THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 11251, 26 May 1900, Page 7

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

BAPTIST CONFERENCE. This annual Conference of the OtagoSouthland Auxiliary was held at Oamnru on Thursday, under the presidency of the Rev. Mr Muirhead. The Rev. Mr Chandler delivered an address on ‘War, Peace, and Arbitration.’ At the outset of the proceedings the Rev. A. North moved—" That this meeting of the representatives of the Baptist churches of Otago and Southland do hereby declare their gratitude to Almighty God for the prolonged life and health of our beloved monarch and sovereign lady Queen Victoria, and that their present prayer is that He may bo pleased to preserve her still in health and prosperity, and, furthermore, they afllnn their thankfulness to God for the victories and deliverances granted in South Africa, and their hope that peace may lx: shortly established there upon a righteous basis.” The motion was carried nent. con. , the. Conference uniting in singing the National Anthem.—Mr Driver proposed, and the Rev. F. W. Borcham seconded"That this Auxiliary place upon record their high appreciation of the invaluable services rendered to the denomination in New Zealand during the last seventeen years by the Rev. A. North.” This was unanimously agreed to and minuted.—The president (the Rev. John Muirhead) gave to the Rev. G. D. Cox, who has recently joined the Auxiliary, the right hand of fellowship,—-The Rev. John Muirhead proposed, and it was resolved —“That it be an instruction to the incoming committee to consider the advisability and practicability of employing an itinerant evangelist or evangelists to do evangelistic work in the districts of Otago and Southland where Christian influences are few, with power to act.—The election of officers resulted as follows:—President, Rev; E. If. Howard; secretory and treasurer, Rev. A. V. G. Chandler; committee—Revs. Cox, Muiihead, and Boreham, Messrs Driver, A. S. Adams, Graham, and Heaven.—An invitation to hold the next meeting of the Auxiliary in the Norch-east Valley Church was presented by Mr George Colder, and unanimously accepted. DR PARKER’S “ WASTED LIFE.” Our London correspondent tints writes under date April 18: Dr Parker, who has to a certain extent drifted about rudderless since his beloved wife’s death, grows more eccentric daily. He celebrated his seventieth birthday last Sunday, but it was a bad job for the luckless wights who ventured ou congrutulationa. Said the reverend gentleman ■ “ Don’t, please. I hate birthdays It -s very kind of even-body to congratulate me on having reached my three score years a nd te n i but I would rather not be reminded’ , do 2 t any more birthdays. What have I to live for?”- In the pulpit t)ie doctor was dolorous and self-depreciu-tory to a degree. A waster, he pronounced uimeeu the waster of three score years and ten. T ‘ I have misused seventy years ot life. I am ashamed of them, and wish with some reservations, that I had never

lived them. Would I live my life over again if I could ? Not Tor ten thousand worlds. . . . ' And to on. The peroration was extremely eloquent and touching. Even hardened reporters whimpered. Five minutes liter the pressmen found the doctor in.his vestiy quite recovered and cheerful. You have no intention of retiring just yet, I hope, Dr Parker?”—“ Well, I reallv cannot say,” was the reply. “There are times when I feel that I have been in harness long enough, and that the time is ripe for my withdrawal, from here. But, then, at another time I feel just the opposite. It ail depends upon my environment and (he state of the weather. I am very fond of sunshme, but most of that has now gone out of my life.” •Fortunately regular meals are still left to the rev. gentleman, and as he was, he confessed mundanely, “peckish” for his lunch, he speedily dispersed his questioners and drove off home just, an irreverent presssw r ” marked ’ “ lf he>d dotto a i° u y B° od GLEANINGS. , J^n 1 odd coincidence occurred at St. Andrew s (Dunedin) evening service last Sunday. Dr Wotdell prefaced tone of the hymns with the announcement of further British successes in South Africa, and concluded with: “ Let us sing together this hymn of thanksgiving, No. 303, ‘Now thank we all our God.’ ” The curious thing is that the tune, “ Nun Banket,” to which the hymn was sung, was composed by one surnamod Kmger over 250 years ago.—‘Outlook.’ ■ The London City Mission has received pajnieat of a legacy of £40,000, which will enable the Committee to largely increase their staff of missionaries. The Rev. Dr Thomas Charles Edwards, * who has died In his sixty-third year, was most widely known as the first Principal \xt i isc ctarian University College of Wales This position he held from 1872 until 1891, when he accepted the PrincipalBala Theological College, which his father had founded and presided over for fifty years. • 9, n j°. n ® ore * s ko appointed Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen, in succession to Archdeacon Lawrance. Gn July 17 there will be celebrated, by a World s Convention in London, the 19tn anniversary of the first Christian Endeavor formed on February 2, 1881, at Williston, U.S.A. At the Convention held in 1888 six societies were represented, and at the present day there are more than 56,000 societies, with a membership of several millions, spread over the whole earth. The new Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster is fast nearing its complo- * tion, and may be ready for opening in September. The foundation stone was laid in June 1895. The Roman Catholic body have been able to meet the expenditure up which cannot be less than £120,000. Professor Ellis Edwards has been nominated to succeed the late Dr Edwards as •Principal of the Bala Theological College, and it is understood in the denomination that a consequence of the change -will be the reunion of the Treveca and Bala Colleges. There appears to be a likelihood of a split in the Society of Friends in England over the war. One of the most esteemed Quakers in the country is Mr Joseph Sturgc, of Birmingham, and he has gone wholeheartedly against the campaign. Another well-known member of the community is Mr John Belloc, of Gloucester, and he has gone whole-heartedly for It. The Manx Legislative Council have passed a Bill abolishing compulsory church rates. The morning offertory in parish churches hitherto devoted to the relief of the poor is to be used for pious and charitable objects at the discretion of the vicar. Wardens’ seats in such churches are made free and open. Rates for the maintenance of burial grounds are provided. The new president of the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, the Rev. J. Q. M.A., was chairman'of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1895. He was bom in 1845 at Burg, in Prussian Saxony, where his parents had gone to live. On the completion of his training at Rawdon College ho ministered at Coseley and afterwards at Bristol. For more then twenty years he has been settled at Leicester, where he has established himself as a great religious, political, educational, and municipal force.

