It is curious to note how easily an English[Pg 81] parson or Nonconformist minister can make a reputation for greatness as a preacher. Let him be just a little more competent than the average, and people flock to hear him. I doubt if there is a really great preacher alive in England to-day. Yet there are three or four who pass for great, and who are supposed to be in line with St. Paul, John Knox, and Wesley. To give instances would be invidious, but I have no hesitation7 in asserting that the preachments offered in London at the three or four great churches which are supposed to enshrine orators8 are, as a rule, exceedingly feeble efforts, tricked out with gauds and mannerisms, packed with trite9 sentiment, and utterly10 devoid11 of doctrine12, inspiration, and value. There are not three bishops13 on the English bench that can furnish forth14 a sermon worth going fifty yards to hear. There is not a Nonconformist minister who has a soul above stodginess15, convention, and a convenient if threadbare Scriptural tag. The Salvation16 Army, perhaps, have the fervour and the courage, but[Pg 82] they lack wisdom, and they have no art. The Congregationalists have some of the wisdom and a touch of the art, but they have no fervour. Indeed, wherever you turn you find that the recognised English religionists have given themselves up to a decadent18, Hebraic emotion, and let the solid things of the spirit—the Hebraic culture, the Hebraic vision, the Hebraic passion—pass by them.
Gradually the churches of this remarkable19 country are ceasing to have anything to do with religion at all. "Religion be hanged!" say those that run them. "Religion no longer appeals to the wayward, stony-hearted, over-driven, half-educated English populace. What is wanted is social brightness and warmth, the religion of brotherhood20 and the full belly21; so that we will give magic-lantern entertainments in our churches on the Lord's Day, we will go in 'bald-headed' for pleasant Sunday afternoons, hot coffee and veal-and-ham pies, and screws of tobacco given away at the doors, wrapped up in a tract22, which you are at liberty either to read[Pg 83] or to light your pipe with." As for the English priests that had the authority of God, they are no longer sure whether they have that authority or not. Of course, they believe they have it in a sacerdotal, canonical23, and private way; but not one of them dare stand up and swear by his powers publicly. The bishops are all for peace and quietness. "If you please, we are your friends, and not your masters," say they to their clergy; and their clergy, to use an English vulgarism, "wink24 the other eye." And the clergy, too, in turn are the friends and not the masters of common men; they are so much your friends, indeed, that, providing you mount a silk hat on Sunday and put a penny on the plate, you can depend upon a friendly shake of the hand and a kindly25 grin of recognition six days in the week, even though you happen to be a bookmaker or the keeper of a bucket-shop. For the Nonconformist clergy, if clergy they may be called, they speak humorously at tea-parties, they enter into hat-trimming competitions at bazaars26, and[Pg 84] they play principal guest at the tables of over-fed tradesmen. There is not a man amongst them who can say boo to a goose. There is not a man amongst them who as a social unit is worth the ￡150 a year and a manse, with ￡10 per annum for each child, that a glozing, unintellectual English congregation hands over to him. Out of the ease and security and respectability and dolce far niente which the Church of England provides for a considerable proportion of her priests, she has managed to evolve a few scholars, a few men of letters, perhaps an odd saint or two, and an odd man of temperament27 and mark. But what have the English Nonconformists produced? Dr. Horton and Dr. Parker, and that G.R. Sims of religionists, the Rev17. Hugh Price Hughes. To this distinguished28 triumvirate—though the English Nonconformists will hold up pious29 hands of horror at the notion—one may add that valiant30 thumper31 of the pulpit drum, General Booth, who is doing a work in religious decadence32 and bathoticism which it[Pg 85] will take centuries to undo33. Want of heart and want of mind, coupled with the blessed spirit of tolerance34, have indeed played havoc35 with the English Churches.
