The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-17
THE SOCIETY OF ETHICAL CULTURE.
Felix Adler and His Queer Congregation and
Theories.

Felix Adler and His Queer Congregation and
Theories.
New York Correspondence Philadelphia Times.
The Society for Ethical Culture" is one of
the curious gatherings of this city on Sunday /
do not know exactly what its aims and purposes
ticular creed 1t meets in Chickering Hall
every Sunday morning and Prof. Felix Adler is
the leader Of the flock He is just now the
reigning sensation of the religious world here.
His congregation ms are queer mixture of in
tellectual people, quite exceptional in character
and makeup Mr. Adler is an ex-Jewsh rabbi,
and is to-day the most conspicuous leader of re-
spectacle free thought in unorthodox New
York. He is a bold, fearless thinker who is not
afraid to push his logic to its conclusions. People
whose views from his wide apart as the
poles crowd to hear his Sunday morning ad-
dresses. He has been hard student, and his
remarks are always worth hearing. While
within the pale of the Jewish faith he became
dissatisfied and cast about the other creeds In
the hope OF finding safe anchorage in some one
of them, but he says that he failed to find it in
any of the established churches. After SIM
liar quest not less conscientiouslv pursued, some
of the foremost minds of this generation, such
as Cardinal Manning, Cardinal Newman and
many Others have gone over, soul and body. to
the Roman Catholic Church. Adler could find
satisfaction, comfort certainty in what
Rome had to offer him.
He could not accept any known type Of relg
reject it all. He got out of the difficulty by say
ing: Il will retain the moral principles which
are the common basis of all the religions, and
will reject the dogmatic parts, the formula,
the ritual and NEUROLOGICAL fables which deface
and obscure the human characters of the various
UNCONVENTIONAL creeds." These are Adler's
views. ION this basis" he said II will try to
live my life. will not perpetrate an outrage
on my own Judgment and reason by pretending
to swallow such romances as Jonah and the whale
INN nfh fol <ala
AS to Joshua and the sun standing still at his
prayers, believe that story to be mixture of
ignorance and impiety-the ignorance very gross
and the impiety very misleading; ignorance, be-
cause it implied the then generally accepted, but
utterly erroneous, belief that the sun revolved
around the earth. Modern astronomy has con-
clusively demonstrated that the sun is the center
of our solar system, around which the earth re-
wolves. Implety, because 1t is impious and
blasphemous to suppose that the Omnipotent
power in this stupendous universe-call it God.
nature or what you will, and be it personal or
impersonal-wouid reverse one of the eternal.
immutable laws of the universe at the prayer of
a human being" Substantial ysthis is his plat
form: To accept with your whole heart and soul
and maintain to the death all the moral good,
aud to ruthlessly cut off, as with q surgeons
knife, all the dogmatic errors and the fables of
all the creeds Then you tread on solid ground;
you have some foothold as to future state. Adler
thinks or hopes that somewhere or somehow
we will survive, but he does not pretend to know
the chow" or the where" Reasoning by anal
ogy, however he thinks it is reasonable to be-
leve that we must live again Mind is the high
est form of matter, he says, and is also in
destructble and will survive the chemical change
which we call death. but how or where, Adler
says he has no theory.
Aders style OF address is LUMINOSITY clear.
logical, convincing, and at times he rises to en-
thusiasm, but it is the enthusiasm of the head
not the heart. He would not do fer stump or
ator. His strong point is his calm. deliberate
mode of appeal A day with him has been
curious study. He is fast trying TO be one of the
theological curiosities of the metropolis He has
drawn his flock from nothing and surpasses
Beecher or Talmage in his drawing power He
does not strive for theatrical effect and his calm
gentlemanly style of address is better adapted
to drawing room than to the rostrum