MOODS OF MODERN LIFE

Evening Star, Issue 19793, 17 February 1928, Page 8

MOODS OF MODERN LIFE

FAITH GREATER THAN FOOTBALL THE BIBLE THAN BOXING VALLE OF PRESENT INSPIRATION In his inaugural address at the opening of the Methodist Conference in Cnristcluirch last night the Presidentelect (the Rev. W. J. Elliott) took the comprehensive topic ‘ Moods and Tenses of Modern Life,’ and, as befitted his subject, covered every facet of modern life in its relation to religion. A brief summary of the address follows: — “ We cannot measure the worth of religion to the world in the cold, calculating, matter-of-fact spirit of commerce,” said the Moderator, “and yet it is not exempt from the acid test of comparative values. But every estimate of it is incomplete, because the sustaining of faith, nope, and love in any country is something too snblimo to bo summed up according to a miserable market measure. Religion is a thing of infinite value. If it were not for its influence, public conscience and the tone of public opinion would be lower and weaker than they are today. Age would not be reverenced, infancy loved, and human life held in such holy regard. The word of God would not be consulted, the day of the Lord honored, the house of the Lord frequented, and the cause of God maintained. The happiness of human life would diminish and hope die out of the human heart. Religion is the salt of life which preserves it from insipidity and putrefaction. Man will ho a long time in getting beyond the need of it, and its final fate is dependent on that. It is the most precious and potent investment any country can make, and yet it is the most poorly supported. Surely the cost of religion to our dominion is amply justified, even within the limited area our stunted visions can scan. A caref/il consultation with competent authorities enables us to record that a moderate estimate of the annual cost of religion to this country is £1,410,000. This is less than £1 per head of the population, and when we compare it with the extravagant sum of money spent on sport and self-indulgence the contrast should cover us with shame and confusion of face. Leaving out of account for the moment the annual cost of racing and liquor, we are spending on sport every twelve months the huge sunt of £1,270,000, and when the expenditure of racing and liquor is included we are confronted with the colossal sum of £21,270,000 per annum. It is a conservative estimate, and if we geneionsly deduct from the total amount £2,000,000 for medicinal and mechanical purposes we are still left with an unjustifiable expenditure for social gratification. The religion of the One who sat down with publicans and sinners and sweetened all innocent mirth at the marriage feast in Cana has no reproach for a reasonable degree of pleasure. Religion and recreation are thus defined in Holy Scripture: ‘ Exercise lor the body is not useless, but religion is of service in all directions; it contains the promise of life, both for the present and for the future.’ After fifty iyears of fervent sympathy with all : Jorms of recreation, one is compelled to say that to-day the cult of the body [is being overdone at the expense cf ithe. cult of the mind and the heart, pleasure is a preservative against the corroding power that takes away the zest of life, but we must discourage I that extreme devotion to sport as sport ■ which is operating against the real ; business of life. In the silent watches of the night many a parent must secretly regret the tendency of modern scholasticism to pander to that passion for sport that runs so naturally in the blood of the nation. There is danger in the ominous tendency to overlook the scholar and to consider only the ‘ sport.’ To-day with us when a person dies in this dominion the first personal reference often is: ‘Deceased was a good sportsman.’ The typical New Zealander is a splendid animal, but he has to be trained to superb manhood, and it cannot be done while he is obsessed with pleasure by day and by night. The Grecian love of athletics did not give an inferior place to the historian and the poet, but wo are in danger of reversing the classic order. It is the man of brains who advances his country, rather than the man of brawm That superiority is the common experience of all climes and countries. Agamemnon dies, but Homer lives for ever—‘ the swords of Ciesars, they are less than rust; the poet doth remain.’ England is great because of Shakespeare and Watt rather than because of Wellington and Dr Grace. No nation has ever yet remained supreme by force of arms or feats of physical agility. Faith is of incomparably greater importance than football, and 'Bible reading than boxing, though there is no reason \vby they should not blend in useful proportion. Therefore moderation in the appetite for sport is as necessary as a moderation in the appetite for anything else. REVISION OF DOCTRINE. “ It is the duty 'of the church to counteract everything contrary to truth, and to convey a message of good cheer and spiritual impulse to all. She has to renounce the outgrown accretions of human authority, and reassert the supremacy of Christ over all the traditions and dictates of men. He is still supreme as Leader and Saviour, and the words of Renan stand—‘Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus Christ will never be surpassed.’ The searching tests of honest criticism may shift Him somewhat from our present focus, but if we can concentrate on the redeeming purpose of God as revealed in Jesus Christ we are safe till the Day of Judgment. As in political economy, geology, and many other things, so in religion it is the inspiration that lives, and not the mere increase to knowledge. “The church must have all the knowledge she can acquire. Information of a doctrinal quality is desirable, but inspiration is essential, and it will tardily come unless the church has more .Christ and loss creed.

