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/| ~~T T Ij' J-S IS T~ 7 n English Woman's Impressions of Chris-
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N THE heart of every true American
there is a sort of inherited interest in
England and the English customs, with
a kind of filial reverence for the Eng
lish people—a survival, no doubt, of
the years when the American colonists
were but children of the great “Mother
Country.” This, too, despite the wide
difference in temperament and methods
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in English and American life, both religions and
secular, and it is this very difference which must
always mlakie an intelligent comparison between
the customs of the two countries of mutual bene
fit to both.
American sociological students have found much
that is helpful in a contemplation of English life,
and we believe the reverse is also true. But per
haps the most fruitful Held for mutual investiga
tion and mutual improvement is that to be found
within the scope of the Institutional Church, and
the wide ground of Christian, social and philan
thropic life, can not fail to be of helpful interest.
Visit of the Hon. Mrs. Henley.
A thorough contemplation, ox this subject is, at
tins time, lortunateiy, possible to the leaders or
Ihe troiaen Age, because of the visit to this coun
try of an earnest English Christian worker in tne
person of the lion. l\irs. Henley, of London, Eng.
I'his lady has been kind enough to grant an in
terview to a representative of ihe uolden Age,
and her views and impressions of America, as well
as her comparisons between English and American
methods in religious as well as in social and philan
thropic life, can not fail to beof helpful interest.
Mrs. Henley is, herself, a woman of rarest per
sonal charm, being highly cultured in the truest
sense of the term, and combining within herself
manifold qualifications of mind and heart which
make her peculiarly fitted for the great work of
creating and sustaining a pure and beautiful enthu
siasm for all that is best and truest in Christian
life. While Mrs. Henley has been a worker in
England for some years, she was first strongly at
tracted to the American field during the recent
visit of Dr. Len G. Broughton to England the past
summer when he occupied the pulpit of Dr. Camp
bell Morgan in Westminster. Mrs. Henley said
she was so deeply impressed with his wonderful
hold on the people, the warmth of the services,
the spontaneity of the response from thousands
who gathered to hear Dr. Broughton, that she felt
as though he had brought a special and individual
message to the English people, and had infused so
much of genuine light and enthusiasm into the
usually restrained English services that she longed
to learn his secret and to follow as best she might
in the paths along which he had led.
Where English and American Church Work Differs.
“But, is not a ‘personal touch’ common in Eng
lish religious life?” Mrs. Henley was asked.
“Not as it is known in America,” was the
reply; “but I am personally deeply convinced
that to accomplish effectual Christian work there
must be, first of all, a perfect and complete self
sinking—a self-surrender as it were—without which
one cannot hear the whisper of the Spirit nor the
call of the Holy Ghost. One must feel—l must
feel the ‘Christ to me,’ and must be under the
fullest control of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else
counts, and without it we fail, pitiably, to reach
even the closest soul, while for those on the out
side we have no words of help to speak. I be
lieve that we should feel to the fullest a sense of
universal brotherhood—'that those whom we wish
ito reach must appeal to us as being part of us—
tihiat all sense of separateness must cease. Without
the love of the Father, it is impossible to reach
any human soul.”
“You have heard of Mrs. Pen Lewis, and of
the great Welsh Revival ? Well, there was felt
the full force of the Spirit. That great revival,
which has passed into history as one of the most
tremendous revivals of the age, was characterized
by the presence of the Holy Spirit in so wonder-
the Golden Age for December 13, 1906.
ful a degree as to border on the supernatural. This
gave rise to the expression, ‘The burning bush,’
for from one to one the enthusiasm spread until
it burned like a consuming fire before which sin
shriveled into ashes and from which rose the pur
ity and peace of perfect Christian lives.”
Dr. Broughton’s Message to England.
“Did Dr. Broughton bring a further message
to the English people than the spiritual one?”
Mi's. Henley was asked.
“Yes, he brought so strong a message of the
ethical side of Christian life and its combination
with the purely spiritual that I was moved to
make a deeper study of his methods. We need a
great Institutional Church in England. Os philan
thropy we have much, but it is of a colder charac
ter than I have seen here, awd I knew it would
be so when I heard of Dr. Broughton’s work in
Atlanta.”
“But was it to study any one phase of his work
that you came to America?”
To Study American Methods.
