Religion and the Plain Man.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XV, Issue 2, 1 August 1924, Page 426

Religion and the Plain Man.

(By Canon Peter Green).

"When the different Churches agree among themselves, I'll begin to listen to them.-'? / - •'-■' '.•:■:-■ "Prove all things; hold fa^t „.. that which is gbbd;" ; I; Thessalonians, v. 21. Our subject m this course of sei'mons is "Religion and the Plain Man." Therefore, I shall not consider to-night the effect; of what the Prayer JBook calls our "unhappy divisions on the Church at large. I shall not consider, that is to say, the infinite harm that our divisions do m the mission field, how they hinder the extension of God 's kingdom, or the scandal they present at home, or. the waste of money and time and man power which results from them here m our own land. These are things which affect the whole Church. I want to consider what effect it has on the plain man that there should be so many different bodies, so many different congregations of Christian people all naming the Name of the Lord Jesus and calling Him Master, and yet teaching different doctrines, practising different rites, and often having very little m common one with another m any effort for the.wel--fare of the nation and for the welfare of mankind. These divisions are really what the Prayer Book calls them, "unhappy divisions." Well, now, how do they affect the plain man? I. Of course, many people say, m the words of my title, "When the Churches agree, then it will be time enough for them to speak to us ; when the Churches . agree m what they teach, then we will go to church." T . always want to say to them: ''Oh, no, you will not. If that is all the reason you have for staying away, when the Churches do agree, you will find - some other excuse." You know, I don't think that is really genuine. On the other hand, I do know that . the divisions of. Christianity are, a very great difficulty to many people, and especially to young people. Young people say to me: "I do ; hot : know what to. believe. With so iriany different people, all teaching something different, which 7am I to believe ? " I always want to say; " Why

believe any % Why should y bu believe any, if by believing you mean simply accepting on authority?" Religion is not a set of opinions, which you are. to. accept on authority from somebody else. Religion is, first of all,: a life to be lived. Then, secondly—because religion is a message to the intellect just as much as to every other part of man— religion is a Series, of beliefs which you may accept provisionally on authority, but which you iiever can really claim -to believe until you have proved them for yourself. I always say that m religion, as m everything else — I repeat, as m everything else — there are two stages : first accepting a thing because you believe your teacher knows better than you do,- and then going on to believe it because you have proved it to yourself. In religion, of course, these two stages are clearly marked. The first is: "Lord, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers, have told us what Thou hast done m their time of old. ? ' The second says : '' ( Now we believe, not because any man has told us, for we ourselves have seen it." And therefore, among all the different conflicting teaching's of the various Churches if you mean, "Which should I accept on authority?" I should say: "None of them." I find nothing m the Bible which tells you to accept your beliefs ready made. What I do find is what the Apostle says m our text. He says: "Prove all things." That is, try them, make experiments with them, make tests, examine for yourselves. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 11. . But perhaps some young man or young Avoman, really m earnest, will say to me: "Where shall I begin? How shall I make a beginning?" Surely the place to make a. beginning is the place where God has put you. I do not say for a moment, and I do not believe, that it is the duty of cA r ery man and woman to remain a member of that religious, body which they were made members of -when: they were children. Sometimes it is right to do what we call- " leave the Church of your baptism"; though," of course, you cannot really leave the Church of your baptism, . because if you were baptised at all you Avere baptised a_ Christian, arid not a member of the Church of England, or : a Roman Catholic, or a Wesley an, or a Baptist. Still, the expression is a convenient one, "to leave the Church of your baptism. " And I think that it is sometimes the duty of a person to leave the Church of his baptism. But I am quite certain that it is his duty first of all to try and proA r e all things m connexion with the forni of Christianity into which God has : put him. If you be 7

