"THE PURITAN BLIGHT."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1649, 16 January 1913, Page 6

"THE PURITAN BLIGHT."

The He v. It. J. Campbell, of the City Temple, in London, is a Congrcgatioimlist minister who, has achieved a reputation fur speaking quite frankly, and not always soundly, upon n good many social aucutlonn with which it litis not boon 10 Church's tradition to oonoern

itself. In a cable message published this week, lie was reported as having declared that it was time tho Free Churches reconsidered their attitude towards the theiltrcs. This was a new, and, in our view, a sensible line for Mr, Campbell to take. A great many of those.people who, confusing the form with the substance, take a harsh view of the pleasures of lifo, will have resented Mil. Campbell's declaration that "the Nonconformists had not recovered from the Puritan blight," but, the necessary reservations made, this reproach is often deserved. That extrcmo spirit of intolerance which Mil. Campbell stigmatises as the "Puritan blight," and which in Australia and New Zealand has had its manifestations, is hiistakenly supposed by some to exert a restraining and disciplinary influence Upon the community, Actually, there is no constructive force behind this attitude, for tho moral fibre of a community is not strengthened by segregation from evil, aa the Puritan would have it, but by ' its powers of resisting evil. The samo cable Inessago that conycycd the Rev. R. J. Campbell's frank pronouncement in regard to the desirableness of: a rapprochement between the Church and the' Stage, also presented tho views of the Rev. F. B. MeyeS, minister of the Regent's Park Baptist chapel,. who said that the stage had radically improved, but in view of the decreasing church attendance, he did not think it would bo wise to foster ft loVo of pleasurci , The time had not arrived, ( he added, a Nonconformist institution similar to an Actors' Church Union. This is a point of view which tho plain average man of the world simply cannot understand, To him there is no inconsistency betwceii legitimate pleasure and religious belief, and lio difference between an actor of high personal integrity and a right-living raqniber of other . callings. The Actors' Church Union is an organisation created and. fostered by the Church of England—its'president is tho "Bifchop of Winchester—for the purpose of bringing members of' the theatrical profession who aro churchmen and churchwomcn in touch with the Church while on tour. But the; Rev, Mr. MeyEr does -not think that the time has arrived for a Nonconformist institution of similar character!

Recently tho New York correspondent, of .tho London Daily 2'elci/rapA'reoounted tho events of an amazing service ihat took placo in a church in Minneapolis. The minister of that church, in order ,to give point .to a pulpit denunciation of rag-time dances, went the length of arranging,, by way of a prelude to the sermon, for an exhibition of ragtime danMs by two chorus girls. The congregatiori, wo arc told, fairly gasped at the performance. No matter hoW brawn, the dance was. performed—tho "tufkey trot," the "crab_ crwlj" the "tortoise, tango," the "jelly wobble," the "angle-worm wijcy;le,the "grizzly," the "sea-sick glide," the "Boston dip," and various other forms of terpsichorcan monstrosity, All these were presented,, and as the chorus girls gyrated, now and .then a coin was flipped towards tho pulpit, while the big organ of the church pealed, forth rag-titne music, to : accompany tho dances. Only in America, of course, could such pulpit, ecccntricities bo possible.. But here, is the point; the demonstration, apparently, was not arranged for the purpose of demonstrating tho. evils attendant upon carrying the dartco to immodcrato and extreme lengths, but against dancing. To inflict upon his congregation. the members of which ,no doubt nad hot the slightest desire to participate in or encourago the "augle-worin. -wiggle" or kindfed exercisiis; such an amazing display, is .to' resort to ludicrous and, perfectly unnecessary extremes, and to miss any point that might be made. The extreme frowning at pleasure which the .Rev. R. J. Campbell has condemned is rooted in exactly the same fanaticism as inspired tho hysterical and unprepossessing performance bfithe Minncapoliß clergymani Extrenics are always bad—and that code is bad which will not allow that there is a golden mean: the golden .mean of sanity,, temperance, tolerance, and a decent atid thankful enjoyment of'the pleasures man has Been to Contrive for himself in this, world. ■ ■