CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER RELIGIONS.

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This fallacy was continually making its way into men's minds and language. If our scheme of evolution obscured the fall of man, we were faithless to the revelation of which we professed to give a history; and if such a scheme made us regard Christ as a prophet but not the eternal Creator of the world, it entirely deceived us.

CANON MURRAY, of Winnipeg, and the REV. J. COWDEN COLE having spoken,

DEAN HACKETT, of Waterford, formerly for 18 years missionary in India, said that the character and personal claims of Christ should not be passed over that morning. From any standpoint, Christ was absolutely unique in character among the religious teachers of the world. He felt bound to protest against the statement of a previous speaker that Mahomedans worshipped Mahomed. That would be blasphemy for any Mahomedan, though Mahomed was certainly spoken of as the eternal light of God, and therefore existing from all eternity.

The REV. EGERTON RYERSON, a Canadian missionary to Japan, said that students of comparative religion should give more attention not only to literary Buddhism, but to the Buddhism of the people. In that, the search of man for a Saviour became evident.

The REV. L. B. RADFORD, of Norwich, having continued the discussion, The BISHOP of SOUTHWARK was called on to reply. All the speakers, he pointed out, shared the same faith and devotion, though they had approached the matter along different lines of thought and experience. It was well to be reminded of the truth emphasized by the chairman. The little cup of evolution could not hold the ocean of Divine truth. Yet it was a cause of joy and satisfaction that that great conception, which had made modern thought more coherent and rational and hopeful, had also its place in the interpretation of the primal faith in God and the primal revelation of Christ. He trusted the doctrines of the Fall and the Incarnation would never be brought into collision with God's teaching of the evolution of human life and belief. We should rather try to see what the doctrine of the Fall, in its essence and substance, and, still more, what the truth of the Incarnation had to contribute by way of completion or correction to our thoughts of evolution. We should also see what evolution had to bring to a deeper and, may be, clearer understanding of what we meant by the Fall and the Incarnation, so that evolution should place one more crown on the head of the Redeemer.

The CHAIRMAN then briefly summed up and closed the sitting with the Benediction.

At the afternoon sitting,

The REV. J. ARBUTHNOT NAIRN, Headmaster of the Merchant Taylors' School, and author of the preliminary paper on "The Process of Revelation, or Conversion," was the first speaker. While fully recognizing the reality of inspiration both in ancient and modern times, he emphasized the human element in all inspiration. Few, he said, would now claim that the human element was merely passive, like the flute in the hands of the flute-player. The belief that conversions to be valid must be instantaneous he dismissed as equally mechanical.

The REV. A. L. LILLEY, vicar of St. Mary's, Paddington, writer of the paper on "Revelation and Progress," contended that revelation had its history, and intelligence of that history had a religious value. There was a really progressive revelation; a reception by man, according to his power, of the great life and truth that God was giving to him. It should be remembered that the superlative revelations of Isaiah, Paul, and others, and even the unique revelation of Christ, were not effective disclosures to man from without of God's will and character. If they had of themselves compelled faith, their supreme value would have been recognized

by the contemporary world. But exactly the opposite was the case. Succeeding ages had gradually discovered, and were still discovering, the fulness of their worth. When we spoke, for instance, of going back to the Gospels, we meant that contemporary life was, in obedience to its own needs and capacities, beginning to discover in the Gospels some part or aspect of their treasure which had been hidden from previous ages. We might even say that we were explicitly realizing now certain aspects of the revelation which were only implicit in the religious experience of the great masters from whom we learned.

The main points of the elaborate paper on "The Notion of Revelation," by Mr. C. C. J. Webb, were given by PROFESSOR CALDECOTT. The Congress had to consider whether they preferred to remain on the old lines, holding that one religion was true and all the rest false, or whether they sympathized with the efforts made in most of the Congress papers to relate other religions to that which Christians held to be specially revealed. Could nothing be done in this direction with the religion of Japan? The Congress, Professor Caldecott urged, would miss a part of its message if it could not connect with our own religion those religions which had newly come within our experience.

SECTION C.

THE VOCATION AND RECRUITING

HOLY ORDERS.

OF CANDIDATES FOR

The Bishop of Gloucester presided at the morning session in Section C, held in the Holborn Town-hall, when the subject for consideration was "The Vocation and Recruiting of Candidates for Holy Orders."

The REV. J. O. F. MURRAY, D.D., warden of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, read the first paper. He said their first business in considering the problems with regard to the ministry that at this moment were pressing on the Church was to try and understand the nature of their responsibility, individual and corporate, in the matter of vocation. They wished to know, on the one hand, how every one whom God was calling to any special ministry might be helped to hear and to recognize the call and come forward to be trained and commissioned; and, on the other hand, how the Church might best test the truth of a claim to a specific vocation. They were beginning to feel the shame of "lost vocations.” They wanted to know how to guard against their recurrence. It was clear from the experience of Kelham and of Mirfield that there was no fear of lowering the standard of intellectual qualification if they widened the area in which to look for signs of a vocation to holy orders, and the experience of the Church Missionary Society and of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, showed that the call to some of the most efficient labour might not come out unmistakably till the eleventh hour.

