The Greater Wisdom

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIV, Issue 25, 21 June 1906, Page 18

The Greater Wisdom

In the course of a letter to this week's ' Outlook,' (June 23), the Rev. W. Hewitson, of Knox Church, Dunedin, quotes as follows from one of the works of President Harper, of the University of Chicago ' — 1 The Church through its ministers should take up any and all agencies which make for the betterment of mankind. Jesus was a healer of the body as well as of the soul. The multitude of outside agencies now engaged in humanitarian work are sucking the very lifeblood of the Church. Here, again, the Roman Catholics have shown greater wisdom than the Protestants ; for with them these agencies are, in nearly every case, those of the Church.' ' For a considerable time,' says the learned and broad-minded pastor of Knox Church. ' I have held this opinion, although I would have hesitated to express it in such strong language. To me it seems clear that the fact that humanitarian agencies a*re outside the Church, and have no organic connection with her, even thought they are wrought for the most part by Christian men, robs the Church of the direct reactionary healthful influence that work always exerts. Further, the absence of direct connection between the. Church and such humanitarian agencies deprives her 6f one of the most visible and powerful means of influencing the non-church-going part of the commuinity, and

predisposing, it to listen favorably to the spiritual message of the Church. The miracles of our Lord have often been called the bell before the sermon, and the gospel story makes it evident that the healing of the body was not infrequently accompanied by the healing of the soul.'