Welsh Journals

provided for by any one or two of them. These congregations are similar in all essentials. Preaching of the same general character, differing only by reason of the personality of the preacher, and not because of any denominational standards, goes on Sunday after Sunday, while the Educational duty of the church to children and adolescents receives, perforce, very imperfect attention. Some individuals may feel the need for greater attempts in this direction. But money is necessary to provide the properly equipped schools and institutes, which should be adjuncts of the church, and, alas, all the available income is swallowed up in multiplying the same kind of work, with the result that there is none left to carry out the undoubted obligations of the church in the matter of moral guidance and religious training for the young. And yet it might be done if there were only Christian co-operation instead of denominational rivalry. And this system, wasteful and inefficient, is in danger of being perpetuated in the new industrial districts that are growing up. What unthinking folly is this, which allows a number of denominations, alike in their belief in all the essential features of Christianity, to strain every nerve to establish a cause in each new mining village that grows up Each one over- burdened with debt at the outset, and all entering on the wearying round of concerts, tea parties, eisteddfods or bazaars, in order to cope with their financial difficulties And yet despite all this zeal a large portion of the population of industrial South Wales may be left without even this meagre provision, for this aggressive de- nominational ardour in the starting of "causes" cannot be kept up indefinately. (6.) The impotent attitude towards social reconstruction. Time, money and energy are spent in keeping the many different concerns going, with the result that there is little left to grapple with the real work of the Church, viz., the establishing of the Kingdom of God. We actually see poli- ticians endeavouring to rouse the Church to a serious realisation of this aspect of her work. This is creditable to the politician, but hardly complimentary to the Church. More than 30 years ago Dr. Dale said We are living in a new world, and Evangelicals do not seem to have discovered it. The immense development of the manufac- turing industries, the wider separation of classes, the new relations which have grown up between the employers and employed, the spread of popular education, the increased political power of the masses of the people. have urgently demanded fresh applications of the eternal ideas of the Christian faith to conduct. But Evangelical Christians have hardly touched the new ethical problems which have come with the new time." With this great task facing the church, we must release some of the forces that are now occupied in doing unnecessary and unpro- fitable work. We simply cannot afford to go on locking up men, energy and money in unproductive undertakings. We must see to it that the social reconstruction which is taking place in our day shall be a Christian one. "All things are to be subjected to Him." To bring this about, the sporadic and spasmodic attempts of the past must give place to systematic and sustained effort, first to understand, and then to act. (7.) We are not only in danger of neglecting urgent and imperative duties, but we are in some respects, a source of evil in the body politic. Our Sectarianism poisons our public life it interferes with efficiency in the appointing of public servants. Membership of this or that denomination is often a greater asset than