“ A larger influx of the spirit of Christ is the onlv real incentive to a vitally religious inspiration. Nothing else can prove a substitute for it or provide the motives necessary to raise the human race to nobler life. The spirit of Jesus incarnated in life is _ the supreme thing, and its growth is a gradual process. His doctrine is not so much a system of words as it is the teaching of the living Spirit. Therefore we cannot disguise from ourselves the apparent decay in dogmatic beliefs about the Supernatural. The tendency of modern life is to he broad and generous in our views, but even a truly tolerant temper can hardly be cherished without definite convictions on life and conduct. Some sort of creed seems almost as necessary as the hark is to the tree, and therefore we cannot ring it as we do the trees that are destined to destruction. But a simpler creed than is embodies in the recognised standards would conform more to the spirit of Christ and the genius of His religion, and it will be exacted from the most exclusive sooner or later. That scholarly and trustworthy magaine, 1 The Expository Times,’ recently said: J It is more than time that the people in the pews were told definitely what has beep the actual result of science and criticism for the church’s faith, for its use of the Bible and for its attitude to Jesus Christ. However it is done, the new knowledge should be passed on to the pew. Not surmises and theories, and not original guesses, but knowledge, things that have been made clear ana definite.’ Just so. Bu,t it will not be an easy task to restate the faith

of the ages in terms of modern thought, but for the sake of Christ and the church it should be attempted. It is a timely need. The recent revaluations of astronomy and biology, psychology and religion seem to conduce to a clearer doctrinal renaissance. Impetus is given to this not only by the intense urge of scientific and social requirements, but also by the fact that some beliefs arc inadequate to satisfy modern needs. It ip no startling thing to record that much of a former belief has bon surrendered. The best knowledge we discover of God from time to time is relative and provisional, because it is the result of human reasoning. It is subject to transition. We hardly expect to march to the tune of the Athanasian creed in the Millennium Among the growing and cultured youth of the age is an insistent demand for declines less obviously out of keeping intellectually and ethically with t!;c consensus of modern ideas. While not unmindful of the past, we live under a present inspiration, and the pressure of growing life within is more likely to expand the church than puerile platitudes that have lost vitality and the power of appeal. If the pulpit has lost sonic of its power of appeal, it may bo partly due to an inconsistent regard for beliefs and standards which arc incompatible with the increase of knowledge. Doctrinal statements of a hard and rigid_ type can bo refined or diminished without the least danger to the church, because the motive force by which her progress is to be maintained docs not reside in her dogmatic beliefs, hut in the spiritual impulse with which sho is inspired. Teachers of a hard and moribund theology will never tamo mankind. Truth is proved upon our pulses and tested in the crucible of experience, and its right to survive is measured by the reality of its service to the fuller and nobler life of man. . . The success of

the church depends largely on a recognition of the duty of clear thinking and a realisation of its obligation in. tho light of science and larger knowledge to submit much of her working capital to a sacred revaluation more in harmony with modern life. The forms of faith can be fashioned anew without any loss to faith. The shadow removes, but the substance remains. .If the church would consent to so revise and- purify her faith it would immensely strengthen her and help to revive in a universal manner the spirit of real evangelism.

