Vol. xxxvi.

Bishop Ninde.

THE REV. JOHN WESLEY pronounced the dogma of apostolic succession to be a fable no man could prove. There is, however, such a thing as having the spirit of the apostles and in that sense being in the line of a spiritual succession, which is the best form of apostolic succession.

One in this apostolic succession was the Rev. Bishop William Xavier Ninde, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His paternal great-grandfather, James Ninde, was one of John Wesley's lay preachers; and his maternal great-grandfather, John Cole, was another of John Wesley's lay preachers. The Rev. Joseph Cole, another member of this illustrious family, who was associated with Wesley, was one of the three in the historic picture in which John Wesley appears walking between two tall men, the other tall man being James Hamilton, M.D. The Rev. Joseph Cole seems to have been a brother of John Cole, and therefore the great-granduncle of Bishop Ninde.

From the beginning of his ministry William Xavier Ninde performed his work faithfully and filled with marked success every position to which he was assigned. As pastor, professor, president of a theological seminary, and as bishop he discharged his duty conscientiously, and all who knew him reposed in him the most implicit confidence.

No. 7.

Bishop Ninde's very manner attracted observers, and his appearance suggested the lovableness of Saint John. Playfully one asked, "Can any man be quite as good as Bishop Ninde looks?" The answer could only be in the affirmative. Bishop Ninde

was as good as he looked. The casual observer would have this conviction, while closer and long-continued acquaintance only deepened the conviction. He had a charming personality, and his appearance was so strikingly sweet and beautiful that one instinctively loved him. Back of the outward appearance was a kindly disposition, and in the genial Christian gentleman was manifested a perfection of character which, beginning in a pure and lovely youth, had steadily developed and matured throughout the after years.

While gentle and loving, Bishop Ninde was at the same time a strong character, a wise counselor, and a forceful executive, prompt to decide when a prompt decision was necessary; and as a parliamentary officer presiding over an Annual or a General Conference he was one of the ablest of a Board of Bishops always noted for its parliamentary skill.

Though high in office and clothed with great, comprehensive, and almost independent powers, he was ever approachable, brotherly, and companionable, a bishop to

whom could come the humblest minister or the plainest layman with the assurance that he would be graciously received and that his case would have careful and kindly consideration. He illustrated the truth that one exercising episcopal powers should be a man of heart as well as head. He was truly an apostolic bishop, ever presenting a good example and constantly performing noble work.

His earthly career ended on the third of January, 1901. He had been a minister nearly forty-five years and a bishop nearly seventeen years. His impress has been made upon many an individual, and his influence has been felt far and wide.

His daughter, Miss Mary L. Ninde, has performed a valuable service for the Church by preparing a memorial volume* containing a well-written biography of the good bishop, the addresses delivered at the funeral service, appreciations by a number of bishops, three sermons, and a number of excerpts from his addresses.

The publishers have done their part appropriately and beautifully, so that in paper, printing, illustrations, and binding we have a fine specimen of the printer's art.

Religious Education Association. REPORTERS on great dailies sometimes look through magnifying glasses, and, hence, instead of being exact they usually exaggerate facts and figures. An instance of this exaggeration is found in connection with the Convention of the Religious Education Association, held last March in the city of Philadelphia. Referring to this meeting, various papers in remote parts of the country announced in bold headlines

*William Xavier Ninde. A Memorial. By His Daughter. New York: Eaton & Mains. Cincinnati: Jennings & Pye. 8vo, pp. 290. Price, $1.50.

that four thousand delegates were present. As a matter of fact, the official announcement at the close of the convention was that about four hundred delegates were present, and, possibly, that included all persons who had filled the blanks on the registration card, a thing which might have been done by anyone in attendance, even if he was not a member of the Association.

The Sunday school departmental sessions are stated by one of the periodicals to have had the largest attendance of all the sectional meetings. That being correct, one must infer that the others were rather small, for the Sunday school sectional meetings had only a moderate attendance.

At one period in one of these sessions about one hundred and twenty persons were counted, and this number included visitors as well as delegates. At another moment there might have been one hundred and fifty. This would be a fair estimate, and to say two hundred or two hundred and fifty would be exceedingly generous and verging on inaccuracy. In a city like Philadelphia, with its great array of Sunday school workers from which to draw, this does not indicate any very widespread interest or extraordinary enthusiasm.

However, the general meeting on the opening night in the Academy of Music, when the topic was "The Bible in Religious Experience," and the meeting on the closing night in Grace Baptist Temple, of which Dr. Russell H. Conwell is pastor, when the topic was "The Bible in Social and Civic Life," were well attended and full of interest.

During the various sessions quite a num ber of scholarly men presented papers or delivered addresses, some of which were exceedingly wholesome, while others were open to criticism because they were boldly

critical and manifested the aggressive spirit of nonconservative criticism. There was an evident effort to check extremists, as though some had been warned not to be too radical in their expressions and to give their public utterances a conservative cast; but, notwithstanding this care, now and then an extreme view with its logical sequence slipped out.

So marked were some of these instances that a number thought that had Dr. Conwell heard some of the addresses he would not have congratulated the audience at the closing meeting that the old Bible had escaped the destructive critics and had been restored as it was before with the same old interpretation.

Though the general topic was the Bible, some of the remarks were so remarkable that one minister in the audience asked: What Bible was meant?

That indeed was a pertinent question. Was it the Bible of the Hebrew, with the Gospels and the other writings of the New Testament left out? Was it the Bible with the supernatural and the miraculous eliminated? Was it the Bible with the divinity of Christ destroyed? Was it the Bible as a mere collection of literature, full of curious interest but without any divine authority? These were practical questions and demanded a satisfactory answer.

The participants in the exercises were not restricted to Christians, but the liberality was so great that a Jewish rabbi had a place on the program. Some thought there were some very significant omissions. These persons, however, may have been hypercritical, but one fairly sensible gentleman called the attention of one of the conspicuous members of the Religious Education Association to what he considered the scanty reference to Jesus and the general

failure to recognize the Christ, and asked why that was. To this inquiry, it is said, the member replied that the Religious Education Association was not a Christian Association, the evident implication being that the Association does not stand for specifically Christian doctrine, but for the Bible in some general sense and for some general sort of religious education. That it was possible for a member to make such a statement gives rise to serious reflection and leads some to ask whether a body which may be composed of Christians, Hebrews, Mohammedans, and others who give some kind of recognition to the Bible as a revelation or as mere literature should be regarded as distinctively Christian, and whether it is safe to trust to such a mixed body to guide Christian churches and Christian schools.

Perhaps, even the mixture may have some merit, for one of the daily papers reported that a Hebrew rabbi took some of the speakers to task for the way they regarded the Bible. Another paper quotes the rabbi as saying: "The speakers I have heard seem to be afraid that the Bible is not doing all the good it should. This admits a feeling of weakness. It is wrong, and I protest against such admission of such feeling." If that is a correct report some will ask: Where are we, when a Jew must take Christian teachers to task?

The Association's Object.

THE great object in view when the Religious Education Association was proposed was the Sunday school. The printed documents of the initial period prove that.

Now the Religious Education Association professes to aim at sixteen other things. Observers here and there think it would have enough to do if it devoted itself to the