THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 17365, 29 May 1920, Page 10

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

CANDLES AND INCENSE. ! Pronouncing judgment .in a' suit of unusual ' interest, Mr ' Justice Coleridge : upheld a'-bishop's objection against the institution of a vicar. The action arose over the' refusal of the Bishop of Manchester to institute the Rev. Christopher Sausraarez Carey, vicar of St. John's, Forton, Gosport, to the living of the Sacred Trinity, Gosport. The patron of the living, SirJosslyn A. R. Gore-Booth, of Sligo, took proceedings against the bishop. The lattcrs' objections to the clergyman was on. the grounds of -the " following illegal practices, which the vicar admitted, and refused to discontinue:—Reservation of the Sacrament; ceremonial use of incense; lighting of candles on or above the communion table, which were not required for purposes of light 5 wearing 01 the chasuble and alb. Mr Justice Coleridge remarked that the bishop, in refusing to institute Mi Carey, duly informed plaintiff of his ground for doing bo. The bishop had a right to interrogate the clerk as ; to his practices, and, if they were illegal, to demand that they should be discontinued. His lordship held that they were all illegal practices, except the last, in regcrd to which he would pronounce no oiiiiion. There was no order prescribing- or permitting reservation in :the Prayer Book, and it had not been authorised by any lawful authority. The ceremonial use of incense was not prescribed in the, Prayer Book, and was neither an ornament of the church nor of the minThe same arguments applied to tho question of the candles. His judgment, therefore, was that tho bishop was r.ot bound to institute Mr Carey, and that the bishop had a right to institute his own nominee. Judgment was entered for the bishop, with costs, a stay of execution being granted. Sir J. A. R. Gore-Booth is the brother of the Countess Markievicz, , who was elected Sinn Fein M.P. for the St. Patrick's Division of Dublin in 1918, and of Miss Eva Gore-Booth, poet ai-d social worker. t « "TOMMY ATKINS" AND THE '• CHURCH. In a recent address the Bishop of London (Dr Ingram) said there had been considerable disappointment at the fact that now the men who had fought so gallantly in the war had returned there was not a better attendance at the churches than there had been before. Perhaps too much had been expected of them. Church parades in the soldier's mind were associated with the polishing of buttons, which was not right. At the same time, there was quite a change in their spirit and outlook as regards the church. They did not hide under the bed when the clergy called—(laughter)—and ho was not disheartened that their attendance at church had not been so large as was expected. In' their hearts there was a great deal more religion than was shown on the face. CAUSES OF RACE DEGENERACY. MODERN DRES~AND DANCING. Immodest fashions, sensuous dances, the substitution of Spiritualism for religion, the_ craze for amusement, and degrading prize fights were instanced as the staggering menaces of our time by the Rev. F. B. Meyer in his presidential address at the recent annual assembly of the. National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches at Leicester. The whole world, he declared, seemed possessed with the craving for gain. The soaring prices, endless strikes for higher pay, the profiteering vampire sucking the national blood, and the extravagance of the new rich were all - symptomatic of the recrudescence of Materialism. We were staggered by crimes of violence, due probably to the abnormal excitement of the war._ Careful statistics, indicative of the persistent limitations of family life, suggested xace degeneration. The brutalities _ of the ring, the immodesty of fashion, the sensuousness of the dance, substitution , of Spiritualism for religion, "' the''craze for amusement, the I ostentatious extravagance of the profiteer, > must give all thoughtful people cause for anxiety. ' Crowded theatres and kinemas stimulated the appetite for the startling and the sensational, and the craving often degenerated into a restless search for fresh -.excitement to titillate an exhausted and glutted appetite. It was not the Church's business to vie with the dancing master or the dancing academy. " In one way or another," he continued, "man is always a fighting animal. Of late we have had unpleasant explosions of this spirit .in degrading prize fights, more politely •phrased boxing contests, which are patronised by so-called ladies bent on .emulating the wives and daughters of the Roman nobility, who crowded the Colosseum in the darkest days of the empire. There is no foe so well worth fighting as the curge of strong drink. It blights man s happiness and blasts his character It is the curse equally of the individual, the home, and the State. It saps morality, sucks the life blood of happiness and health, and sweeps millions into the maelstrom of perdition. It is the devils master-stroke and hell's basest asset," aa POLICE AS PREACHERS. That ex-policemen might serve as parsons was one of the humorous suggestions in a breezy address on the future 6f the Lhnrch, by the Rev. Lionel Blackburn©, r "f 1 f He considered that the present services did not and. revised hours of service. He nact found clergymen being paid starvation wages. He was in no way running down parsons, but he was fed to think that m future there would have to bo •» e^£w" t, 3S P L arsons : ?o ensure that '.i^lHL? hj &aul6<r > ex-policemen should be induced to do the work, as their pensionsi .would maintain them. (Laughter.)- Ihere was what was known as the typical ' priest face," which was the outa P art ' I . bl 7«ght about by the il-™L £ man who in DOyhood *P*l.-*H& tended more and ;moTe to separate him from mankind. This ; And many other things would have to be ruthlessly changed if they were to corT template the future of tie Ctarci with S equanimity. SADHTJ SUNDAR SLNGH. INDIAN SEER IN LONDON. The announcement that Sadhu Sundar hmgn is to preach in various parts of England in some of the principal Anglican churches marks the arrival in this country of one of the most remarkable figures who have visited these shores from the Indian Empire (says.the 'Daily Express'). The Sahdu, who is the guest iii England of the famous Cowley Fathera, is as picturesque in appearance as he is eloquent. His life story is one of the romances even of the romantic Eaet. Sahdu Sundar Singh Is 6f fc In height, ex- . tremely fair, with handsome face, dark wyes end hair; barefooted and dressed in a; long flowing saffron robe, with a ecarf ot the same color thrown loosely over his shoulders, and turban to match. He is only 30 years of age, grave in demeanour, ;but with a captivating B mile and the un- , embarrassed manner of the real mystic J The saffron robe fa the Itime-honored 1 dress which proclaims the wearer to be a ..eenyaejL or a sadhu, a holy man, and gives ilm the freedom of all India. He is a Sikh by birth. His father" is a wealthy landowner in Rampur, and as a child Sundar was. brought up in the lap of luxury. His mother, a refined and gifted woman, always urged him not to be careless and worldly, but to become a holy sadhu. He observed the wishes of his dead mother, and unflinchingly facing the anger of his Hindu relatives he became a Christian at the age of 16. Many attempts were made to win. Sundar back to his family. His father told him of the wealth and honor that awaited him, an uncle offered him jewels and money, and even laid the puggafree from his own head at his nephew's feet, but Sundar would not be temjred. After this Sundar was no longer'a-son/ but an' outcast. ' Before he left home a deadly-poison' had been mixed in his food. 3e arrived, at Ropur <>x>leirtly iIL and mSde his way to the Went cf an Indian, pastor and his (rife. A jihysican Wfho was called pronounced ihe

