J*-«'-^v<:?^ Digitized by tine Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/churchplainmanOOdavirich THE CHURCH AND THE PLAIN MAN JLbc fiDoorbousc Xectures, 1917 / The Moorhouse Lectures, 1917 THE CHURCH AND THE PLAIN MAN I BY DAVID J. DAVIES, M.A. (Cantab, et Syd.) M A rchdeacon in the Diocese of Sydney ; Principal of Moore Theological College, Sydney ; Fellow of the Royal Historical Society ; Fellow of St. Paul's College, Sydney; Fellow of the Australian College of Theology ; Lecturer in History and Economics, Sydney University Extension Board and Tutorial Classes. Some- time feston Research Exhibitioner, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Director of Studies in History, Emmanuel College, Catnbridge. SYDNEY ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD. 89 CASTLEREAGH STREET 1919 H/V3 1 3:>3 » »• • » < *, I * ;l :* • ,^\ The widely prevailing indifference varies greatly in 1. Indifference. character and degree. The Sunday School furnishes a a. The Sunday practical test. There are parents too careless of religion School Test. to send their children to Sunday School. A lesser degree of indifference is shown by those who send their children to Sunday School but never attend public worship them- selves. Now about half of the Church's children attend Sunday School, and of the other half a small proportion 'belong to families of regular church goers who prefer to train their children at home, or who send them to a boarding-school. It would seem, therefore, that the majority, even of the indifferent, care enough about religion to see that their children go to Sunday School, though sometimes they send them simply to get them out of the way for a time. Other degrees of indifference are revealed in the Sunday School itself, by regularity or irregularity of attendance, by the evidence of home training, or its absence, as reflected in the character, disposition and religious attainments of the pupils, and as seen by every experienced- teacher, and by the amount of interest the parents show in their children's progress through the school. But the most definite test is 30 THINGS AS THEY ARE furnished by the actual percentage of permanent member- ship of the Church contributed by the Sunday School. This has been calculated for the Church generally at about twenty per cent, of those actually attending Sunday School, which works out at about ten per cent, of the total nominal membership. b. The Con- The proportion of actual to possible candidates for firmation confirmation covers a wider area than the Sunday School. ^"^ • The average annual total of confirmees in the two great city dioceses of Sydney and Melbourne is less than half the annual number of baptisms. Allowing for the death- rate between infancy and adolescence, this would mean that not more than half of those baptized are presented for confirmation. The increase in confirmees, moreover, is about double the increase in communicants, taking one year with another. The confirmation test might also be applied by com- paring the number of families yielding candidates with the number from which no candidates are derived. There are no data published for making such a comparison, but the test could be applied by the parochial clergyman in his parish and it would reveal the varying degrees of parental indifference, for it is during adolescence, the usual period of confirmation, that parental influence undergoes its most severe test, and parental example makes itself felt. The clergyman may do his best to per- suade the young people to present themselves for con- firmation, and his pastoral efficiency is an important factor in maintaining loyalty to the Church, but his utmost efforts are heavily handicapped when he has to move against spiritual inertia in the home. Parental slackness has a good deal to do with the drifting away of the younger generation from active church life. c. The Special Other methods may be applied to determine degrees Service Test. q£ indifference. I have met people who frankly say they only attend public worship when, to use their own ex- pression, "there is something special on," in the shape of a memorial service, a harvest or other festival, days of THINGS AS THEY ARE 31 national intercession, the visit of a famous preacher, or other occasions of more than ordinary interest. The Special Service test is more local than general in its application, and consists of the proportion observed between the number attending the ordinary, and those coming to the special, services held in a particular church or neighbourhood. Again, the varying response to parochial visitation d. Response to yields a principle of classification which is more applicable Parochial locally than generally. There are homes where the ^^^^i<^^^on, parish clergyman is expected and welcomed as the repre- sentative of organized Christianity. There are homes where he is hardly expected, but where he is able to establish a friendly footing. Then again, in other homes his visits are not exactly welcomed but neither are they resented. Lastly there are homes where his absence is preferred. Still, the experience of most clergy is that the proportion of homes into which the parish clergyman is refused an entrance is very small, except where personal reasons come into play. Yet all the four types of response to pastoral visitation may be found among people who rarely or never attend public worship. It is not only regular church goers who expect the clergyman to pay them a visit, or who complain if his visits are in- frequent. The statement that there is very little active opposition 2. Opposition to organized Christianity is based on the fact that so few fo Organised persons definitely profess to be unbelievers. The actual ChnsUamty. number at the 1911 census in Australia amounted to 10,000, working out at .22 per cent., that is, only two per thousand. Including members of non-christian religions, and those who refused to state their religion, if any, there were only four per cent, who did not profess some sort of Christianity and by far the greater number of these were not concerned with any active propaganda against Christianity. The data furnished by the census returns bears out the experience of the clergy in parochial visita- 32 THINGS AS THEY ARE tion, namely, that while there is much indifference, there is very little organized opposition to Christianity. If organized Christianity touches only a few, organized un- belief touches hardly any people directly. It certainly has not persuaded more than an infinitesimal number to renounce all connection with religion. In certain public spaces in our large cities, open and scurrilous attacks are made on the Church, but the importance of such efforts is not to be measured by their prominence. However, such persistent attacks on the Church, even by a very few people, may help to increase indifference and yield an extra excuse for spiritual indolence. The attack on the Church should be answered if only to remove the im- pression that the Church has no reply. 3. Diffused The vast amount of diffused Christian sentiment is, by Christian its very nature, difficult to estimate, but there are many Sentiment. indications of its influence. The most obvious is the response made to philanthropic and other appeals to popular generosity. The large sums raised for voluntary war funds, and the wide scope and variety of work done by voluntary organizations to make the life of the soldier more comfortable, and to reduce the manifold temptations he has to face, are without precedent in history, and show there is a latent spirit of service ready to express itself when the occasion calls it forth. This spirit has been fostered and encouraged by centuries of Christian teach- ing, which is finding fruition in unexpected ways. The war, however, has only brought out into view what has been there all the time. The Church has always been able to draw financial support from a larger circle than the regular worshippers. Special kinds of work, in slum areas, orphanages, homes, schools, and other forms of philan- thropy, have received sympathy, commendation and money from people who never attend church. Then, again, the Christian graces are admired, and persons whose lives are consistent with their professed religion generally command respect. The savour of a godly sincerity is widely appreciated. THINGS AS THEY ARE 33 Thus, although it may be asserted that the Church has 4, Points of lost touch with the people, and a great deal of evidence Contact. may be brought forward to justify the assertion, it is not absolutely true. At least four important points of contact may be observed, namely — the widely diffused Christian sentiment; the positive admiration of Christian ideals, especially when they are realized in saintly men and women; the use made of the Church at the great crises of life, as expressed in baptism, marriage, and burial; and the latent religion awaiting the inspired touch to bring it out into power of use and expression, as witnessed in religious revivals and in centres where a vigorous spiritual life is manifest. The Church may not be in possession of the world, but her task is not impossible, and there are abundant opportunities for her work. In fact, the world needs the Church more than ever, and the object of our study is to try to understand the situation so that the deepest needs of the world may be satisfied. Now, in order to understand things as they are, it is necessary to do more than describe them as they appear to us to-day. "The roots of the present lie deep in the past." We must turn to history to find out how things came to be what they are, and this will occupy a good deal of our attention. But, meanwhile, we ought to con- sider various assertions that are loosely made and widely current, each of which contains an element of truth con- cerning the causes for the apparent aloofness of the world at large from organized religion. Lecture II CAUSES ALLEGED The Plain '^^^ situation before us may be stated in terms of the Man's plain man's view of life, and the place therein of religion, spiritual for religion has a place in his life. There are very few nerUa. ^^^ deliberately try to cut religion out of life, and their efforts are not completely successful, even in themselves. The religious instinct is there all the time, and, though they may deny it, they have a religion of a sort. Their revolt is really against the authority of organized religion, but their aggressive attitude is not at all typical of the "plain man." The average man takes his religion for granted. He is content to live on the religion of other people. He is, spiritually, a drifter, and desires to take life as easily as possible. "Indifference" is another name for a deficient sense of personal responsibility. The plain man does not want "too much religion," that is, he does not want to be disturbed in his soul. He admires genuine saints, as a class apart, but their standard seems beyond his reach. Saintliness, he thinks, is impracticable for ordinary men, and he wants something "practical," which he finds in the conventional standards of morality. He is quite content to stay on a level with those standards, to make good his claim to be considered respectable, to keep out of disgrace and to have nothing against his character. He is ready to admire efficient philanthropy and enthusiasm that does not worry him too much. In ques- tions of public morality he prefers palliatives to pre- ventives, to keep the trinity of vices under control rather than to root them out. In fact the greatest difficulty of the church in dealing with the plain man is to overcome his mental and spiritual inertia. 34 CAUSES ALLEGED 36 The causes of this inertia have been traced to the plain Various man himself, to his worldly circumstances, and to the Causes Church. We have been told that the average man is not alleged. worrying about his sins, that he is the product of his social environment, and that the Church, that is, organized Christianity, has failed to adjust its methods to his particular case. The fact of sin, the prevalent material- ism, the defects of organized Christianity, have all been put forward as explanations of religious apathy. Now "materialism" is a favourite catch-word, the mere ''Materialism^ utterance of which is supposed by many religious people Philosophical to dispose of the whole problem. But when asked what ^"^ Practical. they mean by "materialism" very few are able to give a satisfactory answer. And yet the use of the term is quite justifiable. Strictly speaking, materialism is an exploded denial of metaphysics. The materalist was a person who • asserted that the universe is wholly constituted of matter and nothing else. But when he was asked to say what matter really was, he could only reply that it was the stuff of which the universe was made. This kind of philosophy from ancient times has had its exponents, but it has never satisfied any of the leaders of thought. Nevertheless, although it has been banished from the schools of the philosophers, it still prevails among "practical" people — the plain men — of all classes, as a working scheme of conduct, and it received a new lease of life from the "Naturalism" that was fashionable in cer- tain quarters a generation ago, but which survives now for the most part in the out-of-date publications of the Rationalist Press Association, and among their votaries of half-culture. However, materialism, like other views of the world, is only a reflection of the things that are uppermost in the minds of its professors. It is a scheme of life that easily satisfies those whose chief end is to make the most of immediate circumstances, for purposes of personal gain and comfort. Only those things are supposed to be real which appeal directly to the five senses, and accordingly those are the things regarded as 36 CAUSES ALLEGED worth getting. "Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die." In practice it means, let everyone get what he likes as far as he can, and then everyone will be happy. This is the essence of laissez-faire, the dominant policy of the period that saw the growth of capitalism. It is also the practice, if not the strict theory, of utilitarianism, with its aim at "the greatest good of the greatest number," a delightfully vague proposition, which works out as hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure and the cult of comfort. Materialism, as an attempt to explain the nature of things, that is, as a philosophy, has long been discredited, but turns up again and again, like the proverbial bad shilling. Nevertheless, materialism, as a frame of mind, an out- look upon life, is the fundamental assumption in modern business as it was in the Classical Political Economy, with its attempt at a, "science of wealth," the "dismal science," as Carlyle and Ruskin called it. Materialism, in practice, may therefore be described as the organized pursuit of wealth as the chief end in life. Wealth here is taken in its economic sense of power in exchange. Money is the measure of wealth because it gives power over necessaries and comforts in a society like ours which is linked together by the "cash nexus." Money becomes the measure of all tilings. Apart from sentiment, the only value recognized is market value, the value of one commodity in terms of another as determined by com- petition, by the conditions of supply and demand. To control markets, and thus control value, is the main ob- ject of modern business organization. That is why business is organized on as large a scale as possible, for it is the largest business that can most effectively apply the economic motive, that is, secure the greatest gains. Thus modern civilization has become an organized selfishness in which each man counts in proportion to the money he controls or the wealth he produces. Hence materialism is the best word to describe the distinctive atmosphere of modern civilization — the atmosphere of a society whose main business is to make money. CAUSES ALLEGED 37 Now the larger the organization the less account is Materialism taken of any particular individual in it. This tendency ^^ has been powerfully assisted by the minute subdivision ^ ^*^ * •^' of functions and processes and the rapid and continuous extension of the use of machinery. Very few, if any, workers are entrusted with the whole of any one process. Most wage-earners are but units in a vast system of pro- duction. A single pair of shoes will pass through many pairs of hands, and most of the actual work is done by machines. There is no room here for the personality of the worker to express itself in the thing he is helping to produce. He merely minds a machine. Even if his task calls for much skill, he is but a unit in a large concern, one of many "hands." Personality is almost eliminated from modern wage-earning occupations. The worker is treated as a mere factor in producing material wealth, something that will sell. His wage represents the worth of his labour to his employer, and as long as he earns it his employer is satisfied. To the employer the wage- earner is mainly a wealth-producing unit, scarcely a human being, and when the "employer" is, as is usual in modern business, a limited liability company, the personal element almost entirely vanishes from the system. On the other hand, the ordinary Trade Union policy of insist- ing upon a uniform standard wage tends to reduce all wage-earners to the same level and does not recognize individual variations, nor allow scope for different degrees of earning or producing power. Thus the modern organization of business on a large scale, the division of labour, the application of machine power, and the standardization of wages, have combined to reduce the personal factor to the minimum among the rank and file of the workers. Modern business organization has marvellously increased the production of material wealth, but at the price of the loss of personal touch between master and man, and between the producer and the con- sumer. Hence modern materialism discounts personality and 38 CAUSES ALLEGED has greatly reduced the scope for personal responsibility in the rank and file of the community. In this way materialism has helped to reduce the plain man to a state of mental and spiritual inertia. Money The loss of the personal touch has accordingly de- hecomes the graded modern business to the level of naked money- Measiire of ^^^ grabbing. The one test of success in any effort is the money to be got out of it. Things are produced to sell. The one universal method is to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market as quickly as possible. That factory is most successful which can secure the widest margin between cost of production and market price. The pursuit of gain is taken for granted as the chief justification for any business enterprise. The clash of interests in the pursuit of gain is the root of industrial troubles, and this sinister aspect of the dominant economic motive in business has been especially promi- nent during the war. If the main daily occupation of the plain man is the making, or getting, or earning, of money, it is scarcely surprising that he should have little leisure or energy for other than material interests. The Pressure In fact, it takes time and thought to realize the pres- of Materialism sure of the economic interest upon men's time and energy, crushes the finer and the way it interferes with their home life and private Elements of affairs. The great majority of plain men are wage- Personality. earners, or at any rate are dependent upon some form of employment in which they are not their own masters. The necessity for earning one's daily bread forces a^man out of bed, not when he likes, but when he must, turns him into a money-making unit for the greater part of the day, limits his leisure, decides when and how he gets his meals, what sort of a home he may provide for his family, how much of a family he may have, and how far he may educate them and set them up in the world, what time he can devote to general culture, or to the personal training of his sons and daughters, what opportunities he has for indulging in personal tastes and interests. CAUSES ALLEGED 39 Of course no human being can do more than suffer a bare existence in absolute independence. We are all dependent on one another. The "gentleman of inde- pendent means" is really living on the work of other people. We are all dependent on one another, and man is man only in society. One man can do what he likes only when there are other people doing the things he does not like. No man can reasonably expect to avoid his share of the irksome. But there are degrees of dependence, and there is such a thing as a fair opportunity for each man to develop his personality. Modern materialism denies him this by trying to eliminate the personal factor from the greater part of his waking hours, and by unduly limiting his opportunities for home life, family responsibilities, and other interests than the strictly material. After all, '*a man's a man for a' that," and if a man is treated as a machine, or a "hand," or an entry in a book, for eight hours a day nearly every day of his life, it is much harder for him to overcome the "original sin" which shows itself as mental and spiritual inertia. Hence it comes to pass in modern civilized exist- ence that "materialism" tends to usurp the spheres of those personal and spiritual interests that give richness and meaning to human life at its best. But materialism crushes out the finer elements of Materialism breeds personality not only by unduly absorbing men's time and energy, but by unduly fostering lower impulses and by giving currency to a lower scale of values. The last hundred years have seen a great increase in material wealth. There are more things to get, and there is more money to buy them. The increase of spending power has multiplied interests which compete with religion for the attention of the plain man. He becomes the man with the muck-rake. "Things are in the saddle and ride mankind." When this earthly existence is every- thing and material wealth and comfort the one object of pursuit, then the economic motive becomes dominant. The pursuit of comfort encourages selfishness as it puts Selfishness. 40 CAUSES ALLEGED Materialism weakens the Sense of Personal Re- sponsibility. consideration for others in the second place except in so far as it secures our own personal comfort. Good manners may be the spontaneous expression of considera- tion for others, or may be simply the easiest way to avoid friction in personal intercourse, and thus form an item in the cult of comfort. Materialism may co-exist with a good deal of polish and culture and general refinement. Polite behaviour is essential to the practice of hedonism. But the essential basis of materialism is a substantial quid pro quo. Personal enjoyment, personal gain, are the ends in view. Modern civilization as organized selfish- ness may present a very attractive programme of exist- ence, but it is based on a continuous appeal to self- interest. It is this appeal to self-interest that takes the heart out of religion and makes the Gospel of Jesus Christ inconsistent with the dominant spirit of the world in which the plain man chiefly moves. His self-interest is played upon and worked for all it is worth by the system that surrounds and squeezes the best out of him and leaves very little room for the spiritual appeal to take hold of his personality. The pressure of materialism can be seen at work in another sphere of modern life. Organized selfishness has reacted upon politics by decreasing the sense of personal responsibility and increasing the desire for personal gain. Democratic development has outrun the growth of political capacity which can be measured by the prevail- ing sense of individual duty in citizenship. Membership without obligation is a weakness in the Church; it is also a weakness in the State. Very few voters actually study and understand the issues placed before them. Some of them never even record their vote. Even those who go to the polling booth nearly all vote on party lines. The party system is almost inevitable in modern democracy, but it does not encourage the sense of personal responsi- bility, while it does encourage political corruption and gives scope for political incompetence by offering chances to the pull of sectional and highly organized interests. CAUSES ALLEGED 41 Materialism also accounts for the absence of the best elements from public life in Australia. The natural leaders of society, the captains of industry and commerce, the men at the head of their respective professions, are too busy making money. The proportion of university men among party leaders in politics is far smaller in Aus- tralia than in Great Britain. I heard the late Chancellor of the Sydney University* say, in a large public meeting called for the purpose of considering University ideals, that the first business of the University was to train young gentlemen for the professions. A high degree of pro- fessional skill is aimed at, mainly as being a marketable commodity and as commanding the highest price. Still, not all professional men are content to be successful craftsmen measuring their success by their income. There are noble exceptions. But the taint of materialism is v^idespread. The economic motive is taken for granted. To call it in question evokes surprise. An influential layman asked a clergyman to apply for a post carrying with it three times the income the clergyman was receiving. When the same clergyman, although duly qualified for the post, said that his sense of vocation for- bade him to take any steps in the matter, the layman seemed scarcely to understand him. When even our best professional men seem to take the economic motive so much for granted, though they do not always follow its impulse, it is easy to understand how the materialistic interest dominates modern society, weakens the sense of personal responsibility, and competes too successfully with religion for the control of the plain man. Thus there is a good deal to be said for the assertion Materialism that the pressure of "materialism" accounts for the con- i^^^ds to pro- trast between active and passive Christianity. Christianity j^f-rf„f ^ff^^us puts God first, other men next, and self last. Materialism, on the contrary, says, "Get what you can for yourself, claim and exercise all your rights and privileges in return for the minimum performance of duties. Make your own * sir N. Macl^urin. 42 CAUSES ALLEGED way in the world, and carve out of its substance the largest possible portion for yourself. Use every oppor- tunity for advancing your own personal interests. Material prosperity is the most generally recognized test of success in life. If you want to exercise influence you must have money." Such are the counsels suggested by the spirit that controls a good deal of our modern life. We had grown so thoroughly accustomed to this way of looking at things that we scarcely realized its subtle possession of us. Then came the war, forced on us by the most highly organized and perfected materialism the world has seen. Like a lightning flash it revealed to us how far our own life had become materialised. German thoroughness and efficiency had won widespread admira- tion. But now we may understand what it means to gain the world and lose one's own soul in the process. The war has brought us face to face with other interests than personal gain and efficiency in producing material wealth and in organizing personal comfort. We can more easily see that the right order had been inverted, that these things had become ends instead of means, that personal gain and national prosperity were of less account than honour, personal and national. But some have learned a deeper lesson, the real lesson of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that it is better to give than to receive. There has been a surprisingly large response to the call of sacrifice that yields hope of better things. The general public interest is being more fully recognized as presenting higher claims than the merely sectional interest. The principle is gaining ground that society exists, not to pro- mote mutual gain, not merely to create the best con- ditions for personal profit or enjoyment, but to increase mutual contribution. Personality is enriched more by what it gives than by what it receives. People, and peoples, who have reached this state of mind are better prepared to hear and obey the voice of God, but the spirit of materialism is very much alive, and it still rends society into factious groups, and it still hardens the heart CAUSES ALLEGED 43 and stops the ear of the plain man when he is called to something more than lip-loyalty or nominal adherence to high ideals. Religious indifference is an inevitable product of organized selfishness. There will be more to say on this topic later on, when we trace the increasing domi- nance of the economic factor in recent history, more especially in Australia, but for the present it is sufficient to point out that materialism, rightly understood, does help to explain the problem of the plain man. But neither original sin, in the form of mental and Defects of spiritual inertia, nor an environment of organized selfish- Organized ness will completely explain the problem. After all, the Christianity. Church has been entrusted with the Gospel that alone proclaims a sufficient remedy for sin, and provides the antidote to materialism. This remedy has been tried and found effective by numberless people who have been en- abled also by the power of the Holy Spirit not only to overcome personal weakness, but to resist the pressure of organized selfishness. Organized Christianity has the message and the power that the world needs, and it can bring forward its samples to justify its claims to the world's allegiance. But past history and present ex- perience show that organized Christianity has not always seized its opportunities, has not always faithfully pro- claimed the Gospel, has not always used the power God has freely placed at man's disposal. The defects of the Church have their share in creating the problem of the plain man. The Church's loss of power in dealing with the plain Inherent man has been ascribed on the one hand to too much stiff- Conservatism ness in refusing, and on the other hand, to too much easi- ^^ ^ Church. ness in admitting any variation in the methods of work and worship. Some say the Church stands too much on her dignity, others say she tries to please too many people at once and so loses her authority. As usual, there is truth in both assertions. By constitution, tradition, and temperament, the Church is naturally conservative. In the flux and turmoil of events men seek for sure footing 44 CAUSES ALLEGED The Mechanical Idea of the Church. and firm grounding, for some principle of stability, some- thing on which their hopes may be fixed, and the Church does stand for this. The Church is trustee for the things that really matter, and in matters of trust men always prefer caution and conservatism. In days of distress men like to see the ancient landmarks kept in their place. The message entrusted to the Church concerns the very roots of human existence, and men do not like their roots dis- turbed. Any tampering with church machinery does seem to many faithful souls an attempt to shake the foundations of their life, for they are ready to associate their faith with its particular form of expression in creed, in worship and in organization. The Church, however, is not a machine. It is a "body," a living organism, and therefore must adapt itself to its environment if it is to prevail against it. A change of habit does not necessarily weaken a man's influence, but may increase it. Changes in organization, in forms of worship, and in expression of faith may be necessary to preserve the authority of the Church by bringing it into more direct contact with the whole of its field of witness and work. Yet there is always a tendency to confuse the Church as a living organism with the Church as an ex- ternal organization, and to resist changes in mechanism on the false plea that such changes will alter the essential character of the Church, whereas they may be needed to preserve that essence. The idea, for example, that a particular form of external organization is of the "esse" of the Church is not confined to the advocates of the divine right of episcopacy, but is found wherever there is a refusal to adapt even minor details to new needs and circumstances. The parochial system is not of the "esse" of the Church. The Holy Spirit is not limited to any one type of organization either of work, or worship, or propa- ganda. Each type must stand on its own merits as the best possible application of the power that God has given to all who truly believe in His Gospel. Changes may not be a confession of failure but rather a condition of greater CAUSES ALLEGED 45 success. The Church's real authority is not based on its dignity, but its dignity stands on its authority, and its authority is exerted by the use made of the Grace of God by the men who profess and call themselves Christians. If the people do not come to the Church, the Church must go to the people. The Church may lose touch with many people not only Formalism. by standing on its dignity, but by yielding to the constant tendency to formalism in word and worship. This is no new thing. From the prophet of old who cried "Bring no more vain oblations" to the modern man who scoffs at the inconsistency of church-goers, the complaint of formalism is heard, and it has the warrant of truth. Nothing kills a church so soon as lack of sincerity. Its wealth may be great, its worship ornate, its buildings splendid, its organization efficient, its preaching attrac- tive, and its social prestige unquestioned, and yet it may miss its vocation and fail in its primary purpose of wit- nessing to and for God to and in the world, by relying mainly on its external impressiveness. The world is to be won for Christ, not by impression but by conviction. "Reality" is too subtle an essence for definition, but the ring thereof can be recognized in word and deed, and it always commands respect if not consent. A careful analysis of what passes for religion even 7/,^ Survival among highly civilized people of to-day reveals an of Magic. astonishing survival of ideas and practices closely akin to what our unscientific forefathers called magic. These magical views of religion range from the ex opere operato practices of a hard ecclesiasticism to the superstitious vagaries which go under the name of "New Thought." On the one hand there is the reduction of religion to the performance of prescribed rites and ceremonies coupled with a bare intellectual assent to recognized formularies of doctrine. An elaborate ritual may be the sincere ex- pression of deep-seated conviction, but it may also be the substitute for it, reducing religion to a species of magic. The history of the mediaeval church painfully illustrates 46 CAUSES ALLEGED this process, a history that i-s being repeated among us to-day. This is the worst side of what is called ritualism in the Church in so far as it degrades worship to the level of a mechanical routine that leaves no room for personal relationship with God and atrophies the spiritual sensi- bilities. The following of ecclesiastical fashions is a poor substitute for personal religion. It is really a survival of magic. The Curse of On the other hand the survival of magic and the ^^"'- accompanying danger of an empty symbolism are not limited to people called ritualists. There is a magic of speech as well as of act. There is such a thing as religious cant, the glib use of words and phrases that once were hot with spiritual force, but are now the stock-in-trade of pettifogging partisans. The great watchwords of the Gospel, rich with spiritual comfort, are bandied about by persons who do not take the trouble to find out what they really mean. Detached from experience, they are degraded into platitudes, uttered as the correct thing to say. They lack the ring of sin- cerity and are empty of convicting power. In both ways, by ritualism of speech, as well as by ritualism of act, religion is degraded into magic. The danger of an empty symbolism besets all kinds of imitators or fashion followers, whether they be expert ceremonialists or skil- ful purveyors of current catchwords. We learn the lessons of the past, not by imitation or repetition, but by continuous re-interpretation and fresh application of eternal principles. It is easy to show an interest in religion, it is hard to live the godly life. The Danger of The struggle between the mechanical and the spiritual Detachment. goes on all the time. We have to beware of trying to re- duce spiritual processes to mechanical operations or manipulations whether of rites or doctrines. We can- not condense religion into set formulae of act or speech. When we have done our best, and thought our hardest, the greatest part of religion has escaped our constricting attempts. The life that is hid in Christ with God is far CAUSES ALLEGED 47 too big a thing to be expressed completely by us. At most our acts and words of worship can only faintly suggest the depths of mystery we now gaze upon "through a glass darkly." It is so easy to imagine that our individual experience is universally true, and that our bit of precious truth is the whole Catholic Faith. It is even easier to drift into accepting the conventional stand- ards as our highest ideals of attainment. An unreal religion may be the price paid for material prosperity. There is no time to meditate on the great eternal verities, no energy to live the truly godly life. We have been too busy making the most of both worlds, especially of that which now is, and so we have been content to do or say the proper thing, to conform to what is correct rather than to be personally holy and righteous. It is easier to pass muster with men than to live unto God. This weak- ness has infected us as individuals, and it has undoubtedly depreciated the witness of organized Christianity. Nevertheless, worship that is sincere must be decent and orderly, faith that is real must find definite expression. There is no virtue in being careless of externals, neither is there any strength in a faith that has no creed. Rites and ceremonies, creeds and formularies are indispensable to a religion that is real. How then shall we hold the balance, as it were, between the spiritual impulse and the external act or word? How shall we secure a reverent and orderly worship together with a clear and definite belief that is grounded on personal experience, and there- by rings out the note of reality? The answer is found in an adequate doctrine of the Holy Spirit. In a word, it is by a due emphasis on perso- nal religion that we can guard ourselves against the risk of a detached interest in religion, and against the easy drift into a perfunctory formality of word and deed. It is the accepted presence of the Holy Spirit that alone can guarantee the reality of our religion. When we speak of receiving or bestowing the gift of the Holy Spirit, what is meant is, that, in answer to prayer, the Holy Spirit 48 CAUSES ALLEGED The Dis- organization of Organised Christianity confirms the Plain Man in his Indiffer- ence to Religion. gives Himself to us, we appropriate His presence, and make His power our own to use in His service. It is a personal transaction. But when this personal touch is lost, then religion ceases to be the personal relationship between God and man, and becomes a merely conven- tional routine. Formalism is simply the loss of the personal touch in word and worship. It makes religion appear unreal as if it were unrelated to life. Accordingly the ministrations of religion lose their value and become merely the occupation or interest of a few rather than the main concern of the many. This is the danger of detach- ment. It is the over-emphasis on externals that is mainly responsible for the "unhappy divisions" of Christendom, or, rather, the unhappy results of those divisions. Divisions, parties, groups, are inevitable in any human society, but not sectarianism. No two persons are exactly alike, and there are also broad types of differences which draw people together into separate groups. There is no harm in this tendency, so long as the group remembers that it is a group, and not the whole body. Parties there always will be, but party spirit, in the bad sense, is a preventable disease. If parties would remember that their existence is justified only by their contributions to the life of the whole body, then there would be no need to discuss the problems raised by "our unhappy divisions." But organized Christianity suffers an incalculable loss through its disorganization. Professing Christians spend more time and energy in criticizing and working against one another than in trying to win the world for Christ. Besides the enormous waste arising from the clashing and competition of parties and sects within the Church, there are certain results on the plain man's mind that call for some attention. When the various sects and parties claim his allegiance and denounce other parties and sects in the same breath, he is bewildered. Being a plain man, however, he applies a practical test by observing the results of those sectarian CAUSES ALLEGED 49 professions as evidenced in ordinary daily conduct. He finds that no sect or party holds a monopoly in piety or fair dealing, that some of the loudest controversialists are no better than the men they fiercely denounce. Taking things only on their face value he concludes that the results do not bear a ratio to the claims of each sect or party. He stops there and does not investigate the real personal basis in each case. He is content to notice that the apparent average level of conduct and character in each sect or party is much about the same. He slides into the opinion that all forms of religion are of equal value, and that it does not much matter to which sect or party a man belongs if his conduct is passably respect- able. The further result is that the plain man shirks a decision and becomes a passive spectator of religious phenomena, if he takes any account of religion at all. He has no preference for any form of organized Christi- anity, and sees no apparent reason for making any choice. This attitude of passivity is encouraged in him by the competition between sects and parties for his patronage. They apparently want him more than he needs them, and his sense of self-importance and self-sufficiency is in- creased thereby. Here we touch the opposite defect to stiffness and Competition overmuch dignity. The scramble among the sects for the fof ij^^ Plain plain man's patronage has weakened the witness of the ^^p^l^ >> Church by leading her to pander to popular tastes at the jj^iyig^ fj^g expense of faithfulness to her mission. Religion becomes "World" into man-centred rather than God-centred. The Church tries the Church. to further the interests of man with God, rather than to present the claims of God to man. Thus the Church either becomes a kind of middleman between humanity and God, and so degenerates into a sacerdotal mechanism, or is degraded into one among many competing institu- tions for popular entertainment. To sum up on this point, the plain man judges organized religion by its samples as shown in the personal characters of its pro- fessing representatives. When he hears these persons 50 CAUSES ALLEGED denouncing each other, and when he sees that they are apparently neither better nor worse men than each other, or himself, he is inclined to hold the opinion that it does not matter what a person thinks or professes so long as his conduct is up to the conventional standard. Thus he comes to think that he can be quite good enough without going to church. The questions that divide the parties and sects do not interest him as they seem to be their private concern. He says that he will wait until they have agreed among themselves before he will listen to what they say. It is a fact that when religious bodies do unite on a particular issue they carry a tremendous weight, as in recent reforms of the liquor trade. But a divided Church cannot expect to fulfil the Master's pur- pose. General ^^^ divisions of the Church bear directly on the ques- Revolt against tion of the Church's authority. When that authority is "Authority" divided and pulls different ways it obviously cannot com- \. In the State, mand obedience. This fact in itself would help to ex- plain the indifference of the plain man to the pronounce- ments of Church authorities and assemblies. But there is more than that in the present situation. Many influences have combined to produce a general restiveness against any kind of authority. The most conspicuous illustra- tions of this kind of feeling are to be found in the con- stantly recurring phenomena of industrial unrest. But the same sort of movement may be seen at work in politics, in social intercourse, and in thought. State- ments from various sources as to the lack of a sense of discipline are too numerous to be passed over as merely casual opinions. The result of the referendum on com- pulsory service abroad was probably due to the revolt against authority, the prevalence of "anti-disciplinism," which is seen in the defiance of industrial laws and the frequent failures to enforce the penalties of the law. The Labour Party suffers greatly from the frequent repudia- tion and even expulsion of experienced leaders on the motion of irresponsible extremists. But this "indiscipline" CAUSES ALLEGED 51 is not confined to one class. Legislation in Australia re- minds one strongly of statute law in mediaeval England. It is little more than the expression of what is desired and is no real indication of what is actually done. In a democratic state like Australia this sort of thing is abso- lutely without excuse, and points to a serious defect in the national character. No state can be healthy in which the law is never consistently obeyed, or in which any class considers itself above the law. The social life also suffers from indiscipline as seen 2. In the family. in the weakening of parental authority in the home, in the too free and easy intercourse among young people, and in the statistics of illegitimacy, immorality and divorce, which imply a lack of that sense of personal responsibility which is the foundation of a disciplined and well-ordered life. The spread of elementary education has combined with 3. In thought. the modern stress on personal liberty to weaken the claims of authority in the realm of thought. There is a revolt against dogmatism. Nothing is taken for granted that claims any kind of obedience or assent. Everything is expected to give an account of itself and to justify its existence. Yet this is the age of the specialist when no one person can reasonably expect to become a master in more than one department of one subject. People look to the clergy to tell them what to believe and do, and when they hear conflicting counsels and testimonies they either think that anything will do, or they pick and choose what suits their own individual tastes and patronize the Church. Still, no form of organized religion can expect to win the people unless it can give a reasonable account of itself. The revolt is less against dogma than against dogmatism. It is not the thing taught, but the way in which it is presented that provokes resentment. It is only among the less intelligent, or the less morally ro- bust, that the dogmatic method still retains a measure of success. The obscurantism of many exponents of religion is a serious handicap to the Church. This obscurantism k 52 CAUSES ALLEGED is twofold. There is the refusal to receive new light and absorb new information upon ancient truths, and there is the failure to relate and apply those truths to new circumstances. The Church suffers both ways, from pig- headed ignorance and from academic exclusiveness. A distinction must be drawn between dogma and dogmatism. Teaching to be effective must be definite, but it must also be reasonable. It is not enough to say, "Take it or leave it." The efficient teacher studies not only his subject but his class. He must not only be clear in his own mind, he must know the content of his pupils' minds and their manner of working, in order that he may relate his teach- ing to their particular circumstances. Thus old dogma becomes new fact and is made alive. The revolt against dogma may be partly due to the "cussedness" of the natural man who kicks against discipline, but it may also be a protest against church stiffness and formalism. Here we must take account of the democratic tendency that has made itself felt in every department of life. Democracy is now constitutional in politics, and its claims are being pushed in trade and industry. In Australia the democratic principle has been widely recognized in church organization. Incidentally it is worth noting that in Protestant communities individual liberty was won in religion long before it was claimed in politics. But the democratization of political constitutions has outrun the growth of political capacity, and this fact has helped to create the prevailing impatience of authority and of any kind of restraint. The reaction from stringent war con- ditions threatens to convert this impatience into open re- volt on the part of certain social groups. Privileges are claimed, but responsibilities are avoided. Rights are de- manded, but duties are shirked. All this movement has reacted upon church life. The authority of the Church has been weakened. The teaching of the Church Catechism that it is the duty of everyone "to order himself lowly and reverently to all his betters" hurts the plain man's nerves, and he does not consider that his main business CAUSES ALLEGED 53 in life is to do his duty in that state of life in which he finds himself. His ambition, on the contrary, is to get on. His gospel is the gospel of self-help. His chief aim is to improve his material circumstances, to increase his personal comforts and enjoyments. Any teaching that demands him to put duty before comfort, contentment before self-advancement, principle before expediency, in short, any attempt to awaken his sense of personal respon- sibility is resented. He has no wish to believe or do anything that may lessen his material gains, interfere with his personal comfort, or weaken his self-importance. When he is asked to do anything, he wants to know what he will get out of it. The quid pro quo is the height of his sense of obligation. Democracy is too much regarded as a way of escape from personal responsibility. This points to the state of mental and spiritual inertia that has already been described, but the plain man does not see why he should exert himself to do more than he sees the ordinary church-goer doing in the way of duty. The contrast between apparently active and passive church members is not wide enough in personal character and daily average conduct to make the plain man feel his personal responsibility. There is such a thing as the con- tagion of character. The regular church-goer's defects of character yield a plausible excuse for the plain man's indifference to organized religion. The Church has been stigmatized as a class institution. /^ //^^ Church Modern democracy has not yet removed class divisions, a Class though the old lines of cleavage have been shifted by the institution? enormous growth of industry and commerce, and the con- sequent predominance of the economic interest as will be shown later on. Meanwhile it may be observed that a large proportion of those who take the lead in church affairs appear to treat the Church as a buttress of the status quo in society. The men of the Labour Movement, on the other hand, regard the Church as either indifferent, or even opposed, to their main interests, as the ally of the capitalist against the wage-earner. This attitude 64 CAUSES ALLEGED receives some justification from the persecution that has been directed against certain clergy who have ventured to show open sympathy with the Labour Movement. Yet some of the leaders in that Movement are keen church workers. The plain man who does not go to church is not always found in the army of Labour. The Church is also out of active touch with a large proportion of the moneyed men whose control of the country's wealth is the object of Labour attacks. The capitalist class are found on Sunday, in far greater numbers, on the tennis court or golf course than in church. The week-end habit, the motor-car, and the use of Sunday for social gatherings, have taken the wealthier members of the community away from the Church. Less than thirty per cent, of the clergy in the largest metropolitan dioceses of Australia have University degrees. Very few of the richest families give liberally to the Church. Thus the wealthy class do not recognize any real responsibility towards organized religion. They give neither their sons nor their money to the service of the Church to any appreciable extent. Some of them may pay for seats in the church, but they rarely occupy them. The gradual abolition of pew rents seems to show that the Church is no longer the special preserve of the plutocrat or the society leader. These also have no quarrel with the Church, but neither have they any sense of responsibility towards it, nor any need of it. The Church is mainly supported by people whose incomes are neither very large nor very small, what may be termed the lower middle class* But though the Church is no longer — if it ever has been — an instrument in the hands of the "upper classes" to keep the "lower orders" — forsooth! — "in their place," it has acquired that character in the eyes of the wage-earner, and the tradition has received support from the fact that so many active church people have belonged to that political party which has resisted the aspirations and efforts of organized Labour. Organized Labour has been made to feel that organized religion is against it, not CAUSES ALLEGED 55 officially, but actually, and this feeling has tended to alienate the class-conscious wage-earner from the Church. The power of money has made itself felt in the Church, although the Church, in principle, is committed to treat all men on an equality. No class distinctions are recognized at the Lord's Table. Baptism is administered on the same terms to all sorts and conditions of men, and the other ministrations of the Church are equally open to all who need them whatever position they may hold in the social scale. St. Paul expressly affirmed that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus. God is no respecter of persons. Worldly distinctions do not count in the Kingdom of Heaven. Before God all men are equal. God claims all souls as belonging to Him. All men stand in need of salvation. In the Gospel, salvation is offered by God to every person on exactly the same terms, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ. This is the plain teaching of Christianity, not only in the Bible, but in the conspicuous practice of the primitive Church as remarked by its heathen critics. Yet it must be acknow- ledged that to-day, as indeed throughout the history of the Church, the practice of professing Christians has contradicted the Gospel principle of equality, and this apparent inconsistency has helped to fix the plain man in his mental and spiritual inertia, and has moved him to resent the claim of the Church to speak with authority to him about his soul and his character and his outlook on life. As usual, the defect is not in Christianity, but in Christians. And yet, strangely enough, while the plain man has jj^^ Modern been regarding the Church as the handmaid of the powers State has that be, those very powers have been making less and less encroached use of the Church. The modern state has greatly ^J^^^^ ^, widened its competence — some would say its in- sphere of competence — and in doing so has taken over many Activity. activities formerly left to the good-will of the Church, such as education and the care of the poor. The idea of 66 CAUSES ALLEGED an omnicompetent state is not new in theory; it was familiar to the thinkers of ancient Greece, it was present, more or less implicitly, in the minds of mediaeval ecclesiastics; but it is not until modern times that the idea has been put into practice on a large scale. The ancient idea was that the State was prior to the individual, and that the individual existed for the State. Outside modern Prussia the prevalent idea is that the State exists for the individual. The Government must take cognizance of everything that may conduce to the welfare of the citizens of the State. Thus by the strange road of democracy the principle of absolute authority is coming back in a new and much more formidable guise, and with a much wider scope. We hardly realize how large a say the State has even in our private affairs. It inquires how we get and spend our income, and how much it is. It tells us what hours we are to work, what wages we may pay or earn, what holidays we may claim. It compels us to educate our children, and to hand over our boys to be trained for military service. Certain kinds of disease have to be notified and other precautions taken in the interests of the public health. A great deal of this sort of thing is very modern and is accepted as the right kind of policy, as doubtless it is. But the mediaeval Church touched and controlled the life of the people, individually and generally, at many more points than are open to modern organized Christianity. "The whole exterior presentment of life in the fifteenth century seemed to say with one voice — *The Church.' As in some old world city the great cathedral rises and soars a,bove the fringe of shops, dwellings and municipal buildings, so the Church in the middle ages rose above the secular world. Everything was commandeered into the service of religion. The Church interfered in the public and private affairs of every man from the day of his birth to the day of his death, and even beyond the grave. The Church took charge of him, body, mind, and soul, particularly of his mind and soul. As a helpless CAUSES ALLEGED 57 infant he was brought into the Church, as a child he was initiated into its mysteries. The Church had a say in the making of his home, for there was then no legal marriage outside the Church. The Confessional gave the Church a grip over his most private affairs. His daily conduct was subject to the jurisdiction of the Church courts. The Church had a say in the distribution of his property, and regularly laid claim to a share of his worldly goods. The Church could make him an outcast from society, a thing to be abhorred by his nearest and dearest. His eternal welfare was regarded as entirely in the hands of the Church which pursued him into the dread region of purgatory. Men who moved away from the Church arrayed themselves against forces almost beyond our capacity to realize." Such is a picture of the place and power of the Church in the mediaeval state. Some may deplore the contrast presented by the Church in the modern state. There is no need to do so. The Church in the mediaeval state was too busy trying to manage the world, and in doing so neglected its proper work of witness to the world. The Church has really gained by shedding off its ex- traneous activities. This is the age of specialization. Modern states are much larger, have more people to govern and much more work to do. The Church also has much more to do, and has no time for the sort of things it used to do. Further, the Church has not actually de- creased in power, but other interests and organizations have arisen and gone ahead, and are now in keen competition with the Church. The modern Church is really more free to do its own particular work, and this has been a gain to its spiritual efficiency. One result may be seen in the marvellous story of modern missionary enterprise, and another in the world-wide extension of church organization. However, there does seem a danger that the State may Conflict encroach too far on the preserves of the Church. One between line of development that runs through modern history is ^""^<^^ ^^o 6 tate. 58 CAUSES ALLEGED the gradual taking over by the State of work formerly done by the Church. A great deal of the business trans- acted in modern civil courts was in mediaeval times per- formed by courts Christian. The canon law took cog- nizance of many matters then outside the common law, and there was practically no statute law to deal with them. In fact, statute law is almost a modern innovation in English history. To mention a few examples, slander, divorce, contracts, and the probate of wills were handled in ecclesiastical courts. The beginning, in England, of the tendency for the secular courts to take over such business may be seen in the writ "Circumspecte agatis" (1285) which warned the Church courts against trespass- ing on the spheres of the secular courts. But it was not until the nineteenth century that divorce cases and the probate of wills were fully taken over by secular courts. Since then the State has gone further, and, among other things, has legitimized marriages within degrees pro- hibited by the Church. This has brought up a possible source of conflict between the Church and the State, although so far only one case has come into public notice, and that was in England. But in New South Wales and in Victoria the possibility of divorce has been widely ex- tended, and the facilities thereby provided have been in- creasingly utilized. As the Church refuses to recognize divorce for these causes, this increase of divorce tends to keep people away from the Church. Thus the action of the State, by coming into conflict with the law of the Church, and still more with the conscience of organized Christianity, does tend to lessen further the authority of the Church, an authority already diminished by the en- croachment of the State upon other fields of Church activity. The care of the poor has always been a foremost work of the Church. In the middle ages it was entirely in the hands of the Church. But since the days of Queen Eliza- beth the State in England has gradually formulated a system of poor law, and has taken over the whole prob- CAUSES ALLEGED 59 lem of the pauper. Nevertheless the Church still does a great deal for the poor that the State can never do. Again, the Church has always paid great attention to education. Before the Reformation almost all teaching institutions were in the hands of the clergy, though edu- cational attainments began to spread among the laity from the fourteenth century onwards. Chaucer is the first outstanding example of a learned layman in England. The Renaissance and the Reformation, however, broke the monopoly long held by the clergy, but it was not until the first quarter of the nineteenth century that the State took any practical steps towards providing educational institutions. It is not long since a complete system of State schools has been established in England and in Aus- tralia. It is in the realm of education, perhaps, that the State has most visibly and effectively competed with the Church. In Australia from 1788 to 1848, education was provided almost entirely by the Church, but now the State holds practically a monopoly of elementary education and only a very few church primary schools survive. About eighty per cent, of the children of Australia pass through the State elementary schools. A small percentage are educated in private institutions, and the Roman Catholics educate about sixty per cent, of their own children in their own schools. The principle of nationality as expressed in State Gain of the activity has cut short in many directions the former Church from activity of the Church and to that extent has weakened ^lH^^fff^stt the external authority and claims of the Church. But Activity. this apparent loss on the part of the Church has been more than compensated by greater freedom to do her own proper work. When the Church was trying to ad- minister the law, and to manage the educational institu- tions, the paupers, and even the roads and bridges, of the State, as well as its general policy, she could not devote much time and energy to the preaching of the Gospel to those outside. The enlargement of State activity has co- incided, and is probably connected, with the modern 60 CAUSES ALLEGED 1. Missionary niissionary expansion. The Church became less and less Expansion. the avenue to political influence and preferment. The more spiritual elements were better able to assert them- selves and the missionary impulse was offered a better chance and wider scope for enterprise. To win the world for Christ the Church must be ready, if necessary, to lose the world for herself, to forego all secular privileges a,nd functions in so far as they deflect her from her primary purpose. This consideration has a bearing on the ques- tion of the "establishment." Ought the Church to accept this status from the State? If it means that the Church is to be the slave of the State, the answer is "No," and still more emphatically "NO" if the Church is to be the gramophone of the prevailing political party. But there is quite another side to the question of the "establish- ment." It may, of course, serve as the national recognition of organized Christianity, and this is an im- portant consideration. But the "establishment" provides also an official keeper of the national conscience, and gives the Church a point of vantage to do its work. An established Church is less likely than an independent sect to be narrow-minded and more likely to be tolerant of a good deal of diversity. This is what has actually happened in the course of history. There has always been more room for diversity in the Church of England than in any of the sects that have separated themselves from it. The enlargement of State activity, also, creates a greater need for an established Church and gives wider scope for the "establishment." The "establishment" des- troys the false dualism that sets the Church against the State; it asserts the principle of the unity of all life, and it commits the State to Christian ideals and methods. Yet, granting all these advantages accruing from an "establishment," the Church should always be ready for the possibility that the State may become dominated by such ideas and be engaged in such a policy that the only consistent course for the Church would be separation from, and even conflict with, the State as in the early centuries of the Roman Empire. CAUSES ALLEGED 61 This 1s by way of digression, but it brings out the point that the Church, to win the world, must be ready to risk the loss of all things but loyalty to her trust, namely, faithful witness to Jesus Christ. Missionary enterprise is a foremost fulfilment of this trust, and the Church, by losing many functions now taken over by the State, has been able to devote herself more fully to her primary purpose. Loss in one direction has meant gain in another. The Church has lost some of its worldly prestige, but it has gained in spiritual efficiency as witnessed in mission- ary expansion. Not only in missionary expansion has the gain to the 2. Moral and Church from worldly loss been manifest. Other avenues Social of philanthropy and moral leadership have been opened Betterment. out. The abolition of the slave trade, and of slavery in British dominions, the reduction of wage-slavery by limit- ing the employment of women and children were the result, not of the efforts of economic experts, nor of State nor Church officials, but of deeply religious men who aroused public opinion to the point of securing definite legislative action. These reforms were secured by religious leaders with a strong church party behind them against the recognized economic experts of their day. Another moral and philanthropic movement that has won remarkable success against almost incredible opposition has been the temperance movement. In the last fifty years there has been almost a revolution in the attitude towards the use of alcoholic drinks in many sections of society. The war has carried this revolution several stages further. Thus in economic and moral reforms the Church, or at least, the more active members thereof, has found opportunities of greater service than in the days when the Church apparently ruled the world, and did it badly because she was neglecting her proper task. But, besides missionary enterprise and social better- 3. The New ment, the Church has found more time and energy to Renaissance. think out the great problems of the faith. The nine- teenth century has seen almost a second Renaissance in 62 CAUSES ALLEGED Increased Church Activity not known to the Plain Man. science and history, philosophy and art. There has also been a great development in theology, and a vast accumu- lation of new information bearing upon the Bible. Theo- logy has become once more the queen of the sciences, and modern universities founded upon a purely secular basis have been compelled by force of circumstances to include it within their scope. Theology enters largely into a full study of History, Philosophy, Anthropology and Literature, and the comparative study of Religion has attracted the interest of the most scientific investi- gators in Britain, Europe and America. The output of scientific treatises in theology has enormously increased, and the Bible was never so fully studied, analysed and criticised, and widely circulated, as it is to-day. In these ways, in missionary enterprise, in moral and social betterment, and in theological development, the Church has gained enormously by losing her former secular functions to the State. The Church has accord- ingly been doing far more of her own proper work, and this fact needs to be stated and borne in mind. But it has not followed that this great increase of church activity is known and appreciated by the world at large. The plain man has not been in touch with missionary enterprise, with theological, historical and anthropological