ENCIRCLING THE WORLD

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 26

ENCIRCLING THE WORLD

GREAT BROTHERHOOD OF MEN

There arrived in. Dunedin by the first express from the north on Friday the Rev. li. S. Woollcombe, chaplain to the Archbishop of York, and late head of Oxford House, Bethnal Green, who is travelling round the world as the representative of the Church of England Men's Society. The | latter is a mighty organisation, with , branches in all parte of the British | dominions, and it seeks to establish a , brotherhood among its members that shall literally encircle the world. Mr Woollcombe' last evening gave a Times reporter Borne interesting particulars about the 60Ciety ' THE THEORY OF IT. "The Church of England Men's Society,'' Baid Mr Woollcombe, "is a brotherhood oi men of the Church, formed for the purpose of trying to teach that, ehuxchmanship and Christianity mean giving rathe). than getting, service rather than, being served. And this service is carried out in numberless different ways. For instance, a list has been published showing loa different ways in which members at Home are carrying out the rules of service. In© result in England has certainly been considerable. Several bishops m Australia told me how struck they were with the result of the men's meetings in England, these being got up by members of tne C.E.M.S., who invite their friends to go. I think that we in the Church at Home need to learn these lessons more than, the colonial church, because, partly cue to the fault of the clergy, the laity has mot been allowed >ts proper position in church affairs; the C.E.M.S. is certainly bringing the laity into its proper position and giving it a rare share in the work O* the Church. . "I will give voa an. instance of tne epirit of the society. On one occasion, there was a meeting for men advertised in a big mining centre, at which some 3000 men were expected to be present. At tne last moment the Town Council forbade the meeting because there was not time to bind the chairs in the hall together, and bo make the meeting safe. There was a large branch of the C.E.M.S. there, mostly miners, and those who were working in, the daytime worked in the hall all night, and vice versa, and in an incredibly short space of time the chairs were bound together, and they were able to hold the meeting. . " y>-. another instance. In a certain towiiomp in England, which is surrounded with small villages, the members of the ■ society in the summer time form a cyclists' brigade, and cycle out to the Various villages, where they hold meetings, and tell men about the society. "The society is absolutely self-support-ing and' self-governing. We have an annual parliament, at which delegates from various branches attend. In 1909 the parliament was attended bv over 1100 members. The society numbers some 80,000 members. PROGRESS IN AUSTRALIA. " I am the travelling secretary of the organisation, my salary being paid by the men themselves, and for the last six months I have been touring through Australia addressing meetings of men in every part of the Commowealth. I began on June 17 at Perth, and travelled all round Australia as far as Townsville and Charters Towers in North Queensland. I have addressed every kind of meetings for men, including street meetings, and I had some splendid meetings in the dinner hour at some of the big works. Several of the Government railway works supplied me with splendid audiences, and perhaps one of the best meetings I had was at one of the lag timber mills in Western Australia. Mass meetings on holidays have seme of them b?;->n very large: we had several of over 2000 men. THE BADGE OF BROTHERHOOD. " After touring New Zealand I am going to South Africa, India, and Ceylon, with the object of forming a big freemasonry of the men of the Church of England. Our sign—that is to say the means by which we recognise one another —is of brass, and is in the shape of a small cross with the letters "C.E.M.S.' on one side, and our brotherhood motto is on the other. " Class distinctions, of course, are more marked in England than here, and our brotherhood is having a great effect in bringing churchmen of all classes together. For instance, at our annual parliament it is most delightful to find an audience listening with great interest one moment to some swell with a handle to has name who is well known in the State, and then listening with equal interest to some Yorkshire miner as he gives his opinion concerning some church topic. " I have had several instances while I have been in Australia of men recognising each other through the badge, and I am frequently spoken to in England by perfect strangers, the badge being our introduction. Several men in Australia who have joined the society and ha.ve visited the Old Country have found the same thin.oj. fn a certain port in one of our colonies the members of the C.E M.S. make it thenduty to visit the emigrant ships, and whenever they find a man wearing the badge of the society they introduce themselves to him, help him to find lodgings, introduce him to a church congregation, and in some eases have aclually found him employment. POLITICS DEBARRED. . " As a society we take no part in politics fact, I may say this is one of the neat working principles of the Church at Home. .We believe that we must, be the )hurch of all political parties, though undoubtedly the Church has been supposed to'" |>e attached to one particular party. That B becoming less and less the case" I believe most churchmen voiilrl recognise the justice of the Bishop of Southwell's words b hi 3 clergy whe.i be told them that they lad no right to bring party polities into ihurch pulpits, where men who differed torn them had no opportunity of replying, tfany Nonconformists (as we call them at (toino) are beginning to ''eel that they lave not gained by entering into the politi-|b-1 arena. Of course, on .questions which IfFect morality, such as temperance and ith?r subjects <;f that character, the Church nust speak boldly, and they should be willas to accept help in these matters from fll parties, and uot from one only. WORLD-WIDE ORGANISATION. " The society is already firmly established j 't Home, and there are now many branches j }1 over the world. It has branches now- in ipr-ration Jt\ South Africa, Australia. I fanada, the West indies, India, Ceylon, and

