The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-14


 boards, were being established. This
 was wonderful step in advance, for the new bodies would have greater powers for good than the old ones. But
 of course much as to the use or abuse
 of these powers would depend upon the Kind of men holding them, and minis
 ters were urged to preach that year, just wien the selection of these bor-
 ough councillors was pending, upon the importance of putting in office those who had no axe of their own to grind,
 but would work solely for the good of all. The ministers generally obeyed thls mandate, and the estimate at the time was that this united appeal from the pulpits of London had an apprecia- be effect upon the election that so soon ! followed. There was no election to be | Influenced this year, so the topic sug- gested for that Citizen Sunday which ! has just been observed might be a general one. It was, and very sugges- tive, too, for it brought up the ques- tion of how people live, and how and where they work and what they get for their work. It was Labor and Health"
 That was the topic suggested by the | London Reform Union, but the minis ters generally formulate it each in his own way. The chance for sensational announcements was decidedly l tempting, but ministers here do not go in so much for that kind of thing. | Whether it is because they have an ex- cess of grace or are deficient in inven- | tiveness one can only guess. The | Ideal City, Men of Character Need ed,' "Our Duty to Toilers, were amongst the more prosaic of the topics announced, while those which seemed to challenge more attention some of them to verge little upon the i startling-were, Living London and it's claim upon the Churches" "The Poor Mans Home" Room to Live" Short CT Hours for Shop Assistants" The White Slaves of England," and "The Man in the Street" But whatever the topic, one may be assured that without exception the sermons everywhere rang true to the spirit of reform. In London pulpits to-day there are few men not in sympathy with the masses. Even in the most aristocratie of the churches the Gospel of social responsibility is preached right from the shoulder. Min isters here do not seem to be afraid of the rich men in their congregations They tell them their faults in the plain est language, and when it comes to pie turing the needs of London and how Christian people ought to meet them, they can be relied upon to look nothing over and keep nothing back.
 Of the straightforward character of English preaching in high places I was forcibly and pleasantly reminded by what I heard on Citizen Sunday at St. Paups Cathedral as well as in two other prominent churches. The day was crisp and bright It afforded so de- lightful a contrast to the night before, when the fog was so thick that almost all traffic had to cease and thousands of people failed to get home, with not less than a hundred cases of accident call ing for hospital treatment, that those religiously inclined in the least felt that they ought to go to church that day if only to express gratitude. This writer went three times and at one service sat in St. Pauls under the pulpit scintilla- tions of the Bishop of Stepney, who was discoursing upon "The Royal Law of loving ones neighbor as oneself A true love for self would lead us, he said, to desire for ourselves the means of living a full, worthy human life, and to love others as we love ourselves would mean that we should desire the same thing for them By this definition he brought himself plump against all the inequalities and injustces of pres ont do fo in ha al nrn1t- cation o fthis royal law he spared mo- body. The mistress must see that her maid had the same opportunity to live a worthy life as she had. She must re- member also, that her maid had a heart, and If she did, how quickly she would withdraw the cruel notice No followers allowed"
 The Bishop of Stepney was certain that if Christian men of business, those employing others, would love their clerks and porters and factory hands as they loved themselves, London and all the rest of the world would be trans formed in no time. Applied to this | great city this royal law meant, he said that all citizens should be accord | ed the right to live in decency and com fort, that all workers should get not | less than a living wage, and should | have time and opportunity, when the l days work was done, to inform their | minds by readings and recoup their l strength by recreat tion. But how could | the Christian people of London listen l without shame while Christ said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself" when there were S00,00O of their Lon don neighbors living in circumstances which, as everybody knew, were de- struotive both to health and decency? l In pressing home the sense of responsi- bility, the good Bishop told of some thing he knew himself--a home broken up and a life sacrificed, because a wealthy woman, who was a protesting Christian, delayed so long In paying bill. Who he asked, was responsible for that poor woman's des- pair and death? And he didn't hesitate to say. with rather savage shake of his Episcopal fist that the other woman was who carried her head high and said ] loud prayers, but failed to meet the just dues of those who worked for her.
 From St. Pauls Cathedral where ev- erything excepting the preaching was formal and long drawn out it was change to find oneself at that live Westbourne Park Church, to which Dr. John Clifford ministers. At the former place you have to sit out a long ritual before you get to the ser
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