MR FRED B. SMITH IN LONDON.

Northern Advocate, 23 August 1913, Page 2

MR FRED B. SMITH IN LONDON.

One of the leaders of the Men and Religion Movement, Mr Fred B. Smith, was recently in London as he returned from the tour through Australia and Africa in the interests of the movement. He preached at Christ Church, Westminster Bridge Road, one Sunday evening, and gave an acconut of the work he and his colleagues have in hand. It was admittedly not a sermon, but (by request) an advocacy of the newest of American developments in masculine religion. "I have a profound conviction," Mr Smith began, "that organised Christianity is going to be forced to learn some new lessons. 1 have watched , in my own country the steady dropping down of Protestant Christianity." He averred that the losses in church membership were for the most part in the ranks of the men. To grapple with that phase of need the Men and Religion Movement had arisen. Two years ago some prominent Christian men met and discussed the need. "The result of this religious conference was a unanimous vote that we ought to put on a special movement, and for one year go up and down the country and challenge the men to come back. That method was called the Men and Religion Forward Movement. The Christian Manhood Campaign for the British Isles is essentially the same."

"This movement," the speaker declared, "does not represent a new organisation. We have enough now to evangelise the world, and we want to vitalise those which exist and give them a real working programme. In a few personal statements Mr Smith deplored the secularising of the Sabbath. He recalled the Stricter way in which Sunday was kept in his boyhood's home—the boots "shined" and and the meats cooked on Saturday. "1 am not pleading for the details," he said, "but for the spirit of those days."