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Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 11, 1 May 1918, Page 82

(To the Editor). Sir, — 'This is m answer to your oftrepeated question, "Why do Churchmen give such large sums of money to the Salvation Army, V.M.C.A., etc., and not to their own? So I am giving you my reasons, knowing that others share them. I am alluding m this more especially to those at home, not at the front. Now does the Church of England clergyman, as a rule, practise what he preaches 1 ? For example, take Donald Harikey's "Letter of an Army Chaplin," from a "Student m Arms," and from which I quote two passages : "It is actions and specially actions that imply and smybolise humility, courage, unselfishness,- etc., that count ten thousand times more than the best sermons m the world." "But I do say that if ever you have the chance of showing that you are willing to share the often hard and sometimes humiliating lot of the men it is that which above all things will give you power with them, just as it is the Cross of Christ, and the spilling and the mocking and the scourging nnd the degradation of His exposure m dying, that gives Him His power far more than even the 'Sermon on the Mount.' " As he says, it is actions and not words that count. Then another of the Church's methods. Take the G.F.S. and the C.E.M.S. If a girl "goes wrong" or a man "misconducts" himself, he is no .longer fit to remain a member of that society. Now, that to me is wrong; I think both the girls and the men ought to show their Chrisitanity by helping that weak one, and doing all m their power to keep him or her straight. Ts not that Christ's teaching f What our Church wants is men who will look after the sinners, make friends of the poor and show personal sacrifice m doing so, and such men would, by their good example, lead others; and you would find then that our Church would not ask for money m vain. The two denominations mentioned are not perfect by any means, but m some ways one feels that they come a little nearer to Christ's teaching,, and so we give to them. A WOMAN. We entirely agree with our correspondent that "actions speak louder than words," though we think that the Church is always misjudged as to its interest m social work because itrefrains from making known the enormous work it is doing through its slergy and institutions as far as possible m secret, and will iio(; compete

with certain other bodies m schemes for gaining popular applause and sympathy by means of flagrant advertisement, believing that "the Father seeth m secret and that such work is more permanent and the results more enduring when the subjects of it are not used as advertisements. Again, we are distinctly English -in reserve, "grousing" about the faults and reticent as to the virtues of the Church, just as the Englishman constantly proclaims to the world the 'rottenness" of everything English, while m his heart he loves and is proud of his country as the greatest and noblest m the world. Our correspondent fails to understand the special work and aims of the G.F.S. and C.E.M.S. The former is doing' a magnificent work m New Zealand though hampered by rules drawn up for very different conditions m England from those under which it works m N.Z. Even m England it has been criticised by prominent Churchmen as a society that would exclude St. Mary Magdalene from its membership, but it is a society with special objects, and the rules are drawn up to effect these objects. But all this shows that earnest Churchmen and Churchwomen such as we suppose our correspondent to be, should endeavour to reform and support their own societies. We welcome vigorous criticism but we welcome still more reformers. It does not do the Church any good for Churchmen who are dissatisfied to bestow their help outside. Why not reform the Church if she is at fault? The spirit of dissent has scattered the Church into fragments because those who saw faults seceded instead of reforming. Can the Church ever be strong, united, or faithful if Churchmen will not stick to her. If everyone who objected to faults m the National Government set up an Opposition Soviet on his own account, what would become of New Zealand? The result of such action is the Bolsehevik chaos that afflicts poor Russia to-day. Reform the Church's methods if you like, but be loyal.