Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-31

M Church OF England believer;
wv my father a Presbyterian
4 elder. One Sunday l accom-
panied my mother to the
Episcopal Church, the next l went
| with my father to the Presbyterian;
every morning we had Bible reading
and prayers. AS a boy and young man
l became fairly conversant with Chris
| tan doctrine.
On reaching maturer years certain
qualities and characteristics OF the So
called Christianity Of churchgoers and
| orthodox believers began to trouble
me. First of all their faith seemed TO
me a very selfish faith; it was all for
me" myself ,""mine'-"my prosper.
ity"-"my salvation"-"my immor-
tality"; it didn't concern itself with
the other fellow, the less fortunate
soul-and this impressed me as being
distinctly at variance with the mission
and teaching of Him who told the
parable of the good Samaritan; sec
ondly, there was no one among the
frock coated, silk dressed pew holders
who came pompously to church and
who professed to follow the teachings
of Jesus Christ, who practiced even
remotely what He preached. Ihere
was none among them then, nor In
the course of my life have l ever met
or seen one.
X X X X
Sell all that thou hast and give to
the poor, l know no man of prop
erty who does that. No one gives all.
The literal practice Of Christianity Is
certainly not observed by the rich
parishioners and without the rich
parishioners how are the churches to
be maintained? The churchgoers and
hymr,- singers, with whom was raised,
struck me as mumbling hypocrites.
They clipped off their bond coupons
and caShed their quarterly stock dlVl-
dends and prayed for their own saliva
ton and the preservation OF their
Identities after death in some Dllssful
state of reward.
Well. said l. l will have none OF
them and none of the churches, and If
being a Christian necessitates my I'm
ing myself up with such mounting
humbugs will deny I am Christian
X X
But I had to have some kind OF re-
ligion, had to believe something. but
! wanted a working philosophy that
could respect and something that
In my soul. l recognized the truths in
the gospels, and l knew these hadn't
been tempered with by the early
fathers of the church. They couldn't
be, and if they had been l was ready
to accept them in their doctored form
because they spelled reason and right
ness to me. But l saw they had to be
adapted to present day life. No one
as far as | knoW-ever literally FOL
lowed the teachings and examples OF
Jesus Christ except Francis of Assist
and certain religious orders. Today II
a man followed such a course he would
be adjudged demented even by the
people who loved him best. and he'd
run fair chance of being locked up
for vagrancy.
The practice of Christianity for an
American citizen Of this day and gen
Grafton had to be an interpreted
Christianity. l decided. and 1t had to
be based on the precepts: DO unto
others as you would have them do
unto you" and 1T is more blessed to
give than to receive"
X + X
Then one day along came Prof. VIII
liam James book of philosophy, The
Will to Believe" to mix its theories
with my religious uncertainties and
help shape them. The VIII to Be
lieve' is nothing more or less than
faith, faith in yourself, faith in your