CHURCH & DEMOCRACY.

Thames Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 10354, 1 May 1911, Page 2

CHURCH & DEMOCRACY.

AT CtROSS FUEFOSER Chir dables recently referred to sonio tvtanchant. utterances delivered at the B'aptisfc Congress on the attitude of the chm'ch to thci masses and tho reasons for the studied and contemptuous aloofness of many, especially the laibouring! classes, from the church. Tho Rev. A: Collins was unsparing in his criticism and u'e no'lethat the Congress was enthusiastic in endorsing the views of thei speakers and were unsparing ill their oritk-i----isms of Ivith sides. T'lio 11-: v. Collins sjxjikel of tlie «x>r.<lnj> at the shrine of "the gjoddws ..f. gettiug on" and. said; tho clmro'ics ] would 'be hopelessly ruined if they wer 1 heicaine "cselusirei" churches. The ideal ciiurch Was one where ridi «ud jKXia' meet together on terms of Christian equality. He conifenined-the church whe»ii the- rich with their faults (and full purser) were welcom-. c<\> while the poor, mrncst. Qint with lean pockets) werte received with mhi. ness. Tiie speaker maintaine«l that the fhuu'di arid tlie maVsvs v>n- a' Varianoo on ths question of ri^.h' aw-.l wrong. Tha church v.as vairnc '"■n "sin," and the tuys^cs cmeiete tho ■word, and t:ilk' of «nti-x"'-ial conditions, of sweating nn<\ i:u-n«ipolic«. Ho urged thnfc the demewracy and tho clmrch' sliCTild "fuse" and lfet lid'-..

and cease to emphasise, the points of difference between clmreh and hhor,

and seek to diseo'vler the points) of likeness and 1 agr^jmetit. And the church should make the first advlance. Th® doming of the democracy demanded that, if the demooraicy iieed--eil' to, be CSiristia.nisedl, the church needled;.: to ble 'detajowratised. ■ ,T!he! damocratic movement was btecoming mdrei and: mgre' religiolus. The reaching, oj the mouses Wasi not a- question of old or n©;w thitology; it was' methodl " "Ask the woi-fking men, and they will tell you bluntly that they db not want raw iish or stalej fish, but good fisih." Tlie ciliurch must attract, not by buffoonery in the 1 pulpit- or vulgarity, in the pew, but-by erecting buildings that compelled attention, and not'treating! him as a simpleton or a sientimemtalisit. It was

necessary! for the' church to convince, and the appeal must li|e.toi reason and conscience. They must be ..passionate, and We patient as "wtetQ.'