Welsh Journals

July 22, 1892. THE WELSH WEEKLY. THE MIDLAND BAPTIST COLLEGE. To many of our readers who take interest in the welfare of the above college, under the presidency of the Rev. T. Witton Davies, B.A., the following parti¬ culars given by Dr. Clifford, the warden of the college, in an address delivered at the East Midland Associa¬ tion Meetings, Jnne 23rd, on '' The Churches and the Future Ministry," reported in The Christian World Pulpit will be interesting :— We meet at the opening of a new chapter in the history of an Institution, founded, in the closing years of the last century, for the training of Christian men for the work of the ministry amongst the Free Churches of England. The Theological College, which holds its annual meetings here to-day, was started in 1707 by our great leader, Dan Taylor, in London ; afterwards it became "two bands," one located in Wisbeach, under the Rev. Joseph Jarrom, and the other in Loughborough, with the Rev. Thomas Stevenson as its chief ; and then, having made a brief and hurried visit to the un¬ congenial atmosphere of the metropolis, it returned to its predestined place in the Midlands, and dwelt in this town of Leicester for fourteen years. On the death of the Rev. Joseph Wallis, my first tutor, the College was removed to Nottingham, but the discovery by another of my tutors, Dr. Underwood, of com¬ modious and attractive premises in the neighbouring village of Chilwell, led to a short experience of the gains and losses of rural seclusion in the training of men for ministerial work. Scarcely had the town of Nottingham obtained its University, when deep stir¬ rings of soul seized the constituency. Keen-sighted friends coveted the advantages offered by such a tutorial staff of special training in the Arts and Sciences, and there was no rest until the College ended its wanderings by settling within sight of the University doors. All enduring institutions prove their vitality by adaptation to environment. They change with changing conditions, and thus continue a vigorous and useful life. Our Midland Baptist College has al¬ ready given copious and cogent proof of its capability of redeeming the time and making good use of new opportunities ; and therefore it is not surprising that it approaches its swiftly-coming Centennial Year, not merely with unimpaired energy, but with new ideals, more friends, increased responsibilities, brighter pros¬ pects, and fuller life. For the fusion of the Baptists so auspiciously accomplished within the last year, and so graciously consummated in the happy meetings held by our East Midland Association this week, has issued in the reconstruction and regeneration of this institu¬ tion. Our aims and spirit remain the same as our beloved fathers' and founders' ; but our basis is broadened, our methods are modernised, our horizon is widened, and our facilities for effective work greatly increased. We have lengthened our cords and strengthened our stakes. We know, after ample in¬ quiry and mature deliberation, that we occupy the right place in the distribution of Baptist College power in South Britain. For the next half-century, at least, our churches will need four institutions for the effec¬ tive equipment of their ministry ; one in the North, say, at Manchester, and in connection with the Victoria University—Rawdon and Brighton Grove coming to¬ gether according to the divine decree ; one in the West at Bristol, and in association with the Bristol University ; a third, for the South, in London— Regent's Park and the Pastors' College, '' now twain, being made one flesh," and gaining their Arts and Science course at University College in the case of non-graduates; and ours in Mid-England, and in touch with the Nottingham University. The long- dreamed and much debated reconstruction of our collegiate work, when made in the interests of economy and efficiency, will have to be, at first, on these lines. Hence the Baptist Churches of this Mid¬ land district are all directly interested in the condition and work of our Midland College, and will find in this organisation the best means of discharging to the Nation, to the Christian Church, in its Home and Foreign Missions, and to the world, their primary duty of creating and fashioning the Ministry of the future. Recognising these needs and possibilities, we have extended the period of study so that a man may gain five or seven years' tuition ; we have continued the arrangement by which the Arts and Sciences are taught by specialists from the University of Cambridge ; and for the Biblical Languages and Theology we_ have gained, in succession to our late, beloved President, Thomas Goadby, a leader in Principal Witton Davies ; who is in full vigour of manhood, possessed of keen enthusiasm, solid learning, long