THE MISSION OF REPENTANCE AND HOPE AND THE NATIONAL BABY-WEEK.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:9 SIR,—Many of the leaders and other members of the Church of England have shown, by their action in connexion with the Mission of Repentance and Hope, that they believe that that Church has in great degree failed in its duty both to God and man; but the founders of the Mission have not yet succeeded in showing how the Church is to be enabled and induced to prove that it feels real intelligent repentance, and that it has well- founded hope that in future it will be a less unprofitable servant of God and man than it has been hitherto.
Does not the National Baby-Week, which is to be held in July, offer the Church of England, and all other branches of the Christian Church, the best possible opportunity of showing true repentance and gaining well-founded hope by enabling them to begin a course of true obedience to the teaching of Christ? And does not the same week also provide those persons who wish to be members of really Christian Churches, and to help all Churches to be really Christian, with an invaluable opportunity of dis- eriminating between the Churches which wish, and those which do not wish, to be really Christian?
The most fatal part of the failure of the Churches to try to enable and induce their members to obey the fundamental commandments of their Founder to love God and neighbour has been, and still is, their failure to try to ensure that all children shall be born, and shall grow up, under the conditions necessary to enable and induce them to love God and neighbour wisely and well. This is obviously the most important part of the duty of every part of the Christian Church. The neglect of that great duty is the most disastrous part of the Churches' failure in duty to God and man, not only because that part of their duty is by far the most important, but also because neglect of that part cannot fail to lead to neglect of all other parts of duty.
As it is impossible that any branch of the Church which neglects the duty of trying to enable all children whom it can influence to love God and neighbour can possess self-respect or obtain or long retain the allegiance of intelligent men and women who desire to live Christian lives, it must seem to all sincere and intelligent members of the Church of England desirable, at any cost of thought and work, to enable and induce their Church to begin at once to fulfil its duty to the children of the nation, and therefore to the whole nation.
There is only one way in which the duty can be fulfilled. That one way is that the clergy and the most experienced laymen and laywomen of the Church shall ascertain what are the conditions which are necessary in town and country to enable and induce children to feel love of God and neighbour; and, when they have ascertained what the conditions are, shall make them known to their fellow-members of the Church, and shall persistently urge all members to use all possible means—by co-operation with their fellow-members, by bringing about the co-operation of their own branch and other branches of the Church, by constant co-opera- tion with Town Councils and with Parliament, and by the wise use of the power to influence Town Councils and Parliament by votes—to get the necessary conditions created for all children. A great stimulus would be given to 'the whole of the Church of England, and probably to the whole of the Christian Church in Great Britain, if those congregations of the Church of England whose clergy, or many of whose lay members, see the need for new action on the part of the Church, would hold meetings before or during the Baby-Week for the purpose of arriving at agreement as to the action to be taken. It would certainly be a great advantage to the whole community if every congregation in the land were asked whether it is willing to accept permanently the duty of trying to obtain for all children all the conditions necessary for physical, mental, and moral health and vigour. For those congregations which refused would show clearly that they were not fully Christian and did not wish to become so.—I am,
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