Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 17 March 1910, Page 409

Current Topics

Where the * Sisters * Go The change which is stealing over the spirit of . the Reformed creeds manifests itself in many and various ways. For many years past, for instance, Anglicans have been paying our Sisterhoods the honest flattery of imitation. Our Wesleyan ; fellow-colonists are also in the field, and they surround the ceremony of ‘ dedicating 5 their * Sisters 5 with ■ a degree of pomp and circumstance and general publicity that goes to show that,. in theory at least, they have no mean conception of the importance of the functions which • consecrated virgins should exercise under the Christian dispensation. But the complete adoption of the Catholic principle is still apparently regarded as a trifle too heroic. We had often wondered, on reading of the ‘ dedication 5 of a new Sister,’ what had caused the vacancy which the later arrival had come to fill. The following paragraph from Tuesday’s Dunedin Evening Star seems to throw some light on the question. « ‘As soon as the Methodist Conference rose to-day,’ says our contemporary, ‘ Trinity Church was decorated and made ready for a wedding that attracted a full - congregation at 1.30 p.m., the contracting parties being the Rev. Ernest Oswald Blamires, for some time associated with the Rev. W. Slade a. the Central Mission, and Miss Annie Anderson, better known as Sister Annie, who went from Greymouth to England to be trained as a deaconess, and has for two years filled that position in connection with Trinity Church. The service was conducted by the Rev. W. L. Blamires, of Victoria, father of the bridegroom, assisted by the Rev. P. W. Fairclough and the Rev, E. P. Blamires. Mr. D. A. Anderson, who attended to give his daughter in marriage, was accompanied by his wife. The Rev. F. Rands was groomsman, and the bridesmaids were Miss Isitt (daughter of the Rev. F. Isitt) and the Misses Nettie and Dulcie Grigg. Miss Hartley played “Lohengrin” music before the ceremony and the Wedding March afterwards, and the choir led' in the hymn “ The voice that breathed o’er Eden.” The happy couple had intended making a trip to the Old Country, but owing to Mr. Blamires being appointed to the Wellington Central Mission that holiday has been given up. Many ministers who attended the Conference were present.’ * So that is how the ‘Sisterhoods’ are depleted. To * Lohengrin music ’ and ‘ The voice that breathed o’er Eden ’ the ‘ Sister ’ —from what was to have been her. life-work—-is gently wafted out to the sea of matrimony. Perhaps in time our Wesleyan friends will rise to the higher level and place their Sisterhoods on a more enduring basis. Prayer in the Prize Ring The poor prize-fighter is usually regarded as just about past praying for, and he is left for the most part to work out his salvation as best he may, without any embarrassing attention from clergy, district visitor, or Y.M.C.A. Even the purveyor of the harmless, necessary tract side-steps him; and under all the circumstances the wonder is not that his religious notions are somewhat topsy-turvy, but that he’ has any notions on the subject at all. Yet apparently he has, and from time to time little facts and incidents come to light which go to show that in some cases, at least, he is not quite so low in the scale as he is usually painted. The latest case in point is recorded in a recent issue of the Sydney Referee in the course of a report of what is described as ‘ a sustained, vigorous, exciting battle ’ between one Johnny Summers, a fighter from England, and Rudie TJnholz, a German from South Africa. It was anticipated that Unholz would have an easy victory, but as a matter of factaccording to the Referee the English lad had all the best ,of it, and when the umpire gave his decision as a ‘ draw ’ there was prolonged uproar and hooting from the crowd by way of protest. Summers’s display was evidently something in the nature of a revelation,, and the Referee reporter says that as a scientific exhibition the contest was the best that has yet been seen at the Stadium, Both boys are described as ‘ having thrown their very souls into their work ’; but the striking feature of the affair was the fact that the English boy was seen from time to time to quietly, openly, and deliberately ‘bless’ himself, and during the minute’s interval allowed between each round he momentarily, slipped on one knee as if praying. ■ V * , . The Referee reporter gives the following account of the incident A feature of the contest was the spectacle of the Englishman apparently invoking the assistance. of the ;