The loosening of the grip of the Church on English society has, of course, not been without its results on English morals and on English society at large. There is a general feeling abroad that religion is played out, that the system of Hebrew ethics36 which has been drilled into the English blood by generations of the faithful was all very well for the faithful, but is altogether impracticable and out of harmony with the present intelligent times. You will find Englishmen nowadays complaining that the taint37 of spiritualism, asceticism38, and ethical39 faith which they have inherited from their people is a source of hindrance40 to them in the matter of their commercial or social progress, and their lives are spent in an endeavour to eradicate41 or to triumph over that taint. The Archbishop of Canterbury could not run a tea-shop by the rules laid down in the Sermon on the Mount,[Pg 86] they will tell you; and, what is worse, the Archbishop of Canterbury agrees with them. "Take all thou hast, and give it to the poor" is out of the question even for Dr. Horton. Since those blessed words were said, we are told, the Poor Law has sprung up; we give all that is necessary for pauperism43 in the poor-rate; and, thanks to the excellence44 of our social system, it is now impossible for man, woman, or child to die of starvation, provided only that they will work. I have heard it stated by an English Nonconformist minister that his chief complaint against the Roman Catholic community in his district was their habit of being over-liberal to the poor. "No man is refused," observed my Nonconformist friend, "no matter how dissolute or idle or irreligious he may be."
Then in the large question of the employment of human flesh and blood to make money for you, the modern Englishman finds that he must either tear the effects of his religious bringing-up out of his heart, or forego the possibility of becoming really rich,[Pg 87] don't you know. It is all a matter of supply and demand; and if the mass of humanity live starved lives and die daily in order that I may be fat and warm and cultured and possessed of surpluses at banks, it is not my fault. You must really blame supply and demand. With this fine phrase on his lips, the English capitalist confutes all the philosophies and sets his foot on the majority of the decencies of life. Of course, I shall be told that the prince and chief of all hide-bound industrial capitalists is Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who happens to be a Scot. And I cheerfully admit that Mr. Carnegie is a very serious case in point. But for our one Mr. Carnegie, the English have fifty Mr. Carnegies. They may not be so rich or so famous; but there they are, and the blood and spirit of the English people suffer accordingly. The religion of the wealthy does not prevent them from grinding the face of the poor; and the religion of the middle classes is of pretty much the same order. It is at the hands of the English middle classes that the English poor[Pg 88] suffer a further and a bitterer depredation45. For when you have earned money hardly, you want good goods for it; and the English middle classes, who are nearly all shopkeepers, either directly or indirectly46, make a point of palming off on you the very worst goods the law will allow them to sell.
And, in spite of all, the churches continue to open their doors, new churches continue to be built, million-pound funds are raised, the missionary47 speeds over the blue wave to the succour of the 'eathen, and English women and children have their pleasant Sunday afternoons, and bishops keep high-stepping horses; Church and State are grappled together with hooks of steel, and England is a Christian48 country. Till the churches get out of their slippers49 and their sloth50 and their tea-bibbing and their tolerance, matters will go on in the same old futile51, scandalous way. If they are to have charge and direction of the soul of man, they must remember that the soul of man is a greater thing than ease, and a greater thing than the Church; they[Pg 89] must not play with the immortal52 part of humanity, and they must not trifle with the things which they believe to be of God. In no other country save England would such churches and such priests as the English now possess be tolerated or supported; it is the English decadence which has rendered Englishmen blind to the stupidity and banality53 of their pastors and spiritual guides, and it is the English easy-heartedness which permits the game of cant42 and cadge54 and sham55 to go on unchecked.
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1
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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pastors
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| n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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trite
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| adj.陈腐的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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stodginess
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| n.难消化，笨拙 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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decadent
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| adj.颓废的，衰落的，堕落的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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canonical
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| n.权威的；典型的 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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bazaars
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| （东方国家的）市场( bazaar的名词复数 )； 义卖； 义卖市场； （出售花哨商品等的）小商品市场 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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thumper
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| n.击键声检测器；轰鸣器 | |
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decadence
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| n.衰落，颓废 | |
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undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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taint
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| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
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asceticism
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| n.禁欲主义 | |
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ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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eradicate
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| v.根除，消灭，杜绝 | |
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42
cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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pauperism
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| n.有被救济的资格，贫困 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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depredation
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| n.掠夺，蹂躏 | |
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indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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49
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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50
sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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51
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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52
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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53
banality
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| n.陈腐；平庸；陈词滥调 | |
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54
cadge
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| v.乞讨 | |
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55
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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