New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-02
IN THE CHURCH PORCH.
sIDE.LIGHTS AND GLIMPSES

sIDELIGHTS AND GLIMPSES
Tho church life Of the West and OF Pacific
Coast Is BY no means the al frcsco AFFAIR We soms
times imagine II to be- For instance the other day
a letter from . gentleman who recently
attended a church service in q growing California
town. "when I got TO the door," he SAYS Z" / asked
OF the ushers whore was the pew Of Mr. A. nv
friend. 'Oh,' he answered. We don't have pews
here; We have opera chairs well. where does he
usually SIT I querfcd. 'Anywheres. anywheres;
anybody has a right to sit In any seat they IN
this church There is privileged class here Well
this seemed excellent way Of doing so l went In
and sat down on a wooden-seated chair AMI
tried to feel at home. The minister wore mustachs
and had button hole bouquet pinned his cutaway
woollen coat was pleased with that. II seemed
progressive. To tell tho truth, / had not been to
church for many years, and the old pastor who
baptized and married was always dressed In
sober black broadcloth and clean-shaven as .
monk. The church was decorated in sort Of South
Kensington stitch style. and everything had pro-
gressve sort Of air about H. A pretty young lady
with turn-up and bonnet . song about
considering the Lilies to air from Robert 10
Diable- so well that before knew what was doing
l had scaDdalized several good people BY
pounding the floor with my stick for
The minister preached an interesting Sermon though.
1t would have made excellent article for The Pop
ular Science Monthly tell you. nv boy, religion is
keeping step with the arts and sciences. have got
10 catch up with II and going to. for every one
Of US Should go TO church.
Shall there be applause in church is question tho
asking Of which would generally be held to imply
gross irreverenco. Yet as matter Of fact applause
not only allowed but encouraged, IN the first
ages Of the Church. Chrysostom Of the Golden
Mouth was wildly applauded when he preached his
soulstfrrfng sermons In Constantnople and so wera
other great pulpit orators Of that age The truth Is
81 tptar
ton Of temperament than of reverence The good
Methodist brother who shouts Glory" and Halo
lutah" during the preaching of a fervtd sermon would
doubtless be much scandalzed II another brother
to clap his hands and call out Bravo.' And
yet in principle there is little difference between
the two forms Of approval. Personally, should
rather like applause introduced IN churches
II would encourage the preacher. and promote tho
growth Of interest In tho congregation. And It would
break that icy and critical reserve which
many congregations and which oven the most elo-
quent clergyman often fails to melt But am afraid
that II the custom were introduced things would be
rather dark for the poor fellows in the ministry who
would DO unable TO arouse applause. For nobody
would want them. AS things now, they may nos
make q oratorcal hit but their failure is hidden away
in the decorous and tombke silence with which they
are heard
Professor Swing tells Of youth. hating between
the bar and the pulpit, who repaired for light TO that
old habit Of letting the Bibla fall open TO reveal
limo Of guidance 1t fell open for this youth and
there lay the words The Lord hath need of him.
Thus called the youth studied, and at last began TO
preach: but with so poor success that he went back
to his Scripture find whether there ght not
be special work mentioned along with the simple
revelation Of need. He was not little amazed IN
find that the original dem and was for . donkey Of .
most common grade The moral Of all which, I sup
pose, is that pety however vital. without intellectual
ttv Sort 81 raAa~
The protest Of the Rev. Arthur Brooks, the other
day. against religious colleges to have aroused
general attention. But his position is that which Is
held by increasingly large number OF thinking men
in all the denominations OF course they do be-
lleve in rreigious colleges schools They simply
believe Dr. Greer expressed It at the Chamber Of
Commerce dinner in cli gous colleges and choos,
a very different matter. The moment a college be-
comes exponent Of scctarianism, that moment fits
supporters begin TO think more OF II q proseytns
agency than a scat of learning We need not how
ever grow heated over this question. II Is Inevitable
that the great non-relgi ous colleges which never
theless really religious In their tendency, shall ultl
mately become good to make the establishments
OF sectarian colleges unnecessary. think, however,
that there Will always be future for such
sentaIly Christian college Princeton. which hap
PLY expresses In its curric uum the great idea that
moral and mental training must go hand in hand.
don't know that my readers will thank for
saying anything about " Robert Elsmerrr and
won't say much except Just this: The religious con-
hict through which Elsmere pa sed is undoubtedly
through which multitude of earnest men passing
to-day But the outcome Of that conflict In his case
Is purely imaginary No one thinking as he thought
has ever done the work he is represented have
among the neglected artisans of the East End of Lon
don. Such work. so far II has been done at all.
has been done either by crvent Evaneelicals or by
u11p
Father Lowdcr. The altruisiic Deism which Elsmere
exchanged for his belief in supernatural Christianity
has not yet shown any capacity do the selfdenyng
work for man shown by the humblest missionary.
Even in the case Of Esmere il msy be maintained
with some show of reason that his noble work
sble BECAUSE he stili unconscously 10 sympathy
win the faith watch his reason and intellect had dis
We don't always appreciate the linguistic difficulties
OF the foreign missionary. l recall incident In
the life of young missionary who, while st learning
Arabic, was called upon to visit a family a member
of which had just died. Ho crammed up as well
as he could for the occasion, and went lilo began
with considerable nervousness TO talk TO the family
about the uses OF aifiic ion. Now IL happens
that tho word for acton7 and the word for roosters
arc very similar In Arabic. And so tho luckless
that no one in this world coud bSpe TO om
ne rooster IL came to the rich and the poor tho
SS SM s S bs BE-
was really an angel IN disguise. and, Therefore, ".
receive IL As token OF love One imagine tho
consterna Ion OF the clergyman when the family.
laughing In spite Of themselves, told him what no
had been saying.
That interminablo question. "should ministers use
tooaccof" comes up periodically for discussion but is
no nearer solution than ever largely bee ause goodly
percentage OF the clergy do use tobacco. and either
WI not or cannot give II up and among these may
be found some Of the most generous minded devoted.
eloquent and distinguished men In the profession.