“Great Master. Summers bent one knee ere sitting down fdr the minute s spell and again as he rose in response to the call of time, and between whiles he would “cross” himself. _ This, I am informed, is the lad’s custom, and has been all through his career. He is a most devout Roman Catholic, but Johnny s actions were miscontrued by many. Every time he bent while in his corner his glove appeared to sweep the resin-covered floor slightly, and that, it was thought, meant no good for the other man. Indeed, one old-timer crept up to me and said: “D’yer see his game: e s Pickm up the resin on his glove and no one notices him, but that was nonsense. Nothing was further from the honest young Englishman’s thoughts.’ From the respectful tone in which the reporter refers to the English boy s action it would appear as if this open acknowledgment of a Higher Power— mixed may have been the motives which inspired ithad given the more intelligent portion of the crowd some little food for thought. St. Patrick’s Day Our issue this week bears the imprint March —the day which Cardinal_Moran not long ago happily designated Ireland s Empire Day.’ It is difficult, if not impossible, tor one not born an Irishman—no matter how ardently he may sympathise with the hopes and aspirations of the Irish race— fully realise all that is brought to the mind of an Irishman by the thought of St. Patrick’s Day. The two most marked features in the Irish, character are love for religion and love for native land. Even the bitterest enemies of the Irish people admit their patriotism, and centuries of cruel persecution have failed to shake or weaken their fidelity to their Faith. • It is probably because the anniversary of Ireland’s patron saint affords ample scope for the exercise of both these feelings—the religious and the patriotic—that the celebration of St. Patrick s Day has taken such a deep hqld everywhere on the hearts of the Irish people. In the first place, it is a great religious festival. St. Patrick, the apostle of Catholicity, found Ireland in a state of heathenism, and he left It a Christian land. During his glorious apostolate churches without number were erected and schools and convents rose almost simultaneously throughout the land. He plucked the green shamrock from the sward of Tara, and of its triple , leaf he made at one and the same time an illustration of his sacred subject and an emblem of Christian Ireland It is natural and fitting that his spiritual children throughout the world should unite to honor and revere the great servant of God to whose labors and prayers they owe their most precious possession Catholic faith. * But St. Patrick, was not only an apostle; he was also in the highest and best sense of the word a nation-builder. Religion is the truest and surest foundation of national life, and broad and deep were the foundations thus laid by the great saint. He knit the national energies of the people together in the bonds of a common worship and a common faith, and his work has had a deep and lasting influence, not only on the religious but also on the national life of the, Irish race. It is, therefore, the special glory of the Irish national festival that it combines the twofold element of nationality and religion, and every recurrence of the celebration is a renewal of the strength of the ties that bind the Irish people together. Then, too, for those who have left the Old Land — those who may, in a sense, be called the exiles of Erin —what memories and never-to-be-forgotten scenes are brought to mind by the return of the festive day. The forms and faces that are gone, The hopes and dreams and days of old That shrined within their hearts live on. Their varying charms again unfold On Patrick’s Day. He would be a poor Irishman indeed, and altogether unworthy of the name, who could let this memorable day come and go without a touch of emotion and a thrill of pride. , & . ' < \ The Church and Education : A Presbyterian Tribute In the course of a brief but thoughtful address r>n ‘ Heredity and Environment ’ delivered at the annual meeting of the Froebel Club last week, the Rev. R. E. Davies, minister of Knox Church, Dunedin, made some apt and interesting points. After showing how the environment of the child could be made a most helpful factor in the development of character, Mr. Davies effectively disposed of the old excuseso often put forward in criticism of attempts at reformation both of children and of adults that such attempts must necessarily be useless and futile because we are all the creatures of heredity. ‘As for the

question of heredity,’ he said, * which for so long had acted as almost a paralysing factor where efforts for social elevation by means of child-saving was concerned, ‘it was now held by students that the acquired characteristics of the parents were ' not transmitted to the children. All that the children received was a predisposition. That was all. And if they could get the children at their earliest age and bring them; into touch with all that was good and noble the probability i was ( that , they would win , those children away from sin, overcome ' any vicious tendencies which had been imparted to them, and give them a new inheritance and greater opportunities in life.’ , * ! That is only another way of saying that after making the fullest allowance for the influence both of heredity and environment there is an element in every one of us that cannot be expressed or explained v in terras of any mere mechanical theory. As Wordsworth has it: ‘ Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting. The soul that rises with us, our life’s star. Hath had elsewhere its setting, . And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, Who is our home.’ The great fact of conscience, with its persistence and its pervasiveness, witnesses to the same truth. Even in the case of apparently hardened criminals, where both heredity and environment have operated against it, the better nature will make itse’f heard. The dialogue between the two murderers in Shakespeare’s King Richard 111. though their eyes drop mill-stones, when fools’ eyes drop tears,’ have yet.‘some certain dregs of conscience’ within them is true to the life. ‘ First Murderer.— So when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out. ‘Second Murderer. — it go. There’s few or none will entertain it. First Murderer. if it come to thee again? , ‘ Second Murderer.nil’ll not meddle with it. It is a dangerous thing. It makes a man a coward. A man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; he cannot swear, but it checks him. ’Tis a blushing, shamefaced spirit that mutinies in a man’s bosom. It fills one full of obstacles; it made me once restore a purse of gold that I found; it beggars any man that keeps it; it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing. ‘ First Murderer. Zounds, it'is even now at my elbow.* These are facts and phenomena which the materialists’ theory has never been able to explain. ■ :■? * ■■■ : Mr. Davies declared himself in favor of a large measure of religious instruction in the schools, and incidentally gave unstinted praise to the action and attitude of the Catholic Church regarding education. We quote the concluding portion of his remarks on the subject:— With regard to religious instruction, he believed that three-quarters of the child’s education, up to seven years of age, should be religious. Therefore, he believed religious instruction should be imparted by the schools. Up to seven years of age the spiritual faculties of the child could best be ministered to, and if they sought social betterment they were overlooking their opportunities in this respect. He had always admired the business-like and scientific way in which the Church of Rome dealt with the question of educating the child. Realising the importance of the subject, that Church had engaged certain learned men to study the training of children and all that pertained thereto. . Those men had taken thirteen years to do their work, but they had done it well, and had produced a great book dealing with their subject, which was regarded as an authority.’