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CHURCH AND THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.

A LECTURE AT WHITELEYi CHDECH.

Whiteley Memorial Church was crowded on Sunday night, when the second of a series of monthly lectures was given by the Rev. J. Napier Milne. Prior to the ordinary service, a*f musical service was given by an augmented choir and orchestra under the djredaen of Mr. R. Lawrie Oooper. Special lijfnjis were sung, and the anthems iijt'lmled Mendelssohns' "How Lovely Art Ttie Messengers," and "Seek Ye The|Lord" (Roberts). Miss E. White sang tee solo "How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings" and Mr. R. B. Macdonald sang ''Hold Thou My Hand." Dealing with the subject, , "The troubled Waters of the world: are they for the healing of the jations?". Rev. J. Napier Milne said that the mood ot the man who went through the American Civil War was on many to-day ; They would be glad to join an Everlasting Peace Society. Weary of strife,'it;would be no good to return to settled con- : altions', to the undisturbed pursuitjof the interests and activities with whiep men were occupied prior to August, 1914. Buti the war that was to have made the world better had in some respects made it worse. Peace had indeed come, but it was a peace with discontent. Un-\ rest was the dominant note everywhere;' the world was one vast troubled sea. Yet what else could have been expected after the most gigantic convulsion ft* bad ever shaken the earth? Thefevfc an unrest that indicated life. * Discontent might be asi of health n<jt disease. The troubled waters of the world were going to do somethlngjjfl;. wards the healing of the nations. - Tie world as it was to-day was a lital. on Jesus Christ. There were multitudes of things in it that were not according to the will of God. It was impossible to maintain the mockery, whatever is right. There was much in modern social arrangements which could not be reconciled with the elementary principles of justice. The earth was the Lord's and the fulness thereof, but neither the earth nor its fulness was being used in strictest accordance with the wish of its real owner.

All over the world there was a passionate outcry for housing reform, in England there were over three million people who were living moro titan two in a single room, and on tho West Coast of New Zealand miners were "pigging" it, by all accounts, in a worse way in some respects than the dwellers in the London slums. "What was the good?" asked one of the preacher's friends the other day, "of telling people to consider the lilies. They were more concerned with their leaky lodgings and the lack of lavatories." Decency and morality withered in the foetid air of crowded and insanitary conditions. The world needed renewing, reorganising, reconstructing, continued ■ the preacher. It would have to be born again. The conception of industry as a selfish competitive system would have to go. It could not be right that a few men should wallow in wealth while the ptajority were obliged 'to live a hand-to-mouth existence. It could not be right that some men should be able to, travel, to live in luxurious houses, eat the best of food, wear the most expensive clothes, have motors and hooks and all the delights of the sons of men, while others, equally deserving, and equally endowed with capacity for enjoyment, were doomed to spend their lives in a drab, weary struggle to keep the wolf from .the door In a world of men so diversely gifted there, were bound to be certain inequalities in service and reward, hut there were some inequalities that were iniquitous. We might object to some of tho planks in the programme of Socialism, but we should hardly be as ffise'as Solomon if we allowed ourselves to indulge the delusion that all was well, inid made no attempt to grapple with the evils with which Socialism was nurtured. Did anyone imagine it was to perpetuate the world as wo knew it that the son of Qod poured out His soul unto death? He did not believe it. And therefore it wis that he welcomed some of the elements of the social discontent of the time, believing that out of them would come healing for the nations, better and more wholesome conditions, progress towards the great dream of an earth wherein dwelt righteousness. But, proceeded the preacher, there was also peril in the troubled waters. There were features about the present-day unrest that gave us serious thought. Civilisation was in danger of Being swamped. Abroad, anarchy reigned where autocracy once held sway. Czardom and Ivaiserism had fallen only to be replaced by something more horrible and hateful still, namely Bolshevism. '

At Home there was a growing contempt of Cabinets and Parliaments. Trivial grievances were being allowed tw throw the whole machinery of labor out. of gear. Capitalists were literally at bay everywhere. /* 3 The very worst friends of Labor were the extremists. Their grotesque claims on behalf of the workers only tended to alienate sympathy. Extremists were often the result of years of gringisg pain and poverty and need. The iron had entered their souls and their hand was against all mankind. But we mint see that wiser counsels prevailed. Ths world must get back to work, to reastfttf and to efficiency, or the troubled waters, would overwhelm us all.

Out of the profound unrest of our npw migl\t indeed coine some good thine for the life of the people, but in the final analysis Christ alone could supply tJie healing balm for the wouihlb, and tie cordial for the fears of this distressful world. Only with Him and all that Ife stood for could the grievous social problems of our time be solved. Socialism could not save us. They might Nationalise mines and butter factorifes and freezing works, and everything, down to buttonhook or shaving brush, but if the heart of man was left untouched, they would still be worlds awßj from the miilenium. Germany vas the home of State socialism, and Karl Marx, its greatest modern apostle, was a G <rman Jew. Russia was being described to-day as the first socialistic Kcpnblic, and Russia, at this hour, was imprisoning and putting to death those who dared to speak a word against the Government. Democracy needed to be mmie safe for the world. There was no hope for the social movement until once more it became aflame with religious faith. The more serious and far-seeing of our statesmen were begining to bil'eve that back of all the surface causes of our social disorders and industrial rteprssions lay war, intemperance, greed, lust, hate, selfishness, the policy of grab, the neglect of God. The renovated State could only come with a renewed people. All hope of the ndequate solution of our social problems centred at last in Jesus Christ. He never said that the end of li'o was to be comfortable; Ha never taught that money and well-appointed houses, sanitation and recreation, shorter hours of itii£?fcßß&-ikaisss.

mm of all good. But as men pfril purity, nobility, kindlinew, theft amft follow as the night the day, qorwmM ing refinement! and alleviation* surroundings. " y\i

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19190922.2.47

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 22 September 1919, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,198

CHURCH AND THE SOCIAL PROBLEM. Taranaki Daily News, 22 September 1919, Page 5

CHURCH AND THE SOCIAL PROBLEM. Taranaki Daily News, 22 September 1919, Page 5

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