LEADERS' THOUGHTS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 5, 6 July 1922, Page 7

LEADERS' THOUGHTS

ORGANISING SPIRITUAL

FELLOWSHIP

PARTICULAR QUALITIES OF.

PREMIER

(fROU OCR OlfN CORRIIPOMINT.) LONDON, 17th. May.

Lord Robert Cecil, at Hitchin

"I am profoundly convinced that if to-morrow it could be announced that Mr. Lloyd George had resigned, and the King had s.ent for Viscount Grey, a sigh of, relief would go up from the whole civilised world. I still think that of alljthe public men alive, there is no one with whom I would more willingly work than Lord Grey. Some people read from that personal hostility to other Liberal leaders, particularly to Mr. Asquith. 1 have much respect for Mr. Asquith, and I have never shared in the unjust attacks that have been made upon;, him from some , quarters. Why, then; do I speak of Lord Grey? Quite apart from any question" of the respective merits".of Lord Grey and Mr.' Ascjuith, there are electors iri this country 'who would be prepared to support a Government with Lord Grey as Prime Minister, ( and , who would not be prepared to support a Government wif& Mr. Asquith in that position. And it is not. only party feeling. It is no j want of respect for Mr. Asquith to say ' that Lord Grey has, above all men I j know of,, the particular qualities the country needs at the present time. His great experience in foreign affairs, when for some time to come, foreign affaire ■must be our- chief occupation, is: only one thing; it is not the greatest. It is difficult to say without impertinence wherein his special fitness seems to me' to consist. I do npt know of any other man who differs so completely, both, in his qualities and defects, from the Prime Minister, and I am quite sure that people of this country require in their statesmen , that characteristic above all others at the present time. For what •: we need most, of all is/ to restore confidence both at home and abroad. Confidence is the base of all peace and all prosperity. Can anyone say that the present Government inspires confidence? No one trusts them. That is really fatal, and if the country is to be saved, we must have a change." WOMEN AND LABOUR DISPUTES. Mr. Austen Chamberlain, M.P. (once an opponent of Women's Suffrage, but an honourable and intelligent opponent), to the Women's Unionist Organisation : "I fear^that if women were admitted to the franchise they might, at some moment, be swept off their feet by someggreatt t current of emotion or senti- i •ment—(cries of "No!')—and that there i is a certain danger- that in that way our policy might sometimes be deflected and grave injury be done to national interests. Ido not believe, of all our citizens, that women are the ones who are .likely to encourage revolution, for they know that the : firs* victims of revolution, as the first victims of industrial strife without revolution, are the women and children in the h'i;d. May there not be a great work for your association to-day in, helping to bring home the economic laws, to which we are all subject, to the women of this country, and' in organising them to take an interest in those industrial affairs which have hitherto been- left to the men, whether employers or employed, and to see that they and their homes and their country, are not needlessly involved in great industrial disputes, ! and that, those disputes are • not. needlessly prolonged or embittered ?,"- THE FABRIC INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY. , : Dr. J. H. Jowett, on interchange of preachers :— "A very admirable piece of work is being done by the Council for the Interchange of Preachers in the arrangement of interchanges between the churches of Great Britain and America.- The organisation is a very simple one, but its influences are far-reaching. The periods of interchange are of varying length, some extending to several weeke, others ibeing of a more itinerant character, allowing for the visitation of many churches. An increasing number of men cross the Atlantic every year in this^ ministry of international communion.' The arrangements are giving enthusiastic satisfaction in both countries. They are breaking, down the spirit of aloofness and reserve, and they are removing the mutual ignorance which has been, the ground-bed of. so much antipathy and misunderstanding. They are helping in a very influential way to . -"weave the fabric of international fraternity. For an American church to have a. British minister for a month or two, and for a British church to have an American minister, is to have opportunities of fellowship and insight which are invaluable in the cause, of racial understanding and goodwill. There is a distinct difference in, the emphasis of the preaching. The British gulpit is more pronouncedly evangelical. It is less topical and more theological. It is more expository in its methods, and it gives its strength -to the exploration of the innermost meaning of the central doctrines of the faith. The British teaching ■is more individualistic than the American teaching, emphasising the'_ personal aspects of redemption .rather than : a corporate salvation. American teaching laye much more etn'phasis than we do on the social implication of the Gospel, and it aims much more strenuously at the Christianising of national and international life. The best books on social ethics come from America; the best books on spiritaal dynamics are born in Britain. "It is, therefore, I think, an excellent provision which permits an English com. gnegation to listen to American teaching and which allows American congregations to listen to British teaching. Each has mnch to learn from the other. Each is the complement of the other. The devotional life of the British churches needs to be strengthened by a more robust sociology, while the ffemi-poKfcical emphasis of the American churches may ■be empowered and eiiriched by the tmfoldinfr of the more personal aspects in the redemptive doctrines of the Apostolic, faith. It is to be hoped that the International Committee will coon be able to. arrange for exchanges between other countries besides America, and Britain. I am profoundly convinced that such, an organising of spiritual fellowship in the ■widest l-ange would have most influential issues, in purifvinjr the deepest springs of international life."