“No; in coming here I wanted to see the Chris
tian, the social and sill’s? philanthropic side of
American life; I wanted to find where I could help
my own people; how I could help, and where we
had failed in England. Dr. Broughton thought I
could also help him here, and that, too, I am eager
to accomplish. Truly, I have never seen anywhere
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THE HON. MRS. HENLEY.
so much of the real ‘ Christ-spirit’ as I have in
Dr. Broughton’s work. I might even say that to me
it seems to be colored through and through with a
beautiful purpose of unity and love. His own per
fect understanding and sympathy is, of course,
the mainspring of the entire fabric, and I confess
it is something of a revelation to me. He has all
of this to teach me, and I long to learn. You
know we English are taught suppression of our
emotions, and it is difficult to share our most sa
cred feelings, but unless we can and do so share
them we fail in our purpose of soul-winning and we
lose the real Christ-like purpose.’’
“What phase of this work has appealed to you
most strongly, Mrs. Henley?” was the next ques
tion.
“Combination Makes the Perfect Whole.”
“That is a difficult question to answer, because
I have not disassociated any one feature of the
work from another; it seems to me that it is the
combination of the ethical and the spiritual which
makes the perfect whole, and I am more and more
convinced that this is true.”
Lack of Class Distinctions.
“Perhaps my strongest impression now is that
in the Christian work here there are no class dis-
Unctions; that all stand equal in Christian service,
for all Whom I have met are innate gentle people,
with a refinement that transcends all social restric
tions, and which bears out the words of your great
American Constitution, that declares all men to be
equal. ’ ’
The Dormitory.
“Then you have been pleased with what you
have seen of the social part of Dr. Broughton’s
work; with the dormitory system, for instance?”
remarked the representative of The Golden Age.
“Pieased!” exclaimed Mrs. Henley, her fine face
radiating enthusiasm. “I have been absolutely
charmed, for I don’t believe we have anything
quite as fine in all England as this same dormitory,
where the brave young business women of your city
have made for themselves a truly refined and charm
ing home which helps to make and keep them the
true and earnest Christian gentlewomen that I find
them. I have tried not to let my own personal
feeling prejudice me in favor of these fifty young
girls who have showered personal kindness and per
sonal courtesy on me, and I believe I have made
my estimates impartially and carefully. But I
will say that a more attractive lot of young wo
men I have never met. It is a fact worthy of no
tice, too, that they are absolutely free in their
social life; they have no system of chaperonage,
and what is more wonderful, they need none! They
have their visitors in the evening, both men and
women, and without the faintest approach to su
pervision their social attitude is absolutely be
yond reproach.
The Dress of Business Women.
“Then, too, I am impressed with the way these
young women dress; not a trace of gaudiness, not
a sign of anything but the utmost refinement and
a dignity and self-respect, such as cannot be taught,
but which must be inborn, and which it were well
for all young women to emulate. I consider this
dormitory a very model from which other insti
tutions would do well to pattern, and it alone has
been an object lesson to me which was worth cross
ing the ocean to learn. I confess to being ma
terially helped myself by these brave young lives.”
The Infirmary.
“If you are so much interested in the dormitory,
Mrs. Henley, what do you think of the infirmary?
Surely you have similar institutions in England?”
“We have not many,” Mrs. Henley replied;
“but we need them badly. Os course there is much
Christian work in the hospitals of England, but it
is conducted in the most formal manner; the day
and hour being regulated by institutional author
ity, and under such circumstances it is most diffi
cult to get in touch with a patient. I believe I
feel more strongly regarding the infirmary than I
do even in regard to the dormitory. I have long
held that practical Christianity, that is, the sort
that will first relieve physical needs and then min
ister to spiritual ones, is the only true Christ-like
spirit for Christian work. I could not talk to a
hungry man of his soul’s salvation; I would be
impelled to feed him first! In like manner I could
not talk to a suffering person until I knew all
had been done to alleviate that suffering. In the
Tabernacle Infirmary here in Atlanta I note every
modern appliance for the medical and surgical care
of the sick, but above and beyond all else, I note
again the combination of the beautiful spiritual
influence that surrounds it all. I am reminded
again and again, of the life of the Master, who
healed as He helped, and I long to further follow
Him in this path. Ileie, it is possible to enter a
sick room at any hour of the day or night; to
bring spiritual healing to a soul in physical unrest,
and I firmly believe that the one often facilitates
the other. Have you not noticed how a restful
mind will act on a body physically distressed? How
much more then will a restful soul?
More Room Needed.
“I understand now what Dr. Broughton meant
when he said, in London and elsewhere, that he
(Concluded on page 7.)