Musings by the Way.

Waiapu Church Gazette, 1 August 1910, Page 17

Musings by the Way.

f3y" Sdtor.'J

"Of the making of books there is no end;" so the wise king said m his day : I wonder what he would say of the present ever-increasing "making: of books ! " And here are we m this somewhat isolated Diocese of Waiapu adding — m a humble way it is true — to the vast amount of the world's printing. Much of the printed matter set out— l had almost said " thrown" — to an omnivorous public can scarcely justify its existence, and the larger amount of it has but a very experimental existence indeed, and is heard of no more. Much of it does no good, and some of it does positive harm. Well, at all events, this paper or magazine cannot be classed among the harmful periodicals — its aim is to do good, to broaden the readers' views, to stir up Church life, and to bind together the scattered and lonely parishes of a large Diocese by the creation of a friendly interest m each other, and a common loyalty to and interest m the centre. So that there is every excuse, every reason for the appearance of a Diocesan paper. It has been said that the English are the greatest readers upon earth, the Germans making a good second. So far, good : it is distinctly good for us to be a reading lot of people. Unfortunately, however, the statement is only true as to quantity, and not as to quality : the English are the greatest novel readers m the world, the Germans the greatest readers of scientific works. I do not know whether' the German is as fond of his newspaper as the Englishman is, or if the German " haus-frau" subscribes as largely as the average Englishwoman does, to "ladies' periodicals," but it is certain that works of Theology and of Science are more universally read and discussed m Germany than m England. Newspapers and magazines of course pay their way largely by their advertisements — indeed, without these they would come to a very speedy end ; but a book must pay for itself merely by its sale, and so, to a great extent, must a Parish or Diocesan magazine. Let us hope then, that this Diocesan Paper will pay its own way. There are many ways m which Church people can help to float, and keep floating, a new Church paper. Each parish can and must do its share, and each Church member can help too, Church people can recommend

other Church people to become regular subscribers: some can contribute articles or letters, and so m one way or another everyone can assist. * Was it not Bishop Wilberforce who said that he was disconcerted on one occasion only, whilst preaching ? That was when he visited a certain church which possessed a contrivance, operated by a crank from the vestry, for raising or lowering the floor of the pulpit to suit the height of the preacher. The JBishop was m the act of giving out his text, when he felt a slight treiiior under his feet, and found himself delivering the remainder of the text to the side aisle, and next to the wall just behind him, and then swinging round once more caught a view of his astonished hearers before he once more performed another involuntary revolution. The clerk, seeing that the floor was not quite the right height, had hastened into the vestry and was vigorously turning the crank, and was only stopped by the hasty interposition of the vicar, who seeing the extraordinary gyrations of his bishop, guessed what was wrong, and sped into the vestry to stop the labours of the two-zealous apparitor. But the Bishop of Waiapu must have also felt slightly disconcerted at a certain church m this Diocese, and must have wondered muchly what sort of a service he was m for. It was a Maori church ; and m the vestry, just before service, he asked the Maori vicar how many hymns were to be sung that morning. The answer was, "Thirty-four.'' Think of it! Thirtyfour hymns ! Of course the Maori minister had misunderstood the Bishop's question ; but one of the clergy present couldn't help picturing to himself a service with thirty-four hymns, and wondering whether or no the Bishop would enjoy it ! As a matter of fact the Bishop did enjoy the service for several reasons, one of which was because m this isolated Maori church he found things done " decently and m order," and the Maori priest a man of intelligence, and with the bump of order well developed; *• It is surprising how deficiently the bump of "common sense" is developed m many of us. I often think that if Church people would but exercise more common sense m Church matters we should all get on far better. Let us take one instance of. the lack of of common sense. We enter a church and find it ugly and bare, and very

often the furniture of the sanctuary is such as we would scarcely put m our kitchens — certainly not m our drawingrooms or parlours. And yet God is a God of beauty and of order, and the Church is a house dedicated solely to Him and His service. The exercise of a little common sense here would save many needless biclieritigs.