RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1449, 25 May 1912, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

CHRISTIAN LIABILITY. A THEE CHURCH STOCKTAKING. "At Cheltenham the National Free Church Council adopted with unanim'ry a. resolution to promote a Free ChurcL inquiry that should in effect prove a sort of stock-taking," says a. writer in the ' Westminster Gazette. , "If the speeches of Dr. Scott Lidgelt and tho liov. Kichanl Hoberts, as mover ami .seconder, counted for anytlr'ng, these implied a searching examinati-n which, whilst avoiding the croak of the pessimist, will state facts accurately even to the disadvantage of the windowdressers. The preamble of the resolution said: 'Ju view of the increasing demands of the age on the Christian Church, and tho growing conviction Ih-t tho whole range of Christian liability needs to be re-examined and re-stated in the light of prevailing conditions, this council cordially approves of the steps already taken to formulate a Free Church inquiry. .

Churches in the Backwash. "A representative of the 'Westminster Gazette' has made inquiries ;imougst Free Church leaders as to its scope and personnel.. Jn tho first, case the inquiry will need the sympathetic and practical support of nil the Free Churches—\Vesleyan Methodist and Primitive Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational. These churches will lie formally asked for assurances ,to this effect, and the question arises whether the Connexions and Synods concerned will agree so far. "Yet it is dear that all the Churches except the Presbyterian are in the backwash —some more, some less. Not oni; can avoid any legitimate and practical step for the solution of a problem that is common to all. Alike they see their young people losing touch with organised Christianity and at the same time realise that the teaching in their Sunday school has not kept pace with the rapid increase of education. For the most part Sunday Kchcol methods and equipment belong to an age that has long since passed away. Pioneer workers have been advocating reforms ior a long time, but the movement for reform is still slow, though perceptible progress has been made. These and others facts invite siippcrt from all, and if either Connexion or . Synod . refuses support to the inquiry they cannot escape a great responsibility in hindering a project that promises the information that is lacking at the present- time. "Free Church opinion favours im inquiry conducted cm the lines of the Commissions preliminary to the Edinburgh Conference. These Commissions collected and sifted data, and prepared their reports without publicity. The general public did not see the machinery '. or discuss the preparation, but men who were experts on special subjects set to work unobtrusively and effectively to advance missionary knowledge, irrespective of preconceived opinions and methods. It is hoped that something similar rosy be attempted in the Free Church inquiry. "With respect to personnel it will be necessary to find men who have the confidence 6f the Churches and who crn spare time fer continuous work ;or ft least two years.

Suggestions for the Churches. "•\s a leading Free Churchman soid to the 'Westminster Gazette' representative, 'the direction of such an inquiry must be given to an outstanding personality who is not trammelled with tlie large details of Free Church organisation The combination of the two is quite impossible, and to attempt _ this would probably injure both. Assisting him must bo a group of men able and willing to deal with sectional subjects related to tho whole, in such a manner that whilst the treatment is not Meddlesome, it shall'provide for searching,examination ami far-reaching suggestions for. the benefit of the-Churches as a whole. , " ARE THERE TOO MANY SERMONS? SERViONLESS SERVICES AT BIRMIXGHAM CATHEDKAL. Is there not over-much sermonising in our actively worked parishes. Is not the rcular churchgoer expected to listen to an unnecessary number of exhortations— addresses, lectures,' instructions, meditations, and other varieties of tho sermon genus? Is this necessary? Doc? it «*ve any good purposes? These questions were recently propounded by the Birmingham correspondent of tho "Guardian, who proceeded:—lt is not as though these discourses were, as a rule, on a high level, intellectual or spiritual. A hard-worked parish clergyman has little time for preparation, nor is ho always equipped with sufficient knowledge or ability to make good use of what time he has. But even if the case were otherwise, even it al instructions were really instructive and all exhortations really inspiring, does this constant call for attention and absorption correspond to the real religious wants ot the church-goer of the present day? burely we co to church primarily to confess our sins, and to make acts ot praise, and to ask for strength to enable us to do our day's work. It is well that ive should on occasion receive instruction or warning or encouragement through the ministry of preaching; but it is well that preaching should occupy so prominent, a place in our public services that its omission has come to be regarded as a sign that Hie occasion is .not one of nrst-rate importance? Take Holy Week, for instance. Think of tho number ot ] addresses wo have to listen to during those six days-at least' one every day—and then at the most numerously attended service on Good Friday at least two out of three consecutive hours occupied in tho same way. Is this necessary? Is it expedient?" Is not tho whole thing overdone?

