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THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 1, 1907.
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IN THOSE victories of peace, which a
great poet has said are more re
nowned than those of war, the
founding ' of a great church' may be
let down as pferhaps the most signal
tf all triumphs for the world's good.
The Episcopal Church of the United
States, mindful of this fact, is going
lo celebrate appropriately and with all
Sue ceremony the three hundredth an
niversary of its birth in a great con
vention to be held in Kichmond, Va.,
Very shortly.
The most noted dignitaries of th
Church of England, the parent body
from which the American Episcopacy
Is an offshoot, are coming to the
Cnlted States for the ceremonies, the
frarly Including the Right Reverend
Henry Montgomery, secretary of the
Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel; the Rev. Dr. A. F. W. Ingram,
the new bishop of London, and the
Right Reverend Dr. Edgar Jacob, the
bishop of St. Albans.
As most of the early religious work
In the colonies which resulted in giv
ing the faith of England such a strong
Start in the New World was per
formed under the direction of the
dioceses of London and St. Albans,
there is a genuine sentiment about the
Visit of these noted churchmen, who
are the direct descendants of the early
Episcopalians who aided the colonists
In their earliest devotions.
The Church of England in the
United States and the settlement of
Jamestown are synonymous dates, for
that expedition sent out by the Lon
don company that consisted of three
vessels, the Susan Constant, 100 tons;
the Godspeed, 40 tons, and the Discov
ery, 40 tons, commanded respectively
by Christopher Newport, Bartholomew
Gosnold and John Ratcllffe, carried 105
men, almost all of whom were mrs
Or less devout followers of the estab
lished Church of England.
"When, after many days of search,
wlLat is now known as Jamestown was
finally picked for the site of the col
ony, almost the first act was the es
tablishment of the first regular serv
ice of the Protestant religion in Amer
ica. .
That particular denomination which
bow boasts thousands of beautiful
structures throughout the length and
breadth of the United States, and Is
now building a magnificent cathedral
in New Tork. had no building lir
which to worship at this first service.
A sail cloth spread between two trees
was the sacred edifice in which the
blessing of the giver of all things
good was invoked to lend his shelter
ing arm to the colonists, and the pul
pit was a piece of wood fastened be
tween two saplings.
The rector whose privilege it was to
celebrate this service was the Rev.
Robert Hunt.
But the church did not long content it
eelf with this primitive building. In a
year women. were sent to Jamestown to
Join the colony, and link their interests
with those of the pioneers. In 1608 Ann
Barras came to Jamestown, and in the
little frame church, roughly thrown to
gether, she was wedded to John Laydon,
this being the first ' wedding celebrated
by the Church of England ceremony in
the history of America.
On the site of th"e ancient church, whose
ruins form one of the most striking feat
ures of the now almost abandoned island
of Jamestown, has been found evidence
that two churches of some pretensions
preceded It.
The ground adjacent to the tower on the
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east has been excavated, disclosing the
foundations of two churches, the smaller
inside of the larger. The larges measures
66 by 28 feet, and shows the bases of four
buttresses on each side.
The discovery of two churches preced
ing the more pretentious structure are of
special interest, because they show that
the zeal of the colonists for their faith
led them early to the erecting of a suit
able place for prayer and worship.
The venerable church whose tower alone
stands high above the soft,- moist soil of
the island, was built in 1639, only 32 years
after the arrival of the colonists, yet in
the comparatively short . time three
churches had been erected, and two of
them outgrown, or perhaps destroyed by
the Indians, who after the death of Poco
hontas and her all powerful father, the
Indian chieftain, Powhatan, developed a
ferocious hatred of the whites that led
to many horrible massacres.
The tower of the old church is 18 feet
square and 36 feet high, with walls three
feet thick and crumbled at the top. It is
three stories high. The first story is
pierced by doorways in he eastern and
western walls. The second story contains
an arched window above each doorway,
but the masonry is absent from the wall
space between each window and at the
door below, thus merging each pair of
openings into one, about 12 feet high.
The third story is perforated'by two loop
holes for guns on each of the four sides,
a grim reminder of the dangers that at
tended these early devotees even when
they knelt to commune with their Maker.
Adjoining the church are the remains of
an early graveyard, the tombstones of
which have been restored.