The REV. C. H. HAYES, D.D., Professor of Apologetics at the General Theological Seminary, New York, said that the serious problem in England with regard to funds did not press on them in America. In America they had endowments for aiding students, so that no man might be kept out of the ministry by want of funds. (Cheers.) There were scholarships at Universities and theological colleges which he might as honourably accept as a Rhodes scholarship. It was owing to the need of men having been felt long ago, and means taken to remedy it, that these endowments existed. It must not be thought that these endowments allowed men to live in luxury; many of them had work apart from their studies, and it was good that entrance to holy orders should not be made too easy. Every

RECRUITING OF CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS. 29

man who intended taking orders must continue as a candidate for three full years. The best thing that could be done in recruiting was to sink all thought of loss or profit, and announce that any one who wished to train himself for the ministry would have as much money as was needful for his assistance.

ARCHDEACON W. O. BURROWs, of Birmingham, said that until 20 years ago they had not troubled themselves about supply and demand, and it was even urged before then that too many men were being ordained. He thought that more ought to be done by parents, clergy, schoolmasters, and dons of Universities to increase the supply of candidates for ordination. More attention should be paid to boys in the matter of recruiting. Public school preparation for confirmation had increased of late years, and at the Universities there was a strong movement on behalf of foreign missions for which they thanked God. Referring to finance, Archdeacon Burrows said there were sons of poorer clergy, orphans, and others who needed aid to go to the University. If a diocesan fund gave aid to a boy it must resign him cheerfully if, after a time, the boy changed his mind and did not wish to be ordained, nor should it endeavour to regain the money advanced. There was much good material among candidates of humble origin, but their proper training was long and costly. Among the chief needs of to-day was a Protestant Mirfield and a high and dry Kelham.

The REV. A. W. DAVIES, the fourth and last selected speaker, said the number of men ordained in England had fallen within 20 years from 800 to about 600, and this at a time when the need both in this country and in the Church over the seas was still greater. Two elements seemed essential to successful recruiting for any service :—(1) An attraction in the service itself and the removal of any misconception about it. (2) An efficient recruiting machinery. With regard to the latter point, the Student Volunteer Missionary Union had as its aim the securing of recruits for foreign missionary work. Its source of supply was the colleges and Universities. The students whom they tried to influence had generally selected their course of study, and probably also their future career. It had no touch with the home life, no influence over the parents, and yet it had come to be regarded as one of the most important influences in securing candidtes for the missionary societies. He thought the secret of any success under God which it has achieved lay in the fact that it had specialized upon its particular work of recruiting.

The BISHOP of SALISBURY was the first member called upon by the chairman to take part in the discussion. He urged that it was the duty of the clergy to send others into the ministry as they had been sent. It was especially the duty of the clerical parents so to live that the son might naturally become anxious to enter the ministry. He knew perhaps 500 clerical families, but very few of the sons were to take holy orders. Englishmen considered their homes to be the natural place for grumbling, and it was unfortunate when a son saw his father, a clergyman, considering his work a bore. He knew one family in which five sons were to take orders, a fact due to the way in which their parents had put before them the claims of the ministry.

CANON PETIT said the ideal he would like to mention is that workers should have a practical belief that the work for which they were seeking men was God's work, and that if it were God's work there were men for the work somewhat marked out by God for it. The work of looking out for recruits for the ministry should be a regular piece of every parochial clergyman's work, and in every diocese there should be a small body of clergy to receive the names of young men desirous of becoming candidates for ordination, and of those who might be deemed suitable to be brought forward.

The REV. CYRIL BICKERSTETH, of the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, said that the fact that the 60 students at Mirfield were selected from some 600 candidates showed there was no lack of men, but a lack of machinery. Still, it was lamentable that the public schools and Universities did not supply candidates for the ministry as they formerly did. The boy in the national schools, would at the age of 13, perhaps, jump at ordination, and he might be trained until he was 18, and then enter upon a University career, but if left alone until 18 years of age, he would have become interested in some trade.

The BISHOP of GRAFTON and ARMIDALE said that when young men applied to him he sent them to live in a vicarage to assist a clergyman for about 12 months, and he was able to tell from the report of the vicar whether the candidate was a minister in embryo. Not half of those who became stipendiary readers proceeded to theological colleges, but returned to secular work.

ARCH DEACON DANIELL (Kingston) expressed the hope that they would feel that the time had come when the need of almsgiving for the training of clergy should be brought before the people. It had been said that poor people liked to be ministered by gentlemen, and, as far as manner and courtesy went, they got such men from Kelham and Mirfield.

