SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF BERLIN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 174, 28 July 1876, Page 13

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF BERLIN.

A missiostaby of the Protestant Church gives a deplorable account of the rebgious and social condition of Berlin in tLe « Church Gazette : "The missions of the state," he says, "lately enabled us to have a deeper look into the interior condition of the population. The experiences made on this occasion have procured us the certitude that spiritual misery has gained a frightful extension among the poorer classes. Their views of life show that the most absurd materialism has replaced the Holy Scripture. Among the working-classes the belief has got a footing that mea are but animals, only with a little more •ense, and we frequently hear the Bcournful remark : •Do you think we are still stupid enough to believe in the immortality (of a soul?' Tjfc distinction of position and fortune, the different adversities of Wfi contribute to undermine the belief in God. They consider religion good enough for children, but mere nonsense for grown-up people. We can well imagine that such ideas cannot further Christianity. Christ was a good man,' said one of the workmen to me but he preacued too much of loving our neighbors, whilst everybody ought to love themselves best' I only quote these expressions to illustrate the general decay of religion. It is fortunately not only among the lower classes, but it is equally increasing among the socalled well educated. Only lately I heard in good society the hone expressed that thirty years hence there will be no more clergymen because nobody wants to study theology ; < and how pleasant that wiii be, said a man of high standing, 'when all the churches be turned into places ot amusements. 3 Many, even ladies, boast of not having been to church since their childhood. The Bible is not true they say, and the life after death a fable, but when such impious people are on their death-bad, and whun we are sometimes called to them, we find nothing but despondency and despair. As people have neither the want nor the time for prayer, they also neglect to teach their children to pray. When we request our parishioners to attend the church and receive the sacrament, they tell us that common sense has now triumphed over faith, which is falsehood and swind ing Those who are not quite so bad have other excuses for not attending the church ; the women say that their husbands prevent them from doing so, and the poor plead the want of proper clothes as an excuse

The profanation of Sundays increases more and more ; it seems as if the day of Our Lord was established in Berlin to indulge in pleasures, which are very often criminal. Tho desire of gain induces the proprietors of manufactories to compel the poor workmen to work on Sundays, and thus, between the burden of labor and pleasures, people forget that which is most necessary — their salvation. An accruing rest-lestne-s characterises 'now the populations of all large cities. It makes one uncomfortable to witness the discontent of the working-classes and their hatred against the rich. As long as they earn they never think of saving, and when they art out of work and suffer from poverty, they make their employers responsible for it. Another deplorable condition is that the ties of families are no longer respected, which must hasten social and moral ruin. The introduction of civil marriage has done great harm, because people in their ignorance will not understand that this new law does not release them from their duties to God, and the enemies of Christianity use it to confirm them in their belief. A great number of children remain unbaptised, or are only what they call christened by the magistrate. The Church has no longer a right to ask whether people are married by a minister of God or by secular authority. In one word, the confusion in this sphere is already great, and unconscientious people still increase it. " These are only a few sketches of the religious condition at Berlin," concludes the missionary. "Do not imagine that these few examples which I have given are exceptional cases ; on the contrary, they could be counted by thousands. The few remarks which I have quoted are symptoms of animpiety which is predominating."