Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-27
THINGS IN GENERAL.
People Arc and Always viii Be Different,
and Uniformity Is Not Even to BE De-
street.-The Church of the Future VIII
1-,,l,-,ca a BROAD Catholic Doctrino


Embrace a Broad Catholic Doctrine.
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH.l
| ANYHOW creation is not q cracker factory
That is to saw we we're not all made in the
same mold or marked with the same stamp
A good many people are not absolutely sure
that this is true but it is One of the very
truest truths that was ever blundered over
since the world began.
People are different. Every question in
politics or economies finds three kinds of
answers: The radical who wants everything
changed, the reformer who wants some
thirgs changed, and the conservative who
wants nothing changed. Every question in
religion finds three sorts OF debaters: The
low churcnman who looks at things spir-
itually, the high churchman who looks at
things enthusiastically, and the broad
churchman who looks at thing intellect
ually.
And yet the politicians, the economists
and the theologians are all the time trying
to get some act of uniformity passed which
| will set up one great, orthodox, universal,
/ sacred cracker machine, and make all men
after one pattern. There are just two ways
| of doing, as Carlyle says, one is to cut all
trees into the shape of Dutch dragons
whatever shape that isI-the other is to give
every tree a good, fair, unhindered chance
|
factory notion still holds its old position as
the theory of life for some.
One of the Eternal Truths.
We are only beginning to learn that peo-
| pie are different, and that they will never
| be all alike through all eternity. The en-
| deavors of the high church Presbyterians to
| down Dr. Briggs have been followed by the
similar endeavors of the high church Episco-
palians to down DIR. Brooks The cases are
| just the same. The spirit is the same spirit.
The high churchnen of both communions
have the same conception of the church.
What they want Is a cracker factory church.
All the people in the church must think
alike and speak alike. Anybody who gets
away from the pattern, one side or the
other, must be Topped off, must be treated as
the cook treats the cracker dough, as old
Procrustes treated the unfortunate people
who didn't fit his bed In the old days, when
this temper had possession of nearly every
mind, and it was a universal axiom that
"Whoever disagrees with me is wrong" the
party in power took Off the heads of all the
nonconformists.
Nevertheless, DR.. Brooks is to be the
Bishop of Massachusetts. The. election is
notable, not only by reason of DR.. Brooks
prominence as q preacher, but on account
of the fact that he is in distinct disagree
ment with several of the most cherished
theories of a large number of his fellow
churchmen. For the whole apostolic sue
cession business he cares not a solitary row
of pins. And this, in the opinion of some
good people, is absolutely dreadful. And
yet he is to be Bishop. What does that
mean? 1t means that the cracker factory
theory has got q bacllset. 1t means that
considerable number of people in DR..
Brooks communion believe in q catholic
church, that is (as that abused adjective
really means), a great, wide, broad-mfnded
and inclusive Christian society, with
genuine understanding of human nature,
and of the indestructible differences which
enter essentially into the makeup of the
human race. The Christian Church ought
to be big enough to take in an honest
Romanist and an honest Unitarian at the
same time. Anyhow, 1t ought not to be an
ecclesiastical cracker factory.
The Church of the Future.
All discussions of church unity ought to
keep this truth in mind. The United Church,
which we will find here one of these days in
the United States, will have at the heart of
it just that, and that only, which all good
Christian people are able TO agree upon as
essential, and in all else there will be only
such uniformity as Is the result of the
supremacy of the best over the better. Give
all the ways of doing things q chance. and
the best way will win. That is, in every
matter of ritual there will have to be per-
mitted alternative. Those who choose may
have the Sacrament of the Lords supper in
the Roman way, or if they prefer, they may
have it in the Genevan way. People may
be baptized with drop of water or with q
whole river, as they may elect. The parson
may wear surplice and cassock, or he may
vest himself in bob-tailed coat. The con-
gregation may sing in Francis Rouse's way,
or in Moody and Sankey's way, or in Haydn
and Hardels way. The prayer book of the
United Church will be resplendent with the
illuminated distinctive conjunction ''or."
And nobody will be kept out except those
who obstinately deny the catholic doctrine
of the alternative.
believe there is some foreign language in
which this word "or' means "gold." That
is good meaning for it. 1t represents the
golden mean. 1t is q recognition of the
golden truth that while one thing helps one,
the same may hinder another. People are
different and must be treated differently.
Whatever really helps anybody is good and
ought to be retained. in the United Church, |
and only that ought to be rejected which is
actually false, debasing, and in the way. |
This, corr (if this is not the best for you'll |
then that, "or" (f still there is no help then !
the other. That is the rubric of the right |
sort of unity. Like the doctors rubric.
Uniformity Impossible, and Not Wanted.
Imagine the doctor carrying only one kind |
of medicine, and giving everybody the same |
dose, Imagine college of doctors passing |
q law that all people must hereafter be |
treated exactly alike: first, blood-letting, |
with q lancet then a certain regime of diet, |
then blue mass. Put that into q book with |
all fit elaboration and circumstance, and |
make that the universal doctor book. And |
then punish all deviation from it as |
heresy. Set that sort ofa thing
over into the world ecclesiastical, and you
have universal theology book, confession,
prayer book, ritual, laws and canons. You
get the sort of thing that everybody believes
in who insists upon narrow and imperative
forms and usages, and wants to make every
body else conform, cracker fashion,
The real doctors book is full of "or's,"
welcomes every expedient, is on the watch
for every new way of helping peoples
bodies; and the real parsons book ought to
be inst as big and just as broad, call things
to all men," having one only purpose-to
help peoples souls, and different souls in
different ways.
The ideal church is not q cracker factory.
People are hopelessly different We will
never have uniformity, nor do we want it.
That is not unity, any more than q mono
tone is a symphony. Different ways for
different people, all things accounted ortho-
IIox which will really uplfft anybody the
catholic doctrine of the alternative upheld
In all things non-essential, and the essential
things brought to the smallest minimum
r,rran ipnla oh, =