Around this chgrch cluster perhaps the
most sacred associations of the Church of
England, afterwards the Episcopal
Church, that are to be found in the new
world. The delegates to the convention
that will be .held in Richmond will also
make a pilgrimage to Jamestown there to
pay tribute to the edifice In which their
forbears founded the religion in the new
world.
Numerous students of the early Amer
ican history of the church will also come
to Philadelphia, for in that city are lo
cated many points of interest connected
with the iarly days of the faith in the
United States.
Thus Christ Churcn yields in inter
est to no building of the many devoted
to the Episcopal faith in this country.
Here, when the Quaker City, so called,
was the capital of the land, and its
chief city in wealth and culture, Christ
Church was the most important
Church of England and Episcopal edi
fice on this side of the - Atlantic. It
was started in 1695, enlarged in 1698,
further enlarged in 1710.
The first rector, the Rev.. Evans
brate Its Ter-Centenary
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PJ20SARLY THC
M?5T LEADER
or thz: rpiscofvL CHyscH
Evans, was sent to Philadelphia by
Bishop Compton, of London, in 1700,
and Queen Anne, knowing the fame of
ChrlRt Church In Philadelphia, and the
part it was destined to play in the re
ligious history of the new world, pre
sented it with a service of church
plates.
In 1727 was begun the enlargement
and further improvement of Christ
On the Origin of Religion and Fear of Death
Well Grounded Hope That Growth of Intelligence Will Rob the Great C hange of All Its Terrors.
BY GEORGE CROSTON.
SELF-PRESERVATION may be the
first law of nature, but death is the
inevitable and conclusive law of our
physical existence, and is indirectly the
cause that prompts the religious beliefs
of mankind.
It Is the passport into that realm of
mystery that lies beyond life as we know
it and of which we know absolutely noth
ingall descriptions are mere speculations
and reason has to be blindfolded by either
ignorance or faith in order to believe them
as facts.
Most of the stories of punishment and
reward after death are the result of ig
norance and superstition on the part of
the ancient authors of the Bible, who,
knowing little or nothing about the world
they lived in, could not therefore be ex
pectl to treat the subject of life se
riously when it waa easier to humbug
the people with fantastic speculations
about a future existence. It also had the
advantage of being irrefutable as every
one, no matter how his version of the
state after death may differ from that of
anyone else had nothing to fear, as there
is nothing to prove that either of them
are wrong. There are no facts in the
case except death.
Our inclination to drea'd the visitation
of death is the result of the untimely and
usually violent deaths of our remote an
cestors, very few of whom ever died a
natural death. If they had then we
would. Instead of inheriting a dread of it
that has almost become an instinct, view
death with as much unconcern as being
born or anything else that concerns our
lives that Is natural.
Old people who have lived healthy, well
regulated lives generally lose their horror
of death and view its advent with a calm
ness that is impossible in a normal young
person to whom, life has yet possibilities
and a mission to fulfill.
Primitive man's constant dread was the
fear of death In being devoured by wild
animals, or poisoned by serpents, and his
life was secured by avoiding these ene
mies rather than by overpowering them.
In this his greatest aid ws in the light
of day that the sun gave to him and en-
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Church, when it was made to take the
form in 'which Episcopalians know it
today. The superb steeple that sur
mounts it was built in 1753, and bar
ring repairs, is just as It was at that
time.
Many famous orators and scholars have
succeeded the Rev. Mr. Evans in charge
of Christ Church, and there George
Washington worshiped in Philadelphia
abled him to see and be forwarned of the
approach of an enemy.
In time gratitude for this advantage
gradually underwent the change to wor
ship of the sun their protector.
This is the earliest form of religion we
know anything about. .
When he arose In the morning, cold and
tired after a restless night of sleep dis
turbed possibly by the roar of carniverous
beasts, hissing of serpents and other
agents of destruction, it is small wonder
that when the glorious sun came out and
warmed him and robbed his enemies of
the power to terrify him so much that he,
In his child-like simplicity, regarded it as
some munificent God.
After the thunder storm, with its terri
ble lightning and crashing peals of thun
der that overawed him, the reappearance
of the tun meant to him its triumph over
what he came to ascribe as evil spirits,
and this, in turn, the belief that the sun's
disappearance was an evidence of his
anger and the offering of sacrifices to se
cure a blessing or avoid this wrath was
the next. To him the sun meant life and
comfort, for he could see that Its contin
ued, absence meant that all living things
would perish in time.