A RENEWED EVANGELISM,

“Not only a revision of doctrine is required, but also a renewed evangelism, and it should bo the natural result of the form rtf change. Dr Johnston Ross says: “The intellect of the church will, 1 believe, after a little time has passed, return upon and, rest in the divine philosophy of the Cross; and as it does ' so, the devotion of the church will also find its organising centre there.’ From the tenth century the outstanding lesson of history is that every two hundred years there has been a tangible revival of some sort. In tho fourteenth there was a revival of learning, in the sixteenth a revival of religion, in tho eighteenth a revival of liberty, and in this twentieth century the most hopeful signs in religion and science suggest a revival of the spiritual. Tho supreme demand of the religion of Jesus is that it he given a spiritual expression, and nothing is real in it that is not spiritual. Moody ami Sankcy developed a somewhat new typo of evangelism, and it was clarified still more by Drummond, and since their day other salubrious changes have been made. But the blood-theology was not belittled by the successful evangelists. .It was brought into a supreme placo of honor and saving contact with tho human heart. And whatever sympathy science in its latest conclusions, and tiio higher criticism in its luminous interpretations may call forth, wo still fed that the sublimcst dement in our Christian faith is the sacrificial spirit. It is said that where battlefields have been drenched in blood you may next year find flowers springing up of a peculiar fragrance and rare color. Assuredly it has been so with this groat battlefield—our world, wet with the blood of immannd. This is what has created a springtime in our civilisation wl: v oilier husbandmen only constructed hothouses. The consequence is that instead of the thorn there comes up tho fir tree, and instead of tho briar there comes up tho myrtle.tree, and on every side the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose. The full tide of spiritual summer has not yet come to the nations, but the green patches w > seo over the wastes of gross materialism tell us that tho God of the seasons is preparing His way. The redeeming and fructifying power of the Cross is such that we dare not repudiate its saving efficacy. It is blood from the Garden of Eden down to the Great White Throne and beyond it, for tho song of the redeemed in glory is the song of blood. Whatever critics may say as to savoring of tho shambles, the heart of Methodism can still sing on ‘Unto Him that loved ns, and washed ns from our sins in His own blood, and hath made ns kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.’ The proclamation of tho 1 evangel is to bo the prime object of preaching, nnd not the wonders m science and the glories of human achievement. These should not ho ignored, but wisely subordinated to the solemn business of setting forth the full plan of salvation. There never was a time when the church was so strong in the resources of men and money, learning and equipment, zeal and devotion, and all should be utilised for evangelism in its higher meaning. It is the only thing in the final analysis that can justify preaching to a rational nnd redeemable world. . . . Any faithful minister understands right well that five real converts are of more value than 500 who are constrained through abnormal excitement which often conies dangerously near" to a degradation of tho Gospel. I plead for a. renewal of tho true spirit of evangelism rather than a tendency to discount it. Gifted and sane evangelists may do peat good in spasmodic effort, but if the church is to be kept on a worthy level wo must become onr own evangelists to a greater extent. Jt is incumbent upon the church to deal with this important matter in a far more serious way, and she will then sec that her main task is the evangelical one. The true evangelist gives his mind to the search for truth and his life to th© service of others, and it is what all the ministers of tho church are ordained to do. If the church members and Sunday school teachers would cooperate to the same extent they do with professional evangelists, tho results would be more beneficial. Therefore I plead for a higher evangelism to bo appropriated by every pastor nnd practical Christian worker. SHE PROBLEM OF UNION.

