THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 15174, 3 May 1913, Page 4

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

U FATHER BENSON TELLS OP HIS •CONVERSION. . Monsignor Benson has at last written the book desired and demanded by many. In his novels—-a considerable and effective series, which occasionally, lightly or devoutly, touch the supreme mysteries—he has repeatedly taken for granted things granted by none but those who share his . extremeness; so that, while his books hold Ahe imagination and give aesthetic joy, they are to many often ballling and unconvincing. They seem too evidently penned with a purpose and some prejudice. ■ The creatures of his pen—those ■ devoted priests, who, despite their un.shaven chins, have souls of white flame; those dull Anglicans with collars and creed of starch—arc alike builded of bias, or so “to some they seem. —‘Lead, Kindly Light.’—■ His “ Apologia ” has now come. It tells with frankness, sincerity, and literary felicity the story of his progress from the Church of England to Rome. As with every revelation of the kind, it is entitled to deepest respect. Wo fool that the cases of certain, advisers on the other side, the Archbishop-father, to some extent, but more particularly the Superior of the Com.munity which Father Benson broke from, ■and that “dignitary” consulted by him just before \his abandonment of Anglican orders, have not been adequately presented, or, at least, realised by the author. It suggests that, in his mystical fervor, he only_ listened to their arguments and admonitions with half-attention, and in his . own mind answered their counsel with an ecstasy. An apparent flippancy hare and there may be due to the unusual ease of the writing, and to the fact that similar confessions with which it must be compared have deeper feeling and more effective reasoning than this book shows. There is a beautiful and touching tribute to the generosity of spirit of many in the Monsignor’s old communion, and a triumphant conclusion which shows i.hat his soul has found an abiding satisfaction in the’ Catholic fold. No one who truly believes in Christian charity will do otherwise than rejoice at such'a result. As a ■'. work of apologetics the book is of no account, and it is altogether too entertainlnS —the very last adjective that should apply to such a work. —Temperament and Destiny.— , . Looking hack on the events as recorded in this volume, it is obvious that Monsifjnor Benson was destined for Rome. His temperament is exactly suited to the environment he now enjoys. He has at Once a splendid ntrcepricn for details and . a magnificent blindness. That aspect of modern development which may be expressed in the surname “Tyrrell” does ' not enter into his apprehension for an instant. He out-Copenhagens Nelson, because the Admiral knew what ho was doing when he raised the spy-glass to his shaded eye. Ultrarnontanism is to the Monsignor little more than a mere name—these camps barely “exist at all”; ye t w . e remember a novel, entitled ‘The Dawn of All, which in a truly joyous manner threw sops to the extremists by executing a priest for heresy and requiring the Kins of England to do homage to the Pope for his crown. That is surely a long march the . Position of, say, the secular - priesthood at home. Wink these Confessions are most interwesting, they have not enough of rrvela- ■ f°rce to ruffle religious : f , Thr T sho ' v that Father Benson T3WS,’-" .®SS

PRINCESS’S CONFIRMATION. SIMPLE CERTAIONY IN PALACE CHAPEL. Pnncess Mary, only daughter of the IAiAT Qu ? eT )’ was confirm*! bv the C !' lntprlltjr y at a special m tho TOivate chapel at Buckingh<.nj Palacn. The King and Queen, the ot Wales, Queen Alexandra. Prim hj Victoria, Princess- GbrsUan, the Duke smd Duchess ot Teck, the Duchess of Albany, Princess Alexander of Tech, the Princess Royal, Duchess of Fife, and Princess Maud were present. Almost the only other guests were the Earl of Roscbervlord Farquhav, and Madame Bricka (former governess to the Princess). Princess Mary, dressed in a simple white gown, and wearing the veil worn by the Queen at her confirmation, was placed slightly in front of her parents. The service opened with the hymn Jesrs calls us, o’er the tumult.” and when the preliminary part of the. serrice was concluded His Grace asked the Princess: “Do you here, in the presence ot God and this congregation, renew the solemn promise and vow that was made in your name at your baptism, ratifying and confirming the same in vour own person and acknowledging yourself bound to belele t0 4 A things which vour godfathers and godmothers undertook" for you?’ Tho Princess answered clearly “I do.” '