lieve m God at all, surely you must believe m His providence, m. His over-ruling providence and guidance, and it is no light thing, if you have been brought up m one form of faith, to leave it. So the first thing I would say to all. young people, and to many elderly people also, would be: "Try to make your membership of the : body to,. which' -you really do belong real, and vital. Find out what your Church does teach, try and practice what your Church really does enjoin, take a full 'part -in. the life of the Church, try and get from it" all that the Church has to give, try and give' it all ..the' service, all the love, and all the: loyalty of which you are capable." If God then means you to go on further and join some other body He will, lead you, and. your 're- .' spouse "to that . leadership will be much more ready, much more .ih'tell.i- .', gent, and much mare certain, because m the Church m which you ;were ' brought up-you proved all things. Do you not think that there is a very great number of people who have decided that they cannot accept the teaching of their own Church without ever taking the trouble to find out Avhat the teaching is ? Do you not think there is a great number of people Avho have decided that their Church does not help them not merely Avithout making any sort of effort to see how it may help them, but Avithout ever having taken religion seriously m the least? So, m your efforts to make religion real and vital, start m the only, place where 'you can start, that is to say, Ayhere you are. Start Avhere. God put you. If you have been brought up a member of the Church of England, try and realise to the full the privileges, and the duties and the teaching of the Church to Avhich you belong. And equally, if you have been brought up m any other religious body- give it a fair chance before you decide to leave it. Give it a fair chance before you decide that it does not help you. 111. And as to Avhat comes after that, may I tell you a very striking experience of my own,, which I think is familiar, at any rate, to some of the regular members of this congregation. Many years ago, before I came to St. Philip's — it must be fifteen or sixteen years ago— l attended a Church Congress at. Yarmouth. .'. Church Congress always. closes t Avith a special devo- ; tional meeting, and the. great devotional meeting that ,y ear, was addressed by Dr.. Moule,' then '-Bishop- of. Durr. . ham. 7l dp not think- J have: been, impressed or helped to an equal extent by any other devotional address that I ever heard. Its beauty, its . depth, its spiritual power held the. whole hall. When lie had finished, speaking I took my programme arid"

turned it over,, and wrote on the blank leaf ;at the back five rules for future conduct: (1) To try to find out Avhat I believe, and why I believe it. (2) To try to find out what people who differ from me believe, and -why they believe it. (3) To go aa-fai' as. possible m co-operation and friendship with people with whom I differ. (4) Not to go one inch.further m co-operation- than I could dp; Avith perfect loyalty to truth. (5) When I have reached^ the limit, and have to put my foot down and say, "I cannot co-operate Avith you any further," I- then pray for more light and guidance. I have tried to 'act on these rules,- and I do not think I have eA^er been more thankful for anything. .May I go over them one by one Avith you? "Try and find out what I belieA^e, and why ..I believe it.'" Strange determination,, surely) for a clergyman who had already been m Orders a good Dumber of years ! Not. so; strange, perhaps. Most of us have a good many opinions which weshould find very hard to justify 'by. any argument, opinions we have caught up from others, opinions which we .-hold., with the memory of thingg learned m childhood, opinions Avhieh are hardly opinions at all, but n-ere prejudices. Would you like at vhis instant to take a sheet of paper and Avrite down, first of all, what you really believe about God, about the soul, about sin, about grace, and the .power of prayer, and the appeal of the Sacraments, and the future life"? And if you wrote it down, could you justify it - all by argument, showing why you hold this, opinion, and not. that? Believe me, the effort to findout what you really believe, and why you believe -it, is one of the most severe.-, and, .at the. same time, one of the most valuable efforts that a Christian person can make. Then, secondly, "Find out what other people belieA^e, and aa 7 1iv they belie Are it. ' ' . Constantly I hear people attributing to me personally, or to the Church of England, the most ridiculous ideas, the most ridiculous opinions. Some time ago a-very-ear-nest, devout, ..and friendly Noconformist said to me: "Of . course," the Church of England does not believe m conversion, does it?" The Church of. England does not believe m conversion ! What an amazing notion. I belie Are", m, conversion. I cannot imagine any Christian person who does not. And I dare say we often! attribute to Nonconformists things which they not only do not hold, but - at Ayhich they would be perfectly shocked and horrified. l remember once hearing a really excellent clergyman speaking at a .meeting,'and'say-;'-ing the most dreadful things about Nonconformists. So I turned to a' friend of. his and inine who was i i r ting next to nic and said : "But w; at

