WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE CHURCH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10642, 24 May 1912, Page 6

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE CHURCH.

{To The Editor,l Sir, —The somewhat doleful review of matters .religious, by the Rev. A. T. Thompson, is not singular so _ far as Masterton is concerned. The church is losing its grip on -things. Church unification Urns long been the ! cli earn of many earnest souls w.ho regret to see the various denominations wasting energy warring upon each other that should he brought to bear on tho legions of Lucifer ; but even the most sanguine must admit there is little prospect of their dreams becoming aught more tangible—at least for 'some *gc-; yet. The bloody chasm wihich Luther and his co-workers opened will not ho bridged during the lifeftime o, ; the present generation and 8 human wisdom is not competent to >.ormulatD a "creed," to devise a "doctrine," upon which the Protectant world, will consent to unite. Tr.:tead of dogmatic controversy dying away, it is becoming imore general; "hetero-

doxy" is being hunted with a kconoi zes: than ever, and doctrinal disputation, has become well nigh as virulent | as the polemics of partkan politic;. In tho meantime a''majority of mir.kind in highly civilised "countries •.•> ma it; away from Church —take no \ bought of the future, or seek tititl). in science rrv'hc:' than By assuming in know re.:- much of God's groat plan, by demarding too abject obedience in its fiats, by :ittompti">g to stHe. V.c t.cs-r enquiiy, and seal iir li;. :: of livir.g scholars wir!i the (' rta ■of dead si I.elastics, the church has dr.vcr. millions of God fearing men into passive ir.differcn.ee or covert opposition, ai:d. the rmrber is rapidly i>.i creasing. Instead cf conqnei iv.g the world, the 'church is rapidly -losing what it has hitherto gained. It is no longer the dominating factor in social life" the heart and soul of civilisation, but an annex—increasing in magnili-

I cence as wealth, increases and mankind can afford to expend more for ostentation and fashionable diversion. 1 Professor Jus. T. Bixby, in a powerful plea for truth seekers, quotes approvingly the words of an eminent ecclesiastic of the Church.of England, who characterised the present ago as "pre-eminently the age of doubt." The :;lmost unprecedented succor el'^t.liirtman's "Philosophy of the Unconscious," which, is little more or less than Buddhism —gives a strong colour of truth to the assertion. While Europe is sending missionaries to the Ganges, liulia is planting ihe black pessimism of Giratnmn on the .Pliine and the Seine. Nineteen centuries of dogmatising ends in "an .age of doubt." Those who deny ihe .inspiration of the Bible, are, for the most part, doubting Thomases, who ask to see s ! the nail prints in the .haiids of their riHcn Lord: who arc disposed, to question him, not became they are irreligious, but because they want the trutn. Is it not possible to found a church in which may be gathered the millions w:i(.t cannot swallow the miracles, the 11.carnation, the plenary inspiration of the. Bible, mid other' non-essential husks that enshroud the Christian cuitus; where that religion that exist;, conscious or unconscious, in their nature, may find room for expansion, whore honest 'enquiry .may be. prosecuted, doubt-; freely and fairly discussed, .and perhaps dispelled: where all truth, whether found in. the Bible or the Koran, .science, or philosophy, may be eagerly seized and carefully treasured? If it were possible to tutu bring together and utilise the vast amount of religious energy which lies without the pale of all presenr, churches, where they may strengthen their faith by communion, what a mighty recruit would thus bo .added to the forces at present working for the world's salvation. Lot me sketch such, a- church, which .1 imagine, these millions of people would like to be a member of. Its chief "essential'' should be e, belief in God —not the God of tho Jews, Mohammedans, or Christians, but the Gou of everything animate and inanimate in the whole broad universe; the God of Justice and wisdom, truth and love ; tho God seen in the face of every noble woman and honest, maji, heard in .every truth, felt in every holy inspiration. We should not attempt to make it fit n pre-conceived theory, but to make the Itheory conform to it. Science should bo the hand-maid of the church, philosophy its helpful

I brother, its court of Lust resort should be tihe religious instinct iii'li.erent in man—tlnafc perception so fine, which above all things else, binds the human race in one great brotherhood, -has supplied the* missing link in every oult, wihidi logic lias hammered at with ji.ll her ballistite and . battering rams for thirty centuries or more in vain. Man does not embrace religion for "what there is in it," does not worship because God possesses the power to reward and punish, any more than. he stands entranced by the glory of the sunrise because the'rays of tin "Day-god will ripen his com, He pays involuntarily homage to the Higher Power, as ho does to men of genius who benefit him but indirectly—l am, etc * ; ' "', A. E. HAVELOCK GREEN. Wellington, May 22, 1912.