RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 130, 2 June 1923, Page 18

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT-DAY OUTLOOK. (Contributed.) HOUSING OF THE PEOPLE. At St. Luke's Presbyterian Church, Itemuera, Hey. C. J. Tocker preached on "The t-'liiisttnn interests Involved in tho Housing of the People." He outlined the situation to-day as disclosed by tho inquiries of the Council of Christian Congregations, and the statements of social workers recently given publicity in the Press. "Now," said tlie speaker, "this is the situation. But what are its effects'! Firstly, hardship and discomfort. Its cfl'cct on the character of tho people, is inevitable. Already our social workers speak of the growing discontent, fractiousness and callousness of people living under these conditions, and they quote amazing instances. How could it be otherwise? The people compelled to live uniler such conditions cannot for ever resist tho daily and hourly pressure of their environment. They tend to sink to the level of their surroundings. A far graver menace than the existence of a slum is the creating of a slum spirit. Again, all the social workers stress the fact that the conditions are resulting in a startling decline in morals. When whole families are herded in a single room, parents and children, male and female, together, and when several families arc crowded into a single house, privacy and the wholosonio proprieties of life simply cannot be observed. The result is a growing moral laxity. Another grave matter is the effect upon young people marrying. One social worker points out that young people used not to marry till they had provided a home. Marriage meant home, with all its sw*et sanctities. Now many young people marry with last week's wages in hand, and with their belongings in two suit cases; and they go to live in one or two rooms. They mako no provision for the future. Is this marriage, or is it just a relation of the sexes? We are raising a generation of young people to whom marriage does not mean homo in the old wholesome way, and who cnte,r upon that most sacred and responsible relationship in the most irresponsible way. THE CHILDREN. And that suggests what is perhaps the worst feature of all. What are the effects upon children growing up under theso conditions of housing? Their bodies fare moderately well — that is, they are clothed and fed after a fashion, often with difficulty, and they get somewhere to sleep. If it goes on the next generation will have a problem of physique to face, as they have it in the cities of the old world. But what of their minds? The home should be the chief training ground for the child mind. What influence of school, or religion, or anything else can ever undo the influence of such an eaily home and environment? And what of the soul of the child? What of all the pure, sweet influences of homo upon the child nature. For children compelled to live under the present housing conditions there is little or nothing that can be called "home." All that that gracious word can mean to the soul of a child is not for them. Are the souls of these children of so little value? Nothing so roused the indignation of Jesus as an offence against a little child. And when the children of these conditions are grown to man's and women's estate, what will be their influence? Tlie moral and religious, problem is acute enough to-day; but it is nothing to the problem we are creating for the next generation if these conditions continue. All tliis constitutes a problem for the Government, for it if a national problem. It constitutes a problem also for the civic authorities. And one is intensely grateful to find tho Mayor and Council so alive and concerned about the situation, and to learn that they are at work upon so courageous a policy as the Mayor indicated to the deputation from the Council of .Christian Congregations.But, while this is a problem for the Government nnd the civic it is also a matter supremely for .ihe Christian community, for the Christian Church in all its branches, and for individual Christians. This is Christ's work. Therefore, let people everywhere inform themselves of the ; facts; and let them go about daily as the advocates.and propagandists of Christ pleading the cause of housing, making known the facts, stating the terrible effects that follow, rousing interest, concern and conscience. Then, when the Mayor launches his thorough-going scheme it will find tho atmosphere of success awaiting it. And when the day comes that support ht called for, let every Church and every Christian stand in to support with all the strength and influence they can command. I pledged the Mayor that support. See you to it that we do not fail."

SPIRIT OF MODERNISM. CANON BARNES AT WESTMINSTER, TBy Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, March G. Canon Barnes, the popular preacher at Westminster Abbey, has begun a series of lectures on the "Spirit of Modernism," which is attracting large audiences. His subject, said the lecturer, is to show that this spirit is not, as is often believed, a new and dangerous phenomenon in tho Christian Church. Tt has, in fact, been present in every age whon secular thought was active and progressive. Moreover, it-has been the source of most important developments of Christian theology in the past. Those who, at different epochs, were animated by this spirit were more often than not distrusted by their contemporaries. Like other pioneers, they sometimes made mistakes; but their names live, and will continue to live, in Christian history because they sought truth so far as it could be reached by their understanding. As the fir=t of those whom he proposed to discuss Canon Barnes selected Origen, who sought to reconcile the Christian faith with Greek philosophy early in the third century when Christianity was becoming the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. We needed, in the first place, lie said, a definition of Modernism, and it might best be described as the attempt to join ihe revelation of Jesus Christ to contemporary science, scholarship, and philosophy. Origen took the Christian faith, as represented by the Bible, and showed bow it could be placed in the setting made by the thought of his age. He had a magnificent intellectual audacity, and he used tbe Scriptures with a freedom and ingenuity that excite surprise, and are still worthy of study. But he laid down the lines" on which orthodox theology was to develop during the centuries when our creeds assumed their present forms. Origen boldly adopted the theory of allegorical interpretation, and by this device fee was able to use the Bible With

our modern freedom. "Wo discard an erroneous statement in the Bible," said Canon Barnes. "Origen interpreted it to suit the ideas of Jiis age. Tho result is often much the same, though wo are more loj-al to truth in that wo insist that every passage must bear the meaning which its writer originally sought to convey."' Oi'igen rejected, as, indeed, db modern scholars, literal belief in the story of the Fall. But he assumed that tho soul of man was indestructible; that it pre-existed before being joined to the body; and that in its pre-existcnt state it had suffered a transcendental fall. On this foundation he built his theological scheme.

