The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-11-25
FOR CON MON WORSHIP.
r NOOK or rRa,ER ABOtr 10 M
ptBIfsHrD
u Wa. Prepared by the New Sork state Con
ference NJ Religion b, an rpiscopsIian, .
Unitarian and . Jew, and IL Intended
for Lee b, People of Al NeIIElens.

Unitarian ana q Jew, ana " intended
for tee nv People NJ Al Religions.
H. few DAYS there will he issued from IN.
prrss u bpok which will he rather n novelty
IN the religious world and which IL distinctive
on the ,inos Of the new thought DEVELOPED
recently hv The federation idea among churches.
The rapid development 81 this idea has ALREADY
attracted wide attention IN tho conferences
Of churches held In the last few years With
Increasing frcuurnry. tho main purpose ~
al of thcin being the promotion OF religious
unity among denominations The book. adj
vance copies Of which have been circulated
among federation workers. l. the produce
In a general way ~ tho New York state Gone
ference - Religion. the latest Of the gather
ings to he held IN New York II eNprcssos
one of the aims ~ this conference In Ito title
which l. A Book of ommon Worship"
The most striking feature Of this volume.
which j. IN N" most advanced lines Of liberal
Thought i the entire elimination Of any soc
tarian II lnonccs IN its Iagcs and In Its COM
pllarion the Jew and the Christian worked
together The three compilcrs, constituting
n special committee Of the conference, were
the Rev. X Heber Newton Of All Saints EIt--
copal Church, Dr. Thomas X. Slicer Of All
Souls Unitarian Church. and DR.. Gustav Gott-
he'll, the well-known Jewish rabbi.
The New York state Conference ~ Reli-
gion had its first meeting In New York last
week and work was rushed on the book In
order 10 have advance copies Of II FOR use &C
this meeting At the meeting II met with
great APPRECIATION and a vote Of thanks was
given to its compi,crs In the association
Of Jew and Christian which is represented
in the authorship uf the book is Il u~tratrd
the character Of the conference Of which It
may be reg lrd"d A. the property The con-
ference grew ont Of the Congress ~ Religions
at ~" Worlds Fair and emhodies the sam"
general idea. namely. that Of gathering to-
Gcthcr representatives. Of all religions. Fer
an asscmblag' II hts character n comm"
form Of worship which should contain noth-
ing onrnSiv" to those composing II was found
TO 10 needed and in preparing for the mecti 9
which terminated last week the Executive"
Committee appointed last spring a sub-com-
rnittce To consider the possibility Of common
worship. On this committee II was decided
To put men whose views were arparentl' 81
the greatest divergence In order that their
work might be satisfactory to all Hence
it was that Or. Newton, Dr. S.icer and Or.
Go,thcil agreed to collaborate. The sub
committee reported last May urging the i'm
portance Of the element Of worship In a con-
ference mainly devoted TO discussion, and
DR.. Newton suggested certain Scripture read
ings and a few hymns and papers to be COM
Illnd mo n book.
The consideration of this report by the con-
ference determined the subcommittee to en-
large considerably the scope Of its oLirinal
decided to prepare more extensive ScripturAl
readings. from the Old and tho New Testament
and from the e;hnic Scriptures, to male o seler-
ton of PRAYERS and collects aud TO follow these
with n number OF HYMNS, the whole making a
book Of worship and hymnai combined Which
blage The book is the outcome q this in
the compilation of II pr Newton, did most q
tla u.nrL af sala.,tCr inf tho sthars nssiStad
him and agreed on all the contents
The frs, part Of the book thus Comr1f"d
The Jewish and Christian Scriptures. They
are divided into three groups according TO their
relation TO- the SUBJECTS 9l pn rnyiriSn NJ "a re-
ligion in society and State Following them
are responsive readings which are from the
Old Testament and are selections USED, in wor-
ship in the synagogues, For each Of the three
subjects enumerated there are also %readin"s
from the ethnic Scriptures taken from T..
editorship Of the late Max Muller. There are a
srea, variety Of PRAYERS in the BOOK nh"y
Of ethical and spiritual religion. collects x
religion. Society. and state. and doxologies and
new to Christians as they have been selected
from Jewish. oflccs Others are taken from
Roman catholic Church and the Book OF CONF
mon PRAYER Of the Episcopal Church furnished
m many Tn =, formula RI amt,, closing aG Ing n man. . GhTisIian
The hymns in the book are grouped under
the same subjects as the prayers. none being
selected which contained anv reference TO
Christ as the Deity Altogether the book IL
unlike any volume of worship hitherto published
aS jew and Gentle can join in the responses
and HYMNS which il contains, and in this re-
spect the subcommittee believes that tho
book will MI a ~long-f"lt want.
In discussing the new volume at the meeting
of the General COMMITTEES Of the Conference
on the closing day Of the meeting. DR.. Slicer
declared that in his opinion i was something
to boast OF when the wide divergence OF tho
creeds to which the three members Of the COM
mittee belonged was considered
The book, he said. lis published with thu
, hope, not only that II may be found useful in
the sessions of this Conference, but also that
other State conferences may make use Of IL.
thai independent religious societies NAV per-
hap, find it helpful in the development Of their
worship. and that i NAV. prove helpful spir-
ituallv to many individuals / their own pri-
vate use In short. IL i believed that such a
book Of common worship may prove In itself
an object lesson in the possibilities OF common
worship In educational institutions where
a great variety OF Creeds are represented,
believe II will find n most important place and
those who use II are assured that nothing can
be found within its pages which Is not COM
patible with their religion, be they Jew or
Christian
There were several college presidents at tho
Conference who were among those most in
terc~t"d in the hook All Of them shared Or.
SliCer's opinion Of its destined field ~ useful
ness. and several declared that they would
enieavor TO have il introduced into their own
institutions The book Will consist Of 3n3 pages
and will re published by Putnan's Sons as the
prOpprty Of the Conference