Holy Week in Birmingham Cathedral. Such questions are being constantly asked, and Ilia answer ordinarily given is, "There is a good deal in wliat you say; but the trouble is that unless thero is"» sermon you won't get a congregation. Experience has proved that this is •-». A service is not regarded by the ordinary churchgoer as complete unless it include; an exhortation or instruction of some kind; its omission is treated by him as a sign that (ho occasion is not one of sufficient importance to cjll for any special effort on his part. He may bo'bored by the pennon; he may treat it chiefly as a subject for criticism; but lie expects it, and won't come if ho does not get it." It is probable that (his is (o some exlciit true; but that it is not always and everywhere I rue is proved by what happened in Birmingham Cathedral last week. Services look place there dnily at the hours customary in ■ Holy Week—morning and midday and evening; but though I hey were all s-crmoiilcss they were all well attended. Selections from Hach's Passion Music at midday and 'JVllis's Lamentations or Pnlcstrinu's Kβpruaches lit Evensong may have attracted some. But (his explanation docs not apply to tho Throe Hours' Service on Good Friday. Xo addresses wore given then— merely a few prayers -aid, and a hymn sung every half-hour. But, notwithstanding this,' tho congregation was quite- a good one. and many worshippers remained in church during tho whole time. It is. of course, impossible to generalise from a single instance; but docs not this experience go to show that a good niiiny people want opportunities for quiet devotion, uninterrupted liv pulpit exhortations, and that (hoy will gladly make 11=0 of such opnortunilios: if provided for them in an orderly and reverent manner? CHAPMAN-ALEXANDER MISSION. Tho Chapman-Alexander Mission in its work in Melbourne, fulfilled the expectations of the most sanguine of ils oiganisers, excepting in one particular. The fiuEincial side of the undertaking ha.s not, s) far (says (he "Sydney Daily Telegraph"), been tho success anticipated. This comes ns a surprise to (he admirers of the visiter.*, lor tin; attendances have I-Mil ■.!■; large and the interest i\s great as mi the Inst- ucciision. As the mission progressed, (hi- enthusiasm kjtv.-, mid there were good cniunds for belii'viiiK that the experhiicnt would have been—sis the l.hcatK'-nmiiiiwr would s.iy—"a financial mid i>rlMie lint the (likings linvc bciMi considerably h'-s than it w;is ■ imi.-idf'iTil (hey would be. |)r. Cliiipniiin h (1. Mi-ibi-il ;■.« hming 1d.i.1 nr.lliiiu; ill I In , c.inviiij-.ini. , style Ihal marked his address durng his former vHt io tin' C.'ominonwcnitli. "His preaching," said p. gentleman who bad attended several of his Melbourne meetings, "ill

effectiveness is far ahead of what it for- I merly was; and his methods, if anything, more persuasive. As far as his share pi ! tho work is concerned, it could not be in better hands." Mrs. Chapman docs effective work in a quiut way among "the seekers after salvation." Tho musical portion of the meetings, too, is described as being oinsiiWnb '- ! advance of anything of a similar kind yet provided in any city south ol Uio i.n.«. At Oiympia, for instance, Jlr. Alexander on a recent Sunday afternoon conducted a song service for men It was attended by j 3000 persons, and ten minutes after the npenin-r thero was hardly a man in the huge structure who was not led captive through tho mnaes of some new hymn time b> tho irrwit conductor. "Watch my liaiuW"■)>« culled at the outset, "if they aro not'big enough for you to see thorn, I will encase them in pillows." Thereafter the building rang with the si-uwl of many not unmusical voices. Ihe soloists, for the most part, are well known to Sydney people. . "A writer in the "Sydney Congrcgntionalist," discussing the- mission, makes a reference to tho selfishness of some persons who describe themselves as Christians :-"To look at Dr. Chapman s great audiences," ho says, "one would think his.mission is.to Christians and not to sinners. And yet we aro sure this does not represent the worthy evangelist s object in life. Wo give him credit for desiring to present tho Gospel of Christ s love in all its attractive power to men and women who know it not, but churchgoers selfishly fill his audience halls, f.nd thus prevent an entrance to those from tho highways and hedges. This lack of magnanimity has been referred to over and over again, but so far with little indication of any betterment."

THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY. CATHOLIC PROSPECTS IN CANADA. With the coming of tho spring (says Iho "Catholic Times") begins each year the great stream of emigrants which Hows with over growing volume from the Old World to the New. The sons and daughters of Ireland, for reasons it is not necessary to dwell upon in this article, have formed a largo proportion of those who have sought the Land of Promise. They havo taken with them in many cases little but their native buoyancy of spirits, sound constitutions, and their Catholic religion. But with these they havo conquered a place of honour for themselves in tho new communities they have helped to create. Of no portion of America, continues the "Catholic Times" writer, is this more true than in the case of Canada, that great Land of Opportunity to which all eves aro at present directed. According to the census returns of 1901, the Catholic I'aith then numbered 2,229,000 adherents in tho Dominion, as against 2,027,194 of all other religions put together. Tho ecclesiastical authorities estimate the present Catholic population at 2,538,400, and we may just glance for .a moment at the splendid organisation the) Church has built up to serve the .spiritual needs of this great flock. To begin with, Canada has no fewer than eight Archbishops, with twenty-seven suffragan Bishops. There are 125S religious and 2795 secular priests, who serve 2128 churches. Education for the priesthood is provided in thirteen seminaries, with 1662 students, and there are, besides, seventy-two universities and colleges at which the highest education in the country is available to Catholic youth. With such a preponderance in numbers and with such educational facilities, it is not to be wondered at that Catholic opinion has become tho leading influence in moulding and directing public policy; or that the individual Catholic should be able to make open profession of his Faith without fear of incurring any social disability. It should be added that in any effort to appreciate the social and religious conditions obtaining in Canada tha fact is to bo remembered that thero esfete, sMe by side with tho 3,000,000 of British race or origin, a vast population of. other nationalities, including 310,000 Germans, 128,000 Indians and half-breeds, ami 22,000 Chinese and Japanese, with representatives of almost every $«OTK rac a <larg» proportion of ■tfhßßijlJlrjj "uj , the" Catholic"Fait'* sigfiffif#tt»F hopefulfor the future of 'the -liviirclMn this great land is the presence oi a na-tive-born population of French descent, 1,650,000, whoso attachment to ■tho Church, despite the recent sad happeni rVii Europe, remains unimpaired. Fullv appreciating tho liberties they enioy under the British Crown, tho Empire has no more loyal subjects.

LESS ATHEISM: MORE'FAITH. WHAT 'TWO OBSERVERS NOTICE. Sir Oliver Lodge was aeked by Rev. B. O F Hevwood, Lenten preacher at bt. Ann's Church, Manchester, whether it was within his experience that there was any considerable percentage of men in tho scientific work! to-day, who took up tho position of strict atheism as distinct from agnosticism, and whether any percentage would be prepared to argue that there was no God. Sir Oliver eaid that he did not know any important people who dogmatised in the direction c,f 'sbict atheism, but the agnostic attitude was common enough. In answer to a furthei micstion, whether, in his opinion, the ? ew of scientific men in general towards belief in God as a personal force behind and within the universe was more iavourably held to-day than it was fifty yeaiS ago, the Principal answered in tho aflmnatCaCnon Peter Green, preaching on Wonriav at. a midday service m. St. James s Church. Manchester, upon the. n> latooa of vienoe and faith, remarked. that ho 110iceimong the signs of the time a disposition to return .to the Cross aud its teaching. Whereas some years ago there was an unwillingness to emphasise the doctrine of the Atonement beeaueo the intellectual movement made people reuetant to accept what they could not understand, to-day there was a growing dMrust of purely intellectual processes. Ther" was a return to experience, which taught that life was more than understanding. _ DEATH OF MR.' FRANK HOWE, A LOSS TO THE Y.M.C.A, The death occurred on April 11 (says the "British Weekly"), as the result 01 a cycling accident near Cambridge, ot Mr. Irank Howe, general secretary ot tho 811tish National Council of Young Men a Christian Associations. Jlr. llowo was.46 years of age. His early days were spent in Bedford, where from childhood he was identified with the Howard Memorial Church. After education «t Bedford Grammar School, he was engaged for«oino vears iu journalistic work, but 111 IMO became identified with the Y.M.C.A. as assistant to tho late Mr. W. H. Mills, the first secretary of tho National Council, whom he eventually succeeded 111 1910. It would be difficult to estimate tho value of his sftTvices to tho national movement durin" the lost fifteen or twenty years. Whilo tenacious of the evangelical principles upon which the association has been built up, ho was yet able to wolconio now ideas, and in tho developments of .ra»nt years has has played a leading part-Ins sound judgment and his loyalty to association ideals securing him itho support ot the best friends of the movement. He was emphatically a great worker, never sparing himself apparently, and with a strong faith in the possibilities of the Y'MC.A., ho appeared to bo on 'the threshold of a career of increasing usefulness It will be by no means easy to fill the gap which his death makes in Hio ranks of association loaders. Beyond his moro immediate interests in the Homeland Mr. Howe's activities included membership of the Y.M.C.A. World's Committee, and his isorvices were greatly appreciated in Geneva. Of recent 'years he had resided at St. Alban?, where he was a leading worker and officer of theCongregational Church.