l:evieir of Revieirt, SC/i/OS. 



INTERVIEWS ON TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



AUSTRALASIAN INTERVIEWS. 



LXXV.-THE CHURCH AND SOCIAL REFORM. 



[Last month I intimated that I would seek the opinion of leading Church dignitaries upon the much- 

 debatetl question of Social Reform. Letters to several gentlemen evoked on the wliole a ready response, al- 

 though one oi- two declined on the ground of too much work. The ministers who have replied are all men 

 who .stand right in the forefront of their Churches, and whose wnrds always are accorded the respect they de- 

 serve.— Kihiuk. 



THE REV. DR. STRONG 



(.Australian Church, Melbourne), 



You ask me what 

 should be the atti- 

 tude of the Church 

 towards Social Re- 

 form? 



Perhaps if we 

 first make cleax to 

 ourselves what we 

 mean by '' the 

 Church," and what 

 by "'Social Reform," 

 it will be easier to 

 answer your ques- 

 tion. 



By " the Church " 

 T mean organised re- 

 hgious life — not 

 merely the clergy. 

 People say often, 

 "The Church should 

 do so and so," 

 meaning the clergy, 

 and forgetful that 

 they themseiws are 

 the Church. 



By " Social Re- 

 form " I mean re- 

 form of social en- 

 vironment — physical, intellectual, moral and reli- 

 gious. Many people when they speak of Social 

 Reform mean reform only of material and physical 

 environment. 



What does the organisation called " the Church "' 

 exist for?. It has two aims. It is, first, a mutual, 

 co-operati\e improvement society, for the cultiva- 

 tion and promotion of the best religious thought, 

 feeling and life. But the highest religious life we 

 can conceive of, is goodwill to man flowing out of 

 trust in the soul of all as goodwill. To cultivate 

 religion is to cultivate love, and love, goodwill, 

 must find expression and form in the home, the 

 neighbourhood, the city, the State, the world. A 

 true Church is a society of people who are trying to 



O. Jfurra.v,] IVhoto. 



The Rev Dr. Strong. 



grow the plant of love ; and they cannot grow it 

 without trying to practise it. 



If this be so, the true Church cannot possibly 

 live to itself, or regard with indifference anything 

 that makes for the progress and well-being of 

 humanity. 



The first use of the Church is undoubtedly to 

 generate the steam-power of religious thought, feel- 

 ing, trust and aspiration. Religion lies at the root 

 of human nature. Purify, elevate, broaden religion, 

 and you ine\itably deepen, strengthen and enlarge 

 social feeling at its very basis. Many social re- 

 formers, it seems to me, are making the fatal mis- 

 take of ignoring the religious root of the human 

 tree, so weakening their cause. 



One of the best ways in which the Church can 

 socially reform the world is to reform itself, to 

 drop its ridiculous anti-social divisions, its often 

 anti-social theology, and to become the enlightened 

 teacher and illustration of the Religion of Love. 



This is perhaps the greatest, because the deepest 

 and most far-reaching of all social reforms to be 

 effected to-day. The Church, as it at present exists, 

 is often failing to generate true religious steam- 

 power, and is wasting and dissipating energy which 

 should be used to move the world. It thus blocks 

 the way. 



Once the Church comes to feel that it exists for 

 the highest good of humanity, its individual mem- 

 bers, congregations and clergy cannot possibly fail 

 to take a living interest in all that concerns human 

 well-being and progress. " Human Evolution " will 

 be its watchword. And it will not content itself 

 with preaching a theological message, or about 

 what happened several thousands of years ago, nor 

 will it waste its energies in building rival churches, 

 and its monev in propagating sectarian views, but 

 will bring all its influence to bear against whatever 

 fetters and hamjxjrs and degrades man, and for 

 whatever will liberate, enlighten, humanise and 

 spiritualise. The question put to candidates for 

 •■ holy orders " will not be, '■ Will you always hold 

 and preach these opinions?" but "Will you be 

 loyal to Love, Righteousness, Man, and strive to 

 lead the people in the path of life as invested in 



