The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1909. THE CHURCH AND THE MASSES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 651, 30 October 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1909. THE CHURCH AND THE MASSES.

The General Assembly which is at pre-' sent holding its sessions in Ohristchurch may be regarded as tho annual Parlia.ment of the Presbyterian Church of Now .Zealand, and tho deliberations of such an important representative body should bo of general interest. The Presbyterian Church is noted for the high standard of culture of c its clergy, and tho,virile coin-, .mbn'sohse and sound business'capacity-of its' laity. These'.characteristics combino to give a special value, to tho debates and recommendations of; the Assembly, on :ruat-; tere of national concern. 'The report of the committed which had carefully considered, the relations between the Church and the working classes took; a. decidedly 'hopeful. 1 view.of the.situation, and in its; main features ..largely, agreed with . the :optimistic '.utterance of the Anglican Bishop of Auckland (Da.' same'.subjectas'reportod in The Dominion a few weeks ago. Tho great majority of the answers to' tho questions circulated. ..for the purpose of .'eliciting information pn tho matter was to' 'the effect that workingmen attended the-churches proportionately as well as other classes, the "ncg- ; ative, answers coming for the most part from the larger centres. The main fac: tors tending to alionate-the labouring classes from- tho Church are stated with a candour, and insight which are: altogether commendable, and'such' a straightforward method of grappling, with the problem shbuld",npt,,be without its effect in', assisting to bring "about a satisfactory solu-, ,-tipri. .'Hands are being held out fromboth :sides,.and.if the situation is handled with wisdom;'.patience,, and mutual 'forbearance,;a .more cordial-feeling between'tho. .Church'; aricl .the .masses 'should before;: Jong'be established. '■•■ Each has-touch .to ■ learn from 'the other.,, Tho democracy' is, in need of high religious.ideals to coiin-. teract the; tendency- to materialism arid 'selfishness engendered by. the:d.aily struggle for existence, for no great movement :can bo. permanently successful without i (to quote the words of Professor Muirhead of Birmingham University) " a profound belief in'tho,iroality of the unseen and' tho. spiritual—of all. that tho best ;men' in all ages' have meant by God arid an 'other' world." Not : only, the work-, ang-man,, but the public generally are apt in these days to place comfort before, .character, and:-,tho temporal before, the' eternal. On the; othori hand the Church! I has much, to'learn from the democracy,: and its l pronouncements would hayc infinitely greater, force and" valuo if .it .had: the full sympathy and support of I the whole community. .Tho Church' is at iprcsent enormously weakened by the.fact "that tho .very people among whom the Founder of Christianity lived" and;' to whom, he "made his most effectivo appeal 'are to a largo extent indifferent or hostile to "its message. -. , •'-:'. There is-however a real danger-lest tho: religious bodies, in their reaction from an attitude of excessive unworldliness which ■: ignored many of: the most pressing facts of life, should sweep to the other, oxtreme, and, forgetting their high calling as, teachers of religion;' become, participants in tho strife of party associations for the promotion'of this or that-social reform. The clorgy. are not by their training specially qualified to. speak with authority, on economic questions, 'and some recent re-, marks: by Dr. Inge, , the Lady; Margaret' Professor .of Divinity at Cambridge, are well worth their careful consideration. He is of opinion that there >is a good deal of cant in: the popular preaching, about " selfish individualism," and bringing- down religion from the clouds to rest on solid earth... He :has ■ little patienco with, those < clergymen .who stigmatise as impractical and useless any.' teaching which' has rio'.bearing on the bread prob; lem, and he states. what ho believes. to be the proper function of-the Church in these words: .: '-~■.

" Social reform through personal character—: this is the solution of political and social questions offered by Christianity. But personal character • is ,■ the end, not-tho means; social progress which does not depend upon, or iniluenco character is of small value."-, What is vitally important is that we'should be per-' sonnlfy high-minded and pure and sincere and kind-hearted—true men in our relations to God and our.neighbour. It is a humble programme cempared with .that of .preparing for an Utopia the day after .to-morrow; but it happens to be the little.bit of work which has been committed to us, and wo shall find it quite enough to employ all our energies, Tho first Christians believed in a coming millennium;: and many of them lost their faith'when it did not arrive. Wo have tho advantage of a much wider outlook, and we ought not to,fall into such childish mistakes. We .must be contont -to take our place somewhero'in tho middle of a long series. If we could drop down from a ' time : machino ' into tho" world ten thousand years hence, we should undoubtedly find men still trying political experiments—varieties of monarchy, aristocracy, arid democracy j still debating about' philosophical.. theories—idealism, realism, and empiricism, and. still discussing the relations of Church and State. They will, I hope.and think, be a little wiser than we nrej but the spectacle would doubtless make our impatient reformers weep." '■'• -.

Many-'pcpplo wlio would 'quito properly decline to bo' labelled .Socialists may ■'think l that'Dr:' : lnoe draws too strict :a ; JlnA.njL.rnaß.Cflß-tKc.atUtudfl hf t.Ka: fltmrnh

to the great.'social questions of the day, for Christian people;cannot shut off their religion arid their poljtics in watertight compartments as it were, and 'a man's religious beliefs if they aro to bo of any value, must influence his wholo, life—individual, political, and social. But on the other hand it would be disastrous if the Churches generally should rush recklessly into the political fray, and follow the example of the Anglican Church- Socialist League, for instance, which declares that its members " accept tho principle oi Socialism, which is tho fixed principle according to which • the community should own tho land and capital collectively and use them co-operatively for the'common good." As Dn. Gibb pointed out at one of the Assembly meetings in words that leave no room for misunderstanding: " the Church must stand clear of all political factions. Its members might be individualists or dut-and-out_ Socialists, but the Church had no politics, and must have none." The General Assembly/of the Presbyterian Church of.New Zealand is far too sane and level-headed to advocate any extreme and doubtful theories of social re'form, ( and its carefulness in-drawing a' distinction between.the two kinds of Socialism, and its caution in hot; committing'itself to either show that it fully recognises that these problems must not he-handled without adequate knowledge, sound common sense, and a full recognition of thor'responsibility of. the position.'-' .-'.