CHRIST IN FIFTH AVENUE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2782, 10 July 1907, Page 79

CHRIST IN FIFTH AVENUE.

WILL THE NEW PASTOR MAKE GOOD?

There is a very powerful article by Mr Chris Healy in the English Illustrated i for May under t<he above heading, in . j which Mr Charles ' F. Aked's resignation j lof the pastorate of Pembroke Chapel, j I Liverpool, to accept a "call" at a salary j i of £2000 from the Baptist Church of the ! multi-millionaires of New York (the church of the Rockefellers), is made a text for a stinging contrast between the creed of Christ and the lives of the ultrarich. After describing his surprise on learning of Mr Aked's resignation, Chris Healy proceeds : — I went to the church the following Sunday, and found to my further surprise that Dr Aked had received a "call." In other words, he had been offered the pastorate of the Fifth avenue Baptist Church, which carries with it the post of private chaplain to John D. Rockefeller, and one or two other multi-millionaires, at the very handsome salary of — Ten Thousand Dollars a Year, — with house rent and coals. The church itself eeemed unusually aesthetic for men who believed in the Calvinistic traditions of the Baptists. The rich, fluted pillars, the gorgeous decorations, the comfortable esats, were utterly at variance with the plain,, cold building in which Dr Aked conducted his ministry and made his heroic record at Liverpool." I felt uneasy as I watched him enter tlie pulpit. The old dogmatic fearlessness had vanished, and there seemed a change, unusual timidity in his manner. Then a tenor arose on his right and began to sing a hymn; a soprano joined in with him ; it seemed more like an operatic duet than a hymn. Evidently millionaires like frills on their religion. For a moment I thrilled as I thought that Aked of Liverpool was the same as ever, for he read this as the lesson of the day: — " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also." One can only realise the magnificent irony of this when I state that there were at least twelve hundred million dollars sitting in the front row in the shape of the two Rockefelleis, father and son. Surely le>aidh had John D. Rockefeller in ,

' irinid^ "when he wrote, "My hand hatl found as a nest the riches of the people i a andy as one gathereth eggs that are left ( have I gathered all the earth." Eithei of these texts wotild have made magnifi* cent food for sermons. Instead, we had j an address on the text, "Thou hast pre» pared me a table in the midst of mm« enemies, ' clever, full of erudition — and meaning nothing. I thought I would go again in the evening, and see whethei the atmosphere of this church had already debilitated his grasp 'of things. The sermon in .the evening was, "And there shall be no more sea*—- a rightful glorification of the wonder of this wonderful land, but tacked with a plea that the two nations, American and British, should be regarded - as one. This latter trait showed a singularlack of knowledge of the American pride in its not being a branch of the AngloSaxon race. And, besides, it was not a sermon j ifc was a lecture. Mr Chris Healy concludes: — "I thought " out the whole problem of Aked versus Rockefeller as I walked through the grey, curtain of rain which hid Fifth avenue. On the pavement was spread a pack ol cards, the tribute of some rich gambler who had blessed or cursed his- luck the night before. Was the 'call' a gamble? And whose? It scarcely eeemed. possible to believe that Aked was having a gamble j With God. -Was he about to turn .his back on his- magnificent record, and hold a candle to Mammon? I could not. believe it. No, the new pastor of the' Baptist Church in Fifth avenue is a man ! . From what I know of him he must 'make good.' A stranger coming with cleaT eyes to this country when he wishes, to typify its religion must call before his mind some poor Irishman or woman on then? way to Mass, . stopping to give a -few pennies out "of "their 'scanty store to someone poorer than themselves; a pious, God-fearing fanner reading^and expounding the Bible to his family, and finding comfort' there of a new heaven and a. new earth; some Salvationist crying in a frenzy of fevour that his faith in Christ keeps-. him strong; and happy above all temptation — bat he will associate the millionaire never with religion. His church-going is just the same idea ' of enjoyment that a society beauty, has when, after decking herself with diamonds, she goes to the epera, or, to put' it on a lower plane, the same idea of ' sensuous gratification as of a toper going out on 'a jag.' "Yet I cannot see why the millionaireshould not be really religious, and that is w<hy I rejoice in the new- ministry at 46th street. For Aked must, preach thafc Christ ' has nothing in common with the fat, well-fed laves, the bloated .vanities,, J stalled m Fifth ave™pgJ^»ffWs|gß^|fe < slakes His thirst of love ' in the .' hearts of the poor," not of the rich. The new) pastor must reiterate all that Christ haa said about riches, especially His advice, 'If th6u wilt be perfect, go and sell) hast and give to the poor, and. """thou " shadt have treasure in heaven ; and - come-, and follow Me,' even though it 6ickens the Rockefellers on account of their great possessions ; he must preach that for the men who achieve wealth by unholy means there comes a time of judgmentana sometimes a lamp-post and a rope. He must -teach Rockefeller, ' if he does not know"' it, " that every dollar the Standard Oil Company takes away from England is wejfc.wifoh the blood of slaughtered children) ' -t-rfthat the Standard Oil Company sells 'oil that gives off a dangerous inflammable vapour when it reaches the flash-point of 78deg, which for the poor too often means death, ttigre being a death list on this account of over two hundred pereons each year ; .that a wise American Government recognises' this, and insists that all lamp oils sold jn the United Sta(es shall have a flash-polnfeof at least lOOdeg. And, above all/ Aked must teach that the power, ! social instance, and worldly worth of the | multi-mi^BSnaire, when revealed by the j white ligj&i of Christ, is not only wort'hi less, but a menace to every ideal between Buddha and Christ. He must do all this. Either that, or else Judas will be marching sorrowfully through hell reflecting that .the market price of betrayal has gone up. eince his day—perhaps through the increased cost of living. It is no longer 30 pieces of silver; it is ten thousand] dollars a year, house rent, and coals."