Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-05-13
what though the world 90 bIindIy


That FLASHED through all the years.
80, heart Of mine, be merry;
10 singing on your way
Your gladness do not bur
In diSappOntmentS gray.
For songs are worth the singing
So long as hearts may beat.
And all the years are bringing
The tread of dancing feet.
-Wllbdr d. Ncsbit.
~-O-:.o~
The Shepherd and His Flock
Although the masculine non-church
goer has for long time attracted the
disappearing attention of church writers
as well as of a large number of the
clergy, who have sternly rebuked him
from the pulpit. he stubbornly continues
to pursue the even tenor of his way.
And worse than this whereas Ill days
gone by he alone was to any great eX-
tent open to the charge of backsiiding
in such respect, of late years his wife
and daughters III increasing numbers
have taken to emitting regular church
attendance, and that without the least
loss of caste, except, perhaps, in small
conservative communities.
Why Is it that men and women who
not only lead respectable lives, but who
devote much of the time they can spare
from the most pressing personal claims
TO what are incontestably good works
are today so frequently to be counted
among those who habitually absent
themselves from divine service? This is
the question over which many good per-
sons are in despair, and it is but natural
that they should be, for what between
their concern for the souls Of their com
munitles, and the prospect of being left
without employment, they have much to
worry them. 1t is also the question that
IS perpIeXing church councils, which are
at their wits end TO devise methods of
persuadlng coercion being no longer per-
mlsSlble III the Protestant communion, ut
least, people to come back into the fold
But in spite of all the perturbation and
efforts at reform on the part Of the re-
hglOus agencies of the age, the number
Of the nOn-church goers keeps on increas-
ing at rate alarming to those who re-
gard Sunday observation, according to
ecclesiastical formula, as the only test of
character, and the only hope of saliva
ton.
Perceiving the trouble churches are in
over the drifting away of their cOngre-
cations, eX-President Eliot of Harvard
not long ago submitted to an interested
world his plan of a new religion, but
although it was cordially received by
the public, the ecclesiastics would have
il"AA~ VI IT, l. HG pIOJtCltu system JdHPu
10 provide for any phase Of current &C.
clesiasticsm, including the ministerial Of
nee, mysticism and the like, and, there
fore it is not surprising that they
trOwned upon it. and refused to permit it
Christian sanction. But whether the
Protestant leaders like it or not. the
only hope Of winning the majority of
those who have forsaken the church
back to afiliation with religious groups
IS the reduction Of church system as
nearly as practicable, to the two princi-
pLes-Love thy God with ali thy heart
and thy neghbOr as thyself. In spite
OF eccleslaSticism the more enlightened
classes are already engaged in conjuring
out IN myriad practical ways the com
mand of neghborly love, and it is only
10y convincing presentation of the
claim of God upon the loyalty of the
race. that the majority of the unchurched
can be made to include that also in
their creed of life.
The right of private judgment-fought
l0r and won centuries ago-is what is
now being exercised by the non-church
goer, and what he asks of the ethical
leader is not high-priced choirs to dis
course glorious harmOnies, or SaccrdOtal
vaudeville of any kjnd-which aids to
crowd-drawing do not touch the core of
me matter. His demands are more seri-
GUS and fundamental, for he believes
ihat the hour has cone when the church
must 90 back TO the Master, and seek
from Him a new Interpretation that
S1aIl Mt the requirements of this age
Vogue.
-O..O