"The more intense spiritual vitality becomes the closer will be the federation and perhaps the union of the churches. The Lambeth Conference of 1920 and the Lausanne Conference of last year are unique landmarks in the history of the church, and both direct attention to the defects of a divided Christendom. The procession' of at least 400 official representatives of the national churches marching between Lausanne Cathedral and the palace must have produced joy in the presence of the angels of God. S-.Jy if the churchmen felt pained at their own disunity and penitently acknowledged it, the morning stars once more sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. It is certain the preceding ages never shared so strong a yearning for union, and the 200 different denominations and sects of Christendom may yet he reduced and brought into a more real concord and unity. A most hopeful sign is the intense consciousness of unity and unitedwork now prevailing on the missionary fields. It is a tangible indication that the spirit of the age is towax-ds unity, and we can gratefully see in it the impulse of the Divine Spirit. JVhat the final result will be po one

can well forecast. We know 'that the education of the race has been advanced by the different schools of Irish and English, Italian and Scotch, German and French, Greek and Welsh, and in a similar way the progress of our host life has been promoted by the different churches. Separation, however, has almost served its purpose, and even science has intensified a different conception of the solidarity of the human race. A more conscious realisation of our union with God by faith in His Son has brought us into a fellowship with “The Father from Whom every family on earth derives its n—ae and nature.” No force in the world can cement us together like the filial consciousness of an eternal Father, and pure love ruling in tho life as 1 the pulse of one fraternity.’ Some people thought the. blood of the last war would transfuse the church into a deeper unity, and because it did not they foolishly imagine nothing else can. Cannot the grace of tho Lord Jesus and tho love of God and the fellowship of tho Holy Spirit? In the holocaust of war we were sanctified by the shedding of blood to some extent from the fulsome pride of class and caste, and cemented into a sacred comradeship; but in oni* bloodless fight against the sordid stratagems of evil we seem unablo to attain to a similar unity. However, ‘ through the ages one increasing purposes runs,’ and the spirit of unity has been accentuated in recent days by actual demonstration. Some proofs of this are provided by tho World’s Student Christian Union, and the knitting of a particular family of churches more closely together as Methodists in England, Presbyterians in Scotland, and Methodists, Presbyterians, and Congregatmnalists in Canada, as the great united Church of Canada. “ Its membership is some 700,000, and it represents over 2,000,000 people, being more than the population of tins dominion. The strife of tongues has been subdued, and such a church should ho able to speak to the nation in a lone that is full of majesty and commands an audience, lb is said a remarkable stimulus has been given to this union to young people's work, and that a new spirit inspires it. This alone is worth tho sacrifice of many sentimental things. Doubtless we are all passionately loyal to our own denominations, and honestly think there is none better, but we must put first things first. It is doubtful if the world will ever bo won to Christ by a divided Christendom. Therefore, I hope I hail with no ignorant jubilation the growth of a greater toleration and unity, and the evolution of a more Catholic: _ and comprehensive church into which may be gathered all that is most, sacred in onr complex and broken life. Nothing seems more certain than that the best tendencies of onr time are opposed to sectarian narrowness and strife, and the only true unity compatible with life and truth will he attained, when people profess to he accepted of Christ are accepted of one another. Then the [Hire love of God reacting from the heart, of man will become tho solvent of all our problems. THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN. “And this leads us on to say that the union and progress of the church might iie greatly stimulated by giving women a larger share in its official life. .1 am not insensible to some of the inveterate objections. The tendencies of the age make it imperative Unit young men and women should be taught to cherish nobler conceptions of marriage and the obligations of parenthood. To supply, tho necessary incentives to this is an urgent duty on tho part of scientists, moralists, and the leaders of the church. The church must act in a more chivalrous way, and use every legitimate moans. She must he guided more by moral sense and less by maudlin sentiment. She can no longer draw the silken cord of a false peace over every solemn conviction and problem. It may be considered by some a serious matter to delete the word “ obey ” from the marriage ceremony, but it is a more serious thing to disguise from a bridal pair- that the wholesome perpetuation of the human family is the first thing emphasised in the marriage ceremony. Here it is:—“it was ordained that children might he brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord,” and yet that is omitted to-day from the sacred ceremony by many officiating ministers—to-day, when birth-control is being tampered with to such an unjustifiable extent, and it is alleged some of the best people are ceasing to produce their share of the population. A century ago it was assumed the inferior races would become extinct. To-day we are compelled to revise onr judgment, and the_ increasing pressure of racial competition requires us to adopt every legitimate means to preserve our numerical status and strength. If civilisation is to be continued, then the dominant races must cither increase their populations or constrain the inferior races to decrease theirs. It is the biggest challenge we have to face on airy battle ground. Ministers and educators of consciences must definitely set forth the claims of society and rim human race, nnd give no excuse to normal beings to evade the responsibilities of parenthood. Far be it iron me to suggest that tho measure of 'a woman’s influence is the one function of motherhood, or that every woman is destined to the reserve and seclusion of the domestic circle. All the reasonable claims of motherhood do not raise an insuperable barrier against the admission of qualified women to holy orders in the church. Wo may conjure up before ourselves a variety of conservative objections, but there is no logical one such as we can neither gainsay nor resist. Probably tho first and second authorities on women’s place and service in the church are Jesus and Paul. Tho attitude of Jesus does not suggest that she was to be excluded from the highest ministry. He was more satisfied with women than He was with men during His earthly ministry, and He gave the women superior honor. The first Easter message was given _ to women to instruct the men disciples. The best example of liberality in tho Bible is recorded of a woman. _ The best example of loving service in the Bible is recorded of a woman. The best example of conquering prayer in the Bible is recorded of a woman. The great Son of God never let fall from His gracious lips such words of royal commendation as concerning these three women. Ho recognised to the full the power of service that is in women, and He revealed for its exercise an infinite and varied scope. Woman is subject _ to severe (limitations just as man is, and one of the most surprising things to me is that in spite of the sublimity of woman’s soul she has hitherto been unable to translate the music within her into tangible terms as man has done. However, the law of compensation is a real thing in life, and 1 sec no constitutional defect in woman to justify her exclusion from the fuller work of_ the ministry. I may regard it as inexpedient to admit her, and mournfully confess it takes an extraordinary man to fill the manifold parts of the ministry to-day, but I have yet to learn that man has a monopoly of the essential equipment. Woman has instilled her inclusion in business, law, medicine, politics, art, science, Christian work, and sport. The achievements of women in the field of athletics of late years have shown amazing physical endurance, nnd records have been established in almost every department. There are at least 5,000 welltrained women athletes in the female grading list to-day who stand supreme among the nations. Therefore, it can hardly be said she is devoid of the physical qualities necessary for the ministry. Tho contribution she has made to ithe hymnology of the church compares at least favorably with that of the other sex, .Over 100 of the most suitable hymns for young arid old are the compositions of women, Why, then, (should women, who are more suscep-

