RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 821, 21 May 1910, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

POPE AND ROOSEVELT. AN AUDIENCE DECLINED. English papers to hand by the last mail publish tho correspondence which passed between tho Pope and Mr. Roosevelt with regard to tho audionco which was not given. When Mr. Fairbanks, ex-Vice-Presidcnt of tho United States, .visited Rome some time before, he was refused an audienco by tho Pope on the ground that ho had delivered a lecture to the Methodists. The methods of proselytism adopted by, this denomination in Rome, and their attacks upon the Pope and the hierarchy, were resented by Pius X, and he declined to give an audience to tho statesman who ■ bad shown countenance to that body. i When, thoreforo (says tho "Cathob'c Times"), the question of receiving Mr. Roosevelt was mooted, it was inevitable that tho point whether ho would associate himself with tho Methodist propaganda in Rome should bo raised. Last February Mr. Roosevolt, writing from Gondokoro, on tho White Nile, requested Mr. Leishman, tho United States Ambassador, to arrange an audience with the Pope, Mr. Leishman on March 23 telegraphed to Mr. Roosevelt at Cairo: — Monsignor Kennedy, the Rector of the American Roman Catholic College, in reply to my inquiry, requests that tho following communication be transmitted, to you: — "Tho Holy Father will be delighted to grant an audience on April 5, and hopes that nothing will ariso to prevent it, such as tho much-re- ' grotted incident which made- tho reception of Mr. Fairbanks impossible." On March 25 Mr. Roosevelt telegraphed to . Mi , . Leishman: — Please present the following through Monsignor Kennedy:—"lt will be a great pleasure to mo to bo presented to the Holy Father, for whom I entertain high respect, both personally and as tho head of a great Church. I fully recognise his entire right to receive or not to receive whomsoever he chooses for any reason which seems good to him, and if ho does not receive me I shall not for a moment question tho propriety of Ms action. On the other hand I* in my turn, must decline to make any stipulations or submit to any conditions which in any way limit my freedom of conduct, i trust that on April 5 ho will find 'it convenient to receivo me. —Roosevelt."

On March 28 Monsignor Kennedy replied:—

His Holiness will be much pleased to grant audience to Mr. Roosevelt,

for whom lie entertains great esteem both porsonal aud as ex-Pre-sident of the United States. His Holiness quite reco'gnisos Mr. lioosovolt's entire right to freedom of conduct. On tho other hand, in view of circumstances for which neither his Holiness nor Mr. Roosevelt are responsible, the audieiine could not take place except on tho understanding expressed in tho former message."

After this no further communication reached Monsignor Kennedy or the Vatican from Mr. Roosevelt or Mr. Leishman, but on March 29 Mr. Roosevelt telegraphed to Mr. Leishman: — "My proposed presentation to tho Pope is, of courso, now impossible."

It appears, sayn a Heutor telegram from Homo, that even after the exchange of correspondence an attempt was iuado to arrange the matter, by the means, is is stated on the best authority, of tho following negotiations. While Mr. Roosevelt was in Naples, his secretary, who is a Catholic, came to Rome on his own initiative to have an interview with Cardinal Merry del Val, tho Papal Secretary of State, in order to see whether it was possible to discover a solution of the difficulty. The' Cardinal asked him: "Can you guarantee that Mr. Roosevelt won't go to tho Methodists hero?" The secretary said: "I caiuiot. Indeed, I beliovo Mr. Roosevelt is just the man to go there. Ho will do as he pleases." Cardiu: , .! Merry del Val then said: "It is indefensible for any person to ask to be received by a great personagu whoso feelings ho is unwilling to respect." In tho further courso of con-

