Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-20
THE COWNSMAN
Shall We S,andsrdize Our Religion?

"iD boWnsinhn Is Ho cHutSihhoh, ny
= which he does not mean to disclaim the
state Of a bishop or that Of canon of
even smaller caliber. Much less would he
deny his baptism and those decorous asso-
Citations which distinguish most modern
civilized men from the heather. No, when
the Gownsman says he is no churchman
he means an honest confession TO the fact
that he visits some one particular church
less assiduously perhaps than 1t has been
thought, by certain kind friends, might be
we'll for the health Of his soul This visit
ing Of churches is very much like court
ship. When a man goes abroad he may
visit many more than he could possibly
marry, unless he be a Turk or a Mormon.
AT home the Gownsman argues not that
single devotion, which is a kind of single
blessedness, is not the best. II a man
have wife. let him cleave unto her alone.
If he have church, let him have none
other. One church should be a sufficient
possession for any man. for in religion, as
in marriage. It should ever be constancy
even unto martyrdom.
VET in this age, when so many strange
'SfNNS nv VI S''S' ~ SSciiS dhtiqudtcu
to some merely to go where our fathers
have gone. however that may be the safest
way to follow them to that goal of reward
whittier they are departed. There are SO
many competing lines. running slam dash
10 the promised certainties of salvation
that mere unregenerate may be forgiven
a certain bewilderment among them. In
these latter days man may be saved by
land, in the air, or by water. A man may
reach salvation by his works though
rarely if he is an author: or he may be
saved by election, like many a political
malefactor Verify our ways to salvation
are multiple; few, with our modern i'm
provements, are straight or narrow For
the lover of the country there are the
primrose paths. meanderng pleasantly
through well-shorn golf links, in which are
carefully prepared bunkers of theological
difficulties not too eXasperating to one as
vet green at the game. For the tired busi-
ness man there is the Twenty first Cen.
tury New Jerusalem Express, fitted with
baths and bars and famous for its cuisine,
the chic Of its mattresses and the novelties
Of its vaudeville. An aerial route was
Ol4Nt llIcu, pNN lllS was QlSCOntlnueu.
the business man was too tired to stand
the uplift. The Twenty first Century New
Jerusalem Express makes no stops be.
tween New York and a destination un.
certain.
nESPITE all these competing lines and
- all this diversity there is a movement
on foot to stsndardize so 10 speak, our
religious parts. Men, at least, do not wan
der far in dress from the accepted blacks
and browns and grays. II we are drab in
our clothes, why should we not be drab in
our faiths? We live, thousands Of us, in
houses made Of a pattern: inevitable rooms
to sit in, unavoidable rooms to eat in, un.
escapable rooms in which to cook and to
sleep. Why should not like expected.
ness inhere in our religions?
THE Gownsman once knew an excellent
= woman who lived in custom.made
| religion in great security and content. She
used to be visited by serious doubts as to
| the probable salvation of many of her
felowmen, more especially her fellow
! women. But she was accustomed TO say
of herself, with a fierce look about her, II
know that | shall be saved" And there
were none so hardy as to contradict her
When this good woman died there was
some debate among her patient neighbors
Her virtues and the certainty Of her faith
deserved heaven; her general cantanker.
ousness-wel quite a different place. This
| case is enough to create, even in the mos
skeptical, a conviction Of the necessity ol
purgatory.
T EFT us return to the Standardization o
~ our religious parts. We are broker
into a great many Of them. Not to speal
of lesser fragments there are at leas
eleven universal churches extant in tn,
world. Moreover, there cannot be sucl
dangerous theological Emergencies amoni
them if they are agreed on so cardinal
point as that Of catholicity. OF course, il
all coalitions - except marriage and tn
league Of nations---the question of whicl
is to swallow which looms large; for it i
a nice point in biblical exegesis, that Of tn
final laying down, ensemble. of the liol
and the lamb. Shall we regard this cubicu
lous Juxtaposition as a figure of the unit.
which, even in this world, Is the lions
when, admirably nourished by the lamb 70
future deeds of prowess, he enjoys tina
gustatory comfort which attends on
healthy digestion? Or shall we, NOR
subtly, suggest that. IL in the great millen
mum the lion shall have so lost his appe
tite for mutton that he will not touch
lamb. by the same token the lamb mus
cease to crop grass, and the unity Of tn
two beasts can therefore be only the unit
of starvation?
DERHAPS. after ALL the method OF sal
walton may not be so important as sal
walton itself And why may we nc
extend our ideas on democracy froI
this world to the next? If all are to rul
>, here. why not save all in the next-e.