The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1907-05-08 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

EDITOR OF TIII DIRKENIIIILD 1.121 FF. Sir,—lt is hard to green the OUPPOSO of the letter addressed to you on this subject by the correspondent subscribing himself "Sunday Cripple, especially when he declares that there in, in his own case, no need al all for him logo to Church. "When I was baptised I was made a child of God and an •nberitor of the Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore FOG nonecemity." It will presently be seen that this is all the more reason why he should go. Let us calmly examine his case, as a cripple, and see what may be done to set him, spir'tu: ally, on his feet as well FR to remove a wrong opinion too commonly held. His assertion is to the effect that the inward conscious change, namely, a new birth unto righteouaneee, took place at his baptism (as an infant or adult is not stated but it matters not) and that since this change did occur he can with safety assume an attitude of independence. In other werds it is just as if he said to him:cif on the day of his conversion, "Well, I'm all right," a reflection for which there is not the slightest justification. When in a 'state of grace there is rather a fervent desire to grow in grace, to follow the injunction, "Be ye perfect." Perfection is to be aimed at, but who will for one moment say that it can be attained in this life. Still the effort must be made towards such a state by ceaseless strife to imitate the Pattern Life: the denial of self and the sacrifice of self for others. That is the important point constantly to be recollected by those who claim to be born anew. Turning directly to your correspondent I ask him, with all charity, in what manner, for instance, can he properly regard Sunday if be entirely disaasoc:ates himself from congregational worship and fellowship? It is, to say the least, remarkable that he should raise a discussion on the subject of non-attendance of men at Church, and then at ones excuse his own habitual absence on the ground that he is not ass other !lien are, unconverted sinners. Uoss he imagine a church service to be merely an assembly for sinners, where the righteous are wholly out of pier*? Let your correspondent but visit bt. Paul's, St. Michael's, St. John's, or St. Matthew's, any Sunday evening, and he will not only soon rid his mind of such a false impression, but derive much benefit from a hearty congregational service. _  But why don't men go to church? It is a difficult question for wh!oh to find a ready answer. It may be that the extraordinary pitch to which life is strained supplies the radical reason. Nothing is considered mentally attractive unless, in some measure, exciting or sensational. In the natural world, sensational novels, playa and stag.) turns, murders and divorce cases, football cup-ties, and such like seem to be the only kind of mental food with which most men seek to satisfy the cravings of their minds. This principle, too. holds good in the spiritual world, for there is an increasing demand for sensational sermons and addresses, with the latest eras,e or the "newest" theology as themes. In the midst of it all some ironically exclaim, "anything for a quiet life." Excitement and sensation have become as idols, before which men daily fall prostrate in adoration. Church-going with them is thus altogether outside their natural inclinations: the quietness of a service is mentally unattractive, the calmness of a church's atmosphere unendurable. Alas! for the spirit of the age. It is in thls wise that , the growth of indifference to the true essentials of religion rapidly increases. Men, like your correspondent, look upon preaching as the chief essential it is but an addendum to a sers'se. "The worst speak something good," as Saintly George Herbert rats it. The nonclusion of the whole matter that men generally heroics+, through tore* of circumstances, their love for the faith of their forefathers. How is this love to be restored?—Yours, Birkenhead, May let, 1997.