case hopeless, and promised to come in| 1 the morning to the funeral Sundar was < in mortal pain, bat much to the physician's | surprise he was alive and on the road to ! | recovery. Sundar then continued his way I through India, studying at various missions | I and preaching as he went. Ho entered ! the St. John's Divinity College at Lahore, | and spent the years 1909 and 1910 in study. After that for many years the Sadhu went to Tibet each year for the six months of hot weather. Many are the wonderful stories told of his travels. At Narkanda he found men reaping. He joined them, and spoke of religious matters. One of the men who became annoyed hit the Sadhu on the head with a etone. Soon this man was seized with a severe headache, had to stop work, and the Sadhu took up the scythe and reaped with the others. At the end of the day the men, whose hearts, had-become softened, invited him to their home. Later, when the Sadhu had left, and they took stock of the harvest gathered that : day, they found to their astonishment a record yield. At one village the people treated him so badly that he spent his mgnts in the jungle. One particularly dark -night he found a cave where he spread his blanket. When davlight came it revealed a man-eating leopard still asleep close to him. On another occasion a panther that had killed several people of the village allowed his to pass unmolested. In Nepal he was put in prison, and subjected to tortures which normally should have ended his career, but much to the astonishment of his persecutors he survived. It filled them with superstitious dread. At the age of 19, while in Tibet, ne was arrafgned before one lama and found guilty. The two favorite forms of capital punishment are being sewn up in a wet yak skin, and put out in the'eim until death ends the torment, or being cast into the depths oi a dry well, the top being firmly fastened over the culprit's head. The second form was chosen for the Sadhu. He was stripped of his clothes, and cast into the depths of the ghastly charnel-house. He alighted on a mass of [ human _ bones and putrid flesh. On the third night someone opened the locked lid, and a voice Teached him telling him to take hold of a rope that was being let down. Tho rope reached him, he grasped it, and was drawn up into the open air. When he arrived at the top the lid was drawn over again and locked. He looked round, but his deliverer was nowhere to be seen. Ho travels without money, bag, or baggage, and he does not seek money in England. He does not represent any society or any cause. Every inch of available floor space in St. Matthew's Church, Westminster, was filled when the Sadhu entered tho pulpit last week to preach his first sermon in England. Women of all ages and classes predominated in the overflowing congregation. The Sadhu delivered his sermon in 6hort impassioned sentences His staccato phrases were accompanied by -plentiful gestures, and his English was beyond Teproach, although it is only a year since he first spoke the language. He related the story of his conversion. The address itself is full of rich allegory and illustrative parable, drawn from scenes of familiar life in the East. To make their church services more effective and more popular, some of England's clergy advocate short sermons and short, prayers. One critic of the long prayers in Nonconformist churches declares that to a large part of the congregation they fall on deaf ears, because the prevailing quiet in the church at such times is conducive to sleep, and that scores of devout church-goers are ohveically unable to resist the temptation of a short nap. In many country churches the average sermon now lasts only 15 j minutes. In one well-known London : church the sermon lasts 20 minutes, the ; minister insisting that it is quite lone [ enough.