CHURCH DEBTS.

Observer, Volume 5, Issue 124, 27 January 1883, Page 307

CHURCH DEBTS.

Nothing strikes the intelligent observer of public affairs more forcibly than the fact that the phrase " church debts " crops up with unceasing regularity at public soirees and meetings of parishioners. In fact, some people -would doubt the orthodoxy of their creed if their place of worship had not got upon it a respectable debt. No denomination in this respect is in a position to thro vi' stones at another, as they are all in varying degree guilty. Take it from one extreme of theological belief to the othsr^HHs the same old story — from St. Benedict's^ w|iere a. levy on all Oar.iiolic adults was proposed |to be'-Jevied the other day, to the Baptist Tabeijgiacle, the foundation of which will be lnjcl (tofthe time of three thousand pounds, anyhow) is a church debt. Churches require to be edue*ftted up to the point of feeling that debt is just as degrading on their places of worship as it would be on their private properties ; but there are men Avho would not have a mortgage or a bill of sale over their own houses, who arc well content to see from year the house consecrated to the presence and worship of the Almighty G-od in the hands of money-lenders and bill-discounters. Not only so, but debts are contracted in the name of that Christianity which says, " Owe no man anything," which, if similarly contracted by a tradesman in business, would cause him to be posted in the " Mercantile Gazette." The end sanctifies the means. Griiaranfcec bonds, if not repudiated, have their obligations systematically ignored, tradesmen are kept owing for the very materials of which the church is constructed, while other tradesmen have to cancel their just claims for services rendered, as they can't see where the money is to come from, the melancholy satisfaction being accorded them of the world being informed that they have made it a donation !

What is the difference in this sort of thing between a man in private life erecting a villa "without having the means to pay for it, owing the timber merchant, the builder, the architect, giving promissory notes he does not meet, and bonds for periodical repayments which he never fulfils ? Then, in these churches, we See new schemes of expenditure contemplated or begun, and new liabilities created, when the old ones have not been cleared off; — schemes for galleries, for enlargements, organs, church decorations, parsonages, school - bouses. Apply the sanie principle to private life\- and w'feat would be thought of the shopkeeper,, mex'chfnt, or private individual who was guilty o'ikit ?jr The bonds or the sinking fund, or the promissory note, may not be paid ; but the organist must be kept on at a respectable salary, which is just as if the merchant should say " the tradesman can wait for his money, but my groom, coachman, and servants must be kept on and their wages paid." The other day a church was mourning over its organ. Said one shrewd business man, a parishioner, " That organ was a ' white elephant,' got us into debt and all our subsequent troubles ; we thought it would '' draw a house,' but it didn't, and thus clear off the debt. The ' heavy swell ' of the organ finished its up." There was both wit and truth in his remarks. Fancy " drawing a house" to the temple of t.he Creator of the Universe in the same fashion as you would " draw a house " to a variety entertainment, by a performance on the Turko-phorrini ! Here is the impression produced on tiic mind of a visitor to one of these " musical churches." as recorded by himself : " The choir repeated the last line of the hymn four times. Then the prima donna* leaped on fco the first line, and slipped, and foil on to the

second, and that broke and let her through. into the third. The other voices came in to pick her up and got into a good wrangle, and the bass and the soprano had it for about ten seconds, but the soprano beat (women always do), and the bass rolled down into the cellar and the soprano went up into the garret ; but the latter kept on squalling, as though the bass, in leaving her, had wickedly torn out all her back hair. I felt anxious about the soprano, and looked back to see if she had fainted, but found her reeling in the arms of a young man, who looked strong enough to take care of her."

Thore is an old saying, "Out of debt, out o danger," but how can churches in debt enforce discipline, or avoid doing that which is degrading and dishonouring to Christianity while steeped in debt. Why methods are used to liquidate these incumbranees of which a Friendly Society, or a Mechanics' Institute, which make no pretensions to religion, would feel heartily ashamed. The bazaars, with their ecclesiastical "lambingdown " cases — the lotteries, or raffles, and unions, bogus swindles, etc., theatricals, ajK^free and easy "hops." Imagine the Levitt priests of the grand old Hebrew ritual, at theiusual gatherings of the people, informing theniifchat there would be a bazaar held shortly in $M. of the' fund for liquidating the debt on the/Tabernacle ; a few more tickets for sale in the Raffle of a "work of art," and that the people wire iipqifested to give their patronage to some p&vate Jheatvieak (a dance at close) in aid of ths^sanya? praiseworthy object ! No, Moses and Co- were ever ready to do business, when business was on, but they scorned to have the Temple in which Jehovah manifested his presence covered by mortgages, or liens of any sort. From basement to roof it was free, and His for whose worship ifc was erected, We talk of our temples, and places of worship — why, in many cases, they are the mortgagees — or simply represent so much value in pounds, shillings, and pence, to the money-lender, for the notes of hand in his possession.

Again, there is the injury done to true religion, to the success of the minister's labours, to the Church's 0M m spiritual life, by the continual "begging" which church debts entail. Dickens makes his showman say, " Parsing the sarcer is the great institootion nowadays." Christianity and collections go together, or., as an eminent Wesleyan Divine once defined^ Wesleyanism in the rural hamlets of England, j" Justification by faith, a penny a week, and a a;uil}|ng a quarter." In the colonies, of course, with Mpreased social prosperity, the financial basis iS wiSened, and the " Justification by faith " stil%th|bwn in. The^ ( quarterly collections, however, at one cynic re^^' marked the other day, still come every six weeks. Men of the world, the waifs and strays who drop occasionally into a place of worship, jibe at these things, and it is a pity that there is too much truth in the sneer, and that religion is " wounded in the house of its friends."

There will be no real reform instituted, no remedy applied to this demoralising state o£ things, till the churches ajDply business principles to their undertakings in connection with the erection of churches, and the ruley b"f >honourable mercantile life to church finance -^till|cfeurch officers feel as ashamed afbeing dumped fjor a church debt as for a personal liability. 3 It p but fair to state that some of the local chgrctjjis have done well, both in the way of wipiiL*an: in part old debts, and in subscribing money for new schemes ; but still no church should feel satisfied or rest satisfied till it has fulfilled the Golden Eule — " Owe no man anything, but love."