educational experience, high ideals, and is in living sympathy with our Churches, and with their faith and work. And I am sure I may add this testimony : the Council and the Constituency are both resolved to do their utmost to carry this institution to a foremost place in the com¬ pleteness of its equipment for preparing the ministry both of the immediate future and of the coming century. By another change in the constitution of the College I have the privilege of speaking to you this morning. You have created the post of Warden—a post which involves presidency over your business, some respon¬ sibility for the work of the College outside the College area, an Annual Address, and is meant to be a vital link between the College, the Ministry, and the Churches. With yOur usual kindness and generous affection, you have promoted me to this honour. I accept it with thankfulness ; for the wishes of my Alma Mater are commands, and I will try to voice the convictions and aspirations of our Committee in what I say to-day. MUSICAL NOTES. To commemmorate a notable event by the produc¬ tion of a new choral work written specialty for the occasion is by no means a new idea, and the beautiful settings that are continually brought forth in various festivals justify such a course ; but a vast number of the settings seem to be so fitted for the occasion, and that only—the text generally appeals so strongly to the moment and the locale of the first rendering—that a repetition is hardly ever thought of. An "Ode" written by Professor Armstrong, and set to music by Sir Robert Steward, for the Tercentenary Festival of the Irish University, held in the first week of this month, possesses special claim to the attention of every musician, not only as a work of art of intrinsic merit, emanating from a master mind, but for the clever application of the various resources of music to an altogether neglected sphere, viz., to produce the different characteristics of historical persons such as Congreve, Swift, Berkeley, Burke, and Goldsmith, by a clever treatment of the tools of his art. It marks a progress in musical art, and would well repay to be reproduced by choral societies. The "Ode" is published by Novello and Co. WESLEYAN CONFERENCE. A correspondent to the "Musical Times" of last week says of the " Ode ":—"The texture of the work is so rich, all is so bright, and has so much more of spontaneity, genius, and geniality than one is accus¬ tomed to hear. And it is so charming and original in idea, while the orchestral colour is most fresh, adn always of extreme interest. Perhaps musicians do not care much for ' picturesque ' orchestration, but here, fitted to the occasion, is some of the very best I know. It almost lifts itself to the sublime, if there can be sublimity in the 'picturesque." The total effect of the movements so designed is one of immensity, as if there were a very great multitude engaged. Beyond and above these things there is much writing of the quiet, solid, majestic character, classic in the best sense. A point of great skill is the application of melody, harmony, and rhythm to touch up and display, in musical tones, the character of the famous men connected with our old University. The combination of popular airs sounding simultaneously, accompanied by a mass of flying counterpoint, and Sir Robert's own special choral texture at the back, is wonderfully clever. The tendency of writing music on the orthodox lines, without caring for adaptiveness to the want of the age, has left a large vacuum in the repetoire of Sunday School music in Wales. The younger portion in the Sunday Schools are totally unprovided for ; two-part writing seems to possess but little fascination to our ambitious Welsh music students. Though our Sunday School music is no longer so completely under the sway of Yankee plantation songs, yet when the children are taught nothing but the compositions of young, unfledged composers of the district—that through some friend or other creep into the pro¬ gramme af the Cymanfa—the musical feeling which the children ought to imbibe is greatly imgaired, by a narrow love of "parochialism" that boycotts all ou siders, of whatever merit, to attempt to enter. What is wanted is a consecration on the part of some of our ablest writers of music to enrich our country with productions of the style of some of the beautiful German two-part songs, so that our children shall no longer suffer in this sense. The French musical papers announce that the Paris municipality offers a prize of 10,000 francs for a symphonic work with solo and chorus, to be competed for by Frenchmen only. The successful work will be performed with every care at the cost of the City of Paris. I wonder will the august municipal body of Cardiff read, mark, learn