CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKING CLASSES.
WHAT is the attitude of the working classes towards Christianity ? Twelve writers, including workmen, clergymen, Nonconformist ministers, and Mr. Bramwell Booth, the " chief " of the Salvation Army, have endeavoured to answer this question, and have published their answers in a book (" Christianity and the Working Classes," edited by George Haw, Macmillan and Co., 3s. 6d. net). Upon one point all the writers agree. There is little definite scepticism in the working classes, and no antagonism towards the Christian religion as set down in the Gospels. On the other hand, the great majority, clergy and laymen alike, admit that the bulk of the workmen stand aloof from all the Churches, and regard them with indifference or hostility. Upon the fly-leaf of the book these words are quoted, and they sum up three-quarters of its pages : "Among the working classes, only one quality of religion remains, and that is respect and reverence for Jesus Christ." Actual hatred towards the organised centres of Christian teaching, such as one at least of the essayists suggests, is, we hope and believe, rare ; but the indisputable fact remains that the mass of the English population keeps outside both the Established and the Free Churches. Both alike have failed to touch the heart of the people. What is the reason, and what the remedy? The twelve writers are not, of course, unanimous, but, with the possible exception of Father Adderley, they all point in the same direction. Extreme sacerdotalism distinguishes Father Adderley's paper from all the others. At so serious a crisis in the life of the English Church we confess we have not much patience to read about the "sacred apparatus of Christianity" which " priests " are called upon to "set going?, It is impossible in our space to analyse all the essays. Mr. George Haw in a long introduction, and Mr. Will Crooks in a remarkably fair and sensible paper, make the standpoint of the workmen plain. Dr. Kitchin, the Dean of Durham, and Canon Barnett speak from the point of view of the Church. Dr. Horton (President of the National Free Church Council) represents Nonconformity, and Mr. Bram- well Booth, by far the most optimist of them all, gives us the experience of the Salvation Army: We propose to consider these six essays, which contain the whole gist of the book. To begin with Mr. George Haw. The tone of his paper is religious. It is " Churchianity," as he tells us the working man calls it, not "Christianity," that he detests, and he quotes selections from letters he has received from working men to prove that this is the common point of view. "The institu- tionalism of the Church" is what offends them; "in other words,- ecclesiasticism." By "ecclesiasticism," however, we
are not to understand High Anglicanism, but " Officialism,"— a thing as rampant among Nonconformists as among hierarchical communities. The Churches, Mr. Haw main- tains, supply the needs and uphold the interests of the middle class. What, he asks, have the orthodox Churches to offer the working man P "What is the set service at St. Paul's or the City Temple to him P Imagine the bewilderment of a working man, without previous training, entering a strange place of worship, no matter of what denomination. The formalism, the social caste, the archaic language, and in some cases the mediaeval ceremony, leave his mind a blank and his heart unsatisfied. He could not find his place in the Service Book, even supposing that one were handed to him. He could make nothing of the mumbling of the congregation, and next to nothing of the prayers and lessons, certainly not if he were in an Established Church."
A similar indictment against the Churches is made by Mr. Will Crooks ; but he is far less severe than either Mr. Haw or his correspondents, and his remedies, though less drastic— Mr. Haw would like to see a new Church founded to deal exclusively with the wants of the working man—are, to our mind, more reasonable and more really democratic. He believes it to be the fault of the clergy that they have lost their congregations, but be thinks an increasing number of them have perceived their mistake, and are beginning to get them back. They have, he says, given the working classes cause to believe in the past that they regarded social distinctions, that they cared chiefly for the middle class, and purposely avoided all mental touch with the people. They have lectured them on the subject of religion, but have not talked to them as man to man ; rather they have snubbed all questions and turned a deaf ear to all expressions of doubt and hesitation. In fact, they have taken their stand upon an ecclesiastical pinnacle, forgetting on their mysterious height the humanitarian side of the Gospel, and refused to come down. What the people wish for, in Mr. Crooks's opinion, is to hear simple Christianity preached, and to see it practised according to the words of the Gospel. "We don't want the service to mystify what Christ made plain," he says. Some clergymen, he admits, do by their life and doctrine set forth the true and lively Word, and these, in his experience, make a great impression upon the working classes. His suggestions for reform are very practical. Everything which tends to make the clergyman seem to the people to be something more than a man among men should be avoided, together with all social pretensions 'and threadbare sanctimonious phrases. The clergyman should co-operate in every movement got up by the people for • the improvement of their physical and moral condition, and set himself to break down the social barriers which frighten the poor away from the churches. (To the present writer— and, perhaps, to many of his readers—these barriers seem more imaginary than real ; but they are considered most seriously and condemned in grim earnest by parsons and workmen alike.) "I think if the Churches would try," we read, "say once or twice a week for a while, to run a service where it was understood every one could go without Sunday clothes, then those who have only the clothes they stand 'upright in would not be ashamed to attend, as they often are now."
