Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-17
SENSATION IS LIKELY
Attack on the Christian Minis
try in America.
ENGLISH CLERGYMAN'S PEN
Work of the Rev. DR.. Dawson of
London.
MANY ABSURD STATEMENTS
Assertions That Are Evidently the
Result of Lack of Full Informa-
ton on the Subject Treated.
dANY ABSURD STATEMENTS
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

A friend has loaned me the proof sheets
of novel which is soon to appear from
the press of the Fleming H Revell Com
pany and promises to create a sensation.
1t is an important arraignment of the
Christian ministry by a Christian min
ister; an attack upon the American Prot
estant Church by English clergyman,
who, in the guise of fiction, accuses the
Christian populat ton of the United States
and more particularly that of New
1ork-of immortality, hypocrisy, insincer-
ity and other sins of omission and COM
mission. If the story had been written
by an ordinary layman 1t would attract
no attention whatever The usual edition
would be printed, read by the book re-
viewers and a few others, and would pass
into that oblivion which swallows so per
cent of our fiction But, coming as it
does from one of the most striking fig
ures in the English pulpit, a preacher.
author evangelist and lecturer 1t ar
rests attention
Rev. w. j. Dawson. }. D.. of London,
who has been making a lecture tour
through the country during the last sum-
mer; who has spoken at many chau-
tauquas, has occupied the pulpits of many
prominent churches and has appeared
upon many public ! latforms, is lie au-
thor of the book and his purpose seems to
be yelled.
DR.. Dawson's Career.
DR.. Dawson was born at Towchester,
England, educated at Dedsbury College,
Manchester, al entered the Wesleyan
ministry when a mere boy in 1915 He
has been quite successful as an orator and
sermonizer He preached for two years
in John Wesley's pulpit in London and
atterward removed to Glasgow. where his
congregations were large and enthusi-
astc. In 1892 he became the pastor of
Highbury Quadrant Church. one of the
largest congregational churches il on
don.
Four years ago he resigned his pulpit to
devote his life to a larger ministry as
he explained and recently came to this
country and took up his residence at
Taunton Mass. wheer his family, con-
sisting of Mrs Dawson. three sons and
three daughters. are living during his
lecture tours. He has made a decided
Impression upon his audiences as an ora
tor and thinker and has won the friend
ship of several of the most prominent
divines in this country. This makes 1t
seem all the more strange that. upon such
a short acquaintance. he should ascend
the judgment seat and condemn in I'M
measured phrases his Acknowledgment
who have offered him a friendly hand and
a cordial hospitality. DR.. Dawson's father
was Cornish Wesleyan minister: he has
been preaching himself since he was six
teen years old and a member of two
dissenting denominations he may be
credited with a knowledge of conditions
in England, but where did he obtain his
insight into the character and purposes
of the clergy of this country, and who
authorized him to condemn them upon
such a short acuuain tance?
DIR. Dawson is not amateur and his
Incorporate criticisms cannot be attrib-
uted to ineXperienca. He has written a
long list of literary and religious books
and l believe he has one or two other
novels to his credit. If he had located
his story in London instead of in New
York. he might be credited with a more
accurate knowledge of conditions, but
when he declares that Christianity is
played OUT In America: that religion
has failed to redeem the American world, |
and arraigns his own profession for i'm
morality. wordliness. for temporizing
with sin and evil as a matter of policy, |
for tolerating immortality and vice for
social and pecuniary reasons, he lays HIM
self open to criticism. His Master once
said: Judge not, that we be not judged"
No Such Book Since stead's.
We have had no such book since Will
liam T. Stead told us what Christ would
do if He came to Chicago but this pub
LEGATION will not create SO great a sensa-
ton because it is not strong or SO
radical. DR.. Dawson asks if the Chris
tian people are really contented with their
own conventional Christianity. lie makes
his hero ask "If their Master should
then and there enter that auditorium,
dust-stained. weary, bearing on His
shoulders the heavy cross, would they
welcome Him? Would they even recog-
nize Him? Or, if they did, would not
their easy-going Christianity shrivel up
in shame?"
1t is story of the pastor of a New
York church who renounces his pulpit in
which "he was as prophet bound with
IT., 1t.
with the cooperation of a great lawyer
and a great editor rents Madison Square
Garden and undertakes a movement for
real Christian life' by organizing "a
league of universal service" open alike
to Protestant. Catholic, Brahmin, Mo
hammedan. Jew. Mormon, Buddhist and
the members of all other faiths. He re-
jects what he calls Conventional Chris
tianity.' He seeks to substitute the
law of service for the yoke of creeds a
religion of works rather than faith.
He describes the New York clerEymen
"a type bred by the present conditions
of the church, in which the petty diplo
matist counts for much more than the
prophet You know the old satirical cpl
gram-that the world consists of three
classes, men. women and parsons. What
it crudely expresses is that the minister
| is an emasculated person and this Is
often true He is made too comfortable,
nursed and handled the lap of ;.dmir-
ing coteries, and sheltered frol the
WOfiQ Inat he is totally unacQualnted
| with the realities of life
DR.. Dawson's Sweeping Assertions.
| 1t would be interesting to know what
New York clergymen DR.. Dawson has
| been associated with and where DR.. Daw-
| son got his knowledge of the clely Of
this country of the city of New York
| He has sketched the type that occasion
| ally appears in the cheap society novel,
| but is very rare in real life, but he over
| looks the great army Of energetic. self
| sacrificing and devoted pastors of our
| city churches, whose names will occur
! instantly to every one who knows any
| thing about religious and charitable &C
tivitIes in New York any other city.
Look at New York" he says. Where
do YOU find the most churches? In the
Christia nifty has openly become the church
of the rich. 1t is the inevitable result of
paid ministry How can it be other
wise under a system which encourages
all those elements of social rivalry and
display which are found in the world of
| commerce? Yes. you can find churches
enough in 9th avenue. but, as you travel
eastward. the church spires become fewer
and always fewer. Isn't il evident that
the church has practically given up try
| ing to reach the poor? And In every Amer
| lean city the story Is the same. The
church constantly retreats before the in
vasion of poverty. Downtown churches
are constantly sold for immense sums Of
| tnal To