The Oregon daily journal., June 21, 1914, Page 59, Image 59

- THE OREGON SUKD AY. JOURNAL -PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 21, 1914. .
By Edward Marshall.
THAT, the religion of the futur
la to be one- of service rather
I than of ceremony, devoted not
ably to social betterment, U the
optimistic view of Dean Charles R.
Brown of the Tale School of Xtellgion,
The old-fashioned -heaven and hell
play no part In the philosophy of thl
eminent modern theologian; he regard
them as figments of the superstitions .
-of an era which has passed.
He does not look forward to a uni
versal church, but sees signs that
"in the future all churches will co
operate for the general good far more
effectively than they have worked
together in the past.
, He does not consider attendance
'.hould be falling off. and told me Tery
franklv whv. deelarinr that In Stite
.of it religion Tn continually becoming
mori vital, perhaps through the very
.facts that it now concerns Itself less
than It once did with listening to ser
mons and observances of ritual and
"more with the practical good and right
development of humanity. He thinks
an outdoor Sunday may be better than
"a Sunday spent In church.
J Altogether Dean Brown's views,
.while sufficiently advanced to startle
some of those who read this Inter
view, are very closely in tune with
) modern thought and very nicely link
. the days of the old dogmatism- with
1th ene days of liberality mourning not
at all about a loss, but rejoicing at a
gain.
I was especially interested In the
dean's expressed regret that the char- .
acter of Christ should have been soft
ened, almost to effeminacy, in the
minds of many, and in his short and
snappy declaration that: "Christ's
Job is very, frequently a man's job."
Altogether there can be no doubt of
the virility of this important leadar
In the nation's rapidly changing re
ligious thought.
"Life," . he said, "is being measured
with a new yardstick. It Is not the
yardstick of , material wealth in these
days, any - more than it is now, the
yardstick of church attendance and
outward devotion to religious form.
'It Is a hopeful and undeniable fact
that men's value as community forces
for good counts more than the value
of their bank accounts or their devo
tion to religious rituals.
"This Is a mighty change, and more
significant of goodI'm sure, than the
reputed falling off In church attend
ance can be significant of evil.
" "Names like those of Willian Kent
of California and George W. Coleman
.'of Boston, who is behind the Saga
(more conference, and the Ford hall
meetings count more, even, than the
names of the great merchants of the
time, or those of great railroad men
or great lawyers.
Service Is the Test.
y "Good will and competence in serv-
vice, these are the things which are con
tinually increasing in impressiveness
among us. The time has come when
it is tacitly acknowledged by sufficient
numbers to be really important that
men . reach the highest level of Indi
vidual expression not as they reach"
. the highest pinnacle of material suc
cess, or pray loudest, but as they serve
best.
"We find this conviction growing
on all sides. It is a sentiment which
..will invariably draw fire from a col-
lege audience, or, for that matter,
,from young men anywhere."
"What will this broadened concep
..r "tion mean to the denominations?" I
: inquired.
' Dean Brown did not pause to think.
-The promptness; of his answer proved
that frequently, or, at least, care
"fully, he had considered this very
question or some variation of it.
"It will mean a reduction of the
i number of denominational units," he
replied, "and, of course, that x will
'mean fewer local church units.
"Instead of three or four straggling
j- and struggling congregations, each
worshipping God according to a rule
'.slightly differing fcom that which the
. others follow, in' each small town,
there will be one community church
' 'there,; where the mere contagion of
enthusiasm and conviction that comes
from numbers and the magnetism of
association will be of vast assistance
In the propagation of the true religious
spirit"
r- "-Shall We eventually get along with
out denominations, do you think? Is
the time at hand or even remotely ap
proaching when all religionists will
follow One broad creed V I asked.
. .
iC nominatlonallsm Is largely a matter
,'ot temperament.' As long as human
beings differ In temperament, so long
2-'will they differ in their religious de
. nominations.
"I imagine there will always be
'those who wish to be ministered to by
"liturgy, as are the Episcopalians; those
,who prefer the ministration of author
ity, as -the. Roman Catholics, and
those to whom these particular varie
ties of religious manifestation do not
r appeal. These facts will maintain de
nominations. "Those who stand. Instinctively, for
the utmost simplicity of worship with-
f rout rigid creed or centralised author
ity, and for the utmost democracy in
, government, like ' the Congregational
ism and Baptists, would be uncom-
for table in a church which did not ful
, fill these Ideals as uncomfortable as
r the others would be In a church which
dld.
"And we have and must' have
'churches which appeal especially to
,-the . emotions, as do . those of the
i Methodist denomination. They meet
a certain temperament which belongs
nIo many people..
The natural Metho-
Brown of Yale Sees No Gause for Anxiety in Decreased Church
Attendance Says Men Are Now Measured by Good They
Do Rather than by Cash They Have.
dlst temperament might find the Con
gregational and Baptist churches
chilly. I see no reason to look for
ward to one universal, church, al
though the old Intolerance of the fol
lowers of the creed for the follower
of all others is already passing1 al
most passed. In fact.
