Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-01
As ONE WOMAN SEES IT
by Their Fruits Ys Shall Know
Them" Said ths Master, and Never
Word About Denominations
BY SARAH ID. lOwRrE

"A TkOrOS OF Dclhg urged more thuu VhSc
"A 70 "conc out on the question Of 'funda-
mentalism versus liberalism as 1t Is ahect-
Ing the general church. from the standpoint
Of laywomnn," ] saw, q heading not long
ago in the paper:
Religious Census Tut at 05.s5S,O00
Church Roster Grows
That might look very impressive to a
sured that all OF these were monothcists,
t. e., worshipcrs Of one God, and apparently
wi NTH fey minor difference worshipers OF
1900, 900 arc not Christians. but Jews !. and
Of the 02 2.55S 900 Christians, .648,OOO nre
Mormons; and Of the 600 who nrc
not Mormons. 74.7D5OO0 are Protcstants.
as against 17,ss5,OOo who are Roman
Catholics.
Then for the Protcstants, 1885,, 900 are
Baptists. who hold that unless convert IL
baptized in prescribed way. I. G.. BY i'm,
mersion. he cannot be a con,municant; ana
for the few hundred thousand Episcopalians.
unless a man has been ordained IN GER
tain way he cannot exercise the functions
of q minister--nnd 40 It goes. Not only do
the Protestants send missionaries to convert
the Roman Catholics and the Roman Catho-
lies to convert the Protestants. and both to
convert the Jews and the Mormons, but
more than ono body OF the same name are
split up into differing parts. quite ms much.
If not more. at variance than though they
had different names.
DERHAPS the Chinaman, having been
L brought up TO revere history and to
worship philosopher, would not be so
shocked as many person Of the U. >. a.
considering this lack Of unity for the first
time.
Three times at least IN history has the
world attempted religious unity, and it is
Ooy making IFS next attempt
The first was the attempt to unity reli-
gon in one great tower temple reaching TO
tho skies. the Tower of Bab-il. or Babel.
What stopped that enterprise was not
Of comprehension on the part OF the builders
OF one nnother's speech. They were oil
saying the same thing In different Ian
guage. .,
The second attempt was to bring all
Christendom under one theoloEicnl rule in
the two secular divisions Of the Roman Em-
pirc. What stopped that enterprise was the
failure Of men to agree on the definitions Of
their beliefs. so the eastern church broke
from the western church.
Tho third attempt was 20 keep the west
ern Christians under one political rule.
What stopped that combination was the
sharp racial iealouses Of one country against
another. England against q Latin pontiff,
Germany against Snanish Austrian re-
ligious coercion, republican Calvinistic
France against monarchical ltalian'ied
France.
A ND nowadays there has been fourth
n move in the direction Of unity on the
ground Of qualification. the idea being that
Christians have more polnts in common than
yoints of difference. since they use the same
Bible, repent the same creed. pray with the
same prayers and worship the same God.
have the same RELIGIOUS anniversaries. wor'
-. a., I,1, vI lpSfrQ nnftprn
themselves on the same great Leader And
since there is 80 much In common. why
urge the making Of all the material mart in
common ?''---one church building instend or
six. one mission station instead OF three; one
comfortably supported clergyman instead Of n
number of imnecunious ones. one great con.
grogntion instead of any number Of innde-
1nntc ones. The p'ens for. unity are so
largely economic that this fourth attempt
mioht he called an attempt at an economic
union.
to fail. perhars because we have not yet got
at the real meaning Of unity. We know
that unity must not involve coercion or
subicction or constrnint or even con-
fnrmity of ideas. We know because we have
tried all these ways and failed Put is it
NOT lust barely possible thnt we are having
unity more and more without guessing II?
And the more we difer IN nor. essentials
the better we NAV he fulfilling the laws Of
our Separate functlOning.
Could we say of the human body that my
two parts functioned nike? Would there
not he "wnr among our members II they
all united to do the same thing In the same
wnv at the same time!
That great Roman Jew. Paul. gave clue
1000 yenrs ago that Christendom might nave
saved time and energy perhaps by follow.
ing un lie exhorted his fellow citizens. the
Romans. 70 renew their m-l:S md to nrore
by observation what was the good and nc-
ccntable and perfect will Of God on the
subject of unity. lie en,reats them in set
ting about that great desiderntum not TO
think more highly Of themselves. severally or
in groups. than they ought to think, but to
think soberly, seriously, and to remember
that as thcv were many members In one
body. each differed in his gifts or potentia'i-
ties, Those who could preach were to preach:
those who could teach We're to teach those
who could urge and excite and incite-ex-
hort-werc TO eShort; those who were seers.
philosophers. prophets, should prophesy;
those who had much to give should give lib.
orally and those who were set to rule should
rule diligently, while those who were to
function as ministers should show mercy
with cheerfulnesS.
TT STRIKES me that all these differing
i gifts" need very different surroundings
and would conflict awfully jammed up in
the same building, or even in the same or
ganization. ] do not find in those early
records Of the starting out Of Chrlstendom
any words about the followers Of Jesus being
''onc body under any earthly union. Ito-
man, Greek or in Jerusa!em--it IL only 'Onc
body in Christ"
And so the other day when very nice
and argnmcntative non -churchgoer tried to
drive me into n corner and make me say
that because church unity in a material
sense was failure, Christianity was fall
urc. I had to laugh.
The moro different kinds of Dponle who