Let us leave the workmen and listen to those who speak from the Churches. Dr. Horton believes that the general attitude of the working classes towards Christianity "is one of shy acceptance." Three evils keep the people out of church,—the habit of drinking, "the caste system," and the fact that the clergy of all denominations are such indifferent preachers. His suggestions for the betterment of the situation are to correct the first two evils, and to "raise up a company of preachers who can really preach the reconciling Word." The latter is easier said than done ; indeed, it is beyond the power of man.
- The impossibility of creating a revival, which can only have a divine origin, is dealt with in a striking paper by Canon Barnett, who, while lamenting the alienation between Church and Labour, refuses to impute much blame to either party, regarding the fact as merely symptomatic of a general eclipse -of faith. A revival will come, he is sure. Meanwhile the Church,- by frankly giving herself up to good works, should seek to prepare the way of the Spirit. Humbling herself to the position of John the Baptist, who "forced to the front the
highest known level of duty," she should preach before all things morality, never forgetting, however, that when "the time of refreshing" has come such preachers must" decrease" so that those more fully inspired by the Spirit of God "may increase."
In practice, Dean Kitchin's conclusion comes to something very like Canon Barnett's, but he lays more blame upon the Church, urges her more strongly to regard the physical well- being of the masses, and is less deeply convinced that the times are out of joint. The people, he believes, have left the Church because the Church first left the people. For the most part, "the teachers stand on one plane, and the hearers on another." The main movements of to-day all tend towards a more humane treatment of questions bearing on the life of men around us," and "in all things, religious or political, we have to reckon with this humanitarian spirit." The Churches, the Dean believes, have failed to do so. They have not recognised the quickly growing intelligence of the working class, or realised that the artisan who used to be indifferent in matters of politics, is now keen to enter into the fray. They are, he thinks, behind the times. The labourers regard them with suspicion. To prove their good faith, they would do well to "set social matters in the front of their religious teaching "; in fact, to let the people see their good works, and remember that the hand-worker's outlook upon life is in the nature of things a practical one.
He is not a child to be pleased by a show, nor a man of letters to delight in dialectics. "Sensuous or theatrical worship does not touch him; nor is his education so far advanced that intellectual appeals can deeply interest him Our best chance with him lies in practical appeals to him for moral betterment."
But, it may very reasonably be objected, these Churchmen dream of a reformed Church, rich in good works and reticent of dogma. Meanwhile, however, the only Christian body—the Salvation Army—which has really succeeded in attracting
the working man lays stress on dogma before all things. We should certainly have agreed with this comment before reading the words, of Mr. Bramwell Booth. We have no space left to comment upon them ; they speak for themselves, and in very practical and, to our mind, startling tones. After reviewing the undoubted successes of the Army as a Christianising agent, he says :— "How are these results attained ? Certainly not by profound analyses of the arguments for and against the supernatural, and the doctrines of Inspiration, the Atonement, the Resurrection of the dead, and so forth. Neither are these results attained by appealing to the self-interest of the people—that they will have more to gain by serving Christ than by serving the Devil, true as that is ; and certainly not by pandering to the vanity and vices of the working classes. No! whatever our faults and limitations are—and we are not by any means blind to them—that is not our weakness. If we have made any inroads upon the godless, church- less masses of the land, it has been on a straight line. Our standard of morality is, above all, our paraphernalia, and therefore the result is, we repeat, worthy of the most serious consideration of all who have the best interests of the people at heart."
To our mind, the general impression left by this exceed- ingly interesting and informing book is a cheerful one. The Church is evidently suffering for the sins of the past,—for the days when it was said with some truth that she used her authority to "restrain the vices of the poor and protect the property of the rich." Surely no unprejudiced
observer can deny that those days are over. The uneducated have long memories and slow perceptions, but they are not
intentionally unfair, and the Church must get justice in the end. Meanwhile, in this country the religious cause is not irreparably damaged by the unpopularity of the Churches. Protestant Christianity is founded on the Scriptures. The fourfold biography of Christ is in the hands of the people, and the downfall of all the Churches would not involve their ideal. In this divine ideal lies the power of resurrection, and signs are not wanting of a revival of faith. Each age emphasises a new side of Christianity, and it is the practical and ethical side which is making appeal to the new generation, as Mr. Bramwell Booth admits. There has never been a revival not accompanied by excesses, and it is not likely that the one for which the Churches long and wait will prove an exception to the rule. That is only to say that persons of weak judgment are capable of receiving strong religious im- pressions. An enthusiastic movement in favour of Christian ethics is likely to be disfigured by much morbid magnification • of petty and insignificant class distinctions and much Socialist rant; but it would be as absurd to put the motive force of such a movement down to greed and class-hatred as to put the Methodist revival down to hypocrisy and hysteria.
Previous page
