RELIGIOUS' ACTIVITY,

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 846, 18 June 1910, Page 9

RELIGIOUS' ACTIVITY,

EXCLUDED? REV. R. J. CAMPBELL'S POSITION. Last month a number of newspapers published an important and lengthy letter from Rev. It. J. Campbell to the secretary of the Congregational Union of England and Vales, which amounted to a challenge to the union to regulate his position or cast him out. Mr. Campbell's case was (1) that ho was virtually excommunicated from everything connected with denominational life. (2) That misrepresentations of and attacks upon the teaching associated with his name were made at this meetings of tho union, and that no opportunity was given him of expressing his views. The reference was to the fact that of late years Mr. Campbell had not occupied a prominent position at the union gatherings; "but," says the "British Cdnftrcgationalist," ".Mr. Campbell has no official position which necessitates n front rank seat on every occasion, and lie would hardly deny that his own public references to certain, honoured brethren holding the older evangelical views havo been of a nature to justify them in not putting mm forward in prominent positions as a representative man." NexOlr. Campbell complained that persons "high in the councils of the. nnion have animadverted so strongly upon my teaching and work'as to make it clear that my withdrawal from their fellowship is desired by those they represent." Tho denominational paper remarks, in ! reply, thai "there is a note of appeal in Mr. Campbell's letter, which may ho popular, but which is not warranted by tho facts of the case. Other ministers have left the traditional path before now, but wo do not remember any who cried out in pain because, his new theology involved separation, from his brethren, nor do wo remember one who, by a i widespread letter, attempted to make his case a public topic. The lato Br. Robertson Smith was not a Congregational minister, it is truo, but ho was a devout man, a great scholar, and a loyal .member of the Free Church of Scotland. When he was defeated by r<>antionary forces lie uttered no complaint; ho neither protested nor called himself a martyr. Yet he had moro reason for doing so than Mr. Camphell. He had not put an affront upon the cherished doctrines of the Christian faith, and ho had a scholarship underlying his "heretical" views to which Mr. Campbell will make no claim when separations in the Congregational body 'take place. Tho artielo concludes: "They take place by voluntary hiving off of men, who no longer hold tho common faith. Upon Mr. Campbell, therefore, must rest the entire onus of deciding whether lie should or should not withdraw from the- Congregational fellowship." It is extremely probable that the matter was dealt with at tho annual meetings during May, which were to bo held tho week alter tho last English files left.

RELIGION AND UNIVERSITIES. HOSTEL AT LEEDS OPENED. Tlio new Hostel, built at Leeds for the- College of the ltcsurrcction (Anglican) was formally opened by Lady Frederick Cavendish in April. Besides the Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University and many professors, there were present the Vice-Chancellors of Cambridge, Durham, and Manchester Universities. The Vicc-Chanecllor of Cambridge (Dr. Mason) proposed a resolution congratulating the Community and all its supporters on the completion of this stage in its v.-ork. He applauded the- decision of the Community to secure for the students a< .thorough intellectual training by sending them through tbo Arts course of Leeds University. He also spoke of tho gain to the Church of securing ordinauds from a wider social area than had been the custom hitherto. The Vice-Chancellor of Durham (Dr. Jcvons) seconded the motion, and spoke of the breadth of English notions of education which tried to develop tho wholeness of human life in a worthy environment, and were not content with merely abstract study. The Superior . (tho Her. W. H. Frore, 8.D.) replied, 1 and spoke of.the work already dono by the College, and of tho need of similar institutions elsewhere. He also emphasised tho broad basis on which its maintenance rested. Tho Vice-Chaneellor of Manchester (Dr. Hopkinson) proposed a resolution of goodwill to Leeds University. .In an interesting speech ho discussed tho< relation of the newer Universities to religion. While opposed to anything iiko tests, this spirit was friendly to any design siich as that the fruit of which they were now witnessinn;. Sir Nathan Bodington, Vice-Chan-collor of Leeds, dwelt emphatically on the gain to the University of a number of_students-imbued mth'the corporate spirit. Lady Frederick Cavendish then declared the building open. She- spoko briefly of tho interest which her husband had taken in the Yorkshire College and declared her own sympathy both with Leeds University and the .Community of the Resurrection. Tho Vicar of Leeds (Dr. Biekersteth) spoko of the way in which the College of the Resurrection was meeting the need expressed by the Bishops at the Lambeth Confcrouco. Two members of tho Conir munity will tako part in tho coming general mission in New Zealand..

