THE CHURCH AND LABOUR

Otago Witness, Issue 3584, 21 November 1922, Page 8

THE CHURCH AND LABOUR

NEED FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING. The Moderator-elect of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (Rev. W. J. Cromie) had some interesting remarks to make in his opening address on the relations between the Church and Labour and the need for a better understanding. He said: We are not now concerned with any specific question of wages or of hours or conditions of work; our concern is with the attitude of mind which makes settlement possible. The attitude of Capital and Labour towards each other is in the main frankly antagonistic, to the great- loss of both- The attitude of Capital to the Church is partly sympathetic, largely indif-ferent,-and to a small extent hostile. ’The attitude of Labour to the Church is partly indifferent, largely hostile, and to a small extent sympathetic. Why this marked difference ? The Church should Ik* friend of both, and judged by her Fournier and by her early days, she might be expected to favour the poor rather than the rich. From the standpoint of Labour, the case may be stated thus: The Church has become the tool of Capital; she is unfriendly to Labour’s ideals and indifferent to its sufferings. To the weak and the poor the Church offers pity, not justice. The door into the Church, and especially to office in the Church, is open to the rich man much more readily than to the poor.. The duty of submission to authority and of patience under injury is more insisted on than the danger of riches and the sin of covetousness. The stern words of warning and rebuke uttered by prophet and apostle and by our Lord Himself are seldom applied to modern men and methods. The Church has often turned a blind eye to evils which she should have exposed and rebuked. It was Lord Shaftesbury, not archbishops nor clergy, who pleaded the cause of the workers, especially the women and children, in Britain a century ago. It was Lincoln who secured the emancipation of the slaves in America, and the (-hurch was the last defence of the slave-holding party. It was Vincent Pyke, politician and journalist, who. in 1884, let daylight in on festering plague spots in the heart of Dunedin. Not so much for what she has done as for what she has not. done, t lie Church is viewed with suspicion, which is easily' turned into hostility. That is only one side, and it may be a faulty statement, but it surely shows that there is a case to answer. Dr Jowetfc has recently said: “The first duty’ of the Church, is impartially to investigate a supposed injustice, to go on quest with the lamps of its Lord, and if it discovers anything contrary to His will to set about making the crooked straight>and the rough places plain.” Whatever else may be said, the plain fact remains that Labour has to a large extent withdrawn itself from the Church- I hat may be Labour's folly. It is the Church s failure. These men and women are children of our Father in Heaven; they are those for whom Christ died. It is our duty to win them, and our failure if we do not. Is there a remedy? In the sense of a panacea, a speedy cure-all, there is none. There is need for a better understanding of the issues, and something may be gained by way of conference. Advocates on both sides assume that they know, and yet very seldom are they in a frame of mind in which true knowledge is possible. “Let us get together,” not as partisans, but as brothers; not to score points against each, other, but for heart to heart discussion, and a better understanding may result.

0 God! that men might sec a little clearer, Or judge less harshly where they cannot see; , O God! that rnfn would come a little nearer / To one another they’d fie nearer Thee, H And understood. It is the Church’s duty to help to bring about a right frame of mind and to produce the right atmosphere. To this end she should, in the first place, get on ner knees before God and confess the sin and the shame of the present, position, ami he.own share of responsibility for it. she may also and should botli avoid and discourage all provocative speech and action. The world is still ruled more by sentiment than by law. If we can bring to bear on this question the injunction to ‘ look not every man on his o«n things, hut every matt also on the things of others.” and the spirit of Him who “beheld the city and wept over it,” wo shall have made a real contribution to its solution. _ It may be that the pressure of this groat twentieth cenfury problem will lie the means of bringing the churches together as nothing alse has douo. May we not hope and shall we not pray, that the King of Righteousness, who is also the Prince of Peace, may overrule this and all things to the furtherance of Ilis Kingdom, so that war, both industrial and international, shall ho no more.