THE PRESENT UNREST.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1906, 14 November 1913, Page 7

THE PRESENT UNREST.

ADDRESS BY BISHOP SFROTT, RELIGIOUS DUTY AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. Tho present state of unrest was rev forced to by the Anglican. Bishop of: Wellington .{J)r. Spjfo.tt) in tho course o.f an address to tho Guild of Intercession,, at St. Puul*» M.ulg'ra : y.o Streot, last night. Tho liisil'op said;"Wo aro 'living in a, ttnio of vast U'ii-, rest. I suppose there. has never '.been, such unrest heforo.: In. old days .wo road of local upheavals, but never dt a time when the whole, world wis ,m:.,& state of Unrest It is. our duty to ask' ourselvos what can a Christian man do? Wo think nowadays that religion should; consist almost entirely of ..'bon.efico'iib, practical activity. No doiiiut such atv* tivity is importaii't—-it had an important place id'tlin life of our Lord—hut those who 'have lived long' ouougli to haver seen The growth of this idea from its inception, some fifty years ago, have to confess that it do.es not seeiii to |io quite tho eqiarsleto conception of religion it was once thought to be. liven ben.ofieeut iiolivitjhjs can be deadening in effect. The 'Gospels'■■ B.lipW that,'bar Lord taught that the Christian couhl inilucnco the worid best by his pcjrspii-. what lie wag, rathe/ than what ho did. <l ,¥e. are the .light," ho said— operating fiittiply' hy '.ito o«n intrinsic quality. And ihoiigh tlis life Was full pf activity,,, lit Kit's, not His aotions.BQ -much as... thequality pf tho spirit which inspired theni that, iso powerfully influenced tho world. This aspect . of Gliriat's teachirig has been almost entirely forgotten for the last fifty years, hut all out feverish -activity ajvd ; tho passioii for .good works, which has taken its placfl in the. life of our days hashad little or no perhianfent effect on tho World. Law/ and Authoflty. There are, . I thiuli;, throo or four tbingis to which the present nnrb'st }i" duo. AYe hav:o lost 'tho senso of God,, as tlio Mprasl of pur race. Wo have hardly, any spnso left of the majesty and power of •law. "\Vo do not rbcoßniso that there is. .un-y t)ivin6..,Aiithority, wliiqh it is lhaiivs duty to obey-. Tho reason/for tlils is-that our conception of rcligi.pus duty is largely ,inftiienced hy tho ■.spcM aiid political ;cphditions under which we live, aiid .the'seconditions 1 ' have been, .such as. to unfit, ■tho .mind of this- generation :for fprhjLU> ia'ting a -eloa.r conception of aut.horitiyj.In other d-tfysv when the,world..;w.a's gov-' oi-ned by the,few, and the'.hulk of tiiiins; Ifjnd had no sbaro in the making-oi' tlio Mrs under which they Jivedi. ■ ,a state- pf i.nin'.d''was.'created" 'w.liic'K'::inado: it easy to recognise tlio g'.reatn.eßß;.,of Diyi'ne Authority.. Now we elect''and dismiss our lawgiver's Ourselves, andovoty girl aiidhpy. -wlip: hag attaihe'd tg the ago _o,_f one ..and twOnty h'a.s n right to criticise their actions.-.during' their term of- bfficej. a.hd even to subject them to apything /but reßpeetfu! eeiis'iiro if ilifty-become iinpb'piiia'.r. I ■Ain not co'inpliiinihg of democracy, nor of things as they esis't toiilay. I am merely poi.hting put tlio res.ul't of such oondi'tipiiS:. which it must be tho Cljri'sti'an's aim to remedy. T-hb Cliristiah cart pn'ly hope to imp'rov« timttersby being .himself a.m.oh deeplv eoiis.cipn.s pf the existence of ii 'Diviiip Ruler of all men, Who is Himsoll .righ : ji> eons., and' ii-'requircr of Tightebiisnoss in Hi's servants-, How can the Chris*

