A "LIVE WIRE" IN THE CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 281, 23 August 1919, Page 8

A "LIVE WIRE" IN THE CHURCH

NEW CANON OF WESTMINSTER. Whatever the faults and defects of the Church of England, it has produced some very fino parsons. It has the most learned clergy of any Church in Christendom. And one of its characteristic products is a typo of churchman who ia both priest and man of the world, a scholar and yet in. touch .with tho realities of life. '

Of such type is William Temple, the new Canon of Westminster. The younger son of Archbishop Temple—tho schoolboy's famous "beast, but a i just beast"— he has crowded into his life, before lie is forty, a vast number of experiences. He lias already won a name as author, editor, schoolmaster, popular preacher, lion, chaplain to the King, social reformer, and Church 'reformer. It is told of him that as a small boy his affections wero divided between abstruso probloms and the novels of Dickons. His father used to relate that ho was; once storting to visit a remote country parish and as soon -as ho got into tho carriage his son, then aged. 12, exclaimed, "Now, father, wo are going for a long drive, and you will have timo to explain to mo the philosophy of Kant." "That was rather, a large order," grinned. the old Primate, "but I made tho attempt." Ever since his Oxford days, when he was president of the Union, Mr. Temple was marked out for distinction. He is not a scholar of tho dry-as-dust type. Ho is no prig or pedant, but an intensely "livo" force with : immense energy.

He is a remarkably attractive public speaker and can say the most revolutionary'things in an engaging manner. Ho combines tho essenco of the Oxford spirit with a cosmopolitan breadth of view. Ho is . impatient of trifles and has a wonderfully clear method of brushing aside tho tilings that do not matter and getting down to basic principles. He has addressed the Fabian Society and has allied himself to Labour, v/ith the legitimate aspirations of which he is in full sympathy. He was an energetic promoter of tho Workers' Education movement, and he has always taken a keen interest in Ruskin College, Oxford, and tho Central Labour College at Earl's Court.

Ho has l)cen described a 6 probably tho best elocutionist in tho Church of England. Certainly it is a pleasure to listen to him. But ho is entirely free from mannerisms or tricks of oratory. His spcec-hes and sermons are delivered in a measured and academic stylo, devoid of gush or cheap sentiment. And ho is intensely human and warm-lieaMed in his sympathies. Ho is tho founder of what is known -as the Life and Liberty movoment, which aims at adapting on same lines the Church of England to the needs of tho times and of tho Einpire. It is out to remedy abuses in tho Church, It claims, that the Church should have power to legislate oil all matters relating to ecclesiastical endowments, property, patronage, and tribunals; that the Church should be able to manage its own affairs through represensativo and responsible assemblies, <uid that fuller advantage should be taken of the services of laymen and lay women. "After all," ho says, "the Church was not formed to be a devotional club providing various forms of worship for those who like that kind of thing. _ It was founded to bo the army of tho Kingdom of God, standing for the principles of Christ and in the power of Christ, before tlie world, or, if necessary, against the world. It is for the two parallel purposes of Church Reform and Corporate Witness that tho Life and Liberty movoment in particular supports the demand for Church self-government. The Enabling Bill, does not by itself secure either, but it makes both possible. As Canon of Westminster, Mr. Temple will have leisure to devoto himself to this work of Church Reform. Ho is one of the vital forces in the Church at the present time, which will have to bo reckoned with, and the oloistral purlieus of the Abbey ore not likely to curb his eager spirit.