ECCLESIASTICAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12402, 26 October 1903, Page 6

ECCLESIASTICAL.

BISHOP NELIGAN- ON THE DEMAND OF CHnSITANITT. At St. Mary's Cathedral, Parnell, last night, Bishop NeSigan gave the concluding sermon of a series he has been preaching on "Tho Demand of Christianity." The Cathedral

was crowded, and ■•.ho Bishop's forceful discourse was listened to with rapt attention. In the first sermon of the series Dr. Neligan dealt with the character of the demand of

Christianity; in the.second with the fact that this demand involved us in trial and discipline; in the third with the fact that the de'mand necessitated moral culture. Last nigh

the Bishop dealt with the personalising influence in Christianity and the Divine Master. The whole of Christianity, ho said, turned upon the personality of Jesus Christ. If there was no incarnation; if the Lord was not the Son of God; if the first 1+ verses of St. John were not true, then there was no such thing as Christianity. A man's force and power in the world consisted in his ideal mul-

tiplied by and projected through his own person. Abstract ideas must always be personalised. No movement could be carried through unless it weire personalised. A child could only acquire learning by the personalised form of the teaching. To possess an ideal was ifot the same thing as to be possessed by an ideal. It was not always wise to put the higher ideal before people at certain stag es of their development. Cod did not do it; in His own revelation of Himself. The reve'a-

tion of God in the Now Testament was higher than the revelation or God in the Old Testament. As illustrations of the personalis ng influence of ideas, the Bishop remarked tuat we associated the freeing of slaves with the glorious British Empire, but this great liberation was penionalised in tha great figure of Wilberforce. Nursing had been a great blessing in times of war and of peace, but it needed the figure of Florence Nightingale to personalise it and carry it through. Wo had now the opposing schools of free trade and of preferential trade,, and we found that on the one hand we .were bound to personalise our views oi: free trade in Richard Gobden and our view of preferentialism in Mr. Chamberlain. Our Lord came to personalise the Father. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." Men followed Jesus < Nazareth, because they found He was Jesus of Nazareth. And men. to-day yielded to Jesus because of what Hi; wis and what Ho is. For Christianity to endure we must have the presentation of Christianity in a person. Jesus Christ did not lay down the laws of ritual, but he did project the- idea of the Fatherhood of God to the world by His own sacred personality. The rights of the individual were found in the doctrine of the incarnation.

LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY DELEGATES.

Yesterday the delegates from the London Missionary Society (Dr. R. J. Ashton, 8.A., of Kachwa, North India, and the Rev. J. King, of Melbourne, organising agent for Australasia), who 'arrived in Auckland from the South by the Weitralia, preached at the Beresford-street and Mount. Eden Congregational Churches, morning and eve-mug. Collections at all the services were 'tak'.-n up on behalf of the society, the preachers referring to its work in their sermons. They will conduct meetings hi the city'during their stay here. METHODIST CITY MISSION. " Cod in History" was the subject of art address delivered by Mr. 1. W. Poole at the Methodist City Mission service yesterday afternoon. The speaker dealt with the subject in a very able manner, and the audience was well pleased with 'the effort. The musical portion of the service was much above tho average. Miss A. Riinmer sang with excellent effect "The Land of Love ;" "Call Them In," by Mr. Asp:nail, was well rem dered. The duet by Miss A. Rimmer and Mr. Aspinall was an item well worth hearing. An anthem, "As Pants tho Hart," was sung by a male quartette. At the evening service special addresses were given by Sisters Howard and Francis. Mr. C. Way sang a special solo. Sister Howard and Miss Rimmer sang a piece suitable to the occasion,'and the quartette party also rendered valuable assistance.

THE CENTRAL MISSION. The Albert street Hall was crowded lass evening, when Mr. E. Dimant gave an account of his conversion from Judaism to Christianity. Mr. Dimant, who is a prosperous Melbourne merchant, expressed his pride in being a son of Abraham.- He referred to the 12,000,00) Jews scattered over the face of the earth, and contended that God was still the God of Israel. The recent massacres in Russia, wall do-untold harm in embittering the Jews against the Christian religion. The late Emperor of Germany asked a friend if he could give him a proof in two words that the Bible was true. The instant reply was, "TII3 Jew!" Mr. Dimant attended some meetings held by tho Rev. Somnrville, the Scottish evangelist, 25 years ago in Dunedin, which led him to renounce the faith of hi* father.; and accept Christianity. Although this step has meant a severance from all Jewish friends, lie has made many staunch friends among Christian people.

NEWTON CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAYSCHOOL.

I There were very large attendances at. the Choral Hall yesterday, when three services were held in connection with the 40oh anniversary of the Newton Congregational Sun-day-school. The Re l ,*. George Burgess, F.R.A.S.. preached in the morning, the Rev. •L Clark in the afternoon, and the Rev. W. Wooijass in the evening. Special hymns were- sung by the scholars, under the con-" ductorship of Mr. W. SB. Baxter. The annual soiree and public meeting will be held in the church, Edinburgh-street, to-morrow evening.

THE CITY HALL. . There was a fair attendance at the usual City Hall service lasi: evening, when Mr. W. Brakenrig gave an earliest address from St. Matthew xxvii. 21-22.

. [BY TFJ.TOEAPH.— OW.V CORRESPONDENT.] „,. Thames, Sunday. • . I he, anniversary services of the Baptist yongregahonal Sunday-school were held to"ay, and were favoured with fine weather. J. He congregations were very large a* each service. At all the services special hvmns were sung by , th «, chi , ( , J ™ % m ™ tejfr «ndo r the .. conductorship OJ Air. Isaac Brown. Ths Rev. T 4 Wit Robert T^ d ! t k l ho mom]n S and'the Rev! sVrvSs ' y Thp a - \ b4S . aJtei 2 10 ° n and evening