Evening star., 1901-02-16
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
Social and Religious Condition OF
London.

LOhuoh.
The Archdeacon Of London in the Humanitarian.
A vast mass OF human beings, possibly
nominally Christians, are indeed Christians
only in name. Fashionable religion is to an
increasing degree a mere perfunctory at
tendance al some magical ceremonial
which has little or no effect on morals or
conscience. Among thoughtful people there
is q growing disposition toward agnosti-
cism The nfidel immortality of the Georg-
ian era. when many supposed that Chris
tianity was an exploded superstition, has
little exact counterpart among ourselves.
The degradation of the church or the
Stuarts has left no trace or influence eX-
cept the not unnatural alienation OF some
Of the Christian bodies from the organized
expression of the national faith.
Our danger rather lies in scientific phil
osophy which, while awaiting itself of the
morality of Christianity, is graveiy dubious
about the possibility of a revelation, of
eternal life, of the soul, and even OF GOO
himself Then there is a growing lntoler-
ance of all authority and fmpatence or
restraint. The appetite for material enjoy
ment and self-indulgence is largely on the
increase. The sober duties Of domestic life
are more and more set aside In the north
we have the lax idyllic spirit of Burns, In
the south the careless mocking spirit OF
the music halls. Literature. too, now
claims to be Independent of religion, and
merely to describe nature as she is, re-
gardless of what she might and ought to
be.
The growing neglect Of the observance of
the Sunday is a significant sign of the
times. Large parties for luncheon and din
ner are becoming common in great houses,
in utter disregard of the servants. Sunday
driving which ten years ago was almost
unknown, is becoming frequent. The
Thames on Sunday in summer is as crowd
ed as fair. Sunday is a favorite day
with worldly people for starting on a jour
| ol,,h nnfS m
ing for dancing: another for the perform
| ance of operate and secular music. The
| opening on Sunday of museums, galleries
| of painting and sculpture, and libraries. Is
| harmless in itself. But 1t requires no
Drophecy to see that there would soon arise
| an agitation for the theaters. concert halls,
| and the saloons for music and dancing. II
| these changes were conceded, 1t would be
| no long time before the day of rest would
| be as completely disregarded in London as
| In Paris. In this country. If men do not
| pay any respect to the day which by COM
| mon consent has been set apart for special
| religious thought and devotion, they Will
| in almost every case lose their sense OF
| religion altogether.
| on one Saturday night in London alone
| the number of persons who entered public
| houses between the hours Of and u
| amounted to no less than SS.60S. OF these
! 307S4 were women; 719 were children.
| Drinking among women IS greatly on
| the increase. You have the insidious tip
| pling of the boudoir, the reckless intoxica-
ton Of the ball room, the blind indulgence
| of the sick chamber. There is no doubt
| that the drinking of women has enormous
! ly increased among us Of late years In
| Manchester in a quarter of century the
percentage had risen from Is to 2S In
| Sheffield, in two years. the proportion had
| risen from Is to "a per cent. In Liverpool,
| in one year, there were more women COM
| mitted than men. In London the number
| of women summoned for drunkenness had
| grown from Is to 40 per cent, or nearly
L nnf half of the whole.