The BISHOP of CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA said they had in America a scarcity of men offering themselves for the ministry, but along with it there had been a hopeful movement- the laymen movement. They should be thankful to God for the revival among young men, but they should be careful not to bring pressure upon them to enter the ministry.

The REV. JAMES BUCHANAN SEATON held that they should not despair of getting men from the public schools, and the REV. FREDERICK WEBB held that, if the Congress could provide that every minister should have a living wage, there would be no difficulty in obtaining candidates.

The REV. H. H. KELLY, Warden of the Society of the Sacred Mission, Kelham, said there were hundreds of boys sent to them by the clergy, and when they had weeded out the unsatisfactory there remained a lot who were suitable. Mr. A. N. STACEY, a delegate from Bathurst, Australia, who was the only layman who spoke, said that after a man had been in the ministry a few years he should be assured of at least £200 a year.

The BISHOP of GLOUCESTER, in summing up the discussion, urged every one to go away with the thought that they had a great responsibility in the matter.

“The Training

At the afternoon session the subject for discussion was for Holy Orders." The BISHOP of GLOUCESTER again presided.

The DEAN of ST. PATRICK'S held that the ideal training for the ministry would be a University course with a honours degree in theology, or a post-graduate course with a year in a theological college, but it was too expensive. He deprecated the multiplication of small theological colleges. They should strengthen the best and enlarge their freedom, but keep the number down.

The ARCHDEACON of PERTH, Western Australia, wished to see a theological training college in every diocese, and every one of the 20,000 clergy of the Church of England a recruiting sergeant.

The REV. E. C. WEST, describing the work in South Africa, said that the Army and the Johannesburg mines had provided many men for the training colleges.

The REV. H. H. KELLY said that in England, in America, in the Colonies, in native missions abroad their theological college system was too often only the theological part of the University system with the education left out. University education was an exceedingly difficult and

THE CLAIMS OF THE NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD. 31

expensive element to supply. They believed that education could be supplied without it, and much better supplied.

The REV. W. H. FRERE opened the discussion, urging that it was essential that the need of serious training should be kept before the clergy. The REV. W. E. CHADWICK, D.D., suggested that the training of a man should be continued after he had been ordained priest. The REV. W. J. DENZILOE THOMAS (Washington, U.S.A.), the BISHOP of MILWAUKEE, the BISHOP of SALISBURY, the REV. C. H. HAYES, D.D., and the REV. Dr. ANDREW GRAY also took part in the discussion. The BISHOP of GLOUCESTER, in summing up, said they must confess with shame that England was behind America and the Colonies with regard to training of candidates.

SECTION D.

THE CLAIMS OF THE NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD.

The Bishop of Durham presided at Section D, which met at Caxton-hall, the general subject in the morning being "The Claims of the Non-Christian World." At the appearance of the Bishop with the principal speakers the crowded audience broke into a loud cheer, after which, at the invitation of Bishop Ingham, they rose and engaged in silent prayer. Bishop Ingham then conducted a brief and very impressive service, including special prayers for the Congress. Among those on the platform were Sir John Kennaway, Prebendary Fox, Dr. Hoyles, K.C., of Toronto, Mr. Eugene Stock, the Rev. E. D. Stead, and Dr. Herbert Lancaster.

The BISHOP of DURHAM divided his address into two parts, dealing first with the general subject of the morning, and, secondly, with his special topic-the claim of Christ on the Church. He said the phraseClaims of the Non-Christian World-was, perhaps, not so arresting as the matter itself might suggest, yet it meant half the human race, vast masses going their own way, apart from Christ, out of vital contact with Him, with pollutions and perplexities, and bearing the load of the heart with its sins and griefs. To them it meant no mere phrase upon paper; it was a cry great and bitter; the claims needed to be thought out and prayed over. The claim of Christ on the Church was that the Church-the blessed company of all faithful people-should evangelize the world. The Church was the organ of the Lord's will for the world-of action, speech, sympathy of seeking and of finding-and His will was that the world should be saved. There was a special obligation resting on the Church of the race to which He had entrusted so much of the world.

The REV. S. A. DONALDSON, Master of Magdalene, Cambridge, discussed the "Rationale of Foreign Missions." Why should they carry the Gospel to non-Christian peoples? Because they were ordered to do so by the Lord Himself, and because they were profoundly convinced that Christianity was the true religion, the ultimate revelation of God to man, the only hope for the betterment of the race for this world and the next. (Cheers.) From every part of the world arose the spirit of inquiry. The mass of heathendom was growing increasingly dissatisfied with its standards of religion, and all were ready to examine a system which offered something better than anything yet attained. Dealing with the question from the side of economics also, he asked, putting it on the lowest level, how much would be saved to the Exchequer if all were Christians. The system of education, based on Christianity, had a great future.

Mrs. CREIGHTON, urging the claim of non-Christian womanhood, spoke