versation, Cardinal Merry del Valsaid: "Regarding restriction in granting audiences, every Court in Europe imposes some restrictions. Mr. Eoosevelt bimself, when President, declined to receive peoplo unconditionally at White House." The Cardinal wont on to cito the following instance: "Mr. Roosevelt had been erroneously informed that a certain person wished to visit him by tho authority of the Vatican. Mr. Roosovolt immediately sent a Cabinet official to the Apostolic Delegation in Washington to tall the delegate that ho would not receive tho personago, but meant no discourtesy to the I'opo by tho refusal. Tho Pontiff, when informed, replied: 'Wo esteem Mr. Roosevelt more than ever I' " Returning to tho present incident, Cardinal Merry del Val remarked: "It is not. in auj boiim> h question of religion. Mr. Itoosevolt might have gone to tho Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or any other Church except tho Methodist, and Imvo delivered an address there, being received by tho Pope even on tho same day, but he could not be received when it was suspected that aftor tho audience he intended to go to tho Methodist Church in Borne, which has bsen conducting a most oilonsivu campaign of calumnies ajid detraction against tho Pontiff." Mr. Roosevelt telegraphed to America asking that tho incident should be regarded as a personal one, devoid of any religious significance, and, according to tho Rome correspondent of the ("Daily News," he• strongly condemned the Methodist Church in Rome for issuing a manifesto in which his conduct was described as "a great blow against the Vatican, and one which was likely to promote an early rebellion of American Catholics against Popery."

NONCOMFORMIST LEADER.

DEATH OF REV. T. LAW. One of the most familiar figures in British Nonconformity, tho Rev. Thomas Law, secretary of tho National Free Church Council, mot with a tragic death last month, his dead body being found in the sea at Margate on Sunday, April 3. For tho past two or three years Mr. Law's health had been uncertain.- aaid just beforo bis death ho was suffering from nervous deprossion caused by overwork, &ud according to evidence given by his daughter at tho inquest, his brain was at one, timo affected. 'It was an old habit of his to stand at the extreme'end of a pier or jetty. A verdict of "Found drownod" was returned at the inquest. '

Mr. Law, who was in his fiftyseventh year, «ntcr»d tho United Free Methodist Ministry in 1576. His first appointment was at Birmingham, from which bo went to Glasgow, to Burton-on-Trent, London Eleventh, Appleby, Gatcshead, and Bradford (Wostgate). His work attracted tho notice of the Rev. Hugh Price Hushes, and when the first Free Church Congress was held at Manchester in 1592 Mr. Law read a paper on house-to-house visitation on a parochial plan. Later, when tho Free Church Congress became tho National Free Church Council, Mr, Law was appointed as its organising secretary, with Dr. Mackennal as secretary; In

1800 tho United Free Methodist Conference released him from its ministry so that ho might deroto all his energies

to tho Freo Chnreli Federation movement. For tho next few years (states

Ie "Christian World") Mr. Law worked

with feverish energy. Ho travelled incessantly, forming councils and federations all over England and Wales, and addressing meetings with Dr. Berry and Mr. Price- Hughes. Unquestionably ho undermined his health by this period of overstrain and excitement, which, in tho caso of both Dr. Berry and Mr. Prico Hughes eventually proved fatal. Mr. Law's work as organiser was remarkably well done. Mr. Lloyd-Georgo oneo said that he was the best organiser in England. Ho built up tho PTee Church Federation, in which there are now linked a thousand and five councils, and ho stimulated tho movement in America and tho colonies. The Simultaneous Mission organised by him in 1901 was a notable achievement m organisation, and the General Election Campaign of 1806, planned by Mr. Law, helped materially to .stiffen Nonconformist hostility to the 1902 Education Act, and contributed to the great Liberal victory at tie polls.

