RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1960, 17 January 1914, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

THE SOGtAL CONSCIENCE. Tho exact words-used lfy tho Bishop of Oxford in regard to Mr. Larkiii and the Dublin troublo (about which we heard recently by cable) AW interest* iiifi. At tfeo Swj/atfld Workers' and Trades Boards' Ooiiforciico tlio Bishop said: "Wo have been trying to pick up tho wounded ond he;,il them in the in* dustrial struggle—aiot very efficiently, but wo liavo been trying constantly to do that—but w« have almost altogether, neglected tho prior duty of thundering at the gates of tyranny* Wo have not stood up for the poor. Why is it left to such as Mr. larkiii—when, there is a Church in Dublin which claims so rightly to bo tlie Church of tho poor— to call attention to the appalling coin ditions in Dublin industries? Micro is a great act of reparation and of .repentant which it is jwt too late for us to ■"','" . Ou '''''" "Kecord" Hays; "lite Bishop's charge may bo oxasgeratod, but it is not without itistifU tiatio.li, and wo welcome every lionest ?,, attempt to arouso ih<> Uiurcii s social conscience. It is not very easy to 'thunder at tho gates of tyranny except in. a general sort of way, but even this is Wtor than the siKiieo Winch comes of indifference.", "THE GLUE OF THE MAIE." "Even in the intellectual life to aek« nowledge God puts us at least in the. way of getting rid of our most stubborn problems," says the New York "Evan- , gdist" (Pros.). "We ikmnder amid' hopeless contradictious, or elee must givo up the owst in indifference ami hi ourselves drift, if thero is not at the bottom of all our calculations tho acknowledgment of God.. If there be no moral order, no infinite'wisdom and goodness and lovo licliitid and above this welter'of the world, what a iniserabln trifle human life is, with j>o rational moaning in it, no desire for which ib exists, no purpose toward which it movers. But in tho Christian faith wo at' least know that vro are neither tlio 1 sport of idle'chance nor the victims of blind fate. We know that there is in' the world wiso kw and loving purpose, . To believe in God is to make many dark things light, and many rough 'places I smooth. God is tho first presti-nposition ■if all knowledge. It is because tim world is suffused with mind that the human mind can havo any relation to it at all. To the unbeliever the world is i full of insoluble problems—-iMpclessly insoluWfi. But tho man who aekrio'wWKes God has at least hold of the clue of the maae," CHINESE PROBLEMS. "So deeply do wo fed the impropriety of placing any religion in a. position where- it will .seem to sustain official rolations to the Government," says tho Now York "Christian Advocate" (Moth.), "that when a distinguished American, whoso uamo is inseparably connected with Protestant missions, was invited to become Ambassador iiL China, wo rejoiced at his good sense in refusing tlie offer, though.;Wα believed him eminently qualified for the position. Ho is known chiefly for Itis missionary zeal, and so identified with'a denomination of aggressive Christians, that, whatever lvis talents far diplomacy, all his acts, however disinterested thcfl might be, would bo under suspicion a'a products of religious cunning. Wβ b<> lievo that no large sympathy for the es* ta-blislirucnt of a Stato religion will bo shown by tho meft who are forming tlto life aB-d determining tlio destiny ot tho Shincso ltenublic. It has already been shown to the leader of tho reactionists that many conscientious tow-i in official ' life would;, bo compelled to refrain from j participation in -State"' religious •• torvices, because they could not "violate , their own convictions. Tins would lie bwfc the beginning of embarrassments which- 110 M-ation can afford to-, encourage." ALTAR OVERFLOWS WITH TREASURE. Women of' the. Protectant Episcopal Church of America laid ou tlio altar more than 307,500 dollars at tlio triennial united offering sorriro o'i the Auxiliary of tlio'*iteijrtl of I.H-s*. mods in tJw Cathedral of St. John tho I Divine, New Yorft. Thorn wore more I than 3090 women crowded into tha : I Cathedral, and hundreds were turned away. After the offering; which was the largest fiver received at any oiw time in tho Cathedral, all of tho women in attendance partook of holy communion. Tho alms basin was -so heavy that Bishop Greet could not lift it and he j called Dean Grosvenor a»d Canon 'Fran-: ci's Little to liis aid. At the Cathedral service it seemed as if tlie nioneiv would never stop pouringi in. Tho regular ushers went down tho aisles with tho silver plates as for an ordinary Sunday offering. Very soon they had to return because the receptacles were lilH. At tho chancel they poured tlio drafts, cheques, gold pieces, and greenbacks I into the big alms basin of gold. In a verj' short tiiuo the gold basin .became too small. Then something was done which, it is believed .never'happened in a church before. Tho overflow money was piled into'a drawer and the drawer was placed oh the■ unarblp, altar and its contents offered to God.' A POLITICAL'SCRIPTURE LESSON. One characteristic ef tho better sort, cf American journalism it i'to offectivo use it nialces of Scriptural tiiiotatioii and illustration. The day after the rout of Tammany the-New York "Eyou- , ing Post" h«3!ukd its' principal leading article with tho following senteii-eo ic : italics :— And when Aiiitopliel saw that liis counsel wes not followed he saddled liis ass and gat him home'to liis house, to his city, and put his j-iouseboid ill order, and banged himself. "This," said tho "Post," "is the Scrip. turo lesson which Now York this uroriiing'bkls Aliitophel Murphy (i.e., the Boss of Taminatiy-) and all his civw take to heart." HERESY AND GRUDITY. "Some mr-n havo keen tried I'or licroet and found guilty, and deprived of their positions, when they ought to havo been tried, if tried at nil," says tho New York "ProsUytei-iau Exaimnor,""for a lacic of mental or moral calilvre, qunliiyisip; tSicin to occupy |)osit!ons an public teachers. Thero is sonivthinix a ijreat deal worse than advanced UiiiikM«, which is xery mucli of a relative term, and 0110 very hard to define. A much more serious oflenre is for » man, occupyiiiß a. position or trust and opportunity ' ami responsibility, to offer to those conmiitt-C'ci to his c;iro half-bakod deugh, and very inferior dough, at that, and call ii iiew broad, recently baked by Uimsoii' in his own oven. Too many inexporiMicL-J rniu-ds t:xke such utterances at their face value> and are unduly influenced by tlicm. Crudeiifse in tliinlcins is vastly more reprehensible in any man claiming to he a thinker ti'ian is any amount of heresy carefully thought out. There can bo very few pravor tnistalces rnndo than to olevato to mnrtyrrlo'.n a man wlicse real oll'piicu is that he blundered into saying things which occurred to him, in a confused sort of way, and bcforo ho had time to sort them out, or cot i-c-late thcvis t<3 other things, turning them leoso ujwn tho and .insoceut iinhlio. To mate a, martyr of a man whose real offenco is crude thinking, in ti-nfatjiiiiaf lines of thinking, is a colossal nhmdor. To roako it h to cajionite erndtness, whoii we oupht to kindly guide it on its difficult journey past that fofk in the roads whore tho danßcr-sig-n is posted."