In How to deal with Men he contrasted the work with men with that of lads. He regarded lads as “tabula rasa”, beginners in the making, whereas men were individuals already in character and temperament, stiffened by habits and complicated by previous training or miss-training. Hence, “men are the most difficult work to which a clergyman can devote himself and his only motive is the true love of God and souls, and the only power to do the work is “prayer and self-examination.” Women have more physical and moral courage than men and so men are the Church’s weakness, but also its most valuable asset.40
Always the optimist, Green considered the time, 1911, was one of growing religious opportunity. The revival of religion due to the Oxford Movement in the 1860s and 1870s had been followed by causes of decline. The Church had to reconcile its teaching with the new discoveries of science, especially Darwin’s The Origin of Species in 1859 and The Descent of Man in 1871. Darwin was not a threat for Green although he realized he was to others.
On the 19th August 1925 in an Artifex article entitled The Church’s Debt to Darwin Green wrote: “His great value for us is that he taught us to apply the genetic method – the method that is to say of studying origins in every sphere of enquiry.” He went on: “If the world had originated by a successive evolution, as it were by a continuous creation, then it declared that God is still working to bring it to perfection.” Nevertheless the Church had to come to terms not only with the fall-out from the theories of Darwin but with the new theological insights of historical and literary criticism of the Bible known as Higher Criticism.
Furthermore, the 1871 Education Act introducing universal and compulsory education had made men look to social, political, educational and economic reforms for improvement rather than spiritual influences. He thought the situation had now changed and considered there was no conflict between science and religion. Higher Criticism had shaken the church but left it stronger. The leaders of the Labour Party, although not orthodox Christians, recognized “man shall not live by bread alone.”41 He detected an increased dependence on personal experience which would be of benefit in transforming traditional, handed-on, religion into a personal Christian faith, witnessed in daily life.
Furthermore, social problems were waiting to be solved and the emerging nations needed “not the cast off clothes of our civilization, but power to evolve a civilisation of their own as an expression of their own character.”42 All in all, the time was right for the revival of religion and the concentration should be on men.
Green’s own work with men was done mainly in the Bible Class held on a Sunday afternoon with the intention of having influence leading to conversion and their attachment to the church. He was persuaded men needed “The Gospel of Jesus Christ fearlessly and plainly put before them by anyone who himself believes in it and knows its power.”43 That was a reflection of his own attitude. The Bible Class was not to be confused with worship; it was organised by class secretaries who administered attendance cards and took weekly contributions for the book scheme and hospital fund. Scriptural teaching, personal visiting, and prayers were the three necessities, and the aim was to yield better men, who would become upright and trustworthy regular worshippers who had submitted to the Holy Spirit. He would not countenance apologetic teaching on Bible difficulties, but aimed to make the contents of the Bible a living reality and to identify the formulated experiences of the men with those of Biblical characters. He indicated his informed reading by providing experiences of conversions from modern histories and biographies and encouraged the men to provide their own illustrations, but discouraged personal testimonies. Green considered that the enthusiasm for the Bible Class was maintained by the prayers of the members kneeling. The portion of scripture was explained and always led into prayer. This became a training ground for extemporary prayer and devotional teaching. With his ordered mind Green admitted the worship of God is hard work but leads to joy, so duty comes first and pleasure afterwards; discipleship first and then the experience of freedom; submitting to God’s word leads to liberty, but the main outcome would be the provision of communicant members.
Attendance at the Bible Class was the passport to belonging to the Men’s Club as an ordinary member – other worshipping men were allowed as “privileged members.” If either an ordinary member lapsed from the Bible class or a privileged one from Sunday worship they forfeited their right to attend the Men’s Club. Membership rules were few but they included the prohibition of gambling, drinking and the use of bad language but smoking was allowed.
How to Deal with Men indicated Green’s pastoral experience, his love for souls and his strong but sensitive character. These qualities qualified him to deliver lectures on Pastoral Theology at Cambridge University at the outbreak of World War I. Hence to Green’s reputation for his work with men and lads was added pastor and evangelist. He was a complete priest but he was not a loner. Michael Hennell, a fellow residentiary canon, quoted from Green’s Artifex column in 1913 indicating that he advocated a team of priests in big towns and cities. Green held clergy teams should have a parochial population of between 50,000 and 60,000 souls with a central clergy house with a staff of five or six clergy. Green wrote: “A large staff would admit every man being put to the work he could do best and the comradeship and healthy criticism of a large staff would keep everyone up to the mark.” Hennell commented that the paragraph could have been a contribution to the 1980s report Faith in the City.44 Green was to return to this theme in an Artifex article on 11th July 1944.
Whilst maintaining a demanding parochial workload Green published three books before World War 1, namely Studies in the Devotional Life45 in 1913, and Studies in Popular Theology,46 also in 1913 and Studies in the Cross47 in 1914. In these early books he set out an integrated scheme of Christian belief and practice which he was to develop in his later ones. His basic argument was that Christianity, although revealed, can be shown to be rational and reasonable. His Theology linked the doctrines of God, the Holy Trinity, the Fall, Redemption through the Cross of Christ, and the Church.
The existence of sin and suffering is attributed to the fall of humanity and the created universe. As mentioned earlier, he proposed a three-fold path of right belief, right affection and right action to be followed with an exploration of Christian doctrine leading to appropriate devotion and a system of ethics or moral behaviour. Throughout his writings he emphasized the need for discipline and personal holiness, and so the need for a guiding rule for the ordered life with the three-fold resources of Bible study to discover how God has dealt with souls; of prayer as personal intercourse with God; and Holy Communion as sacramental union with God.
Studies in the Cross was based on Green’s firmly held view that the Cross draws folk to it. This was the basis of his evangelism and the preaching for conversions in his own church.
At the same time he took his duties as a residentiary canon at Manchester Cathedral seriously. Hennell recorded that Green held all the posts on the Cathedral Chapter, Registrar, Bursar, Collector of Rents and from 1934 Sub-Dean. He said Mattins and celebrated the Eucharist at St Philip’s before doing so at the Cathedral.48
Green was appointed a Royal Chaplain to King George V and spoke of his respect for him as a Bible reader. Queen Mary took a personal interest in Green’s parish and the Ragged Schools.
1914 saw the outbreak of World War One. Green did not have a day off during the War in respect for his “lads” in the forces. Most of them were not to return.
20 F .D. Coggan: These were his Gifts (Devonshire Press, University of Exeter, 1974), p3.
21 Roger Lloyd: The Church and People 1900-1914 (SCM Press, London, 1964), p164.
22 P.G.: How to Deal with Lads (Edward Arnold, London, 1910).
23 Roger Lloyd, op. cit.
24 Henry Hill, The Story