THE ULTIMATE ISSUE AND AN APPEAL

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] The R-Jal Issue.

Snt,--Will you allow me space in your paper to state an issue and to make an appeal ? For four years I have been going to and fro all over England speaking, and being spoken to—which is perhaps more important—by men and women of all classes in every town and city of any size in the country. The result of this pilgrimage has been to convince me that ulti- mately the issue that faces the people of our land is a religious issue. It is a question of what we believe. The manner in which we envisage and the methods by which we seek to solve the great problems which press upon us all alike are inevitably determined by what we believe about the meaning and purpose of life as a whole. From this deter- mination there is no escape for any of us. To have no con- scious belief or deliberately to adopt an agnostic attitude is not to escape. It is perhaps the most disastrous of all the courses we can take, because it leaves the mind open to deception by unconscious prejudice, or by whatever perverted and anti-social view of life may be prevalent in our particular generation.

The Conflict.

The real danger of Communism is that it is such a -per- verted and anti-social view of life which takes possession of men's minds because they have no definite alternative to oppose to it. As a system of economics it has not a leg to stand on, but as a view of life it has strong attractions, especially for those -whose conditions are intolerable. Its kingdom of comfort for all, its appeal to suspicion, class hatred and force, give it a powerful hold over the imagination of discontented men.

The danger of a Godless and materialistic individualism is in many ways the same. It is an anti-social view of life, resting upon a vague belief in mechanical progress through unrestricted private enterprise and enlightened self-interest, a belief which history has proved to be false and unpractical, as is amply demonstrated by our increasingly complex net- work of laws, regulations and restrictions, to which every ;party in the State has consistently added from the time of Lord Shaftesbury downwards. These two views of life stand face to face all the world over, in the conscious and unconscious minds of the people, and the conflict between !them grows fiercer as the East is progressively industrialized, 'Together they form the new industrial heathenism from which .our civilization must either be saved or perish self-destroyed.

The Only Way Out.

The only way of salvation is that men should come firmly to believe in the God of Unity and Love revealed by Christ, and to see the world as a home for a family and not as a battlefield for rival armies. If this Gospel is to become the background of our social life, it must be taught, preached and suggested continually, especially to the thousands of people of all classes who, having no belief in the Christian basis of life, will not come to any place of worship. It must also be preached more vividly and in a form more intelligibly connected with our modern life in the places of worship themselves. No one will deny that if this task of evangelism is to be accomplished, and I firmly believe that in its accom- plishment lies our only hope of well-being, the regular churches and chapels must -have an auxiliary mission move- ment to supplement their efforts. It is on behalf of the Industrial Christian Fellowship, which provides such an auxiliary, that I make my appeal. With the consent and

approval of the Bishop of Lichfield—our chairman—and most of the Diocesan and Suffragan Bishops of the Church of England, who have declared their belief in our work as being of national importance, I appeal to all those who have heard me speak to help us to keep our body of lay evangelists

—some sixty in number—at their work in the field, at street corners, on the docks and in public squares, combating continually the false teaching about God and His world which is being poured into the ears of the people. In no sense of the words is this a party political movement. We hold that so long as people belie.te as they now believe, no party would solve our problems ; they are insoluble.

The Faith of the People.

We need the added vitality of a vigorous and positive faith in the immutable purpose of God. In doing such work, we must of necessity run the risk of attack from both sides,

and we have had it ; but we adhere firmly to the belief that what we need is a basis of unity above and beyond race, nation, class or party, a unity within which these necessary divisions may not cease to exist, but serve to enrich and ennoble our common humanity, instead of tearing it to pieces. May I, then, appeal to all those who have so patiently listened to me pleading this cause, to send to the Bishop of Lichfield, 4 The Sanctuary, Westminster, S.W. 1, anything they can afford—it does not matter how small or how large it is, from sixpence to a thousand pounds—that we may keep the work going and extend it ? The effort ought to be five times its present size, and would be if we could respond to the calls upon us. The Devil's Advice.

May I conclude by quoting words as wise as they are noble from Mr. and Mrs. Hammond's Life of Lord Shaftesbury ?

The Devil, with sad and sober sense on his grey face, tells the rulers of the world that tho misery which disfigures the life of great societies is beyond the reach of human remedy. A voice is raised in answer from time to time ; a challenge in the name of the mercy of God, the justice of nature, or the dignity of man. Shaftesbury was such a voice. To the law of indifference and drift taught by philosophers and accepted by politicians, he opposed the simple revelation of his Christian conscience. This was his service to England. Not the service of a statesman with a wide plan and a commanding will, but the service of a prophet speaking truth to power in its selfishness and sloth. IN hen silence falls on such a voice some everlasting echo still haunts the world to break its sleep of habit or despair."

We believe that Shaftesbury's voice was itself but the echo of a voice that spoke first on the shores of the Sea of .Galilee, and that silence must never be allowed to fall upon ,it until the work is done.—I am, Sir, &c.,

G. A. SITTEIDERT KENNEDY• .4 The Sanctuary, Westminster, S.W. 1.