dreadful people these Nonconformists must be. I wonder God has suffered them to live so long." The man looked at me for a moment, then laughed and said: "Of course, it is all nonsense. He knows nothing whatever about them, arid even so, I don't think he really believes half he is saying." It is a very wholesome discipline to try to find out what other people realiy do believe, and if you ftrid yourself crediting some one from' whom you differ with opinions that are either wicked or silly, then you may discover that the mistake is yours and not his. The idea that anybody Avho differs from us must be mad or bad is a very common one, but a very foolish one, arid "-nothing' is really more Avholesome than to try and find out what other people beEeve, and why they believe it. Then, thirdly, when you know what you can say clearly how far you can co-operate \vith him, hoAv far you «».an work with him, how far you can pray with him, how far you can worship with him. I remember a very remarkable thing that Avas said m one of the Burnley newspapers when the Suffragan Bishop of Burnley, Dr. Hoskyns, went to be Bishop of Southwell. This newspaper said of him that he knew exactly what he believed and would never compromise truth, therefore he could work happily with all denominations. Because he knew what he believed, and because he would not compromise the truth, he could Avork happily with all denominations 1 The man Avho wrote that knew what he was talking about ; and you will find you can work and pray with a great many people from whom you differ when you clearly understand what they believe and what you believe. I Avas brought up m the strictest sect of the High Church party, and I think that the first time I ever prayed freely with Nonconformists was m a tent at SAvanwick at a meeting of the Student Movement. I came late to the camp, and I was asked whether I would have a- speaker's room m the hostel or sleep m one of the tents with the men. I said: "The tent for me." I wanted to see something of the stud-, ents. The only tent I could get into was one occupied by Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, and the . first night the leader of the tent asked "me to lead them m prayer. "Oh, no," I said, "you are the leader of the tent. You must lead the first night. If you are kind enough to ask me tP lead cm the second night I will do it with pleasure." And night by night throughout that week we prayed. Sometimes I led, sometimes one of the young students led. Believe me, there was not a word spoken to which I could not say ' ' Airieri, ' ' ; and.; Ido not believe I said, bither m exposition of Holy Scripture or m prayer,

anything they could not say ' ' Amen to. There is a great deal more m common between all Christian people than we are ready to recognise. That leads me to my fourth point. Every now and again you will be asked to do; things which your conscience forbids. Never sacrifice the •truth m the interests of friendliness. Friendliness can go on where there is difference of opinion. Ido not find I am making an enemy of a man when I say: "No, my dear fellow, on this Aye are not agreed, and it is no good ; pretending that we are." I have had friends at college w r ho Avere Jews, Mohammedans, Hindoos. They would neither have Avished me to worship with them, nor could I have done so. There are some points, of course, on which Aye might find it impossible to co-operate with our Nonconformist brethren, just as the Roman Catholics find it impossible to co-operate with us. Therefore I say the fourth thing is this: when you have reached your limit do not sacrifice truth to friendliness. Put your foot down squarely and say: "Thave gone as far along the road of co-operation as my conscience will alloAv me," And is that all? Then comes the fifth point; pray for further light; ask God to show you - whether you are right or the other man is right, or if there is an element of truth on both sides. Ask God to point the way for yet further and closer union. And I believe if everybody would follow these five plain rules — make your OAvn religion a vital, real, and intelligent one, look Avith friendliness and understanding eyes on the religion of other people, co-operate as far as you possibly can, never go further than your own conscience will allow, and when you stop pray God to give you further light and further leading — I believe if Aye all followed these rules reunion would not be far off. I mean the best type of reunion; not that we should all do the same thing and believe the same thing ; but we should all dwell m love and m one spirit. IV. One last word before I finish. I think for young people the first thing is to learn to understand, and value their own Church. When young people tell me that they think all religious communions are the same, and that there is good m all of them, I always suspect them of spiritual shaliowness7 How. can they know anything about all religions when they still know so little about their own? On the other hand, when old people tell me that there is truth m all; religip'hs, .' then I think their religion is a deep and sincere one, because, haying learned and practised their own religion, they have penetrated below the surface to find an

underlying truth m different forms, arid to know how true it is that whereever men are seeking God they are not only seeking after the same God, because '-there is only One, but they are drawn to the same Jesus; they are moved arid inspired by the same Holy Spirit.