Later, as this sun worship became more
perfected, the moon was also included as
a lesser dlety. The most notable one in
this respect being the ancient religions of
Egypt and as his knowledge of astrono
my increased, the stars were given a
place in their catalog of gods.
The Greeks and Romans gave these
star gods the forms of human beings and
animals, and in doing so developed the
w Little Johnny and the Teddy Bears"
Sf- K Are to Be Seen on the Stage
(Copyright, 19W7. by Judge: copyright, 190T
by the Rellly & Brltton Co.)
THE American people are a Nation of
faddists and the latest and most ab
sorbing craze which has swept over the
country in many and many a year has
the whole people apparently firmly in. its
grasp today. This latest and most ab
sorbing of crazes is the series of pictures
and verses known as "Little Johnny and
the Teddy Bears."
There are. of course. Teddy Bears of
various kinds axul descriptions and de
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during his residence there as President
of the United States.
Christ Church is also interesting from
the fact that in it was held the first gen
eral convention of representatives of the
church, who favored breaking away from
the Church of England, and forming an
entirely independent American church to
bear the title "Episcopal."
This movement
years before, had
had begun several
been discussed at a
conference of Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and New York clergymen at a conference
In New Brunswick. N. J., the year
be
sculptor's art that their productions art
regarded as almost perfect.
Grecian mythology consists of fantastic
stories of the experiences of these gods
and Christianity with its saints is the
offspring of this. But its evolution would
be too long a siory to tell here.
Thus, we see. that our religious beliefs
and mortal fear of death have a common
origin both are based on fear of some
thing that would mean a death before the
time Nature Intended we should die.
As an unnatural and premature death
causes us to look upon the approach of
death with fearful awe so does a natural
exit from this sphere of life inspire us
with resignation and contemplation of
what ilea btyond, not with gloomy fore
bodings, but with, a joyous anticipation
of something better, brighter and in
finitely more beautiful than a worldly
existence.
Fancy takes me to the future, when It
will be by virtue of man's conquest of
the forces of Nature, possible to live a
natural life, and, at its conclusion, as a
result, look upon death as the beginning
of a delightful voyage to a land of beau
tiful mysteries where kindred souls will
know one another Instead of being as it is
today, heralded by tears and lamenta
tions, dreaded and put off until the last
possible moment, even though it means
more torture than a thousand deaths.
Instead of all this, death will at the
conclusion of a virtuous, well-rounded life,
be a welcome1 visitor, heralding a new
world instead of a dreaded specter of
pain and sorrow.
Hoquiam, Wash.
grees of popularity, but all of fhem sink
into insignificance compared with this
laughable series.
ana me omer one-time cnuaren i favor
ites, they have had their day and passed,
though never did they create the public
Interest which little Johnny seems to
have done.
Little Johnny and the Teddy Bears are
the creation of Robert D. Towne. editor
of the humorous weekly. Judge, who
wrote the verses which chronicled the
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fore, and had found a popular response
all over the country, the feeling being
general that since the Church of England
was part Of the government of Great
Britain, the official religion, so to speak,
it would be fitting for the new republic,
having achieved its political indepen
dence, to be also free of religious connec
tion. The general convention was held at
Christ Church September 27. 1785. The
desire of the delegates, while favoring
separation, was also strong that the es
sentlal principles of the faith be maln-
pranks of this adventurous little boy, and
John R. Bray, who drew the side-splitting
pictures which illustrate the verses.
From the first publication of these pic
tures the circulation of Judge went rush
ing upward by thousands of copies per
week and It is still continuing to do so.
More remarkable than this, however, is
the demand for their publication in book
form. The Reilly & Brltton Co., of Chi
cago, recently secured the books rights to
this series and their bare announcement
to booksellers that they had done so sent
them orders for 500,000 copies.
This Is the most phenomenal record of
sales known to the book world, and
according to all precedent in book publi
cation means at least an ultimate sale of
3,000,000 copies.
The Reilly & Britton Company make a
specialty of publishing children's books,
controlling all of Frank L. Baum's books.
