PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2309, 2 June 1898, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

(From. Saturday's Daily Times,

Why has the apostolical succession dispute fallen silent 1 Is it a fizzle out 2 Arguments exhausted on both sides? Or have the reverend and right reverend combatants merely paured for a while to take breath and patch up bruises 1 From what I saw of their "arguments," so-called, I can hardly think them exhausted, or even exhaustible. You can't exhaust nothingness. The discussion resembled a process in north-country arithmetic : " Newt and nowt's nowt ; take nowt from nowt, nowt remains." If I want to know how the apostolic succession theory stands when arraigned at the 'bar of sane criticism I turn to my Macaulay :

The transmission of orders from the Apostles to an English clergyman of the present; day must have been through a very great number of intermediate persons. Now, it is probable that po clergyman in the Church of England can trace up his spiritual genealogy from bishop to bishop so far back as the time of tbe Conquest. There remain many centuries during which the history of the transmission of. his orders is buried in utter darkness. . . . Whether he be really a successor of the Apostles depends on an immense number of such contingencies as these : whether, under King Ethelwolf, a stupid priest might not, while baptizing several scores of Danish prisoners who had just made their option between the font and the gallows, inadvertently omit to perform the rite on one of those graceleßß proselytes ; whether, in the seventh century, aa impostor, who had never n?ceived consecration, might not have pasted Himself off as a bishop on a rude tribe of fccots ; whether a lad of twelve aid really, by a cereruouy huddled over when he was too drunk tc know what be was about, convey the episcopal character to a lad of ten. If I were a bishop I should prefer to stake my claims to public respect on aome other ground than my ability to prove an unbroken pedigree back to the Apostles. And if I were a Presbyterian minister challenged on the subject of "orders," do you think I would go rummaging for my title deeds among . the lumber heaps of the dark ages 1 Not a bit of it I The tree is known by its fruit. "Are your collections bigger than mine 1 " I should ask. " Can you convert more Sinners 1 " The apostolical succession theory and the common-sense reply to it may ba pat in a nutshell Says Episcopalian to Presbyterian : "My misguided brother, those gas fittings of yours are not s* particle of use ; you have never ascertained that thej are properly connected with the plaoe where gas is made. Now, in my own oase, I hav.e traced my gas pipes underground from end to end, and can prove my connections joint by joint all the way back to the corporation gasworks." " Hoots, toots I " says Presbyterian Cor cuffhfc to say) ; " whsst'e the^ood o'

