The WORLD of RELIGION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22356, 29 February 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

The WORLD of RELIGION

By PHILEMON

AN interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald tells how Kipling's "Recessional" was rescued from the wastepaper basket. In July, 1897, Miss Sara Norton, of America, was visiting the Kiplings at Ilottingdean. One morning the little circle of friends was sitting in the poet's study chatting, while Kipling was clearing his desk and discarding various scraps of writing into the wastepaper basket, which stood near to Miss Norton's chair. She asked permission to examine what was being cast aside, and, consent being given, rescued a poein of several stanzas entitled "After." After reading them she protested against their destruction, and urged Kipling to complete the poem. This he seemed unwilling to do, and finally it was agreed to take the opinion of Lady Burne-Jones, who lived opposite, and was an intimate friend. She agreed with Miss Norton, and advised Kipling to send the poem to the Times. Returning to his house Kipling made various alterations, adding with Miss Norton's pen the famous lines: "Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget., lest we forget!" In the copy made for the Times the title was changed from "After" to "Recessional." The letter accompanying it to the editor is interesting: "Enclosed please find my sentiments on thingu, which I hope are yours. ... If you want it, it's at your service, on the old condition that I can use it if I want it later in book form. I don't want any proof. Couldn't you run it in to-night, so as to end the week piously."

Church Membership

It is generally admitted that the rollbooks of many churches contain a proportion of names of those to whom church membership has little real significance. There is a national reluctance to remove these and to sever even a somewhat formal link with the Christian community. Many discussions, however, in religiousi assemblies and in the church press indicate that the time is approaching when a stricter regime will be introduced. In an article entitled "The Discipline of the Saints," published in the New Outlook (Toronto), Dr. W. S. McCullough proposes that there shall be a confirmation of church members at intervals of five years and that unless a person's membership be then ratified it shall automatically lapse. He further proposes that, in addition to the usual preparatory confirmation class,, a special and more advanced class shall be held for those thus renewing their membership, at which "vital problems of Christian faith and morals may be discussed." The writer argues for this periodic confirmation in the hope that it may heighten the ideal of church membership among those already enrolled, while those who had joined in adolescence and who did not desire to maintain their profession in any real and effective way, would be given the opportunity to retire virtually on their own initiative.' A New Dawn at Hand

That a new Dawn for religion is at hand is the enspiriting thesis of a convincing article by Dr. W. B. Selbie in the Christian World. He admits to the full that there are many disquieting signs in the life of to-day, but, on a balance, things are by no means so serious as they are often represented to be. When we Ret below the alleged indifference to religion, he says, we discover that it is "indifference to religion as the churches preach it, rather than to religion itself." Indeed, he maintains that there has probably never been a time when interest in religion "for its own sake," as distinguished from a religion of "dogmas, creeds, ordinances and authority," was so keen and widespread. There is a similar spirit of inquiry abroad, though "it will not be fobbed off with stale ortho-

doxies." Dr. Selbie discusses the falling off in church attendance and takes the vein that it is largely a process of return to reality. Once it wan "the pi'oper thing to go to Church or chapel, but now those who attend do so in obedience to a truly religious impulse, however indifferently some of them may be conscious of it. In the article mentioned, Dr. Selbie cites past histojy with good effect. In the early 18th century religion in England was under an eclipse, as tha pamphlets of the day make plain. "They describe not only a iparked decline in manners and morals among all classes and a widespread indifference to religion, but also among Christians a great falling away from their first love and zeal." But it was the darkness that precedes the dawn, as the outbreak of the Evangelical Revival proved. Sd the doctor bids us foster confidence and courage. In a time of darkness the Spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters and night arises. .Man cannot himself command it, but it in never long delayed. '

Happiest Way of Llfo

The death of F. N. Charringl;on, at the age of 85, which occurred last month, has led to many references to his career in the religious preiss. His undying fame in Christian story rests, upon the events of a single evening in his early life. We take their record from the London Times. "Mr. Cliarrir.gton was scarcely out of his teens when he began to realise the poverty a:ad misery of the East End. His decision to leave his father's business and forsake a fortune of £1,250,000 was caused by an incident which occurred when he was walking through a back street ia which he came to a public house. A wonjan, with a shawl round her shoulders and two small children clinging to her skirts, pushed open the door and said: "Oh, Tom, do give us some money.; the children are crying for bread." A savage-looking face appeared at the doorway; the man struck his wife a fierce blow and she and her children fell reeling into the gutter. "][ looked above me," said Charrington afterwards, "and there in huge letters of. gold I saw the sign of Charrington stnd Company. The blow that knocked that woman down knocked me out. of the drink trade. Thus renouncing his enormous inheritance, he gave himself to 65 years of untiring work among the masses who throng the narrow streets off the Mile End Road. "What Charrington had the courage to do," says Ernest Jeffs, "was really to act upon the central principles of the Christian faith —that a life lived for others is not merely the 'best' way of life, but the happiest. . . . He dared to let Christ handle his money." Methodist Church Among the changes in Methodist pastorates in the Auckland Province made at the recent conference are the following:—Rev. E. W. Hames to Dominion Road, Rev. H: A. Sharp to Mount Albert, Rev. P. I. Cooke to Otahuhu, Rev. 1. M. Raynor to Papakura, Rev. H. Ford to Port Albert, Rev. H. Daniel to Matamata, Rev. R. B. Tihsley to Hamilton, Rev. G. E. Brown to Hamilton East. The Rev. A. Mcßean, of Mount Albert removes to Ashburbon, Rev. T. R. B. Woolloxall, of Otahviiu, to Dunedin, Rev. H. T. Peat, of Hamilton, to the Hutt, and Rev. J. Dennis, of Hamilton East, to Levin.

An incident mentioned in „ the Christian World reminds us of the generosity of Mark Twain. One of his closest friends was his pastor,' the Rev. Joseph Twitchell, the " Harris " of " The Innocents Abroad." A letter is extant from the great humorist to his minister —"My dear Joe, I have made a good bit lately and I think my pastor should go shares. I enclose a cheque for thirteen thousand dollars."