"The Wizard of Oz," "John Dough and
the Cherub," and his latest book, "Ozma
of Oz," a successor to the "Wizard of
Oz," and like all of their publications the
pictures will be a riot of rich colors.
In view of the enormous sale, Harry
Askln. one of the foremost of American
theatrical managers, controlling among
other attractions "Ezra Kendall," "The
Umpire," and "The Time, the Place
and the Girl," has secured the dramatic
rights to the character of Little Johnny
from "Judge" and the Reilly & Britten
Co. and will shortly begin rehearsals for
a big extravaganza on the lines of "The
Wizard of Oz" and. "The Babes In Toy
land." There will be over eighty people
employed in this big production, and four
60-foot baggage cars will be necessary to
transport its scenery and costumes. The
lines of the book and many of the verses
in the original text will be used. The
book begins with a picture of little John
ny, his six Teddy Bears, and the discov
ery of a life-giving elixir by Johnny's
father, who says:
"A truly wonderful compound.
With this," he cried. "I behove I could
Put life Into a stick of wood."
Each page has the large picture in col
or with one or two verses beneath it. The
second page shows Johnny's father rush
ing from the room to tell of his great dis
covery and Little Johnny meddling.
He gave the Teddy Bears six sips.
You should have seen the rips!
They bounce six feet up In the air.
As lively as a real llva bear.
Then follows thick and fast the exploits
and mischievous pranks into which little
Johnny leads his pets. He takes them to
a circus, on a trip to Buffalo, on an auto
mobile ride, 'in which they get smashed
up, to school with him, in swimming, into
"hot water." and the Innumerable othet
situations which a real, live, healthy, 10-year-old
boy might be likely to get into.
When they went to the circus they had no
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talned. and the friendship of the English
church preserved.
This was readily secured, the Arch
bishop of Canterbury inclosing later the
act of Parliament, which authorized the
consecration of bishops to take charge of
the newly formed American church.
Then in Philadelphia. 17S9, in the same
hall that saw the adoption of the Con
stitution of the United States two years
before, the Episcopal Church of the
United States of America adopted its new
laws, and as an Independent body started
on the career of power and blessings that
have been Its portion since.
money, but they got in just the same,
for the verses say:
Johnny holds up a piece of bread,
The tall giraffe pokes out his head;
They grab his long, slim neck, and he
Just lifts them over the fence, you see.
Then off they go. happy aa can be.
The wonderful circus sights to see.
You ought to see the animals laugh
At the trick John played on the tall giraffe.
The hippopotamus laughed so hard.
He opened his mouth about a yard;
The Teddies thought he wu going to bite.
And fainted dead away with Xrlght.
Poor John, you see, is almost daft.
And the big hippo Is sorry he laughed:
For there's no way to bring them 'round
But give them more of the great compound.
Johnny finally manages to get them
home and revived again. Their spirlta
were Irrespresslble and Easter, Sun
day found them all out to view the
parade. The trouble into which they
fell the following verses tell. They
fell Into a puddle of water and are
nearly drowned and then a big police
man catches them.
The soggy, dripping, spattered crew
Stands guiltily and johnny, too
V'hlle the cop tells how their escapade
Broke up the Eater day parade.
Pa wouldn't let Johnny go to bed
Until he'd washed each little Ted.
And hung him up on the line to dry.
While soapsuds filled each tearful eye.
Fairy Story In Real Life.
Parkersburg, W. Va., Dispatch.
To be delivered from poverty and raiser
to great riches has been the experience
of G. I. Bunnell and wife, of this city.
Twelve years ago the couple leased 250
acres of oil lend In Ritchie County. While
no oil had been struck in that vicinity
they had supreme confidence In the terri
tory and by hard labor succeeded In
holding the lease.
Ten days ago a gas company drilled a
well on the farm. Its output Is now 75
barrels per day and when shot should
produce 150 barrels. Other wells will be
drilled and the aged couple have every
assurance of being worth in the neigh
borhood of Jjoo.floo within the year.
They are now planning to enjoy the
fortune and will spend the remainder of
their lives in traveling and living in fine
style.
Condensed Advice.
"Here is an article by John L. Sulli
van on 'How to Live a Hundred
Years." "
"Yes, and the whole subject can b
condensed into two words."
"What are thjcy?"
"Don't die."