New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-04
IN THE CHURCH PORCH.
sIDE,LIGHTS ON MANY TOPICS

befu
great focal fact controls the religious thinking OF
cvcrv age During tho first three centuries Of tho
| Christian era the idea God. During the fourth
and fifth centuries the idea man. Then came
the great idea OF possible union between God and
man. And last Of all. with the Reformation. came
the idea Of the brotherhood Of man which Is stlll
struggling for complete expression Christianity
confronts that idea to-day. and In comparison with
| n all other questions OF ritual, dogma and tradition
are trivial Applied Christianity is what IS wanted.
In no other land the religion OF Christ such an
opporunlty impress Itself on the hopes. the eas
and the aspirations Of mankind as In this Social
and ethical questions of paramount Importance are
messing for solution. Surely tho very thought OF
these things must entrance as well as appa the
c,,rr- Of the chufchcs And yet know clergy
man-and he a good earnest. faithful man too. whose
nrototvrc may be found in all the churches
who counts his last hvc years OF pastoral
work glorious success BECAUSE ho n"'
succeeded I'm getting beautiful stalhea-giass
window nut I'm his church. II would really make you
toppv IN scc his face glow with religious ecstasy as
no describes the figures Of tho impossible though
carly English saints who pose In that pretty 10Y.
II would be absolutely useless to tell him ABOUT inc
ruling Idea OF human brotherhood. For to him human
brotherhood means the small circle OF charming ana
cultivated people who rent pews In his peau''i,.'
little proprietary religious club house TIC may a'H
vaguely in his sermons about brotherhood greater
| than that But as a matter OF fact he could not
| nos ably preach who were uncouth In dress
| or rude in speech There is an impossible wall De-
tween him and the gnOble masses In the dusty WORK
aday world who boast OF neither brth Drccu-
| ing nor manners And for any possible obligation
resting upon him of going out into the highways
and byways and compelling tho people to come in
| tho thoue ht has never entered his mind Neverthe-
| less as well hammered, conscientious and oven
| sympathetic minister Of picked congregation ne Is
success He performs with zeal and efficiency every
duty he has been engaged to do. But intehu SONIC
day to ask him whom he holds responsible for the
! spiritual welfare Of the nonchurchgong walls ana
strays within territorial limits of his parish, ana
for whose salvation his parish makes no provision.
What different typo Of clergyman Mr. W. D.
| Uowells gives us in Annie Kilburn." admire the
| Rev. Mr. Peck most thoroughly. He is pastor who
does HIS duty without fear or favor and preacher
who talks and women and not to ecclesiastical
properties dubbed brethren l rather suspect that
| Brother Peck is Mr. Howes's Ideal of what modern
Christian preacher should be- especially as he makes
him take the side OF the masses against the classes,
which the accomplished novelist himself has, on va
| rious occasions been bravo enough to do. And |
| like tho sermon which Mr.. HowelIs put into the
| mouth Of Brother Peck, as found In tho OCTOBER
q Harper, "Not charity but justice is tho burden
of the cry which It represents the poor OF the earth
as tutoring "Not the justice of Christless codes,
with their penalties. but tho instinct of righteous
shame which however dumbly, however obscurey,
stirs in every honest mans heart when HIS supcriuity
is confronted with arother's restitution. In
the truly Christian state there shall be no moro ask
Ing and no more giving no more gratitude and no
more merit. no more charity but only and cvermore
Justice all shall share alike and want and luxury,
and killing toll and heartless Incidence, shall all
cease togcthcf' Not bad that for man who never
went 10 seminary think If were a wealthy man
and wanted to endow chair in theological
seminary | would call It 60 Tho Chair Of sympathetic
| Insight into The Souls Of Poor Common Men, And
| I would try hard to persuade william Dean IIowclls
| TO fill IT, "Oh. nonsense, exclams orthodox
friend who IS looking over my shoulder; such crazy
scheme would upset tho whole scheme OF theology in
| any seminary where 1t tried" Well, maybe 1t
would.
Such organizations as the Society of Christian En-
| dcavor and the Brotherhood Of st. Andrew are the
outcome OF practical spirit which marks modern
Christianity. They emphasize the fact that II Chris
tianIty IS to grow and prosper the lay as well as
the Clergy must work. And they call upon young men
and women to exhibit In their daily lives that personal
con secraton and holiness which alone make Christian
Ity OF any ethical value. The organization OF soce-
tics and associations for the defence of important
dogmas used to be tho leading thought of Christian
| men And the great thing then was TO prepare for
eternity BY believing the right things. with Chris
! tianity to-day It Is different Belief still holds an
honored place in its thought; but 1t must be belief
| that blossoms into deeds The world TO come IS still
tremendous reality; but the world that now IS Is
also deemed worthy OF notice. In word Christianity
has become reused to the Importance OF making men
and women better, happier and moro conented in
this world Tho idea of brotherhood Is finding recog
ntion Men are learning their duty TO God by first
learning their duty man and all beginning
20 Sis pect that the old chronic condition of Christian
strife is passing away to be succeeded By new and
better era of Christian life which shall finally in
| cludc all mankind
Some time ago I was talking with English clergy
| man who Iamcntcd tho fact that rule American
ccrgymcn are scholarly men in tho English sense
of the word Doubtless this Is true in measure, al
| though we can point to American clcrgymen who
the peers Of any English ccrgymen I'm profound schol
arship But we must admit that the eXgences Of
life I'm this country have made 1t impossible for the
average clergyman to become deep scholar Our
clergy have had to spread themselves over TOO much
ground and do too many things to make the elegant
leisure OF the scholar possible They have had to
do hard and rough pioneer work; and in a vast num-
Der Of cases have had to their souls with knOtty
questions Of financial ways and means unknown to
the benefited clergymen of Europe And in doing
the work which was before them think they have
shown power and aptitude that more boohish
set of men never could have shown 1t IS not
long since of the surcst of reaching mitre
in the English Church to edit a Greek play.
such state of things has existed In this
try, and It IS to be hoped 1t Will exist,
though 1t should give US a learned ministry The
ability TO throw light the datlve In Greek,
and the discovery Of shade of meaning for some
Greek particle, are doubtless important accomplish
ments In their way, but they would be of no value
10 an American clergyman whose erdtion, no matter
how profound It may be- must be directed into prac
IDEAL channels AMI used for the moral uplifting of the
people
Apropos of the discussion about clerical titles,
| Clergyman tells Of an American clergyman with
out parish, who visited Canada last summer and let
It be understood that he acmOicial representa-
| tive OF his denomination. In this capacity he visited
certain Nova scotia college, and received from it the
degree Of Ii. ID. lie also tells of another clergy
! man who, some years ago, got himself proposed
| q member Of number of English learned societies.
paid his annua. dues like man, and then attached
long string of initials after his I'm fine style
=" propose adds my informant, " that organize
| a A. r "A Society for the Prevention tlp