tibia to religious impression than men, more conscientious in religious _ observance, more devoted to the religious education and training of the young, be excluded by any, decree from the highest service in the church ? ■ She may speak ‘ with the tongues of men and of angels’; she may know her Bible in the original with critical accuracy; she may be full of ‘faith and good works’; she may be as swayed by the spirits as John the Beloved, yet she may not' be ordained to the ministry of the church. When I remember that the , vital founder of Methodism, both in England and America, was a woman, and that the modern missionary movement has received no greater impulse than has been given to it by the promotion of women’s missionary societies, I am prepared to open almost any avenue to woman where she may exercise her powers. She has been faithful over a. few things, and God will yet make her ruler over many things. The seed of a diviner feminine type will yet destroy the serpent. TR AINING OF THE YOUNG. “ Bub in order to quicken this development the sense of parental responsibility must be deepened. The puzzle of parentage in Samson’s day is the puzzle in this more sober day. It is the problem of preparing men and women for the sacred duties of parenthood in the way nature and science alike dictate. Emerson says: ‘Education begins not only years too late, but two or three generations too late.’ The reincarnation of Eastern mythology may not appeal to the Occidental mind, but the reincarnation of spirit and tendency does. Psychology and biology justify the inference that the temper" and habits of parents affect not only the disposition of the offspring, but also their destiny. From the beginning it is scarred with ancestral sins, or strengthened’with the capital piled up by the N effect of many generations.’ This should'make parenthood a more sacred thing than it seems to be, and the church should emphasise the significance of it. Parents are sometimes prone to be hard upon their children for habits they are responsible for, and they forge chains for their offspring out of the links time has broken from their own limbs. It is said that when Plato saw a hoy misbehaving himself he sent for the boy’s father and gave him a thrashing. A few fathers of this country would have a bad time if Plato were with ns still. The training of children is the greatest of nil tasks. You may learn rules for breaking in various orders of the lower creation, hut you will never secure a set of rules for the training of children that will he worth the cost of printing. Every now and again some earnest people will prepare resolutions and pass them on to frowning parents, but they are largely at a discount because their promoters never seem to get an opportunity of testing the matter from a practical standpoint. The infantile stages are the most important, hut many methods of the nursery seem to he nothing short of makebelieve, and much of the mischief we see in after life is manufactured there. We cannot, of course, create the souls of children, but we can do much to make or mar the in. It is said that he who remembers his childhood is a genius. Robert Louis > Stevenson did, and he was wont to insist that a child’s fancies arc as convincingly real as actual facts. This emphasises _ the need for transparent honesty and sincerity in dealing with the child mind. Can it he denied that the tendency to deviate from truthful conduct is fostered by the sham-liko things we substitute for tho real? We know that dolls and decoys have not only been sanctioned by_ the centuries, but sanctified by tho universal sentiment of the race; nevertheless, they may bo a source of danger when the" child is assured that these things run and walk and play and sleep. There is only a faint shade of difference between this and falsehood. Tho child is nurtured to some extent in an atmosphere of illusion, and insincerity is inducted into the mind. This may seem a severe indictment of the simple customs of the ages. It is intended so to bo. A radical change is essential here, and more commonsense methods required. As the atmosphere of example and general behaviour is the only thing a child can apprehend and assimilate, it should be trained from the dawn of its intelligence in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is the hardest thing in the world to do, but unless parents give more earnest attention to such religious nurture the national character will seriously deteriorate. The most essential means for youthful religious nurture are neglected to-day. Parents do not read the Bible with their children as they used to do; they do not pray with them; they do not escort them to church to worship as a family. Society and the church are substituting too many foster-par-ents. The Bible Is exiled from the places where its voice should he listened to with respect and with purpose to be guided. I do not mean to say that reading it will make children good, but honest, earnest regard for it will put them in the way of goodness and greatly help them in the pursuit of it. THE COCKTAIL GIRL.