research. He is very clo"^sely in touch with schools, with poverty and distress, with politics and the policeman, with wages and prices and hours of labour. The Church has evacuated much ground in these spheres and does much less work in those tangible activities which mainly concern the average man. Thus the increasing range of the modern State's functions has reduced the apparent and tangible usefulness of the Church, while the pressure of the economic interest, as already described, has almost stifled the appeal of the Church. The great political and social movements of the age have encroached upon the former sphere of the Church and weakened her external authority. The Church must find new points of contact for her newly developed activities to touch the masses. CAUSES ALLEGED 63 But as yet organized Christianity has not adapted itself to the new conditions and has thereby lost touch with large elements of modern society. So far we have been considering the causes usually A deeper alleged for the apparent impotence of organized Analysis. Christianity in the world as it is. "Materialism" on the one hand and the alleged defects of organized Christianity on the other hand, do help to explain the widespread apathy towards the public ministrations of religion. There is an element of truth in the common allegations, but they have to be qualified by the assertion of other facts, and they do not cover the whole of the problem. A deeper analysis is called for. This deeper analysis, as regards materialism, will require a separate lecture, tracing the historical growth of organized selfishness. But the further investigation into the defects of organized Christianity may be conveniently carried out at this point. Some of these defects arise from permanent tendencies 1. The Human in human nature. The Church is a divine society, but it Element in the is also a society of human beings who dififer very widely -^^^^^^ bocteiy. in degrees of personal development. Many imperfections may be expected to arise from this human element even in the best members of the Church. There are also the weaker brethren, and, again, those who are obviously in- sincere and belong to the Church simply to serve their own ends. In the visible Church the evil is ever mingled with the good, and sometimes evil men have risen to authority in the Church and have wrought untold harm. The Church cannot reasonably claim to be infallible. Yet with all the weakness of her best, and with all the more than weakness of her worst, members, the Church can justly claim to be a divine society, , divine in origin, in commission, in purpose, and in consummation. At present the Church is very far from that consummation, very far from accomplishing its commission. Yet the Church has done an immense work in the world, more than the world 64 CAUSES ALLEGED acknowledges, but her golden age lies ahead, not behind. There has been progress, not continuous, but, still, pro- gress towards the consummation. The sense of deficiency in the Church arises, partly, from the contrast between its aims and its achievements, and is an indirect testimony to the loftiness of its ideals. It is not altogether fair to expect an old head upon young shoulders, or to demand from a youth the behaviour of middle age. To say that the Church falls short of her ideals is not altogether a condemnation, it is one way of saying that she has not quite grown up. We must remember the human element in the divine society and its need of education, discipline and exercise, and also its capacity for growth and develop- ment. We must also remember the progress that has already been achieved. To say that there is great room for improvement is very different from saying that nothing has been done. Still, the Church claims to be a divine society and possesses evidence in support of her claim. Has that evidence been placed before the world with convicting consistency? Christians are under an obligation not only to God, but to the world, the obligation of making known the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church faces the world, accordingly, with a challenge, namely, "Hear the word of God which we proclaim to you in the name of Christ." The world has a perfect right to test the claim of the Church to make that challenge. "By what authority do you speak thus to us? Show us your credentials." The test the world applies is necessarily practical. It is an appeal to past history and present fact. What has Christianity done for the world, and what is it doing now? Is the Church true to its own Gospel? Does that Gospel really work? The Church claims to set before the world the perfect way of life. How far has that way been proved practicable? Christianity claims to be the one universal religion. Does organized Christianity bear out those claims by adapting its methods and applying its principles to new conditions? CAUSES ALLEGED 65 Thus while the Church challenges the world, the world 7/^^ Challenge in its turn challenges the Church to prove itself able to of the World meet all kinds of circumstances, to present its message '^ ^^^^ Church. effectively to all sorts and conditions of men. Is the Church but one of many institutions which may have served a useful purpose but are now only fit for the scrap heap? If organized Christianity has lost touch with the people, may not that be a proof that the world has out- grown the Gospel? But the Gospel of Jesus Christ still proves itself to be the power of God unto salvation to every man who accepts it. If the people then do not accept it, the fault must lie either with them or with the Church, or with both sides. After all, Christianity is not magic. The mere proclamation of the Gospel even in all its fulness does not infallibly guarantee its acceptance by those who hear. God does not force His spiritual gifts upon men. The failure of organized Christianity may be compared with the apparent failure of Christ Himself. Only a few of those who heard and knew the Lord in the flesh became His disciples, and they were far from perfect. The failure of organized Christianity is undoubtedly due, in part at least, to the refusal of men to hear and obey the Gospel. When men reject God's message, the failure is on their side. But organized Christianity must also confess a measure 2. The Church of failure. It has not always proclaimed the full Gospel, has not always nor has it always kept in touch with all sorts and con- ^!if^J^^ ditions of men. The manufacturer not only needs raw th^ u/ffu^ material, machinery and power, he must also be in touch with the market for his goods. The manufacturer is as dependent upon his customers as he is upon the supply of raw material, power and machinery. The Church also has the power, the machinery and the goods, and it has its market before it. But it has not always placed its goods on the market to the best advantage. It has not always convinced its possible customers that the goods are meant for them, and are just what they really need. The apparent impotence of 66 CAUSES ALLEGED organized Christianity is partly due to its failure to keep in living touch with the people. It has been too slow in modifying traditional lines of organization, it has stood apart from powerful mass movements, particularly the modern Labour Movement; it has allowed too much play to sectional interests, to an ex- clusive pietism, a hard ecclesiasticism, and an academic intellectualism. Religion has been presented as an aspect of the cult of comfort, and the Church has suffered from various forms of exploitation by secular interests. Religion has been centred in man rather than in God. Thus the Church has been at times perverted from the purpose of the Commission given to her by Christ and has been too easily conformed to its worldly environment. Mastery of environment is the test of purposive vital energy. This is the spring of the struggle for existence. Only those forms of life survive which show ability to utilize their environment to fulfil their own purposes. When an organism gives up its share in this struggle against environment it gives up its right to exist and passes away. This is one lesson from the book of nature which is one of the books of God's revelation. It is also a lesson writ large on the pages of human history, the second book of God's revelation of Himself to man, and it is clearly taught in the Book of Books, in the history of the chosen race, the story of the faithful remnant who resisted the influences of their heathen environment. The principle of adaptation to environment does not mean that the organism drifts passively along the line of least resistance. It means that the organism, following a purposive impulse, modifies its organization, not merely to suit its environment but to overcome it, and to live its own life by means of it. The environment is the instru- ment, and not the end, of its existence. The ultimate distinction between living and dead matter seems to be that the former has the power of self-assertion against and by means of its environment, whereas the latter has no such power. On the lower level of life the organism CAUSES ALLEGED 67 seems to follow the impulse to self-assertion more or less blindly, regarding its own existence as an end in itself. On the higher level the self-assertive movement has in view an end greater than itself. But whether the organ- ism has in view itself as an end in itself, or itself as a means to something greater than itself, its vital energy is expressed by constant self-adaptation to environment in order to attain that end. Where there is life there is change, and that change implies an end to reach, a pur- pose to serve. An organism that refuses to change its organization to meet changes in environment condemns itself to death. Applying this principle to organized Christianity, let ^- '^j^^ Church us illustrate its working by a study of the parochial sys- I^^^Ai^l ^^^^ tem, as it exists in the Church of England. The parochial organization system is part of the tradition of the Church of England, to new and it worked admirably when people were mainly circumstances gathered together in villages or small towns. The p^" y . essence of the parochial system is that a definite area — System the parish — is the unitary sphere of responsibility for work and for income. A parish is a definite area in charge of one pastor. The responsibility of the pastor over his people, and the responsibility of the people for the work of the church and the support of their pastor are localized within the area of the parish. The parochial system was not the invention or the discovery of- any one man. It grew up in the ordinary course of history. It was the reflection in the Church of the prevailing type of social organization, namely, the mediaeval village community, which lived its own self-sufficing life, mainly inde- pendently of other communities, and in which everyone knew everything about everyone else. Every person had his specific status, and his equally specific duties to per- form. Every family had its holding in the land, and its place in the community life. The Church and the parson were also part and parcel of the community and import- ant organs of its life. The parson was the person (persona) of the community, and entered very freely and 68 CAUSES ALLEGED fully into all its activities. This comes out clearly during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The parish was thus a com- plete and separate social entity. The parish church was the most conspicuous sign and symbol of its separation from other similar social entities, and also of its bond of fellowship with them in the Holy Catholic Church. Thus the working unit of church organization was also the unitary social group, a group that held to a very strong local tradition and included representatives of the main class divisions within itself. Wherever the village community system, or something like it, survives, there the parochial system is the best method of church organi- zation for getting into direct touch with the people. The Parochial Modern civilization, however, has almost obliterated the System and village community, even in rural districts. But by far the Modem Sccial greater part of the population no longer inhabit the rural TUX districts. The great city is a characteristic feature of I. Lack of , . .,. . ^ ^ , . . , Coherence and i^^odern civilization. In these great cities, huge rnasses Intimacy in of people are herded together, each class for the most Modern City part in its own quarter. Most of these cities have no traditions to speak of, and very little local patriotism. It is really easier to live a solitary life in a modern large town than in an African forest, an American prairie, or an Australian back blo'ck. In these great cities, too, class divisions are more sharply marked off because there is far less personal intercourse between the various divisions. In a small country village everyone knows everyone else, and differences in social rank do not abso- lutely prevent some degree of personal intercourse. But in a modern city such intercourse between slum and suburb is scarcely thinkable. A few pious or philan- thropic persons may visit the slums occasionally. Such visits may be angelic in their intention, but also in their rarity. They do not materially affect the general situa- tion. But there is not even this modicum of intercourse between wealthy suburbia and the fast-spreading suburbs favoured by respectable wage-earners and business folk with modest incomes. The wage-earners and their em- Life. CAUSES ALLEGED 69 ployers may live within a mile or two of ea.ch other, may possibly see each other from time to time, but may not even be aware of their personal connection. The labourer, John Smith, may see the factory-owner, Mr. Robinson, but may not know that Mr. Robinson is his em- ployer, and it is even more likely that Mr. Robinson does not know that John Smith is his employee. When the wage-earners are employed by a limited liability com- pany then the personal touch between employer and em- ployee practically vanishes. The shareholders in the com- pany and the employees of the company may never see each other. But even in the same slum or suburb it is possible to know less of the person next door than of someone who lives on the other side of the world. There is little solidarity in the modern great city, little coherence between its various groups, beyond the fact that they live within the same area, possibly under the same municipal government, and may have business dealings with one another. Even these business transactions are scarcely personal and rarely lead to personal intimacy. The corporate life of a modern great city is far less coherent a,nd intimate than the life of a mediaeval town or ancient city. Occasionally local patriotism may assert itself, but its influence, being more widely diffused, and meeting many more obstacles to its expression, is not nearly so active as the often intense affection felt by the mediaeval townsman or ancient citizen for his city. But not only are modern cities larger, and the life ii. Less within them less coherent and intimate, there is also far Stability. less stability. The modern town-dweller can well ex- claim "We have here no abiding city," There is con- tinual movement within the city to and from the more thickly peopled districts where the wage-earners mostly dwell. Houses change their occupants frequently, and it is becoming less and less usual for families to stay long in any one locality. In Australia there is more moving about than in England, but this kind of restlessness is quite characteristic of modern industrial and commercial 70 CAUSES ALLEGED organization. An agricultural society producing mainly for subsistence rather than for a market is the most stable form of economic and social organization. Modern industry and commerce are based on the idea of producing to sell in a market, not so much in a local, as in a world-wide market. Goods must follow their market, and there are several other circumstances combining to produce various fluctuations in business that react on em- ployment and create an atmosphere of uncertainty w'hose pressure is felt mainly by the wage-earner. Again and again parochial clergy are heard to say that their people are always moving off elsewhere. There is a steady drift out of the central city areas into the nearer suburbs, and then from the nearer to the outer suburbs. A city parish becomes a slum, and then loses its population as dwellings are replaced by shops, factories and warehouses. A suburban parish loses its more substantial families and receives a less responsive type of population. Meanwhile the city octopus goes on spreading its tentacles over the surrounding country, absorbing the green fields and pleasant landscape into its maw of bricks and mortar, at the same time draining the rural districts of their best people and turning robust rustics into anaemic town- dwellers. It is nothing less than tragic that in a new country like Australia, there should be such huge over- grown cities, cancers feeding on the lifeblood of the country, creating disease spots in the body politic. But city life does more. The ancient citizen was trained to feel his personal responsibility towards his city. Local patriotism was strong. It was impossible for him to live his own life entirely apart from his fellow citizens. In a modern city, however, apart from the necessity of earning one's living, it is possible to live an almost solitary life. Modern city life gives fuller scope to selfish individual- ism and makes smaller demands on individual responsi- bility. I was actually told by an individualist of this sort that he recognized no duty to society beyond that of earning his living, and he did that chiefly because of sheer CAUSES ALLEGED 71 physical necessity. He seriously disclaimed any sense of citizenship. This is no isolated instance. Similar ideas are enunciated at every street corner and find illustra- tion in every political and industrial disturbance. The sense of personal responsibility is largely lost when one is but a single ant in a huge human ant-heap, and when one is treated as nothing more than a money-making, or a money-spending, unit. Thus modern conditions have helped to weaken one basis of the parochial system, namely the sense of personal responsibility to society. The present situation of organized Christianity does jy ^ Modern exhibit the reaction of modern civilization upon Church Parish is more life. It is frequently asserted that the parochial system of an Area and has broken down in the cities, and there is some ground ^^^^ .^/ fj '.'f^^ • •11 1-..1 Social Unit. for the assertion. Some city parishes have little or no population and draw their congregations from all parts of the city and its suburbs. Other parishes are over- crowded with a mass of people all belonging to the same social division. One parish is inhabited with ever-shifting slum-dwellers. Another parish includes a multitude of wage-earners together with a sprinkling of small business proprietors. Another parish contains people of moderate and comfortable incomes, with a few very wealthy families. On the contrary, the ancient parish was a social entity in itself, with a self-contained life of its own, a complete social unit. The modern parish is more of an area and less of a social group. It rarely includes in itself all sorts and conditions of men in their proper social proportions. Thus the people who attend a particular church in an urban area seldom constitute in themselves a single social complex, that is, a social entity including representatives of all social grades living in a recognized mutual interdependence. In the ancient parish, the people who worshipped together on Sunday worked together throughout the week and shared the same social life in a close intimacy that was not hindered by class divisions, though these divisions were sharp enough. There were those who ruled and those who obeyed, but 73 CAUSES ALLEGED they formed one and the same group for economic, social and religious functions. But in a modern city the congre- gation of any one church is usually drawn mainly from one particular class, and so it comes to pass that the Church becomes a class institution in which the ideas and interests of one class predominate to the exclusion of others. Different classes predominate in different churches. This tendency to class segregation in church life is assisted by the difficulty a single-handed clergyman finds in keeping touch with the whole of a large popula- tion. Very few parishes in Australia have anything like a staff of clergy. Thus the parish clergyman is driven by sheer necessity to minister chiefly to the class that responds most readily to his ministrations, a necessity that is fastened upon him by the absence of parochial en- dowments, and his dependence upon his parishioners for his daily bread. The ancient parish could be worked by a single pastor. The modern parish is too big for ade- quate pastoral supervision by one man. Its size is determined mainly by its capacity to support a clergy- man rather than by the clergyman's capacity to give the requisite personal care to the souls of his people. There are too many people to look after, and there is little scope for intensive pastoral effort. The parochial system, also, does not easily lend itself to rapid expansion, and so the effective organization of the Church frequently fails to keep pace with the growth of the population. The parochial system is suited to a society consisting of a number of small localized complexes, such as the old English village or srnall town. It does not readily fit itself to the large complex of a modern city. Hence the real unit in modern church organization tends to become the congregation rather than the parish, that is, in the cities which contain the larger proportion of the people of the Commonwealth. It is in the cities that the con- trast between active and passive church membership is most obvious. The plain man who does not go to church is found in greater proportion in the city than in the CAUSES ALLEGED 73 country. And yet the men of the city have far less excuse than the men of the country for their indifference to organized religion. Yet the parochial system is not altogether obsolete. Yet the So far no efficient substitute has been found for it. The Parochial main principle holds good, namely, that a particular ^^ffi^^^^^ ^°^ clergyman shall be held responsible for the pastoral over- sight of all people within a definite area. It is only by sticking to this principle that the Church can hope to recover a direct contact with all sorts and conditions of men. It is only in this way that organized Christianity can cover all the ground before it, and secure any measure of permanence in any district. The danger of Congre- gationalism is that public worship becomes too eclectic, a matter of individual tastes and preferences, and church life is laid open to exploitation by class interests. But the parochial system does regard the world as the field, and does aim at covering the whole of that field by spreading over every part of it a network of parishes. The parochial system does stand for the principle that religion is the one thing that matters, and not merely one of many competing interests, for the system means that there shall be no area without its parish church. The parish church is the outward and visible sign (1) that the Church ought to be the spiritual home of all people, and not the club of the select few; (2) that the main busi- ness of the Church is to witness for God to all people rather than to propagate a certain kind of teaching or provide a certain kind of worship. What has broken down is not so much the old parochial system as the old parochial self-sufficiency. The Church of England has the remedy in her diocesan system. Not the parish but the diocese should become the self-sufficing unit. The present defects of the parochial system can be overcome only by an increase of diocesan solidarity. Solidarity is a current catchword, but it does express a truth of which organized Christianity stands in need. The stronger parishes must come to the aid of the weaker, and there 74 CAUSES ALLEGED must be a more strategic disposal of the Church's re- sources. This is the function of the diocese. Peculiar There are two difficulties of the parochial system which Difficulties j^j.g peculiar to the Church in Australia as compared with ^' the Church in England. The first is the absence of of Clerav ui)on^^^^^^^ parochial endowments. Very few parishes in Parishioners. Australia have any endowment at all. In nearly every parish the income of the clergyman and his assistants, and the working expenses of the church, together with the cost of extensions and improvements, have to be met out of funds raised by voluntary effort from year to year. Every diocese has its Home Mission Fund which does invaluable service in assisting weaker parishes, and there is a growing tendency to make that Fund the central financial organ for the whole Diocese. But at present the main part of the finances of the Church is locally raised and locally expended under local control. The main burden of this financial responsibility rests upon the clergyman. Apart from its interference with his strictly evangelistic and pastoral duties, it makes him too directly dependent on the people to whom he personally ministers. It is this dependence, rather than the smallness of the stipends, that hinders many suitable men from entering the ministry, and in no calling is there greater need for personal independence than in the ministry of God's Word and Sacraments. But this subject will be more fully treated further on. Meanwhile the direct depend- ence of the parish clergyman on his parishioners for practically his means of subsistence is a hindrance to his full pastoral efficiency, b. The Prob- The second difficulty peculiar to Australia as compared lem of^^ the -with England is presented by the country areas in which • the problems are distinct from those of the town. In both country and town, however, the modern parish does not coincide with any single social unit or complex. The nearest approach to such coincidence is given by the small country town with its dependent sub-districts. This forms a centre in which all interests are focussed, and CAUSES ALLEGED 75 members of different social grades meet and know each other. The chief difficulty in the country parishes is the large area and the scattered sub-centres. The clergyman spends a great proportion of his time, and energy, in travelling the long distances. It is quite common for a country parson to be responsible for services in a dozen or a score of widely-separated centres connected by roads that are little more than tracks, with abundant pitfalls and obstacles, tree stumps, fallen tree trunks, fords, quag- mires, sandbeds, ruts, and minor ravines in the road sur- face. Thirty or forty miles of driving with three or four services is quite an ordinary Sunday's work In Aus- tralia the parson's horse is not usually renowned for speed, but the parson has to fulfil a lengthy programme up to time. The backblock parishes present further prob- lems as there is very little common life, and families are very much isolated. The time and distance factors offer serious difficulties and the work is largely of a mission- ary character. In one such parish the clergyman used to go on tour for a month at a time, and his experience was fairly typical of districts occupied mostly with sheep rear- ing and cattle raising. The brotherhood or community system has in recent years been applied to these areas with a measure of success. There are great possibilities in this method which is not unlike that by which the Celtic missionaries evangelized the greater part of Old England, but it is not the only plan of campaign against the peculiar difficulties of "bush" parishes. From personal observation I have been able to compare the ''brotherhood" system with other methods of compassing the work. It is necessary, while recognizing what the brotherhoods are doing, to say that better results have been secured on other lines. I have been on the track of men who did pioneer work in much more difficult circumstances, before railways had been built or roads made, men who had to go on foot or on horseback, often through trackless bush, on their truly apostolic journeys, and who have left a name that lives in the wide areas they 76 CAUSES ALLEGED traversed; men like the late Bishop Henry Langley, the Rev. J. H. Mullens, and Canon J. Vaughan, men also like Archdeacon Boyce, and others who laid the foundations on which their successors have built. There is much pioneer work still waiting to be done, such as the remark- able tour recently accomplished by the Rev. W. M. Wilkinson in the Diocese of Carpentaria, and the journeys of his former Bishop, Gilbert White. The brotherhood system^ however, offers many advan- tages and is itself a proof that the parochial system, for which it is a useful preparation, is not really the best for pioneer work. Men of exceptional pastoral gifts, such as those already named, may accomplish marvels by their personal spiritual influence, going as they did, not so much as representatives of an institution, but as evangelists with a Divine commission and a passion for souls. That was the secret of their success, and the success of all true missionaries, and no system or method can take the place of the spiritual impulse. But system and method can economize effort and multiply results, and the brotherhood system^ when it is used as an evangelistic agency preparatory to some kind of parochial organization, may finally prove itself the most effective instrument for pioneer work. But as yet it is on proba- tion in Australia, ^nd the chief advantage that has so far appeared is the remedy it provides against the isolation which is the hardest trial of the back-block parson. V Parochialism ^^^ main points brought out by all these considerations are: — (l) that the contrasts between urban and rural dis- tricts are greater in Australia than in England; and (2) that the parochial system of the Church of England grew up in conditions that are vastly different from those the Church has to meet to-day, and (3) that while a good deal has already been done to try to adapt the parochial sys- tem to the peculiar conditions of Australia, those con- ditions are so widely various that the parochial principle must undergo further modifications if its application is to cover the whole ground effectively. At present the whole CAUSES ALLFXtED 77 ground is ,not covered, and one reason is that there has been too much parochialism of the self-sufficient kind, and not enough co-operation under diocesan direction. The parochial system has not been outgrown, but it has to be rid of the burden of parochialism. Organized Christianity has not only failed in some 4. The Church measure to adapt its methods to new social conditions, has stood it has also remained outside some of the most powerful ^J^^J y^.^^ . ,, ^ , powerful Mass movements of modern tmies, more especially among the Movements. masses. The most conspicuous of these movements, the Labour Movement, will be studied in a separate lecture, but calls for some attention immediately. Modern Socialism owes much of its force to the newly-awakened class consciousness of the wage-earners. But though there is a connection between the Socialist and the Labour Movements, they are not at all one and the same thing, though they are often confused with each other. Some sections of the Labour Movement are bitterly opposed to Socialism, ^nd Socialist ideas are found outside the Labour Movement. Yet both movements have their quarrel with the Church though many of their leaders are earnest followers of Jesus Christ. Both movements have borrowed some of their leading ideas from Christian teaching while remaining for the most part out of touch with organized Christianity. This fact does suggest the inference that organized Christianity has failed to be true to its professed principles. The Labour Movement, like Socialism, is international i. The in its scope and aim, but it has scored some of its most Estrangement • A.I- J -0. • 1 J xu o/ Labour from conspicuous victories in Australia, and it includes the q^^^^i^^^ majority of the plain men who are out of touch with the Christianity. Church. This alienation of the Labour Movement from the Church is due to several causes. First, the wage- earners did not get from the Church that sympathy they might reasonably have expected, in view of the plain teaching of Jesus Christ. Secondly, the most influential laymen of the Church were frequently found among the bitterest opponents of organized Labour, and, accord- 78 CAUSES ALLEGED ingly, the Church became identified with the maintenance of those conditions which organized Labour was out to change. Thirdly, though many of the clergy have been in sympathy with what is best in the Labour Movement, they have usually avoided active participation in its public manifestations, mainly because their immediate work lies outside the run of politics or industrial strife. It is a curious fact, however, that though the clergy as a class are distrusted by the wage-earners, the parson of a particular parish is often highly esteemed by the men who know him personally. They often say to an individual clergyman "You are different from other men of the cloth, and we wish they were like you," thus showing that the feeling against the clergy is mainly a prejudice arising from hostility to the Church. Fourthly, the Church seems to be too much of a rescue, and not enough of a preven- tive and reforming agency. Organized Christianity makes life easier for the poor and distressed, but ap- parently does not attempt to change the social order which creates the problem of poverty. Nay, more, in spite of the growing conviction that the whole social sys- tem is wrong, the Church, so thinks the keen Labour partisan, tries to make people contented with their lot in life, and teaches them to do their duty therein. This teaching is held by many to be a device to keep the work- ing man in "his place," and to prevent him from bettering his outward circumstances. Nothing irritates the plain democratic man more than the sentiment expressed in the child's hymn — "The rich man in his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them high and lowly, And ordered their estate." This sentiment is attributed to the Church and the fact that the Church in her official teaching treats all men alike is not realized, while the actual contributions of the Church to social betterment are not known, or are ignored. CAUSES ALLEGED 79 Again, although Australia is a new country, the The Tradition traditions of the old country are still strong. The habits of the of past generations are not easily shaken off. There is no Establishment. established church in Australia to-day, but the tradition of the Establishment remains, and the Anglican Church can also claim forty per cent, of the people of Australia. The tradition of the "Establishment" does tend to associate the Anglican Church with the status quo, and to keep it aloof from reforming movements. But the men of money have more actual control over the other Protestant organizations, called in the Old Country "Dissenters" or "Nonconformists," or "Free Churches," though of course such distinctive appellations are inapplicable in Australia where all "churches" are "free." But somehow it does come to pass that the wage-earner does not find himself at home in the prevalent atmosphere of organized Christianity. His point of view, his ideas, and even his legitimate ambitions do not receive the sympathy he is entitled to expect. That sympathy is at present mainly monopolized by interests which are opposed to his. The alienation of Labour from the Church is, however, Jhe Anglican only an acute phase of the general a,loofness of the Church Church from other main public interests. In recent years the historically Church has held itself apart from politics, because ^J^^^^Ji^^s "politics," in the popular sense, was mainly a contest against between party organizations. Another reason is found sectional in the encrdachment of the State upon the former pre- Interests. serves of the Church which has resulted in a gradual withdrawal of the Church from secular interests and a greater concentration of her energies on her spiritual functions. Organized Christianity has wisely taken no sides upon the topics that have usually divided political parties. Occasionally, however, questions have come up on which the Church has felt bound to take sides. Edu- cational policy, the regulation of the liquor traffic, and other matters involving great moral issues, have drawn the Church into the political arena when such questions have emerged into political controversy. Still, the aloof- bO CAUSES ALLEGED ness of the Church from purely party politics does tend to weaken the contact of the people with the Church in some respects by bringing in another competitor for public attention. People who are bored by a twenty minutes' sermon will listen keenly for an hour to a far inferior per- formance on a political platform. Nevertheless her aloofness from party politics gives the Church greater freedom to state principles and to do her proper work, and may in some respects actually increase her power. It is here that the tradition of the establishment may be an asset to her. The Anglican Church has repeatedly in history stood for national as against sectional interests, for example Magna Charta and the Revolution of 1688, and there are signs that to-day this stand has been appreciated. The war has brought the national interest again to the front, and has also opened a new avenue to the Church to vindicate her usefulness by developing the idea and practice of international co-operation, namely that law, order, and security are world-interests, and not merely national in their scope, an outlook on the world that is very much like the missionary ideal of the Church. In its devotion to the national and the world interest the Anglican Church has been supported by the other re- formed bodies, just as it was in 1688 when the non-con- formists of that day refused to accept concessions offered as a bid for their support to an attempt on the national liberties. ii. Yet sectional But while at certain crises the Anglican Church has Interests have stood for national as against sectional and alien interests, nn erea le ^^^ parties within the Church have frequently been more i'Vttness of the , • , , . • „.,.,,. Church. concerned with their own private aiiairs than with their duty to society in general. They have been more anxious to capture the Church for themselves than to win the world for Christ. They have been waiting for the people to come to the Church instead of taking the Gospel to the people. Organized Christianity has been kept out of touch with the people by an exclusive pietism, a high and dry ecclesiasticism, and by a mechanical sacerdotalism. CAUSES ALLEGED 81 These types have been too busy cultivating their own private gardens and extending their estates at the ex- pense of their neighbours. Religion has been made to seem a thing apart from the ordinary business of life. The plain man says, "Your religion touches us fellows no nearer than the moon." Vast numbers of people live in an atmosphere totally different from that of the devout Christian, but this fact is ignored in presenting the Gospel to them, and accordingly the point of contact is missed and the message is not understood. The people are blamed instead of their would-be teachers. The Church might easily pay more attention to her Lord's methods of presenting the Gospel to the people. He perfectly lived what He perfectly taught, and was in close touch and sympathy with His hearers. He shared their life and showed them that He understood their point of view, though He did not always approve of it. His immediate success was very small, as measured by visible results, but His Apostles reaped where He had sown. The Pentecostal harvest was the first fruits of that sowing. Again, Our Lord found a readier response from the masses than from the classes. It was the leading laymen and clergy of the Jewish Church who murdered Jesus Christ. Our Lord was not a social reformer as that phrase is commonly understood. He carefully avoided anything like popular agitation or the organization of revolt against social or political authority. But His teaching struck at the root of the social evils of His time, and of all time, and the full acceptance and application of His principles inevitably accomplish social reforms. Yet He constantly appealed to the altruistic rather than to the economic motive. He preached the coming of the King- dom of God, but He also fed the hungry, healed the sick, and taught the people. He went about doing good. In deed and in word He taught the infinite worth of a single human soul, and this lies at the root of the social problem. "A man's a man for a' that." Spiritual values came first, but material means were not neglected. Christ also The Methods Jesus Christ. 82 CAUSES ALLEGED The Mistake of exclusive Pietism. taught that men are responsible for each other, and that the highest activity of life was service. The one kind of person for whom Our Lord had no use, was the one who did nothing for anyone else, that is, the one who neglected his social responsibilities.* Thus the Christian Church was intended by Our Lord to be a living fellowship, a real society working out the principle of mutual responsibility. It was intended also to take a full view of humanity, because the Gospel was for the world, the whole world, and not merely for a select portion of it. This principle had to be fought for at the very beginning of the Christian Church, as we may see in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles of St. Paul. Yet there are men and women in the Church to-day who are quite content to see the Church stand aloof from the main currents of tendency, and who feel no responsibility towards the world that does not own Christ as Lord. Their idea of the Church is a club of select souls waiting for a consummation that is very near. Accordingly there is no need to trouble about social problems and reforms, for the world is past redemption and is going from bad to worse. The most that can be done is to snatch a few souls as brands from the burning. The Kingdom of God will never come on earth, though the Lord's prayer bids us pray to that effect. Thus an exclusive pietism preaches the Kingdom of God as being entirely in the future, and as being so sharply separated from this earth as to have nothing to do with it except to provide compensation for suffering in this life. To the plain man this type of Christianity seems to say, "There's a good time coming, therefore be patient and endure everything that comes to you, and all will be well with you in the future." This is perfectly true, but it is not the whole truth. It becomes a dangerous heresy when it is taken as an excuse for neglecting to apply the Gospel to society as a whole as * (See Matt, xxv 31-46 and also the parables of the talents.) CAUSES ALLEGED 83 well as to individuals. It negatives all attempts at reform of any kind. The plain man demands a Gospel that does things now, and his demand is just. Our forefathers took plagues and pestilences for granted as judgments of God, which they truly were, on their dirty habits. By new social arrangements these plagues have been checked. Temperance reform has not been accomplished by sitting still and waiting for the Second Coming. St. Paul strongly rebuked the Thessalonian Christians who made the Second Advent an excuse for neglecting their social responsibilities. The modern pietist rightly rejoices in the hope of the Second Coming, and rightly believes that God alone can put everything right, but he forgets to give due weight also to the Lord's teaching in the parables of the talents, and the Lord's warning at the close of each reported discourse on the last things. The King- dom of Heaven is a present reality as well as a future certainty. While its consummation is the act of God, He has entrusted men with a share in its preparation and ex- tension. After all, the earth is the Lord's, and not the devil's, and it is the business of Christians to see that the Lord has His due upon earth, and to secure that He is duly honoured in our social arrangements as well as in our private lives. Poverty is no more inevitable than disease or intemper- Inconsistency ance. It is a preventable evil and the conscience of the M/.f^. century saw the emergence into literature of a new human interest which indicates the growth of a humanitarian sentiment. J. J. Rousseau wrote on the text, "Give human nature a fair chance." Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were the watchwords of the French Revolution. Robert Burns, with all the force of his genius, sang aloud that "a man's a man for a' that." Cowper, in "The Task," gives a picture of comfortable family life — the cosy room, the bright fire, the hissing urn, the blinds drawn, the sofa and easy chairs, the pleasant company. Wordsworth also found poetic inspiration in homely and familiar incidents. William Blake throbs with human interest, with passion for human betterment: — I will not cease from mental fight. Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand. Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land. The early nineteenth century also saw the birth of the Socialist Movement with its strong humanitarian note, and Comte tried to construct a religion of humanity. Cowper is the link between the literary and the religious revival. He is not merely the poet of simple home life, he is the poet of the Evangelical Revival which gave a deep impulse to the new humanistic movement, an im- pulse that has rarely been recognized. The newly awakened faith in the living Gospel bore an abundant crop of good works inspired by the re-discovery of the infinite value of the individual human soul. Enthusiasm for the saving of souls aroused an equal enthusiasm for the relief of poverty and suffering, and the instruction of the ignorant. Not only was England saved from revolutionary horrors, positive reforms were accomplished. The abolition of the Slave Trade, and the Factory Laws for protecting women and children from 98 CAUSES ALLEGED capitalistic exploitation, have already been noticed, together with other philanthropic achievements. In addition, the penal laws were reformed and many cruel punishments abolished. Criminals and lunatics received more humane treatment, and the State began to take an active interest in elementary education. 4. The About the same time, the tremendous extension of the Scientific knowledge of the powers and processes of nature was brought into the service of man. Great progress was made in the prevention and successful treatment of disease, the methods and scope of the surgical art were almost revolutionized, and a large number of laws were passed in the interests of pliblic health. The food supply was increased in quantity and variety, and legislation was enacted to safeguard. its purity. Water supply and sani- tary service were organized, streets were lighted and paved, and means of communication vastly improved. The average duration of human life has increased, and some formerly virulent diseases have almost disappeared from civilized countries. Modern houses are built to let in light and air, and there has been a widespread ex- tension of the knowledge of the laws of health. Almost a revolution has taken place in the general attitude towards the consumption of alcoholic liquors, which has practically disappeared from certain social groups. 5. The Ideal of Finally a new watchword has emerged. Our fore- "Progress." fathers aimed at stability. We are possessed with the idea of "Progress." The scientific doctrine, or dogma, of Evolution, with its emphasis on environment, has in- spired movements towards social reform in order to secure a higher average level of comfort. All these movements take for granted the prevalence of humani- tarian sentiment. "Trust the people," says the political reformer. "Trust human nature," says the social re- former. Improve the material environment and the milk of human kindness will flow more freely when men a,nd women live more comfortably. Thus "progress" has come to mean a multiplication of material comforts, betterment CAUSES ALLEGED M of worldly circumstances, and this is the aim of modern systems of education, not only in school and university, but in the home and in society generally. The idea, however, that if all people are comfortable The Cult of then peace and happiness will be assured, is a fallacy. The Comfort pursuit of comfort, on the contrary, breeds selfishness. The V^%^1^^^^ greatest works of charity are wrought, not by the rich, but by the poor. No people are so kind to the poor as they are to each other. It is those who have suffered who are kindest to those who suffer, and whose help is most readily accepted. Endurance of common hardships brings men nearer together than the enjoyment of common pros- perity. When success is measured by the attainment of comfort, the natural inference is that poverty denotes failure, incompetence, and general inferiority. The world has no use for failures, and when it condescends to re- lieve distress, its condescension stings. The personal touch of fellowship is missed. What is wanted is comradeship. Now the pursuit of comfort does not breed comradeship, for where comfort is the one aim of life, self-interest becomes dominant because temperaments and tastes differ, and people pick and choose what suits them. Hedonism is essentially selfish. Though the pursuit of comfort breeds selfishness and fji^ c^dt qj is accordingly anti-Christian, yet it has invaded the theory Comfort has and practice of much popular religion. Its most obvious invaded invasion has been the growing appeal to the aesthetic in u,^JjJf^J^j ^/^ worship, in the development of ritual, in the elaboration (j^/^ ^f jjj^_ of ceremonial, in the erection of splendid church buildings, prcssionism. in lavish expenditure on church furniture and adornment, in greater attention paid to music and other incidentals of public worship. All these things have their place and function in organized Christianity, but they have been put in the wrong place and to the wrong use. Even where they have not become ends in themselves, they have been devoted to the comfort and pleasure of man rather than to the glory of God. There is a tendency unduly to press forward the spectacular features of worship, and to 100 CAUSES ALLEGED organize the pomp and pageantry of religion at the ex- pense of spiritual efficiency. This has been done partly to attract people to Church and to serve as a species of advertisement, and partly also to appeal to the senses and emotions of the worshippers, to increase their personal comfort by pleasing their artistic tastes and aesthetic sensibilities. This cult of aestheticism becomes a part of the pursuit of self-satisfaction, which obscures the true use of the beautiful in worship, namely, the offering of our best to the service and glory of God. Still a worship that is careless of its external expression is as unreal and as un- worthy of God as that which cares only for its externals. There is no virtue in ugliness. Nevertheless the real business of organized Christianity is not to make people comfortable or to satisfy their artistic tastes, but to per- suade and help them to love and serve God with all their heart and mind and soul and strength. The supreme test of a church's vitality is the warmth of its spiritual atmos- phere, not the perfection of its external arrangements, though a well-appointed church may itself be a help to sincere and reverent worship. But ritual and ceremonial and splendid appointments are not the only manifestations of the cult of comfort. Some churches advertise the eloquence of their preaching, or adopt strange devices to provoke attention, and thus degrade publish worship into a kind of entertainment for arousing the interest, rather than awakening the con- science or building up the spiritual life. Success is measured in terms of public notice secured by the cult of advertisement. In all these ways, by elaborating the externals of worship, by appeals to the interest and the emotions, and to nothing else, by intellectual dexterity and literary polish, by various other means and devices for catching attention and looming large and important in the public eye, the presentation of religious truth and the practice of religious principles are degraded into a cult of impressionism, as if organized Christianity, like some kinds of business, had to live on its capacity for window-dressing and advertisement. CAUSES ALLEGEJ> '''' ' '• ' lOt Closely associated with the cult of' >hlppe3&i6ni6m is' I'h'^ The Cult of cult of efficiency, as shown in the importance attached to Efficiency. popularity as expressed by increase of income and membership. The Church is treated as a kind of business making a bid for the patronage of the public, and its success is measured by the usual business tests, money and numbers. The influence of fashion upon the general public is very great, and advertisement and efficiency help to create a fashion. But the Church does not exist to set fashions, or to cater to public tastes and demands. The first business of the Church is to witness to God, not to study what will please men. The object of the Gospel is to make men holy. Personal comfort or happiness is a secondary consideration. When the cult of comfort takes possession of the Church its vocation is missed. The world is not going to be won for Christ by impression, but by conviction. A church that sets out only or mainly to impress the public lays itself open to very serious r|sks against its spiritual life. The actual power of a church is not to be measured by its appa,rently efficient organization. The real question comes next, namely, "Efficient for what?" "For winning admiration and consideration, for making a good impression, or for bringing souls to Christ?" "For getting money, or for educating saints?" "For meeting popular demands, or for witness to God?" Efficiency is only a means to an end and does not supply that end. But there is a tendency among church authorities — clerical and lay — to think that efficiency of organization, as tested by parochial and diocesan returns, by the general order of the affairs of the Church, and by the business- like method of doing its work, is all that is needed to justify the Church as a successful institution. But when this kind of efficiency, necessary as it is, becomes the chief end of effort in the Church, then the Church is in danger of trying to please the public rather than to serve God. It has to study the likes and dislikes of people, to avoid hurting their feelings or wounding their self-import- 102 CAUSES ALLEGED aiftfe. " Tt' loses • its iicJ^tc of Divine authority. It blunts its contrast with the world and weakens its moral appeal. There is a strong tendency in modern life to worship efficiency for its own sake apart from the purpose it serves. Numbers, income, and adaptation of means to ends are accepted as the sufficient tests. So long as a thing does wha,t it is intended to do it will justify its existence, especially if it makes money. Money covers a multitude of sins. But the criteria of spiritual efficiency are different. The Church's efficiency is best measured by the strength and clearness of her witness to God. The cult of worldly efficiency means putting the human interest before the Divine, and thus denying the very esse of the Church. The Church has suffered, and still suffers, from the threefold cult of the external, namely comfort, adver- tisement and efficiency, by allowing the means to obscure the end, by making religion man-centred rather than God- centred, by mistaking impression for conviction. Social The cult of ostentation and efficiency sometimes takes Exploitation the form of the social exploitation of the Church. A of the Church. ^^^^^ ^^^\ ^^ social life gathers around the institutions of organized Christianity. Baptisms and weddings, and even funerals, are regarded as social functions. Church life provides many opportunities for social intercourse. The organization of the social instinct is a great asset to Church "efficiency," but it is not the true end of the Church. The Church is more than a club for social inter- course, or the purveyor of popular entertainments, or the provider of social opportunities. The clergy have been sometimes valued in proportion to their social gifts, and their pastoral visitation regarded as a social function. In fact the clergy are unduly regarded as social personages, though not so much in Australia where their social position is not the same as it is in England. Curates are scarcer in Australia, and the parish clergyman has other work to do than make up a four at tennis or bridge, or fill up a gap at a dinner party or other function. This sort of thing is rarer in Australia than in England, mainly CAUSES ALLEGED 103 because of the different financial position of the ministry. Clerical incomes are on the average smaller in England, but there are fewer financial "plums" in the church in Aus- tralia, and the clergyman has not only to earn but to gather his salt. Where the clergy are financially inde- pendent of their parishioners they are more likely to be social personages. Still, even in Australia, the Christian ministry is a step up the social ladder for many people, and the social exploitation of the Church goes on. Church offices and church functions give chances to social climbers. The scope for these opportunities has been enlarged by the tendency to make and keep the Church a class institution by pew rents, by insisting on one uni- form type of social behaviour among the clergy, by monopolising church offices, and in other ways unduly asserting the power of money and social position. The Church is the true home of democracy, but the plain man often finds in it the social atmosphere of another class in which he is scarcely permitted to breathe. The difference of atmosphere in different social groups is part of the problem of the plain man. The Anglican Church has suffered more than other religious bodies from social ex- ploitation. The social position of the clergy has a bearing upon the The Clergy as problem of the plain man and demands further considera- Social tion. The clergy, more than any other members of P^^^onages. society, are brought into close personal contact with all kinds of people. It is required of them that they shall be abfe to move freely and easily among all grades of society. Each grade or group has its own conventional code of behaviour. The tendency to regard the ministry as a profession has reacted upon the kind of behaviour expected from clergymen. A certain degree of polish and breeding is demanded of them. They are expected to be gentlemen, and this expectation is perfectly just if it means they are to consider other people first and are able to adapt their behaviour to any social circle. The clergyman ought to be able to feel socially at home, not 104 CAUSES ALLEGED only among people of his own sort, but among all sorts and conditions of men. This is one condition of his spiritual efficiency as a pastor. But the term "gentleman" is generally restricted to signify one particular type of behaviour, that of the educated professional man who usually lives in comfortable circumstances. While it is an advantage to the clergyman to be able to move easily among people of this sort, it is a mistake to make it one of the first qualifications for his office. The Church exists for all classes and includes every rank of society. Every soul is equally precious in God's sight, for He is no respecter of persons. But where the cult of comfort takes the form of the cult of the manners and customs of the comfortable classes, and where social qualifications of this sort are made indispensable, there the clergy are apt to get out of touch with the ordinary kind of people. If the Church insists that the clergy shall breathe and be com- fortable in only one kind of social atmosphere, and that the atmosphere of the small minority, then we must ex- pect the Church to lose touch with the great majority of people. It is often a surprise to the wage-earner to find a clergyman meet him as man to man, and not as the representative of another social order. To insist upon a uniform social standard among the clergy is really a form of the cult of comfort and brings the world into the Church. Spiritual qualifications must always come first. The Church must not be regarded as one of the social institutions of the comfortable classes. The ministry should be representative of all classes. Jesus Christ did not regard social qualifications in choosing His Apostles, and He broke through more than one social convention. He was Himself rejected and murdered by the social leaders of His day because they saw that His teaching would endanger their class exclusiveness and supremacy. The Jewish Church had become an institution for pre- serving the position and influence of a certain class. The Christian Church has been exploited at times in a similar manner with a similar result. The social importance of CAUSES ALLEGED 105 the Church may be cultivated and exploited at the expense of its spiritual witness. The social activity of the Church is also manifested in The Cult of its many good works. From the beginning the Church Philanthropy. has cared for the sick and -poor and outcast as a part of her regular ministrations arising of necessity from her principles. But here again corruptio optimi pessima. The philanthropic activity of the Church does not loom so large in Australia as in England. There is less extreme poverty and unavoidable distress to deal with. But the social inequalities persist, and the Church does stand for "charity" in the eyes of the wage-earner who claims, not "charity," but justice; not palliatives, but preventives and reforms of social disabilities. He is up against the whole social system, and the Church seems by her very philan- thropy to be on the side of the system. He wants re- forms, not soothing syrup; to be treated as a man, and not as a fractious child; the right hand of fellowship and not the patronizing pat on the back. The cult of comfort may weaken the Christian sense of responsibility into a vague philanthropic sentiment which does duty for vital religion, and is content to keep things quiet rather than change them for the better. The philanthropic activities of the Church are thereby degraded into a phase of the cult of comfort. The degradation of religion into a vague philanthropy The Church is is assisted by the prevalence of the humanitarian interest, exploited for There has been a, great revival in modern times of the ^''^. ^^ ^.~ Greek ideal of life, namely, that the main purpose of man ^r '^^^ is to live his own life, to cultivate his personality, to reach lofty ideals, to live a life of decent and well-ordered self- satisfaction. This is the most subtle and dangerous form of the cult of comfort, as it is superior to gross material- ism and may wear a very respectable appearance and attain a, high level of morality. But it is none the less the deadliest enemy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it puts man in the place of God, and its influence has been enormously strengthened by the various phases of the cult of comfort that have been considered. 106 CAUSES ALLEGED The Church To sum up, the idea that the main business of religion has been is to minister to human interests, to make people comfort- perverted able here and hereafter, has so weakened the witness of Purpose ^^^^*^^h^ Church in the world that the Church has sunk into the place of a recognized institution whose chief business is to cater for certain private and public interests. THe contrast between the Church and the world has been blunted. The cult of comfort tends to centre everything in the human self. What appeals to the self takes pre- cedence over the claims of God. The Church is regarded as existing to provide spiritual comforts and social possi- bilities. Its ideals are high, but their height is valued because they tell how high the self may soar. The Grace of God is valued because it helps us as no other power can to reach this lofty ideal. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, because He shows us the Ideal we ought to reach, and He gives us the power to get there. Yet all this is made to subserve the sense of self-satis- faction. If the Church exists only to increase the self- satisfaction of its members, wherein does it differ from the world? We are face to face with the age-long ten- dency of Pharisaism, which is really the best side of Stoicism. There is nothing distinctively Christian in it except the mere name of Christ, and even the work of Christ is appropriated to serve our own ends. This stress on the self, on the development of personality, merely singles out religion as one of many interests, one of many methods of developing the self, possibly the best method, but, still, only one of several. If man is only an end in himself, what becomes of the glory of God? The idea of the world as a school of personality, noble and inspiring as it may be, is but an item in the content of the Gospel proclamation that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is not what we think of God that matters so much as what God thinks of us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached too much as a glorified humanitarian- ism, and not sufficiently as the whole counsel of God. In a word, the Church has not given God His due, but has CAUSES ALLEGED ' 107 allowed the prevalent cult of comfort to weaken the Gospel into a presentation of the benefits that are open to man. The man of the world is out for what he can get. The Church has been too busy showing him what he can get out of religion to make him happier and more comfort- able now and for ever. And so the Church, by appealing to the standard of the world, has been measured by its visible success in membership, in the splendour of its buildings, in the dignity of its worship, in the scale of its social service, in the extension of its organization and the efficiency of its business, rather than by the power of its witness to the fact and claims of God. The cult of comfort has weakened religion into a senti- ment, a luxury for the many, though a necessity for a few. As religion has been valued in proportion to the impression it makes, and as this impression varies with dififerent temperaments, one religion is reckoned as being as good as another so long as it induces a feeling of self- satisfaction. The Holy God has been degraded into an indulgent grandparent. He truly did for us what we could not do for ourselves, but He did it to make us h*PPy> 2ind as He means to make us happy He will not be hard upon us. So men misinterpret the marvellous patience of God. When the self displaces God as the centre of religion. Religion has as is inevitable when personal comfort and happiness are ^^^" centred the first considerations, then the moral fibre is slackened !? "^^^ rather ,, , , -r ■, , ,. r , • ihan in God, as the tendency to drift along the Ime of least resistance eceives undue encouragement. Where God's claims upon nan take second place to man's demands upon God, there he sense of sin is weakened because the responsibility of man to God is lessened. Modern business is organized o supply various wants of man, and modern churches are nanaged on that principle. Thus religion is valued be- :ause of what it brings to man, a good reason, but not he best. Religion exists, not because there is such a being IS man, but because God is. 108 CAUSES ALLEGED Religion is treated as if the question were, "Is God on my side?" as if the human were the only interest that mattered. The question ought to be rather, "Am T on God's side?" or, again, "Is the Church on God's side?" It is very comforting to be able to say with the Psalmist, "O God, Thou art My God, early will I seek Thee," but that should follow the act of surrender, "Here am I, send me." Our Lord's chief end in life was declared when He said, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that ""sent me." He truly came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly, but that life was to be spent in the service of God. "As the Father hath sent Me so send I you." His last words on earth were a com- mission of service, "Ye shall be my witnesses." The dominance of the human interest in religion as the pursuit of the most satisfactory kind of comfort has weakened the sense of absolute distinction between right and wrong by making the choice a matter of taste. It has further tended to substitute a vague philanthropy for aggressive warfare against sin, sin which is an insult to God. There is a wide difference between the humanitarian sentiment that aims at securing greater comfort for other people, and the Christian love of the brethren which sees in them the possibilities of being sons of God, and desires to bring them to a true sense of their relation to God. The real question in evangelistic preaching ought to be. "Are you right with God?" not "Are you happy?" If the Gospel is preached merely as "glory for me" and a comfortable seat in heaven, that is, as the unique method of getting the most for ourselves out of God, then we must expect religion to fall back among other interests competing for attention in the world. The man of the world is then able to say, "I am pursuing my own interest in my own way, you in the Church are only pursuing your own interests in your own way. Why should I give up my own way so long as it satisfies me? If I am not satis- fied I will perhaps try the Church." By laying the main stress on the element of self-satisfaction in religion, we do 4 CAUSES ALLEGED 109 )t make the choice sufficiently clear between the self and od; we do not bring out the true contrast between the se of the Church, and the esse of the world outside the liurch. Thus the Church becomes taken for granted as le of many social institutions each caring for a particular iman interest. By the main body of mankind the lurch is neither attacked nor supported. Organized iristianity commands neither their allegiance nor even eir contempt. The Church is simply taken for granted, )t exactly ignored, but regarded as being as far apart om the main stream of life as classical music, or the le arts. Religion takes its place with literature or art music, as mainly a matter for people who take an terest in it, or have a taste for it. It is left in the hands connoisseurs or specialists. This was the sin of the larisees, regarding religion as a special form of culture stinctive of a particular class. "This people itliat ioweth not the law are accursed." The ordinary plain an is as little likely to quarrel with the Church as he is quarrel with the Art Gallery, or the Museum of itiquities, an ancient monument, or the Psychical Re- arch Society. This is the point organized Christianity s reached through appealing too exclusively to human If-interest, even though it be the highest form of that If-interest. Hence the Church's witness is neither cepted nor definitely rejected by the plain man. It is nply left on one side as an outside interest. Again it must be said, and clearly and widely pro- limed, that the Church's first business is to witness to )d, not to minister to the self-interest of man. But her tness, to be truly effective, must be made relevant to in, and to all men, and it is only as a mode of this levance that the self-interest of man should in any way studied or appealed to. The whole force of organized iristianity should be concentrated on saying to the plain m, "God v/ants you." Lecture III Threefold Peculiarity of modern Organized Selfishness. 