RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1366, 17 February 1912, Page 11

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

INEFFECTIVE PIETISM. STRIKING SERMON BY CANON CARNEGIE. Canon Carnegie, Rcctor of Birmingham Cathedral, preaching on New Year's Evo from 1 Sam. vii 12, said that the military instinct was part of the necessary equipment of Christian manhood. Tho man who was not of tho soldier typo could play no part, in tha Christian movement. He continued:

"It is iiot too much to say that a considerable proportion of present-day Christians seem to regard their religion chicliy, if not solely, as a means of consolation, and tho Church as a haven of refuge from the storms of evcry-day life. They have been saddened and depressed, it may be, by misfortune or bereavement, or mortified by failure, or stung to the quick by incivility or neglect, ■ or they have become deeply conscious of their own sinfulness, and they have turned to Christ for rest, or comfort, or sympathy, or forgiveness. Nor have they turned in vain. He who said "Come unto Mo all ye that aro weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you" still makes His promise good. We are quite justified in telling those that have been hard hit by sorrow or sin that the Church's doors lie open to them, and that she has at her disposal appropriate means of dealing with their ills. We can with assurance tell them that through the duo use of these means peace will lie theirs such as tho world cannot give and cannot take away. But this is not the full messago of the Church, nor docs it constitute its master rote. She has her hospitals for diseased souls, but they aro field hospitals, not invalid asylrtms; she has her ministries of refreshment and restoration, but these, too, aro means to a further end. And that end is active service. It is strong, active, healthy, determined, disciplined, courageous men whom she calls-for, not halting cripples or doleful valetudinarians. She offers healing indeed to tli'o sick and wounded, but only to prepare them for further conflict; she promises joy, but it is the joy of' battle; she gives peace, but it is the kind of peace which pervades a disciplined army engaged in arduous warfare, yet conscious of its strength and assured of final triumph. "It is well to emphasise this truth.' Itseems often to be overlooked, with the result that it has become possiidu lor men in no small numbers to regard themselves as good Churchmen, and to .be regarded by others as such,,who have no legitimate <laim to the title; who aro mere camp-iolbwers of . the Christian army, out lor what they can get iu (lie way of social consideration, or so-called spiritual consolation or exaltation. Nay, worse than this, some of our methods of religious propaganda have,a direct tendency to swell this useless crowd. Wo make great efforts to get people to attend Divine worship, and.it is well that we should. But surely we are bound to make it clear both to ourselves mid to them why wo aro making these iH'orts. Common honesty demands that we should leave tliem in no doubt as to the meaning and intention of the religious ordinances in which we ask fliem to share. It is no cause of congratulation, but rather one of disappointment and humiliation,'if as a result of our efforts we hml our churches crowded with men and women many of whom aro plainly there for what they can get-tho more worldly becauso a reputation for regular ehurcligcing is of some social or business advantage to '.hem, the moro imaginative or sentimental because tho services and ritual of tho Church provide them with emotional satisfaction which they cannot obtain so readily by other, means, theweaklings because they want protection, the lonely because they want companionship, -the depressed because .they want stimulus and excitement.. I ani liot concerned ,(o deny that up to a certain point t'ley find what they seek, but onlv up to a certain point."