New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. SATURDAY, APRIL 24,1875. A CONTEMPORARY BECOMES RELIGIOUS?

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 104, 24 April 1875, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1875. A CONTEMPORARY BECOMES RELIGIOUS?

4H Who is it ? you will ask. None other, then, tnan our old friend the * Otago Guardian j' and this is the way he does it. He goes to the source of the matter that weighs heavy on his conscience, and gives some grand advice on the selection and training of the clergy. But what is it that so profoundly troubles him that he must unburden himself to the public. Well, here it is. ".The falling off in the attendance of men at places of worship is* a conspicuous feature in our modern life. ' The regular churchgoers mainly consist of women, a few escorted by their husbands, or brothers, but the bulk without ; and it is hot going beyond the ; mark; perhaps, to say that three-fourths of what may be styled the permanent congregations consist of females." Thus wrote our contemporary on Tuesday lakt. The ' Guardian's' statement as to fact may be true, we are not in a position to say"Wlieth£r it is" so or;not, in reference to Protestant .congregations ; but we do know that it is untrue if meant to fcpply to Catholics. , >- ' ' The * Guardian' is philosophical, and proceed? to : account

for the absence of men from places of religious worship. Thewild eagerness for wealth " which is abroad and is antagonistic to religious thought has something to do with it ;" but it appears that, in the estimation of our contemporary, this is not the only nor the chief cause. " Men," he says, "do find time to listen about and reflect on nobler things 1 ' than money making. " When," he continues, "John Buskin declaims against the most cherished notions of the age, or writes to the same purport, people of all classes listen to him, and read his works. When Matthew Arnold discourses in mystical 1 strains about ' culture, sweetness, and light,' his words are read from the top to the bottom of society. But let one of " the ordinary run of clergymen preach a sermon upon precisely the same topics, and the male portion of the congregation at any rate pay scarcely the slightest heed to his remarks. . . The cause is manifest — the indifference of the sermon." This is all very funny writing. The idea of our contemporary is that the only object in going to church is to hear a sermon; and that if the sermon is not on a par with the dreamy and absurdly sentimental productions of. the Beat: Bktjmmel of literature, a man is not so much to blame' if he absent himself. The only remedy, the ' Guardian' thinks, is to be found in providing Christian pulpits universally with men such as Massillon and Chalmers. Worship, prayer, and thanksgiving count for nothing. ' Churches are no longertemples, but mere meeting houses where men of a literary turn and, as the modern phrase goes, culture, may assemble to v. have their ears gratified by rhapsodies on " sweetness and light," Are none to be thought of and provided for but these exquisites? Are the poor and illiterate to be utterly disregarded or banished from churches ? The business of a preacher is not to deliver highly philosophical and eloquent sermons habitually, but to instruct the people, young and old, learned and unlearned. He is adebtor to all, and should labour to explain the teaching of Christianity in a plain, intelligible manner, using for this purpose language select and clear, but at the same time suitable to the capacity of his auditors. He must attend principally to the general requirement, and not to the' fastidious taste of a few* would-be literary men. We say would-be literary men, because the true scholar and real man always listens with pleasure to a clear exposition, even though he should himself* be familiar with the subject, and able to explain it more beautifully and eloquently. The greatest scholars and themost powerful minds are wont to take real pleasure in hearing ordinary common sense men speak clearly on even their pet subjects. But when there is question of Christian truth, they go with delight to hear the ordinary expositions of it by it» authorised expounders. They believe that a special grace is attached to ministerial teaching, because they remember the words of Cheist, " Going teach all nations; he that hears you hears me." These great men have the humility and simplicity inseparable from true greatness ; and are as incapable of understanding the conceit that would keep men from wor» shipping God publicly on account of a poor sermon, as they are of the ridiculous assumptions of affected literary taste easily offended and disgusted. If our contemporary would investigate causes a little . deeper, he would probably discover that a conspicuous absence of men from churches to which he calls attention, does not arise so much from the inferiority of the sermons, as from the neglect of a Christian education. Men absent themselves from church because they have been taught iv variou^ ways from boyhood up that the practice of religion so far from being necessory for salvation, is only fit for women and children to amuse, and keep them employed and docile; /but that man, the lord of creation, is to be guided by his reason alone. Faith, they have been taught, is only fit for the infancy of" man and of society. This is the true cause of the absence of i many men from church. The inferiority of sermons has really little or nothing to do with it. The proof o£ this assertion is to be found in the fact that the most eloquent and learned and popular preachers have failed equrjjly with the most inefficient to make practical Christians oi> men whose Christian education was neglected in early life, J»nd who have adopted the anti-Christian principle of irrespoiyibility to any authority higher than themselves.. The education of this age places the individual in the place of God, andihe consequence is the same as it was of old, the : individual,? like- the proud King of Babylon^ is being driven out to 'pat grass. J Maiiy men do not go to church .in tins age; because they believe their origin and end are not different from the origin and end of the lowef animals. 'Is it any wonder sucli'mendoiiol; relish Christian doctrine ? . " L l 7 "" ' •