JOTTINGS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 834, 4 June 1910, Page 9

JOTTINGS.

Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, K.C.8., is the subject of an illustrated interview in a recent "Sunday School Times." "Ships and Sunday Schools," he says, "have been the two great things in my life," and if anybody wants to know tho joy of lire, he. advises him. to get into the Sunday School. He' has been hi it himself for three-quarters of a century, having begun as a scholar at the age of six. At fourteen he became a teacher, and now, after sixtyseven years- of continuous service, during forty-two of which he has been superintendent, lie is still actively at work, and more than ever convinced that the Sunday School is the greatest possible help in our national life. Sir Nathaniel is the author of "I've a Father in Heaven" and many other popular children's hymns, as well as of ■ standard works on specifications for shipbuilding and naval development in the nineteenth century. Dr. Charles M. Sheldon has refused a New York theatrical syndicate the permission it sought to put his book, "In- His . Steps" on the stage. A. theatrical agent waited on Dr. Sheldonwith a "big money , ' -offei and a promise to put the play upon the stage with the very best actors "and actresses iu the cast." Dr. Sheldon asked whether the actors and actresses were all devout Christian men and women. This the agent could not guarantee, and . did not think necessary, whereupon Dr. Sheldon flatly refused his consent to the. dramatisation of his story. A very interesting innovation is being tried at' tho Westminster ■ Roman , Catholic Cathedral in regard to general singing (says an exchange). On Friday evenings weekly Father Brown is conducting a series of "congregational rehearsals" of hymns, of which it is desired to bring a much more extensive selection into use Many Roman Catholics have admitted that the tunes associated with favourite hymns sung in tho Church of England or by tho Nonconformists are superior to those used usually- by themselves. Numbers • of the favourite Anglican tunes have, of course, been derived from Roninn sources. To mention one only, "Come "Unto Me,. Yc Weary," the tune in "Hymns Ancient and Modern," is-, derived from a collection of old Catholic carol melodies published at Cologne in 1599, and many more might bo cited; . while others, are to bo found in the hymn-books of almost all the Protestant denominations. The Rev. J. D. Jones, M.A., 8.D., will, it is now practically certain (says, the "Christian World"), be able to announce, on relinquishing the Chair or the Congregational Union on May 9, that at least onc-halM" the iCentral Fund has be'e'iupromised: ■■ To . ■ have reached the halfrway mark"within'one year of launching ths hind is a great achievement, the credit for winch is due to Mr. Jones's ceaseless activity on behalf of the-hind. During his year of office Mr. Jones will have raised ' nearly £400 a day for Congregationalism. Mr. Evan Roberts, the Welsh revival* ist, who has been living for the last six , years in comparative seclusion at Leicester, has recovered his physical strength, and is now planning new work in Wales. Ho intends to begin quietly and to avoid overstrain. Mr: Roberts has devoted a great part of his enforced leisure to study, and especially to the study of natural sciences. The Rev. A. T. Guttery is best known as an able platform advocate. In the missionary secretariate of the English Primitive Methodist Church he is proving an expert administrator. \Yith' characteristic audacity, he asked his first conference for an additional £2000 during the year for African Missions. In nine months he has got over £1000, notwithstanding the pressure of the Centenary Fund, and there is a prospect of the sum being still larger before the conference. Ho is specialising, howeyer, in home extension, and some of the large cities are beginning to wear a new aspect, from a denominational standpoint, through his activity. A correspondent of the London "Guardian" (Anglican) recently wrote asking why women should not be re- ■ cruited to fill the thinning ranks of the clergy. The suggestion aroused tho indignation of other correspondents. One wanted to know "how far modern 'feminism' is to go? The universal .. custom of. the Church from the first, not- to mention a sense of decency and - propriety, apparently goes for nothing..But surely a joke is intended." Another wrote: —"The idea that women should bo ordained priests is most shocking. 1 trust it will meet with immediate and uncompromising reprobation. The mildness with which suggestions con-trary-to all sense of propriety and fit- • ness are now generally received, the tolerant idea that they may be worth considering, are disastrously wrong. I shrink from even for a moment- discussing such a question, but I will venture to utter one prediction. If ever such a wiclced return to the ideals of heathenism should be seriously considered, far more men would forthwith renounce tho priesthood than women would be admitted to it, and tho proportion of men attending tho services of the Church would rapidly fall lower even than it is now. Women have a . ■freedom, Mid multiplied openings for' Christian service never paralleled before, and 'seek they the priesthood also?' " But quite another view is put by a correspondent, who signs himself "'Roman Catholic."' He says there can be no more doubt that women were , ordninrd in the early Church than that men were ordained, just as ii: is clear that 1 Tim., iii., makes rules for clergy of both sexes. Ho adds that the original planting of Christianity iva? effected in large measure through the ministry of women, and that thero are countries, now Christian, which were in great part evangelised by women in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries ■ especially. Speaking at a semi-private gathering of his people at the Congress Ha IK General Booth told them that he had hvir.i persuaded to rest by a generous offer from a wealthy lady, who had promised £5000 to his-pet schemes if he would only "take it easy" for a time. • Ho had done his best to keep the compact, and hoped the lady would bo so pleased with him that she would make the £5000 into £10,000 when he ha<J .. finished his holiday. Dr. Wilbur Chapman and Mr. ' Charles M. Alexander, have been holding a mission at Cardiff, Wales. It is proposed to introduce at Rome the cause of canonization of Bernadette Soubirons, whoso uamo is honoured in connection with the Lourdes : aegaritioßS.