NEW EISMOP.

RECTOR OF LAMBETH FOR THffi SEE OF EDINBURGH. The Rev. George Henry Somerset | Walpole, Rector of. Lambeth,'has been unanimously elected Bishop of Edinburgh. • Tho third meeting of the lay and clerical electors of the diocese took place, recently to elect a bishop in place of the late Dr. Dowden. At tlio first meeting the Bishop of Brcehin, Dr. Robberds, Primus, . would have been elected unanimously, bnt he declined tho see. At the second meeting, Dean John Skinner Wilson, of Edinburgh, and the Rev. Dr. Simpson, Principal of tho Clergy School at Leeds, were proposed, but neither obtained a majority in both chambers. After a long private conference, Dean Skinner Wilson withdrew his name, and then proposed that of Dr. Walpole. Canon E. C. Dawson, Edinburgh, seconded, a nil, there being no oilier nomination, Dr. Walpole was declared unanimously elected. The now Mishap enjoys considerable repute as a theologian. He was educated at Trinity College. Cambridge, anil tool; a First Class in the Tlieologjcal Tripos in 187". He has served tho Church in New Zealand, and has boon Professor of Dogmatic Theolo"v in the General Theological Col'.ego of New York, Principal of .Rede College, Durham, and Examining Chaplain to tho Archbishop of York. H<; is an honorary canon of Soutliwark Cathedral, a post hp accepted in 1906. j Dr. AValpolo is author of several works of theological and devotional interest, among them "The People's Psalter" and "The Mission of the Holy Ghost."

EMOTION AND RELICION.

Tho Rev. V. J. Stephen, one of Mm I New Smith AVnlrs representatives at the Mcthoilist. C.'cnenil Conference, believes in tin; power of emotion in rclijiious life. tJomo .ucoplo cried dowu

emotion (he told his audience in tho Adelaide Town Mall) as if Christianity were a thing of intellectual formula. It was a lifo and a feeling. What was love? It was not a concept of the intellect nor an act of will. It was emotion—the deepest expression _ ol emotional life, hove was religion. (Applause.) The secret of their failure was quenching emotion, which was behind tho will and moved it. It softened and gave life to intellectual dogmas. Preaching, it had been said, was "Divino truth plus a man." There was great truth in Arnold's saying— "Keligion is morality touched wit.-i emotion." Emotion was .tho expulsive power of a new affection. It fused the ideal into tho real. (Applause.) Until tho religion of lovo entered and stirred tho hearts of man and women, social legislation, political theories, and dreams of betterment could never become true. (Applause.) Again there was tho emphasis on experience. Tho convulsion that shook tho soul of Saul of Tarsus when Christ became a fact of experience saved tho Church from the blight of legalism. Tho Reformation of tho sixteenth century had been born when Martin Luther was converted; and when John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed Methodism arrived. (Applause.) METHODIST PROBLEMS. English Methodist Churches arc sharing heavily in the "arrest" in church membership. Tho Wesloyan returns £01 tho year show a decrease in full membership of 2267. In four years there has been a loss of 936 D. Tho Primitive Methodists, in the year of the completion of their centenary effort, have a loss of 600, largely in London. Other Fret* Churches (states the " Christian World") ml] sympathise with an "ai~ rest" that has affected them all mor,e or less. It is no use giving way to pessimism. All tho denominations have been called upon to face now and confusing conditions, and it will take time to adapt themselves to these conditions. In Methodism, especially, the new conditions, both economic and educational, havo told against the classmeeting, once tho sheet-anchor alike of Methodist membership and finance. (Somo satisfactory substitute for the class-meeting has io bo discovered. A good many think that the machinery of Methodism needs a thorough overhauling. The Primitive Methodists in London have discovered that tho policy of splitting the denomination up into tiny single-minister circuits, each with throe to five debt-laden l chapels, has been disastrous, aud they are seriously thinking of reorganising their circuit system in the metropolis. Alike in the Wesleyan and the Primitive Methodist Churches, there, is reason te fear that the younger ministers, fresh from tho colleges, are not always hotly in love with Methodism, but hankor after pastoral churches. The pastoral church in Methodism, however, usuaMy means the loss of the Methodist genius, and with the genius goes tho power. Congregationalism is good, and Methodism is good, and each is best when it is most-itself. In Australasia tho position is apparently much raoro cheerful. Tho Rev. W. Williams, retiring president, of the Methodist General Conference, which was recently opened in Adelaide, stated _in tlio ranrF" of rn interview' that, since the last General Conference, three years ago, tho membership of the Methodist Church had increased by over 10,000 adherents, and the attendance at church services had grown by nearly 40,000. "Thoso figures," said Sir. Williams, "represent a much larger increase than the ratio of tho increased population. They indicate that tho outlook for the Methodist Church in Australasia: is most hopeful and encouraging." JOTTINCS. 1 In this country (states the "Christian World") the practice of devoting special Sundays to the advocacy of. some particular reform has grown to such an. extent that it is becoming more and more difficult to know where to draw ■tho line. Few English ministers, however, would receive favourably a suggestion that is being made in America for the settingapart of an annual "Tuberculosis Sunday." On. this occasion ministers are requested to call the attention of their congregations to the ravages made by consumption and to give information as to the' means of preventing it. President Taft has warmly commended the idea and hopes it will be taken up. Porhaps the ministers will reciprocate by offering him suitable religious topics for his message to Congress.

