Arizona republican., 1908-08-31

But don't you think that many churches will disagree with you and claim that you are attacking religion | itself?"
 Very likely. Differences of opinion are certain to exist among living men It is only a cemetery that you will find unanimity. All the evils of controversy are temporary: all it's benewits are i permanent. This is one respect in ! which religious thought in England is I in advance of America. They are not afraid to discuss these subjects over there.
 How about the various schemes that have been adopted to attract men to church, such as vaudeville concerts, the serving of temperance drinks and similar means?"
 'They simply show how desperate the situation has become in some quarters. But I don't believe that the church can compete with the saloon I by turning it self into a weak imita- tion or with the theater by presenting poor theatrical attraction. Practical religion must concern itself with the | saloon. with politics, with questions of
 
 the poor, but the way to strengthefi | religion is not by debasing it"
 Practical religion" sums up the re- | form which pr. Aled would introduce | in the churches. In his own expe- | rience he has been remarkably suc- ! cessful by it's application in attracting | support to the churches with which he | has been connected. His first charges after he left University College at ! Nottingham were two poverty y-stricken ! churches in Lancashire known as St. ! Helen's and Leicestershire. The sue ! cess he achieved in these restricted | fields led to his call to take charge of | Pembroke Chapel in Liverpool This had been at one time the leading non | conformist church in the city, presided over by Dr. Birrell, the father of Au- gustine Birrell who is a member of the British cabinet, but the district in which it was located had been over run by business structures and the church had declined until it had been proposed to abandon it On the Sun day before Dr. Aked took charge the | congregation consisted of thirty-f five persons at the morning service and sixteen in the evening
 Within a few weeks, however, the fame of the new preacher spread through the city Former attendants who had deserted the old church re- turned and new members were attract ed to it. Some of the sermons preach ed by the hard hitting young minister aroused bitter controversy but the church continued to grow and for six | teen years while Dr. Aked remained in charge it was overcrowded and peo- pie were turned away for lack of room at every service.
 It happened that the president of the board of trustees of the Fifth Avenue | Baptist church of New York was in Liverpool over Sunday between two | and three years ago. He asked the clerk of his hotel where he could hear ] good sermon.
 If you want a good sermon go to Pembroke Chapel and hear MT Aked, |" replied the clerk. Everybody goes there"
 The president of the board went to Pembroke Chapel and heard a good | sermon. A year later when the pulpit of his own church became vacant he , suggested that Dr Aked be invited to supply his church for a month. The Liverpool preacher came and after he had preached once in the church he received a unanimous call to take charge. Since then he has startled the hide-bound members of his congrega- ton by some of his utterances, just as his present attack in Appleton's on the inefficiency of the churches has startled others all over the country. But his own church is in no danger of closing it's doors from lack of interest or attendance.