Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-14
Gradual Change IN Church Customs--
Frendliuess Of One Denomination
Towards the Others,
The Worth and Extent Of the Chatau-
qua Literary and Scientific
Circle Manifest.
InEersoll's Opinions Count for FNught :
Christianity strengthened as 1t
Grows More Practical.


- hhttNRfitth ANt q 90 49,
worlds whims are, like the whlms OF IN
dividuals, variable One generation
tends toward simplicity In every thing; the
next tolerates simplicity IN nothing Just
after the revolution the church VI En-
gland found lis missions In this country
well-nIgh wiped out. Particularly was
thla true in Boston. Kings chapel, on
fremont street In that city, fell into the
hands OF the CongfegstiOnalistsi or Or
thodox, as New Englunders call them. IL
had once been the principal church in the
city aud was thoroughly Episcopal in be-
This denomination has never been able
10 regain rs lost ground IN New England.
Aside from Phillips Brooks, II has no
great diyincs 10 Boston, and ~ .mrInber-
ship and Influence Il ranks behind Unita-
rianisln and Cuugregationalsm' quite
the opposite Is true IN Philadelphia,
Here the Episcopal amounts almost TO a
state church. There are az many parishes
OF that denomination in the city as OF
nearly all other denominations, except
Catholics, combined. r. maintains the
principal hospital IN the city, and has
Sundays schools almost without number
schools that Ia the number OF pupils
quite take Onc's breath away,
One lady here Of my acquaintance ten
years ago went Into Kensington, q manu-
featuring quarter, aud IN small, second
story room Gstagtod Sunday school
To-day there stands upon the site Of that
second story room church valued At
S23, 900, with tiDurishlng congr, CATION,
rector aud assistant rector. Adjoining
the church IL parish building that cost
Z Set, 900. II liz paid for, and Is fitted up
with all Sunday-school conyenlenccs, o
hall for entertainments, aud class-r0oms
for infant scholars. The lady has now II
young mems bible class Of $50 members,
and Sunday-school with an average at
tendance Of 100 per Sunday. Not dol
lar Is owing on either church or parish
building, and yet the parish Is made up OF
mill operatives and people in very mod
crate circumstances. There Is not a
wealthy man IN the congregation. Strikes
have greatly intctiered with the progress
oi the religious work, and only few
days ago over twenty parishioners were
Turned out OF house and home by great
fire that devastated that part OF the city,
while more than hundred meme
bcrs Of that communion were
thrown out OF daily employment
Yet the church work will not flag, for the
reason that IL has behind It still this same
good seed. She il prodlgious worker,
and can call every one OF her 400 Sunday
school children by their given names. She
Is u maiden lady Of sixty or thereabou T..
She IL o modest laborer, and no one who
does not search her out viii ever know OF
her noble work among the mill operatives
OF Kenaington.
An elder sister OF this same lady Is at
the head OF another Sunday school which
she built up herself in the same quarter
~ the city. Her school has an average
attendance OF 2l0o pupils These two
noble women have spent their lives among
these Kensington poor. Nor do
they stop with church work.
They are, on the contrary, always
on the lookout for the temporal wants OF
those who may be in need. They are
eyangelists who believe inltho Christian
ity that carries loaf of bread in one
hand and tract In the other, They re.
lieyc thousands OF suffering families every
winter, and just now, with so many out
Of employment, they have their tasks
greatly Increased.
a..
But started out ~ show how the re.
liglous world is gradually but certainly
altering Its views, Like more mundane
things, II goes from ono extreme L
another. A half century ago the tendency
was all toward services in churches, from
which every effort ut embellishments had
been zealously reprossed. Everything
WAS OF the severely severe. The
Quakers OF Philadelphia Gourished
as did also their religious brethren,
the Congrcgationallsts of New England
Both OF them looked upon Romanists as
cmissaries OF an amending purgatory and
the popn as the vicar OF the devil. The
former insisted upon extcmpore preach,
ing or none at all, and the latter upon
cxtcmpore prayers at all hazards The
former had absolutely no form OF church
worship, and the latter were not far re.
moved from them. Roth condemned
understanding. Both abhorred theator
going.
All this has now been changed, and the
Quakers and Congregatlonallsts have not
benefited by the change either. The
uuakers Of Philadelphia are decreasing
in numbers, Their young people do MOI
take kindly TO their peculiar customs
they are ashamed OF their "theUsn ant
s'thOusn because IL makes them appear
different from other people. The
older persons among the sect
are, In hundreds Of cases, laying
aside the peculiar dress. OF course th,
Quaker influence Is still felt here la Phil
adelphia, but Il is nothing like what Il
once was and every year II grows less anC
less.
Somewhat oddly, tho younger element
among the Quakers, when they desert IN,
religious tenets OF their fathers, luvaria
bly, 20 over TO the Episcopal church
They 30 from no form TO a great deal o
OF form; from one extreme 10 the other
Nor are the Quakcrs alone in their ten
dencles toward ritualism. During III,
past ten years great change has takel
place, not alone among the Protestan
churches, but among Episcopal aud Ro
man churches as Well All have become
Tar more liberal toward one another thar
over before. AS each has grown NOR
familiar with the other all hay
come To know that their variou
forms are but means TO an end aud tina
that end, among all denomination
alike. is the uplifting OF mankind.
/ have no sort OF patience with thes
people who continually carp about th
worldliness OF churches. Their talk
rank rot. II Is based on ignorance an
on prejudice, In this city there are som
Of the most arlstrocratic churches In th
world. In Boston there are others OF I'll
same cast. All are enormously wealthy
Trinity Episcopal church, Boston. cos
ag00. 600, exclusive OF the land on waic
n stands. II costs heavy sum TO belOn
10 It's membership. A poor man Is shc
out,
Wen. what il ho isf Cannot such pee
M have a rich chufch provided they pa