The news & observer., 1904-12-11
HAVE EABOLISHED THEDOAOLOGY

1t is a slow week when some fool
notion-or some sacrel!glous policy
does not emanate from q Chicago pro-
fessor. Last week one declared that
Bunyan's '.Pilgrim's Progress ought
not to be given a place in the colleges
because it advocated selfishness Bish
op Gambler, referring to fellows of
that kind in a recent address at Hen
derson, said: There's a menagerie
of them there, all creased with Stand
ard Oil. a little goggie-eyed profess
sor says that 'Bunyan's Pilgrims
Progress is not fit book because it
teaches selnshness. What kind OF al
allegory would that fellow write!"
The latest is that the University of
Chicago has banished the Doxology
on the ground that college songs do
more to breed true religious and
college spirit than the chanting of
the tenets of Christian belief" and
they have abolished the singing of the
old long metre
Praise God from whom all blessings
flow
Praise Him ye creatures here be-
low
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost
We are told that most of the stu
dents sat dumb while the doxology
was being sung-either didn't know
it, didn't approve of it, or objected
to it's metre or its old fashioned or
thodoxy. Therefore the students ap
pealed to the faculty to kick out the
Doxology and substitute a college
air as more in keeping with the col
lege spirit and the creed of this coun--
try. The story goes that, after de-
termining to Danish the Doxology,
there was rivalry among the senior
class to see who could write the most
appropriate substitute. Here is one
that was very popular:
"Oh. John d. Rockefeller, a great man
is he,
Who gives all his spare change to
the L. of c.
He keeps the ball a-rolling at our
great varsity,
He pays DR.. Harper to make us grow
sharper.
To the glory of the L. of c."
That would probably have been
adopted, but it looked like too sudden
sacrilege to quit singing Praise God"
and go to singing Praise John ID.
Rockefeller" and therefore the fol-
lowing lines, called Alma Mater"
were formally adopted to take the
place of the Doxology:
Tonight we gladly sing the praise
of her who holds us as her sons.
Our loyal voices let us raise and bless
her with our benisons
OF all fair mothers-fair is she: most
wise of all that wiser see,
Most true of all, of all the true, say
we,
Is our alma mater.
The Rockefeller verse was un-
doubtedly more in keeping with the
spirit, but inasmuch as he is the
founder of the institution when they
gladly hail alma Mater it is about
equivalent to replacing the Almighty
with JohnsD Rockefeller, the owner
of the Almighty Dollar
The new song is very popular as
the following from the Chicago Jour
nal shows:
"The students seemed to have
awakened from lethargy. Those
who never sang before and seemed
ready to fall asleep opened their
mouths and their eyes in the manner
of a rooter at a football game. And
everybody is agreed that pop is
better than an old-timer to awaken
spirit at chapel service
The men CREASED with Standard
Oil' seem almost to have reached the
limit of tom-foolery and affront to
the religious sentiment of America.
The Journal gives no hint as to the
other chapel services" Have they
banished the Lords Prayer along with
the Doxology? If SO, from what book
do they read? Is their new motto
changed to read do others and do
them quick, or they will do you?