The Indianapolis journal., 1895-09-22
CREEDs AND FORMALIsM.

To the Editor Of the Indianapolis Journal:
In Sundays paper you gave space to an
article on Evolution in Religion" which
cannot be satisfactory to any except those
OF an Emersonian turn of mind. The sab
5ect is many-sided. "waft, watt, ye winds
of progress, Swell. swell. ye filing sails
Of advancement Bear US from the old and
the dark to the new and the light Give
US reason for our superstition and hope
for our fear" are DIR. Hauser's concluding
words will take them for my text.
These are common expressions: why
didn't you attend church," "I didn't want
to-" No further questions are asked; no
better answer is expected. AS preachers
and churches break away from their for
malism in the methods OF worship there
becomes less occasion for this question.
Invitstions to attend are not even re-
quired. A Jesus Christ would need mira
cles wrought in sound to preach TO the
half million who would surround him in
modern Europe America He would at
tract not because of his godship. but be-
cause Of his personality. A man matured
ir scholarship and experience. having q
personality unrestrained by customs and
forms peculiar to religious sects can al
ways obtain larger hearing among the
masses than can the best representatives
Of the creeds- Again. men who cast aside
the sentimentalisms and prejueices Of the
churches and judge every thought delib-
eratively are more nearly agreed than are
the members OF different churches. with
all their boasts Of having found the ideal
of Christ. The lack Of spirituality and the
presence OF formality In all the church
work are the curses OF Christianity. For
malism Is the blind restraint placed upon
inclination and ability for the sake of a
worthless precedent. Francis +. Clark, the
founder of the Endeavor, Is a great and
useful man, but when he dies the hundred
thousand and more societies which look
TO aim for leadership will sink into a mo-
notonous series OF forms Disband them.
work done. Then an opportunity is af-
forded for ten thousand others with strong
personalities to rise. to leadership in hun
dred new forms How much granderi Let
every generation be free from the forms.
the errors and prejudices of former ages.
Truth Will care for itself. The Journalism
OF the churches has neither the accuracy
or that of the stage nor the stedied beauty
OF that OF the lodge IL it Mad these 1t
might attract the masses, but could not
fmpart any spirituality thereby. The half
hour pulpit sermon. ssndwiched every time
between songs and prayers, has not the
force or meaning of single expression
away with the songs or the prayers. or
both, or even with the sermon; then the
audience win know. that the preacher is a
a
give heed to his words.
Creeds Away with theml Those new
organizations that boast Of having no
creeds. no articles of faith, have. neverthe-
less, unwritten creeds, long, concise and hid
eous to the true creed hater. The organized
church having creed does not exist. 1t
can exist, but cannot be highly organized.
Iohg ago Scherer said "The days OF prot
estantism are numbered; I mean the days
OF professionalism as positive systenE-as
an institution. for as a principle II is i'm
mortal God grant that when the day of
liberty shall have come liz may find souls
strong enough to bear Ii. and that before
the corpse OF the church which has been
our mother and our nurse they may be
able TO exclaim. not All Is coming to an
end but All is beginning" The denomina-
tions have wrought good work in damp
ening the ardor OF cranks. and fanatics
When the time arrives that the world will
contain a dozen or a score of men of such
personality as to lead the masses. then
professionalism will have served its grand
purpose and should dissolve Perhaps even
catholicism could not stand before such an
example. II that time comes then the
true faith will have been found the true
church formed. church without formal
Ism, without complex organization, without
creed. without requirements for member
ship other than belief in the divinity OF
Christ and faith in His saving grace.
Salem. Ind. Sept. q. A c. WILLIAMS.