Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

“ The Church to me means all who, consciously or unconsciously, are forwarding God's kingdom on earth. In the broad definition of the Master it means "all those who are not against us." The way in which men associate for worship, or in which they consider it most remunerative to invest their efforts to forward the kingdom, gives them no right to arrogate to themselves the title of God's Church. ”

“ There are countless men, skilled in the exact sciences and in scholarship, possessed of wealth and rank, who find it impossible to define their position in words, yet whose humility and charity make us love them, whose deeds are just such as those which have come down the ages as Jesus' own selection for the most convincing evidence of his Sonship of God. ”

“ If a church is really anxious to fulfil its functions as set down in the only book of instructions for each of them; if it wants to call forth latent energy, as a Washington from his homestead, or a Lincoln from his farm, it must cease to lay stress on orthodoxy and get to work where the world really needs it. ”

“ Thank God, Jesus never made the opposite of confessing our belief in him before men to be the non-apprehension of his divinity, but always the denying and being ashamed of his service and becoming a stumbling block. [Pg 29] Though I know what a wonderful thing it is, as a source of power, to be able to confess our faith in Jesus as the Son of God, and what infinite peace it affords to have that confirmed by experience.
The shrewd judgment of Wall Street would not lend a man ten cents because he had been accepted as a member of a church on confession of faith. ”

“ I have always loved to think of Jesus Christ and to commend him as Master because he accepted all who came—whether for comfort, for help, or for service. When a man sets to work on [Pg 30] the road that leads to heaven here, he will be tasting the sweetness of the believing that involves everlasting life. In our Labrador work we form no church. Our fellow-workers pray and worship in every denomination as the bias of their mind and temperament leads them to find peace and comfort and strength best. ”

“ Yes, it is hard, this faith in Jesus Christ. It will bring her no praise of men. Yet it was such sermons as this nurse's that Jesus thought it worth while wasting his time on, when the world lacked theology far more than it does today. Those sermons of his in their modest settings have been the most brilliant of the world's possessions ever since. I think the Church grades her preachers wrongly. There is no failure of Christ's aims. His message is bearing fruit in the hearts of many men whom the-necessary-to-define-your-mental-attitude school would rule out of the kingdom. ”

“ If we are second-rate in our work all our talking won't persuade men of our fitness for our position. Securus judicat orbis terrarum—and to my mind God seeks first men diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
All the sects have only the same work for the same Master to accomplish; it is through being fellow-workers and not identical thinkers that love for all who love Christ must come. ”

“ As for church affiliation, what I like to see is a hungry man going where he will be fed and get strength. I trust it does not seem flippant to say that I look on all church organizations in the same way, and that the tradition of a [Pg 21] long past suggests to me the inefficiency of a dotage, quite as much as the stimulating aroma of potency which, as in the case of some wines, can only be acquired by the lapse of time. Some will say that this Modernism has no sense of obligation, no sense of veneration, makes no allowance for the idiosyncrasies of others. ”

“ We all know today men of inferior attainments and lives who not only know themselves to be infallible, but haven't the grace to leave even such men alone, and who have interpreted their call to the "ministry" as simply a mandate to set every one else intellectually right. I know that that which is hidden from the wise can be revealed to babes, and that our talents—namely, social position, wealth, and brains—merely enlarge in God's sight our capacity for service, and therefore our responsibility. ”

“ I am fearless to confess that I would enroll for a colleague in the clinics, which hold in their hands the lives of my friends, a man who is facile princeps in the art of surgery rather than a second-rate surgeon who can subscribe to the very same intellectual tenets as I do myself. ”

“ Yet history seems plainly to show that there have been times when the world would have been more Christian if the organizations to which men often limit the name of church had ceased to exist. I presume the experience we have all had with organizations calling themselves "the Church" has driven us, at times at least, to the same conclusions in our own day about those particular branches. ”

“ Theoretically there is no reason why they should not love one another. Alas! they haven't always done so. A large membership of ineffective persons may be only an incubus. Like sailors on my vessel, if they are incompetent they are a hindrance, and in every way expensive and undesirable. ”

“ Even if the world today does not vex itself so much as formerly about predestination, original sin, the "actual presence," or even the correct mental attitude to insure heaven hereafter, the churches may surely count it as a product of their work that the people do [Pg 13] trust God more simply for the past and future, and are more in earnest about securing justice for the downtrodden and the square deal in the present. In this they need as much as ever the Church's leading. ”

“ The qualification for life eternal is to have done well. The final test is to be ethical, not theological. I expect to find more roads leading into the Golden [Pg 36] City than many seem even to wish for. After the school day of life I look for an ecclesia, a mighty host, called out for more perfect service. My ideal church is characterized solely by the very simplest interpretation of the old, old story, and each member deserves the name of the "friend of all the world." ”

