THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 12764, 17 March 1906, Page 4

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

THE FRENCH SEPARATION • LAW. The Paris correspondent of 'The Times' fives titc following summary of events that, as we have since learned, culminated in the defeat of tho Rouvier Ministry:— Tne Republican Press do not charge ths Paris clergy as a body with having promoted the disturbances that have occurred in connection, with the baking of the io- . ventory of church property. The measure itself Involves nothing actually hostile to the priesthood or the Catholic Church. The State is merely making an inventory of the valuable property which, in. virtue of the Separation Law, is to bo made over to tho associations cultuelles. It includes priceless treasures of art that can but be regarded as belonging to tho State. It is erroneous to suppose that tho latter has anything in the shape of confiscation in view. It is identical with, part of one of the ordinary transactions in private life when property changes kinds and a descriptive list is made of it. The measure is as much in the interest of those who kivo chosen to protest against it as of the public at large, and that reason alone will prevent tho Paris agitators Irom succeeding in their propaganda, for sensible !'re:'crimen must, look upon protest in such circumstances as superfluous. The French Catholics themselves, with but few exceptions, raised no special objections to this consequence of the Separation Law. They are not reproaolned by the Republicans with being a ptrty to the present disorderly demonstrations. The authorities seem to regard the Jesuits as being the original promoters. Many of the rank and file belong to tho same element that fomented breaches of the peace at the Bourse du Travail and during the Dreyfus inioO. They were described to me as les troupes des troubles. One of tho ringheaders figured officially some years ago in the transfer of property belonging to the Jesuits iu Paris as tho plenipotentiary of that Order, and signed the deeds as such. Besides this organised contingent of agitators, who maJco their appearance wkent ever their presence can contribute to compromise the Republic, there has been on the present occasion, a fair sprinkliug of ladies and gentlemen belonging to the rcactionarv wcrld of Paris,, recruited from tho Faubourg St. Germain. No doubt eomo of them thought they were rendering a service to the Church of Rome by their indignant and violent protest against the inventories, but they are not likely to go further than, .they lui.ve done. Smashed hats and torn clothes are all very well in a way, ami supply an exciting topic of conversation in arietocratki salons for twentyfour hours, but people of refinement scon get tired of such things, and are content to leave the tussle -with the stalwart municipal guards and policemen to rougher hands. It is not expected by competent authorities that the Jesuits will find the slightest echo in the country for what is. so far as they are concerned, chiefly an electoral manoeuvre. At the Cabinet Council the incidents were considered. The Prime Minister repeated his declaration that tho Govern- , nient would enforce respect for the law everywhere. Legal proceedings would, he said, bo instituted under* the Separation Ixlw against the priests who had incited to resistance. Seventeen of those arrested for complicity in the disturbances at the Church of Sto. Clotilde were brought up at the Police Court. The Comte De Bourbon and some of the other accused asked for the legal delay of three days to prepare their defence, and this request was granted. A young man of eighteen, said to be the son of a sub-prefect, excused himself for the disrespect shown to the commissary of police by saying that he mistook him for a private individual The Public Prosecutor dwelt, however, on the bad example that had been given during the past fortyeight hours by a, class that ought to be the first to show respect for the law and for the authorities. He demanded that equal justice should be dealt out to those offenders, and that they should be rigorously chastised. This prisoner was condemned to two months' imprisonment without the usual respite to first offenders. Others were condemned to shorter terms of imprisonment. As had been anticipated from tha remarks made by a number of leading Catholics, there was an attempt to repeat at the aristocratic church of St. Pierre du GrosCaillou in Paris the violent obstruction which was ottered to the authorities at Ste. Clotilde. After a long and determined resistance, however, the police, assisted by tho fire brigade, got the upper hand. The fact that all the demonstrators arrested were kept in custody would seem to indicate that tho authorities axe resolved not to tolerate tho spread of this factious agitation. An hour and a-half before the arrival of the police the church and its precincts were occupied by the demonstrators, who included General Baron Rebillot, the Marquise De MacMahon, the Marquise De Vogue, Baroness Reille, the Abbe Mayol De"Lupe, M. Odelin (brother of the Vicargcneral of that name), and M. Drumont (the well-known anti-Semitic journalist). The police were greeted on their appearance with cries of les assassins." As the commissary found the door of the church closed in liis face, the firemen c! imbed over the railings and forced an entrance with their axes. Missiles were thrown at the police through one of the windows, and it was found necessary to take by storm a barricade raised in the church itself and composed of a pile of cluiis and a confessional. Half an hour a her the siege began tho fire brigade turned a couple of hose-pipes upon tho demonstrators and flooded the church. The

