The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-24
THE GREAT NEED
 IN CHURCH WORK Is Community of lnterests' Suggested By j. P. Morgan MAGiZINE IS SUGGESTED Would Carry Exclusive Religious Fea- lures and Be Universal In It's
 Scope-censorship of Sun
 day Theatres In New York.
MAGtZINE IS SUGGESTED
By D. V. FRANCIS.

been shown in his ability to unite war ring interests in such a way as to bet
 ter the conditions for all parties. Wheth-
 CT this tendency toward monopoly has
 resulted in the betterment of society in general is too great a question to be
 touched upon lightly and is foreign to
 my present purpose. What I wish to
 emphasize is that the idea that this re- markedly far-sighted business man suc-
 ceeded in impressing upon other enter
 prising men of business has clearly taken
 possession of the religious world. Of
 course it is no new disvorey that divi-
 sions in the Church of Christ are ter
 rible mistake if not an awful sin.
 The prayer of the Divine Founder was
 that they all may be one,' and just as divf ded family is a pitiful mani- festation of the sad results of selfish | ness, so a divided Christianity gives to the heathen world painful cairicature
 of the Church of Christ. Persons real
 ly interested in the conversion of the world and who want to see 1t accom- plished "in this generation" are doing more than idly lament these distressing divisions and I think you will be in terested in noticing how the matter is being taken hold of by some of our friends acros the sea. The Saturday Evening Post says: "A new and import ant era in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland seems to be at hand. Recently two large committees, which included the most influential ministers and lay men of the church of Scotland and the United Free church, met and took pre- lin1inary steps toward a series of con- ferences for unreserved discussion of the causes which keep the two great branches of Scottish Presbyterianism apart, and render the ecclesiastical state of Scotland the greatest scandal in Christendom.' The significant thing is the agreement by the Church Of Scot land to the condition laid down by the
 United Free church that the conference shall be at liberty to discuss every as- pect of the matter, including the cardinal question of the civil establishment of religion. An unrestricted conference was what the late Principal Rainy advocated 90 years ago but without success. In 1873 and again In 1886 the Church of Scotland made overtures to the Free church declaring its willingness to pro- mote reunion, but only on terms con sistent with the maintenance and sup port of an establishment of religion and the sacrsdness of the ancient en-
 dowments.' In other words, the scope
 of the proposed conference barred the discussion of the most vital question
 separating the two churches. Now the Church of Scotland is willing to discuss
 the matter, even if 1t will go no fur ther.'
 In Japan church unity is to be fur
 thered by the erection of a large union
 church. Many rich Americans visit To-
 kohama every year and it Is due to their
 generosity, stimulated by an apprecia-
 tion of the eagerness of the Japanese
 to know more of Christianity, that this
 building is to be built. Who are to be
 responsible for the uses to which it will
 be applied when finished and what lim-
 tations will be set as to the doctrine
 to be delivered from it's pulpit we are not informed.
 I suppose most of my readers sub- scribe for some church paper What would you think of periodical which aimed to supply interesting information
 from all the religious bodies every week :?
 A great many interesting matters were
 discussed at the conference of the foreign
 missions boards of the United States
 and Canada during their recent sessions
 in New York. Amongst others the ad- i visibility of an International church magazine was suggested It was felt that
 less church literature but more concen-
 trated effort would produce greater re-
 suits, and the opinion was generally ex-
 pressed that the demand would be great for such a magazine.
 To my mind the reverend doctor who
 lately was instrumental in calling a meet ing, at the New theatre, of the various
 pastors of churches in and about New York, made great mistake when he took
 up the cudgele in favor of opening the
 theatres on Sundays. I am afraid I am
 sufficiently out of sympathy with the sentleman's ideas on the subject to be disposed to think that it was but another of the modern ways of seeking popularity
 which prompted his enthusiasm. The
 point made was that as great many
 people who visit New York want to 20 to the thatre on Sunday 1t was the part of wisdom for those pastors of souls who feel that they have some responsibu-
 1ty in such matters to say: Well, if you
 are determined to go to the theatre I
 shan't hinder you, but I claim the priyi- lege of determining what plays you shall
 see."
 In other words, the resolution proposed contained the proviso that whatever leg islation should be enacted in the matter
 it should be stipulated that censorship
 of plays be arranged in order that the
 pastors of churches in the city of New
 York might have a determining vote as
 to what plays were proper for the en-
 tertainment of the public on Sundays and what were not. The statement was made
 that people were not seeking entertain
 ment on Sundays and that the theatres
 that were opened were of the lowest sort and that the sane and sensible means of overcoming this unQuestioned evil was to be found in the way suggested.
 Our friends in England could supply some very entertaining reading. if all the efforts of the English censor of plays were to be published. It is one thing
 to pass solemn resolution to have such censor and it is quite another proposi-
 tion for the gentleman so appointed to
 please all parties. But to my mind a
 quite sufficient answer to the whole mat ter was contained in the reply that Is said to have been given to a representa- tive of the administers interested in the case who asked a theatrical manager as | to his views with regard to Sunday open- l ing His answer was that in his opinion Six days work in the week is enough" Another view of the case was presented by one of these self-same pastors, who said very frankly that he thought that Ministers were pretty fresh when they tried to go contrary to the Ten Com mandments.'' tT
 There are few names amongst the church worlrsrs of America more widely Enovru than that of Gilaa Kknr~> <7,A Al