Evening star., 1925-06-01
FOSD|CK PLEADS
FOR L|BERAuTy
Attacks Dynamic Dirt"
Theory in First Sermon at
Park Avenue Church.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
NEW YORK, June IA congre.
cation that crowded to capacity the
Park Avenue Baptist Church yester.
day heard its newly called pastor
Rev. DIR. Harry Emerson Fosdick
preach his first sermon from its pull
ptt-a plea for a broader liberality
In church doctrine. In the congrega
tion were John d. Rockefeller sr.:
Mrs. Rockefeller, and his son and
grandson, John d, jro and Winthrop
After the sermon DR. Fosdick was
more than an hour shaking hands
with the hundreds of persons who
attended the services.
Referring to "the thrilling adven.
ture which we are undertaking
here" DIR. Fosdicll said that "as |
see it we are endeavoring to eXalt
the central and spiritual elements in
Christianity, to make great things
great and small things small. and TO
make this so explicit in the orsaniza-
tion of our church that nobody can
mistake our sincerity in meaning II.
We want to say to this city he
continued. that just one thing is
central in Christianity-dis
10 JeSus--and that anybody who
has that spiritual root of the matter
sincerely in him ought to be welcome
on equal terms with everybody else
in the church of Christ"
Relating that youths often come TO
him for discussion of religious prob
lens that puzzle them, DIR. FosdiCk
said he usually asked them: DO you
really think that dynamic dirt, going
1t blind. is an adequate explanation
of this vast and varied universe and
Of US within it, and that mothers
end music and the laughter of chill
dren at play are nothing but the
sublimated consequence of fortuitous
concourse of SO-odd chemical ele-
mentS?"
Irreligion Usually Imaginary.
After such conversation, he said, he
usually found that such youths were
mot nearly SO irreligious as they
thought they We're
Nevertheless. one can remain under
no illusions about what Is going on,
he continued. Dangerous things are
afoot in the moral life of our time
and you cannot meet them with con-
ventional Christianity. The younger
general ton is rebellious. impatient OF
conventional Christianity. 1t must be
vital Christianity that gets them il
anything will.
Gould there be any more thrilling
adventure than to endeavor in this
trying time to lead the youth past all
the outworks of religion into It's very
citadel, into the presence of Jesus
Christ Himself, what He was. what
He stood for, and challenge them with
that voice which long ago thundered,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and thy neighbor
as thyself'?"
Referring to the change of policies
hv the Park Avenue Baptist Church,
Dr. Fosdick said: 1T is my deep con-
viction that we are fulfilling in our
plans the best tradition of the re-
ligtous movement to which this church
belongs. The genius of our denom-
ination has been it's insistence on
the competency and freedom of the
individual soul in matter of religion.
That emphasis upon individual free
dom has been our best contribution
to Christian history"
DIR. Fosdick will assume regular
charge of the pulpit in the Fall OF
1926. In the meantime he will spend
a year in travel and study abroad
He succeeds the Rev. DIR. Cornelius
Woelfl1in, who resigned as pastor be-
cause of his age.