METHODIST CONFERENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13926, 11 June 1907, Page 6

METHODIST CONFERENCE

THE OPENING DAY.

ADDRESS BY REV. DR FITCIIETT.

CRITICISM OF THE NEW THEOLOGY.

(Bγ Odr Special Correspondent.)

The second General Conference of the Methodist Church of Australasia began its sessions in the Centenary Hall, York street, Sydney, on Thursday, May 30. It is called the Second General Conference, as tho minor Methodist churches united with the Wcsloya-n Church in 1902, thus being the second gathering since that, union, but in reality it if» tho eleventh General Confcrence. Tho last annual confcrenco of the Wcsloyan Church of Australasia, was held

in 1873, and on an average the General Conferences have been held every three years.

Prior fo iho commencement o£ the Conference a reception was held at the new Masonic Hall, Castlcreagh street, followed by a tea., at which 450 visiting representatives, their wives, and hosts and hostesses wore present. The Rev. J. Penman (president of the New South Wales Confereree), tho Rev. J. Morris Taylor, and Mr T. 11. England, 8.A., delivered short addresses of welcome, to which response was made by the Rev. Pγ Fitchett (president General Conference), the Rev. J. CI. W'hocn (president Victorian Annual Conference), the Rev. William Slade (president New Zealand Conference), the Rev. C. Martin (president for tho Australia Conference), tho Rev. Dr Youngman (president Queensland Conference), and tho Rev. A. S. J. Fry (president Western Australia Conference).

The conference hall was crowded to overflowing when the president gave out the hymn which is universally suiifr on theso occasions. "And aro wo yet alive." In

the early days of the Church that hymn meant a great deal. 'Then men often carried their lives in Iheir hands. The forces of civilisation were often turned against

;hom, and when they mot it was to rex>unt thoir hair-broadth escapes. Now ho greatest trouble is not public opposi- [ ;ion, but public apathy and public applause. New South Wales was represented by 32 ninisters and laymen, Victoria and Tasnania AO, New Zealand 24, South Aus;ralia 20, Queensland 12, Western Australia. 10,-in all 136: 63 ministers and 69 aymen. president's address. The Rev. Dr Fitchott (the retiring prcsident) had a cordial reception when ho came forward to deliver his address. After some introductory remarks Dr Fitchott aid: I do not say that that conflict be:we«n the two great forces of science and religion is wholly ended yet, but it is possible to afiirin with Jio utmost confidence there is iio fundamental discord betwixt thnm. Science interprets God's thoughts as expressed in terms of matter; religion interprets God's thoughts as expressed in terms of morals; both are thoughts of one Divine mind; there cannot be civil war amonrst them. The whole temper of scientific men towards religion is changed. To-day wo seo one af tho most famous of living scientists, Sir Oliver Lodge, writing a. religious catechism for the instruction of parents and toachere.—(Applause.) We have tho most venerated name in English science, Lord Kelvin, thrown with all its authority into tho scales against atheism.—(Applause.) We have a great inventor like Edison telling- us that ho finds wrought into the very structure of what men call Naturewritten on every page of Nature-—the revelation of God. And the new science has aiready rendered this magnificent ser vico to religion; it has made any materialistic reading of tho unirerso ' impossible. But scie-nec itself, by its own methods, has to-day ended that foar. It has taught ue that the astronomy of tho Cellar heavens is only a half-truth; the other half—in a sense the more wonderful half—restores the balance. It bids us seo God, not far off, walking amongst His stars, and forgetting us; but God coming down to the very dust tinder our feet, and there working wonders almost greater than tho slars themselves, The latest discovery of ecieneois what may be called the wonders and glories hidden in infinitesimal things. I had the pleasure, when in London, of making tho acquaintance of Mr Leonard Huxley, the sou and biographer of the famous scientist. I reminded him one day of the mysterious energies of radium; how a microscopic speck of radium can pour out a spray of fiery particles—a stream of electrical energy—sufficient to ring a bell for 30,000 years. I asked him whether thatwas not a new argument, from the scientific side, • for the doctrine of immortality. Is it credible that Whoever made the universe stored in an atom an energy which would run through 30,000 years, and ga.ve to tho intellect that could measure the foreo of that radium only three score years and ten? And my friend admitted the logic There is no anevver to it. Think of the astronomy hidden in tho dust. I confess that the story of that latest and greatest scientific) discovery, the ultimate constitution of matter, affects me like a chapter in tho New Testament, or liko tho opening of auothor of the apocalyptic seals in tho Book of Revelation. They have traced matter down to the. point v/here it ceases to bo matter, and becomes force. And when eeionco breaks open what was thought to be the primary molecule, it finds bidden in each atom a 6jstem of stars.—(Applause.) Hero is a pebble, picked up on the seashore, flung by the last, wave. Each of tbe innumerable molecules which compose it contains in its tiny curve an entire planetary system, and tho atom-planets, packed in numbers beyond counting in that stone, repeat incessantly the pageantry of sunset and dawn. They arc parted from each other and from their suns by immensities of space relatively as great, as the heavens themselves. You may, raise over every atom of the earth's dust the chant of the singing archangels boforo the throne, " Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty.'.' All this reinforces faith; it is in the key of faith. Now, in tho light of all this, what is the special peril that threatens religion in tho twentieth century? It is certainty not the new scicnce. Sciencc can only open new horizons of wonder and greatness in Nature, and so widen our conceptions of what God can do, und will do, in that realm which is above Nature. It is not tbe new criticism. We have in some respects been unjust to the higher criticism, and _ have failed to see the value of the work it has done. We have been, unwisely afraid lest it should succeed in dissolving the Bible into a mist of uncertain dates. But that fear is idle. Nothing is more certain than that a reaction against the extremer conclusions of tho 1 iirheT criticism k sotting in.—(Applause.) Not the new science, not the new criticism, but a much more subtle and dangerous thing, tho new philosophy, is tho special peril to religion in the twentieth century. The attempt has been made before, it is being repeated oil a new scale, with new daring, and at. many points repeated inside the church, rot outside it. to attenuate Christianity into a philosophy: a philosophy which talks tho language of Christianity, while abandoning its message, which uses tbe great terms of Christian theology. while draining those terms of their tnie sense, and charging them with a meaning in lifter conflict with that sense. —(Applause.) One book which has just, been published P>ov. R. .T. Camnboll's "New Theology," has a special significance in this resnect. It is in many respects a shallow book, n book packed full of contradictions ; it will not deflect by a sinale hair's breadth the serious faith of Christianity. It is nothing more than a bit of metaphysical fog shot through with scanty gleams of light. But the book will influence some people. It is written in strange accents of certainty. Tho writer is not only sure, he is cocksure. " I only wish I was as sure of anything," said Sidney F-mith. " as Lord Macatilay is of everything." And the most orthodox believer might well envv tbe certaintv that vibrates in every syllable of tho " New Theology." T!u> book. too. contains enough truth to

