THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14002, 7 September 1907, Page 4

THE SUNDAY CIRCLE.

DEVOTIONAL. TnE Joy of Liyixg, How beautiful it is to bo aJive! ' To wako each morn as if the Maker's grace Did as afresh from nothingness derive That wo might sing " How happy is our case! How beautiful it is to bo alive!" To read in God's .great until we feel Lovo for the love that gave it; then to kneel Close unto Him Whose truth our souls will shrive, Whilo every moment's joy doth moro reveal How beautiful it is to bo alive. Rather to go without what might incrcaso Our worldly standing, than our souls deprive Of frequent 'specph with God, or than to cease To feel, through having wasted health or ppa.ee, How beautiful it is to bo alive. I Meditation. THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST. In Jesus Christ tho paradox of tho universe seemed to find illustration and to reeeivo its explanation. He disdained the aids and recommendations , of physical force; Ho stood simply and solely on His right to tho moral allegiance of mankind. In (ho categories of history Ho has His place at the head of the exponents _ of moral force, tho prophets, the veligionfounders, the martyra. Among these Ho is confessedly supromo, and His supremacy is of a character so cxtromo and amazing that His triumph adds a mysterious authentication to tho witness of tho rest, and at onco interprets and extends it. For what was moro or less obscured and embarrassed in them was in Him apparent and absolute. Here was moral olaim divorced from any defiling associations of personal- ambition, uncompromisod by any essays of physical force. Alone among tho saints Ho has the testimony •borno to Him that He was sinless. Here is secular failivro seen in its uttermost and deopest. Anguish, shame, tho bitterness of desertion, all that, adds infamy to defeat and finality to disaster, accumulate on Him who is uplifted on Calvary, a derelict from earth, an outcast from lioavcn, undone, unheeded, alone. "Ho (saved others, Himself He cannot save; if Ho be the Christ, the ohosen of Gcd, let Him now come down from Iho Cross and we will believe." So tho gibes of His cnomics cncirclc Him, and tho darknos which enfolds Hk Crosa is vocal with insult.—Canon H. HensleyHensori, B.D.

Exiiof.tation*. WHAT ROD KEEPS. Ho shall keep thy soul. Tliis is a promise that can fold us in Divino comfort and poace. and that can do something towards interpreting for us every coil of difficulty, every hour of pain. But it this is lo bo so wo must ourselves be truo to the view of life the promise gives us.' We must think of tho foul as God thinks of it. We live, in a world where souls' are cheap. They aro bought and sold day by day. It is strange beyond understanding that tho only thing many a man is not afraid of losing is tho one thing that is really worth anything to him, his 60ul. Sometimes tho lusts of the world drag down our heart' 6 desire, and wo have to confcss with shame to moments in our experience when we havo not been at all concerned with what became of our soul so long as tho desire of tho hour was fulfilled or satisfied. Wo need to seek day by day that- the masterful and abiding desires of onr heart, may be set upon undying Rood, and that our aspiration may never fold its wings and rest on anything lower than tho highest. This shall not make dreamers of us. It. shall stand us in good stead in the thick of tho world. Tho man who gets " tho best of the bargain" is always tho man who is most honest, for tho most precious thing that a. man stands tn win or lose in any deal is tho cleanness of his soul. Tim man who gets tho best of the argument is always the man who is most truthful, for a quiet conscience is better than a silenced opponent. The man who gets tho best of lifo is the man who keeps the honour of his soul, for Je-us said, " What shall it profit, a man if ho gain the whole world and lose his own soulßov. Percy C. Ainsworih.

A PROMINENT METHODIST. The Rev. J. Scott M.A.,' who has recently. been elected president of the English Conference for 1903, is ono of tho strongest progressive force? in Wesleyan Methodism to-day. ITa is an " out-and-out" Methodist., o, member of tho Legal Hundred, one of tho secretaries of the' Committee of Privileges, and serves on a number of tho important connexirnal committees. Ilii influence both in the' representative and the pastoral sessions is considerable. for lie is a powerful sneaker, steeped in the traditions of Methodism and well informed on current- questions. In addition to these qualifications, he lias taken considerable share in. rnnttere outside his church—both those relating to Free Churches generally and also to civic life. 110 was a. member of tho old London School Board, a-nd when its duties were transferred to the. London County Council ho becamo an alderman and a member of tho Education Committee. In the National Free Church Council organisation ho lias done inucli sorvicc, having been on its committee for many years and occupied the presidential chair. In Methodism his nost is that of Warden of tho Berniondsey Settlement, which he founded in connection with the late Dr W. F. Moulton in 1891. Ho has also succeeded to the. editorship of the Methodist. Times, a paper founded by tho late Mr. Hugh Price Hughes. His rccreation is the study of theology, and jw an outcome two or three books, which have passed into third or fourth editions, have issued from his pern

