New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-29
New York, December 70.

OlOeI anu me DIS IOIili oDtS' i
particular reason for considering them
| together except that ! heard each LOT
| the first time within the same twenty
! four hours: ending yesterday. III the
| Atlantic still exists, 1t is no longer dii
estranging sea. 1t is pathway Oh
| friendship between England and Amer
| ica a convenient means Of communi-
cation; no barrier. but a link, bona
of union, an international Anglo
| American highway. SO if happens that
| if YOU live in London you may meet
more Americans-more Of those you
| wish 70 meet-than il you lived In New
York or in San Francisco: or even In
Boston. And so ii happens that you
NAV hear for the first time IN ne"
York an English pulpit orator OF dis
| tinction both at home and here. THESE
| and many more like them are among
my recent experiences.
| DR.. Jowett preached last Sunday as on
other Sundays. TO the great congrega-
| ton of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
| Church. first met Mr.. Bryan in Lon
don. and | first heard him speak at
the Waldorf Love-Feast in honor Oh
New Yorks Governor-elect, Mr.. Sulzer'
| on Saturday evening; festlVai AT
which | was a spectator and listener
not a participant and only after din-
ner and for the spectacle and speeches.
I am not sure that ever before be-
held a performance Of this kind' OIL
| which Democracy In the party sense
was the motive and handspring. But
the temptation of Mr.. Bryan was great
7 was perhaps the only living American
who had never heard him on the plat
form. And when. on the day follow
/ ing, l was fortunate enough 10 slt ne
meath the pulpit ministrations OF Dr.
Jowett. [ thought the coincidence,
though only a coincidence OF time 100
fortunate to be neglected. The I'M
press on goes down on paper while II
| is still fresh. and Mr.. Bryan, 1 nope
may still be fresh in another letter
DR.. Jowett first, if only because he
must be, to many readers OF The
Tribune. a novelty and Mr.. Bryan
| is a novelty to nobody. The pulpit
| moreover. though itself a platform, de-
! serves precedence over the mercy
political platform: should be the last
| TO deny II. Whatever | may be now,
was born in the shadow OF a pulpit
/ el,o I
years continuously. ! hope you VIII
! accent me as a competent witness when
| | say that my father was pastor first
| of the Second Congregational Church
in Worcester, Massachusetts, and then
1 of the First Presbyterian Church IN
Troy. New York. My apprenticeship
lasted. of course through four years az
Yale and though my indentures were
long since called my service under
them left q mark which has never been
effaced. | felt il once more yesterday
when I entered the Fifth Avenue
PRESBYTERIAN Church. 1t was once
| more going back to boyhood. IL that
| vast auditorium with its unusual archi-
lecture did not at first strike me as
| ecclesiastical, the sense OF strangehess
vanished AS the service began. ] was
going to say with the entrance or he
preacher. but the preacher now wore
gown. an innovation unknown In those
long ago days when church-going was
part Of my life; compulsory yet
never | hope wholly antipathetic.
This Fifth avenue congregation was
! NJ another order than those l remen-
bared no longer the simple, homeiy
citizens Of a pleasant little town, almost
rural. but metropolitan: the mower vi
| presbyterian New York. Few churches'
7 eunnose. have been more famous than
| mr. Halls. Few epigrans are petter
known than Mr. Stewards remark 10
that eminent divine. You preach
every Sunday to Fifty Millions OF Dol
Iars". a sum which now would NC
Thought absurdly low but then was
o evnonvme for riches beyond the
dreams Of avarice. Poorer or rlcher' II
was an assemblage of sincere men ana
women. worshipping in the fasnioh Oh
their fathers and mothers; and OF mine'
There was in the atmosphere sense
os snirItual kinship: a sense quite dli-
sorent from that | had felt In Churches
ord Cathedrals abroad. The last SER
,,ico 7 had sat through was In Peter-
boro' Cathedral where, as a guest vi
tho Bishop Of Peterboro', / had oeen
mt into seat among Canons ana
other dignitaries of the Church Oh
england. one Of whom kindly TOOK
charge ~ me as a stranger, Or as II /
had lately arrived from the South sea
Islands; and saw that l made no mis-
,akes Yesterday / was in the hands
If a friend, a pillar OF the Church, VINO
thought il sufficient to say to me do
lust the contrary OF what you would
| do in q Church in England" Presently
q seemed TO me that l was living over
again the hours. the innumerable hours
bad snent in Puritan Tabernacles in
Worcester and in New Haven. In es-
sential. the procedure was the same; IN
doctrine there was no percepubie dit-
ference: in singing and in prayer the
old voices mingled with the new.
During this hour and half the years
elinned off. the influences which had
more or less moulded a more or less