1. Area of Manifestation. ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS As Manifested in the History of Modern Civilization In the last lecture we studied the reaction of the world upon organized Christianity; what the Church has suffered from its environment. The history of that environment must now be studied in order to deal with the situation arising from its pressure upon the Church. The modern environment of the Church has already been described as organized selfishness. The phenomena of organized selfishness are not new. Similar features have always appeared in those communities which have contained powerful trading interests. The conflict between capital and labour, and the dominance of the economic interest can be seen in the ancient city state and in the town life of the middle ages. Industrial strife is not absolutely peculiar to our own age. But the phenomena of modern organized selfishness are peculiar in three main respects, in the area of their mani- festation, in the complexity of their organization, and in the dominance of the economic motive. The world is both smaller and larger to-day. It is smaller in that its various parts are more nearly linked in space and time by improved means of communication; it is larger because the various parts know more about each other. Modern civilization covers a far wider area than any previous type. It is not confined to a single city or district, nor to any one group of cities, nor to the shores of any one sea, though the sea has borne a great share in its diffusion. Modern civilization has girdled the world, and has even touched the poles, but it has not succeeded in transform- no ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 111 ing the whole world to its particular pattern, although no country or people has entirely escaped its influence. This world-wide invasion of an industrialized civiliza- 2. Complexity tion has made it practically impossible for any people to of Organisa- live an absolutely separate and self-sufficient life. China "^^• was the last great country to try to resist the invasion, and failed to keep it out. Not only has modern civilization brought nations and peoples into closer contact with each other, it has also greatly increased the complexity of social and international organization. Modern industries and businesses are closely interdependent. A strike among the workers, or a shortage of raw material, in one industry may hold up the business of the whole country. A drought in Australia may lead to an increase in the price of food and clothing in England. The extension of agriculture and cattle-raising to new countries like Canada and the Argentine has helped to increase the food supply of the older countries in Europe. The failure of one large firm may considerably weaken the credit of other firms, and has been known to produce a commercial crisis. All this complexity has grown up around one main idea, 3. Dominance the economic motive, the pursuit of personal material ^J ^^^ . 1-111 ^u ^ • .. • -^ i_ hconomic gam, which has been thrust mto a prommence it has never MQti^g enjoyed before. Its operation is no longer confined to one class or section of the community, or to one kind of activity, or to industry and commerce. It has taken possession of politics, education, and even of social am- bition, and is mainly responsible, as will be shown, for the phenomena of organized selfishness as the distinctive characteristic of modern civilization. Thus modern civilization does stand out as a new thing in history, creating new conditions, and raising new problems in every direction. The history of organized selfishness begins with the The Industrial Revolution which will accordingly form the Prevalence of point of departure for our historical survey. The plain Organised man generally belongs to that social group which is ^^^ Jarts^Yrom the peculiar product of the economic changes that have trans- Industrial formed industry and commerce during the last century Revolution, 112 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS and a half. The history of Australia, lies within the period ushered in by the Industrial Revolution, and the greater part of the white population of Australia has been drawn from those areas of the United Kingdom wherein the In- dustrial Revolution has wrought its most striking results. Those results have not been limited to business methods and organization, but may be observed in social structure and social ideals which have been changed more rapidly and thoroughly by the Industrial Revolution than by any other movement in history outside the Christian Church. Factors of the Many factors, which found in England their first oppor- Industrial tunity to work together, combined to bring about the Revolution. Industrial Revolution. They began to produce marked results about the middle of the eighteenth century, and about the end of the century the changes were in full swing, so that by 1830 England had already become the workshop of the world. 1. The Age of It was first of all an age of successful invention, especi- Successful ally in the textile and iron trades. New processes were liven ion, discovered and reduced into actions that could be em- Machme , ,• , • , • xt i- , i Production bodied m machmery. New powers were applied to work and of Large- the machinery, first water, then steam, and fina,lly sca-le Enter- electricity, so that in many industries machinery displaced P^'^^^- hand labour and greatly increased the production of goods while lowering their cost. Means of communication were vastly improved and developed, and, together with the other changes, enabled industries to be organized on a much larger scale, and brought new methods into business. The factory displaced the old domestic system, and the big capitalist gradually ousted the small employer from the control of the agents of production and distribution. 2. Geographical The Industrial Revolution began in England long before and Political it passed on to other countries. The ideas of the Revolu- Factors. ^-^^^ were not new, but they received their first chance of realization on a large scale in the England of the mid- eighteenth century. The geographical position of Eng- land was strategic for trade and for an economic world policy. England suflfered from war far less than her ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 113 possible rivals, and so could accumulate capital and foster peaceful industries. England had beaten her chief rivals, Spain and France, in the race for oversea colonies, and in making the best use of them, and this advantage was not destroyed by the loss of the American colonies after the War of Independence, for England held Canada and was making progress in India, and soon made a start in Australia. Geographical discovery and colonial expan- sion provided new sources of raw material and new markets for the finished products, though Australia did not contribute much to English resources till the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Again, while France and the other Continental Powers had been busy fighting one another on each other's soil, England was kept free from enemy invasion, had settled her own internal troubles, and was building up peaceful industries that supplied the wants of her possible competitors. The English political system in the eighteenth century suffered from serious defects, but it was far less defective than the systems of other countries in practical efficiency. There was more internal security in England than in other countries, and this gave capital a better chance to make use of inventions new and old. Thus various economic, political and geographical factors co-operated to create the situation that resulted in the Industrial Revolution. But while these circumstances already described pre- 3. The Hume sented an abundance of new opportunities, one more Factor. factor was necessary before the transformation of in- dustry and commerce could be wrought, namely, the human factor, ideas and impulses, the spirit of enterprise to grasp and make full use of the opportunities that were presented. The emergence of this human factor is marked by the publication in 1776 of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," the first attempt at a comprehensive analysis of the phenomena of material wealth, the first treatise on the science of economics as distinct from empirical discussions on particular problems. Few books have exercised so great an influence on public opinion and 114 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS national policy. It supplied a justification for the changes that were already beginning to alter the industrial activity of the country, by showing the possibilities of the new methods of business organization, division of labour and large-scale production. It demonstrated the failure of the old protective system, and claimed that wealth would increase more rapidly if allowed greater freedom of enter- prise. The principle of laissez-faire was, in later years, allowed far too much scope, but its earlier and more limited application undoubtedly helped forward the ex- pansion of industry and commerce. Before Adam Smith, the leading principle of national economic policy had been to secure national independence and power by restricting certain lines of trade and industry and by encouraging others. One test applied was the "balance of trade," the difference between the total imports from, and the total exports to, a particular country. If the imports into Eng- land from France appeared to be greater than the exports from England to France, it was supposed that France was gaining at the expense of England. The idea was that in an exchange the gain was generally all on one side, so that the chief end of trade was to secure gain at someone else's expense. If England were to trade with her rivals she must see that the balance of the gain was on her side. Adam Smith showed that in an exchange both parties gain, and that trade goes on because both parties get what they want. If the gain is all on one side then trade will eventually cease. This new analysis of the process of exchange helped to justify the principle of laisses faire and to secure the greater freedom that was needed to take advantage of the new opportunities for expanding industry and commerce. "Take care of the wealth of the country," said Adam Smith, "and the power will take care of itself." Thus the change in economic policy received a justification not only from economic but from political considerations, and an answer was found to those who wished to preserve England's economic self-sufficiency as a guarantee of her political independence. But at the ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 115 time of its publication Adam Smith's teaching captured the reason and the imagination of both political parties, and it was only the pressure of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars that prevented an early and full application of it to national policy. Yet in the meantime the ideas and principles of "The Wealth of Nations" played their part in pushing on the Industrial Revolu- tion. It is the human factor rather than the material that ultimately decides the course of changing conditions. The full results of the Industrial Revolution can be Results of the indicated only in outline, but some idea of its wide-reach- Industrial ing influence is necessary to the understanding of the R^'volution. problem of the plain man. The changes in industry and commerce have already 1. In Industry been mentioned but their main features may be con- and Commerce. veniently recalled at this point. Machinery displaced hand-labour in many industries. The factory displaced the old domestic system. The scale of business was enormously enlarged, and new methods were introduced. The big capitalist ousted the small employer. Production was no longer for a local restricted consumption, but for a world-wide speculative market. Producer and con- sumer were no longer in close personal touch. Raw materials were brought from new countries across the seas, and the finished products were distributed all over the world. Goods were produced in long anticipation of the actual demand for them. The organization of business became a specialized function. The lengthened interval in time and space between producer and ultimate consumer gave room for the growth of a new type of business, that of the middleman, agent, or warehouseman who gained considerable control over the distribution of the finished products of industry. The power of capital took possession of all kinds of business. There was an immense increase in the quantity and variety of goods produced, and an astonishing increase of population. The financial, social, and political revolutions that resulted from the changes in industry and commerce call for separate treatment. 116 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 2. Applied The increase of material goods was accelerated by the Science. expansion of scientific investigation, the results of which were applied to the production of more wealth, and to the general increase of comforts and conveniences, especially those which would increase the wealth pro- ducing capacity of labour. The new possibilities opened out by the new methods of handling the products of nature gave a great impulse to the study of natural science. 3. The Ideas of human liberty and the thought of human wel- Economic fare also prompted the increasing search into the secrets ^ac^^^f T^ ^^^ oi nature and were given greater scope by the Industrial Wealth lead to Revolution. The idea of liberty combined with the new Organised economic outlook to give rise to the policy of laissez faire Selfishness. which removed ancient restrictions on trade and industry in order to throw open to every individual the field of enterprise in producing wealth. Two opposite move- ments gave scope for the dominance of the economic motive and set going the race for wealth which is an outstanding feature of modern civilization. The thought of human welfare combined with the scientific doctrine of evolution to lay stress on environment, and pointed to the increased production of material goods as the easiest and most direct road to general human happiness. On the other hand the individualism fostered by the idea of liberty, as expressed in the policy of laissez faire, brought into the race for wealth a hard, keen, business spirit, while the extension of large-scale enterprise to all forms of industry weakened the sense of personal responsibility towards other competitors in the race. The "economic man" of the "dismal science" is the typical business man of the period, when engaged in his business, whose one object was to make his business pay by producing his goods at the lowest possible cost and selling them at the highest possible price. The main stress of purpose was laid on the production of wealth, and the economic motive became dominant in politics, education and society, in order to stimulate and organize the greatest possible ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 117 production of wealth at the highest possible rate of profit. The motive of self-interest was almost exclusively worked as the stimulus to production because it seemed the easiest to appeal to, and such an appeal was in accord with the prevailing philosophy — Utilitarianism. The thought of human welfare and the altruistic motive were kept in the background, and were brought forvv^ard only occasionally to cloak the hard ugliness of selfish materialism by asserting that the great and obvious increase of material wealth must mean that there had been an increase of com- fort and happiness, and that the only remedy for poverty was to produce more wealth and also use more thriftily the wealth already produced. Thus by everyone pursuing his own self-interest to the greatest extent, the nation as a whole would become better off. So even human wel- fare and altruism were in practice subordinated to the individual economic interest, for material goods are such that the more I have the less someone else must have at one and the same time. Hence the stress on the economic motive tended to drive out altruism from business and to substitute competition. Indeed modern business is war, and its tragedies have been as ghastly and cruel, though not so strikingly obvious, as those of the great war itself. The Industrial Revolution brought with it progress of a kind, but a fearful price was paid for it, as the story of the English Factory Laws will show. The dominance of the economic motive gave fuller play to the selfish tendencies in human nature. The economic motive of personal gain centred its attention on the production of wealth, and supplied no principle of fair distribution that was based on other values than the market price. Goods were produced to sell in order to produce more goods, at a profit, and so increase material possessions. Liberty of bargaining meant that those who were strong grabbed the greater share of the wealth produced, and those who were weak had to take what was left. It was not only goods that were sold at a market price decided by com- petition; labour was regarded as a commodity, and men, 118 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS women and children were treated as so many items in a market rather than as human beings. The economic motive dominated the relations of employer and wage-earner. Hence a society grew up based on an economic selfishness organized on a scale and with a thoroughness the world had never yet seen. It was a society that demonstrated the evils of irresponsible private control of capital, for the power of capital ruled in private and public affairs. 4. The Power The Industrial Revolution did far more than change the of Capital character and methods of industry and commerce. Its and the effects went far beyond the social groups directly en- Revolution S^S^^ in manufactures, transport, and retail distribution. It was the triumph of organized capital, and the power of capital was applied to those primary industries which draw from the soil the means of subsistence and the materials for other industries. The period of the Industrial Revolution saw also an agricultural revolution in which new methods and new crops were tried with success, mainly due to the ■ application of capital. The changes in agricultural methods wrought an even greater transformation in the rural districts than the Industrial Revolution had wrought in the towns. Rural England Before 1750 a very large proportion of the people of before 1750. England lived in the country villages, which, with the small country towns contained probably two-thirds of the whole population. The old three-field system with its common fields and co-operative cultivation was fairly widespread. It was purely a subsistence system intended only for a small self-sufficing community. In several counties there was a good deal of four-course husbandry dating from the sixteenth century, but the rotation of crops was primitive and the farms were not large. Even in these more advanced districts farming was very largely for subsistence, though there was some production for a local market, meat and vegetables and dairy produce, which were taken to the neighbouring town on market day. But most farmers ate bread and meat derived from their own land, and wore homespun made from the wool ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 119 of their own sheep. There are corners of the old country where this is done to-day. Hence while there was a vary- ing export of corn, wool, and hides from the richer dis- tricts, yet quite the greater part of the population were engaged in subsistence farming of some kind, though there was some production for a local market and there was also a good deal of traffic in cattle, horses and sheep. An outstanding feature of the rural districts before 1750 was the number of small landed proprietors who farmed their own land, lived mainly on its produce, and made a little money by stockraising. A few made money in wheat. Some of these yeomen, as they were called, be- longed to families that had held the same land for genera- tions, and they were frequently connected in blood with the great nobles. The agricultural labourer also enjoyed certain privileges. He could pasture a cow on the com- mon and had other rights in the common lands, while the possibility of renting a small farm was within his reach and gave him the chance of rising into independence. The detailed history of the agricultural revolution is Results of the full of interest, particularly in view of the modern attempt Agricultural to revive rural life, but lies outside the scope of this book, ^^^olution. The main results, however, have an important bearing on our particular subject — the problem of the plain man — as they help to explain the drift from country to town, and other aspects of the land question. In agriculture, as in industry, the changes resulted in an enormous increase in production. New crops were raised and old ones much improved. Great improvements were made in cattle and sheep, and stockbreeding became a fine art. The scale of farming wks greatly enlarged. By 1810 the power of capital ha,d caused the disappearance of the small proprietors, and had replaced the three-field system by the improved four-course husbandry. Subsist- ence farming gave way to production for a market. The greatly increased food supply enabled a much larger population to be maintained for the purposes of the new expansion of industry and commerce. The countryside 120 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS The New Countries and World Markets. was transformed. Farms were combined. The estates of the small proprietors were absorbed by the large land- owners who also profited by the conversion of the open field system into enclosed farms. The agricultural labourer lost his former communal privileges and his chance of attaining independence, for he had not the capital needed to work the new methods and the farms were also too large for his resources. Thus, while the productiveness of the land in food and other primary material requisites was increased, there was another side to the changes. The depopulation of the rural districts begins. The control of the land passed into fewer hands and created a monopoly whose vested interests proved a great hindrance to later progress. The agricultural labourer was depressed, and the disappearance of the yeo- men meant the loss of a most useful element in the national life, the "backbone of the country," as they were often called, who played a great part in the economic and political development of England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Their place in modern society has been taken by the middle classes, with this important difference, that the modern middle class does not live usually in the country but in the towns. The loss of ancient privileges and the attractions of the new industrial centres drew the labourers from the country into the towns. A further revolution took place in food production when the vast areas of the new countries were gradually brought under cultivation. Agriculture became a world-wide in- dustry with world-wide markets and the mutual depend- ence of nations was increased. The old idea of an inde- pendent subsistence was completely overshadowed, and the material interest, the economic motive, extended its dominance to another sphere. The primary industries were now organized to produce for a market in which they were to be sold at as high a rate of profit as could be secured. The power of capital controlled the elementary necessaries of subsistence, producing them for gain rather than for use. ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 121 The function of capital in the transformation of in- 5. The dustry has already been indicated. The Industrial Financial Revolution was greatly forwarded by a Financial Revolu- R^'<^oluHon. tion, whose chief feature was the growth of organized credit, not entirely a new thing, but new in the rate and scope of its extension. The outward and visible signs of organized credit were the growth of a banking system and of the foreign exchanges through which credit eventually became internationalized. The power of capital was enormously extended by the formation of banks and the systematization of credit, not only in England, but in a financial network that covered the whole world of business relations. At first the nature of credit was not clearly understood, and many mistakes were made, mainly through stupid greed of gain. Distress among the wage- earners caused by depressions of trade or by exploita- tion was intensified by recurring financial crises. But the lessons of financial crises were learned and they have ceased to be regarded as inevitable. The world of finance is on the look out for indications of possible crises and acts promptly when they appear. The fact of mutual interdependence is recognized and co-operation has been proved safer than competition as a way of gain. Is it too much to hope that in a similar way industrial crises will be reduced as the people responsible for them, employers and employees alike, recognize their mutual responsibility and interdependence and become less stupidly greedy? The financial world is much more widely and thoroughly organized than the industrial world, and it has learned that honest dealing is the best basis of good business. The whole structure of the world's credit, which is the life-blood of modern business, rests on the maintenance of good faith. When the same principle prevails in in- dustrial relations, we may expect a decrease of industrial unrest and dislocations. Moral principles do count in business. The economic motive would defeat its object if it did not recognize and observe certain elementary rules of morality, the fulfilment of contracts, punctual 122 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 6. The Social Revolution. i. Rapid Increase of Population. ii. New Distribution. meeting of obligations, honest description and classifica- tion of goods. Most of these rules are faithfully obeyed by the majority of business men. There is a recognized standard of business morality. But morality is regarded mainly as a means to an end, as the safe and honourable road to personal gain, and not as one of the purposes which business itself may serve. The economic motive domi- nates even business morality. The question has often been asked. "Where did the people come from who filled the new factories and cities, and helped to make England by 1830 the workshop of the world?" No satisfactory answer has yet been given to this question. Yet the fact stands out that during the Industrial Revolution there was a rapid increase of popu- lation that brought to pass a social revolution. The first census was taken in 1801, and figures before that date are based on general estimates. These estimates vary, but it has been stated by responsible and careful investigators that during the half century before the Industrial Revolu- tion began the population increased seventeen per cent. During the next half century, which ended in the first census year, 1801, the population increased seventy-six per cent., or over four times as rapidly. Between 1801 and 1851 the population doubled itself. The new population was different in many ways. Its distribution was different. Before the Industrial Revolu- tion the chief centres of population in England were in the south and east. The new centres were mainly in the north and midlands. There was a great shifting of the balance of influence in the country. Since the days of the Norman Conquest, the lands north of the Trent, Mersey and Humber had been the most backward in general development, and had usually been on the losing side in civil wars. The south and east had held the lead and had been the home of progress and the cradle of new movements in the national life. The Industrial Revolution transferred the centre of gravity in national life to the new industrial districts in the north and mid- ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 123 lands. To-day the lead is held by them and the south and east have been left behind, with one exception — London — which stands rather by itself. There was also a difference in character. The new iii. New population was urban and industrial. Two new classes Ch^^cicter, ... T^, ^, J Urban and came into prommence. There were the moneyed men, j^^j^^fj^i^l "self-made men" whose wealth had been won in factories and workshops, and there were the wage-earners. But there had been moneyed men and wage-earners before the In- dustrial Revolution. The novelty lay in the greatly in- creased numbers and the different circumstances of these classes. There were "self-made men" in the middle ages, such as the de la Poles who rose from nothing, and in three or four generations married into the Royal family. The "new men" of the Industrial Revolution were, how- ever, numerous enough to form a class by themselves. They had no traditions and no desire to fit them- selves for or into the ranks of the landed aristocracy, who, in turn, looked down upon them. They were sel- dom well educated and had few interests beyond their business. Until the Parliamentary Reform of 1832 they were practically shut out from public life, and it is not surprising that they formed the original basis of the Radical party in politics. The presence of a considerable number of wage- earners in England is demonstrated by the large body of legislation, guild and municipal regulations, and parlia- mentary statutes, laying down rules and methods for determining hours and wages and other conditions of em- ployment. The Elizabethan Statute of Apprentices (1563) remained in force until it was repealed by the laissez-faire politicians in 1813. But the Industrial Revolution multi- plied the wage-earning class exceedingly. Not only men, but women and children were employed as the use of machinery extended. Never before had there been such numbers of wage-earners, nor had they ever been close packed in such great masses. 124 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS The New For the new population consisted of town dwellers, Cities. not citizens sharing a small, compact and intense civic life, but huge amorphous aggregates of men, women and children, all dependent upon a few moneyed men who used them as animated tools, wage-slaves, for making money. In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, there was no check on the employer beyond his own self-interest, and he had no responsibilities towards his workers which could be legally enforced. In these new towns there was no communal life, no sanitary legislation, no sense of civic responsibility. The employer fixed wages, hours, and all conditions of employment. Hours were so long and the work so hard that there was practi- cally no leisure or energy to make use of it. Most of these new towns had sprung up in desolate places to work the new wealth of coal and iron that had been discovered and newly put to use. It was the application of steam power that enabled unlimited power to be concentrated in a single area and thus created the factory system with its crowds of "hands." This new population had no local traditions, no links with the past, and no outlook beyond the twelve-hour grind six days a week, with an occasional burst of drunkenness, or brutal sport, or a spell of starvation when trade became depressed. There were a few employers who treated their hands as human beings, but the new spirit of competition, and the new importance of moneyed wealth tended to overcome the sense of personal responsibility. What the wage-earners secured they had to win by their own efforts, though philanthropists like Shaftesbury gave them a start. But the towns went on growing until the proportions of rural to urban population had been reversed. Before 1750 two-thirds of the people of England had lived in the country; by 1830 two-thirds lived in the towns. iv. New Social The changes in the character of the population created Distinctions. new social distinctions. The old classes may be roughly described as nobility, gentry, peasantry and townsfolk, with a few skilled craftsmen and a varying number of ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 135 wage-earners. The new class divisions ran more on the familiar economic lines of landlord, labourer and capitalist. The aristocracy remained, but the country- gentry were overshadowed and gradually ousted by the new men of money, the plutocracy. The peasantry practi- cally disappeared. The professional class was greatly enlarged and its social status was raised. New pro- fessional careers were opened out by the development of trade and industry as it afforded scope for the expert adviser and organizer. But both in town and country the main mass of the population consisted of wage-earners whose new circumstances, especially their greater de- pendence on an employer, depressed their social position. The journeyman craftsman looked down upon the factory hand, the miner and the agricultural labourer. Moneyed wealth gradually acquired a new social v. The Social prestige and competed successfully with the older landed Power of interest for political power and importance. It was the ^^Z**'^** "new men" who carried through the Reform Bill of 1833, and they were helped by th^ increasing middle class of professional men and business men with moderate in- comes. The greatest increase of all was in the wage- earning population, and more particularly in the popu- lation that lived on or below the margin of subsistence. All these new classes owed their very existence to the organization of capital, and accordingly were in the hands of those who controlled the capital of the country. The power of organized capital came into conflict with the landed aristocracy and won the victory, first in politics and then in society. The moneyed men were rapidly ab- sorbed into the ranks of the aristocracy. There are very few of the modern nobility in England who can trace their titles earlier than 1760, and the great majority can- not go back beyond the nineteenth century. Meanwhile the shifting of the balance of power from vi. Di-ift from the rural to the urban interest, and the victory of the ^^jf Country to commercial over the landed interest in public policy are seen not only in political reforms, but in even greater 126 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS municipal reforms. The rate and scale of improvements in the material equipment and environment of town life rapidly increased, so that life in the towns offered more and more attractions than life in the country. The agri- cultural revolution had already set going a drift from the country to the town, which was increased by the growing attractiveness of the city. The rural districts were drained of their best elements to feed the ever-growing city octopus, a process that has also been going on in Australia. Here again the power of capital has been making itself felt, not only in primary and secondary in- dustries, in trade and commerce, but in society, by re- arranging social divisions, redistributing population and altering its character. Again we can see the material, that is the economic, interest becoming the controlling factor in the spread of civilization. 7. The Political The cycle of changes set in motion by the Industrial Revolution. Revolution included a political revolution that inevitably i. In England, followed upon the social reconstruction of the nation, a. Parliament- jj^^ political changes were not entirely due to the In- ary Reform. i . • i t> , ^. , , . , dustnal Revolution, but the economic changes were im- portant factors in the transformation that came over the form and methods of government, not only in England but in the British Empire. There were other factors than the economic. There was the ferment of ideas caused by the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. There was the threefold watchword of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, which was proclaimed with the fervour of a new Gospel. There was the utilitarian philosophy and the humanitarian sentiment of the Radicals. There was the romantic movement in literature, and the evangelical revival in religion, all alive with a new human interest. But the factor that asserted itself with most effect, and that mainly shaped the course of Reform, was the power of capital, the economic factor. The moneyed men felt their power and were determined to have a say in the affairs of the country. The rise of new classes created new political demands. Thus it is fair to say that the Parlia- ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 127 mentary Reform of 1832 was one of the first fruits of the Industrial Revolution. It was also the first of a series of reforms in national b. Spread of and municipal institutions that constituted a rapid pro- Democracy. gress towards democracy. The climax of that line of political evolution seems to have been reached in Aus- tralia where adult suffrage prevails and the franchise is on the widest basis. That climax has been brought nearer in England since the war began. The spread of democratic institutions was partly due to the recognition of new interests. The moneyed men could hope to get into Parliament only through the ex- tension of the franchise to the new industrial areas. This could be done only by the assertion of a new principle. Hitherto the House of Commons had been the House of Communities consisting of representatives from institu- tions with a recognized corporate character — the counties and chartered boroughs. There was also the idea of the representation of interests. This idea suggested the way of entrance to the moneyed men, but another principle was needed to carry the reform, and this eventually opened the door to other interests than those of organized capital. The principle of household suffrage was a big step towards complete democracy, though its first application was limited by other conditions. But the variety of franchises was reduced to one prevailing type that considerably widened the basis of representation. One other feature of the new franchise was the principle on which the seats in Parliament were redistributed. Hitherto the number of people in a constituency had not been taken into account. Some of the old "rotten boroughs" were mere names of places that had been and were no more. The redistribution took account of all this and recognized to some extent the principle of assigning representation in proportion to the population of the various constituencies, though this was not carried out with anything like thorough consistency. But that the principle of representation of numbers was recognized 128 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS at all was a further step towards democracy. Thus in extending the franchise to the new industrial areas there was at least a partial recognition of the democratic principle. The landed interest was strong in the counties and ancient boroughs. The new franchise and the re- distribution of seats were necessary not only to give the new industrial areas a representation in Parliament, but also to give the moneyed men a constitutional voice in public affairs. Yet the democratic principle carried with it possibilities that the moneyed interest had not reckoned with. Theirs was not the only new interest that could claim recognition. Once the monopoly of the landed interest had been broken, other interests would put in a claim. The manufacturing interest secured the reform of the Poor Law, the abolition of the Corn Laws, and the application of the free-trade principle so far as the revenue was concerned. But the landed interest com- bined with the humanitarians to pass the Factory Laws which deprived the employers of the absolute control they had long exercised over hours and condition of labour. The fixing of wages was left, however, in their hands, though they could no longer employ child labour below a certain age. Later on came the legal recognition of Trade Unionism, Compulsory Elementary Education and other measures which immensely improved the political and social status of the wage-earner. The door once opened to democracy could never be shut but was forced more widely open. c. Government A close study of the general course of Parliamentary exists for the legislation and political administration since the Reform Good of the g^jj ^jll bring to light the gradual emergence of a new idea that has now become a fundamental assumption, namely, that government exists for the good of the governed. Not the interests of a particular class, but the welfare of a people generally is the object declared. This idea is the natural outcome of democratic development and it appeared soon after the Reform Bill. Politics remained after that event a party game, and, indeed the ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 129 party game seems to constitute the main part of modern politics. Party government is practically unavoidable in democratic communities, but the extension of democracy led to the formulation of vote-catching programmes that gave scope for the play of the new principle that govern- ments exist to cater for the needs of the governed. Humanitarian reforms were carried out in the penal laws and in the administration of prisons and other public institutions. The Factory Laws reduced the hardships of employment for women and children. But the principle of governing for the good of the d. Functions of governed took a new turn from the idea of evolution with the State its stress on environment, and from the new rising gospel i^xtended. of comfort. Sanitary laws were passed in the interests of public health after lessons learned by one or two epidemics. The State also took up the subject of educa- tion, partly to reduce the temptations to certain forms of crime, and partly to increase the productive power of the community. A good deal of the responsibility for public health and elementary education was laid upon the local governing bodies, but the State stepped in more and more to make them do their work. The extension of democ- racy has resulted in the enlargement of the functions of the State until we are well on the way towards the Utopias of socialist dreamers. But drains and schools were not the only benefits that the wage-earners secured from the State. There was a long struggle for the legitimization of their own trade organizations. The employers fought hard for the right of individual private bargaining with their employees, and tried their hardest to prevent Trade Unions from acquiring a legal status. The holders of economic privilege, for all their boast of enlightenment and pro- gressive ideas, were as stubborn as the holders of political privilege in resisting progress towards equality of opportunity. Trade Unions acquired a legal status in England in 1871, but their complete freedom was secured 130 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS e. The Economic Interest dominant in Politics. only in 1906. Yet until lately, the employers still retained in theory the right of private bargaining over wages. It is only during the war that the Government has actually stepped into the controversy. In Australia there has been a good deal of legislative and administrative effort towards securing industrial peace and the minimum wage is legally enforced. The Australian Labour Movement, however, calls for separate treatment. Still, the wage- earner holds in England to-day a much better position than was allowed to him a hundred years ago, and many of his rights have been secured to him by legal enactment. Thus the Industrial Revolution set in motion a political revolution, which at first gave new power to the moneyed interest, but which eventually secured greater political and economic freedom for the wage- earner. Nevertheless, all through the political evolution of the last hundred years the economic interest has been dominant, and though humanitarian sentiment has exercised considerable influence, it has chiefly aimed at improving the material environment as the first and easiest guarantee of comfortable living and decent morals. Wealth must be produced before it can be distributed, and the main object of State policy has been to foster the material productiveness of the country as the basis of its power and influence in the world, and as the first condition of the happiness of its citizens. Moreover, the dominance of the economic interest to-day is seen in the fact that the burning questions in civilized countries are economic. Germany prepared for war by a long and well-planned trade policy as much as by the creation of a strong military power. The com- mercial interests in Germany were solidly with the military party in prosecuting the war. Among the Allies the war interest did not prevent the outbreak of industrial strife, and economic questions bulk largely in the dis- cussions of the Peace Conference. Economic disturb- ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 131 ances have caused the revolution in Russia and have broken out in several other countries. The phenomena of Bolshevism show that the economic interest holds sway- over a large proportion of the wage-earners. It is mainly an economic movement arising from disappointment at the results of political agitation. So long as the economic motive is dominant, so long as organized selfishness is the prevalent social atmosphere, so long will the contrasts in wealth between different classes in society provoke con- tinual conflicts. It is the economic interest that has awakened the class f, xhe Class consciousness of the wage-earners, and that has given it consciousness a motive for organizing its forces, and a definite pro- ^/ Labour gramme to shape and direct it in a struggle for better ^f^^^^^J^ ^H economic conditions. The wage system is the object of f)emocracv to attack. The growth of democracy in politics has raised Industry. the demand for industrial democracy in which the wage- earner shows himself dominated by the economic motive. The underlying currents in the Labour Movement towards a greater personal satisfaction and self-expression are not consciously felt and recognized by the majority of the workers, and accordingly materialism prevails among them. The organized selfishness built up by the captains of industry is recoiling on their own heads, for the workers have learned the power of organization and are keenly awake to their own interests. In the Empire, as in the mother country, the Industrial ii. The Revolution has set in motion a Political Revolution. The Political foundations of the British Empire were laid long before Revolution the great industrial changes began, and, indeed, the exist- " ence of the Empire helped to bring them to pass. But the greater extension of the British Empire went on during the earlier stages of the Industrial Revolution, and the ideas of that Revolution affected the policy of the Homeland towards the colonies, and, afterwards, the policy of the oversea dominions themselves when they had attained self-government. 132 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS British Three main stages can be distinguished in the policy Colonial of Great Britain towards the other members of the icy— Empire. The first stage lies in the period before the In- a Before 1776 '^^^^^^^^ Revolution, and came to a close with the Ameri- the Mercantile ^^^^ War of Independence, which was really fought on System. the question whether the colonies were to be kept in sub- jection to the mother country and exploited for her bene- fit. The political grievance of taxation without consent was the immediate occasion of the war, but the substantial grievances that had produced the bad feeling were the result of British economic policy, which was then protectionist, the Mercantile System, as it was called. The colonies were to supplement the resources of England and not to compete with her. They were not allowed to establish manufactures or trade with other countries than England. Colonies were mainly of use to supply England with raw materials and other products in which she was lacking. b. Laissez-faire The year that saw the Declaration of Independence in ~^^76 to o&OMf America, saw also the publication of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," the foundation of modern Political Economy, the text-book of a new national policy em- bodying the laissez-faire principle with its insistence on liberty of enterprise in industry and commerce. If this policy had come in earlier, the United States of America would probably have remained within the British Em- pire. The loss of the American Colonies gave rise to another idea, namely, that colonies were simply children of the mother country who were to become independent when they grew up. They were like fruit which, when ripe, would drop off the tree. They might serve a useful purpose in receiving surplus population, in guarding trade routes as points of vantage in commercial enterprise, or in punishing a foreign foe. The obvious economic bene- fits of freetrade would lead them to become markets for old country manufactures, and sources of raw material, without the trouble of imposing restrictions on them or of undertaking any responsibility towards them. Also ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 133 their connection with Britain lent a prestige to the Em- pire. Hence, after the American War of Independence the colonies were left very much to themselves until about 1840 when Lord Durham's famous report appeared on the government of Canada. The result of this report was the granting of self-government, first to Canada, and after- wards, though not simultaneously, to the Australian Colonies. South Africa was the last to receive the right, and the self-governing principle is actually being applied, gradually, to India. The right of self-government trans- formed the "Colonies" into oversea dominions, and the term "colony" is no longer applicable to them. It properly belongs only to those settlements which are directly under the control of the British Crown. The extension of the self-governing principle and the c. After 1860 — re-birth of the Imperial idea after the Indian Mutiny the Imperial compelled the British Government to supersede the old ^dea. East India Company, and brought British colonial policy into its third stage. There was also the idea that trade follows the flag, and Britain was now the workshop of the world. The self-governing dominions, however, did not follow the economic policy of the mother country, but used their extensive liberty to adopt a protectionist policy. New South Wales was almost the only exception, and followed freetrade until the Australian Commonwealth was formed in 1900. But since the middle of the nine- teenth century, the new Imperial idea has been taking shape as a comity of self-governing dominions, a League of Nations on a smaller scale. Economic forces were to assist the organization of the idea by being themselves organized into a scheme of Imperial preference in com- merce, a scheme already put into practice in some of the dominions, but not hitherto by the United Kingdom. Economic questions have bulked largely in intercolonial relations, and in Imperial Conferences. The history of British Colonial policy does show the working of the economic interest and the dominance of the economic motive. 134 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS The War and The war has brought the Empire much closer to a really Imperial C^wtVy. coherent unity. The oversea dominions have all said "It is our job too," and have done their bit. While in each of them a distinctive national sentiment is growing up, these nascent nationalities are feeling themselves comple- mentary to the British tradition, and contributory to an expanding British Imperial nationality which will pre- serve the best elements of British constitutional develop- ment. Yet economic questions loom large in the plans and dreams of the future of the Empire. Various Ideals This brief consideration of the Imperial idea is relevant of Empire. to the problem of the plain man, which is a problem not only of the parish, the city, and the nation, but also of the Empire and the world. The war has brought into new prominence conflicting ideas of Empire, and has con- siderably widened the outlook and knowledge of the plain man who has so largely answered the call of Empire, and of a righteous world order. The British Imperial idea can be best understood by comparing it with other ideas that have held sway at different periods of history. The economic motive had a good deal to do with the building of the British Empire, but it is not the ultimate force that holds it together. Ancient The ancient Empires of the East were based on military Imperialism. power and existed as long as they could carry on their military exploitation. The Roman Empire was built up by military power, though economic forces had more to do with the process than is usually recognized. After it had been established, Rome relied on weapons other than military to keep her empire together. She maintained the Pax Romana within her borders, and she gave to the world the Roman law, the basis of the law in most European countries. Rome was in fact the great police- man whose authority was reinforced by the idea of Universalism as expressed in Roman law which was cunningly compounded of the essence of the customs of all nations. It was economic rather than military weak- ness that dissolved the Roman Empire, but it lasted for ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 135 fifteen centuries, and its name and influence are with us still, not only in jurisprudence, but in ideals and methods of governance in Church and State. Modern German Imperialism was largely inspired by the history of the Roman Empire, and the Roman Church regards itself as the heir of the ancient Empire. The "Holy Roman Empire" of the middle ages was MedicEval intended to be the earthly counterpart of the Kingdom of Imperialism. God, the Pope being the head of its spiritual organization and the Emperor the head "of the temporal. Pope and Emperor, however, competed for supremacy. The Church gained enormous power and broke the Empire, but the spirit of Caesar entered the Church, followed by the spirit of mammon, and the Church was dragged into the mud of the fifteenth century. The mediaeval attempt to win the world by using its own weapons is a standing lesson to the Church to-day to keep clear of entangle- ments with the world, while yet doing her duty in the world. The Church must hold fast to her true vocation. The discovery of the New World in the fifteenth cen- Modern tury opened up new possibilities of Empire. Spain was Imperialism the first to seize them but failed to hold her colonies, for Spain. she exploited them for her own benefit, treating them as slaves rather than as children of a family. There were other reasons also for her failure, a rigid conservatism and a contempt for honest industry as the basis of wealth and national power. The French might have succeeded France. in beating Britain in the race for Empire but for their own Revolution, and but for the Industrial Revolution in Eng- land. It was the wealth the Industrial Revolution brought to England, together with the increased popula- tion, and the increased food supply yielded by the agri- cultural revolution, that enabled England to hold out against France and Napoleon through twenty years of war. The modern German Empire was the last and most Germany. powerful rival of Britain. Its chief weapon was organized materialism, and its aim was to impose its own type of "Kultur" on the world at all costs and by all manner of 136 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS Britain. British Imperialism. "The White Man's Burden." means. It was the former Spanish exploitation revived but more dangerous because more efficient, and fully alive to the importance of the economic interest. Of her three rivals, France approached Britain most nearly in ideals and methods of Empire building. Indeed, in India and Canada the British plagiarized more than one principle from the French, and improved on their models. The British Empire was not entirely built up from economic motives. Political and religious idealists were the founders of the New England Colonies in America. The Puritans were good business men, but they crossed the Atlantic, not to find business, but to find room to live their own life in their own way. The Spaniard sought silver and gold, the Frenchman looked for trade, the Englishman made a new home for himself. The Spaniard trod upon the natives, the Frenchman walked familiarly with them, the Englishman held himself aloof. Thus a New England grew up overseas which had in it a new principle of permanence. The economic function of colonies has already been described, and it entered largely into their formation. But modern British Imperialism has taken up another idea as its guiding principle, "the white man's burden." The way for this had been pre- pared by the abolition first of the slave trade, and then of slavery. The change of policy in India from the middle of the last century marks the emergence of the idea into practical Imperial policy. India was no longer to be the happy hunting ground of traders eager to get rich. India was to be governed henceforward mainly for the good of the people of India. "The white man's bur- den" is the burden of bringing peace, order, and security into the dark and cruel places of the earth. The civil administration of India and of other tropical dominions is ennobled by the sense of stewardship that directs its policy. The great response of India and of the Crown Colonies elsewhere to the call of the Empire in the war is a tribute all the more remarkable because it was mainly spontaneous and voluntary. A high ideal is the strongest ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS ISI bond of unity. The German Empire aimed at ownership of the world. The British Empire stands rather for stewardship and does not covet other people's posses- sions. Just as the Roman Empire bequeathed a legacy of law to the world, so it seems that the British Empire was intended to teach the world what ordered liberty means. It is a pity that the practice of the many so often belies the ideals of the few. The main questions that before the war held the field in domestic and Imperial politics were economic questions. The war did not silence them quite, and now that strife has ceased between the nations it is breaking out anew between the classes with fresh violence and increased bitterness. The study of modern Imperialism shows that while the 8. The Industrial Revolution began in England it has spread all ^jonomic over the world, and wherever it has taken hold the i^te7national phenomena of organized selfishness have appeared. No Politics. civilized nation is free from internal industrial strife. The economic motive has been dominant in international politics. Matters of trade and commerce are most promi- nent in international intercourse. Until the war broke out in 1914 the chief weapons in national rivalries have been tariffs, each nation trying to gain at the expense of others. The modern sentiment of nationality has been captured and exploited by the economic motive. Trade follows the flag, it is asserted. The trade interests in Germany were eager for the war in order to monopolize the road to the undeveloped East. The annexation and development of new areas by most of the Great Powers in past years was undertaken as a measure of economic policy. The race for Africa in 1890 was a scramble after regions which might yield new supplies of raw materials and furnish new markets for finished products. The policing and general safe-guarding of trade routes has been done from the economic motive. The comity of nations has been commended as economically advan- tageous, and this is the unanswerable argument behind freetrade. It was actually asserted, and many people 138 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS believed, some years ago, that a great war between civilized nations was impossible because international economic interdependence would forbid it. That such a war was probable was declared to be a great illusion. But the great war did break out because Germany, like Napoleon, thought that it was worth while from the economic point of view. The Industrial Revolution has not put a check on war, nay rather, it has enabled war to be waged more horribly and on a larger scale. 9. Mental and The direct and visible effects of the Industrial Revolu- Spiritual tion on mental and spiritual life have not been nearly so T^r^A^' f th ^^^^* ^^ those already noticed in Agriculture, Finance, Specialist. Society and Politics. The changes in mental and. spiritual life are harder to trace and slower to take effect. The chief results are observable in the scientific investigation of nature and the wider prevalence of economic material- ism. The Industrial Revolution produced greater wealth for devotion to research in every department of know- ledge, but most of all in those departments that would help in the production of material goods. The impulse to scientific investigation has extended beyond the realm of "natural science" to such subjects as history, philosophy, theology and religion. The pervasion of the "scientific temper," with its zeal for discovering new facts, has wrought changes in methods of study and presenta- tion of these subjects amounting almost to a second Renaissance. There has been an immense increase in the range and accuracy of information in every department of knowledge. A new edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" is needed before the old one has been com- pleted. In fact, the publication of Encyclopaedias and the monumental volumes of specialists' contributions are notable signs of an outlook upon the world that has rarely been found in history since the days of Aristotle. An increase in the stock of information is, however, not equivalent to an increase in real knowledge. A good memory for dates does not necessarily make a man a historian. It is possible to enjoy the beauty of a land- ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 139 scape without a knowledge of geology or botany. The scientific view is after all only a partial view, though it serves an important purpose. At its best it may serve the purpose of a commendable curiosity, about the world in which we live and move and have our being, and may help us to do our duty better therein. At its worst it may be perverted into an expedient to increase personal gain or enlarge one's self-importance^ or become an excuse for neglecting spiritual interests and values. Yet the vast enlargement of scientific research into and command over the secrets of nature has been one way in which the modern ideal of "Progress" has expressed itself as against the mediaeval ideals of stability and self-sufficiency. We are undoubtedly better informed than our fathers were on many subjects. This progress has been attained by specialization, the increase of which is another fea- ture of this age. From the point of view of letters and learning this age may be styled the age of the specialist. The range of information has become so wide and the stock thereof so large that no one person can hope to know thoroughly more than one subject, or part of a sub- ject. Thus the plain man is dependent on the specialist, and the specialists are dependent on each other. Each be- comes an infallible pope in his own department. This is the danger of specialization. It tends to relieve men of their responsibility for their opinions. Still, specialization has immensely increased knowledge, but progress therein has been valued mainly in proportion to the practical use that could be made of the new information to increase material comforts and conveniences. This is how the plain man views the progress of science. The resources of science have contributed to the organization of selfish- ness. Philosophy has also contributed to the organization of Utilitarianism. selfishness. The prevailing philosophy of the Industrial Revolution was Utilitarianism, and it is still the philosophy of the plain man because it seems so simple and practical. It amounts to this: — "Let each do the best for himself 140 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS Summary Progress has been limited to Material Circumstances. with least injury to other people and thus secure the greatest good of the greatest number." The Industrial Revolution gave a new organization to the selfish instinct in man, and by increasing its scale disguised its character. The disguise was made more effective by the cheap and easy philosophy of "the greatest good of the greatest number." But as that greatest good was left undefined, each person defined it for himself, and so we are brought back to hedonism, the cult of pleasure, with its stress on self-interest and self-satisfaction. A brief survey of the history of modern civilization suffices to reveal the powerful forces that have thrust the economic interest into the foreground of purpose and action, in industrial progress, in the subordination of political to economic considerations, in the reconstruc- tion of society on the basis of wealth, in the power of organized capital, in the tariff wars between the nations and even within the British Empire, in the reaction of the world upon the Church and upon religion, in the purpose and organization of popular education, in the considera- tions that weigh most heavily in choosing an occupation, and in the avowed objective of popular and world-wide movements which proclaim economic remedies as the infallible cure for all ills of the human race, and promise a paradise to all who will support a particular economic programme. The more one studies the history of modern civilization the more truly it is seen to be an organized selfishness. The economic motive is dominant, and those who are able to resist its pressure are few com- pared with the multitudes who submit to its control. After reviewing the history of organized selfishness the question arises, "In what sense has there been progress?" The answer is that progress has been limited mainly to the material environment of life. Material goods have been multiplied in quantity and variety. Industry and commerce have been better organized for the production of wealth. Means of communication have vastly im- proved. The art of living a healthy life is better under- ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 141 stood and practised. Some diseases have almost dis- appeared. The general standard of comfort has been raised. Illiteracy has been greatly reduced and general elementary education is free and compulsory. The avail- able information on all kinds of subjects has enormously increased, especially in natural science. Life has been made more easy in many ways and certainly longer on the average. Political evolution has advanced several stages towa,rds complete democracy. In some directions there has been a great enlargement of personal liberty, in speech and in opinion, and especially liberty to live one's own life in one's own way. The modern man worships efficiency and progress. But when these question-begging epithets are analyzed down to the fundamental assump- tions in his mind, and he is asked the questions, "Efficient for what?" and "Progress towards what?" the answers are given in terms of material comforts and conveniences. Progress as described above may be very visible and tangible, but what really matters is, not the things we possess, but the use we make of them. If the question "Has there been progress?" is put in this form: "Has there been progress in the right use of things, namely, for the benefit of mankind generally?" the answer must be that the chances for developing personality and for having a good time in this life have been greatly increased. 