THE HYSTERICAL ATTACK.

Evening Star, Issue 15538, 7 July 1914, Page 4

THE HYSTERICAL ATTACK.

! " W I TO THE EDITOR. .Sir, —I am sorry to bo compelled in any 1 way to complain' of a sentence in your I report of last Friday's discussion upon “The Relationship of the Church and Labor/’ But in fairness and justice to the Rev. R. S. Gray I feel bound to do so. Under the cross-beadin": ‘"The Church takes the the gloves off,” you report : “ And now began a duel, in which then* was considerable ill-humor —nay venom.” ' Surely this must be set down simply as ! a touch of rhetorical exaggeration. But the man’in the street reading the account might almost imagine that the famous story of the Kilkenny cats had been wellnigh repeated. The cats, you remember, were locked in an ambiguous embrace on cither side of a clothes-line, and when tho misunderstanding which resulted had worked out its full consequences there was nothing left of the combatants but ilia knot which had been tied in their tails. Now, at no moment was the meeting in Hanover street within measurable distance of anv such catastrophe. Who needs to be reminded that in a heated discussion men are not likely to weigh their words ; in jeweller’s scales, that strong words are | discounted by tho hearers, and that a I popular speaker is often carried off his legs by the sympathetic fervor of his audience—that is, then, frankly to admit that there was some warmth, but poisoned words— I no. We had listened to what you have | characterised as “an hysterical attack = a speech from one evidently fond of hurling fire-brands in all directions, and win. was out to manipulate trade union organisations. The Rev. W. Saunders, in opening tho conference for the Council of Churches, had, in a most conciliatory speech, avowed that the old phrase bidding men be “content in the sphere in which Providence had placed them ” had been discarded by all as implying a falsehood. God is not the only worker. Much that wo find in the world has been done by man, and feu? it. man and not God is responsible. All men are not- where God placed them. Many have put themselves far below where He would have them, whilst others have been put, and are kept, by the it fellows lower than they should be. It i( not the purpose, or arrangement, or work* ing of the Heavenly Father, but “man'r inhumanity to man that makes thousands mourn.” Along this lino Mi Saunders was heard at his best. Then came a petfect flux of words m fierce resentment from one—there is no disguising the fact—manifestly determined to 'urn the flame of party _ Dia this not suggest an equally plain criticism from the president or the Council which had planned tho conference If Mr Gray has shown time and again .that ho dots not wish to assume the character of an ecclesiastical policeman and restrain any man’s thoughts, but having heard the cry of war to tho knife be did venture to tomind this superior person that “ self.” “us,” “our,” iiad ton long been tha words trial limited all that was great, and o-ood, and precious, and that it was ;» mistake to imagine that beyond that little circle there rras interesting* nothing worth a thought, and further, that the rancor of the spirit displayed, which outstripped all parallel, was an offence and an insult to all candid and fair-minded men. Aye, there was warmth, but not tho temper of tho man who_ glories in scoring off au opponent and is not particular' about his retort eo lons as >t crushes and ho can seem smart ancf clever.

I hold that the minister to-day, who is to command respect, must be a .nan -.rilling to speak the gentle word, but in a case where the disease is such, tts to leave its victim wholly insensible to smb methods of treatment brave enough to speak in no double sense, concealing h;s more imlKiftaiit meaning under a guise of allegory. I close at once with tho iit.ii whoso notion of religion is that of a n chi; . (simpering sort of thing. very flabby in its muscles, and very weak i" the back, and whose notion of a Christian man is that lie must not under any cir corns Uinoes resent cr resist anything. Such ' emasculated pigmies only bring contempt upon religion. The hypocrisy of tho buo and cry against ministers saying strong Chinga is amply demonstrated by tho giiafcMrdons widi which they ase always iytiod when their views axe'of the riffa* ewi. unperdonablo sin is not that the speak strongly, but that they are oo the wroi% tide, for tho objectors* have ru. wMcpathr to plain speech — erna Ctvtai osudor — evo long as it is not avf tod thwsarfvea e»<# in & diluted form. Mr Cray has ia saaqu ways sought to bo a bridgobuiMet acr tho widening gulf between the classes an* tlia masses,, and Ids tana i» even those who do not males «r- claim, to i>« called Christians a guararfeo for » auinely fair and generous treatment.—l Kin, etc., G. Heighwat.

Judy 7. 1 [Our reporter Informs us that it was e duel, and more or less, bitterly fought, too. Perhaps “ venom,” in tho sense of malice and spite, was an injudicious term. Let us ofll it rluboorini JtaSUnesp*.— ltd, £.#3J