The Rev. W. N. Peterkin, of St. George’s Church of Scotland, Dumfries, is reported recently to have returned from a trip to America with new ideas aimed at doubling his congregation’s weekly offerings. The members of the congregation were to receive an eight-page booklet describing the new scheme for giving. Mr. Peterkin is reported to have said: “There are members paying more for Sunday papers than they give to the Church. They will be asked to review their outlook and give an actual sacrifice which can be felt in pocket and heart. The only compulsion will be that of conscience.” But throughout a lengthy report of Mr.
Peterkin’s ideas, not one word of condemnation of members reading Sunday papers and not a word about heart and conscience with regard to members reading such trash on God’s holy day. It seems that money, not morals, matters most in present-day carnal religion.