The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1912. THE MODERATOR'S ADDRESS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1596, 13 November 1912, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1912. THE MODERATOR'S ADDRESS.

, . ;.. .. . ■■<>■:: ■: ■■■■^ The address yesterday by the Rev. ANDnEW..Q'AXiER.ON as Moderator of the. Eresb'ytoriap General Assembly was a lic-iv-rt-searching statement regarding- "the present pressing need of the -O-lwircli." After referring to tho urgent call from the foreign.mission field, the Moderator goes on to deplore What he terms the "steady and alarming drift towards godleasness," and "the fact that "in the lives of many' gold has dethron* cd God, pleasure, .supplanted .'ifaty, and vice .darkened, the. face- of vir ? tue." He also :'- declares that against tho ."dead-weight of lift* belief the 'Gbspb 1 ! jJr-eachcd-seems to break in helplessness as, waves of the sea which waste themselvos in spray against the .unyielding rock."- Many ..Will .think—and.- not. without ■son—that the 'Moderator-takes' too. gloomy . a -.'-. View of _. the present moral outlook. ,Therd'is too much shade and not enough light iii ; tho picture he has;pairitcd.. In spite : of all the faults and failings of socalled Christian people, Christianity has had, and is having, an enortoous influence for good in the world. The Gospel, as Mn.; Lecky tells us, has done more' to' regenerate mankind than all' the teaen-irigs of moraliste arid all tho disquisitions of philoso* phcrs. The German phiiosophor Nietzsche,' though he assails Christianity with uncompromising hostility, is compelleel to admit that it is : the mother of -modern, .■demoeracy.jWhich i means that it has been the greatest . .force iii the undermining of tyranny and the development of human dom. Ludoviclj in his book on Nietzsche, states that "Democracy as a political creed need terrify no one; for political creeds succeed each other like waves of; the sea, whose' thunder is loud and' whose end is froth; but the driving power behind I democracy is not a. political one, it is religious—it is Christianity." The course of _ European civilisation, its laws, its social customs, and its whole moral atmosphere have been influenced by Christianity; and perhaps the general ethical outlook was never higher, .nor. the social conscience more sensitive than it is toMr.. Cameron would probably admit all this;' but the fact that he has so largely—though not entirelyignored the .brighter side of the picture, gives the reader of his address a more pessimistic impression than the Moderator probably intended to : convey. _ Mr. Cameron's resolute determination to lay bare the weaknesses and dangers of the present position, is, however, infinitely, preferable to that shallow optimism' Which, by shutting its eyes to half the facts, persuades itself that all is well with the Chfireh and the World. The fact is that Christianity has grown "extensively," like a veneer, more than "intensively." It has. permeated and modified the old pagan conception of life, but has not overthrown it; and tho ideals of the average man'are the result of a compromise betweon Christianity and • Tho : majority of Churchmen are not heroically and whole-heartedly Christian. Mr. Camerok, gets to the very heart of the problem when he asks; "Do we set before us the standard of righteousness to which Christ bids us-aspire? '" Do Christians really shine as lights in the world by their unswerving honesty in w'ora and deed—by their self-denial and selfsacrifice?" This is the root of the whole matter, for until Christians themselves take their religion in deadly earnest and actually live it, how can they expect to win the world? Men talk about the failure of Christianity, whereas as a matter of fact—apart from a comparative handful of great souls who have been the salt of the earth in every ageChristianity has never been given a trial. ' It is the pagan-Christian compromise that has been tried and has, more or less, .failed, Who will say that Mr. Cameron is not right when he Btatcs that "it is as the members of the Ohurph rise into the nobler' morality to which Christ calls thein that the great problems of the Kingdom of God, as Well as.the social and political problems which are vexing our day will find their solution, and men be gathered in over-increasing numbers into the Kingdom." ~ . Tho ttddresß oentainn only the most incidental reference to social crob-

lemss, the Labour movement, and inic.li .like, 'questions; and ott 4,11 in ncttmijif, many reformers of the more nxli'imi!) and hysterical kind will perhaps regnrd it as ineffective ami disappoint.' nig. Hut i-iuisi! who t.iiku a morn Imlancccl and less Miperliciiil view can* not but feci Hint; Mil. (Jamkiih'N'b nicUiod. is the right oiu*. /IliimuittU' is the fiiiKlnnmiitiil viviuiiiiUii I'liu lii-st step is to di!V«lni) in tho itidlviduals whu ooiiiimiko the iiid.itjii a right disposition, imtmllhli moliveß, a belief in lmnmriit.v, and to jirtivido fciw nccCHSary spiritual di'fviuj?: power; .thou siicia! and all other really desirable wfin'rim will innvik ably follows Oliristiaiiily iy it rovi>= hitionary forco, aiid the greateßt riv volution in the world's hisloiw would take, place if only Uhnstiain, beetttiH! really Christian.. It would upuot existing nwral values, and turn the ftvorage coniinonphtcfl_Hpirif. of" vticil-1 lation and compromise into .'Willi-1 thinij rich and Htranpo," which would be a trerflondoiw lorco in. the world, and, as a recent Hamilton loo" tiiror (Bin. Phile) states, "tho ttsnect of social and economic problcmß would be so changed that wo liavo no fight to suppose that they .would remain insoluble. 1 ' The same writer declares: • I believe that wc are on tho verge, if indeed we tiro not unawares in the 'midst, of one more great relurious movement, perhaps the greatest the world .has knows.. The principle which inspires it conies, m\ tho intellectual side, from our- old enemy antl.helper science, in the doctrine of tho unity ot all life and forco; on the social side, it appears in tho reaction against that exaggerated individualism 'which, like Cain of o'td, denies corporate respoivSibii,it'}*; its reiigioiis «spp«t is a quickened be-lief, in the- brotherhood of nllniori in j Christ, I have' called it a religious movei meat, niul it is essentially religiousi but if accredited, religions will have nothing to do with it> it,will go oft nevertheless, inevitable and irresistible. But. if it is Christianised, if it is fearlessly clamed; for ■ Christ and guided by His Spirit, it will .'mako tho world Christian. Ea,tional optitoiate . recognises the. .greatness of the possibilities; but it also recognises that the .- realisation of these possibilities. depends upon human effort,; and it knows that" the heart of man finds it hard tp live up to its highest ideals. To realise these facts, as M% Oameron does, is not pessimism. To know the truth and resolutely face it, and all that it irrt,plies, is in fact the first step towards all moral and social reform—and it' is the' first stop that counts.