ce
serviceable ship to the scrap heap, but it is the best and cheapest in
the end. In the North Sea fishery I saw hundreds of sailing craft that
had helped to make fortunes, that had kept the markets full, and that
still had years of life, laid up, and then sold practically for old
junk. Why? Simply because swift steam-trawlers had been found to do the
work better.
These sub-organizations, as far as I am concerned, are existing merely
to help men to work in the spiritual field. They are not like some
yachts, just to carry bunting and paint to be admired. As for church
affiliation, what I like to see is a hungry man going where he will be
fed and get strength. I trust it does not seem flippant to say that I
look on all church organizations in the same way, and that the tradition
of a long past suggests to me the inefficiency of a dotage, quite as
much as the stimulating aroma of potency which, as in the case of some
wines, can only be acquired by the lapse of time. Some will say that
this Modernism has no sense of obligation, no sense of veneration, makes
no allowance for the idiosyncrasies of others. Well, that may be so. I
may plead, on the contrary, that what we call the ancient Church was the
youthful Church. The Church of the twentieth century is the ancient,
grown-up Church.
THE BUILDING ITSELF, PRO AND CON
Experience has convinced me that bricks and mortar and sectarian loyalty
have more often been hindrances than helps to that expression of faith
in him which Jesus looks for in our lives. I admit I have not lived long
enough in one place fully to appreciate the possibilities for stimulus
and help this tying up into bundles can afford. On the other hand, I
feel so certain that buildings set aside for public worship are
essential in every place, that where none exists I feel wretched, and I
have shares in quite a number all along our Labrador coast.
I love to wander through an ancient edifice in which generations of men
have come and worshiped and found help and comfort. I like looking at
the Viking ship, but I don't want to cross the Atlantic in it.
Personally, I like to hear, to see, and to understand. The dim religious
light and sonorous sounds do not waken me to a keener sense of the call
of God to be up and doing. They just make me sleepy. Besides being
difficult as a rule to hear, there is too much around to distract my
attention. I don't think Westminster Abbey helps me personally to attend
to the
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