“ The basis of spiritual and social uplift is the Bible. But parents constitute the main factor in the production of character. A want of reasonable and firm parental control is the most chronic ■weakness in the lilo of our dominion to-day, and unless an antidote be found for it nothing can go wed with us. Many children are indulged with too much pocket money and indiscriminate opportunities for pleasure. This is militating against the spirit of self-reliance and self-control, and minimising the worth of money in the estimation of youth. Like Oscar Wilde's cynic, 100 many of them know the price of everything and the value of nothing. License is mistaken for liberty. Fifty years ago in this country a girl who entered an hotel and drank liquor there was at a discount, as she deserved to be. To-day she freely indulges in the fascinating “ cocktail ” under the fulsome fawning of mashers and fops. Indeed, she is sometimes incited to such inanitjy by a strangely indulgent mother. Discipline lias been so severely rclared in the home that the old idea c;f a girl needing some fully accredited escort has been dissipated, and the ill esults of it are reflected in the increase in divorce and other undesirable phases of life. , Happily many girls are protected from these perils. _ The public Press 'has directed attention to tins menacing aspect of things more than once, and this is the place and time to pay a tribute to it on the subject of morality. There is no Eress in the world to-day with its influence more on the side of morality and wholesome living than our own. In this way it is helping to beep the people in sympathy with those great essentials winch make for abiding worth. Whatever mercenary motives may bo charged against the Press, the moral motives are not subordinated to them. its probity and patriotism are above suspicion. It may appear to defer more to the wishes and tastes of the people than it did a, decade ago, but it cannot be accused of being on the down ■grade. From a literary, artistic, and thought-provoking point of view the Press has more regard for cultured treatment and moderation of statement than ever before. We should be grateful for its criticism and censorship. The pulpit and the Press should form a more .supreme alliance in the interests of truth and soberness.”