correspondent, the Rev. R. R. t h vll l , ` flatters the middle class by
supposing
.at God calls its members to the Church's for God's category is the single linnividual.' The implications of his letter are,
raeed, serious, for while it is true that as rlh says,. " in the- Church, the lightning ra-. heaven becomes a slow-burning, earth- ZIkade oven," we may at least hope that the muurch will not openly adopt the attitude of `"e character in an Angus Wilson story who
sa: You surely wouldn't wish a religious
tentid am to have a meaning. It wouldn't b! al all edifying. I doubt if it would even Proper:, TN! this two basic points which must be made "L;s context were well put by Kierkegaard. eodi!_e. warns against the secularising of the shait relationship and the insistence " that this be congruous with a certain relativity, not essentially different from one's station in life, etc.—instead of which it must be for every individual man the absolute." (2) The follow- ing remarks might be applied to clerical mar- riage: " In the weaker moments one is inclined to coddle oneself, to whimper, to get along easily in the world, to live in quiet enjoyment. That is the womanly trait in man; and hence it is quite certain and true that Christianity is suspicious of marriage, and desires that along with the married servants it has, it might also have an unmarried person, a single man; for Christianity knows very well that with woman and love all this weakliness and love of coddling arises in a man, and that in so far as the husband does not bethink him- self of it, the wife ordinarily pleads it with an ingenuous candour which is exceedingly
dangerous for the husband, especially for one who is required in the strictest to serve Christianity."
The Church, of course, cannot be a ' mute and sallow hermit.' But we shall certainly not determine its character by preserving at all costs our middle-class standards.' To suppose these to be divinely ordained would be dodo-like indeed—and neither Christ nor modern man has had much patience with fossilised ecclesiasticism, especially of the Piltdown variety. The heart of the matter is that the Church cannot cat its cake and have it. Or, to put it another way, it may have to dispense with cake and be content with the bread of Life.—Yours faithfully, [Name and address supplied]
LAICUS
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