RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

• CHURCH OF ENQLAND MEN'S o SOCIETY. e ' THE MOVEMENT IN AUSTRAlasia. - » Tlie annual confcrenco was held on > October 19 at Bristol, England,, of tho 0 Cliurcli of England Men's Society, which !- has branches in Australia anil New - Zealand. 1 There was a crowded meeting at is Colston Hall. Tho Archbishop of York; 1 who presided, referred in tho course of !i his address to tho c-ablo received from k tho churches of Melbourne, and to Mr. k Woolloombo's tour in tho colonies, re- " marking that no more fitting represenu t-ative of the movement could have been o found throughout tho length and d breadth of' Britain. The-annual report showed, that tho '> membership had increased from 81,072 0 to 104,19-1, and tho number of branches 0 from 5:380 to 3502. Consolidation had 1_ been as marked a feature as extension, g and the number of federations had more than doubled. Several dioceses ' 11 c ' e . moving towards the adoption of a definite dioccsah. organisation. Aiistralla already set tho example' of a g further consolidation and strengthening of tho work by unions of branches ivliich ■- cover a province rather than- a diocese, ™ and tho province of Brisbane and Now South Wales now had their own con- ! > stitution and governing body. One notable effort of .tho year had been the y missionary tour.,which the Rev. H. S. 9 \\ oollcombo had undertaken at the. request of the cojincil. " Six months wero d spent by liim in' Australia, and t-hrcp months in New Zealand, and ho was at. the date of the report in tlie midst of ?-i fivc to South Africa. '5 il'o council desired t-o put on record its deep sense of obligation to liim for his unsparing- labours, ' and to thank "> God for the exceptional success tliat G attended them. Clergy and laity. 0 alike had written, to. testify-to the in-' !- fluencß that his mission had exercised, r > and many had remarked that the enS thusiasnv engendered at the time and 't maintained sinco had surpassed their 'A most sanguine expectations. In West lc and South Australia,., the work was strengthened and extended. In Brisj" bane,, whero many, branches already existed, in any place's were visited and- ■\ gi'eat mission to men conducted. In Tasmania new. branches wero started, and a constitution for tlio dioceso adopted; In Molbourno and Sy.dnev the work had been put upon d sound foundation, and diocesan and provincial secretaries had heen • appointed. The council had been greatly pleased .by the way. in "which the gi'atifude of . Australian 0 churchmen-was expressed in a cable dis0' nat-ched to l'eaclonarters from Melbourne. In New Zealand the first conferencn for bmiHies within tho Dominu ion had been held; ' ' s ' ' . : :— Q A DISTINGUISHED CONCRECAo • . TIONALIST. d '• THE PRINCIPAL OF-MANSFIELD COLLEGE.-,' , Referring to tho recent meeting ,of the Congregational Union' in London, a writer ,in tho "Christian -World" states:. , .The sermon of Mr. Selbie showed tljat.the Principal of Mansfield College is an invaluablo/possession of the Congregational denomination. Mr. Selbio''. combines ripo' scholarship- and .. sturdy common -sense with a deep deis votional nature. .Ho laid liis finger , r firmly on a prime weakness of the mod--7 cm'pulpit—tho mistake of substituting ir explanations of tho facts of faith for the power that comes from the immcn diato contemplation, ,and the strong im-pression-snch, contemplation maltos, of j! the facts of faith themselves:'- The ser--0 mon was delivered-in a quiet, intense, conversational.' way, without • rnanug script, and it went home. He is pre--0 eminently the type of .preacher this j. age needs—the man who will force peog plo immersed in business, distracted by politics and pleasures, perplexed bv t "alarums and excursions" of now and j old theologians, and the conflicts of churches, back to their individual responsibility for their religion, and will help' them to clear away irrelevances and get to the things that'matter. Tho ministers whom . Mr.-.. Selbie; will send Out should be.fino reversions to the old j Congregational typo of the "faithful pastor," whilq open-eyed to. tho cur(f. rents of life''and thought of their time. if ' ,- BISHOP CLEARY AT NEWTOWNs BARRY. ■

