THE LABOR PARTY IN THE CHURCH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 3148, 6 December 1893, Page 2

THE LABOR PARTY IN THE CHURCH.

Tom Mann has become a clergyman of the Church of England. We take it that this indicates a willingness oil the part of the Church to come more into touch with the people—that she has awakened to the fact that to make her future safe she must stoop down and attempt the uplifting of the masses as the Master did. But the stooping is not a congenial attitude apparently, and it is interesting to note how some of the truths uttered by the now consecrated Tom were received at St. Thomas Square Chapel, Hackney, on a recent occasion, when he preached to a crowded congregation. It is not usual to hear a preacher cheered in the course of his sarmon, still less usual are hisses and loud contradictions of the preacher's statements, but all these interland the report of the preacher's words. The subject of Mr Mann's address wps " The Religious Hypocrisy of the Churches," and from the report of the address we make the following extract :—Mr Mann said he did not find that the people who were closely identified with churches exhibited the requisite capacity to understand where evil consisted, nor did they show an earnest desire to uproot the evil in order that good might take its place. There was much that was good in every human being. There was very little that was evil in the average man and woman, otherwise they would not struggle as they did, year in and year out, against the most adverse conditions | which it was possible to imagine. Some people seemed to think he ought to apologise for daring to claim to be a religious man. He had no apology to make to any man or to any society, (Cheers.) While he was a trade unionist, a co-operator, and a politician in a labor sense, he would refu&e to be identified with any party that was ashamed to admit religion to a place in its constitution. (Cheers) His opinion was that many of those who attended churches were distinctly irreligious. (Loud hisses.) Why did the average orthodox man and woman attend church ? Not for the purpose of gathering an increasing amount of knowledge to enable them to overcome the evils which existed, but they did attend in order to fall into a little respectable niche. (Loud hisses and cries of " False !") Sotne of his friends were apparently getting stung. (Renewed hisses.) He reasserted that these people did not attend church for the purpose of endeavoring to understand the difficulties he had mentioned. When it was suggested that the Church should endeavor to grapple with industrial difficulties they professed the most complete astonishment. Those people were bound down with an amount of class prejudice, the like of which had never been seen before. (Cheers and renewed hisses.) They had as much hypocrisy in London churches and chapels as the whole world beside could show. (Loud hisses.) Captains of industry went to church and mumbled the Lord's Prayer, and then for six days of the week violated every principle contained in that prayer(Cheers.)