'But the competitors for these chances have also increased, and there are large masses of men who do not enjoy them. There has been a rise in the general level of subsistence and a large increase in the number of people with moderate incomes. But while wealth has increased on the whole more rapidly than the population, the propor- tion between the "haves" and the "have-nots" has not been altered very much and the contrasts between luxury and bare subsistence are as great as ever. If the main business of man is to have a good time in Organized this life in the way of material enjoyments then there has Selfishness been progress of a kind in the last century and a half. ^"^^^^^„^^ But if the main business of man is to build up a society ^xjith Spiritual on Christian principles, then we cannot claim to be Interests. 143 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS much better Christians or patriots than our fathers were. Modern civilization has not proved itself able to do the work of the Church in promoting the spiritual interests of man, though it has com- peted with the Church for his attention and has almost secured a monopoly over his capacities. While better machinery has been provided for spiritual agencies to work with, tendencies that work against the efforts of the spiritual impulse have also been encouraged. The progress of modern civilization has stopped short at accumulating the material means of existence by organizing selfishness into a complex interchange of commodities and services. It is taken for granted that man somehow or other needs these goods and services. They make him feel more comfortable in his body and provide some occupation for his mind. But modern civilized society is constituted with one chief object, and only one, namely, to produce material wealth, and to go on producing it, as the means of existence. It is not con- cerned with the end of existence. Modern business is organized to supply the demand for marketable goods, to cater for men's tastes, to supply what they want, or think they want. It does not attempt to tell men what they ought to want, except in advertising its goods to sell at a profit. Modern business is not concerned about right and wrong, it has no use for ethical, only for market values. Order and security are valued as conditions of good business. Honesty is the best policy — in the long run. Business cannot go on unless contracts are fulfilled, bargains kept, and financial obligations discharged. Business has its code of honour, but it has no concern with the deeper issues of life, with the worth of the human soul, with the ultimate meaning and purpose of life. Hence, measured by spiritual standards, organized selfishness cannot claim any contribution to real progress. The brotherhood of man has not been brought any nearer to realization by allowing free play to individual and class interests and organizing society to minister only to those interests. The Kingdom of God has not been advanced ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 143 by the principle of competition, nor by the world-wide organization of markets. It may be argued that organized selfishness was not concerned with spiritual values, that it left these to the churches and other similar institutions. It may be said that modern civilization has aimed at economic improve- ments, at solving economic problems. It has set out to raise the general standard of material comfort, and has succeeded in doing so. It has aimed at economic satis- factions and has secured them to a greater degree than formerly. Since modern civilization has left spiritual values to other agencies, it is not fair to judge it by a standard it has never accepted, or to condemn it for not doing what it never intended to do. The division of labour is an accepted principle of organization. Let it be applied to the Church. If there has been failure to obey the call of the spiritual, the Church, whose task it is to see to" that, is to blame. Modern civilization has done its own woik and should not be blamed for not doing some- one else's work. A confession of this sort is the greatest condemnation upon modern civilization. It is an acknow- ledgment that religion is only one of many interests, and it is a confession that modern civilization has ignored the deepest factors of progress, it has denied the only stand- ard by which human life may be fully measured. Yet even on its own standards of progress modern civilization stands convicted of failure. Organized selfishness has not solved the chief economic problems. The economic paradise is as far off as ever. Peace, order and security have not been established in industry and commerce. The greatest economic happiness of the greatest number has not been attained. As an economic system modern civilization has failed. The problem of "waste" remains unsolved. A chief aim of modern business is to eliminate waste of all kinds in power and materials. Yet there is a great deal of unproductive con- sumption going on. War is essentially wasteful, and the greatest war in history has been inflicted upon the world. Failures of Modern Civilisation as measured by its own Standards. 1. The Economic Paradise has not arrived. 144 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 2. Relative Poverty has increased J 3. Economic Dependence has been increased. But there is war in trade and industry. Modern business is a species of war. It is a struggle to secure the largest possible share of material wealth. The race for wealth encourages men in the haste to be rich, and the shortest cut is to gain at another's expense. The phenomena of exploitation have changed their form, but they are as common as ever. Trade and industry are dislocated by the struggle between competing interests, not only between capital and labour, but between the capitalists themselves. Strikes are as frequent as ever, and every strike means economic waste. The contrasts between degrees of wealth are more clearly perceived and more keenly resented. This is not mere covetousness. The bitterness is due to the fact that degrees of wealth do not bear any reasonable proportion to productive power. There are parasites at both ends of the social scale. Luxury enervates and so does poverty. Modern civilization has been organized to eliminate poverty, but organized selfishness has increased relative poverty. The phenomena of poverty signify that large numbers of wealth-producing units are not producing to the best of their capacity. That is "economic waste." Poverty also means that large numbers are suffering a shortage of material means of existence. They may be well above the level of bare subsistence, but they are not using their full capacity for economic enjoyment. There is a great deal of under-consumption, a large amount of unfulfilled demand on one side, and a large amount of idle productive power on the other side. Modern civilization has failed to organize effective demand to its utmost capacity. Again, a leading idea of modern civilization has been the attainment of economic independence. But the ex- tension of the wage-system has increased the economic dependence of the mass of mankind. The main burden of economic pressure falls upon the wage-earners, the class least able to bear it. A depression of trade may cut short the luxuries of the capitalist; it brings starvation to the ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 145 wage-earner. In Australia the wage-earners have secured better conditions than in most other countries, but the taste of better things has prompted the wish for more of the same kind and provokes continual unrest and dislo- cations of trade. Moreover, the legacy of fear and sus- picion remains from the hard times of the past. The Australian worker has less cause to fear, but he fears the more because he has more to lose, and knows it. Taking all these facts into consideration, it is at least 4. Real doubtful whether modern civilization has increased real Happiness has happiness, even when measured by economic standards. '^fL ^^^d The hedonistic calculus is most difficult to apply because though it varies in each individual, as well as from one to another. Interests A large number of economic conditions have improved have been and men may live more comfortable and healthy lives, '^^^^^^tiplied. but it does not follow that they are nearer the point of absolute satisfaction, for new conditions create new needs, and new possibilities ever open out. Food, shelter and clothing are elements in any standard of comfort, but their abundance is no guarantee of happiness. Many other things have to be taken into account. Certain diseases have almost disappeared, and certain kinds of violent crime have diminished. We live in more hygienic conditions and more attention is paid to public health. But high organization and increasingly complex con- ditions of life have reacted on the nervous system. The average length of life has increased, but so have certain kinds of nervous disorders, such as neurasthenia. Machinery reduced the strain on the muscles, but in- creased the strain on the nerves. The multiplication of interests has given more work to the brain. People to-day work for shorter hours but live at a faster pace. There are many more things to think of and many more to do. Opportunities of amusement and recreation have been multiplied. The modern town dweller has many more ways than his ancestors had of killing time. But it does not follow that he enjoys life the more, or that his mind is larger, or his character more noble. His 146 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS Civilisation. economic poverty may have been diminished, but the word poverty connotes something more than a shortage of material comforts. Modern civilization has not abolished economic poverty. It has done even less to get rid of poverty in the wider sense. The True It is when tested by the deeper things of life that the Bankruptcy bankruptcy of modern civilization appears. It has no of Modern remedy for poverty of mind and soul. Organized selfish- ness leaves no room for soul training. It gives no heed to personal intercourse, the contact of mind with mind, the communing of soul with soul. These things are but epiphenomena, occurrences more or less accidental to its main purpose. The dominance of the economic interest has caused society to be regarded as a huge machine for producing and consuming material goods. Man becomes the plaything of economic laws. The counterpart in mental activity of this absorption in the economic interest has been a widely prevalent view of nature as a closed mechanical system which can be completely described in terms of matter and motion. Mind, personality and will, have no place in this scheme. They are epiphenomena. They cannot be fitted into it and are accordingly left out as inexplicable. Thus arose agnosticism, the frame of mind of the man who has given up facing the deeper issues of life as being insoluble problems, and has devoted himself to the more obviously practical. Naturalism had neither use nor place for religion, and no real sanctions for morality, beyond mutual convenience. In similar fashion religion and morality were regarded as outside the economic interest. It had no quarrel with them, but neither had it any use for them, nor did it understand them. They were all very well for the people who were interested in them. Some degree of morality was neces- sary for the carrying on of business. Religion had a practical value as the main sanction and support of morality. But both religion and morality lay outside the main purpose of modern civilization, namely, the getting and spending of money. Thus religion became only one ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 147 of many competing interests in life, and a thing apart from its main business, The fact of God was left out of the scheme of organized "Ye cannot selfishness, and had no place in the building up of modern serve God and civilization. God was not wanted in business. So long ^^^^^^o^- as men made money they were successful. If they wanted to worship God they might do so if they pleased. Religious interests might be useful at times for establish- ing business connections, but business was not charity. Religious principles did not work in business. The object of business was to make money. The object of religion is to glorify God. "Business is business and must be attended to." Our Lord's words were amply verified, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Modern civiliza- tion built itself upon mammon, and the principle of mam- mon is organized selfishness. A study of things as they are will show that the world There is no cannot be saved by a purely economic gospel. The great Economic war is a tragic condemnation of organized selfishness. Gospel. The votaries of an economic gospel proclaimed that war was impossible because it would not pay, and so many interests were concerned in avoiding it. But war was thrust on the world by that country which is the typical product of modern civilization, the most notable example of economic efficiency and progress. Before the war Germany was regarded as leading in economic develop- ment, in scientific research, in almost every department of knowledge, and as possessing the most thorough sys- tem of education. No other nation was so efficiently organized for economic purposes, and no other nation has been guilty of such crimes, of such utter lack of moral principle, of such heartless exploitation of other peoples, of such infliction of misery upon the world. The war has taught us that it takes more than economic efficiency to make the world a fit place to live in. But the other nations have not escaped the infection. Britain's preparation and organization for the war strain were hampered by economic troubles, the clashing of 148 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS The Achievements Christianity. 1. Revival of Religio.n. opposed interests within the nation. Industrial strife had weakened France when the enemy came upon her. Russia was paralyzed by a revolution that was more economic than political. The entry of Italy and of the United States of America into the war was delayed by economic interests which had to be overcome. Belgian crimes of exploitation in the Congo some years ago almost pre- vented any Belgian war expedition in Africa. In Australia economic interests blinded large sections of the people to the real issues of the war, and economic disturbances hindered the efforts of those Australians who were trying to do their bit in the war. Economic effort supplies means and instruments, but other interests than the economic supplied the moral driving power that carried the Allies through the war. As an economic system modern civilization has not been an unqualified success, but as a comprehensive scheme of life it has been a con- spicuous failure, nay more, it has been a ghastly tragedy where its principles have been most consistently held and applied. The attempt to construct a civilization by economic factors alone was bound to fail because it took insufficient account of moral and human factors. But even if it had included them it would still have failed because it left out God. But while organized selfishness has failed even where its principles have been accepted and applied, Christianity has succeeded where its teaching has been obeyed. The partial failure of the Church has not been due to her principles but to her inefficient application of them. The period since the Industrial Revolution began has seen a great revival of religion beginning with the Evan- gelical Movement and continuing through the Oxford Movement. The main effects of the revival have already been described. The Evangelicals wrought a revival of personal religion, the Oxford Movement revived organized Church life. Together with these two movements there has been going on an intellectual movement that has en- abled the Christian faith to make full use of all that ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 149 modern research has to offer to it. The keenest minds of the age have been busy on the problems of theology. The study of religion has afforded new scope for scientific methods. The mechanical naturalism that was fashion- able among certain groups of "intellectuals" a generation or two ago, has lost its grip of the really educated people. The history of the past century and a half shows that in spite of failures in some directions the Church can show a record of progress in personal devotion, in extension of organization, and in intellectual development that can be explained only by a revival of religion. Compared wath organized selfishness the Church comes 2. Contrihu- out well as a contributor to human welfare. It was not ^^o^ *o Human economists and scientists who fought for the abolition of *^ ^ J^^^- the slave trade and the protection of women and children from exploitation. It was Christian philanthropists who took the lead in making life easier for the weaker mem- bers of society. Again, where civilization without God has come into contact with less civilized races, it has wrought black ruin. The Christian missionary has done more for the uncivilized world than all the inventors and scientists and traders have been able to do. There is abundant external testimony to the positive contribution that Christianity makes to human welfare when its principles are faithfully carried out. That of Charles Darwin has already been mentioned, but other public men have borne similar witness, especially those who have been entrusted with the government of uncivilized races. Yet not only in the dark places of the earth, but in the most highly civilized centres, the best elements in society are those in close sympathy with organized Christianity where it exerts its strongest spiritual influence. The story of missionary expansion is a marvellous 3. Missionary record of energy inspired, not by gain, but by sacrifice. tL^pd^^^^on. Many formerly savage peoples have been saved from ex- tinction, as the Maoris of New Zealand. What civiliza- tion could not do by itself, the Church has done, making life and property safe in regions where terror and cruelty 150 ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS to the call to service. had prevailed. The missionary goes unarmed where the trader dare not show himself. The Church has checked the exploitation of subject races. It was Christian effort that removed the blight of slavery from large areas of the Dark Continent, and taught undisciplined races the dignity of honest labour. The story of Uganda is very much to the point. It was the willing service of the Uganda porters that enabled the British and Belgian forces to occupy German East Africa. 4. The Church It is not only in the mission field that the Church has led the answer successfully taught the lesson of service. The call to serve the Empire has been obeyed most freely and earnestly by the active members of the Church, who have also been most energetic on the patriotic side in elections and controversies. It is the Church that has done most for the soldier outside the regular provision made by the Government, by providing extra comforts and recreations, and by attending to his general welfare, in addition to her directly spiritual ministrations. In a measure the Allies have been fighting the battle of the Church. The war has been but an acute phase of the age-long struggle between evil and good, between self and God. The Allies have been fighting, not primarily for economic interests, but for humanity, for the maintenance of those principles which are essential to right living and hopeful dying. It has been a battle for the rights of men and of nations as against the might of a man and of a nation, for the general world-interest, as against a particular national interest. Thus the failure of modern civilization to prevent the greatest catastrophe of modern times has brought into clearness the real, though limited, success of the Church. The Church has grown enormously in the last hundred years. In some ways she has not kept pace with modern civilization but in others she has gone ahead of it. This is true of missionary expansion in less civilized countries. "But there has been a great extension of church organiza- tion in both old and new countries. In the last hundred years the episcopate of the Anglican Communion has in- 5. Church Extension. ORGANIZED SELFISHNESS 151 creased ten-fold. The parochial system has also been greatly extended. Societies have been formed in large numbers, not only for missionary, but for many other objects. The unofficial and spontaneous organizations of the Church have increased more rapidly even than the official. The advertisement pages of church newspapers and directories yield sufficient evidence of greater activity. The intellectual revival in the Church has already been 6. Biblical and mentioned. Theology is once more taking its place as the Theological queen of the sciences. No book is so widely circulated ^ ^^ ^^^ ^^' as the Bible, nor read in so many languages. There has been an immense extension of Biblical scholarship, and the study of religions is now a "science" in itself. There has been a widespread revival of interest in religion out- side organized Christianity. All these facts show that though there has been a relative decline in conventional conformity to religious observances, there has been no real decay in vital religion. The religious instinct is as strong as ever, and though organized Christianity has suffered much from the pressure of the economic interest, and from the cult of comfort, there has been considerable progress in the recognition of religion, though more as a particular than as a universal interest. But the plain man is more easily impressed with the outward signs of material progress than with the witness to spiritual vitality. Being himself a product and a part of modern civilization, living in its atmosphere and en- compassed with its pressure, standing aloof also from the Church, he sees her apparent failure more easily than he is able to grasp the actual failure of modern civilization. He is not sufficiently in touch with the Church to measure 'her real success. The plain man's acquaintance with history is too super- ficial to give him the right perspective of events. He is not equipped for measuring progress, real progress, nor for estimating the relative importance of material and spiritual factors. This lack of equipment comes out clearly in the history of the Labour Movement. Lecture IV THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR Origin of the The modern Labour Movement arose out of the changes Labour wrought in industry, commerce, and social structure by Movement. ^j^^ Industrial Revolution, which came to pass through the rapid accumulation and organization of capital. The capitalistic system grew until it had practically ex- tinguished all other forms of industrial and commercial organization. A new class was brought into being, massed together in new centres of population, living in new conditions, with a very different outlook in and on life. This was the great army of wage-earners, men, women and children. They were a new race, and soon formed the main bulk of the population, and they were all dependent on the wage-system which is the economic basis of the capitalistic scheme of producing wealth. New Features The wage-earner, even more than the capitalist, is the ^f ^'^^ distinctive social product of the Industrial Revolution. Svstem ^^ ^^^ *^^ "^^ features given to the wage-system by 1. Its Exien- that Revolution that provided the conditions in which sion to all the Labour Movement took its origin. Trades. First of all the wage-system was extended to trades which had not known it before, more especially the textile trades. There had been wage-earning in agriculture, in mining, and in certain small handicrafts. But the wage- earner in many of these older trades had the chance of becoming independent. Capitalism was limited mainly to commerce, esi)ecially overseas trading. Handicrafts and industries generally were on a scale that did not demand a large amount of fixed capital. The Industrial Revolu- tion greatly enlarged the scale of all kinds of business 152 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 153 and industry. What had formerly been done by hand in the worker's own home, or in a small shop, was now per- formed by machinery in a huge factory. The small master, working side by side with his journeymen and apprentices, was displaced by a large-scale business with a manager, foremen, and an army of wage-earners, the capital being supplied, at first by one or a few persons, later by a number of shareholders in a limited liability company. Formerly production was for a local and steady market. Afterwards goods were produced for a world-wide and speculative market. Thus the wage-earner lost his chance of becoming a 2. Wage- master workman. There were too many workers com- earner peting with him, not only to rise in the world, but to deprived of secure a growingly uncertain employment. His oppor- r c^/y:_ tunity of self-betterment was further reduced as his Betterment. chance of finding the necessary capital grew less owing to the increasing scale of business and the extending use of costly machinery. His difficulties were increased by the tendency of wages to go down during the earlier stages of the Industrial Revolution, in fact, until about 1830. Both by increase in the scale of business, and by depression of wages, and also by fluctuations in employ- ment, the wage-earner found his opportunity of self- betterment reduced almost to vanishing point. A sharp division arose between employer and employee. 3. Class Their relations were no longer those of master and work- Cleavage man. The master was pushed up, the workman waa i^idened. pushed down, and every possible device was used to keep him down. The wage-earner was no longer a man, but a "hand," a money-making unit, to be worked like a machine at his full capacity for the least expense, and then scrapped when worn out. The new wage-earner was socially further removed than the old artisan from his employer. A great gulf grew and was fixed between them. The term wage-slavery may be fairly applied to the new system in its earlier stages. 154 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 4. Depression of Wages. i. Machinery and Cheap Labour. ii. Wars and Commercial Crises. iii. Vicious Poor Law. Until the reform of the Poor Law in 1833 the general tendency was for wages to go down. Machinery displaced skilled labour in several trades, the greatest distress being caused in the woollen industry which could not expand for many years. There was apparently no unemployment of this kind in the cotton industry which was practically a new development. In the woollen districts machine- breaking riots were frequent in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. But even wh.en the use of machines cheapened production, increased the demand, enlarged the scale of business, and so eventually increased employment, wages were kept low by the competition of women and children who could do what was required with the machines. It is said that the ship-building industry was planted at Belfast because the employment of women and children in the linen factories ensured a plentiful supply of men who could work at a low wage. Wages were also driven down by the dislocations of trade arising from the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and the almost periodical commercial crises, the greater burden of which fell upon the wage-earner who had no margin out of which he could save against the seasons of slack employment. Towards the end of the eighteenth century the frequent distress on a large scale in certain districts led to the system of Poor Law allowances to able-bodied men whose wages were insufficient. These allowances were granted in proportion to the size of the families needing them. The system was a vicious failure. Wages were kept down because the employer could count on the Poor Law to supplement them. If he were not a landowner he did not pay poor rates. The burden on the country increased alarmingly. In some parishes the land went out of cultivation. But the system wrought its worst effects on the wage-earner by taking away his man- hood. His labour did not receive a fair reward. He was encouraged to become a parasite and to breed a large family of parasites. The Poor Law Reform of 1833 ad- ministered a severe shock, and its action was at the time THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 155 greatly resented as unduly harsh. But it served as a wholesome discipline, and after it was passed wages began to go up, which was better for the wage-earner's self- respect. But the years up to 1830 — or even 1846, the year of the repeal of the Corn Laws — were the "dark ages" of the Labour Movement. They were years of hard work, bad pay, and miserable conditions of existence. Things were made worse for the wage-earner by the iv. Legal changes in the law. The old Elizabethan laws, which payabilities might have given him protection, were repealed as soon as the wage-earners invoked their aid. Worse, there were cases, like that of the Paisley weavers, in which workers who tried to set the law in motion were actually im- prisoned for their audacity. In 1800 the Combination Laws were passed making it a crime for wage-earners to combine. But though combinations of employers were equally breaches of the law, the penalties were inflicted only on the wage-earner. Treated as a potential criminal it is little to be wondered that he grew reckless of the law. The Combination Laws were repealed in 1825, but Trade Union action remained illegal as it was brought under the law of conspiracy to restrain trade. When the wage-earner presented his case for the in- v. The "Iron crease of wages he was met by the Malthusian doctrine. Law" of that population tends to increase beyond the means of ^^ff^^- subsistence, which when conjoined with the wages-fund theory of the classical economists, constituted the "Iron Law" of wages, namely, that wages were limited by capital, and, accordingly, at any one time, only a certain proportion of capital was available as wages. This pro- portion could neither be increased nor decreased. The wages . dividend was fixed, so that if some workers received more, others would receive less. If workers wanted more wages, they must reduce the divisor, that is, they must marry later in life and have smaller families. Limitation of numbers was asserted to be the only method available to the workers to. increase their wages, until capital itself had increased. 156 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR vi. The "Dismal Science/' 5. Changes Habits of Thought. m The wages-fund theory has long been exploded, but its influence survives. As late as 1874 it was used in the English "Standard" as an argument against agitation for higher wages. It was actually used in 1918 by a leading Victorian newspaper in discussing a labour crisis. The truth is that wages are really paid out of the produce of labour, though they are usually advanced out of capital. Yet the "Iron Law" of wages was used as another weapon to keep down the wage-earner. When he was told that in trying to raise his wages he was fighting against an economic law, and when the classical political economy was put before him as the irresistible conclusions of science, so that on every side, from the law, from science, and even from humanity, he could expect no redress, but rather an increased pressure, it is a marvel that the wage- earners remained as patient and law-abiding as they were. It was not until new ideas began to circulate, and the old political economy, the "dismal science," gave place to a more truly scientific treatment of the subject, that the wage-earner, having also improved his status in spite of alleged economic law, realized the full horror of the past. To understand this, something must be said again about the change in habits of thought that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. The old policy of the country had tried to stimulate and regulate trade and industry so as to increase power, the power of the nation as against other nations. The new policy was to take care of the wealth and to let the power take care of itself, the idea being that the country would be strong in proportion to its organized productive power, but that this organization was best carried out by private enterprise. It was urged that the most effective way to increase the wealth of the country was to give the widest liberty to every individual to follow his own bent. All restraints on trade were to be removed in so far as they consisted of protective tariffs and legislative restrictions on machinery, wages, and apprenticeship. Taxation was henceforth to be levied only for revenue. There was to be the widest possible THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 157 i freedom of contract, the greatest possible liberty of individual bargaining. Let each person follow his own self-interest, then would wealth automatically increase, and happiness, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, be soonest attained. Let things alone, and things will work themselves out in the best possible fashion. The policy of laissez-faire was based on this crude philosophy which pervaded parliament and public life from the time of the Industrial Revolution, and still prevails among many capitalists. Freetrade was only one result of this policy and perhaps its one claim to credit. Other results prompt the cry "Oh, Liberty! what crimes have been committed in thy name!" Laissez-faire meant liberty for the strong, but slavery for the weak. The wage-earner's efforts towards liberty by collective bargaining were defeated in the name of liberty. The, most important results of the laissez-faire policy were the tragedies of exploitation and the ideas and impressions burned thereby into the minds and memories of the wage- earners. The cry of "Liberty" was thrown at them when they tried to combine to improve their condition. The sacred name "Liberty" was invoked against the Factory Laws that restricted the hours of labour and checked the exploitation of women and children, and made the mill- owners fence their machinery to protect the workers. The remembrance of those bad old days has not died The Factory out even yet and still colours the mind of the wage-earner Laws. towards the employer. It is impossible to understand the Labour Movement or the Socialist propaganda without bearing in mind the terrible sufferings endured by the wage-earners during the period of the Industrial Revolu- tion. It is difficult to realize that men and women, even devout members of all churches, of that time, were so callous towards the horrors of laissez-faire among the wage-earners. Such distress as came before them was regarded either as due to the "improvidence of the work- ing class," or as the inevitable outcome of economic laws. Yet the same sort of callous indifference prevails to-day 158 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR with respect to worse plague-spots on the national life. A public opinion that tolerates organized gambling and desires to license immorality has no claim to criticize the hardheartedness of the past. Nevertheless then, as to-day, there were some who saw and cared. Though the churches, officially, did nothing, there were individual Christians, like Lord Shaftesbury, who took the lead in bringing the law to the aid of the weak and the exploited. In 1832 he secured the appointment of a Select Committee which led to the sitting of a Royal Commission and the passing of the Factory Act of 1833 forbidding the employ- ment of children under nine (!) years of age, and limiting their hours of labour to forty-eight per week (!). These provisions speak for themselves, and it may be remembered that David Livingstone started to work for a wage of half-a-crown a week, a fraction over a half- penny an hour. The worst feature of the Commission Report was the large number of accidents, and resultant cripples, due to unfenced machinery. The moneyed men bitterly opposed the philanthropists and fought hard to prevent the Factory legislation, but the public conscience was aroused, the laws were passed and new officials appointed to enforce their observance. The appointment of Government inspectors was an innovation in English national administration, though the idea had been applied in the mediaeval municipalities and guilds. The Factory Laws were effectively enforced and the capitalists found that their beloved profits went up, and not down, because the efficiency of labour had increased. The Price of The worst evils of exploitation have long passed away, "Progress." but the Factory Laws stand as eloquent witnesses to the economic weakness of the wage-earner, the dangers of irresponsible private control of industry, the circum- stances which gave rise to the Labour Movement and directed its course. When we are tempted to boast of our "progress" during the last hundred years, let us remember the myriads who paid the price of that "pro- gress" in broken lives, stunted bodies, starved minds and THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 159 neglected souls, the great army of the exploited whose poverty made others rich. It is just because the modern wage-earner enjoys improved conditions that he more keenly feels what his predecessors suffered, and realizes what he, too, may suffer, if capitalism is allowed too much liberty. The Labour Movement is open to a good deal of just criticism, but it is necessary also to remember the not very distant past when the wage-earner was really exploited, partly through the greed of money-makers, partly through false conceptions of economic law, and partly also through mistaken ideals of national welfare. The scope of these lectures forbids the inclusion of a Phases of the detailed history of the Labour Movement, but it is neces- Labour sary to try to reproduce the atmosphere in which it Movement. sprang into life, and to describe its chief stages and phases. The principal constituents of that atmosphere have been described. They may be summarized as ex- ploitation. The Labour Movement began as an attempt to defeat exploitation, and that objective has always been before it. Organized at first for defence, there are indica- tions that its policy has changed. Organized Labour is no longer content with shorter hours, higher wages, and other improved conditions. It has developed an offensive against the whole system of private and irresponsible control of capital. Some sections go further and aim at abolishing the State and transferring the control of in- dustry and commerce to the wage-earners. Thus there are three phases of the Labour Movement which may be described as Trade Unionism, Socialism, and Syndicalism. This is the historical order of their development, but the three phases co-exist to-day in organized Labour. While these phases are historically connected, they are quite dis- tinct from, and even opposed to, each other. Yet they are frequently confused one with another. Trade Unionist, Socialist, and Syndicalist are regarded as interchangeable descriptions of the active members of the Labour Move- ment. This is a great mistake, but it is a mistake that is often made with serious consequences. Syndicalists and 160 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 1. Trade Unionism. i. Craft Unionism. ii. Industrial Unionism. Socialists strongly disagree. Many Trade Unionists would keenly resent being described as Socialists or Syndicalists. The Trade Unionist wants a good wage and security of tenure in his employment. The Socialist aims at superseding private by State control of the agents of production. The Syndicalist wants to abolish all em- ployment and wage-earning, ignores the State, and pro- poses to place the control of every industry in the hands of the employees of that industry. There are two broad divisions in Trade Unionism, namely, the Old or "Craft" Unionism, and the New or "Industrial" Unionism. A keen conflict is going on in the Labour Movement between the adherents of these two divisions. The former type is favoured by the more highly skilled workers, the aristocracy of Labour, for "Labour" has its own social distinctions. The Craft Union limits its membership to the workers in a particular handicraft, and this gives rise to acute questions of "de- marcation," not unlike the caste system of India. The work on a vessel in a Sydney ship-yard was once stopped because of a dispute between two sets of painters. Different sections of the same trade are assigned to different divisions of the same handicraft. The trades- men of one division must not do work which has been designated as belonging to the province of another division. The advantages of Craft Unionism are based on the different conditions under which different handicrafts are carried on, especially in the more highly skilled trades, where a wide and thorough knowledge of technical detail is required. The objection brought against Craft Union- ism is that it divides the solidarity of Labour and exalts a special as against the general interest of the wage- earners. The New, or Industrial Unionism, aims at organizing Labour on a wider basis, obliterating the demarcations of Craft Unionism, including in one union workers of all degrees of skill who are employed in a group of closely allied occupations. Thus the Transport Workers' Union THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 161 is to include all wage-earners who are engaged in the carrying of goods or persons from one place to another, whether engine-drivers, motormen, or carters. Similarly the building trades will form one union, and likewise the engineering trades. But though this arrangement pro- vides a wider basis it does not do away with the difficulties of demarcation as so many trades overlap, or dovetail into one another's spheres. A further stage is indicated iii. The One by the agitation in favour of One Big Union to include ^^S Union, all kinds and classes of wage-earners. The main object of this agitation is to force the issues between Labour and Capital into open and world-wide conflict by organizing the whole of the forces of Labour into one well-disciplined army. Industrial Unionism is regarded as a necessary stage in this development. A still further object of this organization is the capture and control of the agents of production by the forces of Labour, as already indicated, so that the Trade Union will become the employer. These developments of the Labour Movement are a History of reflection of the history of Trade Unionism which begins J^^.^^ . with the Industrial Revolution. There are indications of something like Trade Unions as early as 1700, but the modern trade union dates at the earliest from the last years of the eighteenth century. Precise dates are diffi- cult to obtain owing to the secrecy that surrounded the beginnings of labour organizations, a secrecy that became imperative after the passing of the Combination Acts in 1800. A trade union must be distinguished from a friendly or a benefit society, though all these activities were included in the scope of some unions. But the general tendency has been to keep the objects of these activities distinct, and to organize for them in different societies. A trade union exists to look after the trade interests of its members, their wages and conditions of employment. Collective bargaining was the only method open to the wage-earners by which they could hope to overcome their economic weakness in dealing with their employers. 162 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR Unfortunately for the wage-earners, they began to form trade unions during the period of the French Revolution. In 1800 an anti-revolutionary panic produced severe laws against combination. A trade union became an illegal association, and every member thereof, ipso facto, was a criminal; and was punished severely as such. These laws may seem unjust and stupid to us, but we do not live in the same circumstances. The revolutionary excesses in France created a dread of anything revolutionary, just as the reported deeds of the Bolsheviks in Russia have aroused horror among many people to-day. But it was the administration of the law that aroused the greatest bitterness. Combinations of capitalists were equally illegal, but escaped punishment. The rigours of the law were reserved for the poor and the weak. However in 1825 the Combination Laws were repealed and trade unions were no longer illegal. But the common law was turned against all trade union action by interpreting it as a combination in restraint of trade. Thus a trade union was permitted to exist, but it must do nothing to fulfil the object of its existence. This disability was not removed till 1871, and other disabilities remained until quite recently. Even now a trade union in Australia is not on exactly the same footing as any other association, as there are special laws relating to it. Meanwhile changes had come over trade unionism itself. At first a trade union included only the members of a particular craft or trade, and the earliest unions are found among skilled workers. Unions of "unskilled" workers are of much later growth. The term "unskilled" is not strictly applicable, as all labour effort demands some de- gree of skill. The distinction is better expressed by the terms "tradesman" and "labourer," which are in use among the wage-earners themselves. The former term implies some kind of apprenticeship and a definite degree of skill, including manual dexterity and intelligence. The latter term implies the absence of special training, but includes widely varying degrees of intelligence and capacity to handle tools. THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 163 Extension of Trade Unionism to new Classes of Workers. Robert Owen. The original trade unions consisted of "tradesmen," and were concerned each with the particular interests of one group of workers at a specialized trade or handicraft. This was the "Old Unionism" which prevailed until about the middle of the nineteenth century, when, after the entry of Robert Owen into the Labour Movement, a new spirit comes in. Owen's practical experiments were, with one chief exception, his Lanarkshire factory, less success- ful than his teaching. Hitherto trade unions had been acting separately, and mainly on the defensive, but now they began to co-operate and to push an offensive. Competition had penetrated into unionism and had weakened its efficiency. Robert Owen's attempt to form one big Trades Union failed, but his idea stuck in men's minds, and helped to bring about the second stage in which Trade Unionism grows out of its original particular- ism and attempts to create a common class interest, and to secure positive reforms that would benefit all wage- earners. Trade Unionism was passing into Trades Unionism. A far stronger influence than Owen in this direction Karl Marx. was Karl Marx, though his policy was revolutionary more than evolutionary. His teaching greatly stirred the class consciousness of Labour which was slowly awakening as conditions improved and traditions of common action were spreading among the unions. The larger number of the wage-earners were, however, as yet unorganized. A beginning was made among the agricultural labourers by Joseph Arch, who founded the , National Agricultural Union in 1872. Unionism, however, did not make much progress among these workers who were by far the most numerous class of wage-earners. The dockers were organized in the next decade, and other unions of "labourers" were formed. It was not, however, till quite recently that even the larger number of the wage-earners have been gathered into trade unions. In Australia membership of a union is practically compulsory and the proportion of non-unionists is much smaller. The rural 164 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR wage-earners., in particular, are much more strongly and completely organized in Australia than in England. After the legal recognition of Trades Unionism in England in 1871, a period of quiet activity followed in which attempts were made to secure such practical objects as reduction of hours, workmen's compensation and the recognition of collective bargaining. The extension of unionism among the "labourers" has already been noticed. jlig A third stage in the Labour Movement is marked by the Parliamentary definite entry of Labour as an organized force into the Labour political arena. A Labour Party appears in Parliament, ^^ ^' at first very small, but steadily increasing. Group con- sciousness had widened into class consciousness, and class consciousness provided the impulse to power. The "Old Unionism" had favoured democratic reforms, but when these had been secured, most of the trade unions pre- ferred to work separately for their own particular ob- jects. The Socialist propaganda, however, began to pene- trate the unions, and though at first it met strong opposition it made headway, and gave the push that was needed to form a Labour Party with a programme of economic reforms. Democracy had won great victories in politics, it was now to win victories in commerce and industry. All socialistic schemes presuppose democracy, and the most widely prevalent were, and are, mainly con- cerned with obtaining a better social distribution of wealth. In fact, both the strength and the weakness of Socialism lay in its emphasis upon material environment, though it also assumed the prevailing power of ethical considerations, namely, that men would respond to the call of brotherhood and lay down the weapons of economic strife. Against the economic. Socialism urged the altruistic motive. But so far Socialism has been only an ideal, though it has exerted great influence on recent legislation in England and in Australasia. In some respects, socialistic ideas have been followed further in England than in Australia, especially in municipal enter- prise. Yet, though socialistic schemes have been before THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 165 the world for over half a century, there is still a deep dissatisfaction with things as they are. Trade Unionism has won great victories and has made substantial progress. But the phenomena of industrial unrest show no decrease, least of all in Australia where the economic revolution has gone furthest. Strikes break out, agitation for increased wages and easier conditions goes on unabated in this Commonwealth. The failure to reach satisfaction is well illustrated by the story of the Labour Movement in Australia which will now be briefly related. Trade Unionism in Australia begins with the Operative The Labour Masons' Society, established in Melbourne in 1850. In Movement . . . 1 .u • n A ^^ Austraha. the next ten years several other unions were formed, ^ , chiefly in the building trades. Trade Unionism begins jj-nionism half a century later in Australia than in England. The in Australia. reason for this late beginning is to be found in the history of immigration into Australia which has more than one bearing upon the labour problem in Australia. Before 1850 Australia was practically a pastoral country, so far as it was populated at all by white people. The white population was small and scattered. Towns were not large, manufactures scarcely existed, agriculture was only sufficient for immediate local needs, mining had hardly begun, and the few small industries were such as might be found in any country town. The factory system had not reached Australia. The year 1851 saw the beginning of rapid changes. In The Gold that year gold was discovered in large quantities. People Discoveries rushed into the country in large numbers, the population Uo-^i;- increased rapidly, new industries were started, first of all the building trades, then various branches of mining, coal, iron, and other metals and minerals, followed by manufactures, agriculture and transport. The country received the factors of industrial development — capital and labour — in vastly increased amounts. New connec- tions were established with other countries, while local 166 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR markets were also widely extended. It was the gold discoveries that brought the Industrial Revolution into Australia. The New The character of the new population is important. Population. xhe first rush drew adventurers and fortune-seekers — men who were in a hurry to get rich, who called no man master, who were free from traditions of subservience and keen in pushing their own interests. They were joined by men who had suffered disappointment in the failure of the Chartist movement in England, and of revolutionary movements elsewhere, and who were attracted by the prospects of a new country, in which they hoped to give free play to their ideas. The year 1848 has been called an annus mirabilis in Europe. Not a country on that continent escaped the revolutionary fer- ment. There was an actual revolution in France, and something very like it in Austria and Italy, and attempts in England, Germany and other European countries. The troubles in Ireland moved a large number of discontented Irishmen to leave their native land, and many came to Australia. Thus a great variety of people, minds, ideas, and purposes gathered in Australia just about the time that self-government was being attained in this land and just before manhood suffrage was established. Hence the elements of advanced democracy found their chance, and when the country began to settle down after the first rush, and new industries began to grow, the time was ripe for the organization of labour. Chartism had been closely . associated with the Trade Union movement in England, and the twenty years from 1851 to 1871 may be regarded as the period of the Industrial Revolution in Australia. A very large proportion of the new comers came from the industrial areas of the United Kingdom, and many of them had belonged to trade unions in the Old Country. The gold rush soon ceased, but it had drawn attention to Australia as a new country, with plenty of room for all sorts and conditions of men, and the rate of immigration went up. THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 167 Gold-mining is not a permanent large-scale industry, and, after the placer mining ceased to be profitable, a large labour surplus accumulated, unfitted for employ- ment in agricultural or pastoral occupations. There was a drift to the towns, and great cities grew rapidly at a few points on the coast. There are no great inland cities in Australia. The growth of towns raised an imperious demand for Early Objects housing accommodation, and gave the workers in the of Labour building trades their opportunity to secure better con- Organization. ditions. Their wages were high for several years, and { Shorter their first demand was for limitation of working hours. Hours. In 1855 the building trades of New South Wales secured their eight hours' day — really a forty-eight hours' week — and next year the Victorian stonemasons obtained it. The annual eight-hour celebration was inaugurated in 1871, in New South Wales, but it was not till 1896, when West Australia came into line, that the eight-hour principle was fully established throughout the Commonwealth, ii. Wages. As first wages were high, but after 1861 they began to fall, and the wages question becomes prominent in the next decade. A third question that came up was the {{{ Coloured supremacy of white labour, closely connected with Labour. shorter hours and higher wages. A large number of Chinese had come into the country, and their undercutting of wages aroused much agitation against their employ- jy. Solidarity. ment. A fourth point that emerges is the growing sense of common interest among all the Trade Unions, as shown in the attempts to create a central Trades Union, In 1871 was formed the first permanent Trades Council, but the first Trade Union Congress was held in Sydney in 1879, the next being held in Melbourne five years later. The fifth congress, held in Brisbane in 1888, revealed the emergence of Socialism into the Labour Movement, and endorsed the principle of a definite electoral programme, thougli a distinctive political platform for Labour was only formulated two years later by the Australian Labour Federation in Queensland. 168 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR Legal Recognition. Political Agitation. But before a political agitation could be effectively organized, Trade Unions had to gain a legal status. For over twenty years the Trade Unions in Australia were subject to the English laws of 1824-5. The first Act to give a legal status to Trade Unions in Australia was passed in 1876 by the State Parliament of South Australia, and followed the English Act of 1871. Trade Unions were fully legalized in 1881 in New South Wales, three years later in Victoria, in 1886 in Queensland, 1889 in Tasmania, and in 1902 in West Australia. These Acts, with the exception of the South Australian Act, followed the English legislation of 1871 to 1876. Trade Unions having received legal recognition, the way was now opened for organized political action The impulse to enter the political arena was derived, partly from the spread of socialistic ideas, and partly from the strike experiences of the early nineties. As early as 1875 a representative had been elected, mainly on the Trade Union vote, to the New South Wales Parlia- ment. The first formulation of an electoral programme appeared in Queensland in 1890. Next year (1891) the New South Wales Labour League was formed, and also the Progressive Political League in Victoria. Twenty- nine members were returned on the Party's platform in New South Wales, but they did not yet form a separate and solid political party. The trade depression in the early nineties was also a period of many strikes, which mostly failed; and very bitter feeling was aroused. The government interfered to crush the strikes, and thereby supplied the stimulus to political organization. In 1894-5 the question of Labour solidarity was thrashed out and Labour became an organized force in politics. Since then Labour has advanced from the Opposition to the Treasury benches, and Labour ministries have held office in the Commonwealth, and in every State but one. They have already left their mark on the statute books, though some of the legislation was actually enacted by the other party. THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 169 The earlier attempts to form a central organization Commonwealth for Labour throughout the Commonwealth were failures, Federation. but the emergence of the Commonwealth into actual fact in 1900 removed many obstacles, though it was not until 1913 that the Labour Federation of Australasia was successfully launched and the common interest repre- sented in a centralized constitution. It is convenient to arrange the history of the Labour Summary Movement in four main periods. The first period covers Four Periods. the twenty years 1851 to 1871, which saw the gold rush ^- 1851-1871. and the ensuing reaction, the establishment of industries on a capitalistic basis, the formation of unions in most trades, the securing of an eight hours' day, and the growth of a sense of solidarity. Wages questions come into prominence, but the actual rates go up and down with the fluctuations in trade, and no consistent policy is traceable in their settlernent. The next twenty years, 1871 to 1890, form a period in ji 1871-1890. which trade and industry steadily expand, wages rise and prices fall, and Trade Unionism grows very rapidly. The unions secure legal recognition, the sense of solidarity increases and congresses are held, but attempts at feder- ation mostly fail. The ten years between 1890 and 1900 are marked by a m 1890-1900. serious trade depression and strikes on a large scale that quickened the political evolution of the Labour Party, receiving impulses from socialist propaganda. The new unionism began to assert itself in the organ- ization of the "labourers," giving scope for the begin- nings of industrial as against craft unionism. The Australian Workers' Union was organized in 1894. Labour became an organized political force. The fourth period begins with the establishment of iv. 1900 to the the Commonwealth which promoted a corresponding Present Day. solidarity in trade unionism. This period has seen the legislative enactment of industrial arbitration, of wages boards, of preference to trade unionists, and the regime of Labour Governments in State and Commonwealth. 170 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR The Achievements of Organised Labour. The principle of settling industrial difficulties and dis- putes by constitutional methods has been on trial, and solid results have been claimed for it. In the last year or two, especially during the war, ideas strongly resembling Syndicalism have been pushing themselves to the front, and their advocates seem to have secured at least a temporary control of a good deal of the Labour organ- ization. Former leaders have been expelled and the present leaders seem to hold an uneasy tenure. The new tendency seems to aim at superseding political by economic action, as being a nearer road to the control of capital — that is, the agents of production — by the "workers." The Labour Movement is no longer purely defensive, to secure the position of the wage-earner, but is organizing to fight the "capitalists" for the control of capital. Not security, but domination, is the apparent objective of the new movement. This is no new thing in history. There are many instances of an oppressed class or nation struggling first for a bare independence, then for a comfortable security, and finally going forth conquering and to conquer. The achievements of organized Labour in Australia amount practically to the legal recognition and enforce- ment of collective bargaining between Labour and Capital. During the last half century organized Labour has set before itself three main objects, to abolish sweat- ing, to secure a living wage, to prevent and settle industrial disputes by constitutional means and thereby ensure certainty and continuity of employment in cir- cumstances favourable to the well-being of the wage- earner. The first and second of these objects have been largely attained. Sweating has almost disappeared, and the principle of the "living wage" has been generally recog- nized and embodied in legislation. The third object has not been attained. The number of disputes has actually increased and shows no signs of becoming less. It has been claimed, however, that a still larger number of possible disputes have been prevented, and that many THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 171 successive Disappoint- ments. others have been settled without recourse to a strike. It is also asserted that of the disputes that have actually- taken place, only one quarter arise from demands for increased wages. The other three quarters mainly arise from "the employment of particular classes or persons," "demarcation," in fact, or are questions as to "working conditions," especially attempts at "speeding up." To sum up, nominal wages have increased, conditions of employment have improved, organization has been widely extended and greatly strengthened, and industrial is gaining at the expense of craft unionism. On the other hand the phenomena of industrial strife have increased. The Labour Problem is as acute as ever. The wage- earners are still dissatisfied. The history of the Labour Movement in Australia Influence of brings out a fact that bears very directly on the success- ive developments of Labour organization and agitation. At each stage in the history of Labour there have been great hopes and great disappointments. Trade Unionism, Political Propaganda, Socialism and Syndicalism, have all been born of disappointment. Ideas have been em- bodied in schemes, schemes have been put into policy. Policy has been proclaimed in agitation, and practised in various ways, and still the new era has not dawned. The problems of poverty have not been solved. The wage-earner to-day is much better off than the wage- earner of a century ago, but he still suffers from un- certainty of employment, he still lives too near the margin of subsistence, he is still dependent upon an employer. The Labour Movement is passing from the struggle against exploitation to the struggle for economic independence. The great contrasts between rich and poor are still obvious, and more galling than ever. Wages have gone up, but prices have also gone up. Labour has achieved very substantial progress but that has whetted its appetite for more. The sense of disappointment abides, and predisposes the main body to follow the impatient spirits who want to force the pace 172 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR of progress. There is a mass of discontent which con- stitutes the Social Problem of to-day and which demands the attention not only of the social student but of the active Churchman. While the war went on the crisis was delayed, but the end of strife and the prospect of peace have combined with the reaction from the war strain to force matters to a crisis more acute than ever. The Russian revolutionary fever is proving highly contagious, and its rapid spread is favoured by the sense of dis- appointment. The importance of this sense of disappointment can hardly be measured. It is mainly responsible for the three broad phases of the Labour Movement, Trade Unionism, Socialism, and Syndicalism. The story of the first phase has now been told and the other two call for attention. Trade Unionism, the first phase of the Labour Movement, has won great victories and is a great power in the land, but it has not fulfilled all that was expected of it, and other ideas and schemes have been propounded. 