s The Right Rev. Dr.- Cleary, the now s Roman' Catholic■ Bishop 'of* Auckland, d iVcw Zealand, performed his first episd copal' function at Newto'wnbarry, ■ Co. •- Wexford, recently, when three' posa tulants had. the happiness, of res cciving the religions habit from liim, a namely, Miss Annie Murphy, Ballinj. valley, Co. Carlow, in religion' Sister y M. Gabriel; • Miss Maggie Brennan, s Castlecomer, in religion Sister M. u Augustine; and Miss Annio Waters, in s religion Sister M. Raphael.. -In replyr ing to an address presented to him at i- tho close of the ceremonies, Dr. Cleary said the. children of St. Patrick who cany on liis mission in distant lands remained Irish to their very heart's core. For himself, as he ■ grew older, ir ho only felt moro thoroughly how " strong were tho bonds of attachment i. to tho dear old land of his birth, and ') every visit seemed to intensify his lovo l- for every scene, yea, for every blade is of .grass in that land, is ". — . A MONUMENT TO MENDEL. " Brunn, the capital of the Austrian ! provinco of . Moravia, has a number of notabli? memorials. But probably upon j none of its monuments will future gon- ■ orations" look with greater interest than on that which has just been.raised to Gregory Mendel, priest,botanist and naturalist. Mendel's fame as a botanist- and naturalist was established by. A patient- observation, and tho valuo of d liis contributions to science in the o exclusion of every element of doubt io from his theories owing to tlieir being is purely based upon fact. . Cambridge and y many other universities were represent'o ed at tho unveiling of monument, h and at a_ banquet subsequently held it several distinguished' professors act- knowledged in enthusiastic language J- how greatly tho learned world is indebttl ed to his studies, especially on- tho >r theory of heredity—"Catholic Times." io . 1 ,S WESLEY'S JOURNAL, 10 1 ; . \' s -AN INTERESTING • ITEM. j, Tho Rev... Agar Beet".has solved an k interesting problem in Wesley's life. In >f Wesloy's Journal for Wednesday, May o 2-1, 1738, ho writes: "In tho evening I n went very lunvillingly to a society in c Aldersgato Street, wliero one was reade ing Luther's preface to tho Epistlo to : the Romans. About a quarter before t- nine, while he was describing tho o change which God works in tho heart ■- through faith in Christ, I felt my heart e strangely warmed, I felt I did trust n in Christ-. Christ alone "for salvation;" and an assurance was given rno that \ He had taken away my sins," even mine, d and saved mo from .the law of "sin and i- death." ,'A footnote in the New IJdi--11 tion says: "It has been suggested that n William Holland was the 'one' who 'was e reading Luther's Preface' on May 24. n . . ." After some other references •, to Mr. 1 Holland, the footnote concludes, :-. "The' text of tho Journal as- it has i- .reached us, says distinctly: ''Luther's Preface to thcu:Epistle ■to tho Romans, n One,'can scarcely bo surprised that a !- doubt has -arisen,..with reference to this y statement. Is -'Romans' a misprint, y or error of association, for"Galat-ians'? i- The discovery of . a .missing diary . would set tho Question at rest."

This question may Lo sot at rest- by a visit to the reading room of the British Museum.. Tiiero. I found a pamphlet of sixteenpages, entitled "Prcfat-io Metliodiea Totius Scripturae lii Epistolain ' l'aiili ad Komanos, by Justus Jonas, -MDXXIV, also a translation of tlio same, entitled A Metliodicall Preface prefixed before the Epistle of St. Paul to the llomans, written by Martin Luther, and Englished by W. W., A.D. 1C32." The original seems to have_ been written in Gorman by Luther in 1523. It consists of a translation of .the Epistle to the Romans, to which is prefixed a. short introduction giving an outline of tlie -argument. This "Preface" agrees so completely with tho above, reference to it that I cannot doubt that this English translation is tlie book so greatly blessed to . John Wesley. -All this, is remarkable' proof of the great debt duo by the Wcsleys and their companions, and, therefore, 1 by the multitude to whom their preaching was tho word of life, to Luther. It 5 proves, : also, that the Methodist Ke- > vival, with its immense results on both 5 sides of tho Atlantic, was a lineal de--1 scendant, in another-branch 'of the . great Teutonic family, of the German 1 Deformation.

i RELIGION OF ABRAHAM. " ' The "Expositor" for September opens 1 with an articlo by -Professor Edward ; Konig, of Bonn, entitled "The" Signifir ' e.inro of the Patriarchs, in the History '■ of Religion." Dr. Konig replies to, the 3 suggestion that the patriarchs were 3 fetish ivorsliinpers.■ and states that they • had been led to hold lmman sacrifices in abhorrence. Tim' following passage 3 may bo quoted: "Abraham, at the time ofi his immigration into Canaan, may 5 well have. been-... almost compelled at first to regard child-sacrifice as an act : of tho deepest devotion to God. For • among tlio. discoveries Avliich have ,been [ mado. during the most. recent excavations iir Palestine, the gruesome disCQvery of children's skeletons has been one of tho most extensive. T'his .observation .was made by Professor Ernst » Snllin during, .bis excavations at Ta'anlick, in the plain of Jp?,reel, but miich more distinctly by the English jyarcher, J Macalistor. during the excavation .at 5 Gezer (south-east of Jafa). But in this 3 situation, where he was so. tempted, " the knowledge, was made possible for 1 tho patriarch that his God did not desire "to be worshipped bv' the actual 1 sacrifice, of children, but that for this I God it was sufficient, that man should rarrv within his soul the highest sacr(c ficial capacity of disposition. ' Uight-ly. ; therefore; has this reieetion of human ; sacrifice been described by several scholars of .our. own day as n cardinal II principle, frtm the negative side; in. the '■ religion of Abraham." ■ INTERESTING APPOINTMENT. Tho Rqv. Ronald Bayno,'.who has been appointed by the' Crown as rector of, St. Edmund's, Lombard Street, London, in succession to the lato, Canon Benharn, is—like his predecessor—a man of some .literary, attainments. A year or two since he edited tho edition p of Butler's "Analogy of Religion" in the.,"Everyman Library," and ho is . well known as a lecturer oil literary j subjects. Mr. Bayno was educated at 5 Oxford, and has been successively cur- , ate of Greenwich, rector of Orlestoiie, " m Kent, vicar of; St. Judo's, Whitcchapel, j and of Holy Trinity, Blackhealtli B ill. Ho was appointed vicarage of St. r - John's, Walworth, in September, 1908, in succession to: Canon Jephson. 'In T theology, Mr. Bayno may bo described as a Liberal Evangelical, and it will be interesting to see whether the. somewhat ornate ritual now-in vogue at St, j Edmund's will.be maintained under liis rectorship. "V - DEACONESSES.