MpDEBN CIVILISATION NONCHRISTIAN. The recent meetings of the National Free Charon Council were held in the Newcastle Hippodrome, a great bam of a place with a sharply-sloping floor, a, large sta<re footlights, and some very garish scenery', which -onned about the most incongruous background that could be imagined for the Free -Church leaders. Dr Horton seemed especially depressed this morning (March 11) by his surroundings, and his occasional glances towards the winos suggested a meditated escape. The total exclusion of daylight from the building, and its artificial lighting, add to the oddness of the spectacle. Mr Connell took for his subject ‘The Nation and Its God,’ and with that rich sonorous voice, with its strangely moving! plaintive, Gaelic cadence, set forth seme of tho issues involved in the charge that the nation had somewhere lost its o-rip of God. Ottr convictions, ho believes, are in the mam as vital and central as of old, yet the churches seem to have lost the old impressiveness of their appeal, and vital religion has suffered depression and dedmo m visible strength. That the churches had lost touch with the people Mr Connell was not prepared to admit ‘‘The fact seems to be,” he said, “ that we have been caught in tho undertow of a civilisation which, with all its material excellences, is the product of forces that are largely non-Christian.” Yet civilisation would be the first sufferer if the religions atmosphere became exhausted. "No civilisation can ultimately survive without a- religion, without a faith, while the democracy that rejects the spiritual will not in the long run win the secular. If it does, wiD the prize be. worth having?” —La the Abyss.— . It was at this point that Mr Connell, having faced his problem no far as stating the position of the democracy, did what the Free Church Council itself dees . balked the inevitable corollary. Poverty, he declared, with deep and feeling sincerity, was “a dreadful evil. Gloss it over as'you will, poverty is a living hell, and the man who has looked into the abyss can never forget what he has seen.” ■ ■ Sympathetic cheers greeted these words. Therefore, you would have expected Mr Connell to continue: “We will not rest until we have rescued the poor from this hell, dragged them out of this unforgettable abyss, aud wo arc prepared to associate legislation definitely with those who, by legislation or otherwise, are seeking to obtain a minimum wage for those on the floor of this he'll, at tho bottom of this pit.” But instead of thl« Mr Connell contented himself with asking: “Where arc she just hopes of depressed humanity safe except as they he on the bosom of God?” .Which question (says the special correspondent of the ‘Daily Chronicle’), .with resnect amounting to regard for Mr Con--neli, is to avoid tho issue. 1! people are. in the hell of poverty, the first thing to do is to. pull them out. Their gratitude will prove a good soil for ■ spiritual plants. But such .work- involves ■ ■ legislation, and. legislation is political, and, - ; .according, to the statement of Dr Moyer, r to ,be .political is not to be spiritual, and y ~gjste -aim now of tho Fiw Church .Council r \

is to concentrate on th© spiritual ” —a policy which will offend none of tfcoge who, to quote Mi’ Connell, “are contest to receive their dividends without inquiry ae to how they have been earned, although they may bo the product of brutal tyrannies that know neither love of man nor fear of God.” THE EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS. The cables have this week been sending us very scrappy items of the doings of the great Eucharistic Congress at- .ual!o . The following copy of the. week’s programme will make the* work of the Congress much clearer;— The Pontifical Legate, Cardinal Domenico Ferrate, Prefect of HieCongrega tion of the Sacraments, was to arrive at 'Malta on the morning of Tuesday, April 22. “Ilie Congress was to he inaugurated on .April 23 by Mgr. Heylen, Bishop of Namur, President of the Permanent Committee o' the. Eucharistic Congresses, in the Rotunda Church of Musta. On the 24th there was to be a procession through the principal streets .of Valetta. and sectional meetings were to be held in the different churches assig el to the various nationalities. A most interesting ceremony was to be the blessing of the sea with the Blessed .Sacrament on April 26. This ceremony probably 'ook place from the Upuev Baracca, from which a general panorama of tire island is obtained. On the afternoon of the 27th a solemn procession with the Host was to start from St. John's Cathedral and proceed to Ploriana, when: the Benediction was/o bo imparted from a tribune erected in the avenue out-, side Porta Realc. in which 100,000 souls can easily bo accommodated. During the Congress week there were to bo a daily general assembly of the members of the Congress at the Rotunda Church of-Musta, and treatises on various subjects delivered. On the evening of the 27th a geuctal illumination all over Ihe island was to he made. The closing event of the Congress was to he a pilgrimage from Valetta to St. Paul’s Grotto, at- the ancient capital of Malta. THE BENEDICTINES OF CALDEY. The little company of men and women wlio tried to follow tho Benedictine rule within the Church of England having recently passed into another communion, tho minds of church people of a- certain type have been occupied by the subject of secession. By secession is meant, of course, secession to Rome; none other is of th'o sanic significance; “when beggars die there ;trc no comets seen.” Such an event is calculated to exercise men’s interest in two directions. There arises, first, a certain wonderment as to whether the personalities thus departing to another sphere will find in that sphere the freedom and the happiness they seem to have hitherto missed. In tho. present case, however, this wonderment already abates, because it cannot find impetus in a few score or so of simple folk, who will he a gain to the Roman Church in respect of the goodness which they have achieved, and will not rob the Church of England of much distinction, apart from their actual numbers. But there also arises in these cases tho inevitable question, who next? Must tho Church he prepared for further losses resulting from this one? It does not sound probable; yet it is stated with some show of authority that one large benefactor of this enterprise “is in complete accord with the recent action of the Abbot and community.” This “complete accord” seems to ns, if we may venture thus far to offer counsel to those in authority, to be of incomparably greater moment than any damages that can be expressed in terms of the loss of property. The head of the seceding community affects to be as certain to-day that he can take his goods and chattels'with him’as he was until recently that the rights of tlio Church of England to the property are legally safeguarded : so much so that, with a curious conception of the Archbishop of Canterbury's methods as a man of affairs, he asked His Grace to receive at Lambeth a solicitor who can prove the straightforwardness of what some may think a curiously tortuous proceeding. To us it appear that- the few Anglicans who gave large stims to set up this community in Cakky may possibly be the richer in common sense for the passing of their substance into unintended channels.— ‘The Times.’