2. Socialism. The repeal of the Combination Laws in 1824-5, and the Parliamentary Reform of 1832, raised hopes which were not fulfilled. The Factory Laws were passed, but so was the Poor Law Reform which pressed very severely upon people who had been enervated by pauperdom and were suddenly thrown upon their own resources, which were very small. Moreover, the taste for reform had aroused an appetite for more. The story of the Chartist agitation is told in every English history, but Socialism, which was closely interwoven with it, is hardly mentioned, though the failure of Chartism gave a great opening to Marxian Socialism. Many Chartists came out to Australia. Socialism, in England, was born of disappointment, first, with the economic results of Trade Union activity, which for half a century had beat in vain against the stone wall of capitalistic interests; and, secondly, with the results of the over-valued political reforms. Parlia- THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 173 mentary reform had done something for the country, but very little for the wage-earner. The failure ot Chartism aggravated the sense of disappointment, and a hearing was obtained for another type of propaganda. The aim of Socialism was to place the control of the i. Aim of instruments of production in the hands of a fully demo- Socialism. cratic government so that the nation would become a huge co-operative society. Its economic and social, as well as its political interests, would be entirely in the hands of the State, to be administered by the represent- atives of the whole body for the benefit of the whole body. Competition would be eliminated from business, sweating abolished, and every other form of exploitation prohibited or prevented. National would supersede private interests. Men would not only get what they earned, they would have to earn what they got. The equal dignity of all kinds of honest labour would be asserted. Men would meet on the footing of brothers, not of bargainers; the good of all rather than the gain of one would be the leading motive, and society as a whole would be reconstructed on principles of justice and of fair dealing. There would still be inequalities but they would be complementary rather than competi- tive, incidental to the organization of the body economic rather than indicative of social inferiority. The glaring contrasts between fat luxury and lean poverty would be reduced to a minimum. Such were the leading ideas of socialism so far as it is possible to summarize so variegated and heterogeneous a movement. It is im- possible in these lectures to describe all its varieties. Some Socialists were content to construct Utopias, some tried experiments in communism, others preached a programme of revolution, others again relied on evolution and the education of public opinion. But all Socialists agreed in their dissatisfaction with things as they were, and all were filled with disapppointment at the rate of progress towards their ideal. They all felt that the good already done, and the benefits already 174 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR secured, were only palliatives and not remedies. Robert Owen contributed the idea of improving material environ- ii. Marxianism. mtnt as the remedy for social ills. But Karl Marx went further. He is the man who has done most to shape the Socialist Movement as it exists to-day among the wage-earners. By his analysis of history, his condemn- ation of the practical doctrines of the classical economists, whose theory he nevertheless accepted, his stress on the economic factor in history, his investi- gation of the phenomena of capitalism, and his inference that capitalism was the enemy of the wage-earner, his trumpet call to the wage-earners, "Proletarians unite," added to the force of his remarkable personality and his self-sacrificing efforts, he has left a deep mark upon the Labour Movement, and many of the doctrines of modern labour agitators and revolutionary socialists are drawn from him, such as "the right to the whole produce of labour," based upon his peculiar theory of surplus value. To sum up, it was Karl Marx who was mainly respons- ible for stimulating among the workers a desire to get rid of capitalism. He also put before them a definite programme of social reconstruction upon an economic basis. Marx was not the first to do this, but he has exercised the most potent influence in this direction. It is from him that the wage-earners have derived the main stock of their ideas, and he is the real father of socialism as it appears to the rank and file of the Labour Movement. In his scheme the economic interest is para- mount, and the workers as a whole must combine to alter the methods of wealth distribution. The political interest has been made subservient to the economic interest, and the transition is mainly due to his teaching. The old trade unions, however, did not welcome social- ism. The mistake of identifying Socialism with Trade Unionism has already been pointed out. Socialism is much wider than the Labour Movement, though it is Labour that has taken most kindly to it, having most to Socialism wider than the Labour Movement. THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 175 gain thereby. Many leading socialist thinkers and writers have not been wage-earners at all, but are educated social idealists, like the members of the Fabian Society. Socialists of this sort are, however, very rare in Australia. Socialism is mainly concerned with the whole community, and as such has appealed to men like Kingsley, Maurice, and William Morris. The Christian Social Union has included some of the most active minds in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Bishop Westcott exercised a powerful influence in awakening the social conscience and the social sympathies of the church people, and he is not the only bishop who has taken this line. The Socialist Movement has included men of all classes. Trade Unionism, on the contrary, is a class movement, and has been mainly concerned with the particular interests of particular groups. The new Unionism; however, has absorbed a good deal of social- ism, and it was when the Trade Union Congresses began to meet that the socialist principles got their first chance of being heard and accepted. Wage-earners form the bulk of the members of Socialist organizations. There are two broad divisions, however, among social- ists. There are those who prefer to work through political reforms and are content to take a little at a time, and there are those who aim at an immediate and wholesale revolution. The evolutionary socialists gave rise to the Labour Party which was formed to utilize democratic institutions in order to effect economic changes in favour of the wage earners. But this method is too slow for some and so we arrive at the' third phase of the Labour Movement, known as Syndicalism. Now, Syndicalism is essentially an economic move- 3. Syndicalism. ment, strongly anti-political, and aims at destroying the present constitution of society by "direct action" through the "general strike," in the hope of establishing an industrial democracy unhampered by nationalist ideas or political institutions. It claims to be the short cut to the workers' millennium. N 176 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR Syndicalism, like Socialism, is the product of dis- appointment. The wage-earners have hoped much at one time and another from the granting of the vote, the growth of orthodox trade unionism, the Co-operative movement, the Parliamentary Labour Party, and Indust- rial Arbitration, but their often extravagant expectations have not been fulfilled. The sense of disappointment explains the origin of all sorts of schemes, good and bad, wild and reasonable, for social reconstruction, but it also yields a measure of the opportunity that lies before the Christian Church. Jnter- Before passing on to the particular history ot nationalism. Syndicalism, there is one feature of the Labour Move- ment that must be noticed as it bears on that history. The class-consciousness of wage-earners is not limited to one country or nation. Since the days of Karl Marx's proclamation, "Proletarians of all lands unite," the labour movement has been, to a fluctuating degree, of an international character. The class war so strongly urged by certain extreme sections cuts across national boundaries. Class consciousness is to be organized on a world-wide scale, and is to overwhelm and obliterate national sentiment. Nationality is regarded as the ally of Capitalism. Syndicalist and Bolshevik propaganda aim at breaking up all forms of political organization and reorganizing society as a purely economic concern. The agitation is not limited to any one country. The movement is connected by international organization, and its agents are cosmo- politan in their disregard of racial distinctions, except that of colour. It is remarkable that for all its boast of internationalism the social revolutionary move- ment confines its efforts to the white races and does not admit the coloured races into its counsels or its control. Thus its internationalism is greatly limited. The war, also, has proved that nationality is a living force, for it has stirred up a great revival of national sentiment, even among the wage-earners. Yet it has also increased the international feeling among the wage-earners, as seen THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 177 in the prominence of economic questions at the Peace Conference, and the efforts of organized Labour to be heard at that Conference. Those syndicalists were wrong who ignored national sentiment, as was seen in France in the early days of the war when the whole nation answered the call of patriotism. The German Labour Party also showed itself more nationalist than international, and has brought discredit upon itself by its part in the war. Still, the inevitable reaction from the war fever, and the difficulties inseparable from the demobilizing of enorm- ous numbers, together with the trade depression that follows on a great war, all combine to create a frame of mind among the wage-earners that renders them sus- ceptible to anti-nationalist ideas and strongly inclined to serve their own immediate self-interests. Throughout history great wars have been followed by insurrectionary outbreaks among the proletariat. Hence the opportunity for syndicalism and the need for studying it as a factor in the environment of the plain man. Strictly speaking, syndicalism is the revolutionary History labour movement in France. It is a product of the of Syndicalism peculiar political and social conditions of that bureau- cratic republic, wherein revolutionary ferment is chronic, especially in the industrial districts.. A French writer defines Syndicalism as "the doctrine which consists in grouping the workers according to their occupations,, or trade unions, organizing by them a purely class move- ment, achieving by that organization immediate improve- ments in the conditions of work, and aiming at the actual suppression of the wage system." The name. Syndicalism, is taken from the French word for a trade union, "Syndicat." It is a curious fact that the govern- ments of the French Revolution passed laws which practically made trade unions illegal. It was not till 1884 that Syndicats were really legalized, and their free- dom is not yet complete. They are carefully watched by the police. Conscription, also, is a serious burden upon the workers, but one they have bravely and cheerfully 178 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR Principles and Methods. i. General Programme. borne during the war. Besides, they have suffered in France more, and more bitter disappointments than In other countries. The Syndicalist movement grew up in France during the years 1892 to 1900, but it has spread to other countries. It has taken root in Italy and Spain and in the United States of America. In the United States has been formed the Industrial Workers of the World, the notorious I.W.W., which began as Socialistic Trade Unionism, but is now in the hands of American Revolutionary Syndicalists. What Syndicalism may mean if it succeeds may be seen from the deeds of the Bolsheviks in Russia, and the effects of their propaganda in other countries. Thus Syndicalism has become an international movement. It has tried to establish itself in England and Australia, but without much success, though it has made a great deal of fuss and given a good deal of trouble to the authorities. The ideas of the movement are fermenting among the more impulsive minds of the Trade Unions, and greatly hampered the efficient organization of the country for prosecuting the war. The war offered the Syndicalists a great chance, but a greater chance is before them now that the war seems to be near its end. It is the period of settlement after the war that is most dangerous to domestic peace and security. Only a mere summary of the principles and methods of Syndicalism can be presented, but they are sufficiently clear cut to warrant such a presentation. Syndicalism stands for the general solidarity of the wage-earners as against the Capitalistic system. Its two watchwords of policy are, "Direct Action," and, "The General Strike." The chief methods of "Direct Action" are, (a) the Strike; (b) the Boycott; (c) the Trade Union Label; and (d) Sabotage, which means slow or bad work, or even the spoiling of materials and products on the principle, "Bad work for bad pay." All these methods are, however, subservient to the "General Strike," the THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 179 grand climax that is to inaugurate the Syndicalist regime by breaking the State, which is regarded as the political organ of Capitalism. There are two groups of Syndicalist writers, the philo- ii. Writers. sophical and the practical. Of the philosophical Georges Sorel is the most conspicuous. He conceives Syndicalism, a. Philo- incorrectly, as Neo-Marxism. He owes much more to sophical. the philosophy of Bergson, more particularly to the ideas set forth in Bergson's "Creative Evolution." This is seen in the doctrine of Sorel that the "General Strike" is (1) a Social Myth; (3) the instigator of the class war; and (3) a great moral force binding the workers together by a dominating sense of possibilities in their united action. Democracy, he says, is the regime of the professional politician and must be overthrown. His Syndicalism is pessimistic in its basis but respects religion. In fact he uses the progress of early Christianity in the Roman Empire to point his moral. The Christian ideal of the Kingdom of Heaven, he asserts, is a "social myth," for it is never realized in full, and every stage of progress towards its fulfilment opens out new possibilities. Thus, even if that Kingdom be never realized at all, it presents an ideal that inspires believers to continuous effort, and thus draws them onwards in progressive develop- ment to a better state of things. So, too, the "General Strike" may never actually take place, but the idea works powerfully among the wage-earners, and inspires them with a sense of their real power of combined action; in a word, it keeps things moving in the direction of improve- ment. It prevents Labour from becoming static, and accordingly from becoming self-satisfied and deaf to the call of progressive achievement. Pouget and Pataud have attempted to set out a pro- b. Practical. gramme in "How we shall bring about the Revolution." The "General Strike" is to paralyze industry and com- merce. The workers, already organized in their trade groups, are to take over the control of business from the employing class. Political institutions are to be 180 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR iii. The Reconstructed Society. Criticism. i. False Idea of Social Reco,nstruction. ii. "Direct Action" too destructive. abolished, or to cease through neglect. Bolshevik deeds and propaganda supply illustrations of this programme. Other Syndicalists are ready to use Parliamentary action but prefer to rely upon industrial agitation by the workers, who must unite to fight for emancipation, and must avoid pledging themselves to specific political action. This is one idea at the back of the movement towards one big union, and it may explain recent events in the Australian Labour Party. In the Syndicalist Millennium there will be no need for State or Parliament, Capitalism or Patriotism. Society is to be reconstructed around the Syndicat, or Trade union — the cell of the body — a group of producers owning property collectively. Each locality will have its industrial committee, which will control all the pro- cesses of production and distribution. The central committee will link all these local bodies together, and control wider activities, such as railways and the post office, but it is to be dependent on the local committees. Industrial function is to be supreme in government and public life. Such a system lays itself open to severe and just critic- ism at many points. Syndicalists forget that society cannot be permanently reconstructed by methods of industrial barbarism. In fact, wholesale reconstruction is impossible at one fell swoop. A new social order is not made to order, like a new suit of clothes. Society is a growth, and not a manufacture. To change society it is necessary to change the habits of its members. A change of habits can only be wrought by a change of character, and that involves a change of will and purpose in life. Syndical- ists have ignored the human and personal factor which ultimately decides the direction of social change. Any attempt to organize "Direct Action" on a large scale would meet with enormous resistance. There is a strong feeling against its methods among Trade Unionists, It is contrary to their best traditions, and THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 181 they realize it would defeat its purpose. Syndicalists have underestimated the moral, intellectual and financial re- sources against them if they adopt "Direct Action." The majority of people, including wage-earners, set great store upon order and security. There would be a strong reaction against an attempt at general industrial disorder. The wage-earner is not such a fool as to throw away what he has got in order to attempt a wild scheme that begins by taking it away. Though the wage-earners may desire to protect even their hot-heads from outsiders, they will deal with them in their own way. Moreover, modern capitalism is more fully internationalized than Labour, and is better organized and has much larger resources. The long-suffering "general public" have also to be reckoned among those who would rise up against systematic "Direct Action." Thus a large section of the wage-earners, the whole of capitalism, and also that considerable body of ordinary people who value decency and order, would combine to resist methods of industrial barbarism, as the allies combined against Germany. Syndicalism would not really abolish the wage-system, iii. The Wage- The Trade Union would become the employer and thus -S'y.yf^m would invert its functions. The Industrial Committees would have to exercise political functions. No society can exist without government. Organization involves obedi- ence to orders. The workers would be their own masters but the repeated failures of co-operative pro- duction show that they have not yet learned to control one another in business. There must be authority and management in every kind of business. Orders must be given and obeyed. The workers must receive a regular income. The wage-system might be modified, but it would not be abolished. Too much is expected from a one-sided economics, iv. Economic Syndicalism would establish a series of producers' Basis too monopolies. The gas workers would compete with the '^^^''^^• electricity workers. The coal miners would find the oil workers against them. The cotton weavers would want I 183 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR V. What is a Worker? vi. Organised Selfishness again. to check the woollen workers. Syndicalism places undue emphasis on the producer's interest, which is too narrow a basis and would only perpetuate the competitive system. It would repeat the worst mistakes of modern capitalism by trying to crush rival interests. The con- sumer's interest provides a more satisfactory principle of distribution and control, and in this respect Socialism is superior to Syndicalism. Again, Syndicalism limits the idea of production to one particular type. The manual worker is not the only producer. No room is left for the poet, the thinker, the teacher, the artist, and the spiritual leader. Wealth is limited to mean only material necessaries and comforts. After all, "there is no wealth but life." Life is much more than workshop antagonisms. Syndicalism is too destructive and is very inade- quately constructive. It pays no attention to the right use of "wealth." It is not what a man has that matters, but the use he makes of it. Syndicalists make the same mistake as the utilitarian capitalists. They go upon the assumption that the mere increase of material possessions will increase happiness and solve all social problems. Syndicalism bases its appeal on the prospect of an increase of personal gain. It says to the worker, "Get control of the business yourself and then the profits will be yours." Its appeal to class-consciousness exalts a sectional above the general interest. In short, if Syndical- ism were to displace Capitalism it would simply mean that one form of organized selfishness was displaced by another. Something more than organized selfishness is required to reconstruct society with permanent benefit to all its members, vii. Inadequate Finally, Syndicalism does not supply an adequate Scale of motive for life. It concentrates too much attention on l/alues. material comforts. The economic is not the only interest in life. Economics is but a means to an end, and cannot supply a satisfactory object to live for. It is doubtless desirable to improve the material environ- THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 183 merit of the wage-earners, and there is plenty of room for improvement. But it is at least equally important to enlarge their minds in order that they may make the best use of their improved environment. The worth of a man or of a society is decided by character rather than by worldly possessions. Character reveals itself in the use rather than in the possession of wealth. A system that lends itself to such damaging criticism The Truth of might seem unworthy of further consideration. But the Syndicalism. fact that Syndicalism commands the support of so many earnest and disinterested advocates is a sufficient reason for investigating the facts that have given it existence. Syndicalism is plainly a dangerous doctrine in the hands of unscrupulous beasts of prey. It gives a handle to that type of man who wishes to stir up strife and throw everything into confusion in order that he may pick up something for himself. A revolution that gets out of control is the harvest time of the criminal, and the avowed methods of a syndicalist policy give too much scope to the worse elements of society. This is another reason why the truth of Syndicalism should be widely proclaimed. But it is not only the baser sort who advocate Syndical- ism. The worst heresies are evolved from misused facts. At least Syndicalism calls attention to certain facts that might otherwise have escaped attention. It brings to light certain evils that might otherwise have been taken for granted as part of the established order of things. Heretics may call attention to forgotten aspects of truth. Now, Syndicalists have seized two broad facts. First i. Social there is such a thing as social injustice. There is such injustice a thing as the exploitation of the weak by the strong. ^^**'^^■^• The employer who has capital and can wait his time has the advantage over the wage-earner who cannot afford to wait, and he has used his advantage to his own profit at the expense of the wage-earner. This is one fact which has helped to account for low wages in the 184 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR past. Wages, it was asserted, were determined by economic law, and the employer sheltered himself under the plea of economic necessity. This was the practice of the. iron law of wages. But it was a fallacy. Yet the plea of economic necessity is still asserted, and the workers, remembering the use made of it, feel them- selves treated merely as profit-earning machines, to be worked as hard as possible, for the least possible cost. This is the sting of Capitalism; the wage-earner is treated, not as a man working for another man, but as a mere unit in an organization, an entry in a book, a cog in a machine. The history of the Labour Movement reeks of exploitation. Trade Unions were formed to give the worker a better chance in bargaining with hi* employer. Although conditions have greatly improved, the memory of the bad old days is still keen and bitter and accounts for the suspicion of the wage-earner that his employer is merely trying to get the better of him. The suspicion was, and is, mutual; the employer suspects the wage-earner of slackness, the wage-earner suspects the employer of hardness. And there has been ample ground for both kinds of suspicion. Still, the greater responsibility must lie on the one who had the greater power to make conditions better, and employers are now reaping the bitter fruit of past injustice. The sins of the fathers are being visited upon the children. It is not only curses that come home to roost, ii. Improve- The second great truth laid hold of by the Syndical- ments due to ists is that the working classes can ensure justice only organised by their own independent efforts. Modern improvements Waa^e-earners ^^ labour conditions have rarely come to pass through the kindness and consideration of employers. The care of the few brings out the neglect of the many. Improve- ments have been fought for and squeezed out of them by hard pressure from Trade Unions. The efforts of great Christian philanthropists like Lord Shaftesbury must not be forgotten, neither must the insults he endured from the employing class. In Australia, at any THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 185 rate, what the workers have won they have gained by their own organized efforts, and it is interesting to note the change in the attitude of educated opinion towards Trade Unionism. At the present moment the British Government is supporting the officials of the Trade Unions against the more impatient members who are breaking loose from the authority of their own executives. In Australia, Trade Union action on con- stitutional lines is not only legally recognized and en- forced, but may count on a measure of general public favour. This is a solid achievement for organized Labour. These, then, are two great facts that stand out in the course of modern economic history, namely, that social injustice has existed and has not been entirely remedied, and that progress has been achieved mainly by the united efforts of the workers themselves. But Syndicalism not only reveals facts of history, it Syndicalism points to present conditions and declares them unsatis- ^^ ^. Condem- factory. It is a call to study the economics of distri- ^IZ^-Jl,* ^ bution, and not only of production. It is not enough Social Order. to ensure that the natural resources of a country shall be so fully developed that the greatest possible amount of wealth is produced. There must be a fair distribution of that wealth. This is a matter of social arrange- ments which are well within the scope of human effort and call for the application of moral principles. It is a scriptural principle that the labourer is worthy of his hire. Social injustice is no new thing. It is fiercely denounced by the prophets of the Old Testament who clearly enunciate the principles of social justice. The teaching of the New Testament is equally clear as to the way in which men should treat one another, and as to the relation of the individual to the society in which he lives. It is the business of the Church to apply that teaching to the social conditions that exist to-day. But those conditions must be known and understood if the teaching is to be effective, and chief among them is the 186 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR Criticism of the Labour Movement. i. Economic Ignorance. Labour Movement, which includes so large a proportion of the plain men who are out of touch with the church. It will be convenient therefore to summarize at this point the outstanding features of the Labour Movement, including those which call for criticism, albeit with friendly intent, and those which call for commendation, as the positive contributions of Labour to the Social Ideal. The Labour Movement has been going long enough to furnish material for an estimate of its failures and of its successes, and to indicate thereby its general tendency. A good deal of criticism has been directed upon the Capitalistic System, in fact the history of the Labour Movement is the severest criticism that could be passed upon Capitalism. A very modest equipment of historic insight and^human sympathy is sufficient to enable an honest student of modern history to feel that Labour has solid ground of complaint against Capital. But although Labour has borne the greater burden of economic disadvantage, that fact must not silence critic- ism, though it may make the critic more tender in his diagnosis because he is dealing with the weaker party. Nay rather, he will be the more careful to tell the truth as he sees it, as the crowning expression of his personal sympathy. As the Syndicalist propaganda has already been discussed the criticism that now follows will be directed towards Trade Unionism, the characteristic ex- pression of the Labour Movement. The worker has been hampered by economic ignor- ance. The use of the old political economy as a weapon against him has undoubtedly discredited a science which seemed to serve only that purpose. There is a wide- spread distrust of economic science among the wage- earners, which is only gradually being overcome. They are finding out that economic laws are not inevitable sequences of fact, but are only approximate statements of tendencies arising from human motives that can be measured by a money price. THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 187 The economic ignorance of the wage-earner has mani- fested itself in many ways, (a) He has failed to dis- tinguish between Capital and Capitalists, between the necessary thing, and the persons who control it. He has failed to realize that it is worse than useless to try to destroy Capital, that his right method is to try to control it, and to do this he must learn the why and wherefore and how of Capital, he must study the modem science of economics with its more frequent use of the inductive method, that is, reasoning from observed facts, (b) The wage-earner has accordingly failed to appreciate the part played in the production of wealth by the organizer of Capital, and has consequently failed to distinguish the economic functions of the Capitalist from particular troubles with a particular employer. This lesson is writ large in the story of Productive Co-operation. Large scale enterprise holds the field in most departments of industry and commerce. The building up and manage- ment of a big concern demand a considerable degree of efiPort and skill. This kind of ability is not plentiful and it commands a high price, which is its market value. The wage-earner thinks the employer is getting too much and a natural jealousy arises. If the employer is tactless, or is hard and grasping, the personal feeling is intensified into antagonism against Capitalism in general (c) Hence there has been too much frontal attack on Capitalists. Frontal attacks are the most risky and expensive forms of warfare. The Labour Move- ment in Australia would have been in a far better position if it had paid more attention to co-operation and thereby built up its own stock of capital The Co-op- erative Movement in England has exercised an immense educative influence as an object lesson to the workers in the methods and principles of business organization, particularly in the control of Capital (d) The spreading of work and the limitation of out- put have helped to defeat the economy of increased wages. Wealth cannot be distributed until it is 188 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR ii. Organiza- tion of the Labour "Market." iii. Economic Materialism. produced. Increase of efficiency is the surest road to an increase of real wages, and this involves problems of distribution. Trade Unionism has not tackled the problem of the grading of labour, what may be termed the organization of the labour market. To some extent this has been done incidentally by Craft Unionism, but not in any systematic or comprehensive manner. There has been too much rule of thumb about it, and the vicious system of spreading work — "ca'canny" — has had too much play. Every Trade Union should manage its own labour exchange, and link it up with a central bureau of employ- ment. Unionism has exerted an invaluable educative influ- ence upon the wage-earner. It has given scope for his personality to develop and express itself, it has given him a better footing in industry and society, and it has taught him the power and the method of self-organi- zation. The wage-earner is more of a man because of his trade union. Granting all this, it is still true that Unionism has not been as fully educative as it might have been. Its educational influence has been indirect. Trade Unionism ought to have had its own educational policy on the lines of the Co-operative Movement in England. The Bradford Co-operative Society had its educational department and conducted a great variety of ' classes. The Workers' Educational Association has already done something to remedy this lack of an educational policy, but organized Labour ought to welcome and use its efforts much more extensively. If Trade Unionism had evolved an educational policy like that of the Workers* Educational Association, the Labour Movement would not have been so apparently filled with economic materialism. Labour would have realized more clearly that there are other things in life than the getting and spending of money, and living a materially comfortable life. The Capitalist has been equally dominated by economic materialism, and the THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 189 Labour Movement has been content to follow his bad example, and to value business only by what it brings in in cash. Economic materialism has almost choked the idealism of the Labour Movement. Trade Unionism in Australia has not yet learned how iv. The to use political power for the benefit of the whole com- Professional munity. Many excellent laws have been passed by ^^^ ^^^ "Spoils Labour Governments, but they have not delivered the System." country from the professional politician who looks upon politics as a form of money-making; nay, rather, they have given greater scope to political adventurers and to sectional interests. This arises largely, but not entirely, from the failure of unionism to frame and pursue a wide educational policy of its own. The qualities that make for succesful party leadership are not identical with the qualifications that are demanded of the statesman. A clever party manager may keep his party in power, but he may be a very incompetent ruler of the nation, and a blind guide of national policy. Labour has been too busy making up for its former lack of opportunities and getting a share of the spoils. It has not cured the defects of party government, but so far has made them rather worse. Finally, trade unionism has failed to hold up v. Restricted a wide social vision including the whole of society. It Social Vision. is not alone in this failure. Capitalism has had its chance, and has missed it. Both Labour and Capital have been too exclusively sectional in aim and policy. Both have concentrated effort on immediate gain rather than on the permanent benefit of the whole community. Labour has been trying to conquer capital with its own weapons. Yet the Labour Movement does contain the elements Positive of a comprehensive social vision, and does possess ^r^^J'^^jf"^ many of the components of a policy towards it, but no ^^^ Sodal one has yet arisen to weld them together and to present /^^o/. them in their wholeness. Labour has much to bring to the building up of a better state of society. 190 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR i. Sense of Solidarity. ii. Altruism. iii. Dignity of Labour. There is in the Labour Movement a stronger sense of solidarity than in any other class to-day, as seen in the vigour and extent of its organization. Still, the solidarity of Labour, while splendid in many respects, is too partial. There is too much class about it. It is impossible to build up society on class v^rarfare. The solidarity must be enlarged to include all classes There are several roads which would lead to this inclusive solidarity. (a) The economic road is the co-operative organization of trade and industry by which alone the conflicting claims of employer and wage-earner, of producer and consumer, can be harmonized. The Co-operative Movement originated in the ranks ot Labour and the vast majority of its members are wage- earners, (b) The educational road has already been pointed out. If Labour wishes to share in the control and management of society, then it must educate itself up to its aim. (c) The spiritual road is provided by the Christian Church. The only comprehensive solidarity that is also permanent is fellowship in faith and obedience, in love and service, to God. The history of Labour furnishes noble examples of loyalty and readiness to self-sacrifice on behalf of a common cause. The Labour Movement was made by the men and women who suffered for its sake. The idealism of the Movement breaks through the crust ot Materialism from time to time, and it has greatly strengthened the feeling of brotherhood among the peoples of the world. Modern business must find more scope for the altruistic virtues, and the spiritual values they imply, if industrial peace is to be established. The dignity of honest labour and its claim to a sufficient reward and an honourable status in society must be recognized if the principle of brotherhood is to find expression in fact as well as in word. The private is as much a member of the army as is the commander- in-chief. The great generals have owed much of their power to their sense of comradeship. The Labour Move- THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 191 ment is full of the spirit of comradeship, and it ought to carry that spirit into all regions of social organi- zation and intercourse. After all, Labour and Capital are dependent on one another, and this fact ought to bring them together. Dependence should be treated, not as an occasion for exploitation, or as a ground ot contempt, or a mark of inferiority, but as a call to service, an occasion for comradeship, and a ground for mutual respect. Labour has claimed proper recognition, not as an act iv. Need of of charity, but as an act of justice. This principle Social Justice. follows as a corollary from the dignity of labour, and it asserts that men should get what they earn — should not be exploited — and should earn what they get — should do a fair day's work. No society can afford to maintain a brood of parasites, whether they be idle rich or idle poor. Labour has justified its demand for a 'Tiving wage." v. Economy This involves more than bare justice, it involves the of a decent whole conception of man as a human being worth caring ^^^(^sistence. for; "a man's a man for a' that." Labour has called attention to the enormous economic waste involved by keeping any part of the population below the level of a decent subsistence; to the fact also that poverty is a preventable evil and is due to social conditions as much as to individual laziness and vice; to the further fact that to pay insufficient wages is not merely economic waste, but a crime against humanit3^ Exploitation may fill the pockets of certain individuals, but it is always wasteful from the point of view of society, and it is also criminal from the point of view of humanity. It is the curse of slavery over again. Both exploiter and exploited are the worse for it. This all leads up to the fact that the Labour Move- vi. The Call of ment is at bottom a demand for the expression of Humanity. personality. Modern business has been organized and developed on such a scale as to reduce the personal factor almost to nothing, so far as the wage-earners are 192 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR Church and Labour. i. The religious Aspect of Labour. a. A Sacred Cause. concerned. But the personal factor is there all the time, however heavily the pressure of business may crush it down, and the Labour Movement has been the counter- pressure that has given it a chance. The worker wants to be treated as a human being and not as a mere money- making machine. The Labour Movement is part of the call of humanity for fulness of life. Here is the point of contact between the Church and Labour. In order to understand its importance some- thing more must be said about the inner meaning of the Labour Movement. The term "Labour" is commonly used to denote the material interests of the wage- earners. "Labour" is one of the great agents of pro- duction, the human factor in the making of wealth. That is its economic aspect. The economic fact of wages gives the social meaning of Labour. The dependence of the wage-earner marks him off as a distinct social class. The lower social status commonly assigned to Labour is an important factor in the social problem, as it helps to provoke the class war. The political aspect of Labour has already been described. But this three- fold aspect does not complete the description of the Labour Movement. It is far more than an economic, a social, or a. political phenomenon. There is a fourth aspect of Labour which is often overlooked. A personal recollection of my own may serve to bring it out. I well remember, over twenty years ago, seeing in a street in the heart of Bradford, Yorkshire, the words "Labour Church" painted boldly over the door of a room in a basement. On the notice board were announcements of meetings and subjects of addresses after the style of a place of worship. Whatever many people may say, there is a religious aspect to the Labour Movement, manifested in two ways. First, there are men and women to whom the ideas, objects and group of interests generally included under the term "Labour," serve the purpose of an object of worship, evoking enthusiasm, service, and self-sacrifice in a sacred cause, THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 193 the progress of Labour. This idealism is the real driving force of the Labour Movement, and while it intensifies the difficulty of the Labour Problem to the mere materialist, or the hardened money-maker, it presents to the Christian thinker and worker a point of contact that yields greater hope of healing the constant strife which threatens to break out into open class war, There are men and women who are in the Labour Move- ment for what they can give to it, and not for what they can get out of it, men and women who have made heavy sacrifices, not for personal gain or self-advancement, but for the good of the brotherhood of Labour. Such men and women are the salt of Labour, and though they are a minority they do impart something of their spirit to the majority and lift the efforts of Labour above the attempt to get the most in return for the least possible. The other manifestation of the religious aspect of b. Scope for "Labour" is the answer to the frequent assertion that personal ^ Self- the wage-earner is merely out for a "good time" in this ^^P^^^^^on. world in the way of unlimited self-indulgence in strong drink, gambling, vulgar pleasures, or other less sinful and objectionable enjoyments. These forms of self- indulgence, which are not limited to "Labour," point to the heart of the Labour Problem and bring out its most directly religious aspect, namely, the craving of men's souls for something more than bread to eat, clothes to wear, and games to play or watch, in a word, the craving for a completely satisfied personality. The Labour Movement has served the purpose of giving scope for personal self-expression to many who could find no scope for their personal tastes and endowments in their employments. Modern business is on such a scale that the wage-earner feels he is in the grip of powers that decide his fate without giving him any say in the decision. The organization of Labour helps the wage-earner to feel that he is a man after all, and that he counts for something in society. It also gives him something that will evoke his dormant sense of vocation 194 THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR which receives little or no encouragement in his wage- earning employment. The Trade Union supplies him a sphere of social service, limited, doubtless, to his class or group, but still it is a service that lifts him out ot himself. Personality has to find its outlet somewhere. This explains the tremendous organization of pleasure- seeking in modern civilized life, the restless pursuit of an elusive goal by a mass of unsatisfied personality. Now the cause of Labour, the interests of the wage- earner, the brotherhood of those who find themselves on a lower social level, the legitimate ambition of the bottom dog to lift himself in the world, above all, the revolt of human nature against a personality-destroying system, all constitute a binding force, an inspiration, that almost serves as a substitute for religion because it attempts two purposes that religion is meant to serve, namely, something to live for, and if necessary, suffer and die for, a sufficient end or purpose in life; and, secondly, something that offers scope for the whole of human personality, not merely for the selfish, but also for the altruistic impulses, scope for the satisfaction derived from being and doing something that will help someone else, and that will draw out those tenderer, warmer feelings, the touch of a common humanity, which modern business does so much to kill. In a word, the Labour Movement is religious in so far as it gives room for the play of those personal instincts and impulses that are crushed out in ordinary wage-earning employments. Yet the Trade Unionist, the Socialist, the Syndicalist, the whole Labour Movement, do seem to be striving mainly for the material things of life. That is their expressed purpose. That is what they talk about, and work for, and fight for, and that is why they are always suffering disappointment. But though only a few may be conscious of it, the real thing they are seeking is a full and satisfied life. It is really a problem, the problem, of personality. What am I to be? What am I becoming? What am I to do with my life? The progress of Labour has been very great in the sphere of THE PROGRESS OF LABOUR 195 material environment, but it has only accentuated the craving for something more, it has increased, and not allayed, the sense of dissatisfaction and disappointment. Here is the opportunity of the Church. The words of ii. The the prophet are apt and meet to the occasion. "Ho every Opportunity one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. . . . Where- ^f ^^^^ Church. fore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not?" (Isa. 55, 1-3). The question at issue is a question of personal and social aspiration. Economics cannot answer that question, neither can politics. Only religion can answer it. The real question, then, is, "What sort of life is that which is most worth living?" There is but one satis- factory answer to that question. It is given by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." He also said, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" But it is more than a personal, it is a social question. What is the ideal state of society in which man may find his true home, full scope for his personal development, full satisfaction for his personal energy? The answer is the Kingdom of Heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven — that is, the true destiny of man is that state of society in which the will of God is fully obeyed. This is no imaginary Utopia, it is a present fact. The Kingdom of God is here and now, but it is far from being fulfilled because men will not enter into it. They are making the Great Refusal. The Great Surrender is the way into the Kingdom. "He that willeth to do His will shall know of the doctrine." The Church must present the claims of God, the appeal and the power of the Cross, and the hope of eternal life, in such terms that Labour, as well as Capital, may realize the narrow limits of their boasted progress, and may enter into that Kingdom whose coming is the only guarantee of permanent peace and harmony in society, the only safeguard against continued disappointments. Man's necessity is God's opportunity. Lecture V A STUDY IN PERSONALITY THE PLAIN MAN IN HIS ENVIRONMENT Difficulty of Gauging Personality. The general course of history has been studied in order to gain a conception of the social environment of the plain man. The next thing is to study the plain man as he moves in this environment in order to gauge its re- action upon his personality, and to get at the content of his mind. The difficulty of describing an "average" man has already been faced in the first lecture. Yet there are certain facts available which will help the effort to enter more fully into the plain man's mind, and will enable us in some measure to put ourselves in his place. Nothing is so untrue as a general statement, and those statements are farthest from the truth which attempt to sum up the characters, motives and tendencies of human beings. History is not yet finished, it is still going on, and its lessons are not complete. Man also is a free agent, and this fact introduces the element of contingency which seems inseparable from personality. Accurate prophecy is a privilege reserved for fatalists. A reasonable degree of probability is the most that is possible in forecasting the turn and play of events, or the actions of a particular individual. Then there is the element of subjectivity. In no sphere of thought are different minds so likely to arrive at different results from the same data as in the analysis of personal character, or in the ascription of motives. There is nothing more difficult than the attempt to get inside another man, and to see him as he is in himself. Anthropomorphism is not limited to religion. We can describe another man's mind only in terms of our own. 196 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 197 Hence the modern rationalist says that the reason why i. Rationalistic people do not go to church is that they are growing out ^/^^ pf ^^^^ of the need for religion, which may serve a useful pur- ^ "^ ^^^'" pose among child races. It is asserted that ethics and morality are the products of social psychology, a con- venient statement as that science is still in its early in- fancy. It is the habit of rationalists to resort to a new department of scientific investigation as a cave of refuge. Just as applied science has increased the plain man's material comfort and made his life longer and healthier, so a scientific philosophy is to supply him with ideals and motives for his moral life. The Church, so it is said, must no longer appeal to Divine authority, but must rely upon reason working on scientific fact, if she desires to justify her existence. The Church is thus reduced to an ethical society formed to realize the brotherhood of man, and to serve as a school for personality. This is quite true, but it is not all the truth. The Church does serve such purposes as these, but its main and primary purpose is to claim the whole of life for God. Yet the reduced idea of the Church does undoubtedly prevail in the minds of many people. At the opposite extreme are the obscurantists who ii. Obscurantist frankly give up the hope of winning the world for Christ, View. and who regard that Church as a coterie of select persons whose only duty is to sit still and wait for a catastrophic consummation. Such people regard it as a hopeless task to reach the people who do not come to church, though a few may be gathered here and there escaping from a near destruction. The attempt at social reform is not only a waste of time, it is a distraction from the duty of preparing oneself for the end of all things. Thus, while some see in declining church attendance the progress of modern enlightenment, others see in it a sign of the approaching darkness that is to herald the great catastrophe from which only the few shall escape. Neither side does justice to the plain man, because iii. Things as neither deals with all the facts. Both sides underestimate they are. 198 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY the real religion in the world. Both confuse Churchianity with Christianity, and even the Church is still very much alive. Neither modern enlightenment nor the devil is in possession of the world. The plain man does not go to church, but he has not entirely given up religion. Yet he does show, in his half-education, in his super- ficial culture, and in his badly-nourished personality that the prevalent atmosphere of three-fourths of his waking life is "organized selfishness," whose outlook is mainly materialistic. Materialism dominates his education, his home life, and his external social intercourse. Material- ism degrades his recreations and lowers his ideals as re- vealed in the way he spends his leisure and trains his children, if he trains them at all. The business environ- ment of the plain man has already been described. His main object therein is to make money, and in the process he is more of a machine than a human being. It is in the school, in the home, and in external social inter- course that his personality finds its sphere of exercise. 1. The Plain The great majority of the present generation received Man's their education in public elementary schools established Education. ^^^ controlled by the State. Eighty per cent, of the i. The State children of Australia pass through these schools. The School 6'y.y^^m. principle of the system is that a certain minimum of instruction shall be free, compulsory and secular. Details differ in the various State systems, for the control of Education is a State affair, but the principle enunciated holds good everywhere. The chief difference lies in the interpretation attached to the word "secular." In two States it means the banishment of anything religious from the courses of instruction, and from school hours. Religious instruction, however, may be given by denominational instructors on the school premises, out of school hours. In New South Wales, Bible teaching forms part of the regular school course given by the school staff under the direction of the Department of Public Instruction. In addition, recog- nized denominational instructors have the right of entry A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 199 during school hours for an hour a week. This is as much as organized Christianity can expect when all circum- stances are considered. The right of entry in school hours is granted also in Queensland and West Australia. But there are no prayers or hymns or any other jj. Dominance religious exercises at the opening and closing of the of the Secular school. The secular subjects are compulsory, and take interest. up nearly all the time, the whole time in some States. The religious opportunities are valuable, but are also voluntary. Worldly wisdom is treated as a necessity, the knowledge of God, except in New South Wales, is re- garded as a luxury, and even in New South Wales the religious teaching is not on the same footing as the secular. Children may evade the former; they cannot evade the latter. The system of State elementary education has wrought iii. Benefits of much benefit to the country, and to the plain man him- State self. It has raised the general level of culture, that much Education. abused word. At least, illiteracy has become rare. a. Improve- Marriage statistics show that less than one per cent, of ment in Morals the parties are unable to sign their own names. The ^'"^ tuluie. postal system has been enormously extended, and cheap literature multiplied. The level of mental improvement . attained is easily miscalculated, but there has been a de- crease in certain kinds of crime that are mostly committed by the illiterate. The spread even of a rudimentary intellectual equipment has widened the range of interests in life, has increased the points of contact between the Government and the people, and has made easier the working of democratic institutions. A high standard of education may exist under an autocracy. The Roman Empire had its government schools, and ancient munici- palities made some provision for elementary education. Napoleon was the first modern European ruler to organize a national system of education. Modern Germany was characteristically thorough in this department of national organization, and its educational system was a powerful weapon in the hands of the "Kultur" propagandists. The 200 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY Roman Church, which is an ecclesiastical autocracy, spends vast amounts of money and energy on educational institutions. But an efficient national system of educa- tion is a primary necessity for a democratic state, for democratic institutions are simply unworkable unless the voters are decently educated. b. Increased Another result has been the better appreciation of the Efficiency. value of a good education. The demand everywhere is for the trained worker. Many institutions have grown up to meet the demand for preparation for all kinds of business and handicraft. A great deal of what was formerly acquired by long and painful experience is now taught in a short time, and the general level of efficiency has been raised. Not only are the advantages of a specialized training recognized. There is wider recog- nition of the value of a merely general education. Uni- versity graduates are now welcomed into forms of business from which they were previously shut out. A good general education is seen to produce that alertness of mind which finds scope in the higher departments of c. New Doors business organization. Modern industry and commerce of Opportunity demand a higher level of efficiency, and the impulse ^towards this demand has been partly derived from the foundation of a State system of elementary education. A higher starting point has been secured for future development, and new ideas and new methods are more readily adopted. The ideals of progress are more widely accepted. The State schools have opened new doors of oppor- tunity to many to rise in the world. The State system of elementary education has formed the basis of an educa- cational ladder. There is a steady increase in the number of those who pass from the elementary to the secondary schools, and thence to the universities. There is a greater increase in the numbers of those who attend commercial and technical schools, some controlled by the State, others by private persons, but all witnessing to the value set upon education as an equipment for business, A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 201 and as opening the door of opportunity. Education opens not only business, but social doors, and helps to promote social unity and harmony by creating common interests. Finally, the provision by the State of the means of d. Idea of State education has tended to enlarge the idea of what the Competence State can do. The idea that government exists for the ^^''^^9^<*' good of the governed is brought home to every citizen. The State builds schools, trains and employs teachers, provides bursaries, medical inspection and advice, and opportunities for investing savings. It helps to pay the travelling expenses of children who live far from a school, and in some instances sends the teachers round to them. It follows the children into their homes by making laws for the safeguarding and improving of public health. But the State does not stop there. When the child leaves school and goes to work, he finds there are laws regu- lating hours, wages and other conditions of employment, and he is also practically forced to join a Trade Union to gain an economic status. The competence of the State, at any rate its sphere of activity, is being steadily en- larged, and as yet there are no signs of a limit being reached. Whether it is good for the people that the Government should do so much for them is a matter for debate, but there is no doubt that the idea that govern- ment exists for the good of the governed — some might say, of the government — is being more widely interpreted to mean this. The establishment of free, compulsory edu- cation by the State has given a considerable impetus to the tendency to regard the Government as a deiis ex machina to be invoked on every possible occasion. All these facts constitute a solid achievement, but the iv. Defects and account is not all on the credit side. The plain man has Drawbacks gained much from enlarged State activity, but the effect ^^^^^^^^^^^„ on his personality has not been all to the good. The State system of education has serious defects. In some a. Minimum respects it does not go far enough. It attempts too much ^^^"^^ and does too little. It does not really educate. Most 202 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY children leave school before they have learned how to learn. The upper age-limit is too low. Hence while the bare rudiments of the "Three R's" may be retained, the slight information gained in the many other subjects is forgotten in a short time. Very few boys or girls of the age of sixteen can write a few simple sentences of their own composition without blunders in grammar and spell- ing. Their vocabulary is small, they have little taste for wholesome literature, and are unable to read a serious book. It is not the teachers' fault. They are well trained, but their classes are too large in the elementary schools, and the compulsory school period is too short, b. The State The children are not carried far enough into the founda- does not get tion subjects of a sound general education and time is TuU value for ^^sted in playing with an increasing variety of subjects tts educational , . , , , , , * , , r i expenditure. which cannot be properly learned. A great deal of the money spent on State education is wasted because the children leave school too early and the schools are under- staffed. The system is too superficial, the minimum in age and degree is too low, and the pupils are for the most part satisfied that they have learned all they need to know about things in general. The raising of the age-limit v/ould provoke opposition from the many parents who are eager to see their children earning money, and who may need that assistance. There would also be opposition from boys and girls eager on their part to escape from school and parental tutelage by earning and handling money of their own. But a higher standard v/ould enable the State to get better value for the money spent on educational institutions, even if the amount was greatly increased, and it would also be the best remedy for ignorant self-satisfaction, as the scholars would then learn enough at least to realize how much more remained to be learned, and would be better enabled to form their own habits of study. At present the State does enough to relieve the parents of some of their responsibility, but not enough to obtain full value for its expenditure on education. A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 203 The crime statistics confirm this impression. Certain c. Low sense kinds of crime fostered by illiteracy have been reduced, of personal but other kinds of crime show an increase, chiefly petty responsibility. frauds and dishonesty, implying a defective sense of responsibility and a craving for excitement. There is a close connection between this class of crime and the gambling habit that is fostered rather than checked by the dominant economic motive. If the decrease in one kind of crime can be credited to State education, then the in- crease in the other kind may be assigned to some defect in the system. The failure to develop the sense of personal responsibility betrays itself in other ways than by the increase of petty crime. The tendency to look to the Government to do things that the citizens ought to do for themelves has already been pointed out. Demo- cratic privileges are welcomed, but democratic responsi- bilities are shirked. The efficiency of democratic institutions depends upon the degree of civic responsi- bility felt by the citizens. There would be fewer com- plaints about the ways and methods of politicians and party government if the citizens of the State fulfilled their civic responsibilities. The tone of political life is deter- mined by the state of public opinion. Public opinion reveals the general level of educational attainments. A healthy public opinion is a vital necessity in a democratic state. The low sense of personal responsibility that gives room for inefficiency and corruption in political adminis- tration is a reflection on the national system of education. Why is it that so few of the best professional and business men of Australia take their proper place in public life? The increase of petty crime among the rank and file of society is no worse a symptom of moral weakness or depravity than is the desertion of duty in public life by professional and business men. The growth of petty crime may be an instance of d. Too much corruptio optimi pessima, for increasing the power of the Instruction, people for good increases also the power of some of them ^^^^J^^l^^^ for evil. The spread of education gives an opening for 204 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY pernicious literature and the gutterpress, and also in- creases the facilities for gambling. The wider range of interests may include some that are vicious, and others not positively harmful but competing with the claims of citizenship. The aim of education should be, not to pro- vide an indiscriminate variety of interests, but rather to direct attention to those interests that make for noble character and for the welfare of the family and the nation, as against the personal gains of the individual or his self- indulgence. The principles of civics are taught in the State schools, but the pupils are not long enough at school to appreciate the meaning and claims of citizenship. Knowledge receives more attention than character. Education is a wider process than instruction, e. Dangers of The training of character is inevitably defective in a Secularity. system which does not give religion its proper place. (1) Religious Sectarian rivalries create the main problem of religious factors education in State schools. The New South Wales sys- depreciated. ^^^ affords the best facilities at present available in Aus- tralia, and those facilities are not used to the full. The Church of England makes the most use of them at present, but her efforts are far short of her possibilities. (2) Dominance But even if the opportunities for religious instruction of Economic were completely used, the atmosphere of the State n erest. schools would still be predominantly secular because the economic interest is dominant. The current view of edu- cation is that those subjects must be taught which will be of most use in the making of money. This tendency comes out most clearly in the secondary schools and the universities which give more attention to professional and technical training than to general education, and aim at turning out competent craftsmen rather than men of wide outlook and broad human sympathy. The present sys- tem produces a certain number of efficient business and professional men, and has given to every person the chance to learn to read and write, but it has not produced a sufficient proportion of men and women who are fitted to take the lead in political and social life. The best A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 205 elements of Australian society are conspicuously absent from public office. They are too busy making money and criticizing the government in which they themselves ought to be taking a share. By pushing forward the commercial aspect of (3) Neglect of education the State is missing the chance of consolidating Vocational the various class and other sectional interests into a ^^^^^^^^^9- supreme national interest. There is a lack of adequate leadership. The gospel of getting on divides rather than unites men and women. Education is made a matter of self-interest, whereas it ought to be regarded as the means for finding one's vocation and training for it. When we consider, therefore, that the vast majority of the people in Australia have been educated under a system which is free, compulsory, and secular, and in which religion, while receiving some recognition, is treated as a luxury rather than as a necessity, it is surprising that so large a proportion of the people retain even a nominal profession of religion. We must expect, accordingly, to find a widespread ignorance of what religion is, to find the Church regarded as one among many social institu- tions, to find the prevalent ideals shaped by economic considerations. The plain man is educated as if this world were the only world, as if material things were the only realities, and we cannot wonder that his outlook on life is so limited and fragmentary, and his interests so self-centred. In very few people do we find a whole view of life, and nowhere is this defect more clearly revealed than in the generally lamented decay of home life in Aus- tralia. It is in the home that we reach the heart of the prob- 2. The Plain lem of the plain man. Most of those who pass through Man's the State schools spend therein only seven or eight years, ^"^^ *'^' and of those years not more than twenty-five hours a Ji ^'^^ week for forty weeks in the year, making one-fifth for f^y^Home- school life and four-fifths for home life.* The plain man, training. * The proportions between school and home life in the text are obtained thus: — Allowing nine hours of sleep per diem, and five hours for school, that leaves ten hours per school-day for home influences. This does not 206 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY ii. Peculiar Difficulties in Australia. a. Climate. when a child, may have gone to Sunday School also for an hour on Sunday, and his school life may have included an hour a week of definite religious instruction. But he is at home during the whole of his infancy, at least until he is five years of age. Compulsion to attend school begins at seven years of age. Nearly four-fifths of his waking hours during the school period are spent under direct home influences, and nearly half of the early wage- earning period, up to say, eighteen years of age. The home is, therefore, by far the largest factor in shaping the personality of the plain man. The State school teacher knows it, and so does the Sunday school teacher, for they can mark the difference that home training, or its absence, makes in the character of the children. If the plain man's parents do not attend public worship, he also leaves off going to Sunday school and church when he begins to be independent. It is at the two critical periods of youth, the period of first contact with the out- side world when wage-earning begins, and the period when young people begin to make homes of their own, that the results of previous home training come out clearly, and it is at these periods that the Church suffers most loss. In Australia there are peculiar difficulties in the way of maintaining a wholesome discipline in the home. The climate lends great attractions to outdoor life, and people spend less time together under one roof. The climate also makes housework more difficult and exacting and im- poses a strain on the mother that leaves her less energy for maintaining discipline. It is the mother who mainly rules and manages the home and the family among the wage-earners, and in all classes it is the mother who creates the home atmosphere. When the mother is over- worked she is less able to maintain control over the children, and to create for them those interests which 1 mean that the children are at home for ten hours a day, but that they are\j! then under the direct and sole charge of the parents. School is held five j days a week and forty weeks in the year. A child in regular attendance * at school receives just over 1,000 hours of instruction per annum, but spends an additional 4,000 hours in the home— or, alas!