Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-05-09
fFor Sunday Reading. !
+ All Sorts Of Opinions. !.
+
THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF LONDON.
The Result of MIR. Charles Booths OBJ
serbations-Hold of Churches
WeaLenipn

|
The latest addition to the series OF
volumes being prepared by Mr.. Charles
| Booth in Lndon, on the Life and La
Dor of the People," contains a study
of the religious hfe of the metropolis
The conclusion at which Mr. Booth
| is forced to arrive, after an exhaus-
| tive consideration extending through
seven volumes, is that the hold of or
ganized religion on the people of Lon
| don is growing weaker rather than
stronger. His conclusions are admir-
ably summarized by the London cor
| respondent of the New York Evening
Post: "Of course, among the young
children the response to the approaches
OF the churches is greatest, but the
habits of the home soon assert them
selves, and the influence of the church
is not continuous. after they pass
from childhood. In the fashionable
districts of London prosperous
churches and large morning congrega-
tons on Sunday are secure. Passing
down one step in the social ladder, we
find a vigorous middle-class religious
development combined with active So
cial life. For the grades bellows there
by step downward the more hopeless
does the task of the churches become.
And Mr. Booth is forced to admit
that the churches have themselves very
largely to blame for this state of
things. Their attitude toward the
people in the main is one of surprise
at the rejection of the teachings of re-
ligion'-or rather of their particular
type of religion. If the religious bod
les would awaken energy for further
ing the welfare of others, and would
keep it pure, what they propose must
be untainted, alike by the struggle of
competition or by ignoring the work
that others do, by magnifying their
own office, by eNaggeration of state
ment or by bribery in all its subtle
forms.
The interest of Mr.. Booths survey
is intensified as we follow him from
his summary to his analysis of the
work of the religious communities in
what seems so much like the hopeless
task of spiritual regeneration. The
Church of England claims first place |
in his analysis, and there is a world
wide interest in the conclusion to
W
ual, no doctrine, will bring success
Where the Church of England does
succeed it is by a combination of
sound sense, phiianthropic enthusiasm
and deep religious feeling which,
though it may not land on every BUSH
is not SO rare as might be supposed
Turn next to the Congregationalists.
They boast that theirs is not the
church of the poor; one might, says
Mr.. Booth, go farther and say, not of I
the poor, nor of the working class, not
Of the rich, nor of the fashionable
Hence in London the influence of the
is more social than
but it is good and wholesome,
and being without eXaltation, is free
from the dangers of reaction, is free
the Baptists, whether taken individ-
tally or collectively, the Baptist
churches are a great spiritual force in
London, and the religious influence
hey exert is very deep Next come
he Wesleyans, but with all their en-
argy. activity, enthusiasm, and zeal
Mr., Booth sees something hollow, un-
and unreal about Wesley
lnism as a religious influence. The
lard work and self confidence of Con-
lead to self-sufficiency
md the deep religious convictions OF
he Baptists to an obtrusiveness of
oiety which favors cant; so the en-
husiasm and overweight emotions
If the Wesleyans produce false at
nosphere of exaggerated language
There remain of course. the Roman
Catholics Numerically, theirs is not
IN important church in London, eN
ept in it's influence upon elementary
where in the main. and as