AN ARCHBISHOP ON REUNION. The Archbishop of York, in the Diocesan Gazette : - '',' "At Whitsuntide I trust we shall all ■ offer earnest prayers for the great cause of the unity of the Church of Christ. To the Anglican Church, that cause has been in a special and memorable manner committed by the Appeal of the- Lambeth Conference. I cannot I here write of all that is now happening in many parts of the world ml conseqvience of that appeal.' But. I may be ! permitted to say-that for the last six months, with other bishops, I linv-n boon in c1ob« and constant ■' conference UVith' repijtasuUativw .■.#•■•'JJis Isdffl^

Council of Evangelical Frer Churches in an effort, so far most encouraging, ito reach some agreement on matters | fundamental to any approaches towards [union. ."' Seeds are being sown which ! may, in God's own time, bear fruit." | THE OLDEST TRADE UNION. I Mr. Patrick Hastings, K.C., at a | meeting of the Actors' Association: , "I cannot help thinking that the English Bar is probably the oldest and tightest trade union in the world; Yon know, we have an absolute 'closed shop.' Nobody is allowed to speak to [ a Judge of the High Court except our- [ selves, and I'am glad of it. (Laughter.) I should hate to think, if any of you were in trouble, that you could | soy to the lady, or. gentleman next to yon, 'Go and tell the Judge all about J it.' You w«uld have to come to me jor somebody else first, ■ and that is a j very consoling fact. We do not admit that we are a trade union, but I am sure " that most barristers—at least, those at the top and the Judges—are < well-seasoned conservatives. I hope so, but lihey would not like to be told they were members; of a trade union. But they are,-and in tkeir times they have been glad of it. Not only are they a 'closed shop,' but they get a minimum wage. I do.not know whether any members of my profession would like to be called shop stewards, but they are not far off it. If there is any trouble with the employer, we have our own means of having it put right, and so far nobody has locked us; out. • But they might, and it would be an unfortunate thing if jthe employers were to lock us out;". > MEN'S RE-CREATION. Th« Rev. B. G. Bourchier,'an advocate of Sunday games :— '.'Since my recent advocacy of healthgiving out-of-door games <fc a Sunday, I have been literally snowed under by missives of abuse. Vitriol rather than ink'mxrst have, been employed to express ! the .'sentiments that, these letters • have I sought to convey. Does the Bible contain even the remotest hint, that what is right on Saturday is wrong on Sunday? Did the greatest teacher of men ever do more Yhan enunciate principles? For rules and regulations He 'showed no sort of fondness. 'Remember,' H© said, 'to keep holy the Lord's Day.' Of course. No right-minded person should desire to do otherwise. Divine worship is a debt of ;honcrar. ■ And if, man were only spirit, •that were enough. But man is far more than spirit. The same Being- who endowed him -with a soul endowed him also with a body—a body to use and to look after. Moreover, He taught him that in his Maker's'sight a man's body is every bit as .important as his soul. In fact, you cannot have a healthy mind without a healthy body. And the Godordained method of renewing the waste of the body is fresh air, exercise, and games. Be honest.'...'.. . What is the i alternative? It is to stay in bed till :noon, rise, and probably overeat, and as I likely_as not overdrink; then more sleep, tea.with mnch gossip, supper, a novel or a game of cards, and back' to bed. The result is that Sunday becomes a day of tedious ennui, everyone is bored stiff, tempers are at their worst, and indigestion, something cruel. To pretend that this type of Sunday conduces to godliness is sheerest hypocrisy. . ./-. Which, think you, in the sight of high heaven ia the more approved on a Sunday—a tennis match or a gossip mafch? To concentrate upon one's garden or upon one's neighbour? To give our workers and our younger generation official approval of their enjoying themselves in our public parks, or forbSd them and thus drive them into ' corners to gamble and plot all mannar of mischief? No wonder that the youth of to-day give the Church a wide berth! We seem, somehow to' haye ■utterly lost the spirit ol our Founder, who so completely understood and satisfied the needs of men. Why, He actually made Sunday ' for man—that he might remember to keep it wholly. 'Pi' people who identify Sunday games with God'lessness are helping to make religion stink in the nostrils of all decent men. Give me your fine, clean young Englishman ,-who, not ashamed of his Faith, remembers its obligations, and then., with clear conscience, makes his way to the links or the cricket-field. Oh! I'm all for Sunday games. B^them we'll save the old Church yet. My only stipulation is that (a) they most be health-giving, i.e., out-of-doors: (b) they must not involve another's labour; (c) the claims of God must not be ignored."