— the street. A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 207 will keep them loyal to their home. Some women manage to do it, but there is a tendency to the slackening of home ties, due partly to parental incompetence, and partly also to the greater competition of outside interests, b. Competition chiefly the facilities for pleasure-seeking. The proportion of Outside of quite small children and also young people who fre- ^^^^^^^sts. quent picture shows and the streets in the evening is a revelation of the decay of home life. The housing con- ditions in the crowded areas of the large towns are largely responsible for this state of affairs, acting against a c. Housing decent home life and adding to the parental burden of Conditions. maintaining an affectionate home discipline. Parental responsibility is also decreased by the con- d. State tinual encroachments of the State which have already been Interference. described. The State is taking the boys especially more and more away from the home. Compulsory education may be good for the children but it relieves the parents of a good deal of responsibility, and as that education is secular it hinders the development of the best kind of home life. Compulsory military training brings home the responsibilities of citizenship and has infused a much needed sense of discipline into many boys, but it has also thrown decent lads into bad company. This difficulty might be remedied by raising the compulsory school age to sixteen and performing the drills in school hours on the school premises, not only in secondary, but in ele- mentary schools. Discipline would be better maintained and the younger lads would be less open to bad influences. But the question does remain whether the State is not taking the children too much out of the parents' hands and weakening further the sense of parental responsibility which has already suffered from the de-personalizing of industry, and from the dominance of the economic interest. The influence of modern civilization upon home life is iii. Modern a subject that has not yet been worked out in full. Civilisation Limitations of space prevent a complete discussion in ^}'^^^ ^,y^ these lectures, but one or two points must be brought 208 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY a. A Typical Home. b. Modern Industrialism disintegrates Family Solidarity. forward as directly relevant to the personality of the plain man. The widely prevalent type of home is a house in which various persons eat and sleep. The plain man is brought up in a dwelling in which the children are fed and clothed and sent to school, but no systematic attempt is made to train character or to create an atmosphere of love and willing service. As soon as the school age-limit is reached, the boy, and nowadays the girl, has to go to work, and the one idea impressed upon him is to be on the look out to better himself. Two ideas, in fact, are firmly implanted in his mind, namely, that the chief business of life is to make as much money as possible, and that those who have most money have the best time. With these ideas the "plain man" is launched out into the world to fend for himself. He finds himself in a hard pressure of competition that makes for a self-centred view of life, and his character is moulded accordingly. The broad tendencies of modern civilization run against the development of a high type of family life. The family does not receive its proper recognition as the real unit of human society. The modern industrial sys- tem treats the workers as individuals and nothing more. Although the "living wage" is enforced by law in Aus- tralia, and is worked out on a family basis, the main idea in fixing wages, so far as the employer is concerned, is the market value of the product of the individual worker. The individual and not the family is the actual wage- earning unit. The family tradition that prevailed in the old domestic system of industry has no place in modern large scale enterprise financed by limited liability com- panies who value reputation chiefly as an advertisement. Except in agriculture or pastoral farming it is rare to-day to find a whole family engaged in the same business or even the same occupation. In modern families the indi- vidual members follow different occupations, earn different wages, work under different conditions. The family as such has no place in industrial organization. From the and Family Unity. A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 209 economic point of view the family is a haphazard aggre- gate of wage-earning units, some being actual, others potential wage-earners or workers or producers, accord- ing to the point of view. Economics has nothing to do with the personal interests and values that are created and preserved by a well-ordered home life. That is possibly why family life is banished from certain economic Utopias and barracks take the place of homes. Family unity is also disintegrated by the competitive spirit that creates a hard and keen self-interest which takes the beauty out of home life. Many young people seem to regard home as little more than the cheapest kind of boarding house. Political development has also weakened family soli- c. Political darity. Modern democracy tends more and more to re- _Y^l?^.^'^^'!!^ gard the individual rather than the group as the unit of society. The State seems less and less disposed to recognize any other entity than itself within its area. ^1) ^"^ otate Persons may combine to form societies or other corpora- Consciousness tions, but though these bodies may obtain a standing as legal entities, they are not regarded as organisms with a life of their own but merely as artificial groupings of per- sons held together by a definite contract. The individual may change his opinions or his convictions as often as he likes without endangering his title to property. But a corporate body may not alter one of its formularies or change its mind without risk of losing its property. The State regards itself as the one social entity in the country, and all other forms of organization as incidental groupings of individuals bound together by contract, and outside the terms of the contract or deed of incorpora- tion they are individuals and nothing more. This was the point at issue in the famous "Wee Free" case. The tendency to regard the nation as only an aggre- (2) One gate of individuals is fostered by the adult suffrage, one ^^^^^!\' person, one vote, which is a new thing in English history, "^ ^^ ^• how utterly new is not often recognized, and it has come at the tail end of the movement towards individualism when the reaction towards corporate consciousness has 210 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY begun, not merely the consciousness of the nation, but of groups within it. The Trade Union has fostered this group consciousness, and Socialism and Syndicalism are different phases of the same tendency for men to realize themselves each as one of many, rather than as one against many, "many members but one body." The original basis of representation in the House of Commons was the corporate group, the shire or the town, two members being elected from each county, and two from every chartered borough. The House of Commons was originally the House of Communities. The Reform Bill of 1832 put the franchise practically on a family basis by means of the household suffrage. The extension of the suffrage in Australia to every person over the age of twenty-one is nothing less than a revolution in the idea of the State, a revolution that was assisted by the indi- vidualism that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. The State is no longer regarded as a body, built up of lesser organic bodies each with its own life and con- tributing to the life of the State, but as an aggregate of individuals with each of whom the State deals directly. Thus adult suffrage is the climax of individualism. But while the individual is in some ways more isolated and more independent, adult suffrage has increased the political mass of which the individual is the unit, and so he is much less significant and feels less responsibility. He counts for less and therefore feels less obligation. What is one among so many? That was the stage of development reached before the war revived the sense of solidarity and responsibility. But the lesson of responsi- bility has not yet been learned in Australia by a very large number of voters, as has been already pointed out. The continual industrial unrest is a significant symptom that harmonizes with the phenomena of political incapacity. d. Resultant This may seem a long way from the home life of the Atmosphere. plain man, but it indicates the atmosphere in which he lives. The decay in home discipline arises from a defective A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 211 discharge of parental responsibility. The plain man lives in a framework of ideas and moves in a round of actions in which he is only one of many units. Modern life is so highly complicated that he feels himself the sport of circumstances, and he lets himself drift along the line of least resistance. In one way he has far more personal liberty, because no one cares much what he does, but in another way he has far less liberty, for he cannot assert himself. Again the thought comes, "What is one among so many?" Thus the plain man's indifference to organized religion is partly the reaction of modern civilization upon his personality, and upon his home life which ought to be the cradle of personality and the sphere of its freest expression. The world of organized selfishness has in- vaded the home as well as the Church. The cold currents of secularism have chilled the warm affections that are the inspiration of a well-ordered home, where by love the members serve one another. Instead, there is the clash- ing of different self-interests. The family ceases to be a society of mutual love and service, and consists merely of people who find it convenient to live together, the convenience being measured by what the members can get from each other. The dominance of self-interest is illustrated, not only e. Seculariza- by the loosening of home discipline and the refrigeration ^}?^\ ^f of the higher affections, but also by the growing seculari- zation of marriage. There is an increasing tendency to treat marriage as a contract which can be revoked by mutual agreement rather than as a holy state of life in- volving mutual love and service. It is true that ninety- seven per cent, of the marriages in Australia are per- formed by ministers of religion, presumably with religious rites. But the clergy know, from the demeanour of the people, that weddings are viewed mainly as social functions, and that the plain spoken teaching of the marriage ser- vice is greatly needed. The number of forced marriages, and the practices that constitute race suicide, go to show that marriage is often regarded as an institution for the 212 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY respectable satisfaction of fleshly lusts rather than the foundation of home life as the school for drawing out the best sides of human personality. The way in which divorces multiply when facilities for it are extended bears on the same point. New South Wales and Victoria grant divorce on easier terms than those on which it can. be had in the other States, and the statistics are significant. Over eighty per cent, of the divorces in Australia in 1911 were granted in those two States. The statistics also show an increase in divorces which testifies to the decay of home life, and as long as organized selfishness rules modern civilized society, the increase must go on. f. Bad Housing In one way, however, modern civilization has given and Oyer- better opportunities to genuine home-builders by effecting crowding. improvements in housing conditions. The modern suburban dwelling is more comfortable, convenient and healthy than the old-fashioned tenement. But it is nothing less than tragic to see in this great continent of empty spaces, large masses of terrace houses in which people are crowded together in harrow streets, ugly, dirty, expensive. Improvements are mainly confined to the newer suburbs. There are hordes of people who almost swarm in areas of our great cities, sometimes two or more families in a six-roomed house. There are slums in the great cities of Australia which are as bad as anything to be seen elsewhere. Home life is almost impossible in such conditions. It is in these overcrowded areas that the problem of the plain man is hardest, that the Church finds it most difficult to keep in touch with the people. The plain man who has spent his childhood and youth in streets of this kind is not likely to have a keen apprecia- tion of moral and spiritual values. There are worse types of humanity to be found in the great cities than among the most degraded savages. Yet the greater number of those who live in the thickly peopled areas live quite respectably. A few are truly religious and their loyalty to the Church is all the more conspicuous by contrast with their surroundings. A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 213 Yet the fact that these crowded areas should exist, with their high rents, their ugliness, and their many influences against health and decency, is another witness to the dominance of the economic interest, so that not only in his family life, but in the very house that shelters him, as well as in his wage-earning, the plain man feels the pressure of organized selfishness, and it says much for himj and a good deal for Christianity, that he still for the most part reckons himself as belonging somehow to one church or another, though he never attends public wor- ship. The way, too, in which some parents manage to build and maintain a decent home life in depressing surroundings is a testimony to the latent power of human personality to conquer environment, and gives the Church a moral lever of encouragement to go on with its work, as well as a stimulus to improve environment. The plain man is a human being in spite of the pressure upon him from economic forces. In his external social intercourse, also, the plain man 3. External meets these economic forces. He finds wealth regarded social as the main criterion or indication of social position. It Intercourse. is the economic motive that turns the craving for excite- i. The Grosser ment into the gambling habit, that converts hospitality Vices. into the drinking habit, and that degrades the normal healthy social instincts into hideous immorality. The economic motive does not account for the trinity of vices, though the selfishness that prompts them is akin to it, but it makes them much more sordid and inhuman, for it turns them into vested interests that grow fat upon the ruin of human personality, playing upon the lower tenden- cies of human nature for the sake of base gain. The amount of money that changes hands without adding in any way to the production of wealth, but rather to its destruction, in the widespread organization of gambling, is far greater than the amount gathered by the various governments for public purposes. The large sum repre- sented by the drink bill of the community is another huge economic waste. The monetary value of the vested 214 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY ii. Respectable Self- indulgence. iii. The craving for crude excitements. interests in sexual immorality is more difficult to obtain, but the economic waste, in addition to the far greater human and spiritual wastage, due to this form of vicious self-indulgence, has been thrown into lurid prominence by recent investigations. The persons, one can scarcely call them men and women, who live on the proceeds of these vested interests in vice, form the worst type of human parasite, draining out the vital energy of society. That such disease spots should remain is an indication of the lethargy of the social conscience, though there is evidence that there is an awakening of that conscience to the evil that they work. Yet they are but the climax of self-indulgence run wild. The grosser vices are always more easy to deal with be- cause they are more easily singled out by their results. It is respectable self-indulgence that offers the most stub- born resistance to the work of the Church because it demands a certain degree of moral self-restraint, and wel- comes organized religion as a safeguard of the ordinary proprieties. But it has little use for religion as personal obligation to God, and accordingly its sense of obligation to man is lowered. Society is regarded as existing for the comfort and convenience of man, rather than for the glory and service of God. Organized selfishness is as god- less as organized vice because it exists to serve the pur- poses of man. It has no absolute standards of right and wrong, its moral leverage is accordingly limited, and accordingly it is content to compromise with the grosser forms of vice because it can only appeal to economic considerations. It has no interest in the spiritual destiny of man. It would be a great mistake to suppose that all the people who do not go to church are given over to every form of self-indulgence within their reach. The great majority live quite respectably and thereby show that the influence of organized religion is widespread and strong, though not strong enough to enlist them as soldiers on A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 215 active service for God. The plain man does not feel suffic- ient interest in religion to take any public share in its organized activity. His interests are mainly elsewhere, in his business or employment, so far as it brings him a sufficient income. But as his employment rarely gives full scope for his personality, we must look to other circumstances to reveal it. His home life has furnished certain data which have revealed considerable defects in his personal development. In the home and the family, however, he is not only subject to economic pressure but to some degree of personal obligation and responsibility. It is necessary to examine also those circumstances in which he finds himself most free to indulge his likes and avoid his dislikes, where he can more easily pick and choose what he will do than in his employment or his home. Hence the personality of the plain man will reveal itself in the recreations that appeal to him, in the way he likes to spend his spare time and cash. On this point general statements are particularly dangerous to the person who makes them. One thing, however, can safely be said. The pressure of modern business, together with greatly increased wages and leisure, and an imperfect education, create a craving for crude sensationalism and excitement that reveals itself in the most popular forms of public enter- tainment, horse racing, boxing matches, breathless melo- dramas, trashy books and booklets, gutter newspapers. There is no need to lengthen the list. The facts are obvious and so are the crowds that seem to enjoy these forms of recreation that advertise themselves and wear an appearance of financial prosperity. The thirst for thrills is the main source of the gambling habit that is so conspicuous in Australia, though the lust for gain also plays its part. In no country is gambling so extensively organized, and it is connected with the increase in crimes of fraud and dishonesty that has been noted, all traceable to a deficient sense of personal responsibility. Moreover, an imperfect education, superficial culture, and badly nourished personality combine to reduce the plain man's 316 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY resistance to easy morals. He becomes the prey of religious quacks as seen in the vogue attained by spiritual- ism, theosophy, and Christian Science, and other strange sects whose advertisements appear in the newspapers among "religious announcements." Just as the purveyors of quack remedies trade on the real human needs that can only iv. Religious be met by genuine medical art, so too, the religious quack Quackery. trades on the real need of religion. Yet the fancy religions find more scope among the half-educated men and women of money than among the workers. The Labour Movement almost takes the place of organized religion with the wage-earners, as it appeals to their particular class consciousness, gives them scope for personal self-expression, and also presents the easiest sphere in which their personal ambition may assert itself. The capitalist class have no such organic expression of their interests and ideas, and so they more readily turn to the many forms of ancient heresy that have reappeared in modern dress, or devote themselves to the pursuit of comfort and self-indulgence. All these attempted substi- tutes for true religion are revelations of imperfectly developed personality, and show up the failure of organized selfishness to provide a complete scheme for human life. 4. Fundamental In order to get at the content of the plain man's mind Difficulties. it is necessary to study all these movements and cross i. Put Yourself ^^^^^^^^ ^^ modern life. But there are few of the active in his Place. church members who know anything about them, though they may have vague impressions as to what is going on in the minds of the multitudes who are outside active church life. Zealous church people are ready to de- nounce the mad pursuit of pleasure, but sweeping con- demnations do not solve the problem of the plain man, nor are they justified by the facts. It is interesting to note that in the four gospels the only persons who were publicly condemned by Jesus Christ were the good church people of that day. He has no word of condemnation for the social outcasts, or for the people who were then out A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 217 of touch with organized religion. They were the main objects of His care, for it was they who gave Him the best welcome. He entered fully into their life and studied their circumstances by personal observation. That is the method which is being attempted in these lectures. To understand the plain man we must try to put ourselves in his place, if we do not belong to his category, and see things as he sees them. A deeper analysis of the social behaviour of the plain man will reveal in his mind the same difficulties in the way of a living faith and a closer walk with God as those that have troubled the minds of men throughout history. The philosopher may seem a being apart from ordinary life, but the problems he handles are at bottom the same problems as those of the plain men who have not been trained to think and search out the truth, and who find it difficult to express what is in their minds. Under the apparent indifference the same questions are being asked as those the Church has been trying to answer from the beginning, but her answers have not reached the plain man, who has his difficulties, though he may not be able to formulate them systemati- cally. In following out the analysis of his mind we must remember that the majority of men feel and perceive these problems only vaguely. The picture now to be drawn in outline is not the replica of any one man's mind, but rather a summarized statement of the things that are going on as they might appear to an outside observer setting forth his own observations. But they are none the less true to type and may help us to put ourselves in the place of the plain man and view the world as he looks on it. The difficulties that lie between the plain man and the Church may be considered as being partly personal to himself and partly as constituted by things in general. There are the difficulties in the mind and nature of the individual himself, and there are the difficulties in his en- vironment. This classification is adopted purely as a matter of convenience. 218 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY Enough has been said to show how many things conspire to fill the plain man with a sense of his own importance, and, at the same time, weaken his sense of responsibility. The problem of the plain man is fundamentally due to the shirking of personal responsibility, and thus it raises a moral issue. ii. The Struggle The first difficulty is presented by the moral struggle Within. within the man himself, the conflict between the "flesh" and the "spirit," the division in the man's nature. The eager pursuit of wealth or pleasure may be but an attempt to escape from the struggle within, to find anodynes for the conscience. It is because the plain man sometimes feels there may be something after all in religion that he does not completely renounce the Church. It may serve a useful purpose by and by, but in the meantime he has other things to do, and in doing them he finds an occupa- tion that takes his mind ofif the deeper questions and allows him to side-track religion for the time being. In- stead of facing the conflict within, the plain man tries to postpone the crisis, to let sleeping dogs lie, only un- fortunately, the dogs are not really asleep. It is a ten- dency of human nature to put off awkward questions as much as possible, and the plain man becomes a drifter through life. The man in the street refuses to worry about his sins. iii. Want of There are other reasons for this shirking of responsi- Will to Good bility. It is not a mere question of refusing to choose • ^^' *'^ between the claims of self and the claims of God, or of continuing the struggle to control the flesh by the spirit. Most men admire goodness and believe in a standard of perfection. But they also acknowledge that perfection is unattainable, and therefore the struggle towards it is hardly worth while. Only a few strong souls rejoice in the struggle, and prefer striving for the impossible to acquiescing in the conventional. The ordinary plain man, however, is quite content to attain the conventional standard, and he has no strength or desire to overcome Laziness. A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 219 its pressure and pass beyond it. The pressure of the conventional is very strong. It helps to keep up the minimum but it also acts as a drag on progress towards the ideal. The minimum always tends to become the maximum in standards of conduct and if the plain man maintains his behaviour at the conventional level, he accounts himself not merely blameless but righteous. He is confirmed in this impression by seeing the equally low standard attained by many churchgoing Christians who themselves are content with the conventional and show no signs of spiritual progress. If going to church apparently makes so little difference why need the plain man go? In both the churchgoer and the non-church- goer there is the same want of the will to good. Such is the moral difficulty that arises from an imperfect sense of responsibility. There is no need to discuss the moral difficulties that are really apologies for indulgence in fleshly lusts or the greed of gain. They arise from the same root, the want of the will to good, the shirking of personal responsibility, and the tendency to drift along the line of least resistance. There is no fear of God in the heart, and certainly no love of Christ. The life is self- centred. God may be recognized, but God is regarded as existing for man and not man for God. Human self- interest is the thing that counts, and this is sin, but it is not realized as sin. The idea of God has not taken hold of the mind, and the fact of God has not entered the heart. God is an outsider. The want of the will to good is essentially a want of will towards God. But the plain man's difficulties do not all arise from iv. Want of his want of will to good, they arise in part from his want ^^^^ ^o think of will to think. The barrier between the plain man and Yaziness the Church is partly intellectual as well as moral. He fails to grasp the importance of "ideas." There is mental as well as spiritual laziness. That is the meaning of the The Search for everlasting search for infallibility, which is a form of Infallibility. shirking personal responsibility. Men want to know what they are to believe and what they are to do, but they 220 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY want to be relieved of the responsibility of deciding for themselves. It is easier to drift than to decide, and the tendency to drift is assisted by the discordant voices that claim authority to point the right way. Many ideas are placed before the plain man, but they seem to produce the same average level of conduct. Sectarian controversies may raise in the plain man's mind the question "Which is right?" but his mental inertia may prevent him going so far as to ask such a question. He does not try to see whether any or all of them are right, he lumps them together as "much of a muchness," and remains equally indifferent to them all. Certainty seems hard to attain, and he can manage to live respectably while in a state of vague uncertainty. The pressure of convention again favours laziness, this time of thought. Hence he fails to grasp the true essence of Christianity as personal trust and communion with the personal God. He regards religious belief as a matter of intellectual assent, and religion itself as a kind of sentiment, giving rise to cer- tain ideas, and ideas are regarded as things in the air out of relation to practical affairs. The plain man's mind has not been trained, and he does not exercise it Sufficiently, to see how ideas influence the course of life, and that men are as responsible for the ideas they hold as for the things they do. Thus, while the plain man has not renounced religion, ^ and still considers himself as loosely attached to some form of organized Christianity, he is, actually, a drifter through life, shirking his responsibility for his beliefs, avoiding a definite choice in the conflict of flesh and spirit, satisfied with conventional respectability, and mainly occupied with making himself comfortable in this world. God is outside his life. v. Difficulties There are circumstances in the plain man's environment arising front that help to keep him in this state of indifference by pre- Environment. genting difficulties which act as opiates rather than stimu- lants to his moral and intellectual energy. A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 221 There is the continual conflict between the ideals and a. The Problem the practice of life which seems to justify his opinion of Evil. that ideas do not count for much in the hard facts of life though they may sometimes act as spurs to progress. But why should there be this contrast between the ideal and the actual? Why is evil in the world at all? It is an old but ever present difficulty. Some persons tell him that evil is only an imperfect good, a stage in the march of progress. Others tell him that sin is an invention of the Church to justify its existence. If God made all things, how did evil come into existence? If God is Almighty and perfectly good, why does He allow evil to exist? Christianity has been in the world for nineteen centuries, and yet Christian people have been at war. The Church claims to know the remedy for sin, and yet sin abounds. There are answers to these questions and difficulties, but the plain man either does not hear them, or, if he does hear them, they do not satisfy him. Life appears to be full of unsolved problems, and the Church does not seem able to solve them. It is not always easy to realize how heavily the problem of evil weighs upon men and women who do not know Christ as their personal Saviour. This does not mean that the plain man con- sciously formulates and tries to think out the problem. He .very rarely does such a thing. But the presence of evil in the world numbs his faculties. He feels he is not responsible for it. He takes it for granted as a thing he cannot explain, but must avoid as far as possible, at least in its grosser forms. But it affects his attitude towards organized Christianity. He may think that the Church helps to counteract the forces of evil, but not obviously enough to arouse his enthusiasm. He does not feel called upon to enlist in the warfare against sin. It is part of the natural order of things, so it seems, and cannot be overcome, but only held in check. He is really a neutral, and though his sympathy may be on the right side it is too tepid to do much, though it may serve a use- ful purpose as a kind of passive resistance. 222 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY b. The Problem Closely akin to the problem of evil is the problem of of Human human freedt)m, which has proved equally insoluble. The plain man feels he is free to think and do as he likes, and he enjoys the personal liberty of a modern democracy. But he finds his freedom has limits. In society he is the plaything of economic forces, and as a part of the order of nature he is the puppet of natural law. So much he is told by modern science — not so very modern — so far as he knows anything about it, and it weakens his sense of personal responsibility. The idea that man is not really free, that he is hedged in by unbreakable laws, is in the air the plain man breathes, though he may not be con- scious of it, but it breeds a fatalism regarding the end of life that has revived many ancient superstitions, chiefly those connected with bad or good luck, as seen in the worship of "mascots." The plain man's mind becomes a bundle of inconsistencies. He feels he is free, and prizes his liberty, but he also feels himself in the grip of unknown forces working partly as "natural law," and partly as an inscrutable fate. He does not give up the Church entirely, because it may help him to keep on the right side of these forces, but the Church is only one of many influences that may help, or hinder, him, which he may call in when he requires its aid. But he feels no more responsibility towards it than he does towards the railway station where he buys his ticket for a journey. It is one of the things that exist for his convenience. c. The Plain The chief difficulty in tracing the influence of these age- Man does not long problems upon the plain man, and especially of the K^.^..Jx^ environment of ideas about them in which he lives, is due to the fact that this influence is subconscious. The plain man is the reflector rather than the originator of ideas, and the reflection he shows is usually dim and distorted. He allows himself to be acted on by them, he rarely I thinks them for himself. This is the chief danger of ^ organized attacks upon Christianity. These attacks are made by a very small number of persons, but they do bring up real difficulties, and they create an additional himself. A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 223 uncertainty which forms an excuse for indifference towards organized religion. There is room, therefore, for a vigorous evidential campaign on the part of the Church. Some such effort is the more necessary because the d. The Defects enemies of the Church can bring more tangible weapons of Organised to bear on the plain man. The Church has its human as Christianity. well as its Divine side, and the history of the Church re- veals its human imperfections as well as its Divine origin and power. Christianity has to bear the blame for the mistakes and crimes of its human exponents. An obvious way to attack the faith is to attack the Church. Ecclesiasticism furnishes the easiest points of attack, with its cruel persecutions, its worldly-wise policy, and its tyranny over minds and souls. Facts of history appeal to the plain man, and he does not hear all the facts. Christianity has been presented to him as the buttress of the obsolete, and a clog upon progress, and the moral is driven home by pointing out to him the apparent failure of the "Churches" to hold the masses. He does not know that this apparent failure is due to the perverted will of man, and is against the counsels of God. It is the failure of man, and not of God. But if he is told this, he falls back upon the mystery of evil. Thus nominal membership and outward indifference may hide from active church people the seething cross currents that are drifting the plain man away from organized Christianity as being something towards which he has no responsi- bility, and which is of very little use to him. Added to these moral difficulties are the intellectual e. The tendencies of the age; the scientific temper which de- Scientific mands tangible evidence and experimental proof and ^^^^^ ' distrusts the venture of faith. Thus force is given to the assertions of agnosticism that there are mysteries we can- not fathom, of which we can never know anything, and that religion is one of these. Christianity may or may not be true, but it claims to present truths that are not verifiable on accepted scientific methods, and its claim to test its teaching by faith is rejected, although the 224 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY f. Specialisa- tion and Detachment. g. Revolt against Authority, scientist himself works by faith far more than he suspects. The plain man, however, does not know that many of the greatest scientists have been men of earnest Christian faith. He is fed with assertions that science has des- troyed the grounds of Christian belief, and that religion is only ethics coloured with emotional speculation. The plain man is out of touch with the Church, is ignorant of real Christianity, and accordingly falls an easy victim to such assertions. Another tendency of the age that reacts indirectly upon the plain man is that towards specialization. This is the age of the expert. But an expert is a one-subject man, and leaves other subjects to other experts. Religion becomes one among many subjects, one interest in a crowd of others, and is accordingly detached from life. Other interests compete with it for the attention of the plain man. The scientific interest lends itself to exploita- tion by the economic interest as concerned mainly with material things, phenomena as against noumena. "Things are in the saddle and ride mankind." The intellectual movements of the time, so far as they touch the plain man, are mainly concerned with interests that reduce or ignore the claims of religion and so help t.o fasten more firmly upon him the burden of the economic interest. Religion is left to the parson and other people who have a fancy for it. Finally, the scientific temper with its demand for tangible evidence and logical demonstration, coupled with the critical spirit that calls all things in question, has fostered the revolt against authority in matters of belief which expresses itself in resentment against anything that savours of dogma. And yet there is nothing so dog- matic as the scientific temper when it goes beyond its sphere. But the enormous and visible achievements of scientific investigation have obscured the vaster fields that it has failed to explore. The plain man sees only the things that science has done and on the strength thereof he accepts assertions that have less foundation than the A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 225 most difficult doctrines of the Christian faith. Science has commanded visible success, therefore everything that invokes the name of "science" gets a hearing and is swallowed without question. The popular notions about miracles and "natural law" and evolution are very far removed from the facts of the case, and are such as have been repudiated by the leaders of scientific research. But the plain man does not know all this and is ready to take for granted that science has knocked the bottom out of old-fashioned religion. Hence the authority of the Church has been weakened by apparent failure to hold the people, the authority of the Bible has been assailed by weapons forged in the armoury of science, traditional views of the Bible have been discredited by modern literary and historical investigation. These things have filtered down into the less educated strata of society, and have been circulated in their most sensational forms, not as they really are, the tentative and often speculative opinions of experts, but as assured facts. The general movement of revolt against authority in other spheres of life has also assisted in the weakening of religious authority. Such is the content of the plain man's mind as he him- self looks on things, and as he is influenced by his en- vironment. But it is not the whole content. We must not regard him as beyond the reach of the Church, though ^ he is out of touch with the Church. Nor is he over- whelmed with the burden of the difficulties we have con- sidered. Their influence on him is mainly indirect. If he is indifferent to religion, he is equally indifferent to attacks on religion, whose only meaning to him is that they more or less justify his apathy. Controversies in or about religion do not command his serious attention. The plain man is a man after all. As a man of the 5. What the world he admires efficiency and progress, the current Plam Man catchwords of business. Tangible and visible success [^^^^^^^J ^^' appeals to him. Effective organization and good business ^^^.^g^^ management, healthy finances and "push" are taken as 226 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY ii. The Personal Touch. 6. What the Plain Man wants. i. Power in the-. signs of a justified existence. The Church is not a business, but if it does its real business with energy and decision, the plain man is ready to respect it, and to see something in it. An active philanthropy always appeals to the plain man. The church that cares for the poor, houses the orphan, ministers to the sick, and makes life brighter and easier in slum areas, will not lack support from men who rarely go to public worship. Other ex- ternal features also earn their meed of commendation, beauty and dignity of architecture, splendour of public functions, and other forms of artistic appeal. As to the clergy, a high educational standard, earnest- ness and sincerity, personal self-sacrifice, and the halo of romance that adorns devoted idealism, arouse a response in the plain man's mind and heart, for he, as a human being, is susceptible to the personal touch, and can ap- preciate and absorb truth when it is presented to him, not as an abstract proposition, but through personality, in word, deed, and life, that is, in purity and nobility of character. If these are the things to which the plain man responds, we have a guide to what he wants. He wants, first of all, a religion that he can use to teach him, and to help him, to make the best use of life. He wants, not religious worship as a spectacle, however Life. impressive, not religion as a scheme of doctrine, however true, not religion as a social convenience, however useful, but religion as power in the life, the power of God to make all things new, moral leverage to make him a man with a man's full sense of responsibility, and a man's power of usefulness in this world, to give him a vision of the possibilities of his life, to give him a spiritual scale of values, things worth knowing, willing, and feeling, but above all, to give him God as the beginning and the end of life. Neither Catholic ritual nor Protestant preaching is going to do this, but only the power of the Holy Spirit working through the personal touch of a truly converted minister of God. This is the power brought into the A STUDY IN PERSONALITY 227 world by the Cross of Christ which alone brings men to God. The plain man is thus brought into a new sense of ii. New Sense reality which carries with it its own certainty and ^^/ Reality. authority, not an authority mechanical, traditional and j .^ -^^ external of Church or Bible, but a personal authority, the personal authority of the Redeemer emerging in and through the experience of an accomplished salvation. There are many categories to which the term "real" has iii. The Real is been applied. Economic pressure makes the material '^^ Holy. seem the real and many live as if that were so. Yet there are few who would deliberately place the material above the moral, who would commend the pursuit of gain at the expense of justice and fair dealing. The real is now the moral. But that does not exhaust the content of reality. After all the moral is only relative, it arises out of the relations of persons, and varies with their degrees of development. Moral standards, in practice, are never fixed and absolute. They are contingent upon human personality. Behind the moral is the personal, and spirit is the essence of personality, that which gives meaning and purpose to personal existence. The real is now the spiritual. But we have not yet reached the foundation of the real, for meaning, purpose, and personality itself, may be either good or evil. Some- thing else is required if we are to get down to an un- changeable essence of reality. We find it in the revela- tion of God, fully declared and lived in perfect manhood in the Person of Jesus Christ— "Be ye holy for I am holy" Christ Himself said— "Ye shall be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." The real is the holy, including the true, the good, and the beautiful, command- ing our worship and our love. And here we reach God, the centre towards Whom all paths of knowledge, aspira- tion and effort converge, the beginning and end of all history, in thought, feeling and action. What the holiness of God is we cannot define, but we see Him in Christ, and seeing Him Who is the express 228 A STUDY IN PERSONALITY image of God, the Son of God Himself in the fashion and likeness of man, we can only adore, and burn with reverent love of Him, Who, though so holy, is yet so loving that He touches us unclean, and we are cleansed, weak, and we are strong to do His Will, yea, we are no longer our own, we are His, in Him, and for Him. What the plain man wants most of all is the fact of God, revealed in Christ, and presented by one who already knows Him as the greatest fact in his own life. What the plain man wants is the consecrated personal touch, the true ministry of the Word of Life. Lecture VI THE STRENGH OF THE CHURCH THE AVAILABLE RESOURCES A good deal has been said about the defects of The Vitality of organized Christianity, and if our attention is limited '^'^ Church. to these defects, the outlook on the problem of the plain man would be gloomy indeed. But the pessimist is not going to have it all his own way. Our object is to try to see the whole situation. It is not enough to know what is wrong with the Church, and what is wrong with the world. It is equally necessary to know whether the Church can command resources to put things right. After all the Church is not dead. Organized Christianity does exist, and it is vigorously at work. Organized selfishness does not hold all the field. Facts have already been given to show that the Church is very much alive, at least in some places, and that organized Christianity has been making real, though limited progress. Against the apparent weakness must be set the real strength of the Church. It has already been shown that the real strength of The Church the Church cannot be gauged by statistics of membership '^Jf-^ « Message, and finance, though these may call attention to the way ^f^achlnery, things are going, but by a comprehensive survey ot sources and instruments of power, and points of contact where they may be effectively applied. Offensive weapons and defensive armour are both needed in the Christian warfare, but the same equipment may serve both purposes. To do its work the Church has its message, its men and its machinery. 229 330 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 1. The Message. i. The Bible is the most powerful weapon of Organised Christianity. a. The Church's dependence upon the Bible. Taking the message first because it gives the purpose for which the Church exists, that message is to be found in the Bible, and the chief instruments of its proclamation are the Pulpit, the Pastorate, the School, and the Press. Among the weapons of spiritual warfare the Bible comes first, though it is not always put first. As the Church faces the world, the position and authority of the Bible are far more vital to her own position in the eyes of the world than any other questions about the ministry, the Sacraments or the Creeds. The authority of the Church stands or falls with the authority of the Bible, which contains the charter of the Church's authority, and the substance of her message. The attacks of unbelievers are mainly concentrated upon the Bible because that is the strategic pivot of the Church's existence, so far as the mass of mankind are concerned. If any discredit can be thrown upon the Bible as con- taining the Word of God, then the position of the Church is proportionately weakened. The authority of Holy Scripture is the real battleground of the faith. If people cannot be brought to believe the teaching of the Bible, then the Church has to rest on the shifting sands of uncertain tradition, for she is unable to use the documentary basis of her faith. It is a great mistake to set the Church and the Bible over against each other. In practical work neither can do without the other. Christianity is not the discovery of man, but the gift of God, and Holy Scripture contains the record of that gift, to which the Church bears witness. The Gospel is not the invention of the Church, but its deposit, or trust, not even its property, but its stewardship. Organized Christianity is more dependent upon the Bible than the Bible is upon it. The Bible records the facts that made the Church, above all, the supreme fact of Christ. If doubt is cast upon the record, that doubt falls upon the facts, and the Church's message loses its note of certainty. The Church is "the THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 231 witness and keeper of Holy Writ." and not its creator. The Church is a historic institution and its roots are set in historical facts. But modern historical science refuses to accept any historical statement as firmly established, unless documentary testimony is forth- coming. No documents, no history, is the modern position. The witness of the Church is a vital factor in determining the authenticity and general veracity of Holy Scripture, but once that authenticity and veracity are established, the Scriptures are seen to testify to certain facts, and the Church stands or falls by those facts. Once a document has been established as genuine and veracious, its testimony forms a criterion of other statements about the fact, or facts, to which it bears witness. But though the facts may be variously viewed and interpreted, they remain established and unalterable until better testimony is produced. The facts themselves also stand as a criterion of various interpretations and presentations. No interpretation or presentation can claim authority which does not include all the facts, or which denies any one of them. The Church, by her acceptance and acknowledgment of the Bible as the word of God, has set limits to her own authority, for she cannot teach that which is plainly contrary to the Bible without contradicting herself. Then, in order to cover up her inconsistency, she has to restrict the access of the members to Holy Scripture lest they should find out the contradiction. This is what has happened in one large section of organized Christianity, in which the tradition of the Church holds a place equal to that of Holy Scripture. It is quite true that there is such a thing as the tradition b. The Church of the Church, and the' authority of tradition is as strong ^^ "J^^, Witness Ti . ^ X . -i. • • 4.U r) ^"" Keeper of among certam Protestant sects as it is in the Roman //^/y Writ" Church, though it is not officially acknowledged in the same way. It is also true that tradition plays an essential part in the action and writing of history. But tradition is always subject to changes of colour and temper and 232 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH fashion. By itself it cannot give a guarantee of accurate history, but has to be verified or corrected by document- ary testimony. The valuation of documents is a most important branch of the science and art of history. The Church, by her witness to Holy Scripture, points out the instrument for verifying her own tradition, and a cor- rective for its vagaries. But when the Church has recognized the authority of the documents she has to submit to the judgments based on their testimony. The Church is a "witness and keeper of Holy Writ," but did not create the facts recorded therein. Holy Writ thus becomes a witness for or against the Church by reason of its record of those facts which are the explanation and the justification of the Church's existence. This must be so with any institution that rests its origin upon a historic fact to which there is documentary testimony. As a trust is bound by its deed of incorporation, so the Church is bound by its charter which she acknowledges is set forth in Holy Scripture, c. By her Wit- But the Church is under a unique obligation to be true ness to the to the facts set forth in Holy Scripture, because those Btble, the facts constitute a unique revelation from God to man. Cmirch linitts ^, ^, , . , ^ j .. ^u .. r ..u- her own ^^^ Church is the trustee and not the creator of this Authority. revelation. By acknowledging that this revelation is set forth in Holy Scripture the Church has not only set limits to her own authority, but has put the Bible above herself. Only the authority that created the trust can alter the terms of the trust. The trustee is bound by the terms of the trust. Both Bible and Church derive their authority from the same source, and are co- witnesses to that authority, namely Jesus Christ, who is the final authority behind both Bible and Church. The Church was formed and commissioned to witness to, and for, God in the world. The terms of that witness are recorded in the Bible, which the Church acknow- ledges and uses as the Word of God. The Church did not make those terms, but received them, and is limited to those terms. THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 233 But the terms may be interpreted in many ways. Here d. Limits of again the unique character of the Bible determines the interpretation. limits of interpretation. That unique character is due to the unique Person to whom the Bible testifies, namely, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Bible stands for the fact of Christ, a fact both historic and eternal. The Old Testament sets forth the preparation for the historic coming of Christ, and the New Testament describes that historic coming as recorded by authoritative witnesses. But it does more. The New Testament sets out not only facts but doctrines. The story of Our Lord's life is very briefly told, not in a biography but in three fragmentary memoirs and one historical interpretation. Yet enough is given to show what manner of man He was. The nature of His Person, the scope of His work, and the meaning and application of that work are set forth with equally final authority in the New Testament, not so much in minute and complete detail as in principles clearly enunciated and illustrated by partic- ular instances. The Gospel is not a Law, but a Message, not a scheme of morals or organization, but the power of life unto God. Jesus Christ came as the Final Revelation of God to man, else He is not the Son of God equal to the Father in His Godhead. The perfect Godhead of the Son is the fundamental fact of the Catholic Faith, the Faith that made the Church, the Faith that gives the Church its right to exist, and its authority to preach and to teach in the Name of Christ. The terms of that Faith are set forth in Holy Scripture, which is not only the authoritative record of the fact of Christ, but is also the authoritative statement of the authoritative interpretation of the Person and Work of Christ. Although the Scriptures were written and compiled by e. The Church members of the Church, the Bible is only in a very djd not make limited sense the product of the Church. The authors '^ ***^- wrote, not what the Church had invented or discovered, but what the Church had received. The Church has 234 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH always acknowledged their writings to be a true and trust- worthy account of the deposit entrusted to the Church, and modern scholarship has confirmed this general position. Modern scholarship has brought out more clearly the human element in the sacred writings, but the result has been that the Divine element also has been brought out more clearly. The interpretation of Holy Scripture has gained by the more thorough appli- cation of sound learning, for its unique character has been thereby demonstrated. Again, the authors of the New Testament books did not write at the command of the Church. Each book seems to have been produced on the author's own initiative, and to have been evoked by special circumstances. This variety of occasion and purpose makes all the more striking the real unity of Scripture, namely, the substantial agreement of the different writers on the fact of Christ, on the nature of His Person and the scope and meaning of His Work for man and in man unto God, "Christ the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth." f. The It is the business of the Church to proclaim this Church's Gospel, to witness to its truth and power, and to apply ut lority ts ^^^ interpret it to meet every kind of circumstance in secondary to . i-f t^ , . ,. r • • , the Authority "uman life. But the mam Imes of mterpretation have of the Bible, been laid down for it, and the Church must keep to them if she is to be true to her trust. The Bible supplies its own criteria of interpretation. Still within and along those lines there is plenty of room for liberty ot development and freedom of application to the contin- ually changing facts of human life. Nevertheless the authority of the Church is always secondary to the authority of Holy Scripture, for the authority of the interpreter is always secondary to the authority of the genuine record of the facts and doctrines interpreted. The record stands open to all who wish to verify or correct the interpretation, and the Church stands as the witness and keeper of the record. If the Church is to hold itself true to its trust and to its deposit, it must THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 235 never allow its authority to be set above or against Holy Scripture. Wherever in history the Church has been set above the Bible, there the tendency, inherent in tradition, to swerve away from its original facts and principles, has asserted itself, and the Church has fallen into error and has lost her spiritual power. That is one lesson of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, which came to pass because the re-discovery of the Bible, and the new instruments of sound learning, combined to show how far the mediseval Church had gone from truly Catholic Christianity. In like manner every other revival of spiritual religion can be traced to an attempt to return to a more scriptural standard of faith and conduct. The attitude of the Church to the Bible is a fair indication of the spiritual vitality of the Church. Where the Holy Scriptures are believed and obeyed, there the power of the Gospel is manifested. The "Word of God," as St. Paul says, is "The Sword of the Spirit." The Bible is the most powerful weapon of organized Christianity. But the weapon must be rightly used. Both reverence g. The Right and intelligence are essential to the proper use of the ^f/' of the Bible as a weapon in spiritual warfare. If a choice must ^*^^^~„^ ^„^ needs be made,, then it should fall upon reverence as intelligent. recognizing the unique value of the Bible as the Word of God. But reverence that is not intelligent runs great risk of becoming enslaved to a mechanical view of in- spiration as a kind of dictation, degrading the living word of God into a collection of oracles and proof texts, leaving the reader open to the dangers of a hard literalism and a grotesque realism. People who drift into this attitude towards Holy Scripture really believe traditions about the Bible rather than the Bible itself. They do not see the Bible clearly as it is, but in a kind of fog in which they go astray. To change the meta- phor, they cannot see the wood for the trees, and they are accordingly unable to grasp the whole message of the Bible in its right proportions. It is among the 236 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH literalists and the verbal inspirationists that subjectivism runs riot and strange heresies and schisms arise. Another danger of unintelligent reverence is its tend- ency to obscurantism which ignores the human element in Scripture, creates unnecessary difficulties and makes real difficulties greater by failing to grasp the principle of progressive revelation and by neglecting to relate the writings to their historical background. Yet the attitude of unquestioning reverence towards even the words of Holy Scripture has not failed to produce many saints who used their intelligence more than they realized and caught the spirit of the Bible they loved and obeyed. Obedience is the test of true reverence. h. Functions Intelligence working without reverence is far more of honest likely even than obscurantism to miss the purpose of critical Study, ^^g Bible. Both rationalist and obscurantist suffer from the dominance of prejudices and a priori assumptions. The rationalist assumes that the Bible is a purely human production, the obscurantist that it is equally purely Divine. Neither recognizes that the Bible is both human and Divine. The student who atomises scripture only in order to discover how it has been put together, as a subject of academic interest or of pure scholarship, will find what he looks for, but he may easily miss the treasure that has enriched so many minds and souls. There is of course a place for literary analysis and critical investigation in the study of the Bible. Modern scholarship has brought many new facts to light which have yielded invaluable illumination to Bible students. The Bible has been made a live literature. The study of the historical background, in particular, has helped to relate the books of the Bible much more closely with actual human life. This is especially true of the apoca- lyptic books. Intelligent and honest criticism is indis- pensable to sound Bible study and cannot injure the real authority of Holy Scripture. That authority rests on the THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 237 truth contained in the Bible, and not on the way in which the various books were composed and collected. The Bible is a great literature in itself, for it is a i. Educational faithful mirror of human life as it is, especially of its value of Bible spiritual strength and weaknesses. No other book is ^^^^y- so intensely human as well as so sublimely Divine. The depths of the human soul are laid bare, and the funda- mental issues of life are faced and described with moving power, not in the technical terms of the text- book, but in simple human speech that goes straight to the heart while it both delights and exercises the mind. The Bible makes us feel, and think and yearn, but it also satisfies and helps, as no other literature does, how- ever great. Its messages are presented in divers portions and in divers ways, in historical narrative, in legal code, in set orations, in fragmentary memoirs, in allegory and parable, in folklore and prophetic oracle, in lyric poetry and in prose epistle; almost all forms of literary expression are used, all sorts and conditions ot men yield their contributions, and yet the light of Divine revelation shines throughout. It is a liberal education to study the Bible thoroughly. No book commands such resources of scholarship and bibliography, such attention and respect from learned and unlearned, so wide and varied a circulation, or has impressed itself so deeply upon other literature or interwoven itself into the very frame and texture of civilized society. It is difficult to measure the debt our Western civilization owes for its best elements to the Bible. AH these facts have a bearing on the use of the Bible j. The Unique as a weapon in spiritual warfare, a weapon that is by Dtvine no means obsolete, but whose power and efficiency have * ^^^^' gained enormously from the immense accumulation ot knowledge derived from modern investigation. Neither a blind Bibliolatry, nor an equally subjective and irresponsible criticism has really weakened its power of appeal to open hearts and minds. It stands forth more clearly than ever, the unique Divine Library setting 238 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH k. Threefold Use of the Bible. (a) Docu- mentary Basis of living faith. (b) Doctrinal Formulation of eternal Truth. forth the fact, the growth, the content, the purpose, and the power of Revelation, the declaring to man of the mind of God, so far as man is concerned to know it. The Bible answers the questions, "Has God spoken to Man? What has God spoken to man? What has God done for Man?" and it tells us what God will do for man, and also what man owes to God's claims upon his faith and obedience. Accordingly three main uses of the Bible may be distinguished, namely, the documentary, the doctrinal, and the devotional. First of all the Bible is the documentary witness to the fact of God, the fact of Christ, and the fact of the Holy Spirit. It is the inspired record of the dealings of God with man, of man's search after God, and God's seeking for man. It tells man what God has done for him, what he may expect from God, and what God expects from him. Something has already been said of the use of documents in history so that a summary will suffice at this point. Documents crystallize and verify tradition, or correct it. They are the indispensable certificates of things that have happened, and they are equally indispensable guides to the meaning and interpretation of events. The Bible is the documentary witness and guide to the faith which it is the trust of the Church to preach, teach, and practise in the world. As the terms of a trust limit the authority of a trustee, so does the truth revealed in and through Holy Writ limit the authority and competence of the Church in controversies of faith and order. The Church cannot do without the Bible, and the Bible exercises its influence most powerfully through the Church. Church and Bible should never be brought into collision or competition, but when strife does take place the Church loses more than the Bible. Following from its documentary use as the witness to God and to God's actual dealings with men in history, is the Doctrinal use of the Bible in formulating prin- ciples of eternal truth. The Bible is not a treatise on THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 239 systematic theology, nor is it a textbook of philosophy, or a history written after the principles of modern historical science. It is far from all these. It is a mirror of life as it was, and is, lived. It is a faithful presentation of human nature in relation to God. It gives a true picture of man as he is before God. It epitomizes, illustrates, and characterizes the spiritual history of man. The dealings of God with man are described in terms of actual experience, in national history, in individual story, in public action and in private communing. There are theological statements in Scripture, mostly in the non-narrative books of the New Testament, but the Bible usually presents the raw material out of which the statement may be formed. In a word, the Bible concerns itself most of all with life, with the things that actually happen, leaving the infer- ences to be drawn by man. But not altogether, for while God spake to man in the The true facts of life. He also spake through holy men who were function of given truths to utter that men could never have found ^ rophecy. out by themselves. This is the real significance of prophecy, which is not so much the foretelling of events as it is the forthtelling of the mind of God towards man. The phenomena of prophecy largely constitute the uniqueness of the Old Testament. In the New Testa- ment we have the fact of Christ and its authoritative interpretation by his personally chosen witnesses, selected and equipped for that purpose. In this function the Apostles have no successors, though they have, and must have, followers. In Christ the revelation of God is final and complete so far as man is concerned. This fact answers the question whether the phenomena oi prophecy have ceased. The answer is that the prophetic function of communicating a new revelation of God to man has ceased, but the function of freshly presenting and interpreting that revelation has not ceased. The content of that revelation has never been exhausted. It can neither be added to nor diminished. Our modern 240 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH prophets, and would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, can never be more than interpreters, for we have the mind of Christ. Liberty of Now the doctrinal use of the Bible is not to be realized Investigation, in the manipulation of proof texts, however ingeniously- selected and applied. The revelation of God set forth in Scripture treats man as intelligent and responsible. Certain broad principles are clearly stated, but in such a way as to call forth the whole power of the mind of man to comprehend and formulate and apply them to actual life. The statements are both suggestive and exhaustive in their range of application, but they are not exhaustive in the sense of a complete and casuistical and meticulated system. They are not formularies to which men must blindly subscribe and which they must blindly receive and mechanically obey and apply. Both the documentary and the doctrinal use of the Bible call for the fullest exercise of all the powers of the human mind. The fullest use of the apparatus of literary and historical criticism must be made, but with it must go the highest sense of responsibility, not only the responsibility that every honest seeker for knowledge feels, but that peculiar sense of responsibility which is best described as reverence, the frame of mind of the man who realizes he is handling holy things. Liberty and responsibility go together, and just because the student of the Holy Scriptures can claim the fullest liberty of investigation, he must remember at the same time that his responsibility is equal to his liberty. The authority of the Bible has been impugned by unduly asserting the authority of the Church. It has also been impugned by irresponsible purveyors of novelties who take leave of liberty to run into licence, and mistake cleverness for wisdom. But the authority of the Bible has always gained from honest freedom of study. The Bible is quite able to stand on its own merits. Never- theless as the authority of the Bible depends upon its claim to be the word of God, men have a perfect right THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 241 to examine that claim by the most searching tests, pro- vided they are fully and fairly applied. When those tests are so applied, the experience of countless Christians witnesses that the Bible is the supreme guide to fundamental saving truth. The devotional use of the Bible supplies the most (c.) Devotional convincing test of its authority. Bible study is the most Inspiration. fruitful form of religious exercise. The Bible not only tells men of God and of His dealings with man, not only tells men that He is a particular kind of God, and that He accordingly expects the love and trust and obedience of men, it not only tells men of their responsi- bility towards God, it brings home to them that responsibility with a deep and sure personal touch. In short, the Bible message convicts men of sin, awakens their conscience and humbles them before God. But the Bible does not leave men grovelling before an Almighty Justice. It reveals to men the mercy and the love of God. Not only the fact and responsibility of sin, but the r'emedy for sin and the power unto holiness are set forth in Holy Scripture. To the open mind and the receptive heart the Bible comes as the fully inspired word of God, convicting, humbling, healing and helping. Of course the real work of conversion is performed by the personal agency of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit working through the word that brings the soul to God. The word is but the instrument, but it. is an instrument that has been abundantly used and blessed. The Bible has been the outward means of bringing many souls to Christ as their Saviour and Lord. But it does more. The Gospel is more than a message The Personal of rescue, it is a message of life. The devotional study Touch. of Holy Scripture is the surest outward means of build- ing up the spiritual life that we may grow in Christ. Not merely the saving touch, but the daily uplift is derived through the agency of the written word. The words "devotional study" are to be taken in their fullest meaning as ruling out any mechanical or magical virtue 242 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 1. What the Bible has done in the World. (a) Negative Evidence. in the mere reading of the Bible. It is the personal seeking after God and the personal appropriation of the Holy Spirit's ever abiding presence that brings profit out of the study of the Scriptures. No religious ordinance is effective without this personal touch. But the Bible stimulates this personal activity and responds to it. It is an efficient instrument of communication between God and man. This statement is fully justified by the story of what the Bible has done in the world, and is doing now. There is the negative evidence of persecutors, blas- phemers, and other violent enemies of religion. In the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, in the days of Diocletian, in the age of superstition before the Reformation, and ever since, the main force of the attack has been con- centrated on the Holy Scriptures, for the attackers knew that if they succeeded against the Bible they had won the battle against the Church in so far as it claims to be a Divine, and not a purely human society. The authority of Scripture, again it must be said, is the strategic pivot of the Christian position, so far as organized Christianity is concerned. If Christianity is but an individual opinion, then the attack on the Scriptures can be met by a personal affirmation that ends the matter. The Christian can simply say, "I believe the Bible because I know it is true in my own life," and the unbeliever has no more to say beyond expressing his own opinion. He can neither prove nor disprove another man's state of mind, though he may be able to disturb it. But the Church simply cannot afford to allow the authority of the Bible to be discredited. That is why the most able opponents of organized Christianity have always chosen the authority of Scripture as the main issue, and in doing so have borne unconscious testimony to the relative positions of the Bible and the Church It may be said that the plain man with whom we are mainly concerned does not worry about the Bible, but finds his THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 243 chief stumbling block in the personal inconsistency of profession and practice in individual Christians. But this reacts upon the Bible, for he is ready to argue that there is apparently no difference between those who read their Bibles and those who do not. This judgment of his is only superficial and does not fit the facts. The inconsistent Churchman does not use his Bible as he ought. However, the answer of history yields a remarkable (b.) Positive testimony to the authority of the Bible over the Testimony conscience and life, not only of individuals, but of society /^^f^ ^^^ generally. Three great movements illustrate this influ- j^^/j^j'^j^^ ence of the Bible. The Great Reformation of the six- Revivals. teenth century was a revival of personal spiritual (i) The Great religion, and that revival was powerfully stimulated by Reformation. the recovery of the open Bible. For the first time for many centuries, the Bible was not only studied in its original tongues, but it was translated into the language of the people and placed freely and widely in their hands through the new agency of the printing press. There is a famous chapter* in J. R. Green's "Short History of the English People" in which he describes the change wrought in England by the Bible. He says, "No greater moral change ever passed over a nation than passed over England during the years which parted the middle of the reign of Elizabeth from the meeting of the Long Parliament. England became the people of a book, and that book was the Bible. It was as yet the one English book which was familiar to every English- man ; it was read at churches and read at home, and every- where its words, as they fell on ears which custom had not deadened to their force and beauty, kindled a start- ling enthusiasm." The general moral effect is thus described, "The whole temper of the nation was changed. A new conception of life and man superseded the old. A new moral and religious impulse spread through every class." It was the moral energy thus • (Chap. VIII) 244 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH created that carried England safely through the great religious and political crises of the seventeenth century, and had no small share in laying the solid foundation of the present British Empire. (2) The The second great movement that illustrates the power Evangelical of the Bible is the Evangelical Revival of the Eighteenth Revival. Century which has left its mark, not only on the Church, but on English History. The British and Foreign Bible Society, with its world wide enterprise, publishing versions of the Bible in some five hundred different tongues, is a living monument to the power of the Bible, and that society was one of many organi- zations that owed their origin to the Evangelical Movement. The influence of the Revival upon the political temper and social outlook of the nation has already been described. J. R. Green's estimate* is that it "changed in a few years the whole temper of English Society. The Church was restored to life and activity In the nation at large appeared a new moral enthusiasm which, rigid and pedantic as it often seemed, was still healthy in its social tone, and whose power was seen in the disappearance of the profligacy which had disgraced the upper classes, and the foulness which had infested literature, ever since the Restoration. But the noblest result of the religious revival was the steady attempt, which has never ceased from that day to this, to remedy the guilt, the ignorance, the physical suffering, the social degradation of the profligate and the poor." (3) Missionary The third great movement that witnesses to the power Enterprise. of the Bible is the wonderful missionary expansion of the Church during the nineteenth century, which has carried the influence of the Bible into all parts of the earth, and though a vast field calls urgently for labourers to gather in the harvest, yet a large and solid result has been accomplished. What the Bible did for our fathers in the days of the Reformation and of the Evangelical Revival, it is still doing to-day, not only in the dark *Op.cit. (Ch. Xfl), THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 245 places of the earth, but elsewhere. In the civilized as well as in the uncivilized countries of the world, an open Bible intelligently studied and diligently practised always produces a high level of personal character and an intensely spiritual religion. To sum up, the strength of the Church can be measured Summary. by the use it makes of the Bible as its most powerful The Strength weapon of spiritual warfare. The authority of the Bible ^f '^'^ Ah must be clearly distinguished from the prescriptive j^^ u^^ of the authority usurped by certain traditions about the Bible. Bible. The real authority of the Bible rests on its documentary witness to the fact of Christ, on its doctrinal use as the groundwork of the Christian Faith, and on its incalcul- able resources as the treasury of devotional inspiration. The appeal to the Bible provides the right mixture of external authority with private judgment. The danger of subjective diversity is not removed by setting the "Church" above the Bible, for, as things go, there is more actual diversity among those who do so than among those who put the Bible above the Church. There is a delusive appearance of unity in the Roman Church, for Roman Catholicism provides different kinds of religioiv for different sorts of people. Against the apparent diversity of Protestant Christianity must be placed the real comity of Protestant theological scholarship. As a matter of fact, the authority of the Church means The One Final in practice the authority of tradition, a notoriously Autfiority in variable phenomenon. No system of external authority ^^'*ff^<^'**' has proved an absolute check on subjective variation, nor will prove to be such so long as personality exists. Neither the final authority of the Bible, nor the alleged infallibility of the "Church"— which Church?