New Zealand; and the Seamen's Guild, ' which has branches at ali the big ports of j the world, is affiliated with the C.E.M.S. j In addition we have many branches in connection with the British army. " There are branches of the society at Dunedin, Auckland, and Wellington. Dur- j ing the last three months four people from England, members of the society, have sought out the Dunedin Branch, and at- j tached themselves to it, and many Aus- ' tralian branches make similar reports, j After I had gone on board the steamer in | which I came to Australia I met six members of the society, we recognising each other by the badges." CIVIC RECEPTION. On Friday afternoon the Mayor of the city officially welcomed the rev. gentleman to Dunedin. The ceremony was largely attended, the assemblage including Mr J. F. Arnold, M.P., a number of City councillors and 1 business men, and many clergymen and ministers of the Church. Mr G. M. Thomson, M.P., and Mr T. W. Whiteon sent apologies for absence. The Rev. Canon Curzon-Siggers introduced the Rev. Mr Woollcombe, who, he said, came to them as the representative of the Church of England Men 6 Society—one of the greatest organisations of its kind in the world, —and with the special recommendation of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. The Archbishop of Canterbury was noted for his great knowledige of detail and for his Imperialistic view—in this latter respect being known all over the world, — and the Archbishop of York was a man, possessed of an. extraordinary power with men. And it seemed that in Mr Wcollcombe appeared the attributes of both, that ho combined with an Imperialistic outlook and a knowledge of detail a power of influencing men —in other words, that he had those characteristics which would make his visit to New Zealand the great success that it had been in Australia. Mr Woollcombe had come to Dunedin at his (Mr Curzon-Sigge.rs's) invitation, and was really 'spending a holiday. But they would agree that it was a holiday well spent, for he was quite certain that the result of Mr Woollcombe's work here would have the effect of arousing interest in hiim and his work throughout New Zealand. It was his first visit to Dunedin. He had .called at Dunedin in mufti a few days ago, and had had a look at Dunedin people without their knowing it. As a- result of that inspection he had decided that he liked Dunedin people very well.

