7 OCTOBER 1911, Page 12

LETTERS TO A MINISTERIAL SON.

Letters to a Ministerial Son. By a "Man of the World." (James Clarke and Co. 2s. 6d. net.)—" Political preaching should be left to the politically established Church." Very good; we quite agree ; as a matter of fact it is much more often heard in Noncon- formist chapels. It would be interesting to hear something more about the Church—not "a stone's throw from where I am writing this letter"—where the preacher declared that God was on the side of Tariff Reform. But we have little cause to complain of the writer of these letters. We allow that he commonly gives us good sense very vigorously expressed. He condemns the odious custom of catching titles. " A Breach of Promise Suit," where the text is "I have somewhat against thee, because thou halt left thy first love." Then there is a good paper on "Collections," with especial references to the want of method in our giving; and another on Matrimony. It is certainly an amasing thing when a celibate priest declares that "the decay of the family is the decay of the State," while his Church has for centuries been helping on the decay by withdrawing from family life the best individuals of the race. And we must mention another which shows sound com- mon sense, "Golf or —," in which the writer declares "without golf or some other game you will not be able to serve God as you should. For, indeed, a minister is not a superior being who can burn the candle at both ends with impunity." Finally, there is some sound sense on the question which is always being discussed, as it always has been—why do people not go to chitrch ?