TO WORK IS TO PRAY.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 303, 20 December 1922, Page 8

TO WORK IS TO PRAY.

By GEORGE LANSBU7IY

(LABOBABE EST OBARE)

George Lansbury is now Labour, iMJP. for Bow and Bromley in East London. : In the far-away d|ays when I was" a small boy, my days were spent i.t> an educational establishment called "St. James the Less"—day and Sundew .schools attached to a church of. that name in Bethnal Green. Some incidents connected with my Vie in that school are firmly fixed iv my mind. Our headmaster relied on a very nice' pliable cane to keep us orderly, and to laid the birch a large part of each day was devoted to prayers, Bible study, and the Gat?chiam, but chief of all is the memory of the clerath from smallpox of a junior master loved by us all. PRAYERS AGAINST PESTILENCE Many scholars also succumbed to the ravages of that foul disease.Those of us who escaped infection were inspected daily, our arms examined for ■vaccination marks, and those who showed the slightest "sign or symptom of. illness were tumbled off home. In thoi'i9 days people were scourged not only by smallpox, but also j by cholera,, typhoid, and kindred d'seases. As a consequence, and in vid<TTtion to medical inspections, wo were taken to church to pray that God would remove these pestilences from our midst. The sermons preached to us, aud the prayers we eaid, still always remain a vivid memory telling of the downright fatiiLy of prayer and sermons unless those wh 0 pray j demonstrated-their faith by good works a"d noble deeds. I recall these events of my youth because I have been reading, the appeal of the Churches just issued by. bishops, clergy, and other representatives of Christian Churches, asking: Christians to" pray for- guidance mnd help in dealing with the terrible problem of the slums. It is certain we shall also be asked to pray'for guidance at the forthcoming General Election. The manifesto with which I am dealing" reminds mo of the goodwill and faith which my ears wore accustomed to hear m school and church, in connection with disease. BLAME ON WRONG SHOULDERS. Surely the time has come when everybody should know how wrong it is to cast the blame for the slaughter of human life, caused by such plagues as diphtheria, typhoid, and smallpox on to God or Nature. We als o should know -that it is blasphemy to say, "God's will be done," when some loved one is murdered by preventable disease or forced to suffer ye.ars of miserable life because of bad drainage. Impure water, overcrowdmg i and und sr-feeding. These crimes against humanity, and, indeed, all social and industrial evils, are the results of our stupidity, our selfishness, and refusal to use the means which God and Nature places in our hands with which to combat (-ha evils which accompany us through life. What we do not all realise is that, while we should all" humbly and wHn contrition confess our sins, especially .the social sin of neglect'of our neigh- ' bours, we must also express our repentance by taking , action to rescu® our fellow-creatures from the depioiable plight into which our apathy and indifference has landed them. Pray and work and- vote should be tne guiding principle of our lives. This is where the signatories p? the manifesto lamentably fail. They aypeal fdr prayers, but are careful to tell us they do not wish to enter into quest'fons of economics or politics. They distinctly refuse'to tell tis howj to vote. This is a confession oj futility difficult to understand. London would still be suffering periodical visitation, of enteric and typhoid had our fathers been content only to pray. They prayed to some purpose because they accompanied- their prayers with agitation and votes. Because of the*r work and votes, the poorest of us now has an abundant continuous supply of fresh water, and the old foul cisterns which bred disease are swept away. THE CURSE OF SLUMS They established drainage and sewage schemes, the sweeping of roads, and all the public health services All this, I -repeat, has 'been, accomplished by using political machinery to en&ble us to destroy, the power of vested interests and forbid those who worship Mammon to make money out ' j of the sickness and death of-tlfeir Seiiow-creatures. . 1 I would to all my friends iffl the Churches, and especially thoßo who signed this manifesto, to eive! «ome more thought to this subject, Blums are a perpetual curse which has blighted the lives of myriads of human iKjings. By Act of Parliament i a child Js secured so much cubic i space whfle at school. Ko such law <

secures a child breathing space zX home. In many towns there are tens of thousands of back-to-back houses.

Here in London there are huge districts, In the midst of which I played aa a boy. They are unchanged except that the dirt .and grime of more than aO years, which accompanies' factory, and railway life, lias added to the filth with which the buildings reeked even when 1 first saw them. I walked around one of these areas the other dfiy, and looked at the same dreadful picture with which I was familiaris€d years ago. Neither weeping ©r praying will alter these things. W,e talk axici sing of the Empire, oil which the sun never sets. As Will Crooks onct* said—there are places Iβ London on which it never rises. THE CHURCHES' OPPORTUNITY Surely our religious teachers must undorstiaiid that politics in our coun try ought to be so conducted that each one of us should be able to determine on which sidt> is truth *and righteousness. We of the Labour movement are entitled to ask that all who wish such preventable evils as poverty, unemployment and slums swept from our midst should either accept our proposals or find some more excellent plan. Churches take sides during a war and bless the instruments of human slaughter. German Christians called on God to bless the Kaiser,; our Church called upon the same God to bless King George, ■ his Army, Navy, and Air Force. Neither viarchbishops, rabbis, priests nor clergymen hesitated in the least; they all joined in a perfect orgy o? enthusiasm, taking sides against. fellow-Christfans. I do not understand how man can claim to take sides in a national war in which 5 all kinds o? slaughter takes place,; and will refuse to lake sides in an effort to secure health and happiness for the masses of humanity.

To-day the Church has another and more golden opportunity. The forces of reaction are gathering in serried ranks -against Labour and progress. The old cry—"Choose ye this day whom ye will serve: You cannot Herve God and Mammon" —rings through, the world. The Churches must unite with 'Labour, and must choose to serve Him Who saM, "Love thy neighbour as thyself." When we do this we shall know we must use every scrap of power—social, political, and industrial —that is, we. must vote and pray until we have swept from our midst all those evils which oppress mankind, and by using our power establish the Kingdom of God on earth.