THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1485, 6 July 1912, Page 4

THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE.

"MONEY IS OUR GOD." ''80,000 SINNERS IN AUCKLAND.' PLAIN SPEAKING BY A PRESBYTEIUAN MINISTER. (By Telegraph.-Presa Association.) Auckland, July 5. There are 80,000 sinners iu Aucklna.d| not 70,000 as I eaid Uio otk«r day," declared tho Rov. A. A. Murray, of St. 1 , Andrews Presbyterian Church, , Years/ ot prosperity appear to havo unbalanced spiritual Bll'aira and made Aucklandera absolutely indifferent to higher and better tilings. Honey! Money! Money! That is our Uod. Mammon is being worshippod from tho cradle to tlio grave. For that souls are being perished, morality ami nobility lost. It may bo that thd Church is too conservative, that our, preaching is too abstruse, that dignity is considered tnoro important than the: gatheriug-m 0 f If tha( . so, then dignity in the-social sense must go. iorm and ceremony are but tinsel, rruo work and belief aro gold. Aucklondcis, and New Zealandors in general, will honour and follow ono who is earnest, strong, and bravo In his belief. They scorn weakness and compromise. In brief they only will look to a man. Boardingkous,cs ore a snare and ai K;„ a «i / v s lc!mo which is slowly mning the foundations of our national JJio. liioso arc tho haunts of moralitymongers, pleasure-loving folks who scorn tho simplicity of their own firesido, tho sacredncss and chastity of true wedded lie. At Homes are more important than babies; a dance to ono night at their own fireside; cards bettor than that JS « w^f. h ls our 6(re ngth. Napoleon said that tho greatest need of Franco was good mothers. Were ho in Auckland today ho would apply it to us hero. Mem and women have not learned economy. H they had wo should have more happy l joyful homes. I agree that rents are high 1 and believe that this is duo to tho illegal boosting of land, and tho prices winch are insisted on by combines or rings in tho building world. "Maternity's ills ore too heavily charg* ed for by medjeal men. Let our politicians see to the romedy there and leff tho press expose tho follies of tho sann. Ono of the finest things Lady Plunket did was to inaugurate the Plunket nursini system. Well and nobly are they doing t >rar part and let me hammor homo thai children are a nation's joy and strength. Betting in a curso to Auckland, and business men who aro employers aro getting alarmed. Many bright young men have lost their jobs through this awful curse, thero is too much gambling in private 1 homos. The police, however, aro doing: their best. Wo havo a zealous and splcn, did force. Encourage them to do theil part, and I am pleased that tho 'Herald' recognises its duty in this important/ affair. "What aro tho causes? some ask. Wellit may bo that our fight with Nature, the whacking of bush, and the breaking of laud, the clearing of roads, and making of lines with the building of mercantile trado, blinded tho eyes of our people to holier things. Nature's ruggedncsi has in a sense to bo brutnlised into fit. ness. Tho brutalising may havo entered tho soul. Ignorance of literature, drama, and art is apparent. Thero is no pub* lie seeking for the sweetness, the elevation which theso bring. Foul-mouthed orators, filthy and disgusting literature, is sought and applauded. Indecent postcards aro heralded as genius and art, Theso aro vitiating tho beautiful idealg of our race. Mothers and fathers do not call their children aside, and speak of those snares which abound for the innocent and tho young. Many teachers resont tho introduction of that into the schools. What shrewish hypocrisy! What idiocy aud sin! For a sin such an attitude is. Statesmen, editors, teachers, mothers, and fathers should read and re-read "Tho Cottier's Saturday Night," by Robert Burns. .-..Therein is tho picture of family love and' purity which should be and originally was tho ideal of tho New Zealand race. "But the question of reforms! Off with! our coals! Ministers, ciders, all, buckla' to in this salvation work for God. Keep 1 tho ship of Now Zealand from breakins its back on tho rocks. Churches must cease to be mutual admiration societies!, ministers must walk in tho haunts of tho poor, not in tho drawjng-roms of the well fed. Our religion is. too sombre, too staid. Jesus was joyful and smiled. Lot us sinilo in our churches, too. Bring tho sunshine of God into tho faces of tho Auckland crowd. ' Misrepresentations of the attitude of God should bo zealously but kindly refuted. Work! Work! Work! I know that Aucklanders will respond., They haTO generous hearts j logic appeals to them; manliness they admire. All. they noed is vigorous loading; straight, simple religion. For the futuro I have great hope. Pessimism does not canker my soul. Wo 6hall win many of th«( 80,000 lost, and New Zealanders will again bo heralded forth as tho scions of God."