Dr. Temple on Christian Duty
When it is objected that some of the recent sayings of the Archbishop of Canterbury go beyond the minimum of Christian teaching and trench upon the disputable sphere of politics, at least it must he said that Churchmen do not often err on that side. Many will prefer an excess of zeal which casts the net of human duty too wide to a studied unconcern about the vital social questions of the time whose solution is a test of Christian democracy. There have been some attempts to make a metaphysical distinction between Dr. Temple as Archbishop and Dr. Temple as citizen, and to require him to put off the latter role when he is addressing meetings of Churchmen. But he refuses to hide his light under a bushel, and it is left to us to judge what he says on its merits. Since he is not known to be an expert on banking, less weight attaches to what he says on that subject than to what he says about the duty of a Christian State to put the public interest before sectional interests, and to pursue a policy of social reform which puts the welfare of the individual first. This seems to him to presuppose certain educational reforms, leading to the provision of education for all up to eighteen, better housing conditions, and various other social measures. Dr. Temple believes that the Church should throw itself behind movements for the creation of a better social order, and he does not think that vague generalisations are enough. It has long been a reproach against the Church that it has concerned itself too little with the things that touch the masses of the people most deeply. It is Dr. Temple's endeavour to remove that reproach, and he can well afford to disregard the criticism his efforts evoke.
Previous page