command somo respect. It lias como into existence in the clash and firo of controversy, and it has something ot the heat and something, too. of the energy which controversy gives.—(Applause.) But tlio book is, to vary tho figure, only a bubble on the stream of religious thought: and it will puss like a bubble. But a bubble may show which way the stream is beginning to run. And the "New Theology" has

this value—it is the only serious value it possesses—it shows from which direction

and in what shape the battle of Christian faith in this generation will come. The teaching of the. new theology about (!od is a disguised, but caential, Pantheism. Pantheism is a dreadful dectrino; it is tho denial of perfect holiness in God, and of distinctive personality in man. What sort of a religion can you extract out of that, or build on that? But. our creed affirms, first, tho eternal personality, the infinite liolinos3 of God. Ho is not tho universe. Ho is tho Creator and Lord of tho universe. It affirms, next,

the indestructible personality of man. Duty is personal, sin i.s personal, responsibility is personal, faith is personal. At this suprome point tho old theology and the now confront each other. You arcnot aJI theologians; but. do you need to bo theologians to know which is the saner, which h like|y to last? What have ihe two theologies, again, to say about Christ? Tho new theology uses all tho. terms of orthodox fiiiiJi. but it drains them of their natural meaning; it charges them with a new sense in utter contradiction to their true significance. Jesus is God, says Mr Campbell, but. so aro wo. He believes in tho incarnation, but wo arc all of us incarnations. Every moral and spiritual advance is a. virgin birth. Wo are all in varying degree our own Christs, and Christs to each other. Now, if lam to 1» my own Christ, and we nro to know no other Christs than such as wo find in eacli other, mnv Ihn Lord havo mercy on us all! In tho theology for which wo stand theie is room for a personal and

divine- Saviour, for a real salvation, for an actual del i vera nee. from sin: and this is

(he only theology which fits tho facts and c-ui save tho world.—(Applause.) What is the whole result of testing our own

theology on these vital points airainst what claims to be the theolojiy of the future? It is surely that for us, at least, tho future holds no peril. Our theology is scientific in method; it is built on facia; it agrees with fads; it is verified by facts. At the supremo points of God, of Christ, of sin, of the Bible, it is xinnssn liable.—^Applause.)