" The opening lecture of the session at Aberdeen United Free Church College \ was given by Professor Stalker, who. i under the title' ".Wliat a • country mini ister has done for the solution of the social question'," dealt with the work 7 of Fliedner,. who called into existence in Germany tho institution of deacous esses. At the closo of this account ? Dr. Stalker said ,lie could not but ex- ! pecfc to be asked whether ho consideri cd the idea of Fliedner capable of being transplanted to Scotland, and whether he would propose the founding • of an order of deaconesses iu their own Church. To this he might reply in many words, but, as he-must answer in few, ho would only say that: At the recent Conference :in Edinburgh, the i problem of foreign missions was raised i to an inter-denominational and intor- - national platform, and when tho samo • stage was reached by home missions, 110 - method would 'bo more, deserving of - consideration by all the Churches than , that invented or revived by Theodore - Fliedner. Principal Iverach presided, f and thero was a large attendance. ; QUEEN AND CHURCH UNION.

t STRANGE STATEMENT BY PRO-. f FESSOII J. A. PATERSON. J The Rev. Professor J. A. Paterson, Edinburgh,, gave an address at the cens tenary soiree of Allars United Free Church, Hawick, in tho course of ! which he said he was glad tho atmo- ; sphere. of 1843 had .passed awav, aI T though tho fathers of the Disruption I did a-noble : work, which Scotland did 3 well to remember. He was astonished beyond measuro at what happened in Edinburgh 'the other day, when a sta- .• tue was unveiled to the Rev. Dr. Guthrie, and not a- word was said of' his i being one of the leaders of the Disf runt-ion and a Freo. Churchman. Could i a : statue over havo been built for him - had it not been for the work he did as i one of tho leaders or tho Disruption? j Having referred to various points of 1 Church history,- Professor Paterson - said that'iu 1885 Mr. Gladstone made the most fatal mistake in his long polif t-ical career in declining to proceed 3 with tho disestablishment of tlse. Scott tisli Church, thanks to tho advico of r Lord Rosebery, who -had- since proved :l the. evil genius of .the Liberal party, - d man who never understood his own , mind, and they never could tell.what 1 he would say. (Laughter.) In regard - to tho union of tho United Presbyterian 3 and Free 'Churches in IflOO, lie know - full well that Queen Victoria intended 3 to send a telegram congratulating the ' United. Freo Church on the act, , hut was restrained by an individual statesman from following her. own Christian instinct. And he rather suspected that if that telegram from her Majesty had been sent, Lord Halsbury would hardly havo broken or attempted to break tho i union which Queen Victoria had blessi ed. [ LAYMEN'S MISSJON MOVEMENT. In the course of an address at Auck- > land on the Laymen's Mission movc- : ment, Mr. James Mitchell gave the > following as evidence of the financial ; result of the Laymen's / Missionary ; movement in the Southern Presbyterian :■ Church of America-"Three years ago ;' the total controbutions of 'tliat Church ; to Foreign Missions wore £44,C00. The , next year they increased to £55,000, I the" next to £64,600; last year they ■ reached £83,400. Forty-eight- of tho ; individual churches of that deuoinina- > tion averaged 16s. per member, or . moro to foreign missions last year. Of > these 48 churches, 26 also increased , their contributions to Home missions ; last year, and. 25 of tho 48 increased ; their pastors' ' - salaries. These 48 , churches had an increase in membert ship twice as great as the denomination > as \a whole, and an iticrcaso in the , total contributions of 0 per cent. ' against a general increase of contribuI tions in the entire denomination of less' than 1 ner colli."-