Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-05-26

We're discovering things Of more immedi.
''e interest to youth than theology
Ihen you think that Wells book is
not worth while Doctor McFabre ven.
tured when we were alone again.
BY no means do I think so. II is |
very much worth while. It deserves the |
respect that is due every earnest and |
sincere effort to find the truth We
know So little about spiritual matters |
mat the experience with them of anv |
man is instructive and inspiring. There
are doubtless many men like Mr.. Wells.
tie was reared In the atmosphere Of the |
old,tashionod theology which made God
n creature of wrath with a lake of fire
and birthstone in which TO torment all
Offenders against His law lie says he
ieVolted against this kind Of a God when
he was thirteen years old. He is now
htty. The war has turned his thoughts
to the great spiritual problems. and he
thinks he has found a God who is differ.
ent from the God Of his youth. different
from the God Of Christianity. new
Invisible King, TO whom all must bow
the knee and whom an must serve with
their whole heart He has many bitter
things to say Of both contemporary and
historical Christianity"
Outrageous" This from Doctor Nc.
Fabre.
But many Of the things he says are
true. You remember Professor Kent
said in his book that Christianity mad
not been tried. It is the thing which
has been masquerading as Christianity
that Wells condemns. lie does not seem
10 understand that he is fighting i'm
posters and not the genuine thing. He
demands Creedless religion Doctor
BROOKS, the preacher from whose book
read a little while ago, and Doctor
Dodge the college president, anticipated
him by half a century, and their church
mas been croedless since its foundation
no one knows how many hundred years
ago. The Quakers are creedless and they
fnd God. And even the churches with
creeds all admit that their statements
are but feeble attempts to express a Ger.
tain phase Of the truth. They are AT
best what Doctor Brooks called leaky
vessels. Mr. Wells has dipped his cup
into the stream and has held up to our
gaze a thimblefui. That he has got even
so much is to his credit
81 have no doubt that much that he
says will offend many Christians and
provoke controversy, but it should not
do either. His God is neither omnipotent
nor infinite. lie is not the Creator. but
only sort Of glorifed friend ever
ready to help us in time Of need. tolerant
Of our mistakes and ready to forgive us
when we repent, as a mother forgiEes
her child 1t was Votaire, wasn't 1t. who
said that God created man in his own
image and man returned the compli-
ment? | do not want to he hlppant. but
1t seems to me that Mr.. Wells's God is
the kind Of a deity that Mr.. Wells would
be If he were God"
rs not that rather severe on Mr..
Wens?"
"Oh, no. Every one has to express
God in terms that he understands, just
as blind man describes sight in terms
Of touch, What we all need is tolerance
for the God of our neighbors. When
we learn that we are all sincerely seeking
the same Truth and are willing to com.
pare experiences in the hope of mutual
profit all religion will gain new life
and the distinction between believers and
unbelievers will gradually disappear. If
you did not read The Gospel of Good
Will by President Hyde of Bowdoin
College, which appeared last year, you
missed an admirable description of how
| Christianity is doing it's work in ways
that would have seemed strange a gen
Grafton ago. If Mr. Wells had read II
| he might have been more tolerant OF
| Christianity and might have been less
certain that his new religion is to dis
! place the old"
Just then there came from the next
room the voices of a tenor and soprano
singing:
The king of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never
I nothing lack If am His
And He is mine forever
Doctor McFabre listened with a pleased
smile
That's interesting" he said "I never
knew Cabot to sing hymns before"
Perhaps he is putting a meaning o
his own into them"
GEORGE w. DOUGLAS,
GOD. THE INVISIBLE KING. BY II, G. Wells
New York: The Macmillan Company. &25.