"At the time of the San Francisco
earthquake I was living In California
and was a. member of the relief com
mittee. The object of that body was
worthy, and its work religious In the
highest sense. At the first meeting X
sat between a Roman Catholic and a
Jew.
"Differences of religion did not en
ter Into our relations. We were all
there to help relieve distress. Creeds
became minor matters. That was an
Illustration of what, in the presence of
a commanding need, should exist in
every community.
"But it did not mean that any man
abandoned his own creed, adopting that
of another, or that all creeds Were
merged Into one. It simply meant re
ligious team work In the face of an
.emergency.
"Modern thought has had its definite
effect upon all creeds however. From
each creed except the Catholic much
has been taken, and to each creed ex
cept the Catholic something has been
added by modern life. The modern Bap
tist churches are standing now for
open communion, for example. At the
Congregational council last autumn
very simple creed was' adopted. Its
simplicity and liberality mark a great
change. We have had very elaborate
creeds In the past.
"Nor Is our denomination the only
one wtilch has revised its creed along
the lines of modern, broadened thought.
The Presbyterians do not require as
sent to the Westminster confession
from all ruling elders and ministers,
and they are showing also a more tol
erant attitude toward Union Theologi
cal seminary. The general assembly
would not enter now Into such a con
troversy as threw out Dr. Biiggs and -
Henry Preserved Smith."
I asked if It might not be among the
possibilities that the church would
. gradually merge and disappear within
the Increasing general humanitarian
Impulse.
"No; I think that Improbable," Dean
Brown replied. "The church stands and
must always stand not only for human
sympathy but for spiritual authority.
It deals with spiritual verities, values
and Ideals. This gives It a place be
yond humanltarianlsm.
"In the human heart It satisfies the
longing for a sense of kinship with the
Divine, and this, I do not for a moment
doubt, is as strong and universal today
as It ever was.
"There are many Indications of this
sentiment of kinship to the Infinite.
Modern literature evidences It as clear
ly as did that of 50 years or more ago.
"Note the tremendous popularity of
Ralph Waldo Twine's 'In Tune With
the Infinite, of which 2,000,000 copies
have been sold; and Gerald Stanley
Lee's 'Crowds' Is having an enormous
4
sale.
"These books are not works of fic
tion, or sensational philosophies, such
as are the books with which the
thought of great editions Is usually
associated, but are spiritual essays.
Their vast popularity cannot mean that
the religious spirit Is losing force in
modern times.
"It Is as real, as potent as It ever
was, but now is finding less conven
tional methods of expression than
were afforded by the churches alone
In bygone times. Such men as the au
thors of these books are among the
greatest preachers.
"There are many Indications of a
general betterment. Among these not
the least significant Is the higher
point of view which newspapers are
taking. They are far less exclusively
devoted to the crass and the material
than they once were. .
"Another indication of the upward
trend Is found In the expressions of
such new philosophers as Euchen and
Bergson. These men are not re
actions, but developments. The ma
terialism which was very much In
vogue 25 years ago, when I was In
college. Is not Intellectually respecta
ble now.
Religious Education Changed
"Religious education has been ma
terially remodeled, and every change
has been along the lines of Increased
efficiency. The Tale School of Re
ligion may fairly be considered one of
the two or three leading divinity
schools In this country, and Is typical
of this modern trend. It trains men
for effective Christian service, making
effectiveness, even more than ortho
doxy, the target of Its best ambitions.
"It 1 a university school. It offers
all the advantages of a great unlver-
sity In opening to the young minister
or missionary such collateral courses
In philosophy and : ethics, in sociology
and economics, in history and In edu
cation as will add greatly to his ef
ficiency. : .,: jr.
"It combines thorough, fearless,
modern , scholarship with spiritual
earnestness and missionary enthusi
asm! While accepting frankly the
modern point of view In religion and
the critical method. Tale never, has
V7 w4?roSk try- -;v;v4 , - S-3i&vSlt
mtimktmmmr i - .,.. .1:... &mm&m:
broken away from evangelical mood
and spirit!
"The school is non-sectarian. The
professors In the School of Religion
are on the Carnegie Foundation, as
could not be the case were there any
denominational restraints. The fac
ulty is . made up from various
branches of the Christian church and
the student body this year is made up
in almost equal proportions of Metho
dists, Disciples, Congregationalism,
Baptists and Presbyterians, with other
denominations represented. .
"It has the best equipped missionary
department of any divinity school In
America. The Day Mission build
ing, given entirely to this work, con
tains the largest missionary library lk
the world. The endowment fund left
for its upkeep enables It to purchase
every book of value bearing upon the
language, the literature, the history,
the religion or the people of all the
missionary fields of the earth.