Mgr. Pifferi, Confessor to ilie Holy Father, and parish priest of the Vatican palace, passed peacefully away at the ago of ninety-one, after an illness of about a fortnight. The Holy Father himself was present at his bed-side from the time- he entered into agony almost to tho last moment. Mgr. Pifferi was the oldest Bishop and the oldest' religious of the Augustinian Order and was uriiversnlly revered for his great sancity and simplicity.—"Tho Tablet." Rev. Thomas Spurgeon has so far recovered his health that ho is ablo to resumo pastoral work. He has accepted temporarily tho pastorate of the Baptist Church at Paignton, in Devonshire. Probably lie finds it necessary still to reside in the South of England, and this is an attempt to combine a gradual return to the work he loves with care for health nob yet fully re-established. Dr. C W. Eliot, tho ex-President of Harvard, has consented to give tlio historical address at the dedication, in August, of tin; monument erected at Piwincetown, Cape Cod, to commemorate the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. I This memorial, which is over 250 foot high, is almost a replica of tho tower of the Palazzo della Republics at Siemt. President Trift is also expected to take part in the dedication ceremony. I Br. Horton, the new President of the Sunday"School Union, is tho subject of an illustrated biographical sketch in the "Sunday School Times." As a young undergraduate he had somo experience of ragged-school 'work, and found it, like "trying to keep order in a bear-garden," and that helped to convince him that, no good can bo achieved by means of disorder. His own Sunday schools in the Lyndlnirst Road Church and its mission and branch churches have all been reorganised on modern lines, and he intends to make "the urgent necessity for grading" his message to teachers during his year of office. The time has gone by, he says, for ramshackle methods, and "Sunday school stick-in-the-muds" and Churches must realise that they are simply putting themselves out of the running by refusing to make changes that are simply unavoidable in view of modern developments in the science of psychology. In honour of the English and Irish Catholic martyrs who wero executed at Tyborn in t-lic sixteenth century, a striking pilgrimage, which, it is proposed to hold annually henceforth, was inaugurated on a recent Sunday .afternoon from outside Newgate Prison, in tho city, to the Convent at No. 0 Hydo Park Place, near the Marble N Arch, which is birt a stone's throw from the sito of Tyburn Gaol, now marked by the County Council with a marble slab. —"Catholic Times." Dr. "Wanllaw-Thompson has been selected by the London Missionary .Society as its representative at tho Centenary CominnmnioratioiiH of tho Ainori. <ian Board <if Foreign Missions in October. As tho American Board practically acknowledges itself to be a child of the London Missionary Society, a special request was made by Dr. Thompson's presenco at the Centennial. Like tho L.M.S.. the A.B.C.K.M. is largely supported by Congrogationalists, but has. never, been, a seciariivn socioty. [