OPEN-ALL-NIGHT CHURCHES.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17296, 7 November 1921, Page 9

OPEN-ALL-NIGHT CHURCHES.

"Why Bhould not tho experiment which has proved so successful at St. Martin's-m-tho Fields, London, bo extended and.mor?. churches remain open all through the night? (asks "A Churchman" in a London paper). ' I think if tho Church understood human psychology, if it studied tho fctark n3eds of men and women, it would stie in the idea a great opportunity. , ~ ' Not that. I advocate the idea of turning our churches into resting places for tho homeless and destitute. It is good to deal with the physical noeds of men and ofier them tho sanctuary of Mother Church when no other shelter is availavjle. But :t is finer still to minister to sick wills and minds when they need that ministry most. , . And it is m the still watches of the night, whon 'iien at peace "hush and !:loss themselves -with silence," that tho <niilt-stained. the conscience-stricken, tte sore-troubled feed the. need of someone tn whom they might "open their frrief" , . , ' During the dav there is always something to distract. However bad, things may bo. lihey ire more bearable in daylight. It may not be possible to forget, hut at lca3t it is possible not every minuto to remember. . Rut at night it is different. If the Mossed gift of sleep be denied, there is nothin" for a man hut bitter memory. He mav flv to drink or to drugs, to any kind of dissipation. ' They will avail "Kim nothing.* There come tho unendurable hours when he is alone, face to face with himself. All who have sinned greatly or suffer-

Ec! deeply through their own or other's fault or through unhappy circunißtaueo know the horror ol this terror by night. It is unforgettable, unescapablo. The gnawing conscience is most alert at nigbt. Jiemorsc, regret, despair arc creatures of the darkness. However irreligious the man, at euch times ho yearns lor something somewhere in the heart of things that may haply understand. -lie. cannot pray. He knows not how. Ho dots not bo"cve - -i ii But that is tho moment—lo tho email hours of the night—ho would, if it were open, creep hno a church. If ho found tliero someone to whom, without fuss or ceremony, 1,0 could go, it is then he would unburden himself. AVhat a eliancj for tho Church t ( > gather into its bosom ninny who would otherwise never enter its doors! The Church is not merely for the good and strong; It is for tho weak, the evriuji, and the wretched. And : you must catch them, if catch them you j will, at the nicinent when tiicy arc most weary, mos 1 ; heavily laden. And that is at night.