— will com- pletely prevent individuals picking and choosing what suits them best, either from the Bible or from Church tradition. The only true corrective of subjectivity is to start from God rather than from man as the basis of religion. It is not so much man's need of God, as God's claim upon man that comes first. This is the order of 246 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH Scripture which is the authoritative record of God's revelation of Himself to man. The Church witnesses to the substantial truth of this record and thereby acknowledges the limits of her own authority. The Church as the trustee and steward of this revelation is not the creator, but "the witness and keeper of Holy Writ." The true final authority for Christians is Jesus Christ, to whom both Bible and Church bear witness, both deriving their origin and vitality from the presence in power of the Holy Spirit. Authority is essentially personal, not mechanical, and the authority of the Bible comes from Him to whom the Bible bears witness. Yet although authority is at bottom personal, a documentary witness checks variation and supplies a corrective to over-emphasis or lack of balance in our attitude to that authority. A faith that is true to a document is less unstable than a faith that depends on others' opinions or on a Church tradition. Real religion always springs out of direct personal relation- ship with God. The Bible supplies both guidance and inspiration in that relationship, and brings to believers a first class authority by which to correct their individual tendencies to separate subjectivity. Finally, the Bible can stand on its own merits. Its power receives testimony from past history and present experience, and has been demonstrated afresh in the foreign mission field. The consensus of testimony con- firms the authority of the Bible as the mightiest instru- ment of spiritual warfare in the hands of the Church. The Bible has indeed proved itself to be the "Word of God" which is "The Sword of the Spirit." The Pulpit. The strength of the Church lies not only in the possession of instruments but also in opportunities for their use. It is in the use of these opportunities that organized Christianity finds itself one of many com- petitors. The pulpit has suffered severely in this way. Time was when the pulpit served the double purpose of press and public platform in the absence of both. The THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 247 Crusades were preached. The mendicant movement revived preaching. The friars have been styled the janissaries of the Pope, and they won their early successes by their pulpit power. In the sixteenth century the Reformers made great use of the pulpit, and its power was such that Elizabeth kept a strict and jealous control over its ministrations, to the great disgust of the Puritans. The relative decrease in church attendance, and the a. Its modern corresponding loss of attention paid to the Church, has Competitors. decreased also the visible opportunity of the pulpit. Its actual utterances have also to compete with the news- paper, the agitator, and with the conceit of a super- ficial culture arising from the spread of an elementary education and the rapid extension of political democracy. Demos wants to be flattered, not instructed, and Demos has the power, in theory more than in fact. The preacher has to compete with the demagogue for public attention. There are also the many forms of cheap entertainment which unfit the mind for serious thought and personal responsibility. Yet the pulpit is not dead. There are many possi- b. Its Possi- bilities open to it. The power of preaching is able to bilities. draw people to hear the man who has a message and who knows how to say and apply it. People do go to church where they may be reasonably sure of hearing a good sermon. The multitudes may not come to church to hear it, but they can be reached as Wesley and Whitefield reached them, and as some clergymen of our own Church are reaching them. There is a vast amount of sermon literature published. Some one must buy it and read it. The pulpit still remains to the Church as part of her equipment, and as one of her chief instruments for bearing witness to God and instructing the people in the faith. The pulpit is one of the best opportunities for wielding the "Sword of the Spirit." It is also one of the most effective instruments for making each church a live hot centre of spiritual force. Not only inside, 248 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH but outside the church the power of preaching may be brought to bear on the many who never attend public worship. There is a great opportunity open for taking the Gospel to the multitudes in the streets and open spaces where the many pass by and congregate. By the "pulpit," however, we really mean the man in the pulpit, and more than the man. The word written has power, but when the word written becomes the word spoken, the power is increased. And it is increased still further when the voice of the speaker rings out from the depths of a rich and intense personal experience. The preaching that grips is, as Bishop Phillips Brooks said, "Truth through personality." It is the power of the word applied with the personal touch. A great deal of the strength of the Church still lies in the pulpit, yet not the pulpit as a popular entertainment, but as the vehicle of a living message. Yet the preacher speaks, not in his own name only, though the personal witness should be there, but in the name of the church of which he is the official represent- ative, and he utters, not a message he has invented, but a message given to him in the written word of God. The authority of the Bible and the authority of the Church are behind him so long as he is faithful to the message he is commissioned to deliver, and when there is added the authority of personal witness, "I know Him in whom I have believed," we have a threefold cord, not quickly broken, to draw men to Christ. For Christ is the real authority behind the pulpit when it is rightly used, and herein lies the strength of the pulpit as an instrument of organized Christianity. The influence of the pulpit may be powerfully rein- forced by another instrument of the Church, to which the Anglican Church has always given a prominent place, namely, the pastoral function in private ministrations. It is here that the personal sincerity of the preacher is tested, and the personal touch is most effective. Herein lies the strength of the parochial system, and so it comes THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 249 to pass that the most effective presentation of the Bible message and of the Church's witness is made, not in the large and crowded congregation, but in the quiet com- bined ministry of pulpit and pastoral rare exercised by the faithful parochial clergyman. This kind of work does not lend itself to demonstrative advertisement, but it is the heart of organized Christianity. "A house-going parson makes a church-going people," is a familiar expression of this fact to which abundant witness may be gathered from the many parishes where a faithful ministry is being carried out on these lines. Enough has been done, and is being done, in the way of effective pastoral care to show what possibilities are still open to the Church. There was a time when the Church held practically iv. Education. the monopoly of educational institutions, from the a. The elementary schools to the university. Now the Church Elementary holds but a small corner of the educational field, •^<^«^^'- especially in Australia, and her opportunities have been proportionately limited. But they have by no means disappeared. The Church has been ousted by the State in Australia from the realm of elementary education, and this is the weakest point of organized Christianity in the Commonwealth. The subject has already been discussed in considering the environment of the plain man. Though there are limited opportunities for religious instruction in the State schools, the Church has not the same power of creating a religious atmosphere as she would have in her own schools. Yet the oppor- tunities open to the Church are of the greatest import- ance and constitute part of her equipment. The Church may still use the school as an instrument of spiritual warfare. In the secondary schools the Church has been better b. Secondary able to hold her own, and her resources are proportion- Schools. ately greater. Higher education is neither free nor compulsory, and though the State is a powerful competitor, organized Christianity is better able to meet 250 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH the competition as the secondary schools can be made self-supporting. The importance of this opportunity will be more fully discussed in the next lecture. Meanwhile it may be noted that the secondary schools set up and controlled by organized Christianity form a considerable item in the strength of the Church, and there is greater scope for extension of effort in this direction than in any other, c. The It is in the universities of Australia, however, that the Universities. secular system is most complete. A certain amount of religion may be taught in the State schools, elementary and secondary, either officially or unofficially. Nothing of the kind is even permitted in the universities, in fact it is specifically forbidden. In this respect Australian universities differ from other universities, most of which grant degrees in theology, even when founded originally, as London University was, on a purely secular basis. But organized Christianity is not without its oppor- tunities, even in Australian universities, for the State has authorized, and provided means towards, the building and support of Colleges, under the control of recognized religious bodies, within the universities. The actual proportion of university students residing within these colleges varies very much in different universities. In Sydney it is little • more than ten per cent., while in Melbourne it is much higher, but in all universities the great majority of the students are not attached to a college, and have no opportunity of organized Christian life within the university such as may be had in the ancient universities of the United Kingdom. Nevertheless organized Christianity has the opportun- ity of witness, even if it has no voice in the courses of instruction, or in the control of the universities of Australia, and the Church may count that as an item in her resources. There is accordingly a special oppor- tunity, and an equal need, in Australia for the efforts ot the Australian Student Christian Movement which has a branch in every university and does an invaluable THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 251 work, not only of definite witness, but of organized worship and devotional inspiration. The printing press was a powerful factor in the v. The Print- Reformation and Renaissance Movements, It was the ^ng Press. invention of printing that enabled the open Bible to be circulated so widely. Both the Mediaevalists and the Reformers used the press freely, but the Reformers had the advantage as they could appeal with the greater confidence to the Bible for support to their principles. It is at least significant that the Reformed Churches have always made a point of encouraging Bible study, and have tried to place the Bible in the hands of every person in his own language. The Mediaevalists and other opponents of the Reformation have honoured the Bible with their lips, but have placed severe restrictions on its use by people generally, and in numberless instances have tried their utmost to stop its circulation, and have forbidden people to own a Bible, or even look inside its pages. These facts bear their own testimony to the authority of the Bible and the possibilities of the printing press as the instrument of its use. The Bible is the most widely circulated book in the world. No book is issued in nearly so many languages and dialects. There is hardly a speech on earth in which some portion of the Scriptures has not been printed. In several languages the Bible is the only book printed, and for this purpose the languages were reduced to a written form. Many languages had never been written down until the missionary undertook the task, and in almost every instance some portion of the Holy Scriptures, usually a Gospel, was the first product of his labour. Yet in the press as in the school, the Church has to ^ Seculariza- face the competition of the secular interest. We hear Hon of the much of the literature attacking the Church and Press. Christianity, and of the flood of cheap and nasty books that do far more harm than any direct attacks on the Catholic Faith. The press, like other institutions, has suffered from the dominance of the economic interest, 252 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH and has been, and still is, an instrument of organized selfishness. Printing and publishing are forms of busi- ness enterprise, and, like other forms, must be made to pay. And so it comes to pass that the same publishing house will produce books that deny each other's state- ments, in fact it will publish anything that will sell. Whether its influence is good or bad does not matter so long as there is money to be made. This lack of responsibility is a serious failure of one of the most powerful agencies in modern social life. In a society in which almost every person is able to read, the press brings influences to bear upon everyone, and the most powerful influence is the subtle permeation of tone and temper by certain underlying assumptions. The main assumption of nine-tenths of modern press activity is that things are produced to sell. Books, magazines, and other kinds of literature must first and foremost com- mand a quick sale in large numbers. They must catch the public eye, please the public taste, arouse the public interest. People therefore read to be interested, rather than to learn. They expect to be flattered rather than told the truth. Literature - is measured by its market value as a paying proposition rather than by its contri- bution to ideas, to ideals, and other character-forming influences. The same business firm will publish and control newspapers belonging to different political parties. An important Liberal provincial newspaper in England was controlled by the publisher who also con- trolled influential Conservative newspapers. In Sydney, two weekly papers controlled by the same person, published contradictory obituary notices of a notorious character. One branded the deceased person as a selfish shirker, the other splashed him with fulsome flattery. The one paper circulates mainly among respectable people, the other mainly among "sports" of a particular type. The contrast was noted by another newspaper which called attention to the "Two Voices" from the same source. Corruptio optimi pessima. The materialistic THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 253 outlook, the playing down to different kinds of people are to be seen in the more respectable productions ot the press. There is no need to dwell on the large amount of pernicious literature that panders to the darker elements of human nature, and reaps fat dividends by- depraving moral standards. Such things carry their own condemnation with them, but they are really less dangerous than the self-interest which wears the garments of respectability. But the powers of evil do not have it all their own b. Large way. The wide circulation of the Bible has already been circulation of pointed out. There is also a very large sale for ^^%t^' ^' circumstances. History is the story of change, and where ^"^*/^" '^ , . ,.r , . , ^, , r ■ • , Environment. there is life there is change. The study of constitutional history shows how states and other social groups adapted their organization to meet variations of conditions. Those states that refused to change their forms of government to provide for new needs arising out of changed circumstances, have suffered shipwreck, and have gone to pieces. Russia yields a recent instance. Various forms of government have been tried, monarchy, absolute and limited, aristocracy, oligarchy, republicanism, democracy, and various mixtures of these kinds, the British constitution presenting the most composite form. But no type of political organization can claim a monopoly of success, nor can any one of them be deemed an unmitigated failure. Democracy at present is on its trial. Yet so long as there is some kind of government that does its work efficiently, the precise form of it is a secondary matter. There is truth in Pope's well known lines: — "For forms of government let fools contest, Whate'er is best administered is best." It is the men rather than the machinery that make for efficient government. But men may be assisted or hindered by their machinery. It is a bad workman who blames his tools, but the good workman's efficiency will be greatly increased by giving him better tools. 370 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH iv. The Parochial System. The power of the Holy Spirit works through the men and women of the Church. But members have to work with each other, and the efficiency of their co-operation will be greatly affected by the form of their organi- zation. No form of Church government can boast of a monopoly of efficiency, but episcopacy can claim the divine right of prescription, the longest continuous history, and the most widespread recognition as the best form of government in the Church. Just as some form of monarchy has been the most widespread and generally successful form of government in history, and in present fact, so, too, episcopacy does seem to approve itself the best general system for various kinds of circumstances. Yet the Presbyterian form of ministry has done great things in its own area, and other forms of ministry which, unlike episcopacy or presbyterianism, do not recognize any principle of Orders, have also proved effective in extending the Kingdom of God. The Divine power of the Church does not limit itself to any one and only form of organization. One form may be better suited than another to particular conditions. Episcopacy does not possess a monopoly of Divine Grace, or of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Each form of organization must stand on its own merits as an agency for extending the Kingdom of God. Episcopacy has a strong case as essential to the bene esse of the Church, but neither it. nor any other particular form of government or organi- zation can establish a claim to be of the esse of the Church. The Church stands or falls, not upon its form of government, but upon its loyalty to Christ and on its faithful discharge of His commission of witness. What has been said of episcopacy applies also to the parochial system and to the congregational. Yet both episcopacy and the parochial system are con- siderable assets to the Church, and may point to Divine blessing though not direct Divine insti- tution. The strength of the parochial system is its maintenance of the tradition of local community THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 271 life, and its efficiency as a scheme for covering the whole field of pastoral responsibility. By dividing up an area into definite districts, and assigning responsibility for each to a particular individual, the best guarantee is obtained that the more difficult as well as the easier parts of the work will be done, provided the men arc available as pastors. The principle of territorial responsibility leaves less room for certain people to be missed out than any scheme of congregational responsi- bility. When the parish, rather than the congregation, is the unit, there is greater possibility of permanence, and greater scope for the general church interest rather than the interest in an individual minister. Finance is the weak point of the parochial system, as the hardest parishes are frequently those least able to pay their way out of their own resources. Yet the parochial system is less of a failure than the congregational system in poor districts, mainly because the parishes are included in a diocese, and diocesan support is available for the weaker parishes. In England where there is an established church, the y. The parish clergyman is held responsible for the spiritual Anglican care of every person in the parish, and every person j^^^^jj^j'j^ has a claim to his ministrations. In Australia there is no church establishment of this kind, and the tendency is to confine the ministrations of the clergy to members of their own church, a tendency that is assisted by the shortage of men in the ministry. But the tradition of the Anglican Church as the national Church of England, and as therefore primarily responsible for the spiritual . care of all people, and not merely of her own immediate membership, still persists in Australia. The Anglican parish clergyman and the parochial system do carry with them that tradition of responsibility, and in so far as it is really felt, it is an asset to the Church and a factor towards the efficiency of the parochial system. In church finance the parochial system may probably have to give way to a more centralized diocesan system, but even in 272 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH vi. Financial Resources. The Church commands great Resources. Australia that system still holds its ground as the best general method of organizing pastoral responsibility, and as such it is a strength to the Church, remembering all the time that the real unit of the Anglican Church is the diocese, and without the diocesan organization the parochial system would be a failure all round. Finally, in surveying the visible resources of the Church, finance has to be taken into account. All degrees of wealth are to be found in the Church, or rather, among church people. In the large centres the Church is a considerable owner of property, in addition to the actual Church buildings, grounds, and rectory in each parish. A very considerable amount of money also passes through the financial organizations of the Church. The average income of parochial clergy, including the assistant clergy, in the Diocese of Sydney, excluding the archbishop, is about £260 per head per annum, to which the value of a house must be added in four instances out of five. In the country districts the income is generally much lower, and averages not more than £200 per annum. This is, however, an insufficient income for the work that is expected of a parish clergyman, and it is far below the standard of the other occupations that rank as professions. Nevertheless, when the total annual income of the Church from all sources is added up, it amounts to a very large sum. The Church does hold considerable possessions, receives and spends a large amount of money, though not nearly enough for the work there is to do. Still, a comparison between the total income of the Church and the total private incomes of Church members reveals a vast amount of untapped resources, even if we restrict our investigations to the twenty per cent, who are in some kind of contact with organized Christianity. Thus a survey of the available resources of the Church in message, men, and machinery, reveals a very consider- able endowment and development of actual strength, and THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 273 a vast array of potential resources whose possibilities are almost untouched. The Church is out of touch with the plain man, partly because the plain man's interests are in another direction, and partly because the Church has not made full use of her available resources,, nor has she used them to the best advantage. The real weakness of the church lies, not in the weapons and armour, the instruments and equipment, but in the men and women who do not realize their personal responsi- bility. Organized Christianity has ample resources for the work before it, but the men and women of the Church fail to use them to the best advantage. It is the human factor that is at fault. Here we come to the real forces of the Church, the Moral and real sources of its authority and its energy. They are ^t^*'«<2* the mysterious forces of personality, mysterious because intangible and incalculable. It is love that transforms a house into a home, but love is a personal relationship that defies measurement. It is love that makes home- life worth while. It is not bricks and mortar, not food and shelter, not material self-interest, nor the discipline of brute force that creates a home permanently attractive and finely educative, but the intangible forces of love. The most real thing about a good home is the one thing that cannot be seen by the eye, though it may be perceived by the heart. In this w^y we can grasp the reality and the value of the Unseen. The war also has brought out this reality and this value, for it is really a struggle between different ideals of life, namely the view of the world as the sphere of personal gain, and the view of the world as the sphere of personal service. Behind political movements lie economic changes, behind economic phenomena lie moral causes, and behind the moral causes lies the religious impulse. The obvious oc- casions of strife are not the real causes of war, any more than the assassination of an Austrian Archduke was the cause of the Great War. Neither was it numbers and or- ganization alone that won the victory for the Allies. The 274 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH real source of victory was the ideal that bound them together, that inspired and directed the organization, that kept the struggle going when the prospect was darkest, and that is guiding them in the work of settlement. The proposed League of Nations is an embodiment of this ideal and the way in which it has won general approval indicates the strength of moral force. In fact it can be shown again and again from history that moral force is in the end the only force. It enabled the ancient Greeks to defeat the attacks of Persia, it preserved the Jewish Religion and nationality through the fiercest trials, it enabled the Christian Church to conquer the Roman Empire. Nay, Rome herself held her empire together by the force of law and order, and a greater security than the world had ever known before. It is the force that has enabled small nations to win and keep their independence against apparently overwhelm- ing odds. National sentiment is one form of the expression of personality. The psychological factor does count all the time. Moral force enables England to rule India to-day and to hold together an empire unique in history for its variety of race, language, religion, social structure and forms of government. Truly "righteous- ness exalteth a nation." Justice, honour, responsibility, brotherhood, honesty, altruism, may seem to be merely abstract terms, but they connote realities which are the more powerful because they work unseen, though their results are manifest. Moral and spiritual forces may be impossible to calculate, but they are the final arbiters in every human conflict. Nevertheless the Church has behind it not merely the power of love, and the power of high ideals, and the power of a positive standard of righteousness, she has also the great fundamental facts of which she is trustee and witness, which she is in duty bound to make known to the world in word and act, namely, the fact of God, the fact of Christ, the fact of the Holy Spirit, with all that those facts mean and carry with them to the hearts THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH 275 and minds and wills of men. The Bible, the Church as a whole, and Christians as individuals are the witnesses to these facts, to Christ as Saviour and Lord of mankind, and to the presence and power of the Holy- Spirit in the World, and to God the Father who is over all things in heaven and earth. Tlius the Church has not only a message, men, and machinery, but she has power, namely, all those forces that are summed up in the fact of God and that are expressed in the full doctrine of the Trinity, that great mystery which yet has enabled men to grasp something of the personality of God, and which has consecrated the social instincts of man by tracing them and placing them firmly in the Divine Nature itself. To sum up, the whole resources of God Himself are on the side of the Church when she is faithful to her duty, and are at the disposal of every Christian who will take God at His word and live accordingly. This is the true meaning of the doctrine of grace, for the Grace of God is a personal fact, nothing less than the presence of God in power in and around us. But God treats us as responsible beings. If we fail to use the power He has placed at our disposal we have only ourselves to blame. Yet it is not enough to feel assured that we have God on our side, we must first of all make sure that we are on God's side. We must respond to God's trust in us when He treats us as responsible beings by rising to that responsibility through the great surrender, the yielding of self to God. Then shall we know the meaning of the Grace of God, then shall we realize the power that works through us, then shall we be better able to see the work that God expects from His Church, and the infinite resources that He has placed at her disposal. It is grace that keeps the Church alive. As we close our survey of the resources of the Church, two voices speak with one accord from the book of the Old Covenant, and their message takes new richness of meaning from the book 376 THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH of the New Covenant. Let the voices speak for them- selves, and let us hear and obey: — "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord," and, "The God of heaven. He will prosper us: therefore we His servants will arise and build." Lecture VII MOVING FORWARD The purpose of these lectures is mainly practical, and 1. Points of that fact has determined the choice of the subject and its Contact. ma,nner of treatment. The present situation of the Church in Australia, and indeed in almost every modern civilized State, has been stated as it is revealed in current facts and figures, and in the light of a historical survey of the last century and a half. Details differ in different countries, but the general situation of organized religion is very similar wherever modern civilization prevails. The Labour Movement in particular has received special attention as constituting the characteristic environment of the plain man who does not go to church, though the wage-earner is not alone in that form of abstinence. An attempt has also been made to measure the strength of the Church by a brief survey of its resources, actual and potential. But a really practical purpose does not stop here. The statement and analysis of a situation is of the greatest practical value, but the main question is left demanding an answer. Though many of the facts set forth in these lec- tures are easy to get at, and are generally well known, yet there are few people who have a comprehensive grasp of them all, and fewer still who seem to hold any clear view of their significance. Else why should there be such apathy among churchgoers towards the many who do not go to church? But when people have the facts placed before them, they turn round at once and ask the person who has taken the trouble to gather and arrange the facts to tell them what ought to be done. I foresaw when I set out on this subject that I should be expected to offer certain practical suggestions, and that a statement and 277 278 MOVING FORWARD analysis of the situation, however carefully made, would not be accepted as a sufficient justification for undertaking the problem of the plain man. And yet there is nothing more difficult than to make suggestions without falling into well-worn platitudes. There is plenty of talk about what ought to be done, but very little doing of it. Hence I must risk the offering of suggestions as to what may be done, though there may be nothing very new about them. They are at least the outcome of an attempt to. survey the whole situation, and may contribute a modicum of stimulus to others. For the man who asks for something practical usually means by that a request for something that will stir him up to a definite course of action. The Church has lost touch with the plain man, we are told. That is true, but it is not the whole truth. Organized Christianity is not absolutely cut off from the plain man, though he may never go to church. There are several promising points of contact. In the first place, organized Christianity is itself a fact, and a living fact, in the world. The survey of its re- sources ought to have shown that the Church is exercising an influence in the world, and the world has to tajce account of it from time to time, though the world may try to ignore it. This influence can be seen at work in the widespread diffusion of Christian sentiment. Modern humanitarianism is a product of this diffusion. Wherever courtesy and kindness, honesty and uprightness are valued, the Christian sentiment is at work. There is also the recognized supremacy of love in the closer personal relations of the home and of social intercourse generally. Modern sentiment places a higher value upon human life and personality than was prevalent a century ago, as seen in the abolition of slavery, the passing of the Factory Laws, the reforms in the treatment of criminals and lunatics, the enactment of elaborate health laws and regu- lations. This diffused Christian sentiment rarely intrudes into business, but it does penetrate into the ordinary social relations, especially in home life, where Christianity MOVING FORWARD 279 has done so much to elevate the social status of woman, by insisting on monogamy and consecrating the married state. Secondly, a very considerable use of the Church is still ii. Use made of made in Australia by the people who never attend public '^^ Church. worship. Ninety-seven per cent, of the marriages are performed by ministers of religion, all presumably with religious rites. Then, in the Anglican Church, some seventy per cent, of the babies born are baptized. The rite of baptism gives a splendid opportunity for the parish clergyman to speak seriously to the parents. It is a pity that there has been far too much promiscuous christening of children without seeing to the safeguards our church has provided, and without following up the rite by continuous pastoral care. If most people are baptized and married by the church, it is certain that practically everyone is buried with religious rites, and this also yields an important opportunity to the diligent pastor. The best opening, however, for pastoral ministra- tion is offered by the visitation of the sick. Many per- sons who neglect their duty of public worship expect the clergyman to visit them when they are sick, and this important pastoral function yields a fruitful opportunity for getting into touch with non-churchgoing families. Finally the Church is also used as a philanthropic or a social agency. Good works of charity and education commend themselves very nearly to the ordinary gazer on at the Church. The work of organized Christianity among the soldiers has brought it into close touch with large numbers of vigorous men who have hitherto been outside the Church, but with whom the Church has a unique chance, not merely to create an admiration of Christian ideas and principles, but to lead people into the knowledge and the love of Christ. This admiration of Christian ideas and principles has iii. Admiration been found in unexpected quarters and is itself a witness of Christian to the diffusion of Christianized sentiment. Even un- p|.^-^;^-fJ^ believers like John Stuart Mill have professed this 280 MOVING FORWARD admiration, and have acknowledged the character of Jesus Christ as perfect, while movements like Socialism and even Syndicalism, which have shown hostility to the Church, have borrowed freely from Christianity, and have taken some of their most powerful ideas, such as the brotherhood of man, from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, when some of the most extreme forms of the Labour Movement are studied, they are found to be try- ing to work out ideas that are part of the Catholic Faith, as when they try to substitute co-operation for competition in industry, and they take for granted a high level of human honour and altruism, an assumption that is justi- fied only when the Christian Gospel is really believed and practised. iv. Revived Many church people do not realize that some of the Interest in movements branded as Socialism are not really anti- Rehgton. religious, though they may be anti-church. Some of these movements are distinctly religious in aim and atmosphere, although they sometimes attack organized Christianity. In this way they bear witness to the enormous distribu- tion of latent religion awaiting the inspired touch to bring it out into open expression. Outside the Church there has been a great revival of interest in religion. A very large literature has grown up to meet the demand created by the comparative study of religion. The scientific interest that prompts men to collect, collate, classify, and compare all kinds of facts has extended its scope to religious phenomena. The history of religions is being studied. The modern educated Englishman can learn more of Hinduism or of Animism than his fathers knew of their own religion. The study of theology is no longer confined to the exposition of Christian dogmas, but includes the ideas of God and man, of sin and redemp- tion, of sacrifice and sacrament, of the world that is and the world to come, the rites and ceremonies and general organization of all kinds of religion. Theology has thus become a subject of wide academic interest, and as such has been included in the curricula of universities which MOVING FORWARD 281 had been founded on a purely secular basis. Recent developments in philosophy indicate movements in a similar direction towards a fuller recognition and greater valuation of the spiritual. Eucken and Bergson are very far removed from orthodox Christianity, but they are even farther removed from the mechanical naturalism that was fashionable a generation or two ago. Mind and spirit a^e no longer regarded as mere epiphenomena which cannot be fitted into a scheme of matter and motion, but rather as the realities which give meaning to things. But the revived interest in religion is not confined to v. "Fancy students and thinkers. The modern age is remarkable Religions." for the number of "fancy religions" that have been in- vented and propagated. Most of these "new religions" are, to quote the title of a former series of Moorhouse Lectures, "ancient heresies in modern dress." The religious instinct cannot be completely suppressed. If denied its expression in one direction it will find its way out elsewhere. Modern enlightenment has not banished superstition, nay rather, when divorced from the true religion it has increased superstition, as in the vogue en- joyed by theosophy, spiritualism, and other quack religions, even among distinguished scientists. The ex- pert is often a child when he is off his own subject, and that may account for these vagaries of belief among highly intelligent persons. But the revival in religion is not altogether outside vi. Recurrent organized Christianity. Even in the worst periods of the j!'',^7^'||^"^ ^^ Church's history there have been men and parishes that ^^{?j/^^ have kept true to the Church's commission. To-day there are enough centres of vigorous spiritual life, and there is enough evidence of church extension to show that though many Christians are spiritually asleep, there are some wide awake. Christianity is proving itself the one vital religion. The phenomena of religious revival never cease though they are not always evident on the same scale. There are periods, like that of the Evangelical Revival, when there are wonderful manifestations of spiritual 283 MOVING FORWARD awakening and recovery, and these large-scale revivals generally come at the close of a period of stagnation. It was so in the early and in the later middle ages. The Cluniac movement in the tenth, the great Reformation in the sixteenth, and the Evangelical Revival in the eighteenth and nineteenth centries, were each preceded by great spiritual deadness in the Church. The Church is far more alive to-day than it was in any of those periods of deadness, but the scope of the task before the Church is clearer and better understood, and the time is ripe for another great spiritual revival in the Church, The increase of interest in religion outside and inside the active circles of organized Christianity is an encouragement to go for- ward and also a valuable point of contact for aggressive effort to extend the Kingdom of God. The success of Christian missions is not limited to the foreign field. There is a wonderful story of "what God hath wrought" to be gathered from results achieved in the home field by the Church Army and kindred organizations. These results may be small in comparison with the field yet to be won, but, like the progress of the Allies at critical times on the Western Front, a short and slow advance may be far more important than a wide sweeping move- ment if it secures a good jumping-ofi ground for a further advance and strikes a hard blow at a strategic point. One of these strategic points in church work is the personal attraction of a particular minister. Men and women go to church to-day less from a sense of duty or conventional habit than from a personal regard for the minister, or personal interest in the church. It is not so much the Church as the body of Christ or the school of grace or any other theological concept that keeps people attached to a particular form of organized Christianity. It is the personal note that is struck by the particular church. They like the preacher, or they like the service, or their friends mostly attend that church. Thus the attachment to the church is less official than personal, and this feature yields a point of contact, for it MOVING FORWARD 283 shows that people respond to the personal touch and that where the ministry is efficient in numbers and equipment, there the Church may expect to go forward. This consideration has an important bearing on the edu- cational policy of the Church.- Another point of contact is the democratization of the win. Democracy Church. In Australia the laity are given their share in in Church the constitutional assemblies of the Church. They have Government. a voice in legislation, in spending money, and in the appointments to parishes and bishoprics. Thus the lay- man can feel that he is really wanted and welcomed in the counsels and control of the Church, and this feeling has been stimulated by the increasing sense of corporate consciousness which is manifesting itself in the world to-day. There are many signs of reaction from the indi- vidualism of laissez-faire. The war has greatly revived the sentiment of nationality, but before the war there were indications of a growth of group consciousness, chiefly, however, in class movements like the Labour Movement, more especially in its Syndicalist aspect. Other indications are available, but these will suffice to show that there is a tendency to extend the conception of personality beyond the individual to the group, and this tendency has combined with the democratization of church government in Australia to give the Church an invaluable point of contact with the world that needs the Church's message. The Church is the one society that holds the solution of the age-long problem of the one and the many; how to combine freedom for the individual with loyalty to the whole body. What that solution is will now engage our attention. It is the Church as the school of grace. Before passing on to that topic one thing may be said. What the Church has to do is to awaken in her own members, and through them in the world, a strong sense of personal responsibility. Here then is work for the Church to do in the world, to 2. The Church teach men their true manhood, by witnessing to them the as the School fact of God and their responsibility to Him, the fact of ^* ^race. 284 MOVING FORWARD Christ and their need of Him as personal Saviour and Lord, the fact of the Holy Spirit and their possession of Him as the power of life. The fact of God may be made known to the world in many ways, but the Church's business is to make God known to the world by present- ing Christ to the world through personal witness, indi- vidual and corporate. If the duty and possibilities of corporate personal witness were more fully realized, there would be far less division and strife among Christians. The Church is the School of Grace, wherein men may learn and practise the presence of God in power in their own lives, wherein they may grow in the power of His Presence, wherein they may lose themselves and find God, and find God in the full meaning of service. Aspects of the Looking at the Church from the inside it appears in Church. many aspects each conveying its contribution to the whole truth about the Church, whether as the Body of Christ, the spiritual home of the people, the ark of salvation, the temple of God, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, the Bride of Christ, the City of God. All these descriptions have their use and convey portions of the truth, and if the Church is to do her duty in the world, her members must choose one ideal for her as their own while also recog- nizing the place and function of the other ideals. One caution is needful. No conception of the Church must be allowed to put the Church into the place that Christ Himself must occupy. The Church must never put her own first personal pronoun in the place of God. With this proviso understood, I would ask you to con- sider the Church as the School of Grace. Definition L^t me define my terms. By the "Church" I mean all of Terms, those who are living in faith-union with Christ, the whole company of loyal believers. The word "School" may be taken in a, twofold sense, first, as a place or sphere of instruction and discipline, and next as a company of per- ^ sons who have the same end in view and look at life and eternity in much the same way. By "Grace" I mean the MOVING FORWARD 285 realized personal presence of God the Holy Spirit, as the witness and seal of God's free, unmerited favour towards us. To begin at the beginning, the "Church" for our purpose consists of the kiiriakoi, the Lord's people, those who have given their hearts to God, and have found pardon, peace, and power through the trust they repose in Jesus Christ and the witnessing presence of the Holy Spirit. But salvation is far more than conversion. Conviction Salvation is of sin and assurance of pardon are but the first steps for Service. towards the life that is in Christ. We are saved to serve. We are saved by grace to serve through grace, that we may bear witness to God in the world as He has revealed Himself in Christ to and for the world. We are brought to Christ that we may be in Christ, and Christ may be in us, so that we may work for Christ, and in working by His power given to us may be made partakers with Christ in His Kingdom. Salvation means that the Christian becomes a living member of the Body of Christ, drawn into closer and closer fellowship with Him who is the Head, and with the brethren who are fellow members of the Body, so that the awakening of the individual con- science leads on to the realization of the corporate con- sciousness. The Christian is not an isolated unit, he is a member of Christ, and loses himself to find himself, for his personality grows and develops through contact and communion with Christ by the working of His Spirit, and through fellowship with the brethren who have likewise received the Holy Spirit. There is a corporate as well as an individual partaking The Corporate in the process of salvation, and it is a mark of the true aspect of Catholicity of the Anglican Church that she holds the Salvatton. balance between them. This comes out in her doctrine and ritual of the two Sacraments. On the one side there is the corporate significance of the Sacraments, and on the other there is the individual appropriation of the bless- ings that are vouchsafed to the faithful participant. By baptism we are welcomed into the Divine Society, and are 286 MOVING FORWARD Twofold aspect of Church. the i. The Divine Aspect. made partakers of the holiest fellowship. We are also introduced to the ideal to which the Church bears witness, and we are made heirs and trustees of the revela- tion once delivered to the Saints. Finally we are initiated into the work which we must accomplish, each doing his part towards fulfilling "the one far-off Divine event to which creation moves." Baptism is the sacrament of initiation, the Lord's Supper is the Sacrament of preservation and growth, of equipment for work, and of grace to wait patiently for, while working strenuously towards, the consumma- tion, "Till He come." The Two Sacraments are eloquent of the meaning and purpose of the Church as the School of Grace. They are "not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace and God's goodwill towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in Him." The Church, as the School of Grace, may be regarded as either Divine or human, according as we look at it as the creation of God, the outward and visible instrument of His will, or as the society of human beings who believe truly in Jesus Christ. The Divine or Christward aspect of the Church is des- cribed by St. Paul in the Ephesian Epistle as the Body of Christ, the outward and visible expression of His Divine Personality in the world. The fact of the Church is explic- able only by the fact of Christ. The fact of the converted and sanctified individual is also only explicable by the fact of Christ. Every such individual in his own way and measure is an expression of Christ to the world. But this expression is only fragmentary. It needs the whole Church, not as an aggregate of individuals, but as a com- plete and living organism, to express the whole Christ. Not till every human being has been converted and brought to Christ will His Church be complete, for He died to save all men, and not till then will Christ be com- MOVING FORWARD 287 pletely presented in the world — in the world rather than to the world — for when that consummation is reached the world will be all at the feet of Christ. This is one view of the obligation that lies on all the members of the Church, namely, the obligation of personal knowledge of, and personal witness to, Christ, in the Church, and to the world. The individual is the microcosm of the Person of Christ, and an incomplete microcosm, the Church is the macrocosm, also incomplete as yet. The human weak- nesses and misdoings of members of the Church have marred their individual and corporate expression of His Personality, but on the whole, the Church, though im- perfectly, has stood before men as the witness to "a power not ourselves which makes for righteousness"; it has been the historic and continuous manifestation of Christ in the world. The Church, as the Body of Christ, is also the instru- The Church ment for carrying out His Will, the Divinely com- as the missioned agency for building up and extending the King- J'/^f!l"^^£i^i„^ dom of God upon earth. We cannot measure the ^/-ji condescension of God when He chose to become man. It was a greater condescension to redeem man, but greatest of all to invite man to become God's fellow- worker. The Incarnation and Atonement teach us that God works upon man through man. We, as human beings, are not only part of the Divine plan for the world, but we have an intelligent and voluntary share in the working out of that plan.' The mystery of Creation introduces us to the mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of the Incarnation preludes the central mystery of the Atonement, but the mystery of service, namely, that we, God's creatures, can serve Him Who is our Creator, is the most marvellous, that we, the members of His Church, should share the privilege and the responsibility of extending and fulfilling the Kingdom of God. As the historic and continuous witness to Christ, and as the instrument wherewith He is preparing His Kingdom, the Church stands unique as the School W 288 MOVING FORWARD of Grace wherein its members learn to know and apply the power of Christ in their own lives and in the world to transform it into His Kingdom. il. The On the manward side the Church stands out first of all Manward as the "natural" outcome of the gregarious tendencies of Aspect. mankind. Man is a social animal. The solitary person is always regarded as eccentric. Men group themselves in many ways, and for many reasons and purposes, business, education, social life, politics, that is, govern- ment. The Church combines all these motives for organi- zation and adds others. Religion is the real business of life. It yields greater depth and abundance of enjoyment or refreshment than any recreation. It is the most powerful and persistent educational force, and it is the strongest sanction and support of social and family obli- gations. Organized religion has always been recognized as the moral safeguard of public security and order. It is in the Church that men and women find the fullest scope for developing complete manhood and womanhood. The Church is the great school of Personality, the unique sphere for the development of the whole personality in which those aspirations can be fulfilled which fail to find satisfaction in business and pleasure. The Church as ^^^ Church is the great school of personality because the School of in the first place it is the expression and instrument of Personality. the uniquely comprehensive Personality — the God-man Jesus Christ, the Universal Man, the Ideal of complete humanity. Secondly the Church also brings men to Him who is not only the Ideal, but the Power to grow thereto. Thirdly, it is only in an organized society that the indi- vidual man can fully develop his own personality, or make any contribution to the life of the world. Man is man only in society. It is only in society that I can do the one thing I do best because the other people do the other things I cannot do. The Church is the society organized for the purpose of fulfilling God's will. Men who neglect the fellowship with the brethren run a great risk of losing their fellowship with Jesus Christ. The organi- MOVING FORWARD 289 zation of the Church enables her members to live the life of righteousness more easily and perfectly. In the Church as an organized society there is more scope for those who can do great things for God, and also more room for those who can only do a little. Men who try to live for God apart from the Christian society are in danger of becoming unprofitable servants. But, fourthly, we must penetrate behind the outward fact of organization to the inward power, already des- cribed, of which that organization is the manifestation and witness. The Church is the Body of Christ. What- ever power the Church possesses is derived from Christ, and this power has to be consciously appropriated and applied by the members of the Church, who are them- selves self-conscious and independent units, each with a life of his own, and yet unable to realize that inde- pendence and to live that characteristic life apart from the body as a whole. This is part of the inner meaning and outward significance of the two Sacraments which Our Lord commanded. Hence the Church is the School of grace because in it men are lifted up to the highest plane on which they may meet, namely, fellowship in and through the Holy Spirit Who works most effectively upon and through men and women when they are loyal to the Divine Society. The Church is the School of Grace, not only because The Church is therein men may find the fullest scope for developing the School personality on the highest level of intercourse with each ^* ^*'^- other, namely, in the realized presence and power of God, but also because the Church is the School of Love. The Church is founded on the fact that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- ever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life." That fact is the foundation also of the command of the only-begotten Son to His disciples, "that ye love one another, as I have loved you." It is in the Church that we learn by love to serve one another if we are truly loyal to the Head of the Church. This is the ideal, how- 290 MOVING FORWARD ever far we may be from it, and the ideal has been realized at times in the history of the Church, and it was never more needed in the world than it is to-day. It is the revolution that is needed in business to transform it from organized selfishness to organized helpfulness. The world needs to learn that it is more blessed to give than to get. This lesson may be learned in home life which is based on mutual love and service. Yet even in home life there is an element of selfishness because we expect, and receive, affection, in return for the affection we bestow. Parent and child, brother and sister, have claims upon each other, and rights and duties with respect to each other. Even in home life we lay each other under obliga- tions which ought to be respected and acknowledged. But in the Church we learn to give to God apart from any question of what we are to get in return from Him, because all we have comes from Him, and "in Him we live and move and have our being." There is nothing we can call absolutely our own, though He graciously con- descends to treat us as owners by giving us full and free, and responsible, use of His manifold gifts. When we give to one another, a mutual obligation is created; when we give to God we give Him but His own and the obliga- tion is all on our side; there is no obligation on God's side but what He condescends to take upon Himself. Thus the Church stands out as the school in which men" may learn to give in the purest and highest way as against the world, that hard and bitter school where men are ever striving to get for themselves, and "nothing for nothing" is the ruling principle. The Church is the visible embodiment of the fact that "God so loved that He gave," nay, we may read that fact in the present tense, "God so loves that He gives." Thus the Church is the school wherein the warmer, the more tender and beautiful, and the more abundantly fruit- ful aspects and aspirations of humanity are called forth. The Church is the schoolin which what is best in man finds its one chance of education and exercise. The MOVING FORWARD 291 Church is not a museum of wax models or faultless statues. It is a living organism with widely differentiated organs and members, yet each organ and each member has a place and a function that contribute to the complete- ness, the health, and the efficiency of the body. The Church is the school where men should learn to co- operate rather than to compete, to become united because of their differences, for unity comes through variety, the greater the variety the more comprehensive the unity. The Church is also a School of Discipline. There is the The Church is discipline we receive from God, the chastening that '^'f School of teaches us how greatly God loves us, because He takes ^*'^"/''"»^' such trouble with us, exercises such patience towards us, shaping us as stones for His temple, refining us as gold with the trials of life, that He may see His image reflected in us. There is also the discipline we receive from each other, in the Church, in the fellowship and communion of the saints. No organized society can be held together without some form of discipline. We have to learn to bear with one another, to give way to one another, to consider one another, and so our characters are smoothed and shaped, our personal energies are stimulated and directed, and we learn how to live at peace, and above all how to co-operate in active service. The Church is a School of Discipline wherein