THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1171, 5 July 1911, Page 6

THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS

I.v view of the fact that ho was only consecrated a month ago the Bishop of Wellington (the Eight Kev. T. H. Smott) need not have apologised for not having made a pronouncement of policy nor for failing to deal at length with any of the great religious, social, or intellectual problems of the day in his first address to the Anglican Synod of this diocese. Such a pronouncement roiild not reasonably have been expected owing to the accumulation of episcopal work since the departure of Bj shop Walms, which has had to be dealt with during the few weeks that the new Bishop has been in office. Moreover, he wisely thinks that he must kno\v the diocese better before embarking upon fresh schemes and feels that his immediate, task should be rather to maintain the existing organisation than to inaugurate anything new. The Bishop's address, however, contains several points of interest. He states that one of the lessons of the recent' General Mission is tbat the Church in Hew Zealand is understaffed, and he contends that, in order to take full advantage of what many competent observers regard as the turn of the tide in favour of a view of life more in keeping with Christian ideals, a considerable .increase in the number, of clergy is urgently needed. The Bishop declares that the "long winter of materialism is breaking up. As a philosophical theory of the universe, materialism is admittedly bankrupt. The Mission has shown that numbers of people, who are not philosophers;' arc coming to feel that it is not a practical creed—not a creed that can help a man in living his best and highest life. They are coming, by experience to realise the truth of Mazzini's weighty words—'l believe that we can never make man worthier, more loving, nobler, or more divine, which is, in fact, our end and aim on earth, by merely heaping upon him the means of enjoyment, and setting before him as the aim of life, that irony which is named happiness.' Shall we not then rise to the occasion V The answer to this question must largely depend upon the layman of the Church, and the Bishop has every right to expect from the laity, who were as much responsible for his election as the clergy, whole-hearted and enthusiastic support in every reasonable effort to meet the spiritual needs of tho large diocese over which he has been appointed to preside. The Bishop's views on the difficult question as to the attitude of the clergy regarding the pressing social problems of the day arc well worthy of very earnest consideration, as is also his brief reference to the abandonment, or, at any rate, the less confident assertion, by many of the leaders of modern thought of the narrow mechanical theory of the universe which within living memory has had a paralysing effect on the religious aspirations' Of many--thoughtful men. . The address as a whole, though containing no weighty pronouncement of policy or surprising announcements, is characterised by that saneness of expression and soundness of judgment which we arc accustomed to expect from the iiisnop of Wellington.