ABOUT PEOPLE. Dr Henry Preserved Smith, well known as author of. tho commentary on Samuel in the "International Critical Commentary" and of tho volume on " Old Tcstamont History" in the International Theological Library., has accepted an appointment as Professor of Old Testament, History at tho Unitarian. Divinity School, Meadvillo, Pennsylvania. Ho has previously held similar chairs at the Lano Seminary, Cincinnati, and at Amhcret College, Mass.

Mr C. W. Fairbanks, the Vice-president of the United State 3, is commonly reported, dospito his Methodism, to ho of an unusually chilly disposition. This explains a commont. of the Springfield Republican on his rcccnt exploit in rescuing a drowning girl from the waters of the Yellowstone Lake. While tho heroism of tho deed is frankly acknowledged, this paper goes onto remark: "But the question is, What was the temperature of tho lake after tho Vice-president, left, it? Tho wholo Hot Springs system may have been put out- of business by this untoward incident, and further details aro anxiously awaited."

There has just passed away a Scottish literary lady, a cousin of Mrs Oliphant's, in tho person of Mrs Harry Coghill, better known as Miss Annie L. Walker, and authoress of tho popular hymn "Work for tho night is coming." Mrs Coghill was a member of a distinguished IJifc family, from which sprang'also Dr Norman Walker, who for a long period was the editor of Tho Free Church Monthly; while a second distinguished relative was tho engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal. Mrs Coghill was the authoress of a number of works in prose and verso, a.nd editor of Mi's Oliphant's autobiography.

The Rev. Thomas Lewis, M.A., 8.D., who was recently clectcd principal of the Momovinl Congregational College, Brecon, a brother of the Rev. H. Klvct Lewi?, M.A., of London, lias just accepted an invitation to become Dean of Piviinty at the University of Wales, in succession to the Rev. Principal Ellis F/l wards. M.A. Principal Lewis a'ctcd as secretary of the Faculty of Divinity at t.lio University for the last three years, and in the latter office he will he succecdcd by the Rev. Professor ■T. Yonn.tr Evans, 8.A.. of the Aberystwyth Calvaniptic Methodist College.

. Dr CampMl Morgan railed for Amorioa in very indifferent health. Thougn there is no orcnnic disease. Dr Morgan is fufroring again from severe nervous overstrain, which lias affected his heart, a-nd 011 mcdical advice he lias cancelled all his engagements outside Westminster Chapel for n year. He will fulfil his engagement at NortMeld, as it was too lato to cancel that, but on his return to "England he will spend a month resting at Miindesley. Ho resumes his' ministry at Westminster in Oetobcr, and them until next, spring he will entertain no proposals to preach or speak outside Westminster Chapel. Tho conferences which he had planned as president of the Sunday f?"hool Union aro nccesarily, ■.abandoned,

RELIGIOUS READING FOR THE HOME;

Bishop Reove is about to resign tho diocese of Mackcnzio River, in North-west Canada, on his appointment as. assistant bishop in _tho dioee-o of Toronto. In addition to his own immense, see, he has, since tho resignation of Bishop Young in 1903, had the oversignt of the missionary work in tho adjoining diocese' of Athabasca. Last lear .ho visited all the Church Missionxry Society's stations in the two dioecscs. To accomplish this ho covered some 5500 miles. Ho writes: "I travelled nearly 200 miles in a York boat, 100 in a freight waggon, 303 j.n a boat towod by a tug, 400 in a canoe, JSDO in" three different steamers, 32 in a buokboard, 250 in a scow. I have also ridden my own horses over 100, and driven thorn' over 600 miles. I ordained three men to the diaconatc, confirmed betwoon 40 and 50 young people, and baptised several infants and ono adult (an Eskimo girl)."- •