“ I never care to emphasize the large number that the crew of my hospital ship consists of. As long as I can do the work I take pride in the small number I can handle it with. It is far better for the individuals themselves to have [Pg 18] more responsibility and see clearly the result of their own handiwork. They feel also, then, that it is more important to be ready at all calls, and when at it they will work far more keenly. History proves that when Constantine filled the Eastern Church with nominal Christians he led directly to its downfall. ”

“ They may have been Catholic or Protestant, or in honest doubt, but we love them and will follow them. To us they stand for real love to man, and so real faith in God; for true pluck and willingness to take up their cross. ”

“ As for the working man, to my mind if he doesn't join a visible church today it is simply because he doesn't see any good in it. The teachings of the Church's Master still appeal to him, but the churches to him don't stand for them. ”

“ He doesn't want an insurance agency only for the next world; he wants a kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace, first in this world, where Christ intended it to be, as well as in the next. Church authority can no longer compel his interest; she cannot compete as [Pg 11] a popular entertainer; only the proof of her unselfish love in matters of everyday life can save her from becoming a useless hulk, stranded on the beach of time. ”

“ A surgeon may be ever so correct in his knowledge of operative surgery, but he must find a practise or he is useless. It is not so much for holding services, as for rendering services, that the world is looking to the Church today.
Human Need the True Objective
Today the Church should not only have a message for the strong and well. In Christ's day it had a message for the sick and suffering also. I admit that the medical profession has neglected too much the influence that mind has over matter. ”

“ A church must die that doesn't use up and give out energy as surely as a physical body. The period of latent physical life is not long. God in his mercy has seemed to prolong latent spiritual life almost unduly in the case of some churches. Those who love the Church are breathing a little more freely because of the Laymen's Missionary Movement.
Lack of Clearness
To me personally it is hard to know exactly what the Church has meant; it is hard to "know one's self." The attitude of practically all men's minds is to excuse their own shortcomings by attributing the cause elsewhere. ”

“ It therefore frequently endeavors to treat a human being as if he was nothing but a conglomeration [Pg 26] of material cells. But the Church, it seems to me, is making an infinitely more serious mistake in entirely abandoning the valuable aid it can give the physician when he has found that no organic cause accounts for the symptoms of his patient. What is known in America as the Emmanuel Movement has my entire sympathy. ”

“ The law of demand and supply should be recognized as applying equally to the church as to other agencies. The desire to be needed, to find work, and not merely to be a big party product can alone develop communions able to remove [Pg 25] the stigma of being either parasites or fads. ”

“ They are really the Church, and mean everything to me, to the world outside, and to all aspirants to the dignity of the name of Christian. [Pg 17]
Organizations Essential
The visible Church stands to me above all else as appointed of God for all that organization means in the attainment of any other object. Atmospheric religion is desirable, but to progress, to permanence, organization is essential. Moreover, being conscious of the idiosyncrasy of the human mind, I have every use for the various communions if no man is to be excluded. ”

“ The camaraderie of a fighting force is [Pg 32] not disturbed by the feeling that one is of the cavalry, another of the infantry, a third of the artillery; or even, as has often been shown in warfare, whether they are of different races, climes, or temperaments. There is nothing like common work to beget intelligent love for your fellow. ”

“ Fine uniforms and titles are of little moment as compared with wisdom and efficiency for supplying men and sinews for war. We fully value the great leaders in our home country, and we also love our "Bobs" or our "Wellington" because when called on they are willing to march in the front rank themselves. ”

“ Our claim to be capable servants of our Master and reincarnations of his life is judged in our little world by the good work we do; if as surgeons or nurses, by our skill; if as storekeepers and labor employers, by the clean deals we give. ”

“ The more it exercises its muscles in pulling men out of their pits, the more dexterous, powerful, and altogether desirable it will be, because the world will need it, and it will no longer appeal only to those who prefer its form of worship or have a bias towards its particular church polity. ”

“ In the North Sea fishery I saw hundreds of sailing craft that had helped to make fortunes, that had kept the markets full, and that still had years of life, laid up, and then sold practically for old junk. ”

“ They were presumably afraid to take up the cross, which real fighting the devil involves as much today as it did in Judea centuries ago. Many, outside all churches, support hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, relief funds, and so forth. Big corporations and even heathen armies on the war path support Y. M. C. A. work, because that is a demonstratively valuable working factor. The church which is afraid of offending rich members cannot have a faith in God which is worth anything. ”

“ Yet one of the most difficult things I have had to learn is that religious people find it impossible to believe that others do not care one iota whether a man is labeled a Methodist or an Episcopalian. ”