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IMPRESSIONS OF C M-S CON,GRESS,…

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IMPRESSIONS OF C M-S CON- GRESS, By Mrs Ashley Carus-Wilson. TWENTY years ago the most sanguine supporters of missions could not have dared to anticipate to-day's opportuni- ties for preaching the Gospel throughout the world or the desire now shown by all men everywhere to hear it. The largest missionary society—the one responsible for half the work done by the Pan-An- glican Communion including our sister Church in the United States—has never had more offers of service from first-rale j men and women, its ordinary income has never amounted to as much an it did last year. Hopes of extending urgent work in many directions had never risen so high when the extraordinary recent ap- preciation of the rupee and of tlia dollar in Chinli-.a circumstance none could have foreseen or prevented, and utterly p -i baffling to any noit sustained by the un- flinching confidence that work for God inspires — suddenly confronted the Church Missionary Society with this tre- mendous alternative double your gradu- ally growing income at once or halve your work-an unthinkable disaster to the Church at home and to the field abroad. Prompt action of an unprecedented nature must be takeip, so it summoned its northern constituents to a three-days' Congress at Sheffield, which its chair- man, summing up at the close, described as the most wonderful gathering he had ever attended. Successful Chairman. Throughout the Bishop of Sheffield pre- sided with well-informed sympathy, happy humour and gracious tact.. None of those who .addressed us spoke because they had to say something, but all be- cause they had something to say, and the experts'effort to concentrate intohalf-an- hour a world of thought and experience gave an incisive, epigrammatic and well- ordered character to the speeches as re- freshing as it is rare. The audience which filled Montgomery Hall seven times and crowded out Victoria Hall and the cathedral for the solemn, closing ser- vice was nlot only attentive and keen to take up all points made, but enthusiasti- cally demonstrative. Labour and Missions. Popular as their present Bishop is, Sheffield people always have a vehement welcome for their former diocesan, the Archbishop of York. And just as the Mayor's presence and the full, intelli- gent reports in the local press expressed thq interest of the whole city, so the co*- operation of the Archbishop and the Bishops of Durham and Sodor aaid Man made the Congress representative of the Church generally. Nearly 3,000 people came to hear the relations of Labour to Missions ex- pounded by two Scots who have won positions of foremost responsibility in England. The Archbishop's playful re- minder that no protective legislation of an Eight Hours' Bill touched him was easily believed when one noted his head prematurely whitened by the cares of office. But his oratory is finer than ever, and his account of labour conditions in China and his graphic picture of the consecration of Uganda's cathedral last September, proved that he takes time to know facts of the mission field of which many, with far more leisure, remain in contented ignorance. Then the leader of the Labour Party in the House of Com- mons, Mr. W. Adamson, with his rugged, capable face and unmistakable Scottish accent, described himself as a humble Baptist, and said that his great love for missions a.nd firm conviction that the Gospel of Christ is the one remedy for a world almost ruined by the ravages of war, had brought him to Sheffield just before the meeting to return by a mid- night train to London. One of the most powerful speeches of the Congress was Mr. W. E. S. Hol- land's, showing forth the danger to the world from a new Asia losing its age-lo-ng religions and providing industry with an unlimited supply pj cruelly sweated labour. Dr. Gordon Thompson urged the value and need of medioal missions. The Bishop of Durham, who carries I his seventy-eight years very lightly, and the Rector of Swansea uttered searching words as to the stewardship of money, which Mr. Daintree illustrated by the straightforward story of his South Afri- can parish of 240 families (half of them coloured) which has sent £ 18.000 to C.M.S. during his ministry. -Of the four ladies who spoke, two were widows of notable missionaries, Mrs. Douglas Thornton and Mrs. H. V. Starr, and in Miss Sorabji, daughter of an eminent Indian clergyman, whose tribute to British rule and plea for her country- women made a deep impression, one caught a glimpse of the Christian India that is to be as, one listened to her sweet and cultured voice, and noticed tho gentle self-possession of the graceful figure in the golden sari. This first C.M.S. Congress will not be the last, for a unanimous resolution, ac- cepted the Archdeacon of Liverpool's in- vitation to his city next year. Its in- spiration and best results will never be presented in statistics, but we feel quite wre th'it it will prove a turning point -in the history of the C.M.S. and of our Church- •

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