The anticipations of rlio representatives in the presidential address wore hipli. No man in tlio church is as widely known and so universally esteemed. TV. address was excordinglv inrerestim; and of a very hiixli order The Rev. J. Penman (nreeident N.S.W. Conference) and Sir Frederick Holder (Speiikor of the House of Keprc-snntakivc-s) voiced the appreciation of the Conference, and requested the publication of the address. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY. As usual, great interest centred in tho election of president. Every ministerial representative is eligible, there is no nomination, m<l the voting is done by ballot. Tho Rev W. Williams, i\L.S., the retiring secretary, was elected president by a laTgo majority. The voting for secretary resulted in the election of Rev. Dr Youngman by an almost unnaimous vote.

Tho 'Rev. W. Williams, F.I-.5., was torn in South Australia in 1848. Ho lias liccn ciigascd in circuit work in Victoria nearly the whole of his ministry. For tho pMt fivo years bo has been superintendent of the Gcelcng circuit, where he had fivo ministers as colleagues and 30 churches to supervise. His present circuit, Carlton, includes Queen's College, so that it is virtually the university circut. Mr Williams was for three. years secretary of the A'ictorian and Tasmanian Conference, and was afterwards elected to the prcsidenoy. At tho Brislw.no General Confereneo in ISOI he was elected secretary of tho General Conference, and was re-elected to tho same position by tho Melbourne. Conference in 1904. While superintendent of the Bendigo circuit tho new president was elected a Fellow of the Linncan Society, as the result of a contribution on soientifio (zoological) lines, on which occasion the late Baron Muellor was ono of his sponsors. Mr Williams is considered to be the equal of Dr Pitchctt in debate, and is a sound preacher, Tho election is a popular one. Tho Rev. Dr 11. Youngman (president ot tho Queensland Conference), tho now secretary, is one of the beet-known ministers in the Methodist Church in Queensland, and has occupied (ho position of- president in the Northern State on three different occasions., No was the first president ot the United Methodist Conference, utter the union had boon consummated between the Primitive MothwlisU, the United Free Methodists, and tho Wosleyan Churches, and during tho time- the movement for union was in progress was tho trusted leader in his church, and much of tho shaping of the constitution adopted was in ■his hands. Ho entered tho ministry in New South Wales in 1871, and after travelling in several important circuits there, ho was appointed in 1888 to tho Albert Street Church in Brisbane. Tho doctor's degree was conferred upon him by a Canadian Univorsitv. and it was an honour much appreciated and deserved. Though nearinx his eixtJcth year his energies arc unabated, and he will render still much 6olid service to his denomination. THE FIRST BUSINESS SESSION. Tho first business session was held todav. The president (llev. \V. Williams, F.L.S.) presided. The first hour was occupied by the administration of the saorame.nt of the Lord's Supper. The Rev. S. Lawry (New Zealand) was appointed ono of the assistant secretaries. Greetings wero received from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and tho Religious Society of Friends of Australia. : METHODISM AND MILITARISM.

The question of tho limitation of armanicnt.s was before tho Conference in the form of a. communication from the Religious Society of Friends of Australia.

Tho society submitted a minuto which had recently been formulated by the National Council of Peace Societies in Great Britain and adopted by many Christian organ isa■lions for presentation to tho British Government in connection with ite declared intention to propose a limitation of armaments at the- coming International Conference at. The Hngue. It suggested tbnl the- opportunity should not be allowed to pass without an effort to " strengthen the hands of the Homo Government in ite endeavour to give effect to principles which were too often nverlookixl in international discussions," and that a voice from Australasia, and from m> widely representative, a. body as the Conference, would not Iμ without influence at the. present juncture. The minute expressed thankfulness* for the British Government's proposal, tho hope that it would result in the adoption of some practical scheme, that the system of international arbitration misbt bo" further developed, and that arrniifremwitji miyht ho mado for the periodical meeting of The Hague Conference. The Conference unanimously approved of if, and it was resolved thnt the decision should lie commmiiiutwl to Die British Prime Minister by cable.