Newark post., 1913-10-15
CHURCH
REFORMS
irs.1e the Cup and Other
Novels Discussed by
Or. Rowan
Fears Series of National Calanai-
ties Necessary

III opening the discussion the
SPEAKER frankly admitted that pre-
,n,t conditions in church circles
~. far from satisfactory. He at
trrnutpd the weakness OF the
cburch in part to lack of confidence
il the integrity of the Bible, which
started in the pulpit and has
~frcad Of the pew. The Church
seems to be wanting in power and
a,tractiveness. Her membership
increase is small, and of those in
1he Church few comparatively live
their religion so as to gain the con-
fidence of the world Three at
ternpts have been made to reform
the Church through the printed
page, two Of them being from writ
prs of fiction. One is represented
in Robert Elsmere by Mrs. Humph-
rey Ward. the second is The Inside
O; the Cup by Winston Churchill,
and the third in In His Steps by
Rev. Charles Sheldon. The speak
pr then proceeded to analyze the
| tnree books. The story of Robert
E.smere was written to show the
pffect of German Rationalism on
the English pulpit. According to
Mrs. Ward the way to reform the
Church is to originate a new
Cnurch with a Bible divested of its
miracles and with religion shorn
al the supernatural.
The Inside Of the Cup follows in
ne same line. but adding a new
feature. which is defined as social
democracy, In criticizing the book
rr. Rowan called attention to it's
points of merit, namely it's fearless
,enunciation of tainted money and
kth@ Inconsistencies Of church mem
hrrs. its personal rebuke of sin in
high places. it's depreciation Of the
absence of church unity, and its
faithful presentation of the mate
aliSm of our age. On the other
hand he characterized the book as
hing faulty in its failure to under
sband the motives and scholarship
II the opponents Of the destructive
criticism: in its attack on the vlr-
GIN birth, and the resurrection IL
itH interpretation of the Nlcene and
tr0stIeS' Greed to make them ac-
c0rd with modern thought; in fine,
wlth those reforms III operation the
thurrh could not exist one century.
The third book. In His Steps,
Na> thru taken up. The speaker
serjaryd that it differs from the
nlhvr two in that it is the work OF
pne trained i'll theology. 1t accepts
ffI" Bible as the book of inspiration,
t'We from cover to cover, genuine
history and not a collection or
lnythS, and it also takes for grant
fd that the time honored creeds OF
Ht. Church need no changing. 1T
halls for a complete conservation OF
he individual, who is to model his
II" after the example Of Christ.
The world S criticism Of this book
j. that its principles are impractl-
able, which charge the speaker
.oprrcated as IA humilitating con
rsSjon that men may take CHRIST
~Ith them to the place Of worship,
l0h must there part company with
lm for to take Him into their
iSincSS affairs would mean tinan-
al ruin. The real reason for the
Failure of the Church to run the
Norld is not because her doctrines
e offensive, not because her ma
4iuery does not run smoothly, bu'
because men are too prosperous III
@eir secular affairs to pause and
t5nsidrr the needs of their souls
erhaps nothing less than pro-
ongcd series Of national calamltles
ray bring this generation to It's
FnseS. The speaker concluded hlS
address with summary OF tht
Fsans proposed for reforming thf
hmch, and expressed the opinion
hat the emasculated gospel OF
Robert EIsmere and a John Holder
Eould reduce religion to a mere
fthical culture, which in turr
could take away from instead o.
decreasing the effectiveness OF thu