"To us, with our more accurate r scientific conceptions," said Canon 11 Barnes, "Origen's view of the universe seems strauge and bizarre, a queer medley of good sense and fancy. But because he was honest in his thought many of his ideas remain valuably suggestive. He defends, for instance, the Virgin Birth by the plea that in Nature . there are parallels to it. We smile at his belief that the vultures offer such a . parallel: hut we know that partheno- , i genesis is a biological fact, and with ' j Origen we can still say, *Ts it, then, I incredible to suppose that, if God ' I wished to send a Divine Teacher to a j human race, He caused Him to be born in a manner different from the common ?' Similarly, Origen awakens a response in us when he says that there could not have been evening and morning on first three days of Creation without sun, moon, aud stars. The Creation story, in fact, is figurative, and so also, says . Origen. is the Temptation of our Lord. : 'From no high mountain could a man see all the kingdoms of the world.' Yet Origen insists that, in the figurative story of Creation, we can discover* 'a meaning worthy of God.' and we all knbw that in relating the Temptation. Jesus-gave the most profound revelation of His character and purpose." CURRENT**. NOTES. Trinity Chrt-ch, Montreal. Canada, which was recently destroyed by fire, is stated to have been the oldest Anglican Church in the Dominion. • The Right Rev. Daniel Sylvester Tut tie, presidina Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the oldest Anglican bishop in point of service in the world, died at St. Louis on April 17. He was 86 years old. A special festival week is to be held in connection with St. Columba's Anglicnn Church, Grey Lynn. The festival opens on June 7, and the proceeds are to be i devoted towards the extinction of tho church debt. Tho following advertisement from the "Boston Congre-jKitionnlist" speaks for • itself: —"Gypsy" Simon Smith, like his famous cousin, attracts crowds everywhere; sixteen years' experience; quiet scriptural methods. Terms, offering. : Highest testimonials." ' The Rev. William Chadwick, for nearly twenty-seven years in the United Methodist Ministry, has resigned his pastorate of South Domingo Road Chapel, ' Liverpool, and joined the Church of ; England. He will proceed to Holy . OrdeTS. „ Professor H. Augustine Smith, of Boston University, has produced a series of model proerammes for churches and , Sunday Schools. He ureos the use of hymns and pageantry religions pictures, instrumental music and festival programmes on a high artistic plane. According to a Bucharest report, the Rumanian Parliament has passed the Government Bill prohibiting the settlement and further activity of Roman Catholic congregations and monastic orders throughout the entire Rumanian territory. Dr. John Hutton, of Glasgow, announces that he will accept the call he has received from the congregation of Westminster Chapel., from the pastorate of which Dr. J. H. Jowett resigned in January owing to ill-health. Dr. Hutton has been a minister of the United Free Church of Scotland. The Bishop of St. Albans says "there is far more religious life in Cambridge to-day then when I was last living at Oxford twenty years ago;" and he added, "I find from the inquirers who are coming to mc that they are realising that religion must first of all be a personal thing so as to be the driving force for applied Christianity. The churches have taught mere morals long enough." / The Bishop of Durham, in a letter against the secularisation of JSunday in England, states: "I doubt if an appreciable fraction of the Leeds City Council, bowing to the clearly expressed will of responsible citizens, rejected a proposal to allow games on Sundays in tbe parks. Over three thousand people attended a meeting in the Town Hall to protest acrainst the proposed secularisation of Sunday." The following resolution was passed recently by the National Missionary Council of India: "That this Council draws attention to the harm that is done by missionaries of narrow sympathies and outlook, and requests boards to pay due regard to this, both in the preparation, appointment and retention of missionaries. Returns of the workers employed in the New Zealand Methodist Church "how | a total of 181 ministers; 50 home mis- ' sionaries, showing an increase of 4; ! deaconesses have declined from 14 to 10: ! class leaders have decreased by 11, and . now number 29; whilst local preachers , have diminished by one, and now stand at 773.. In the matter of church membership, there is an increase of 032,"the .total being 23,451. There is also an I increase of 305 junior church members, the total junior membership being G472. The estimate of attendants on public I worship is 73,205, which is • 487 fewer than the number reported last year. Dr. C. E. Jefferson, of New York, recently stated on his return from a visit ito England: "I was delighted to find I Congregationalism so alert, so • proI sperous, so ably led. Among Noncon- | formists tlie Congregationalists of Engj land stand second to none. 'In the I number of able preachers it outranks every other denomination. Drs. Jowett ) and Jones and Berrie and Selbie and I Horton and Gibbon and Yates and Nor,----j wood are all preachers of" commanding | power, and there are a. dozen others not i far behind them. Our Congregational I Churches in England do not seem to be ■ plagued by. Premillenarianism or Fundaj mentalism, nor are British Congregationalists greatly agitated over Evolution or I the Higher Criticism. Many questions I still open in many parts of the United ; States they have closed, and have gone j on to consider new problems'and wrestle i with new foes."