that? I prove my connec&ions by clapping a light to the burner ! " ; I suppose it is a am to feel impatient be- j cause the war still drags, or that at least it \ is bad taste. Hurry no man's cattle 1 Thongb " bread is 7d a loaf our skins are not in da»ger, and it is only reasonable that the poor fellows, Spanish and -American, who are preparing to cat each other's throats should ba ! allowed to take tbeir own time about it. As I am not by nature a bloodthirsty person these considerations weigh witfaTme. It must be acknowledged, however, that, so far, the war has failed to ooxna up to expectation. ] The opposing squadrons in the Gulf of Mexico seem chiefly concerned to avoid each other. One dsy we read that the Spaniards have gone back to Martinique to coal; the next, that the authorities at Washington suspect this report to be a ruse and that the Spaniards have never j left Oienfuegos. ' Why do they merely sas- I psct 2 Why don't they send to ccc ? What is the American squadron foi but to hunt down, attack, and destroy the Spanish squadron wherever it may ba 2 No doubt this is j a case in which the rule that outsiders see most of the game does not apply. The American backwardness in coming forward would ba satisfactorily explained if we knew all tb.s facts. Let us remember that a standup fight between modern ahips .of equal force would probably reaembls the battle of the Kilkenny cats, or those Japanese duels which were impartially fatal to both sides. The approaching fight in Caftan waters will be no hollow Manila affair; let as not grudge the needful space and verge for preliminaries. On? friends the celebrants of the centenary of '98 attempted on Monday evening the task of panegyrisicg rebels while disclaiming sympathy with rebellion. The Eight Reverend Chairman said they were present to honour the memory oF the brave men who sacrificed freedom and life in the hope of serving their j native land. Sect he also said, almost in the ( same breath : " I need scarcely tell you that we do not come here to praise up rebellion, or to give any encouragement to rebellion, and I think indeed that the history of our native land should teach us that it is by moral force, and by the constitutional efforts of a united people that that victory which we all hops for shall be gained." Rebellion, therefore, is a mistake ; more than that, it in something that is to be deprecated if not denounced, because the bishop said they were not there to give any encouragement to it. Surely then it was a practical bull to hold celebrations in honour of men who committed rebellion. This was not the only bull of the evening. The meeting was presided over by a Eoman Catholic bishop, at whose side were nine priests and. a large number of members of the church. It may be said, indeed, that the meeting was almost entirely composed of Eoman Catholics, and yet, if Mr Barclay is to be believed, Protestants have had most to do with the agitation in Ireland. Mr Barclay Was presumably an invited guest. He told his host that practically they were usurping honours that belonged to Protestants, and he triumphantly showed by figures that the '98 rebellion wan fomented and* conducted principally by Protestants. Of the most prominent leaders only four were Catholics, the remaining 16 consisted of six Presbjteriac», and 10 ] of other denominations — fancy religions, as i the sergeant observed. By right, therefore, the celebrations ought to have been held in First Church, and the speakers ought all to have been Protestant Irishmen. I judge by his initials that the Mr Barclay who spoke i« the Fabian Mr Barclay. Him I have seen, and heard orating, a recrea- j tion which is pleasing to his audience j principally because of the speaker's evident j delight with his own performances. He is a man of small stature, but that small frame ; evidently encloses a lion heart. Who but a ; man of the most, stupendous courage oould face a meeting coniisting of about 99 per cent, of Catholics and tell them that the glorious deed/they were there to celebrate was performed by Protestants I Some benefactor unknown has sent me a pamphlet ("333 rd Thousand; Price Sixpence") containing "Forty-Seven Identifications of the British Nation with the Lost House of Israel." It is depressing to find I i this contemptible absurdity still alive. It s shakes one's faith in the progress of the I species. There are still people, it items, j ■ who can lie ten with asinine gravity to such a statement as this : We Saxons inherit the very name of Saxons ; from liaao. It is entirely iv accordance with the old usage of cubbing off the prefix and addiflff nn nffix thafc, taking away the prefix i "I And adding the affix "sons." we ebfcata >

