CHURCH PROBLEMS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 134, 29 February 1908, Page 5

CHURCH PROBLEMS.

DISCUSSED AT METHODIST '» conference! ATTENDANCE. AT. PUBLIC WORSHIP. THE CHURCH. AND THE WORKING ' , CLASSES. ■ (BY -TELEGRAM.—rEESS ASSOCIATION.) • ' '. Auckland, February 28. Tho address of tho retiring President-of the Methodist • Conference* (tho: Rev. '-W. Blade/ td-nightV includ«l ■ a vigorous and plain-spoken raviow of iho problem of non-church-goers. Ho referred to tho enormous •disparity, betwoon tho number of: people insido and outiido the churches. : "In dealing . with .this subjcct wo nwd. not go," ho said, .'.' boyondour.,own shores,; because New Zealand presents on a reduced : scale a picture • of what exists' in Europo, in America, and m . • Australia. Whoro n\ily wo look for tho causa of this? .It may .bo expressed in a sentenoo, .'Tho world' .has •captured tho • church,-, and still: for tho most part holds it in bondage.'. /Tbo icntire population .of -VNew,; Zealand, is ;ih troiind liumoersj 900,000/ - Tho number of people for whom accommoCn- -; tion ,is provided in all the. churches and mooting-houscs is 375,938. Hero wo.have-a • " difference of considerably over half a million, < which, means that if oil any dav,.:the/whole •population, wished to attend divine service mora than half a million could not got inside the. places where service is held. But this does not express all tho facts. When' wo ask •what number of.pcojile tho .churches \ /. themselves return- as attending their various - places of. worship wo 'find ,tllo"number 'is . 220|2C3j whioh loaves -a- still greater disparity., between our. total population '.and; .church -attendants; It: is tan ■■- unwelcome , truth thats not a quarter of tho peoplo of tho' Dominion are ever, found within tho ... I ■ walls of tho churches.". -

A DEEP CLEAVAGE. ;i - r Mr. iSlado Preferred ' toijwhati hoi termed'tho deep and awful cleavago that exists between . ' the" :'working, plassrs . and tho ' Christian :>ehurch. ■ " Not bhlyi";i.'ho said,' ■" do com- : paratively few •of 'the great' army -'of-toiling men and women attend.-tho churcjies;',biit : ithero exists in their, m'jnds. an intense hostility td 'them, and through them to religion; ' itself.; j,To theso','persons ■ churches aro associated with political-disabilities, with social . inequalities, with invidious class distinction, - with economic injustico, :with pndo of purse . and pndo of place. To them religion has ; • seemed to 'bo always the privilego of the rich and thoj strong. .• We cannot' wonder' at this. It is difiiculfc to think l of. an abuso of - power;-in-: which. Stato;: Churches -have not v shared. . The darkest -pages'qf history have , been embroidered "withr mjtrts and ' lawn Bleeves:r 'In recent-times the churches' have : 'seemed.to. tho .> working; classes to be mdifforent/to .their, needs and' sufferings: Tlicy •' think of.i.the; institutions, which v say ;-Live m a:nico house, wear nico clothes, /have mbney: m.your. pocket, and wc will wel;.,They.think,- that ~the /'churches :: are.,not only;-,out ; of sympathy with : them, but•aro actually opposed; to their efforts: to •/.secure fair, .wages /, for themselves,'.: better homes and . environment for . their- families, and-i to bo able live without the , dread presonca* of thei.wolf'always at the door. ' --They think. the fthurchosvhave always been .. on the sido of .the' big battalions—of .tho capitalist,; of . the land-owner, of tho manufacturer,: and of • the monopolist. .-... ■