firemen were threatened by the mob, one of them being struck by a piece of wood and another buying a revolver levelled at him. At 4.15 p.m., after a siege of an hour and three-quarters, the authorities wero in possession of the church, which was by then, filled with water ankle-deep, and were removing their prisoners one by one. The correspondent of the 'Standard' adds the following details: At five o'clock the inspector was allowed to enter. The scene was terrible. Most of the stained-glass windowß were broken, and parts of them were hanging by their lead mouldings. In the fading light the place looked like a ruin. On the walls the pictures, statues, and decorations were damaged and torn. An unspeakable litter Jay on the floor, soaked in blood and water. Chairs- splintered and bent were mixed with footstools and confessionals. Here and there lay rags, and even whole varments. Water several.inches deep covered the floor, and in many places were large bloodstains. .Surgeons and ambulance men were called into the church when, the inventory had been made. At six o'clock all was quiet. By the light of the candles on the altars and elsewhere the doctors bound up' the wounds of the injured. Nobody was very badly hurt., but deep flesh wounds and broken legs and arms were numerous. CHURCH UNION IN CANADA. In these days great events take place with apparent suddenness. Nothing could have seemed mors unlikely than the union of the Presbyterians, the Methodists, ana the CoDgregationalists in one organic Canadian Church, and yet it seems to bo within sight. Canada has led the way in the matter of denominational reunion. Presb/terianism, so broken in Scotland, was ie united in 1875. . Methodism, divided m England and in the United States, was reunited in 1384. Now the three great and historic bodies of Protestantism in Canada, after a conference, in which more han a hundred chosen and trusted representatives. took part, have declared for union. Ibe 'Toronto Globe' says that the final statement of the Conference is the most rema; Stable ecclesiastical document issued in Piotes\ant Christendom since the Reformation. The new Church will hold a positive, evangelical, and vital* creed. Ifc will be' democratic in its government. The government will be responsible from the Council Board, or Session, or Committee, to the District Council or Presbytery up to the General Council or General Assembly. It will be a Church with an educated ministry. The proposed course for theological edncat.oji is equal, if not superior, in discipline for work in Canada to that now required bj. any Church. It will also be a Churdi evangelical in spirit and national in outlook. The increasing mass of eanhzrants

fouring into Canada can only be reached T y the utmost economy and wisest organisation of all the Christian and social forces that make for Christianity.- A well-informed Canadian correspondent writes us that the Committee are composed of sixty Presbyterians, sixty Methodists, and thirty C»ngregationalists. A surprising amount of harmony prevailed; all wero delighted at the comparatively speedy discovery of common'ground. Old men were at the front, and men of the conservative school, like Principal Maclaren of Knox, and Dr Potts, the eloquent Methodist leader, declared themselves hearty in 'the cause, after L swing been doubtful. Nearly all ministers in the newer regions feel the need of union to save overlapping in new settlements, and to fight the powers of paganism and Romanism. Some in the older, more settled part-, of the East are adverse. The Congregationalists are surrendering a good deal, and some of their churches may stand out. "it will take four years yet to carry the movement to its issue, even if all runs smoo n. The scheme may be wrecked in the lower courts and on matters of detail, but such men as Principal Patrick, Professor Kilpatnek, Principal Shaw, of Wesley College, Montreal, and Superintendent Carman, are full of hope. It would indeed be an achievement to join together Calvinists a'd Arminians, Independents and Presbyterians. We shall watch the progress of the movement with the deepest interest, and we are quite sure that in the hands of the strong and wise men who are guiding it there will be no tendency to over-haste and overi driving.—' British Weeldv.'

PRIEST'S EDIFYING FRESCO

The parish priest of the village of Tasova, province of Kursk, recently had an artistic inspiration which found so much favor in his congregation that £25 was subscribed to have it executed as a fresco. The fame of the picture spread, and people came from hundreds of miles to see it. And then the story got into the papers, and the priest's troubles began. There was a storm of indignation when it became known that the new picture, which represents 'The Day of Judgment,' depicts Count L. X. Tolstoi in the very midst of the flames of Hell. The church authorities had an inquiry made, and found that the doughty priest'had not hesitated to wreak vengeance in this manner not only on Count Tolstoi, but upon some of his own ecclesiastical superiors also, and this fact, if not the Tolstoi portrait, decided them to have the picture painted out. The parish regarded thfe picture as very edifying, and made strenuous efforts to save it and their £25.

