Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1913-07-30
ECHOES OF DAVIDSON.
Says HeNHas Always Turned His Back
Upon Wealthy and Fashionable
Churches.


Charles Steele Davidson, former rector
of Epiphany Church, Atlanta; Church
of the Holy Apostles, Brooklyn, N. Y.
and St. Marks, Cleveland, but more
recently in charge of work in Botet-
curt and Albemarble counties, Virgin
la, has made the following reply to cri-
ticisms by Rev. Charles T. Warner,
gector of St. Adams and the Wash
ington Cathedral, and by Rev. W. Van
4 Fossen, rector of Christ Church, Wash
ington, D. c., discrediting the motive
i which prompted his statement when
he announced that he had burned his
yestments at the. gates of Monticello,
after resigning from the Episcopal
!, Church:
81 have seen the statement from
Washington clergymen that ! have
! been disappointed in my progress in
the church. Anyone who knows me well
knows that have avoided worldly ad-
Svancement and neglected my own ma
terial interests. The reverse Of this
lis what makes men like my critics
4fclergymen' and not ministers OF. the
New Covenant. l have been rector
of two large city churches-one in
{ Brooklyn and one in Cleveland--ana
in my Brooklyn church my health gave
Il way. Both were churches of the
people, where money never took pre-
cedence of men.
"But I have not been able to stand
the strain of city activities and have
sought the country instead. When l
resigned st. Marks Cleveland, because
Bishop Leonard would not permit -
Baptist minister to preach in my pulpit
the whole city, including many Epis-
copalians, was with me.
"The Labor party wanted me to
start peoples Church in the heart of
the city, and financial backing was Of
fered. The Reformed Episcopal
Church proposed to build an edifice
for me with a clear coast among 250,-
600 people. There were many thous-
ands of people ready to be banded to-
gether into some urifying religious lea
que, but had no heart at the time for
anything that looked like schsm. And
then my classmates in Virginia urged
me for SIX months to come to Virginia
I finally came. a
81 have always turned my back upon
moneyed and fashionable churches,
choosing deliberately the harder and
weoker places instead My rich friends
and relatives are all along the Atlantic
seabord, but have never pulled a wire
for personal advancement nor jumped
at bait. Within two years | have had
seventeen calls, all offering more mon
ey and greater inducements. While in
Virginia. I had an opportunity which
meant several thousand year. have
always stayed where l thought I ought
to stay.
"The Washington clergymen speak
of extensive Episcopal mission work.
The Lord never intended that the poor
should be missionarized. They want
not naternalism, but fraternalism. The
Episcopal Church stands in with the
rich and does out charity to the poor.
1t builds churches for the one and
chapels for the other. What we need
is an all-believers' movement where
the rich and the poor will rub elbows
and knees and hearts and hands in the
work and worship of the Lord. The
Episcopal Church is not growing am
ong men. 1t gets 1000 men together
every year in its Brotherhood conven-
lion and Billy Sunday can get 5000
together any night"