THE' WITNESS OF HISTORY. . !'We who havo -readi history know .how // mistaken -all . this./is. .., --^Ve' know, ,in i spite .of ; her:-mtayi -shMtcomings ': and' .mistakes, ,the Christian Church, -has 'doneijinfimtely -. more r.rihan , any... other i half-rdoiien' institutions put f.pt(:gethernfor. the? amelioration- ofvthe. sullor..lngs of-.mankind.. -If Christianity, has no . power ,to attrapt- tho - multitude;; if 'it has ... nothing.'to offer , towards ;the- solution .of pioblems which,v though; not,immediately re- ,-; ligious,yet, : have;jjreatitifluenqe- on,'religion; .if,.>,when;,-nieni'-.with,. thb . anguish bom . of . - hunger ;ask that tthe.bread of,/earth be made. . easier ,to .procure,- religion can only talk /about,,the':bread of. the life to come; it, . , whon shivering with cold thev pray for warm clothing, for themselves and" their families, , :ireligion can only point-so. tho white raiment which the redeemed wear; if,in the face of i tho . .wealth and destitution which ; inodern . lifo tho' multi-millionaire squandering • thousands of' pounds on one Bacchanalian not,' \vhile; the , pauper lies dying/of hunger- on his /sack of. straw; if, I ■ ■•say,iin answer,•to;.this,; roligiqn, has, only tho message about the. crowns of 'gold which the ;; saved before l 'the Throne in another ■' ' sphere,' it Should; not;'surpriso'-"us . that- men: ' .turn' ; away : ;iroin/it' as ! having no/message for them." '-' ; ' • Vft- ; :/,' SOLUTION,OF THE PROBLEM.

: As a solution of tho problem of how to get men and? women inside:' the Churches; Mr: Slado suggested:.that tho first step was , to rightly iappreciate tho truo moaning of. tho present condition of the world. It .would also, help igreatly, towards solving the pro- ' blom of the-lossand-.waste of- strength and material involved in tlie' divisions 1 of .Christ-

endom.-'Nest' to ,-thd evil inflicted (on - the . . Church '"of;': Christ by- thoentrance 'of- sthe >.- world t spirit; ■ was'; the''. evil."wrought \ by; • tho '• quarrels and "divisions between Christians' . ithemselves. l lt '' was > for 'this:.'reasonthey. •' hailed with: joy .the ' union which /bad been •• consummated ; between threo branches of:the 1 .. Methodist Church in England, and watchi-d with eager'; interest: the ; negotiations .with.' a : view to. union 'between the: great ■ Presbyter-,- . ian and Methodist Churches.of. Canada, and also the less-advanccd discussion between all '•'the' largi3: Protestant Churches' of Australia;: He "hoped'- to : 'witness ' complete r. Methodist '•::Union in the• Dominion ;• and that it would be. tho precursor of union on a greater scale.-

THE PRINCIPLE :OF SACRIFICE. "Christians," he continued, ."have not yet learned:',the 'Christian : principle of/sacrifice in.. their gifts- to -the -cause' of,: Christ.'' Wo >vant to seo .His' Kingdom come, but :"at the' least, possible, cost to ourselves'.,'lt is"at tho ■ point--of. giving: that,most.of our Christianity breaks: down. : The .Christian man spends no: more ( on. his Church .and it's enterprises than thoV non-Christian,! on i his sports. In ■eagernoss 'to .-get and :licpp money there is ;no .difference between .them. Will my brethren, the'laymeh, tclj nie)vhy»£2oo is ample stipend for' a Christian minister; but a Christian" lawyer/ or 'Christian merchant, requires; £1000 or £20.00? Will they tell mo why-it;is enough' for the Christian to receive, in old ago a small allowance from a pension fund,, with nothing to leave to his children; but "a Christian" merchant or lawyer, bequeath a fortune to his. posterity ?. In nothing so: much as in this mattor of the use' of wealth docs the capture of the Church by tho world show "itself: . Tho looked-foi' . Kingdom •'will not. come till t-lio Church; revises' its views and "practice on this 'subject of money". Look; at the restrictions ■ imposed ' on' our own aggressivo 'movements by the crippled state o'l: our Home" Mission Fund. Fields everywhere invito; us to fresh triumphs,; but while' traffickers in -alsohol and-votaries' of gambling are-able to throw out their forces,; .the Christian: Church halts for lack.of moarisl. 'So likewise we aro compelled to. send out into the, world half-equip-ped men'Tj'ccause we have no college' in whichto equip thorn, and yet if half-a-dozen laymen would combinc and resolve to do some really great thing before they die, and make the question'-'of ;a theological college their own, wb/might 'arrange the opening functions before v/e \ sing the final Doxology of the' Conference."-• ' ' >