CHURCH RIVALRY

"RIDICULOUS AND WICKED." Tho Rev. Dr. Bevacn (Congregationalist) spoke at a conference in Melbourne last week on "The Freo Churches Face to Face with Modern Conditions." Ho said that in tho minds of somo there had arisen strong hopes that sor.-.p for-"3 uf union might bo establish ■ -fiim. tho Anglican and other clmr.; j overy effort in that direction Jiau ueemmet by insuperable difficulties, and apparently hopeless complications. Tho free churches could never bo brought to recognise the authority and function of a special sacerdotal class. He was afraid that for many years to como tho union, of tho free churches with ■ even tho Protestant branch of Episcopalianism must bo left to "personal friendship, to mutual respect, to conciliatory language, and the restraint of sectarian zeal. At the same, time it must bo acknowledged that there were un-Christian conditions and foolish waste of paper, in relation to the common work of tho Master, which the new conditions of tho times called upon them to change. There was, for example, tho ridiculons and wicked competition of the various churches in the new centres of life, and among sparse populations. They were in danger of becoming the langhingstock of tho world, and were it not for its own unrighteous spirit of conipetition,' upon which so much of its practical work was based, society would bo justified in calling upon the churches ■to cease from their unholy and indecorous strife. Another practical question which tho present state of thought demanded of enlightened Church statesmanship war, that of ministerial training. Why con'd not the churches unite their forces ■■■•.■A establish powerful centres of miiii'ui-;-ial scholarship? Tho modern of classes was not merely democratic but Christian. Tho freo churches word peculiarly fitted to take part in the new human crusade. They had not to struggle against Imperial Caosarisms, but they had to enter into the preparations of an almost world-wido democracy. They still needed the instrument of tho Cross. He seemed to see tho breaking of the day of the universal reign of Christ.

■JOTTINCS.

Mr. G. Hamilton Archibald, English Sunday-school expert, has been invited by the Australian Sunday School Union to visit Australia, and tho invitation includes a special request that Miss Archibald, who has charge of the celebrated Sunday-school Kindergarten at Bournville, should accompany him.

Whitefield's is rapidly achieving a world-wide reputation, and letters arrive overy week from all parts of the world. Recently, says the "Christian World," Mr. Sylvester Homo received a very kind letter from a town in Queensland — by a strange coincidence the' name of the town is Ipswich—informing Mm that sis frozen sheep liad been shipped to him to London, and asking him to send someone to the ship to fetch the mutton, and then to get a butoher to cut it up and afterwards to distribute it amongst poor families in the neighbourhood of Whiteneld's. Mr. Horno told his men's meeting that ho knew by a notice over tho men's club that he was licensed to sell tobacco, bat he never expected to go into tho frozen meat trade.

General Booth, still in harness and still at the helm of tho Salvation Army, was eighty-one yearß old last month. He has not been well lately (states an English exchange), a slight overstrain recently resulting in the postponement of a preaching engagement at Hammersmith, a rare occurrence with the General. His eyes are a source of trouble to him, but on the wliolo he is still a miraclo of buoyant youthfulness and energy. The General "bears the dimness of sight well, a.nd his recent impassioned addresses to his people, printed in the "War Cry," show that he is still burning with zeal for the work of his life. Ho is working steadily at his autobiography.

Edinburgh University, of which tho Rev. J. H. Jowett is a graduate, has conferred upon tho Birmingham preacher its honorary degreo of D.D. When ho entered Yorkshire College far ministerial training, Mr. Jowett was sent to Edinburgh for his Arts course, but when he had graduated he went to Mansfield College, Oxford, to which Dr. Fairbairn, who had been his principal at Airedale, had been appointed as head. Dr. Jowott has now exhausted almost all the honours open to him, though he is only forty-six years of age. Tho tercentennial anniversary of tho first baptism of a Micmao Indian—that of Chief Mcnborteu, in 1610, whoso conversion to Catholicity at the age of one hundred was followed soon by the baptism of all his tribe—will be celebrated at Restigouche, N. 8., on June 24. Representatives from each of tho principal Catholic Orders on the North American Continent and many hin-h Church dignitaries and civil authorities will attend tho ceremonies. Tho Rev. W. G. Taylor, superintendent of the Central Methodist Mission, Sydney (who lectured in Wellington a fow months ago) has been granted leave of absence from a date early next year to visit England and America. Mr. Taylor intends to look l closely into tho working of the various mission institutions in tho Old Country, aiid will probably attend the Ecumenical Conference in Toronto.

Mr. W. Howe, formerly of the Taranaki Street Sunday School, which has a Dominion reputation for its advanced methods of teaching infant classes, will take charge of tho Central Mission Sunday School in tho Herbert Strict Hall, wh'ioh is to be conducted on the same up-to-date lines.