THE CURE OF SOULS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1384, 9 March 1912, Page 4

THE CURE OF SOULS.

The Methodist Conference which is at present sitting in Auckland has had at least two great outstanding questions to consider, namely, union with the Primitive Methodists and the establishment of a new theological college. As regards the first, it is gratifying to record that the basis of union has been accepted by a unanimous vote, and the_ second—the movement ' to build a college for tho training of candidates for the Ministry—has been inaugurated with a spirit of whole-hearted enthusiasm which can hardly fail to be crowned with success. It has been announced that an almost perfect site has been secured at Epsom, Auckland, and from £15,000 to £20,000 is required for the erection and equipment of tho. institution, towards which over £7200 has already been subscribed. This is a very encouraging beginning, and if the Methodists of New Zealand as a whole take the matter up with that enerp and liberality which they are accustomed to show when tho welfare o! their Church is concerned it should not be very long before the new College is in full working order. There can be no doubt that the need is an urgent one, and that the Methodist Church in New Zealand has reached a point in its history when makeshift arrangements must give place to a ' permanent and thoroughly efficient institution foi providing the Church with ministers adequately trained for their life's work. The Rev. G. W. J. Spence struck the right key when he declared that it is high time the Methodist people of New Zealand recognised that the standard of training which has obtained in the past will not suffice for the future, and that unless they strive earnestly and effectually to cope with the situation they may find themselves out of touch with the demands of the age. The education and training of the ministers of religion is a matter which vitally concerns the community as a whole. That religion is a universal phenomenon in history and a permanent element in human nature is now admitted by all competent thinkers, and it is thoreforo a matter of the utmost importance that tho spiritual faculties of the individuals who compose the community should be developed in the best possible way. The late Bishop of London (Dr. Creiqhton) whom Loud Rosebery described as the most alert and universal intelligence in Britain, on one occasion stated that on the Church falls directly the maintenance of tho basis of national life. The politician and the philanthropist are always counting on an assured balance, ond are fertile in devising means of spending it. They deal with men in the mass. They assume popular intelligence, foresight, goodwill, and readiness to make personal sacrifice to the common good. They forget that these qualities are not natural, but imparted. The public mind and the public conscience do not go on aulomaticttlly, like ft public wator supply. Jfind anc'l conscience are individual matters, and have to lie cultivated from the beginning in the caso of overynno born into the world. This quiet work of creating chnracter is tbo continuous contribution which the Church makes lo the life of the nation. When one thinks of the greatness of their true vocation as the spiritual guides of the people one is often amazed that so many clergymen seem to hanker _ after the more showy and exciting career of the demagoguo or the ; party politician, Tboy are apparently morn taiprwiitnd by tbe political whirlwind oi the industrial earthquake Hum the

"still small voice," forgetting altogether that "in quietness and in confidence" is their real strength. And how intensely interesting is the "euro of souls" if only those to whom this duty is committed could be made to realise the. full meaning of the term; und it should be one of tho purposes of an institution for the- training of the Ministry such as that which the New Zealand Methodists propose to establish to impress upon the students the high importance from the individual as we.ll as from the national point of view of the work for which they are being fitted, In a most interesting letter in the Xαtion on "The Clergy's debt to William James," Pkofessoe Kirsopp Lake, of Leiden, states: For the clergy the message of William James, though i do not know whether ho ever formulated it in so many words, is that they should remember that their special task is tho cure of Minis. .His work was largely made ud of tho study of tho experience* of human souls: ha not only collected their evidence, but was fully alive to their necessities, and to the great range of beneficial treatment which it is possible to adiuinister to the spiritually sick. This treatment ought to bo the especial work of tho clergy. Yet it can only adequately bo carried out by those who have investigated tho experiences of many types, and who understand by careful study the troubles and the sickness to which the soul is liable. This is a les=on which has been specially needed for many generations in Protestant countries, 'lhc pulpit the preaching of the Word, and the practice of philanthropy have largely obscured the "one thing needful'—tho care of.the spiritually sick; and the temptation of tho clergy has been too much to busy themselves with the preaching of faith and the practice of good works, and to study too little the necessity of those i whose souls aro crying out for help, and to assume that all of them aro suffering in the same way, and need the same treatment. Professor Lake goes on to state that "the generation in which we live is one which pays less, and less attention to the homiletic3 and the diatribes of the pulpit; but it is also a generation which is spiritually more delicate than its predecessors. . It is the business of tho clergy to help sick souls back to spiritual health, to give individual attention to individual souls, recognising the infinite variety of religious experiences of which humanity is capable. Professor Lake concludes by reiterating the message of William James (the distinguished American philosopher and psychologist) "that they should remember their first work—, the cure of souls—and consider that i the downfall of a Church is close at hand when it ceases to heal and is resorted to chiefly by the righteous and by those who need no physician." Everyone who accepts the high view of the work of the ministry held by such men as Dn. Creighton, William James, and Professor Lake, will wish the Methodist Church of. New Zealand complete success in its appeal for funds to erect a properly equipped college which will provide a regular and adequate supply of welltrained and efficient clergy.