THE CHURCHES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14325, 15 October 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CHURCHES.

A STRANGE "PROPHET." London is to witness the entrance of a new religion next Sunday; or, to be quite correct, the restoration of that lorni of worship which lapsed when i'euda, K-ing ot Mercia. died m Yorkshire, 1,220 years ago, states the "Daily Chronicle" of recent date. A .slayer of kings, for years the terror of the stern iSarthumbrians, and a ferocious devastator of villages, Penda, was a lover of ounsistency. f'agan as he was he permitted Christians to reside in his kingdom on one condition, that they practised what they preached. If they fought with each other, then Penda. hanged them or threw them into dungeons. The founder of this new religion, as becomes all prophets, possesses a banner—made of blocd-red calico, in the centre of which is. the emblem of a white horse, symbol of Penda's chief tenet, the worship of Wodau or the storm god. His place of propaganda is at present under the shades of the trees in Hyde Park. But he is to have headquarters in Mary le bone, whence he will set out to work for the regeneration of London adorned in a red cloak and Cromwellian hat, decorated with a peacock's feather. It is reported that thus arrayed lie will assemble his followers near to the Marble Arch, and will march to their first British shrine at 97, Crawford Street, W. This house is known ;\t present as Kdith Higgeiis' St. Murylebone Hostel ior Servants: but from Sunday next it will go down to posterity as the sacred spot on which Mr ]'). M'aryon flashed the light of "Pantheism and the old English Religion" upon a backslidden nation. As to the Prophet of l.he Red Flag and the White Horse is silence m the circle of his friends. "My message," he declares, "is what will astound and captivate them --the other tilings will only interest them. The mind of man is dense. It lias been confused by artificial representation of the Unseen, scientific vapounngs on all kinds of phenomena and creeds and beliefs stereotyped down to the intellect of religious paupers. But it is not too late. England's restoration to sanity is at hand for I come with a light that will convince men that the Infinite is stamped on the finite." The new "prophet" has a gramaphone.

£350,000 IN GIFTS. The committee entruster with the allocation of the 1908 Pan-Anglican Congress thank-offering has paid i' 184,000 to tiie various dioceses abroad, and lias received an official report that the interest on the remainder lias brought the total of the thanked enng. to £3-30,000. The South' African Church Svnod proposed that the £24,000 allotted to South Africa should lie used to develop church educational establishments there; that one half bo used to. make grants out of interest towards the-up-keep of various colleges and schools, providing scholarships, etc., and that with the other half loans be made to. wards buildings. In either • case onehalt of the total sum is to he .applied ior the benefit 'of coloured persons, natives, and Asiatics. The scheme was approved. Schemes for the expenditure of £oo,ooo granted to India and £IO,OOO granted to Australia were considered and deferred for further information. liiree thousand pounds were granted for educational work in Korea, £I,OOO to buy a boarding school at Moose Fort for Indian children, and £Bl3 (which had been earmarked for women's work) to the Zenana Missionary Society.—"Daily Chronicle." SONS OF THE MANSE.

'lho old reproach about 'parsons' children turning out badly has generally fallen into disuse. Its fallaciousness so far as the-sons of Methodist preachers aie concerned, is abundantly illustrated in t-he new register• of Jxiugswuod and Woodbouse Grove schools," says the "Mothodist Times" in an article which will bo read with interest in connection with the subject discussed in "Tho revolt of the Young 1 eopie." " v-olunie traces the careers of d..--i old Iwys, and gives some account "1 their achievements hi the business ,<->! hie. "Tlie following table is instructive as showing il, e way in which the Jcarnrxl professions and the higher branches of national life have been" enridlicd by the stream of bovs educated :u the two schools:— Entered the Wosleyan Methodist ministry ... £25 Taken ••orders" in the Church ili England ... _ _ i 35 Ministers of other denominations 14 i'jutered a business career' 79,5 Education or university work :.. ''Bl Medicine and surgery . ;.. $53 Pharmacy . " i/j 3 Engineering .".'.'.".'.'; 164 ankiu S ;... 150 government service ;. ... 117 The legal profession ,; "'''" IQ4 "Of the remainder 64 .are accountants, 61 entered farming Co insurance susinesß, mercantile Marine or tlio Wavy, U, dentistry 40, architecture and surveying 38, journalism 38, art, literature, the drama, and music 31, and miscellaneous C 7. "Eighteen old boys of the ministeri. Dl schools have become presidents of the conierence, four have been made l'ellows of the Royal Soc-ietv. oi-dit are Doctors of Divinity in British Universities, and twenty-seven have held iellowships in the older universities, eight at Oxford, and nineteen at Cambridge. Of those who have taken up „ho law as a. profession, five have been Q.C. s or K.C.'s, two have been judses on the Bench, and one is a member of the House of Lords, and an ex-Cabinet Minister. In addition, ereven have had a Parliamentary career, and eighty-four have gained a. doctors degree in law, medicine, science or literature i;t the Universities of Great Britain and Ireland."