in the word " Saxons " nothing more than ; " Isaac's sons." ) People who are on this level of intelligence l will find nothing surprising in th« eug- '< gestion that when one of the minor prophets ' makes mention oi " the firstling of his . . bullock, "iths words " may fairly be said to embleraise the world-famed pow«r of ' John BaJl.'" And the same people will yield ! themselves sweetly to the compelling logic of the 4.7 " Identifications," each more imbecile than the other ; e.g. : Identification the Thirty-Second. It is a world-knowa iacfc that the British nation has j the most powerful a? my iv the world : Israel's was to be the mosfj powerfal : ergo, ws must be Israel. Identification the Thkty-Kfth. Israel wa.3 to be above all other nations : by the acknowledged acquiescence of all the other nations this is our just position : Israel only was to j attain to it: the British nation only has attained to ibx ergo, we must bs Israel. j I apologise to the printer for asking him to Bet up this pitiable rubbish. It hasn't I even the merit of being laughable. To pnrj chasers of the pamphlet I would point out by way of warning — and it is the only kind of warning likely to weigh with them— that the title page bears the superscription : " 333 rd Thousand." The number 333 has a look that is distinctly uncanny and apocalyptic. In iact 333 is the half of 666, wlricb. is the Number of the Beast. Lst the pioua beware J I observe that' tha Presbyterian Church in Victoria has advanced with the time 3 and has iastituted an order of female celibates called deaconesses. Biblical authority is found for the step in the commendation by Sf\ Paul of Phoebe to t\he consideration of the Eomans. That the n&w order is to be a, celibate one ssems clear from the first question put to candidatesDo you desire to be set apart as deaconesses? The doaconesse? are, in f&ci-, to be PresbyI terian nuns, devoting iheir lives to misS Bionary work, ziurgirig, evangelisicg, and visiting ibe poor. Of course, Ido noc raise the question of the merit of the work intended, nor of the self-donial of the ladies who are to be engaged in it, but the method of instituting the order, the authority quoted for it-, and its relation to the church, are calculated to make trus blue Prestyterians shudder. A deaconess, I take it, is a' female deacon. Wbat true Presbyterian would not rebel Bgainst the government of deacons in whose election he had no share. And if bis attitude would be such against a etaacoa who was merely appointed, how much more unwilling should he be to acknowledge ' deaconessas who are merely admitted after training and examination. Would not all h:'s ancient aversion to papistical forms be revived by the sight of the special uniform or dresa which they must eventually wear, though we are told that the first batch " were clad in ordinary outdoor costume of m ober black " ? Will he not declare that the new movement is nothing more than an attempt to keep up with other churches in theever intensifyingcompetition, and aay that it is the natural corollary of human hymns and instrumental music iv church service, and will assuredly be shortly followed by vestments and candles and genuflexions, which are" within measurable reaah of auricular confession, the suppression of private interpretation, and finally the fearful climax of the imposition of the doctrine of transubstantiation ? Mind, I am not saying all this, but my supposititious Presbyterian of the variety which is now becoming rare, though very common in Otago until tha advent of the new iniquity. The word deacon, I believe, is derived from the Greek word diaconos, meaning a servant, which is supposed to be itself derived from another word meaning to pursue or to cause to rue. My friend the obgector will assuredly aeize upon this meaning, and say he objects to see deaconesses running about or uaußing others to run. I am afraid this new forward movement bodes another split in the chnrch.

The famous incarnations of Burga Mai have lately been on view in Lahore. They are described as two pretty girls, ons six and the other eight years of age, and hundreds of devotees swarm about them, shouting " All hail to our mother Durga." Men of the Khatri caste, carried away by their religious frenzy, are said to have cut pieces eff their tongues as sacrifices to Durga, and ifc is stated that 84 men in all at Siaikofc, Faridkob, Atnritsar, and Lahore have performed this act of devotion, and that in every case their tongues have been made whole by Durga Mai, who dwells i» these little girls. The piece cut off is not rejoined to the maimed tongue, but a fresh piece grows in the plaoe of the severed portions. Of the 84 devotees there are 14 now < with, feho little uitla acting as discinles."

This is an sx tract froVn a Home paper by the last mail, and it shows bow within enly a few days' journey we could become an eye witness o£ religions beliefs that we are unthinkiDgly accustomed toregard as obsolete. Someone ba? compared us to ants running about at the bottom o£ a hole. If. we reflscK for a rooment we remember that there are hundreds of millions who hold beliefs that j we should consider incredible, and who are j apparently able to furnish us with incontroj vertibla proofs of their soundness. We | read that men can pasß through fiery f ur- [ naces, that certain waters have miraculous virtue!?, that cartain relic 3 have the same. Why, thfia, shall we not believe that man's tongnes gr«jw again when they have been cut I off 1 Shall we deny to a man when excited | by religious frenzy that power of reproduction whioh we know is possessed by many animals ? For aay part, I prefer to have an open mind. In fact, lam quite prepared to believe that men — and women — under given clrcumstaKce3-can do anything. All I ask is that they shall not worry me by attempts to persuade me to do the same. Civis.