The Minneapolis journal., 1901-04-13
Pulpit and Pew
FAITHFOR THE ELITE
Accusation Made Against Twentieth
Century Christianity.
THE LONDON CHRISTIAN WORLD
1t Declares That Protestant Chris
tianity Needs u Coat of
Picturesqueness.

A cablegram trom London says that
Staid Church of England men and women
were upset in the midst of Eastertide re-
joicings over the demand OF the Christian
World for dramatic religion" That long
established organ of conservative church
men devoted its Easter greeting to an
earnest plea for a religion which shall
appeal to the eye, ear and imagination OF
the people"
1t asserts that Christianity enters the
twentieth century degenerated into mere
faith for the elite, and that 1t needs a
coat of picturesqueness TO bring II IN
touch with the masses. 1t calls for the
rejection OF puritanism and the substitu-
tion of some of the spectacular features
so common in the Salvation Army. The
Christian World goes on to say:
Christian Worlds Wall.
We are face to face with the query whether
the current Protestant conception of religion
fully represents human. need, especially the
need of our day. PurNanism, with its stern
simplicity its inwardness, its lofty spiritual
tty, is not the religion OF the people. We
have refined our idea of worship, but in SO
doing We have put it ever farther and more
remote from average human nature.
Religion is drama The Apocalypse is es-
senuany dramatic. Had John Bunyan
preached the doctrine of 1.-The Pilgrims Prog
heard OF it. He dramatized it, and the story
became a world possession. The Salvation
Army the history Of which is the most cour-
ageous attempt OF our time to reach the un-
churched masses has in its methods frankly
allied itself to the dramatic instinct
People Have Lost Faith.
The simple truth is that under modern
methods people have lost religion. Whereas
OF old everybody was religious, we have now
& lofty faith for the intellectual and aristo-
cratic while the vast outside world goes its
way untouched. We have rarifed the relig
1ous atmosphere until a plain man cannot
breathe in it, but must hasten away to a
stratum better adapted to his lungs.
We have defrauded the masses by offering
to their infant souls a pabuum only suited to
grown-up men, We have made a prodigious
blunder in declaring that the mental and
moral faculties the only roads into the
kingdom of God, ignoring the highways of
mems active and dramatic faculties, along
which for ages countless hosts of simpler
souls have travelled toward Christ. 1t must
be our task to bridge the gulf which yawns
between religion and common life. That task
is to find the true nexus between the higher
faith and the peoples heart, and to lift our
civilization with all its wealth of new acqui-
sition once more into the light OF God.
Rapid Transit VS.. Church.
Easter found London depopulated of
every resident able to enjoy holiday
The country retreats, the seaside and the
continent have taken numberless thou
sands of fashionable people out of town.
with the result that in the battle be-
tween the churches and the transporta-
tion lines the victory rests with those
who cater to the physical rather than to
the spiritual invigoration of the crowd
Many metropolitan pulpits rang with de-
nunciation Of this desertion of worship
for pleasure.
Passion week witnessed several innova-
ttons among the churches. St. Mary's,
East London, observed Egg Sunday" At
the request of the pastor, every member
of the congregation brought at least one
hard-boiled egg. The proceeds of the col
lection was distributed among the starv-
ing outcasts Of Whitechapel
In Battersea the local authorities in
augurated a municipal religion, by the
presentation of Handel's Messiah