1925 : Jabez Pluck attends a Meeting of
the Braintree Brotherhood

Title:  The Essex Chronicle, 8, 368 2e
Date:  13 January 1925
Place:  Braintree

MR. V.G. CRITTALL AND
PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY

On Sunday afternoon1 Mr. V. G. Crittall, of Chelmsford, the Labour candidate for the Maldon Division, occupied the chair at an open meeting of the Braintree Brotherhood. He was supported by the Rev. G. P. Bassett-Kerry, vicar of Braintree, Mr. Jabez Pluck, the nonagenarian president of the Brotherhood, and Mr. G. T. Bartram, J.P., C.A., the past president. Mr. Eb. Smith (Witham) offered prayer, Mr. Broughall Daw read Scripture, Mr. H. Skyrme sang “How lovely are Thy dwellings,” Mr. W. Nice played a euphonium solo, and Miss Lily Bowtell was the accompanist.

PROFESSION v. PRACTICE.

Mr. Crittall said fair play and the Brotherhood might very well be bracketed together as expressing practical Christianity. In all Christian countries there had been a falling-off in the hold which the Churches had upon the community. He did not know what might be the contributory causes to that falling-off, but in his opinion one cause was the big difference often found between the profession of Christianity and the putting of Christianity into practice. To many there was lacking opportunity to practice Christianity, and it was that to large extent which had put and kept people outside the Churches. The want of giving effect to practical Christianity had brought about organisations like the Brotherhood. Creed alone was not sufficient; there must be practice of the thing if it was to be of value. A few weeks ago he went to a town in Germany where there were works devoted almost entirely to the manufacture of machinery for making matches. He toured the works, and saw machinery of marvellous ingenuity, including a machine, which cost about Ł10,000, capable of turning out a quarter of a million matches a day, operated by five girls. He had a talk with the manager, and learned that, whereas the firm three months before employed 1,700 people, the number had been reduced to half, not due to falling trade, but because a new law had been passed which insisted upon factories maintaining a council of workers and employers. The manager said he did not believe in that sort of thing, and was not going to have it, so he reduced the workpeople by half “to teach the authorities that that sort of thing could not be done.”

SOLUTION OF PROBLEMS.

Throughout the world people were crying out for a new social order, and there were others saying there was an all-round failure in everything at present constituted. Such attitude could only be regarded as the reverse of fair play and brotherhood and the antithesis of Christianity. The problems which beset them industrially and internationally could only be permanently solved by bringing to bear practical Christianity as expressed in fair play and the Brotherhood feeling. The Braintree Brotherhood was not numerically strong; for the size of the town it was small compared with Coggeshall, but it was much younger, and he hoped the scope of activities and membership would be extended. Mr. Crittall added that he was particularly interested in China, about which they were to hear, because China was the principal export market of the Crittall Manufacturing Co. General Feng, the Chinese Christian, had given practical effect to his learning in Christianity, for he recently entered a conquered city without bloodshed, which was a rather remarkable thing with that nation. The Rev. G. P. Bassett-Kerry then gave an address on “General Feng, the Chinese Christian General.” The Vicar mentioned that the last time he visited the Brotherhood Major Ruggles-Brise, the Conservative Member, presided, and now Mr. Crittall, the Labour candidate, was in the chair, which showed that representatives of different political parties took part in the meetings. (Applause). The Vicar offered congratulations to Mr. Jabez Pluck, the 92-year-old president of the Brotherhood, and wished him many happy returns.

CHINESE CHRISTIAN.

The Vicar went on to speak of General Feng, the Chinese Christian, as a man of tremendous personality. Some of the greatest Christians had been soldiers, and the New Testament spoke very well of soldiers. Some the finest Christians he (the Vicar) had known had been through the Army. There was something in military discipline which made great Christians. Some people wished to see war cease and armies done away with, but so long as the policeman was needed to maintain civil rights, so long would soldiers be needed for nations. The Chinese were the oldest civilised nation in the world; they were civilised when our English ancestors were savages and painted their bodies. Having been asleep for centuries, China was awakening, and God had raised a great man there in General Feng. There were counterparts to General Feng’s Christian Army in Cromwell’s Ironsides in England’ and Havelock’s Saints in the Indian Mutiny. Mr. Jabez Pluck, the president, in thanking the Chairman and speaker, said it was a good thing to have a Brotherhood in which Churchmen, Baptists, Methodists, and Congregationalists could meet. They needed to link hands, together to get religion into the hearts of the people. There was nothing better than the love of Jesus, which made happy homes and beautiful lives. There were men who had the best businesses in Braintree whose fathers kept the Sabbath and honoured God. If people would take God into their hearts, they would spend the happiest times of their lives. He thanked the Brotherhood for references to himself, and wished the organisation every success.

1 25 January 1925

Jabez Pluck is PL501.  He can be found in Trees 5 and 11.

 

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