "but, declining calls to some of the most important pulpits of his church, he decided

to go to Damascus. Two years ago (aays the 'Press') a Christchurch gentleman who was visiting London met the late Dr Wright, and he expressed a-desire to come and live in New Zealand when he retired from active work, and, being an enthusiastic angler, he was delighted to hear that he would have such splendid opportunities here to indulge in his favorite Teereation. The death of a gifted son had been a great blow to him, and his health hud failed during the last two years, but his death was .somewhat sudden.