Rev. Frank Ballard, .M.A., 8.D., B.Sc,, was tho storm-contro of one of the exciting half-hours that rise arid fall so quickly in the rapidly-transacted business of tho English Wesleyan Conference. Mr llallartl lvaa extraordinary, gifts as a broad-minded Christian apologist Icoturor, often keeping a thousand artisans full of alert, attention till approaching midnight with his trenchant retorts to hecklers. His published books rango from papular replies to Blatohford to ponderous , philosophical treatises on monism. One of his books in tho early nineties capie undor tho critical notice of the la-to Dr Benjamin Gregory, and Mr Ballard gained fame as a " Methodist heretic." Ao a young man behind tho counter of a Sheffield business house, wellknown for tho .Methodist. ministers who began lifo there, as assistants, Mr Ballard was always .to be found reading in his slack moments—and hi« old habits remain with him to this day.'.' Rev. Dinsdale T. Young, who is almostalways against the departmental man in Methodism, opposed the proposal to mako Mr Ballard a lecturer on Christian evidence, under the Home Mission Committee. "Let him' bo. without pastoral charge; ,he is riot a representative Methodist theologian,','-, 'said Mr Young, amid hot protests. But Mr, Bailcvd was appointed. -

Interviewed in England after a year's 6ojourn in Toronto, tho Rov. George Jackson remarked in reply to a question:— "Yes; ray Canadian headers like' just the samo sort of sermons that I gavo at home. Perhaps there is not. the eamo keen interest in theological and' Biblical questions that we find in Scotland. The pace of commercial lifo is so fast, tho absorption in business so keon, so complete—this is inevitable in a new county—that there is c-carcely adequate breathing. space for thought and reading. I havo been much encouraged by the outspoken appreciation, of my. people. It was a change to me after tho rcforvo to which I had l>oon accustomed • for IB *ca.rs in Edinburgh, arid at, fust Lwas almost overwhelmed bv it. - It is customary at tho closo of every service ' for people to gather round the pulpit for a fow words with tho minister. Thus ho •■opn gets , into touch with newcomers, and each congregation is like a family. It has, been a.pleasure to me to wclcorao' manv friends who had heard me at tho Toll Cross missipn."

COMPULSORY CLASS MEETING.

DISCUSSION IN THE METHODIST CONFERENCE. Tho English Wceleyan Conference spent tho greater part df ono day in discussing the vexed question of the class meeting in relation to Church membership. At present this gathering is distinctive of Methodism. Its qualities have been coniewhat altered in America and Canada, but to-day the rules of English Wcsloyan Methodism provide that all who wish to be definitely associated with tho connexion must becomo members of the/ clas3. Thoy are supposed to attend regularly, and such attendance is taken as ono of tho couditions of holding office. Tho discussion proved tho fact that in some oases exceptions .are made without t.lio direction of tho Conference, and on tho initiative of' the superintendent minister or other officer. Tho matter has been before the Conference on various occasions. It was decided at the pastoral'session in 1904 to appoint a committee to consider the wholo question of Church membership, and to report to the next Conference. Nino recommendations were made this year to tho Conference, the most important of which was the following:— Tho Conference is of opinion that prevision should bo made for including in our membership those devout' persons amongst us who desire to becomo members of our : Church, are prepared to obscrvo our rulc6 'and regulations, and to accept out' discipline, but- who for various reasons do not avail themselves of tho form of' Christian fellowship

afforded by the class meeting, Two of tho most effcctivo speeches in .rapport of tho proposals were delivered by t.hc Kov. J., Scott Lidgett, M.A., and Mr R. W. Ferke, M.P. Tho former said' that tho Conference knew that jit wn6 neither possiblo nor desirable to mako attendance at tho class meeting .obligatory. Thero was at, present a want, of equality of treatment. No lack' of spirituality could bo urged against those—such as described —who did not join tho class. It was a temperamental difference, and ho warned tho Conference that if it- refused to consider tho ease of ouch people they mightjoin other Churchos. Let, Methodism beware of excluding from-.its membership anyone whom Jesus Christ would liavo admitted. Mr Perks spoko amidst a running firo of negatives and vooal interruptions, but with much vigour and animation he held to his position. He did not wish to utter a singlo word against, tho class meeting as a means of spiritual grace. Quoting his own experience, ho said that when lie lived at Chislehurst ho went week by week to tho -class meeting, but ho found on. many occasions that lie , was tho only one present.—(Cries of "Shame.") "I do-not cry shame," replied Mr Porks; "I am only giving my experience." ■ On -behalf of his own family and. of thousands and tens of thousands of young Mothodists lie pleaded that tho resolution should be- passed. IE not., they would say that those persons should not enter tho Methodist branch of tho Church of Christ unless they entered tho society. They had lost many members within tho past- few years. They had slipped away silontly. Whore had they gone? Many oi such had left their Church because they were not satisfied with the class mooting. Referring to these who wero opposing the suggestions of the committee, ho remarked thai they stood in front of tho Church of Christ, and flung hack those who did not wish to attend the class.—(Cries of "No.") They might not like tho truth, but it .was the truth. It was their duty to make the way to the Churoh of Christ broad arid not narrow. Eventually, oh tho suggestion of the secretary of tho Conference, tlm whole matter was referred to a new coinmittco.

