Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1917. CHURCH AND WAR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1744, 23 October 1917, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1917. CHURCH AND WAR.

VARIOUS matters connected with the Church and the Avar were touched upon by Bishop Averill in the charge delivered by him at the opening of the Auckland Anglican Synod. “AA 7 e knoAV perfectly well,” said Dr. Averill, “that such a Avar as the present one should have been an impossibility amongst nations Avith centuries of Christianity behind them. There is failure someAvhere. Is it the failure of Christianity or the failure of the nations to act upon Christian principles? It is a coAvardly, foolish and illogical position for men to lay the blame upon Almighty God, It is equally foolish and illogical to talk about the failure of Christianity when every sane thinker knoAvs perfectly Avell that Christianity has not been tried in national and international concerns, and is repudiated by German Avriters as a basis of national and international policy The present Ayorld catastrophe Avas a challenge to the Church as much as to the nations and to civilisation generally. They were painfully conscious of the failure of Roman and Lutheran Churches to uphold the principles of Christianity. “And what about ourselves?'' he .continued. “AA 7 hat about the influence of religion on our oavu national life? AVhat about the testimony of the chaplains at the front to the spiritual knoAvledge and practice of the majority of our oavh Church of England soldiers? Are Ave satisfied with ourselves? God forbid! There is, ample room for searching of heart, for repentance, for renewal, for reconstruction, if we are to touch the life of our own Empire, If this war has revealed the bankruptcy of our civilisation, it has also revealed the bankruptcy of merely nominal Christianity and Churchmanship, and Avhat is .sometimes called diffused Christianity—a term sometimes used to cover our shame.” Dr, Ayerill Avent'on to say: —“AVe are Avell d*ware that the IVational Church of England possesses many of the faults, as Avell as the virtues, of the -British nation, but probably Avhen Ave gome to see things in their true perspective avc shall realise and acknowledge

that the Church of—England has played no insignificant part in the splendid response of Britain’s sons in this great day of crisis. We feel, however, that much mere might have been done, and we are humble. enough’, ! believe, to learn from the experience of the present.” In discussing the causes of the Church’s failure, the bishop expressed the opinion that it was due largely to the absence of the real missionary spirit. “We are too apt,” he said, “to be satisfied with the settled congregation—sometimes literally called the faithful remnant—-and never lift up our, eyes to see the great multitude unshepherded, untaught, uninfluenced. The needs of the present time, especially in the towns, were enumerated by the bishop, as follows: —(a) A simpler Sunday evening service, based upon Evensong, but with considerably more variation in the way of extempore prayer, times of silence and simple, definite teaching; (b) a return to first principles in the matter of fellowship; (c) a much sounder, stronger and courageous opinion on social questions and social vices; and (d) a more earnest attempt to* grapple with the question of the re-, ligious education of the young.”