Evening star., 1922-01-30
DECLARES RELIGION
STILL VITAL FORCE.

"If the church at large would con-
centrate upon its prophetic ministry,
and give less consideration to Its In
stitutional programs and its so-called
| attractions we believe that 1t would
! restore the church to it's place of.
power as the mightiest influence for,
the molding Of character In our cor
porate life" says statement In the
Parish Guide Of the Church Of the.
Epiphany.
Rev. DR.. James F. Freeman. in the
Guide, says: "In Chicago recently 1
| WIS struck with the deepening inter
est of men and women In the things.
: of religion. On a day that was hard,
ly conducive to large church attend.
| ance l found an audience in Mandei
Hall of the university, comprising
/ many of the student body, and some
of the professors, including the presi-
dent of the university, that filled the
large auditorium. and In the evening
at Orchestra Hall, which seats three
! thousand. l found an audience that
packed the building to it's topmost
gallery. with an overflow on the plat
form. In both these great audiences
l would say that men predominated.
| The night audience, for fine enthu-
siaSm, compared favorably with anr
audience met under any circumstances
! to consider some outstanding politi-
cal or economic question. Again in
Baltimore recently the large Hippo
drome had an audience consisting of
l.20O men, no women being present,
and here again / witnessed as fire
enthusiasm and as intelligent appre-
citation as / have seen anywhere"
In connection with the statement of
| the clergyman as to the decline in re-
ligion the statement in the Guide
continues:
The above statements coming
from two clergymen, present anti
thetlcal points of view, and they raise
! the large question as to which is the
! correct diagnosis Of the present sit
| uation. John Spargo, the eminent
student of social and economic Ques-
tons, declared in magazine article
some months ago that the modern
pulpit as an opinion making power
had ceased to be operative, and he
went SO far as to maintain that the
pulpit in our time is an anachronism.
We do not believe this to be true.
The rector of Epiphany has repeat
edly stated that the world is aweary
OF speculative and negative preach
ing, and that it has likewise lost its
zest for so-cal1ed topical sermons
He has also maintained that the at
fractions of the concert hall have
ceased TO make their appeal to the
people of the churches. 'EcclesiaS-
tIcdl vaudeville seemed for awhile to
, serve as an added attraction to bring
people to church. Even the motion
P'>'u'c vas iudl
, it might Offset IN some degree the at
fractions of the Sunday movies. This
too, has lost its charm. The people
generally do not care for adulterated
expressions of religion, nor do they
accept for the word of spiritual POW
er and inspiration anything in The
form of substitute. The Scotchman
was right who said. Let our prophet
come with new mandate for The
soul upon his lips. and though his
speech be nthe dialect of Galilean
peasant, the people will hear n.m
gladly.
while there are doubtless vast
numbers of people who are indiffer-
ent to the appeal of religion. it still
continues to be Indispensable. and
what Sabatier says holds true today:
Man is incurably religious
IF the pulpit has lost its power to
attract, ii might he well to look 10
the exponents of the pulpit and seek
to discover the cause of the decline.
1t is our deep conviction that the pui-
pit message has still a hold upon the
people. and that its power is as ire
Slstlble as ever. where il is main
i tained with high and intelligent; con-
Secration.
I'm this connection. ii is interes,iu.
to note that two of the finest preach
! ers in the English speaking world
! namely, Jowett and Campbell Morgan
| ers, and their churches are thronged
at every service. The Thus saith the
Lord kind of preaching that is born
out of unceasing study of the Bible.
| and unfSiling prayer. has lost oone
| of its uln ritv mower"