"IS THE WORLD GETTING BETTER?”

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 222, 10 December 1926, Page 2

"IS THE WORLD GETTING BETTER?”

Sir,—lt is no disparagement io your worthy paper, to assert that the above article, appearing in its issue of the Ist inst, was something out of the ordinary. Thcauthor writes anonymously; yet, beyond gainsaying, he voices the conviction, not of one alone but of all right-minded folk (and by that I intend Godly-minded, for there are still such in our midst). His statements are incontestibly correct. To shut one’s eyes to the real state of affairs is, therefore, unmitigated folly. Time and again, how many of us have been pained by the utter barrenness of results begotten of the considered deliberations, be it said, of church synods an dsimilar bodies. So far as the advancement of Christ’s kingdom on earth is concerned, no visible benefit accrues’ from such gatherings at all! Is that as it should be? “One would naturally think,” indeed, “ that in a discourse of this character, given by such a person, in such a place, on such an occasion ,this aspect of the matter (spiritual progress or retrogression) would have been dealt with in particular.” Evidently it was not. And, my friend, should your experience tally with my own, it seldom is. A disagreeable topic; the question is persistently side-tracked. Again, to speak of New Zealand as the most moral country in the world makes pleasant reading, doubtless —to the undiscerning. Unfortunately, to estimate that statement at its real value, one must wade through seas of immorality of the world generally,an unsavoury task and one that furnishes cause rather for humiliation than for boasting. The position (morally) of “ God’s Own Country,” following that survey, leaves Kthink something to be desired. The “critic” referred to in the contribution I am discussing lays his finger unerringly on a fatal blemish of a large number of our spirited pastors and masters i.c.,. the substitution of

preaching concerning the philosophy of religion for that of discourse under its practical aspects; the former attitude never yet brought any man to Christ. Here it was that the old prophetic leacher shone; his age, save in a few rare instances, seems to have passed. As a consequence all religion worthy of the name suffers. “Better” than formerly, the world, in some senses,—and these immaterial compared with the chief object of man’s brief sojurn here—may be, “Better” from the spiritual standpoint the world decidedly is not. The moral standpoint is not only not higher than it was, half a century ago; but is in many respects inferior thereto. It is not a fresh statement of the cordial truths of Christianity that is needed to improve the national conscience, but a re-statement,” in terms of the original,” that is so sorely required. Those who, like the present Dean of St. Paul’s, are undeterred from facing the situation, and giving utterance thereto with no uncertain voice may be unpopular; but they are, in every instance, those upon whom it is safest for us to rely.—l am, Sir, etc., FORMER DAYS.