A new sect has arisen in Eastern Sibera which glorifies Judas Iscariot on account of his repentance and suicide, and stigmatises all authority whether in Church or State as devilish. A circular signed by the Rev. L. Savatard, vicar, and of wliich the following is a copy, has been distributed at Darwont (Eng.):—“Holy Trinity, St. George's and Vernon street Schools.—The vicar, having reason to fear that Sunday scholars and other members of the church in this parish are still being urged to attend religious services, classes, and meetings not connected with the church, notice is now given that no person can remain a teacher in either of those schools who in any way encourages scholars or fellow-teachers to attend such services, classes, or meetings rather than those of the church and school to which they profess to belong. All Sunday scholars are urgently entreated to prove loyal to the church of their baptism and confirmation vows—the church of their Holy Communion.” In a sermon on ‘Tears’ at the Temple Church, Canon Aingcr remarked that “tears are the outward semblance of what is noblest in manhood.”

The Rev. Thomas Spurgeon has Item able, writes a correspondent, to announce the date of the reopening of the London Tabernacle. “It is our intention, God willing,” said be recently, “to hold the open, mg services on September 19, 20, and 21 next, the deacons wismhg to make my birthday (20th) the centre. We shall hol'd a prayer meeting in the morning, a service in the afternoon, and a meeting at night. ,1 hope, myself, to conduct the first Sunday service on September 23. -We still require £4,000 to complete the work, and wo are pledged to get this sum before the opening. We intend holding a reception In July for this desired end, but I am afraid my dear mother (Mrs 0. H. Spurgeon), who is but slowly recovering from her long and protracted illness, will not be able to attend. It is. therefore her intention to issue a special appeal (in connection with the reception) on behalf of the rebuilding fund.” A Glasgow minister tells the following incident-.—Having observed that one of his congregation was in the habit of gazing about the church during the prayers, he told him one day that he considered it would be more becoming In a worshipper to keep his eyes decently closed. “ Doesna the Scripture bid us watch as well as pray?” replied the man. “And boo can a bodv watch wi’ their cen steekit? Na, na; I’ll just stan’ and glower aboot as I hae aye dune!"

Dr Parker, of the City Temple, London, incidentally made an interesting announcement the other morning in tho course of his sermon. He said: ‘'l spend nearly the whole of my life in making marginal notes upon my study Bible, and It is to me very profitable rending. That to mo is the most valuable iJRok 1 have ever attempted—to take mv heart and set it on tho margin of the Bible, verse by verse. I shall publish it in a few months, and you Shall bo my companions in the study as you have been my companion* in tho church," The announcement was received with hearty applause. While a priest was administering tho sacrament to a *ick person in the village of Arhenton, near Corunna. Spain, the floor of the'room collapsed. The invalid and four other persons Were killed, while fourteen were injured. The selections from the note books of Bishop Walsham How have been published by Messrs Isbister. Hero arc a few of the good stories with which the book is filled: —A Wellington paper, commenting severely on the supposed ritualistic practices at Welsh Hampton, spoke of the vicar tvs “ practising the most unblushing celibacy." A verger was showing a lady ovor a church, when she asked him if the vicar was a married man. “No, ma’am,” ho answered, “ he’s a cbalybeato.” Canon B was on a voyage to Egypt in a Cunard steamer, and on (Sunday, in the Bay of Biscay, he undertook to hold a service. He read one of (he sentences, and said : “ Dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places," when he had to bolt and collapse. He told me'he thought this a record service for brevity. At Kensington parish church one of the curates asked for the prayers of the congregation for “ a family crossing the Atlantic, and other sick person*. (’