Thero has been opened at Chicago a theatre to bo managed entirely by Roman Catholic priests.' It is a hamlsomo building, constructed at a ooet of £60,000, complete in every detail, and providing accommodation for 1325 persons. Its object is to encourago tho production of American plays " of a good moral tone as well as of liistrionio and literary value." Tho institution of such a playhouse is said to'be uniquo in t.hc history of the American stage, hut in the Oid World it would, of course, be, possiblo to find medieval precedents for such an association of tho Churoh and tho drama.

The Continental Services Committee of t.ho National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches considered the question of Free Church services at popular places of summer resort on the Continent. Arrangements wero completed to hold . services in English at tho Grand Hotel Eicer, Grindel\vald, Switzerland, during the months of August and September. TJie chaplains appointed wore Rev. D# J. Monro Gibson, ex-p'resident of the National Council, for August, and Rev. William Cuff, expresident' of tho Baptist Union, for September.

Tho International Council' of the Congregational Churohos is due to ta,ko place next year in Edinburgh,' and the preliminary arrangements are now lieing pushed forward. The Cengregationalists in that city have agreed to raitn a-fund of £300 to cover the necessaj-y expenses.' Congregationalism is not so strong in Edinburgh as in the sister city of Glasgow, but the Americans, who form so large a.part, of the council, and are coming over in considerable numbers, desire to.make Edinburgh •their headquarters because of- its liternrv and historical associations. At the close of the meetings-it is proposed-to arrange a;tour through the Highlands'.■ "

Tho American Convention o( Y.M.C.A.'s, to bo held, at Washington next November, will be a gathering of considerable interest..,-. Tho Hon. James Bryeo (British Amba«sador) will Ixj amongst the speakers, as. well as the Hon. W. J. Bryan, while the President o! the United States will receive the delegates, and other distinguished attention will bo shown them in tho national capital. It is expected that the total value of new buildings added to tho equipment of the American and Canadian associations during tho year 1907 will exceed one million pounds. Mi's Russell Sago is contributing £60,000 for an addition to tho Brooklyn Naval Y.M.C.A. building, • which was erected by Miss Helen Gould. The enlargement b for tho provision of sleeping rooms for sailors.

Tho executive committee of the Essex and Herts Bishoprio Fund reports that tho appeal to tho dioceso in connection with tho Day of Interception (Juno 30) ( met with a most generous response, not merely £5000, 11.9 appealed for, but upwards of £6000 having been raised. .The fund now nearly roaches £42,000, and its success— which is largely duo to the Bishop of St. Albans—is assured. It was resolved to give public notice of the intention of tho committee to consider ill November next tho questions of a .cathedral for Essex and of houses, both at St. Albans and for tho Essex bishop.

The following resolutions have been carried unanimously at. a meeting of _ the council of the London Church Association: "That the Church Association desires to renew its protest against any attempt to legaliso or to bring back the Mass vestments, or to exalt and distinguish the two sacraments of baptism and tho Lord's Supper boyond the ministry of tho Word, by adopting a distinctive dress other than that which from the Reformation has been in continuous use as 'the ministerial dross at all Divine offices equally and alike." " Thai procedure by canon in defiance of statutory obligations would necessarily bo null and void, and that it is incumbent upon his Majesty's responsible advisers to prevent oven tho possibility of an attempt, at so grave a lxreaeh of constitutional law and procedure."

ANGLICANS AND METHODISTS. A FRATERNAL GATHERING. During one of tho sessions of the English Methodist Oonforenco recently held at Wesley's Cliapel, City road, London, tho Bishop of Stepney, accompanied by several Anglican dignitaries and clergy in the London Diocese, paid a paternal visit. This fact, expressive of a generous catholic spirit? and tho excellent speeoh of tho bishop, delighted the whole assembly. At 12 o'clock the conference roccived tho Anglican deputation, organised by the Rev. J. 13. Watts-Ditchfield, who had secured the presence of representatives of various schools of thought in the Church, including, in 'addition to 'the Bishop of Stepney, the Archdeacon of Middlesex, the Archdeacon of Weslminstor, Canon Scott Holland, Canon E. A. Stuart, Prebendary Slorrs, Prebendary Perry (Mayor and Rural Dean of Finshury), Prebendary Webb-Poploe, Canon Eennofather, Canon M'Cormiek, Canon Benham, tho • Rural Deans of Paddington, Shoroditoh, Islington, and Chelsea, the Rev. H. Russell Wakefield, the Rov. IT. S. Wcollcombe, and tho Rev. A. W. Robinson.

