Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-03-23
observation-disclosures
! FOR SUNDAY READING. 5
All Sorts of Opinions.
DECLINE OF RELIGIOUS JOUR

ISHSrsNSSSsSSsNScsNSoS@S SvVSsySeS'SfSeSsScSeS
DECLINE OF RELIGIOUS JOUR-
N4ALISM.
[Boston Evening Transcript
The announcement by the publisher of
1.-THE New World that with the number
| just issued that very able monthly theo-
Illogical review dies for lack of support
is fact of more than ordinary import.
One by one, the UNCONVENTIONAL quar-
Iterlies have died, the few that remain
IN the country at large either being
s,ubsidized by great denominations like
the Methodsts or Presbyterians, or by
educational institutions like the uni-
A versity of Chicago, which is sponsor for
the American Journal of Theology. This
i journal with the Methodist Review. the
Presbyterian and Reformed Review and.
1.-THE Biblotheca Sacra, which now has
lits' home in the Interior but which for
nerly was one of New England best
known periodicals, are about the only
i monthly or quarterly organs of Protest
4 ant thought in this country which in-
spire much respect at home or are read
at all abroad
1t Isl easy to understand how the rise
4 to place of the great secular rnonthlies.
A With their financial resources enabling
them to offer remuneration for articles IF
la sort that formerly found honorable
place in the theological and scholarly
4 monthlics and quarterlies, has initiated
q against the prosperity and life of jour
mails like the New Englander, the An
4 dover Review and the New World. 1t
Ialso is necessary tostake into consilera-
4 tion the fact that 1t is useless now to
4 iappeal to the constituency of any de-
nomlnation for support of distinctly de-
UNCONVENTIONAL literature. unless, that lit
erature has intrinsic merit justifying
Its existence and seemingly its pur-
lchase. So closely articuiated and SO
spendidly disciplined a denomination as
the Methodist Episcopal church is real
ling thisfact as the official statements
q of its publishing agents prove Method
9 ist clergy no Longer TO the same degree
q as of old act enthusiastically AS a gents
for the literature, and the people will
insist on purchasing their Sunday
school helps, library books and periodi-
s. cal literature at shops that do not hang
cut the Methodist sign.
3 If this tendency is apparent among
s Methedists much more SO is it visible
among Independents. like the Unitari-
ans Congregationalists and Baptists;
|andit was upon these that the New
Iyyorld counted most for its support.
Strenuous efforts were made by its
founders to gain for5it sufficient circula-
sEtion among Unitarians and liberals of
5Iall denominations. Then an effort was
|5made to endow ii. and a guarantee FUND
for a limited time was raised. The lin
Lifted number who purchased and reac
e their expenditure but the number who
50 purchased and read was disappoint-
Iingly few. and no patrons came to tbs
aid with substantial endowment ana
consequently Americas best journal OF
Its class is defunct.
ThissIs state of affairs in nowiss
peculiar to New England: Recent ut
terances by Scotch educators point Il
a lethDrgic condition of the Scotch laity
aIof which closaness of pursestrng:
{ against the claims of theological educas
/ tion Is symptom. Few young men arr
Offering to study theology, few gift
= adding to the resources of the tfeologi
: cal schools are being made, and Their,
are few signs of any life at least in TIL,
: Established church.
$ cHRISTIANITY AND PUBLIC LIFE,
a writer III the current contemporar,
. Review says: One Of the gravest fea-
!. lures Of the present religious situation
is the alienation from the Christian
Il church of men who, by their genera
q moral temper, naturally belong to II
E Who to use Tertullian's memorable
6 phrase. are animae naturaliter Chris
I. tianae and yet who base their dissen
from historical Christianity on til
Z ground that 1t Is morally insufficient TO
= the needs of modern society, and o
y themselves as members of 1t. TIL
: writer regards this dissent as a mucl
Y more serious matter than dissent fror
= the faith Upon the purely intellectual
n grounds Of historical criticism or nat
= ural science. He quotes the passage i
. which John Stuart Mill criticised Chris
!, !. tian morality on the ground of its in
. completeness:
Christian morality has all the char
:. acter of reaction; it is. In great par
s a protest against paganism. Its IDEAL
= negative. rather than positive. passiv
than active: innocence rathe
: than noblenese: abstinence from ev
rather than energetic pursuit of tn
good. - And while, in the morality q
the best pagan nations, duty to tn
state holds even a disproportionat
place, infringing on the just liberty q
the individual; in purely Christian eth
les that grand department of duty
scarcely noticed or acknowledged =
This defect in Christian ethics, II
want of insistence on the public spir
: patriotism, and the positive side of moi
ais generally. is due Mills concludes, I
the failure on the part OF Christian MOI
alists to recognize that the moral teach
ing of Christ needs to be supplements
/. from other non-Christian sources TIL
4. writer denounces Mills criticism as ur
d Just. He attributes the growth 9
IS that incomplete version of christia
"a morality" to the failure TO understan
a the significance of the silence of Chris
IT on the political and patriotic virtues o
=. which the Greek moralists and Hebre
o. prophets We're SO explicit. The eXplana
ton of this silence he finds In the singu
~ lar circumstances in which Jesus ha
to carry out isslife work
- The practical problem before Hin
then. wac % to retain His immedia,
following :(2) to prevent the insurger
meSsia MIC enthusiasm awakened by III