we may learn to be humble, and to serve even as our Master served. Then the Church is a School of Consecration. It is a The Church is school of consecrated persons, and it is the school in « School of which men may learn and practise all that is meant by consecration. The Church is necessary to all people who wish to lead consecrated lives. The first step in consecra- tion is the great surrender to God who wants us. The next is to know what He wants us to do, and that means knowledge of ourselves and of our opportunities, for God wants us to do what we can do best— not necessarily what we think we can do best. Then we must concentrate our efforts on the exercise, the development and application of what talents we possess, and this can be done only in 292 MOVING FORWARD an organized society. It is only in the Church that we can fully give ourselves to God and train ourselves in His service, for it is only in communion with our fellow members of the Body of Christ that we can exercise fully those gifts, such as they are, which are ours. A great part of the educative influence of a school is exerted by the pupils upon one another, especially in the sphere of morals and character. The Church is the school in which men may most fully and unreservedly give themselves to serve one another, and in doing so they will find the Church the best school for the training of the whole personality. The Demands There is a great and growing demand in the world of human to-day for the expression and enrichment of personality. Personality. It is the real driving force of the Labour Movement which has grown up as an organized attempt to satisfy those personal aspirations and cravings and tastes among the wage-earners which are not consulted by their employers. Half of a man's waking existence is occupied with work which is merely an occasion for making money and which has nothing to do with his personality, for he is merely a unit in a huge machine for producing material wealth. The de-personalization of modern business is responsible for the spirit of rebellion among the wage-earners, and of restless dissatisfaction among the plutocrats. The craving for full development and expression of personality offers a point of contact which the Church can best utilize by offering herself to the people as the School of Grace, the school wherein they may learn and practise their duty towards God and towards their neighbour, and in the practice of their duty learn that love to God and man which gives salt and meaning to life. The Chief End But the development of personality and the formation of Man is the of character do not constitute the chief end of man, God-centred though such is a far nobler end than what many people ^ ' consciously pursue. It is not the chief end of man, as it makes man too much of an end in himself, it makes MOVING FORWARD 293 man the centre of life. The true centre of life is God, the source and end of all life. That is why the Cross of Calvary rather than the Cradle of Bethlehem is the heart of the Gospel. The Incarnation brought God into the world as nothing else did, and it has for ever sanctified the whole of human life. But the Cross gives the meaning and the purpose of the Incarnation, that the chief end of man is not to attain to an ideal but to give himself to God. The Incarnation brought God to man, but the Cross brings man to God. The essential contrast between the Church and the world is that between the God-centred and the self-centred life. The Church stands first and foremost for the fact of God as finally revealed in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Person to Whom all human life should be directed. The Cross of Christ is the moral lever that lifts men from the self to God as the centre of life. This is the greatest revolution in history, and the Church is the most revolutionary of all societies, for its main business is by the preaching of the Cross of Christ to transform the world from a self-sufficient society into the Kingdom of God. The Church is the School of Grace for it consists of those men and women who have accepted all that God has given them through the Cross of Christ, whose sufficiency is not of themselves, but of God, whose life is a surrendered service to God, through the Grace of God that is assured to them by the Cross, and sealed in their hearts by the witness of the Spirit. The Church is the school of men and women who live by the Grace of God, and it thus becomes the sphere in which they obey and serve God, the spiritual home of the people of God. Such is the ideal, but how painful the contrast with Practical things as they are! This contrast has already been dcs- Suggestions. cribed and analysed, and the purpose now is to offer a few practical suggestions towards bringing the actual nearer the ideal. No originality is claimed for these suggestions, but they have spontaneously arisen from the attempt to present a comprehensive survey of the situa- 294 MOVING FORWARD tion of organized Christianity in modern civilized society. No loyal member of the Church can be satisfied with things as they are. It is the duty of every member to study the facts and think out lines of practical policy. This is part of the obligation of membership, for without an understanding of the situation there can be no intelli- gent construction of policy, or any intelligent fulfilment of duty. I am only trying to do what every other member of the Church ought to do. The Need of The question of policy at once brings out the need of Statesmanship, statesmanship, that is, the need of men who are specially qualified to study the facts and frame a policy and give a lead therein to the rank and file. Yet the duty of study- ing the facts must not be left entirely to the leaders. It is the duty of every member to know how the Church stands in the world. But in the matter of a broad general policy for the Church, the ordinary member has a right to expect guidance from those who are in high ofiice, and also there must be men set apart whose main business is to think out a,nd enunciate a scheme of policy for the Church as a whole. This is the main function of the episcopate, and the chief strength of the episcopal system of government is its recognition of the need of statesman- ship in the practical affairs of the Church. It is not my task in these lectures to teach bishops their business, and I have no desire to presume to do so. But I must point out the fragmentary sort of policy that seems to be pur- sued, if indeed the Church as a whole is pursuing any- thing at all. The recent attempts to hold Diocesan and National Missions are the nearest approach to a common line of general policy that we have had for some time past. There is need of statesmanship that will give a comprehensive scheme of practical policy for the whole Church, and yet leave each diocese free to work out details to suit its own circumstances. Such a policy would include an aggressive evangelism, a comprehensive educational programme, an attempt to produce a better understanding between parties and sects, definite leader- MOVING FORWARD 295 ship in great moral issues, and reforms in Church finance. Other points may suggest themselves, but a series of practical measures on the lines indicated would bring the resources of the Church more effectively to bear on the problem of the plain man. The Diocesan Missions in Australia have clearly shown 1. An two things, first that there is plenty of live religion in aggressive the Church, and next that the mass of the people are un- Evangelism. touched by organized Christianity. Even if all the churches were filled simultaneously, eighty per cent, of our nominal members would still be outside. The re- ports of almost all missions agree in acknowledging that the great number of people outside the regular church- goers were hardly reached at all. The faithful ten per cent, turned up to the services, the other ten per cent., who form a sort of fringe, turned up in fluctuating numbers, but of the eighty per cent, indifferent hardly any came at all. It was good to see the churches filled, but it was not good to think of the four times as many who stayed away. There are few parishes in which even half of the nominal church people could find room in the church, and the general average proportion of accommo- dation in the metropolitan dioceses is only twenty per cent, of the nominal membership. The people do not come to church, then the Church Need of a must go to the people. The Christian Church grew from ^^aj^'I^S"^ the first as the result of an aggressive evangelism. The ^E^^Hg^Hj^ Lord's commission to His Church was to go and preach the Gospel. The Apostles did not wait for the people to come to church, they took the Gospel to the people. The missionary command is universal. It applies to home and to foreign missions, to every part of the earth where may be found numbers of people living apart from God. The general mission movement is a testimony to the felt need of an aggressive evangelistic campaign, but it has been too much of a mere splash. There is need of a permanent central organization for home missions on a plan similar to that recently established for foreign 296 MOVING FORWARD missions. This central body should devote itself to the problem of getting at the people who do not attend public worship. There is need of a literature on evangel- ism. The day of the tract is not over, but the old- fashioned tract would not "catch" the modern man. Tracts are the most ephemeral form of evidential litera- ture as they must appeal to a particular set of circum- stances and strike more of a topical than a universal note. A central body could collect and pool and systematize the information gathered from all the dioceses, and out of the material furnished by this widely extended experience, should be able to publish handbooks for parochial clergy, and literature of all sorts for use in parochial and diocesan missions, and should also be able to give advice as to the choice of a missioner and on various practical problems that may arise in peculiar circumstances. Each diocese in Australia has its Home Mission Society, or something answering the same purpose, and most of the parochial clergy are trying to reach the non-churchgoer. But the Diocesan Home Mission organization is usually little more than a financial agency for assisting the weaker parishes, and is not itself directly engaged in the spiritual front line. It is limited to the commissariat of the spiritual army whereas it ought to take some share in strategy and tactics. The Home Mission Society in each diocese should be not only the Army Service Corps and Paymaster's Department, but should undertake some at least of the General Staff work. On the whole the eflforts of the Church are too fragmentary and generally sporadic to meet the situation. Just as the best brains and the keenest enthusiasm of the Church are at work on the wider and more general aspects of the foreign missionary field, arousing the conscience of the whole Church and trying to organize the energies of the whole Church towards fulfilling the paramount responsibility of Christian people to the peoples who are not Christian, so there is needed the same concentration of mental and spiritual energy on the wider and more general aspects MOVING FORWARD 297 of the home mission problem of the Church. The heart of the home mission problem is how to present the Gospel with power to the people who are indifferent. It is not enough for each parish clergyman to try to do it in his own way, though that is necessary, or for each bishop to- have his own organization, though that is still more necessary. The whole Church must be made to feel its responsibility. The main business of the Church is to witness to God by proclaiming His Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. The General Synod of the Church in Australia has formulated a scheme for co-ordinating the foreign missionary organizations of the Church, and in this way has helped to educate church people to realize that missionary enterprise is the responsibility and the work of the whole Church, and not merely of the few who are interested in it. Church people need the same sort of education in their responsibility towards home missions as the problem of the whole Church, not merely of the clergy and a few laymen in diocesan committees. The few who go regu- larly to church must cease to think of the Church as their religious club. The Church is not the club of the select few but the instrument for extending the Kingdom of God. Yet there has been a relative decrease in church membership. Many are ready to note a decay in religious observances, for example, the observance of Sunday as the Lord's Day. The Church is being made to stand more and more on the defensive. But an offensive is the best defensive. There is room for a permanently organized evangelistic effort, a department of the whole Church for home as for foreign missions. There is room for systematic study of evangelistic methods, for the training of evangelists. Something of the kind is being done, but is must be done on a larger scale and with a co-ordination of effort that has not yet been attempted. An organized evangelism must be strategically applied Strategic and this involves a close study of the mind of the average Application. man, and of the influences that mould his cfiaracter, the 298 MOVING FORWARD objects that are forced on his attention by his social en- vironment. The epistles of St. Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, show that he was a close and intelligent ob- server of the social conditions of the people to whom he preached the Gospel. He had proved the Gospel in his own life to be the power of God unto salvation, but the call to preach the Gospel he had tried and proved only- made him more keenly observant of the people to whom he preached. And his evangelism was strategic in that he chose those centres from which the Gospel message would be most widely diffused. The evangelistic cam- paigns of St. Paul are models of strategic statesmanship. He studied the whole field and applied his efforts where they would produce the best results. Modern evangelism calls for a similar application of sanctified common sense. The first requisite is that the evangelist himself be a "converted" man, a "twice-born" man, to quote William James, namely, that he himself has tried and proved the power of the Gospel in his own life. Then he must study his field in order that he may apply his message aright. At present he is left too much to his own initiative. There is room for a comprehensive treatise on the whole subject of evangelism which will gather into a focus the experience of great evangelists, and which will present also the phenomena of modern civilization in such a way that the evangelist may know what are the points of contact he may use to bring the Gospel to bear directly upon the people who are outside the Church. An aggressive evangelism has been put in the forefront of the general policy of the Church because that is the first duty of the Church to God, and to the world. The phenomena of modern civilization are widespread enough, and the failure of organized Christianity to touch the daily life of the people is general enough to warrant the formation of a Central Committee on Evangelism with a view to the gathering and publication of information on the whole subject on the lines, for example, of Prof. T. B. MOVING FORWARD 299 Kilpatrick's "New Testament Evangelism." Evangelism is the true fighting policy of the Church, and as such ought to be foremost in the statesmanship of the Church. But if the evangelists are the men in the firing line and 2. A compre- the front trenches, the pastors and teachers are the men ^^wjtz;^^ , ,, , , • • 4.U c 4.U Educational at the base who are organizmg the resources of the p^n^^ Church and training the men who are to go into the firing line. Yet those who would train others must themselves be trained and equipped for the work, and this considera- tion raises the question of an educational policy for the Church. One of the greatest practical difficulties that England had to face in the early days of the war was to find officers to train and lead the rank and file. There were plenty of men who had the makings of efficient officers, but the provision for training them was in- adequate. At first it was easy for a man with some edu- cation to his credit to obtain a commission. But after- wards it was not nearly so easy, as commissions were later on reserved for men who had served some time in the ranks and had worked their way up, for thereby they received a thorough practical training in the ground work of the functions they had to fulfil. It was much the same in Australia in the early days of Early the Church. The need of clergy was pressing and the Difficulties opportunities of training them were few. Educational equipment was reduced to a minimum so long as personal character and spiritual qualifications were sufficient. There were tragedies, as might have been expected, but these were chiefly imported from elsewhere. There were also brilliant successes. A splendid inspiration can be drawn from the record of the strenuous efforts of the pioneer clergy who faced hardships, privations, and often deadly peril in long and toilsome journeys that are as romantic and thrilling as the exploits of pioneer missionaries. Some of these pioneers are still with us, and their story and the testimony they have to bear to others ought to be put on record for the sake of those that come after, and also to give honour where honour is due. 300 MOVING FORWARD The modern Situation. The Educational Opportunity, But though there is much pioneer work still to be done in the bush districts, and much more will be needed as the great wastes are gradually filled up, the character of the work to be done in Australia by the ministry has greatly changed. By far the larger part of the popula- tion is settled in a few great cities and several smaller towns. In the metropolitan dioceses the work of the Church is very similar to what it is in the industrial areas of England where masses of wage-earners are congre- gated in large towns. It is in these centres that the State school system has been most effective in raising the general standard of education, and secularizing influences have been strongest. It is in the great cities of Aus- tralia, that the widest disproportion is found between churchgoers and non-churchgoers, not only among the rank and file, but among the leaders of society. The old authority of the Church in matters of faith has been weakened. More questions are asked and more difficulties have to be faced. The economic pressure is much greater, and the Church has to compete with many more interests. The simple statement of the faith is no longer accepted, but reasons and evidences are demanded. Men want to know the why and the wherefore of things. The educational opportunity of the Church has already been described but may be summarized again. The State has taken over many activities from the Church. Educa- tion is mainly a State affair. The Church has practically lost control, especially of elementary education. Eighty per cent, of the children are educated in the State ele- mentary schools where the education is free, compulsory and secular, though in some States there is a right of entry, and the Bible is taught in the regular course in addition to lessons given by denominational instructors. The Church has a much larger share in secondary edu- cation, but the universities are mainly professional schools, and are not concerned at all with religion, being\ merely secular institutions. The Church in Australia may learn a lesson from MOVING FORWARD 301 missionary enterprise in which the mission schools and colleges play a most important part. A strong and com- prehensive educational policy is the most effective back- ground of an aggressive evangelism. The Bible is still the most widely circulated book, but there are very few people in a modern civilized community who regularly study the Bible, though there is a widespread indirect in- fluence of Biblical teaching mainly handed down as a tradition from past generations. The Church has to face an appalling ignorance of the faith. The prevalence of strange beliefs such as those of Theosophy, Christian Science and Spiritualism, even among the better educated people, reveals the lack of knowledge of the very rudi- ments of Christianity. There is plenty of vague Christian sentiment, but very little definite Christian belief. An educational policy is the strategic need of the Church, and without it evangelistic effort is almost crippled from the start. In no department of work is there greater need of a move forward than in education, the weak point of the Church in Australia. Without a greatly increased educational effort the Church will lose touch with the leaders of the people in industry and politics as she has already lost touch with the rank and file. In framing an educational policy the main point of i. Elementary attack is offered by the elementary schools in which the Education. vast majority of the people receive their education. In all States but Victoria and South Australia the right of entry to denominational instructors yields an invaluable opportunity for definite religious teaching, enabling the Church to reach many children who do not attend Sunday school, and presenting more favourable opportunities for real instruction. The religious instruction given in the State schools should also be co-ordinated with that given in the Sunday schools in the diocesan schemes of lessons. The Sunday school system itself calls for a thorough re- construction, but that is a subject too large for the limits of these lectures, and there is plenty of literature already 302 MOVING FORWARD bearing on it. But one important point must be noticed here. At present the main burden of the work of in- struction falls upon the clergy, especially in the State schools. Very few of the clergy have had any training in the art of teaching, although the teaching office is an important function of the ministry. Yet it would be un- fair to demand a high degree of technical efficiency in teaching of every candidate for Holy Orders. The most that can be done is to include the art of teaching in the training of all candidates for the ministry. Yet the teach- ing opportunities of the Church are far beyond the com- pass of the clergy and afford scope "for the employment of men and women who have teaching gifts but are not otherwise qualified for Holy Orders. The parish clergy- man has many duties to perform besides taking part in the religious instruction in State schools. While the clergyman should be able to take some part in this work, it is sufficiently large and important a department to be assigned to a special body of men and women who have the aptitude and the training for it. If the Church is to make the best use of the opportunities in the State schools and in the Sunday schools, a sufficient supply of competent teachers must be obtained. Without disparaging the faithful work that is being done in all these schools by the clergy and others, it must be said that teaching is an art that demands a high degree of skill and a long course of training. A few may possess the gift, or the knack, but even born teachers are the better for training. The question of an adequate supply of teachers is partly a matter of vocation, and partly a matter of finance. Money devoted to founding a Church Teachers' Training College would be well spent. Women are debarred from the official ministry of the Church, but they might well realize their vocation in a teaching order. The trained teacher would relieve many a parish clergyman of a great deal of work for which he has had no special preparation, and| would perform a function as important to the Church as the official ministry of the Word and Sacraments. It is MOVING FORWARD 303 the trained teacher who will do most to keep the Church in touch with the children. If the Church in Australia has lost her primary schools, ii. Secondary she still retains her secondary schools, the one field open Schools. to the Church in public education. Yet even here there are opportunities at present which may be lost as the State is gradually extending its operations. Something, however, has already been done, and one illustration out of many may be quoted to show how great is the opportunity. Six years ago a church grammar school was opened in a western suburb of Sydney. Beginning from nothing it now has a fine set of buildings and a roir of more than a hundred and fifty scholars. Its rate of growth has been so rapid that further extensions are necessary. Another school has also been founded in an eastern suburb, and a large private school has also been taken over. Other instances could be quoted to show that this kind of Church activity is capable of great development. There is one feature of the particular school first mentioned that calls for special attention. From the first the main efforts of the management and the staff have been directed towards the maintenance of a high and definite religious tone. Quite a number of the elder boys have expressed their intention to enter Holy Orders. The sense of vocation has been fostered by the atmos- phere of the school. Here we touch the main weakness of the Church secondary schools. They have sent very few men into the ministry of the Church, partly because the spiritual tone of the schools has not been sufficiently fostered, and partly also because the parents, who send their boys to the Church schools, definitely discourage them from thinking of entering Holy Orders. I have proof positive of this attitude on the part of parents who were supposed to be good Church people. As regards secondary schools, the chief points that are needed in a policy for the Church are the founding of more schools and the raising of the spiritual tone, so as to make the X* 304 MOVING FORWARD sense of vocation rather than monetary prospects the deciding factor in choosing a life career, whether it be the ministry or one of the professions. A third point is the securing of an adequate supply of competent teachers with a sense of vocation to their work, iii. The After the secondary school comes the university, and Universities. here the direct opportunities of organized Christianity are limited to the denominational colleges. But a very strong case can be made out on purely academic grounds for the inclusion of theology in university courses and degrees. If the appeal is made on any kind of denomi- national basis it will probably fail, but the academic a. Recognition arguments are unanswerable. There is no first-class of Theology a.$ university in the British Empire that does not grant the "Queen of degrees in theology. "A university should give authori- ^ciences. tative recognition to merit in the study of any subject which can be treated according to the rules of scientific research. Theology ought to be treated as such a subject. This is so well recognized at the present day in the British Empire that many universities, including those established on a secular basis, have introduced examina- tions and degrees in theology. Examples are seen in London, Wales, Manchester, Toronto. In some of the older universities, where the Theological Faculty was at first exclusively intended for members of an established church, the lectures, examinations and degrees are now open to all in the same way as in other faculties. This has long been the case in the Scottish Universities; and Cambridge has now abolished all tests save the purely academic. London University has recently included theo- logical subjects among the options for the Arts course. Theology, therefore, should be recognized as a purely aca- demic subject quite apart from all denominational considera- tions. In the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, even when degrees were confined to members of the Established Church, theology was one of the honour schools in ^ which an Arts degree might be taken. Theology enters largely into a full study of Philosophy, Anthropology, MOVING FORWARD 305 Literature and History, and the study of Comparative Religion has attracted of late the interest of most scientific investigators in Britain, Europe and America." Such were the arguments addressed a short time ago to the Senate of the University of Sydney, which afterwards passed a resolution in favour of granting degrees in Theology. The only open opposition to the attempt came from the Roman Archbishop of Sydney, who plainly did not understand the proposal. If he did possibly under- stand it, then the theology that fears the academic method must be a poor thing, for it cannot bear a candid investi- gation. The inclusion of Theology would be a great asset to the university, and also to the Church. The plain man would more readily appreciate Theology as the Queen of the Sciences instead of regarding it as a cloistered subject unfit for, and unable to bear, open investigation. It has been an inestimable gain to the Church of England that the majority of the clergy, in the old country, have been educated at the ancient universities in the same colleges and classes and courses as the leading men of secular professions. The Anglican Church has always tried to maintain the tradition of a learned clergy, and in England this tradition has been fairly kept. In Aus- tralia the difficulties of securing a high educational standard have been very great, but the Presbyterians have shown what can be done. Still, the best guarantee of a high educational standard among the clergy is that Theology shall be one of the regular degree courses at the universities, and receive its due recognition as a sub- ject of instruction and research. But an educational policy for the Church can do more b. A University in the universities than influence the range of subjects; Pastorate. it ought to reach the men. There is distinct need at each university for a church pastorate in close touch and sympathy with the Student Christian Movement, and also with any effort in the shape of a University Settlement among the wage-earners. It is along the line of social 306 MOVING FORWARD service that educated men will be drawn into the ministry, but there is plenty of scope for one or two clergymen to do pastoral work among university students, especially as the majority of the students do not reside in the colleges. It is a special kind of pastorate and calls for a man who can enter fully into the life of the uni- versity. Spiritual qualifications come first, but a good academic standing and a keen interest in healthy sport are excellent recommendations to the genus under- graduate. The university pastor should also receive a liberal stipend to enable him to entertain freely, as social intercourse is a potent spell wherewith to influence the student. Literature. A Church that is doing its duty in the schools and in the universities will lack neither material nor chances for a vigorous propaganda campaign. The spoken word and the personal touch are the most powerful methods of evangelism. But they are not the only methods. The overworked pastor can often leave behind him a book or a leaflet where he cannot put in a word. There is very little organized attack on the Church, but it is enough to give the lazy man an excuse for indifference, and it has to be met. There is a wide scope for eviden- tial literature that is both plain and popular. Readable books are also needed for another purpose, to counteract the cheap and nasty literature that glorifies lust and per- verts liberty into licence. A good deal of Christian pro- paganda literature is published in England and America, but there is room for an Australian series, especially for booklets that deal with the Church's message and relation to modern social conditions. A very useful pamphlet could be drawn up to show what the Church has done for the wage-earner,' and another to show how the Labour Movement and its kindred have borrowed some of their best ideas from Christianity, but will never do what the Church has done because they have not used the power as well as the ideas of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A very useful literature could be written around MOVING FORWARD 307 the points of contact between the Church and the plain man. Nevertheless the chief method of contact is the direct v. Training for personal touch, and that is mainly the business of the ^^^V Orders. ministry. The training of candidates for Holy Orders, and the training of clergymen during the first years of their ministry is the heart of the educational problem of the Church. This is the age of the specialist, and special- ized training is demanded in every profession. No one can be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, or dentist, without passing stifif examinations and giving evidence of a long course of practical training. The ministry is a vocation, and not a profession, but its members rank as a profession, and their work demands a very considerable intellectual as well as spiritual equipment. St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, had received at least the rudiments of a Greek education. He was born in Tarsus, a noted centre of learning, and his rabbinical training, probably at Jerusalem, not only grounded him in the Scriptures, but also sharpened his intellect, while his Roman citizenship gave him a considerable social standing. There is room for a great variety of types in the Christian ministry, and we cannot expect to find a St. Paul in every diocese. But a careful study of what we can gather concerning St. Paul's training, his early en- vironment and later development, his various methods of evangelism, and his manner of handling theological, ritual and disciplinary questions will furnish many points for an educational policy in the Church. For St. Paul was a highly educated man, and he was the chosen vessel of the Gospel to the centres of ancient civilization. In St. Paul's training we can distinguish first a thorough The Training grounding in the Scriptures, and in their interpretation ^f ^^' -f^^"*- and application to practical questions; secondly, a con- siderable degree of liberal education and knowledge of the social circumstances of the civilized world, St. Paul could argue with Jewish rabbis, plead with ordinary wor- shippers in the synagogue, preach the Gospel to plain 308 MOVING FORWARD Present system of Training. men in the streets and market places, and reason with Athenian university men. He could also earn his own living at a trade. The fully educated man is one who is prepared for any set of circumstances. Applying these considerations to the pre- and post- ordination training of the clergy, remembering also the steady rise in the educational standards of modern society, and then looking at the existing provision in the Church for the preparation of her men for the ministry, the wonder is that the clergy are doing their work as well as they do. But there is an urgent necessity for a longer, wider, and more thorough education of the clergy. Five years is the normal course for a doctor, and it usually takes a year or two longer before he practises on his own responsibility. At present two years is the normal period of training for the ministry, though another year or two may be added. In England it is increasingly the rule that at least a year is spent in theological training in addition to a three years' course in Arts. The Presby- terian Church aims at, and largely succeeds in securing, three years of theological and practical training in ad- dition to an Arts course. In the metropolitan dioceses of Australia from twenty-five to thirty per cent, of the Anglican clergy possess university degrees, and a con- siderable proportion of these are not Australian. In the country dioceses the proportion of clergy who have degrees is much less. Taking Sydney and Melbourne as the most highly favoured dioceses, we note that about seventy per cent, of the clergy have received a college training of some kind. Regarding the Church in Australia as a whole, it would seem as if at least fifty per cent, of the clergy have passed through a theological college, and the ten- dency is to increase that proportion, for of men who have been ordained in recent years, fully ninety per cent, have been to a theological college. As things are, we must expect for many years to come that the theological college will be the training ground MOVING FORWARD 309 for the main body of the clergy, and we arrive at this position, that in Australia the theological college holds the key to the situation of the Church, and yet it is the Cinderella among Church institutions. The theological college is the neglected child of the Church in Australia. Its difficulties are nearly all financial. The laymen of the Church will pay for anything but the training of the clergy. They look upon the ministry as one of the pro- fessions for which candidates must finance themselves. But at the same time the clergy are cut off by their ordi- nation vows, and by the circumstances of their calling, from the making of money, and so the worldly-wise churchman refuses to let his son read for Holy Orders. He says: "My boy, it is not good enough." But going to church on the Sunday and hearing the parson in the pulpit, he remarks: "He is not good enough." There are plenty of complaints about the shortage of Insufficient clergy and their lack of educational equipment. Yet Finance. there are plenty of men who have the spiritual and mental capacity to serve in the ministry. The real block to the supply is the lamentable lack of means of training, namely, money, buildings, scholarship. Moore Theo- logical College is the oldest and largest and best endowed clergy training school of the Anglican Church in Aus- tralia. Yet its income from endowment is about £300 a year to meet working expenses in normal times of £2,000 a year. The bulk of the income is derived from fees. Other colleges have to manage on much smaller means. The average amount spent by way of direct assistance to students in Anglican Colleges is about £30 or £40 per head per annum, apart from special cases and the income earned by students acting as stipendiary lay readers. The Presbyterian Church spends £lOO per head on its students in New South Wales. However, the chief weakness of the Anglican Theo- logical Colleges is the absence of financial provision for the teaching staff. It requires three permanent teachers to do the work properly in a single college. But through- 310 MOVING FORWARD out Australia there is not a single post that is open to pure scholarship. Practically all heads of colleges have to hold other diocesan or parochial appointments in order to secure an adequate income. There is not a single en- dowment in the Anglican Church in Australia which pro- vides a sufficient stipend for a really first-class teacher in Theology, and there is no post for the man who wishes to specialize in scholarship. A few years ago the Presby- terian Church in New South Wales set out to raise il5,000 in five years to endow a professorship. In three years they had raised il7,000 and were able to appoint a really first-class New Testament scholar who could give his whole time to teaching. He is not the only professor, but has colleagues in other branches of Theology. One of the foremost needs of the Anglican Church in Australia is the endowment of theological scholarship, and the pro- vision of an adequate permanent staff in each theological college who can give their whole time to study and teach- ing and the production of literature. Just as the stipends of professors at the university are independent of students' fees or eleemosynary grants, so ought the stipends of the permanent staff of a theological college to be placed on a footing apart from students' fees or annual diocesan grants. The income from fees and grants should be de- voted to the general maintenance of the colleges and the provision of extra teaching when required. The shortage of finance is shown not only in the lack of endowment for teaching, but also in the poor and unsuitable buildings and general lack of equipment in the colleges. They have to live on the lowest margin of subsistence. Money spent on decency and comfort is not wasted, but the money is not forthcoming from the people who ought to pay. There is the more need to put the Theological College on a financially independent basis because of the peculiar situation and functions of such a college in Australia, which arise mainly from the fact already brought forward that it is practically the only training ground of the clergy in this part of the world. The universities offer little MOVING FORWARD 311 scope for such training at present, and when account is taken of the usual type of candidate the functions of the Theological College are seen to be very wide. The majority of the men who oflfer themselves for the ministry have received only an elementary education and have been in some kind of business since they left the State school at the age of fourteen or thereabouts. Only a small pro- portion of candidates for the ministry have received a secondary education. The Theological College, therefore, has to serve a threefold purpose: it has to be a school, a university, and a clergy training college as well. Two departments at least are required, a preparatory course of instruction to provide a basis of general education, and the strictly theo- logical course, to which ought to be added a practical course in parochalia, pedagogics, and the art of reading and speaking — not elocution. A full course ought to cover five years, two years of general education, two years of theology, and a year's practical training. The qualifi- cations aimed at are threefold — spiritual, intellectual, and practical. While the ministry is a vocation and not a profession, it does demand a good deal of what may be called professional technique, namely, the most efficient methods of work. The college cannot impart this tech- nique to any great extent, and it is not desirable that it should turn out anything like a finished product. But the principles of efficient method can be taught and warnings uttered against typical mistakes. The details of method have to be worked out in actual experience. The personal factor counts for so much in the ministry that each clergyman has to work out for himself the methods on which he can become most efficient. But he will be assisted in the process by knowing what others have done, or avoided doing. A good business experience is a valuable education in the art of meeting and dealing with men, and in the use of sanctified common sense, but the demand for an ade- quate intellectual and technical equipment is increasing 312 MOVING FORWARD in every kind of occupation and must be met in the ministry. Now this is mainly a question of finance so far as the Church is concerned. The men are available, the teachers can be procured, but the means are lacking. The financial provision must be on a liberal scale. Generations of neglect have to be remedied. It is not a question of pounds and ten pounds, but of hundreds and thousands. A minimum endowment of i25,000 is neces- sary to the efficient working of each college. A theo- logical college differs from a secondary school in that it can never pay for itself apart from endowments. It has to select its students carefully and should therefore not be dependent upon the income from their fees. There are great advantages in placing the college near a university to which it should be closely linked, though there are also arguments in favour of a college in the country in Australia, as the conditions in the country parishes differ so widely from those in town parishes, and men trained in the city find it difficult to adapt themselves to the country. The city also offers greater attractions to the majority of men. The chief advantage of placing the theological college near a university lies in the superior opportunity of such a situation for securing a higher intellectual equipment. If Theology is recognized as it should be at the universities, then the theological college could be affiliated thereto as in Toronto, but there must always be room in it for the man who is unable through age or some other hindrance, to take the full course. The man of thirty or more who has made good in business cannot be treated in exactly the same way as a lad of nineteen or twenty. If there are any church people who would do a great work for the Church, let them give or organize the collection of substantial en- dowments for theological colleges. This is the greatest and most urgent need of the Church in Australia to-day, and it ought to be the first object in any scheme of educational advance. Education is the equipment of leaders, and the Church needs leaders. An effective Resources. MOVING FORWARD 313 evangelism, a productive school system, a definite leader- ship in great moral issues, and a clearer understanding between Christian bodies are all dependent upon the efficient training of the clergy for the work of the ministry. An important point arises out of the consideration of Pooling a constructive educational policy, and is closely connected educational with the efficiency of the theological college and the recognition of Theology at the universities. The ex- perience furnished by those universities where Theology is taught as an academic subject shows that much can be done in the way of pooling the educational resources of of organized Christianity. One Church may have the best expert in New Testament, another the best in Old Testament, another the best in church history. A joint scheme of lectures in the large field of non-controversial Theology would greatly economize the educational resources of organized Christianity, and immensely benefit the students. The comity of scholarship passes over the denominational boundaries as may be seen in the list of contributors to a great dictionary of the Bible or the catalogue of standard theological books. The advantage of university appointments is that they can be made independently of denominational considerations and on purely academic qualifications. The recognition of Theology in the uni- versities, and the location of theological colleges near by would bring candidates for Holy Orders into touch with the best available scholarship of all denominations. The establishment of theological professorships at the universities would not only provide instruction in sub- jects of general interest, but would greatly benefit all forms of organized Christianity, and may also be com- mended as an object worthy of substantial benefactions. Meanwhile the record of what has already been accom- plished will bring out the possibility of combined effort among the churches. For some years past the heads and lecturers of the various theological colleges in Sydney 314 MOVING FORWARD 3. Progress towards Reunion. Parties in the Church. have formed a Board of Joint Theological Studies which has organized lectures, first of all for students, and then for the clergy and others interested in theological re- search. The attendance at the public lectures has been representative of all the principal denominations. There is an audience for the scholar who has something to teach on an important subject whatever his denomination may- be. The educational is wider than the sectarian interest. The co-operative study of Theology would greatly pro- mote another object that ought to form part of the for- ward policy of the Church, namely, a clearer understand- ing between the various divisions of organized Christianity. There are strong tendencies at work towards this better understanding which must be kept apart from the allied subject of Reunion. There is no royal road to Reunion, and the various attempts to find short cuts thither have been failures. But progress towards a better understanding is quite feasible, and nothing would do more to promote it than the formula- tion of a forward policy. Christians have begun to learn that they lose more than they gain by competing with one another for the whole loaf, instead of being content with a reasonable share. The loss of touch between organized Christianity and the people is a problem that deeply concerns all the churches, and there is plenty of scope for them in attacking that problem without attack- ing each other. This consideration applies to parties in our own church. The Anglican Church, from its very comprehensiveness, is peculiarly liable to party divisions. There is room within it for very considerable divergence, and it is in- evitable that men and women who think alike should constitute a party. But there is a vast difference between party loyalty and partisan bitterness. We shall never unite by trying to sink the unsinkable differences. Our best plan is to study our differences, to see how far they are complementary rather than contradictory. It is a poor sort of conviction that is afraid of honest investiga- MOVING FORWARD 315 tion. But the study of differences should not degenerate into a scoring match of wits, nor into a weapon for driving the other man out of the church. This is the real danger of party loyalty, that it should degrade itself into mistaking the party for the Church, and uniformity for unity. It is when a party strives for absolute control of the Church that it loses its justification, which consists not in its power of control, but in its contribution to the life and thought of the Church as a whole. I have no ready-made scheme for party reunion, but I do plead for two things, first that parties should learn their own limita- tions and be ready to learn from each other; and secondly, that they should be strictly loyal to the traditions and formularies and authorities of the Church within which they exist. It is the disloyal party that does the mischief. As to a better understanding between other Churches Co-operation and the Anglican Church, that really seems more feasible on broad than between the parties in our own church, mainly ^Ji^p^^ii^y because the question of reunion is kept out of the way, though not out of sight. In great moral issues all bodies have acted together from time to time, but on other issues one great church stands absolutely apart. Still, seventy-five per cent, of the people of Australia belong nominally to the Protestant Churches, using the word "churches" in its popular sense, and an understanding between them does seem possible on broad questions of evangelistic and educational policy in which the one aim is to bring Christ before men and to draw men to Christ. Such an understanding has been largely accom- plished in the African mission field at the famous Kikuyu conferences. Something of the kind might well be attempted in the home mission field. A remarkable report has been issued in England indicating both the desire and the possibility of a better understanding, and the few sectarian outcries against it have found them- selves voices crying in an empty wilderness. Scarcely anyone desires to listen to them. The problem of the plain man vitally affects all forms of organized Christianity. 316 MOVING FORWARD 4. Public Leadership. The Social Problem. United meetings for prayer and mutual counsel have been held in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and there is scope for more effort of the kind. The presentation of Christian evidences, the organization of joint lectures on theological subjects of dominant interest, and the recognition of Theology by the universities afford other opportunities of common action. Nothing impresses the plain man more deeply than the spectacle of united action by differ- ing Christian bodies. And this leads on to another suggestion, namely, the possibilities of public leadership in great moral issues. Already much has been done by the Church, officially and unofficially, to awaken the public conscience towards the evils of the liquor traffic, the widespread gambling habit and sexual immorality. There are strong economic and sanitary reasons for reducing these evils, but it was not the economic nor the public health expert who led the battle against them, but earnest Christian men and women. The trinity of vices are still rampant and destructive of valuable human life. The facts are fairly familiar but there is a danger lest they become too familiar and the sense of responsibility become blunted. It is the Church's business to lay down clearly the principle of mutual responsibility which is the foundation of all morality. Here is another line on which all Christian bodies have united, and this united action is needed more than ever. Public opinion is apt to fall into lethargy over chronic evils. Organized Christianity has done further service to the community by also asserting the principle of responsi- bility as the call to national service, and by furnishing decisive leadership in more than one national crisis. But there is one burning question on which the "churches" — the term is used loosely — have yet much to do in the way of public leadership. It is only of late years that the strife between capital and labour has received any prominent notice in the parliaments of the churches. This is the question that most nearly concerns the plain man, and MOVING FORWARD 317 yet the churches have had little to say about it, although it touches their fundamental principles. The root of the strife is the greed of gain and this greed lies behind the other great evils that the Church has attacked, drunken- ness, gambling, immorality. Yet the economic divisions of society constitute the real social problem as they rule in the sphere where selfishness wears the garments of respectability. But organized Christianity stands by and seems to take no interest in the questions that are rend- ing society into warring fragments. The silence of the churches looks to the plain man like failure to do their duty, especially as the power of money seems so great in them. This point has been argued before and it has been shown that the ''churches" have not failed so badly as is asserted. But the plain man thinks they have failed and that confirms him in his indifference to organized religion. The emphatic dominance of the economic interest de- mands from the churches a definite and united statement of the prior claims of other interests. There is an un- fulfilled demand that organized Chris.tianity should speak out the mind of Christ as to the principles upon which men of all sorts and classes should conduct, not only their social, but their business relations with each other. The Church is the natural leader of the people in ques- tions of morals. Morals have to do with the relations of people to each other. The Social Problem presented by the continual dislocations caused by economic strife is a question of morals, and the Church has not only a right, but a duty, to give a lead thereon, and to awaken and educate the conscience of the whole community and not merely of the wage-earner. The leading economist in Australia told his students that the fact of God had to be taken into account in the science and art of economics. It is the Church's business to witness to God, and to claim the whole of life as subject to God. The Church must be prepared to define the Godward aspect of every form of human activity. The points of policy so far considered have brought 5. Church Finance. 318 MOVING FORWARD out the need of statesmanship in the Church, in its evangelism, in its educational programme, in its progress towards a better understanding among divers bodies of Christians, in its public leadership on great national and world issues. There is one point more which is minor to all these but is relevant to them all, and it concerns those business activities of the Church through which it comes* most closely into contact with the world, and in which the world has the best opportunity of measuring the Church by its own standards. The Claims of There is need of statesmanship in the finance of the the Spiritual. Church. At the risk of repeating what has been said before it must be asserted that the Church, on her business side as well as in her other work, must clearly set forth the supremacy and wide inclusiveness of the spiritual. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit, and in truth." These are two sides of the same principle, that the essential meaning and V purpose of life is spiritual, which the "material" is meant to subserve. The raising and spending of money, and the management of property is part of the Church's unavoid- able and wholly justifiable use of material means to spiritual ends. There is nothing really unspiritual in the handling of money or material possessions. There may be unworthy methods, or the material means may be misused to unworthy ends. While the Church should take care to observe the strictest code of business morality, at the same time she should not apologize for the neces- sity of doing business, but claim that business as part of her spiritual work on the plea that all things belong to God and He has first claim to their use. That is to say, the Church must consecrate her business, and if the plain man says that collecting money and owning property or any material possessions, or any steps taken honestly to increase income, are inconsistent with the spiritual pur- pose of the Church, he should be plainly told he does not know what he is talking about; that he has given MOVING FORWARD 319 the wrong meaning to the word "spiritual;" that it is possible to make every act and word of ordinary life, in the home, in business, or in social intercourse, a really spiritual act and word done and uttered in God's name to God's glory. Thus there is nothing really "unspiritual" in the getting and spending of money for spiritual pur- poses by worthy methods. But the Church must go further, and must meet the "unspiritual" objection by something more than a blunt "No." Membership involves obligation. If people pro- fess to be Christians they must be ready to pay for their principles. The duty of giving to the Church must be clearly taught as part of one's spiritual obligations, as an act of worship, and a form of service to God and man. Having taught that the giving of money is a spiritual Systematic duty, the next step is to do that giving systematically. Giving. It is the lack of an adequate system for the whole Church that causes so much time and energy to be spent upon church finance in church assemblies, and that practically lays upon the individual clergyman the invidious task of begging for his own income. It is worth noting that those Christian bodies which have most systematically organized their finances are those which have least trouble in getting the money they want. An adequate system of finance would lessen the effort to get money and would leave more time and energy for evangelistic and pastoral work. The first principle in the systematization of finance is the co-ordination of all sources of income and methods of applying it. This means central control of some kind. Then the principle of assessment should be applied. The work to be done and its probable cost should be estimated. Then the necessary expenses can be apportioned out on a membership basis as a kind of subscription. The Church should be able to say that every member should contri- bute a certain annual minimum. The difficulty arising from the unequal incomes of church members can be met by definite teaching on the subject of giving to God's 320 MOVING FORWARD work, and by setting out the ancient tithe-system — devoting one-tenth of one's income — as a practical guide. In a parish where there is a great diversity of incomes, the principle of giving a definite proportion of income might be strongly pressed as a spiritual duty, an act of worship, and a partial fulfilment of service, and the individual members left to assess themselves. But they should be persuaded to promise a definite weekly, monthly, or annual contribution, and for this purpose the envelope system of the Church in Canada is excellent, and has already been tried in Australia with good results. The system involves careful book-keeping, as all the promises have to be entered in an account book and also the pay- ments received. The system is a convenience to regular givers and a stimulus to those who are careless. The church officers can more accurately estimate their re- sources, and the income of the church comes in more regularly. But it should be made clear that this regular organization of church income is intended to apply only to regular church needs, the actual working expenses of the church in each year. Special objects, such as the building or extension of a church or school should be provided for by special appeals, which, in turn, should be reserved for such special objects. Foreign and home missions should be included among the regular objects of church finance. j^g For general financial purposes the best unit in the Financial Unit. Church of England is the diocese. Lesser units may be recognized for certain expenses. Each parish might con- tinue to manage its own local finances, such as the cost of small repairs, fuel, lighting, cleaning, choir, possibly under diocesan supervision, just as the shire council accounts have to be passed by the Government Auditor. But the stipends of the clergy will never be satisfactory until they are placed upon a diocesan basis. The paying of clerical stipends by the parishes is the cause of the present inequality in clerical incomes, and partly accounts for the difficulty of placing clergy in those parishes where MOVING FORWARD 321 they can do their best work. The Church cuts off the clergy from money-making pursuits. At their ordination they take solemn vows, and under those vows they are prohibited from ordinary secular business. Although the ministry is a vocation, yet uncertainty and inequality of income is more of a hindrance than a spur to the clergy- man. Under the present system he has to serve too many masters. He has to keep in the good books of the parishioners, often of one or two wealthy or influential families, and he has also to justify his existence to the diocesan authorities. The spiritual independence of the clergy is the first step Spiritual towards encouraging a larger proportion of the best men Independence to enter the ministry. Not so much largeness as ^f ^^^ Clergy. sufficiency and certainty of income will help towards securing that independence. The incomes and the work of the clergy should be more directly under central con- trol. Clerical incomes should be paid out of a central diocesan fund. Incomes should be fixed on a regular scale as is done in the Public Service and by most missionary societies. The stipendiary methods of, say, the Church Missionary Society, are worth careful study. The fundamental principle is, that once a man has been duly accepted for the ministry, the Church should under- take the financial responsibility for his training, and for his support throughout his ministerial career. At present some of the most difficult parishes are those where the clergy are worst paid, and where their work is most needed. The clergyman's income should not be regarded as a reward for his labour, even though the labourer is worthy of his hire. It should be regarded as part of his equipment for his work. At his ordination he has given himself entirely to the Church. The Church has the first claim upon him. The Church should provide him with the wherewithal to carry on the work of the Church. The Church Missionary Society, for example, practically takes full financial charge of the missionaries it sends out. They are paid a reasonable "living wage" according to 323 MOVING FORWARD the country in which they work. They are certainly not pampered, neither are they starved, though some of them pay their own expenses. They may not marry without permission, but when married their allowance is increased, and they are helped to educate their children. This means that the Missionary Society has accepted the principle of responsibility for those who carry on its work. It is true that each parish under the present system has endorsed that principle for itself, but the parish is not the proper body to undertake the whole responsibility for the stipend of its clergyman and his assistants, any more than it is the business of the parish to train or ordain its own clergy, though it may and should contribute towards their training and give its testimony as to their fitness for ordination. The maintenance of the clergy, like their training and ordination and oversight, is the business of the diocese, and ought to be centrally organized and con- trolled. Once a man has entered the ministry, he ought to feel that his efficiency will not be hampered by an insufficient or irregularly paid income, or by the necessity of cadging for that income. On the other hand the church would be able to deal more easily with lazy or incompetent clergymen, and finally would be better able to provide adequate pensions for men who had grown old in the ministry. It is full time that clerical incomes were standardised, and this can be done only through diocesan machinery. It can never be done by a purely parochial system of finance. The parishes would still contribute to the support of the clergy, but these contributions would be paid to the diocesan fund, and the parish officers would be responsible for their finances, not to the local clergy- man, but to the diocesan officials. This would prevent the frequent scandal created by the parish clergyman having to raise the money for his own stipend, while it would counteract the tendency to narrow parochialism, and educate church members in their duty to the whole MOVING FORWARD 333 Church. In some Australian dioceses progress has been made towards this ideal system of church finance.* A good deal of interest is being shown in a scheme that is on trial in the diocese of Ballarat with promising results.. But no system will get rid of the idea that the Church is out to make gain of the world while professing to des- pise the world, unless the business, as well as the worship and propaganda, of the Church bear the unmistakable stamp of consecration. It is by hallowing her own business that the Church will find it easier to exert her full influence as the instrument of God in modern society. The evils of the present social order will not be cured by any scheme of reconstruction unless the ideals and the spirit of society are changed. Conversion is as necessary to the corporate as to the individual personality. So long as the economic interest is dominant, so long will the Social Problem be with us, and so long will the men of the world look upon the Church as only one of many institutions competing for a share of the good things of this world arid at best as catering for the interests of a few people who happen to like what the Church has to offer them. Not till that attitude is changed, and that idea is rooted out will the Church recover touch with the plain man and remove the dead weight of indifference. In conclusion, as we look at things as they are, and Conclusion. compare them with things as they ought to be, we sec that the situation, though serious, is not irretrievable. There is need of repentance but there is also ground for hope. The world is weary of war, not only the war between nations, but the strife within nations. We want peace, but we must pay the price, the full price, if that peace" is to be permanent. The price to be paid for peace has been set before us in the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Church is the appointed witness of Jesus Christ to the world and in the world, and the message and power of the Cross have been placed in her hands as the moral ♦ These remarks were written before the Ballarat scheme was published, as the subject has been considered for some time past by a Committee of the Sydney Diocesan Synod. 324 MOVING FORWARD lever that alone can lift the world from a man-centred to a God-centred life. "In this house will I give peace," was the message from God through His prophet to the Jews who were trying to reconstruct their broken national life. The secret of peace is to be found in the family of God, the fellowship of those who have accepted the salvation wrought for them by Christ. The Church must first be at peace within herself, but that peace will be attained only when the men and women of the Church put God first in their lives. The Great Surrender is the first step to peace in the heart, in the Church, and in the world. We shall never have peace in the Church until we learn and practise the principle of Our Lord's life. He said: "I came, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Not by pursuing our own individual or sectional interests, however religious they may seem, but by losing ourselves in the service of God shall we have peace and harmony among ourselves and be able to pre- sent such a witness for God to the world that the plain man may have no excuse for his indifference, but may have the choice clearly presented to him. We must never rest until the Church's witness is so clear that no one can honestly misunderstand it, and so widespread that no man may miss it. The problem of the plain man can be solved only by every member of the Church fulfilling his personal obligation to Christ and the Church. The world is waiting for the hosts of God to move forward. "The God of heaven. He will prosper us, therefore we His servants will arise and build." If we must needs look for a reward, loyal service is love's best reward and we serve for love of Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us. The Cross carries the secret of life that is worth living, whose end will be to hear the Master's welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Then shall be fulfilled for us the Kingdom of God whom we shall serve for ever in holy love that knows no fear. J W. C. Tenfold & Co. Ltd., Printers, 183 Pitt Street. Sydney. 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