The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-07
The Evangelist in Fifth Avenue.

Tho Evangelist in Fifth Avenue.
II has been decided by the session Of
the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
to make that institution a missionary
enterprise for the region around 1t, in
Guiding the hotels, while maintaining
the congregational life Of the church a
il now is. There are to be special Sun
day evening services with stirring gos-
pei preaching" at which all pews will
be thrown open. Eminent men" are to
give discourses on Sunday afternoons
~along the line Of religious instruction
Non-churchgoers will, it is hoped, be
reached by these means. II a kind Of
preaching which will make converts Is
resorted to, will the doctrine be agree
able to the wealthy and intelligent men
and women who chiefly compose the
congregation ut this church? Can Fifth
avenue be evangelical?
There is perhaps no sect outside the
Unitarian Congregationalists Of New
England In which the higher criticism
and a general abandonment Of super
naturalism has progressed 80 far among
both clergy and people as with the Pres
b~yterians. The faithful do not often
hear sermons telling Of a personal Satan
and an igneous hereafter.
The nearest approach to evangelizing
the non-ohurchgoers Of the social and
mental grade formerly found In the Pres
byterian fold Is the work Of the ethical
culture movement. Yet Professor EARL
BARNES during a debate in New York
some months ago as to whether the
American Ethical Union should adopt a
polity and declare itself q church, said:
Some attendants In ethical societies md In
, transcendentsl conceptions OF conduct some equiva-
lent for the supernatural ideals OF rel.gion, and
rise 10 states Of exsltation closely akin to the wor-
shipping ecstasy of the religious. but Its relation 70
life Is different. it is excited by different appeals.
10 has different hopes and fears. and 10 Ia . dinsrens
kind Of ecstasy
Professor FELIX ADLER, commenting
on this view, remarked:
If Judaism Is right. then the chief aim OF all Of
US Is national righteousness II we arc In danger
OF original sin and damnatlon. then we must lay
hold OF the atonement Of CHRIST"
Individual rather than national right
eousness is the aim associated with the
work OF the ethical culture groups, and
the atonement is a dogma in which they
profess little interest. So it was unani-
mously voted that the American Ethical
Union Is not a church. Supernatural
ideals Of religion" may find a working
substitute In the quest for right conduct
and ecstatio exaltation in some attend
ants ensue, but there Is this vital differ
ence between ethical culture and religion
that whereas the first ordinarily con-
Germs itself with showing the right way
to persons who have made up their
minds to do right as they see it, the sec
ond, supernatural religion, has usually
been employed 10 persuade people to do
right. One rofines the righteous; the
other saves sinners.
While the teaching Of ethics and Bible
literature goes on TO d~windling congre-
cations, It is nevertheless true that wher-
ever positive dogmatic revealed" re-
ligion is still preached without apology
or abatement, the churches are filed
with earnest people, who may not ex-
hibit ecstatic e~xaltation, but who mani
fest at least an obedience to what they
accept as the Word Of GoD spoken by
His Minister'S
The development Of Christian Science
organization is one result Of the super
session Of supernatural religion by ethical
systems In many churches. 1t is the
ritual branch OF the Episcopal Church,
with it's aggressive reaffirmation Of
miracle and dogma. that shows the
greater increase. A ritual candidate,
standing rs such, for clerical delegate
to the Episcopal national convention
came within one vote Of election last
spring In the diocese In which a few years
ago the low" PHILLIPS BROOKS was
chosen Bishop. When the French Abb6
FELIX KLEIN visited the United States
he beheld the attendance at Roman
Catholic churches and exclaimed: ~In
America TO be a Catholic ia TO practise
the Catholic religion" The work Of the
Salvation Army has not ceased to fan
the spark of manhood or womanhood
which the army insists remains in the
foulest wretch. into a flame of ecstasy"
by the simple narrative of the Gospel.
Will the evangelists Mt the Fifth Ave-
nue. preach %damnation, atonement and
miracle' If they do, will the regular
congregation like it2