and inwardly digest this altogether not far-fetched moral. Sir John Llewellyn, Bart., of Penllergare, has been appointed director of the Great Western Railway in succession to the late Mr. Dillwyn, M.P. The Inspectorship of Welsh Prisons, about to be vacated hy Admiral Fenwick, will not be filled up. The duties of the post will be performed by the other inspectors. On Tuesday, at haif-past nine o'clock, the 149th Annual Conference of the Wesleyan Methodists com¬ menced at Eastbrook Chapel, Bradford, and is expected to last till Friday fortnight. Eleven hundred Ministers and two hundred and forty Delegates are expected to take part in the proceedings. It is fourteen years since the Conference was held at Bradford. This morning opened with devotional exercise, after which the election was proceeded with in private. The voting for the presidency was eagerly anticipated, and among those for whom several votes were given were : Rev. F. W. Macdonald, Rev. H. P. Hughes, Dr. Waller, Rev. W. L. Watkinson, Rev. Walford Green, Dr. Randies. The Rev. H. J. Pope received 126 votes, and Dr. Rigg was declared to be elected by 192 votes. DR. NEWMAN HALL'S SUCCESSOR. In announcing his decision to accept the call to Christ Church, Westminster, Rev. F. B. Meyer, B.A., stated the following reason, with others, that led him to decide :—" I was never an ardent denominationalist. Loyalty to your traditions as a Church has led me to threw myself into the affairs of the Baptist Union, and of the London Baptist Association, but I have often felt that these were not the element in which I could do my best work, and recent events have more than ever tended to make me feel that I could not con¬ scientiously remain in the position into which I had drifted, without taking an active part in a controversy for which I have neither inclination nor adaptation. The question has presented itself to me thus—shall I devoto the remaining years of my manhood to the service of a section of the Church of Christ, or accept a position which is equally in touch with all sections of evangelical Christians ? and the whole drift of my past life and work has pointed to the inevitable conclusion, qhat I can only give one answer to that question, and accept the latter alternative." A CANADIAN BISHOP. Mr. Justice Vaughan Williams is said to possess as keen a knowledge of agriculture as he does of law. The greater portion of his leisure is spent at his farm near Dorking. The irrepressible editor of the Chicago Interior has been greatly amused at the sight of a real, live Anglo- Canadian Bishop, and has given the following descrip¬ tion of him :—" One of the incidents of travel which greatly amused us was the meeting with ' his lordship,' the bishop of a Protestant Canadian see. His entire diocese does not contain one respectable city, nor an institution of the higher education. But no mediaeval functionary could have been dressed with more scrupulous care for his part. Oxford could not show to-day a more archaic costume than he wore amid the wilds and solitudes of British Columbia. From his shovel-hat to his gaitered shoes he was as ' chic ' as a school-girl on the boulevards of Paris. He wore enough crosses to fill a museum, from one to six inches in length, suspended about his neck, to tiny ones cut in his numerous seal rings. When he took out his watch he brought with the fob more charms than an Indian meclicine-man has in his otter-skin bag. But with all his intimate knowledge of ecclesiastical millinery he seemed never to have heard of Robertson Smith or even Professor Briggs, and he was not above a briar-root pipe and a bottle of beer. Altogether a more ludicrous mixture of the mediaeval and the modern, the sacred and the secular, we have not run across in many a day." THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. GRANDPA'S WAY. My grandpa is the strangest man ! Of course I love him dearly ; • But really it does seem to me, He looks at things so queerly. He always thinks that every day Is right, no matter whether It rains or snows, or shines or blows, Or what the kind of weather. When outdoor fun is ruined by A heavy shower provoking, He pats my head and says, " You see The dry earth needs a soaking." And when I think the day too warm For any kind of pleasure, He says, " The corn has grown an inch— I see without a measure." And when I fret because the wind Has set my things all whirring, He looks at me and says, " Tut ! tut ! This close air needs a stirring ! " He says, when drifts are piling high, And fence-posts scarcely peeping, How warm beneath their blanket white The little flowers are keeping ! " Sometimes I think, when on his face His sweet smile shines so clearly, It would be nice if every one Could see things just so queerly. —Youth's Compaion.