THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 14162, 11 September 1909, Page 4

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

General booth’s work. General Booth has lately been attending a series of field .officer’s councils, and a calculation is made that during their progress ho talked f6r, perhaps, eighty-fivi hours. This, at an average rate of 150 words a minute, would give a total of between 700,000 and 800,000 words. In between these councils the veteran evangelist spent a couple of nights in the train. The ,details were arranged for another motor tour, .the sixth of its kiud, but tho General, under the doctor’s orders has had to abandon it. In connection with the work of tho Salvation Array. Mr Bramwlll Booth recently issued an interesting descriptive report, entitled ‘ Soldiers of' Salvation ’ It deals with various phases of tho Army’s operations at home and abroad. Ono little story rpay be given. It tells of the advent of the Salvation Army in a certain Dutch city, where a little boy of eight was heard to encourage Jus younger brother to strike one of the officers whom they were fol“Go on,” said the older boy, “ hit him. Don’t you know that is the Salvation Army ? You may hit him, rn do' anything you like to him, and he must not say a word except ‘ Hallelujah ’ ” THE METHODIST CONFERENCE. This year the Wesleyan Conference met at Lincoln, the capital of a county in which Methodism counts a very large number of, adherents. For the most part the relationship between the Church of England and .Methodism is of a friendly character in Lincolnshire, and in some districts it is not unusual lor people to attend church in tin' morning and chapel in the evening. John Wesley paid his first visit to Lincoln in the year 1780, and to-day the two Lincoln circuits have some *2,500 members, and nearly 10,000 adherents. Among tho important business before the Conference was the election of a president in succession to tho Rev. Dr Scott Lidgott, and the choice, as was anticipated, fell upon the Rev. William Perkins. A description of his own religions descent was given by the new president, who spoke of himself as the great grandson of a man, who, in the early eighteenth century, heard John Wesley preach and three years later was sent by Wesley to ho himself a preacher As a family, said Mr Per-l-ins, they had been preaching over since.

The now president, who was born in Wales, and who is sixty-six years of ago. delivered an interesting address, in the course of which ho expressed the opinion that a revival was near at hand. Some years ago, he said, a special attempt was made to Christianise that strange personality, the Londoner, but it markedly failed. Then followed a movement that was widely different—the Welsh revival. They had no need of more money ; they already had more than they knew how to give. They needed no great increase of buildings, for they already had more than they fillcl. They must show that the religious and the social were one; hut while aiming at the salvation both of society and tho individual they must not give up the paradise of heaven for the garden city on earth. Among the subjects discussed by the Conference was tho future of London Methodism, and the propriety of concentrating efforts in populous districts under somewhat new conditions of organisation. CHURCH IN THE SOUDAN. A conference of Alasters of tho City Livery Committees and others, convened by the Lord Mayor, was held at tho Mansion House, Loudon, on July 6, to consider tho urgent national need which exists in regard to church accommodation in tho town of Aldershot and at Khartoum. Amongst those present were the Duke of Connaught, the Earl of Cromer, Viscount Midleton, the Sirdar (General Sir Reginald Wingate), and Field-Alarshal Lord Grenfell. A printed statement that was circulated thus explains tho present condition of affairs : Since tho Battle of Omdiirman, ten years ago, the progress of the Soudan has bcen_ almost unparalleled, and Khartoum itself, from a village of huts, has become an imposing town of excellent dwellings. Seven or eight years ago a fund was started to build an English church at Khartoum which should be a worthy monument of the Christian faith, and a centre for the many Englishmen who come there annually from outlying districts. It is unnecessary to point out how important the political, as well as the religious, effect of such a foundation is in a country in which the Mahomedan, Coptic, and even the Roman Catholic communities have already erected fine buildings for their own worship. Up to the present moment less than £IO,OOO has been collected. Tho Duke of Connaught has recently visited tho Soudan, and it is his earnest desire, as it must he that of all Englishmen, that what is really a national .scandal should ho brought to a close by the provision of this necessary fund to complete this work. The case of Aldershot is almost as pressing. In 1854, when the camp was first formed, the population was 870. In 1909 it has risen to 20,000, and a large portion of this increase has taken place in the last ten years, in consequence of the great development of tho camp as our chief military station. As in the case of Portsi mouth, Plymouth, and other military and naval centres, it is not possible for the Government to provide any church accommodation except for its own troops, and it is left to local endeavor to provide what-is really a national service—church accommodation for tho families of the troops and the population brought together by the camp. For filling tho needs at both Khartoum and Aldershot, a total of £IO,OOO is required, and it is proposed that such sums as may be contributed, unless ear-marked specially to Khartoum or to Aldershot, should be distributed between the two, as the Duke of Connaught may consider the need most urgent. —World-inspiring Events.— The Sirdar (General Sir Reginald Wingate) said that many arguments had been adduced in favor of building a really good Anglican church in the capital of the Soudan, but ho would like to add one more. Not only was this edifice the outcome of world-inspiring past events, in which our race had played a great and noble part, but it was the best possible proof to the great mass of inhabitants of tho Soudan who had been relieved from the thraldom of a cruel oppression that, whilst honoring and respecting to the fullest extent the religion of tho country, and giving them all the assistance in their power to enable them to carry out their religious duties, tho English people desired to show that they honored and respected their <iwn religion as well. What better example of that could there be than the erection of a cathedral—close to the spot where Gordon fell—worthy of the great British name and nation, and which would be, in addition, a fitting memorial to all those gallant ‘ British officers, officials, and others who had lost their lives in the service of their country in endeavoring to introduce into the Soudan tho benefits of peace and civilisation? ■ Of £IO,OOO collected for the cathedral, £B,OOO had already been spent on the foundations and bringing the building up to floor-level. About £6,000 or £7,000 more was required to complete the work. The sum needed for the organ—£Boo—had been generously promised by anonymous donors. The syllabus of Bible instruction in the L.O.C. schools for the educational year 1909-10 provides that the Bible shall be read, and that there shall be given such explanation and instruction as are' suited to the capacities of children. In such explanation and instruction the provisions l of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, must be strictly observed, and no attempt iaay_ be made to attach children to any particular denomination.-