THE POPE'S SWISS GUARD

Writing on January 22 the Rome correspondent of 'The Times' said: This week the Vatican is occupied in commemorating the fourth centenarv of the Papal Swiss Guard. Yesterday (Sunday, 21st) Pius X. celebrated a solemn mass* in the Hall of Consistory, at which the Guard were present; and in the afternoon of the same day a memriial tablet was unveiled in their quarters. To-day all the members of the corps, pan and present, were received in audience by His Holiness, and to-night a great banquet takes place in the Sala Ducale. To-morrow a Requiem mass will be performed in the German Cemetery for the souls of the Swiss Guard who are buried there. Tho same afternoon a festival will be held in the Court of the Belvedere for the families and children of the Swiss Guard now enrolled.

The foundation of the Swiss Guard really dates from the end of 1505, when the second della Rovere P6pe, Julius 11., made a formal agreement with the Diet of Zurich to furnish a guard for his person. A small body of Swiss soldiers already existed in Rome, and had been used as a bodvguard by both Nicholas V. in 1443 and "Sixtus IV. in 1471, but so far had enjoyed no permanent constitution. In, the beginning of January, 1506, the first regular "guard, consisting of 150 troops under the command of Gaspare Be Silenen, marched into Rome, and were, met in the Piazzo del Popolo by Julius 11. himself, who bestowed his blessing on them. Their duty was no sinecure. In 1517 Gaspare De Silenen, and many of his men with him, lay dead under the walls of Rimini, whither they had baen despatched by Leo X. to repel an invasiou of the Papal States of Romagna. Ten years later Rome was taken and sacked by Charles of Bourbon, and it was only through the gallantry and 'devotion of the Swiss Guard that Clement VII. was able to escape to the fortress of St. Angelo. Only one lieutenant and forty-two men remained with him; the rest of the-Guard and their commander Gaspare Roist paid for his safety with their lives. The Farnese Pope, Paul lIL, increased their uumbar in 1546; and Pius V. gave the privilege of furnishing a future, supply- of troops to the Government of Lucerne, who were allowed to choose them from the citizens of Lucerne and the cantons of Schwvz, TJri, and Unterwalden. Under Paul IV. they took part in the battle of Paliano against Philip 11. of Spain; and under Pius V. they distinguished themselves at the battle" of Lepanto. The next two centuries of their existence were peaceful; and, although they have been since called upon more than once to protect the person of the Pope, the Swiss Guard have known no further fighting. At the present moment they consist of 123 men in all—six officers, seventeen non-commis-sioned officers, and 100 halberdiers. They rank after the Guardia Nobile, and tbe-« business is to guard the Palace of the Vatican and furnish sentinels for the Papal apartments, in which capacity they in 1870, formally recognised % the Italian Government. A HINDU DEVOTEE. According to the 'Straits Times,' a nro««.ion of Hindus took place recently in Singapore, the men being under hypnotic influence and with barbs of iron and wood sticking in their flesh. Interest in the procession centred in a woman, known for her great piety. She joined in the procession, with a braas pot, containing pure water, which she hoped would turn into milk. To her disappointment she found on uncovering the pot at her destination that the water was unchanged. Not to be outdone, she tried to bring about another miracle. Seizing a knife which she carried she cut off her tongue about an inch from the end and laid it on a leaf inj front of her. With blood dripping from her mouth she knelt before thin bit of tongue, pruning and waiting for what remained of it -n her mouth to grow to itaj original length rhe temple was filled with spectators, who remained till a late hour to see miracle number two brought off. Tho woman waited till a. hfctle past midnight, most of the time m a kneeling posture, but the tongue would not grow. Tho temple authorities advised her to return home, as they declared her not " good enough for miracles." GLEANINGS. ,„P® ' Christian World' says that there are 176 Nonconformists in the new Parliament, of whom seventy-three have won seats from the Conservatives. In the last Parliament there were only sixty-nine Nonconformists, and the present representation of the Free Churches in Parliament is tho largest in the history of the Free Churches. These figures do not include the Scottish Presbyterians. The Archdeacon of Middlesex, addressing the members of a Brentford church, told a story to illustrate the necessity of perseverance in church work. An optimistic frog and a pessimistic frog, he said, -fell into a. pail of milk, and both were in danger of being drowned. Very soon the pessimistic frog gave up the ghost and sank to the bottom, whilst the optimist kept swimming around. He became very tired and was tempted to give up the straggle, but swam on, and on, and on. And eventually he found himself sitting comfortably on a pat of butter.

