NOTES ABOUT THE CHURCHES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2927, 20 April 1910, Page 69

NOTES ABOUT THE CHURCHES.

FROM ALL SOURCES. Dr Wilbur Chapman gave a Boston audience of Christian workers the other •day his ideas on why some ministers fail. At the close of the meeting a dramatic scene occurred. As the audience sang softly, ministers literally by the hundred gathered about the speaker and joined together in : a pnayer of consecration. Among this points enumerated by Dr Chapman were : —-(1) Because their preaching has become a profession instead of a fashion; (2) because they try to enter by the door .of the head rather than, by the door of the heart; (3) because they have departed from the Bible as authority; (4) because they have lose the- ovangelistic note; (5) because they have lost the note of authority in the pulpit; (6) because they do not spend enough, time in devotional Bible study and private prayer.

Speaking to a huge . gathering on a recent Sunday evening. Dr Morgan sa-id : " Tho supreme ,test of friendship is the ability to say nothing and to bo content when nothing is said. When I am going for a real holiday the friend to go with me is one. with whom. I can si*, for half an hour in a railway train without speaking a word. When lam entertained by courtesy and friendship then, in tnvhome, I am expected to say something or my host expects to eay something. . At the home of my friend, I sit down, stare at him, and say nothing; he looks back to'me and-says nothing. My true friend meets" me some morning, and there is not the old smilo and the cheery -ward. If there'-be true friendship, I am not disturbed by it. I am quite sure that this thing is on the surface, and I prove my friendship by respecting hie and not asking an explanation—that is the final proof of friendship." "Though I am afraid we shall have to look to heaven for this friendship," Dr Morgan continued. " yet we have it in God if we will. If you cannot prav, do not p'ray. . God is equal in His .1ov»» to the strain of a silence that is born of 'honesty. Similarly. God's truest friends are those to whom He is most often silent —it is a supreme proof of His trust. It is much easier to work for God than to wait for God."

Dr Alexander Whyte, on beinor presented with the Freedom of Edinburgh, made a striking prophecy of Church Union in Scotland. He said there was being carried on a conference between the. two great Presbyterian Churches of Scotland; they Avould, by God's ordination and providence, take one another by the hand for the first time for many a dreary year in history, and laying their best heads and purest hearts together in continual conference and prayer, bring these two great branches of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland into one great church. The present occupant of the chair would have many shining pages in tlie history of his Provostship, but as a churchman, looking forward to the history of his own community, let him say he thought it would perhaps be a great, far-shining page when this great consummation would be attained. It would be a great day for fathers and brethren when from John o' Groats to Maidenkirk there was one great, free, efficient, evangelical, spiritual, devoted church, holding dear old Scotland for God and for God's people in Scotland, answering the prayer, the daily prayer of Samuel Rutherford, and answering the prophetic forecast of John Knox. He himself might not live to see it, but he was sure the Lord Provost would, and he was sure it would be one of the most Tar-shining in the history of the city.

I The Catholic Church continues to advance i Ul'der the Stars and Stripes. According- to : ' statistics given in advance sheets of the Official Catholic Directory, there are now 14,347,027 Catholics in the United States, showing a gain of 111,576 over the figures presented to the public a year ago. Adding to the number of Catholics in the United , States proper those of the Philippines, \ Porte Rico, and the Hawaiian Islands, the total number of Catholics under the United States flag is 22,587,079. The power of the Catholics throughout the Union may be gauged from the following figures. The Catholic population of the State of New York is no less than 2,722,647. Pennsyl-

vania comes second with 1,491,766; lU«i<rh« follows closely with 1.443,752. Massachusetts is next with 1,373,772. Most of the other States contain a large proportion of Catholics. The Slate of Minnesota has a Catholic population of 427,627, Cahfornir 391,500, and even Texas has more than a quarter of a million. In the city of Chicago the Catholic churches number 187, and in the city of New York 138. Flourishing as Catholic institutions in the United States are, the most promising- aspect of the Catholic position is the progressiveness of the Catholics in all that affects the nation's welfare. They take the lead in great movements, and easily prove by their united action that they' are the most powerful religious body in the country.

It is not generally known (says the Daily News) that an unconventional prayer meeting, something after the Methodist type-, is held in the House of Commons every week. What is even less known is that the meeting has been held during every parliamentary session for the last 77 years. No one knows who originated the idea, but the records of the proceedings, which are faithfully noted each week, show that in the ysar 1533 the well-known Quaker, Mr T. Fowell Buxton, and the Evangelicals, Sir Geoxige Grey and Mr Zachary Macauley, were in constant attendance. One of the meet regular attenders in later years was Sir John Kennaway, whose patriarchal beard and massive figure made him a striking personality in an assembly which will, unfortunately, see. him no more. He was invariably accompanied by Colonel Williams, a brother Evangelical, who will doubtless be often found, in the quiet room during the present session. The prayer meeting is held in a room granted for the purpose by the Sergeant-at-arms, and is restricted to 20 minutes. The proceedings are very simple. At each weekly meeting a president for the following week is chosen: On the day of assembling— Tuesday, at 5 o'clock —the president for the day opens the meeting, reads a portion of Scripture, and either offers an extempor , prayer, or calls on one ■■of the members' to pray. Two or three others offer shorfi prayers, • and the meeting closes with the 'benediction. During the last Parliament the meetings were more numerously attended than in any previous Parliament, owing perhaps to the fact that so many members . were Nonconformist-:. Among these whose places will be vacant are Six James Duckworth, Mr G. A'. Hardy, Mr George Nicholls, and Mr T. H. S'.oan. But there are still left' among the Nonconformists Sir George Wihite. Mr G. Hay; Morgan, Sir J. - Compton Rickett, Mr J. Brace, and Mr Stephen Collins. Lord! Kinnaird will, as heretofore, occasionally attend, and new 'members of a religions turn of mind will doubtless join the' small company, which rarely exceeds two doz«n.