The Rciehel fire alarm prevents fires, j lessens insurance premiums, prevents busi- I moss being disorganised, and abolishes insurance claims. Your turn next.— Advt. ] The Mayor said that it was with very j great pleasure he extended an official welcome to Mr Wcollcombe, not only on behalf of the councillors, but for the citizens of Dunedin. They were pleased to have- him in Dunedin, because they recognised the value of his work, and he thought the fact that Mr Woollcombe was giving up his holiday in order to do this work not only showed that he was exercising a largo amount of self-denial, but also made his services more valuable. Mr Woollcombe had conducted 270 meetings in six months in Australia, and thoroughly deserved a rest. Ho (his Worship) hoped that their visitor's stay in Dunedin would be a pleasant and profitable one. He paid his tribute to the great Anglican Church, and the value of its social work. Everyone recognised that Mr Wcclleombe's visit must be for the good of the community, and he gave him a cordial welcome to the city. The Rev. Mr Woollcombe acknowledged the reception accorded him, and said that ho considered it a great compliment that the first city ho had visited in New Zealand should have given, him the honour cf a civic welcome. He did not regard himself as an absolute stranger to New Zealand, as his uncle, Captain Woollcombe, had been resident magistrate at Timaru for many years. He was very grateful for the courtesy extended to him, particularly since it was the second that day. The fact that each was accorded to men connected with the Church was a very happy augury indeed, for after all any government that sought to better the social conditions of the people must recognise that it could not do otherwise than link itself with the churches which were working to bring the people within the dominion of Almighty God In fact, he had always felt that any Government, from municipal government upwards, could not do the beet work possible unless allied with the churches, it he (Mr Woollcombe) was not an interesting individual, he had an interesting job to do He was the representative of the C E M S., which included 80,000 of the rank and file of the Church. Th© society sought to- teach two things: First, that if religion meant anything it meant that people who believed in religion have to work for it; and, second, that religion should mean not only service, but also brotherhood. Tin© society was a great freemasonry of people who believed in God and wanted to see Gods

will done in the world in which we live. Everyone looked forward, to> some extent, to a reunion of Christendom, but some of us were in too great a, hurry for that consummation. We should work for a. real brotherhood among ourselves first of all, and then look forward to a bigger brotherhood outside. He had come from Australia, and having been through New Zealand, he was going on to South Africa, India, Ceylon, and perhaps Canada, and he hoped to help in the formation of a great freemasonry of men in the Church of England, who would wear some badge that would mean recognition of each other all over the world. After referring to his successful work in Australia, Mr Woollcombe concluded by again thanking them for giving him " such a jolly good kick-off in New Zealand." SERVICES AT ST. MATTHEWS. The pulpit at St, Matthew's Church on Sunday was occupied at the regular morning and evening services by the Rev. H. S. Woollcombe, the travelling representative of the Church of England Men's Society. In the morning he discussed in his sermon the subject of ,: The Idea of Service," especially in relation to the functions of the particular society with which he is connected, and at the evening service also dealt further with the work of that society. I particularly in its relation to the Church of England. _ _ ! In the afternoon a special meeting r or men only was held in the church, Mr Wooll combe again presiding. The subject of the address given was, broadly, the Christian Church, its functions and their discharge. Comparing society with a huge building, Mr Woollcombe first emphasised the point of resemblance existent in each, in that sound foundations were an absolute necessity. It mattered not that the walls and roof might be perfect; if the foundations were unsafe the edifice was in each case in danger. As a matter of fact, however, not much heed >vas as a rule paid to the foundations. Why? Because they were out of sight. Emphasising however, the paramount importance of the work of the Christian Church in tha inculcation of those sound principles of Christianity which were the essential foundations of society, the speaker then proceeded to discuss in 1 what "manner the Church of the present I day' grappled with this dutv. and in so doW dealt trenchantly with lukewarm and i inactive Christians. Every Christian, he said, was called upon to be an active

I worker, and be indicated Ilia meaning oy the citation of an eilectiv<? ; .*fiirni!e. ---%nI pariji ' the stream of life? to a materia.! I stream, he drew attention to the twigaiibb straws which floated therein. But it in the course of that stream there wero driven firmly into its bed a series ot stakes, those twigis and straws would gather against them, and by the strength thus derived be able to withstand the impelling force ot the current. " Every Christian tnuet be a stake in the stream," declared the speaker. The call was to the laity even more than to the clergy. He honestly behoved the laity had it in its power to exercise a greater force for good than even the clergy, ! and he illustrated this point by relating I many instances of good accomplished la ; drawing his remarks to a close, Mr WooHcombe outlined the work being done by the Men's Society, and referred specially to the advantages which accrued to members from possessing the society's badge.