tiSn acquire tlijs. knowledge?? Only 'by prayer. 'Only as wo go aside inti solitude., cJo'si'iiK our e'y6s' to visible things., and realising that we arc in. the Presence of /Gjid, and Tearmn£ .thereto humble ourselves'to the Jvoly and loving will of God, wilhthis Unrest cease from ■our lives,, and ■ .ft-re'vero.nco fotr moral law fill our hearts and radiate from lis. Merely a Cog hi the Wheel, . The Kisiiop went oj. to say that at the time o : f ,t.lj:6 Reformation it was a comparatively easy tiling ia.Tcafise that ■every nian ctiukl. look, upon his dailv ivflrk utf a callifig to which (kd had called hini, Birrghora and peasants ivero then, enaaged in a feiv simple occupations. The craftsman or former ot .that day did: the ivhoic of Its'work f.o.i himself. He was a frec-mali, mid could easily leajii toieel lu's Responsibility tiwords .lus 'Gfl'd and his fellow-mcii by its. perfect performance, to-day, '.those simple conditions, have passed .away, and industry is..a ; ' vast lietivxJ'rlc ofihtor-l

Woven nt.ay merely■Bo a cog on the wheel', never .seeing, 'this thing, as a. whole-. ..'He has" thus .Jos* his seiise of 'resnojiMliility, because hi( .perspective has been: so-painfully' forfr shortened..

WqHj it .can only .be brought b.splc bj degrees.3 bj' on*) hero: and another ther« trying t<S under's-ta-nd that'liis.work'iitf i'udeoß a_ P.Jvii'ib vocation. But how san. W<> dp this. ; if wo novcr go mtp tut solitude? tt/lis because wo have lost 'tho .devotional side of .religion iiiai to have lost the sense of iMsponsibil' i-ty. It .can tally come back as.each realises his personal rcsp;o].isiliili'ty | to Gott for the manner jji which His daily, work is do.iie. Theii there will come-, a-e.er-faiii quality iulo Lis life, w;hich will recreate the old sense of cadi mail's responsibility towards, his Creator,

i A Scnsß pf Injusffoq, 1 Again, we have Jp's't the truo Value. ■: of things. :. The ago is marked bv its j wonderful discoveries in the .sphere ■of I ■■physical science, which have: :iii, ■ creased onojinous'ly our : .p.pwor of ■ tOTniiig the, resources, .of 'Nature, to' 1 our own ends. But much money. ' has been required to, develop all the'so . row industries;,- and <so there .lias, ■arisc'tl : . en altogether. -disprJbMrtipiista -soiiso" of ! Hie value of material .flood-. And'as it iis iio't possible tt'iat.-alt- slioulft pbsWs's'-' i , tl.ie same. amount, thqrb has arisen a r strong sense of .mj'us'tiee/ and a .spirit- ; of discontent, and unrait., How cim Wis get back a true conception, of the, vaiuo ! ■ of spiritual possessions.? ; There issoiity | oijo way, by getting, -into closer touck ■w:itli God- By igettiiig -iiito our <>wi.i ■ lives that quality, frhieh is of the sanre • kind as. that wbich : <>ttf meant wlic.n i Mo spoke of His Disciples ias "salt." AnAg&aif Cities ' Yet another obstacle -in the -wny of th.o ', spiritual life of this jien.oration'is that- ; our. ago is an age of cities. The life of 1 to-day i$ a city lifo. and it is. true in a--1 very real souse that- wlr'iip God. mado' the country man made flio city. Man in tlio country is daily, lio'url.v conseipiis .of tho pfcsoiieo of naiufal. objeots .lio' .'did not- make. Hj feels instinctj.vcjy tl.ip-.pr'e-Go-nso of ii Power other jii'iii.sel.f-,. calJ- : it God or Sature a,s you Willi In fiiitice mi the contrary we live ampiig-tlio works" of uiaii, Tho'objects wiiicli .obtrude' themselves on our iio.tiep ni;c; v tli()R'e.m'an.: 'lias made. The-Power eiii wfflqh 'wo -f.ecj : dependaiii in tJjo city is' dibt Gfld',.- biit tlio mass of our f.elloW'inon; '■■ v .

Tjic ■restoration. olf tlVp.trueiifdo.f tlit 'CSwistiim cmiimnility wtli come, not, !%■ direst action, but by. 'i'lio- noquiriiifr by iiKlh'idual Own of a tcuVpciS ft ■spirits ii quality of Ij'fo, wliicjv svilt opcriit4 silcjit-' )v, an.d"briii.g bnclj into, the life *»f Society a 'sense- of God :iis a Dh'i.fio ]*roRence,.ja, sense that 'we are *Ni.e ; ..and all dependent for th'o very life we. ii've,, iv<it upon ours'p:|v.e/s or :otrr ftljo/tfinen, butupon. (Soft, tte odmnion Father of us all'.