' Tho prosidont of the conference, in welcoming the deputation, adopted the words of John Wesley: "If your hearts are as ours wo give you our hands." In reply to the cordial reception tho Bishop of Stepney commenced by reading a letter from tho Bishop of London, addressed to tho conference, and commencing, "My dear brothers." This was as follows:— "I cannot allow you to assemble in conference in London without sending you a word of welcome and of. God-speed. Although you and wo are divided upon important questions, wo aro at one in holding the great truths of the Incarnation, the Atonement, tho Resurrection, the Ascension of our Lord, and the great mission of tho Holy Ghost, and in attaching value to an ordered and reverent service. You have, moreover, set an example to us all by. your missionary zeal and by the evidence your people have given of a fervent love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I pray that some day the causes which divide us may be removed, and that in God's good time we may bo united as members-of the historic communion to which your great leader and teacher like oureelvcs belonged. Meanwhile, dear brothers, rest assured tha-t we honour you for your work, and shall pray for the Ruidance of the Holy Spirit upon your deliberations in your conference." The Bishop, of Stepney, who then proceeded with nis speech, said that that was not the tirno nor the occasion to dwell on tho matters which divided thorn. They rcoognised those differences frankly, but they were still united in their desire for tho'uplifting of the people of (heir country, and in many other ways. They wero united as fellow workers in one common task. They desired to work together with them to. rescue tho people from tho slavery of intemporancc, from tho fover of gambling, and from tho poison of impurity. Thoy desired with them to maintain a high standard of disinterested public service in civic life, and to promote efforts for giving to every man. woman, and child at least a chance of living a lifo of useful citizenship in the ooriimunity. Thoy were united, too, continued the Bishop, by tho link of common memories, and of those memories there was one that rose before the heart of all of (hem as they met in that building—associated as no other place could bo with the'memory of that great servant of Christ, to whom they owed their name and their constitution, and to whom the Church of England owed n revival of which I hey would, please God, always feel the blessing. As the vision rose before their milids of that figure, so austere, so simple, and so precise, tliey united in the reverent homage which thoy paid to him.

NEW "SAYINGS OF CHRIST." FIND OF OLD MANUSCRIPTS IN EGYPT. Parchment and papyrus manuscripts of tho greatest interest have recently been discovered at Edfu, in Upper Egypt, near tho site of an old Coptic monastry, and have been brought to England, where they aro under examination. There arc about a dozen rolls of Greek ( papyri of the sixth century, and a. number; of Coptic and Greek ecclesiastical manuscripts of the ninth to the eleventh centuries. Parts of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in Greek and Coptic, the Apocalypse in Coptic, a sermon on the fraercd Cross, by Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (A.D. 351-386), and a uniquo MS. in tho Nubian language, dealing w.itli the life of St. Menos and the canons of the Counoil of Nicsea, are included in tho find. Especial interest attaches to the 25 loaves of the apocrypal sayings of Jesus in a Coptic translation of a lost Greek original of which previously only 13 leaves existed—l2 in the National Gallery at Paris and one at Berlin. Even the earliest of those MSS. aro much later than the Oxyrhyncus logia discovered by Drs Grcnfell and Hunt, which date from between 150 and 300 A.D. But the newlydiscovercd sayings of Christ, if genuine, may prove to be another portion of the Oxyrhyncite logia. They appear to include now and striking versions of familiar passages in tho canonical Scriptures or the apocrypha. Ono of the sayings, for instance, runs: The kingdom of heaven is within you, and whoever shall know liimself shall find it. Another - reads: Everything that is not before thy face and that .which is hidden from t-hec shall he revealed to thee, for there is-nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest nor buried which shall not bo raised. v * Again wo have: - Jesus saith, A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, neither dolh a physician work cures upon them that know him. The formula of this last saying, it will be observed, directly corresponds, to the Oxyrhyncus Sayinjs." Tho precise value of the discovered MSS. cannot lie known until they have been very carefully examined by exports, but- their comparatively lato date makes it unlikely that they will throw much light on the original words of Jesus.