The 'Petit Temps' of Paris recently published a letter from Mr Booth Clibborn, son-in-law of General Booth, renouncing all connection with Br Dowie, of the Church of Zion. " I am convinced," he says, " that I fell into a gTave error in accepting Dowie as my-pastor." He explains that he and his wife were expelled the Dowie community for employing a doctor when his own life was in danger from an abscess of the knee. The Bishop of Korwich writes in a pastoral:—"lf we could persuade people to take no stimulant whatever, except wholesome home-brewed beer' at dinner and supper at home, the temperance and consequent morality of our .country...would be enormously improved." "' :'.•"■;,., A kdv writing on the Japanese in an

American paper, says: "We must not think that; because they will not accept Christianity they have no moral standards, no code of ethics. Remember, these people had bath-tubs when our ancestors lived in the caves of Europe," The Rev. R, J. Campbell, M.A., has started a novel experiment at the conclusion of tho service at the City Temple, London, by inviting questions from members of the congregation. The " heckling," , however, proved to be of the mildest possible nature. Questions were handed up on slips of paper, and he dealt with, them each in turn. ■»■■-.

• The Deanery of Booking, to which the Rev. Canon John S. Brownrigg has been appointed, is one of the few "Deaneries of Peculiars," which are benefices independent of the jurisdiction of the Bishop' of the diocese, and enjoyed at one time certain privileges with regard to probate and ecclesiastical matters. The Deaneries of Battle (Essex) and Hadleigh (Essex), though little more than country rectories, and the Deanery of Stamford, are the o:;ly other instances of the kind in England"; but the Deans of Jersey and 'Guernsey are entitled to similar privileges. It is proposed to build a remarkable church for the congregation of-Westminster Church. New York. It is to ha a tenstorey building, containing dormitories for men and apartments for the pastor,'assistant minister, and their families. The building, as far as space will permit, %is to be a reproduction of Westminster Abbey. Two largo stores will be built on the ground floor, and the main entrances will lead j.«to the church and the lecture-hall. The estimated cost is £55,000. Patigo, in Acholi-Land in the Nile Province of the Uganda Protectorate, is one of' the newest stations in the Church Missionary Society's Uganda Mission. Jn de-s----cribing an open-air service at that place, Mv H. B. Lewins writes:—"During the whole ten years I have spent in Africa I have never witnessed such a strange congregation gathered together as there was that d;ty! The service was held on tho top of a liig rock just outside the village, commanding a, fine view of the surrounding country. The chief Bon Aclioli, who was once Sir Samuel Baker's servant, clad only in a tiny goatskin, went round from hut to hut gathering the people together, whilst him son handed round the mateka, (reading sheets). The congregation was made up of old men, ugly, with dry skins and wrinkled faces, bearing on tlieir bodies the marks of many a tussle in tribal wars ; young braves, many of them sis feet in height, with nodding ostrich plumes on their heads, painted and smeared with red earth, and with huge pendants like icicles, mads from glass bottles, stuck through lower lips, or dressed in part in old Nubian police clothes; boys, big and small, in the clothing of ancient Eden ; and girls, smeared all over with fat and with plastered red-ochred hniv. But although all were strange and wildlooking, yet they were attentive to the message, and joined heartily in tho singing." A community that worships idol;; hasbeen discovered in 'St. Petersburg. It i.< but a small community, consiting, a;.* it docs, of only about a hundred persons, mule and female, but they regularly worship in a house of prayer, where they bow down before idols made of stone and metal. This strange sect has also a High Priest, who performs the rites peculiar to these people. A remarkable point is that this curiow! place of worship is situated, not in an obscure suburb, but in the Itaiianskaia, a fine street in the centre of the city. Until now. flie existence of tho sect has not been generally known, but the recent domiciliary visits have disturbed the secret practices in which its members were wont to indulge.