"The arrangement between the
academic department' and the .School
of Religion by which In the senior
year certain course j:an be taken In
theology and used toward the bach
elor's degree, enables the student in
Tale to save a whole year.'
Organised in four main depart
ments, . it offer the broadest oppor
tunity for training for Christian serv
ice. It fits men for preaching and pas
toral service at home, for missionary
service in the foreign field, for social
service In connection with . Institu
tional or settlement work, or in the
work of charity and correction, and
THE JURY ENJOYED THIS LAWYER'S MANNERISMS
Mr HE elderly lawyer was giving the
I young man some advice.
"Of course," he said, "good logi
cal argument is all well enough, but
sometimes it won't do as well with a
Jury as a bit of humor, and as a last
resort, young man, a touch of burlesque '
beats everything. A little burlesque of
your opponent's mannerisms may ruin
his entire speech and give you a vic
tory. What if he hasn't anyT you say.
There isn't a man alive who speaks fre
quently in public who hasn't manner
isms. He may not know it probably
' be doesn't but he has them.
"X didn't know I had any until X woke -up
one morning and found some of
them in print. Then X recognised them,
X know another lawyer who got up to
find Ms handling of a pencil during a
speech humorously described. It was a
mannerism, and he recognized it.
"Now, young man, if a reporter can
find out these things, why can't a law
yer?. That's the way I figured it, and
when I was next pitted against a good
strong lawyer, I studied him. He didn't
' have any noticeable mannerisms, but
for educational service as paid super
intendents of large city Sunday
schools or directors of Bible study 'n
city or college Young Men's Christlam
Associations.
, "New Haven is a city large enough
to provide clinical opportunity for stu
dents desirous of witnessing and par.
ticipating Iq the best methods of
church life and charity work, yet not
so large as to leave the student with
out those closer affiliations which
have value for an all-around develop
ment. .
"In the university pulpit and in
the numerous lecturships maintained
by Yale -the. student has an oppor
tunity to hear without added expense
or Inconvenience the leading preach
ers and lecturers of this country and
of Europe, and that Is a new training
for the ministry, in- line with the new
spirit of religion.
. "During the three years of the class
being graduated this month such men
as Euchen, Bergson, Klrksop Lake, Tal
cott Williams, Dean Henson, Sylvester
Home, R. J. Campbell, James Mof
fatt. Sir William Ramsay. J. H. Jowett,
George A. Gordon, John R. Mott,
Charles H. Parkhurst, Henry 81oane
Coffin, Lyman Abbott, Rabbi Wise,
Norman Angell and otherji - of equal
note have been heard by our students.
Reasons for Decrease.
"The advance in educational meth
ods, the general broadening of the
field of Instruction for the Christian
ministry, Is a sign a good a any, and
we are trying hard to make it plain
at the Tale school, nor in this do we
stand alone."
I asked Dean Brown to be more def
inite in his explanation of the modern
decrease in church attendance.
"There are several reasons for it.
I believe," he said. "By no mean all
he did have a peculiar way of empha
sizing his point with the index finger
of hi right "hand. You would never
notice it unless your attention was
called to it. Then you wouldn't notice
anything else. The right hand raised,
and with the Index finger moving slow
ly backward and. forward, meant a
strong point. The Index finger pointed
at the Jury box meant a stronger point;
and the index, finger of the right hand
crossed 'over the index finger of the
left hand meant a clincher.
"Simple, wasn't itf But, young man,
these three gestures won me my case.
He had the closing argument, and I
was afraid of him. X could not antici
pate hi points, but I could bis ges
tures. X told the Jury that I was afraid
of him; that he was a powerful speaker
and could sway men. Then X illustrat
ed his gesture and described the im
portance of each. X told the jury to
look out especially for him when he
crossed his fingers, as he was trying
to exorcise the evil spirits within him.
A poor- joke, certainly, but the over
wrought Jurors laughed at It. I said
that when he crossed his finger the
third time, the climax, of his speecn
would b reached. . i
of them may be regarded as evidences
of decreased religious feeling.
: "One of them Is the increasing stress
of modern life, which makes it more
difficult for men and women to find
time for formal worship.
; "Another is the fact that In these
days there are more social avenues
open. Church service was once almost
the only occasion when the better peo
ple gathered together.
. "Increased confinement and In
creased appreciation of the value of
the open air, too, has made many who
are not Irreligious feel that their one
day of liberty from Indoor labor may
better be spent in the open air than in
a church.
: "Rigid adherence to the old church
hours, beginning at 11 in the morning,
has been bad for churches. These
hours of service do not fit easily into
the modern scheme of life in many
cities.
. j "There certainly has been, too, a
diminution of the sense of the sacra
mental value of church attendance.
Our grandfather felt that when they
sat In church they were Invested with
the odor of sanctity.
"Now church attendance is regard
ed a not the only nor even the prin
cipal means of grace. We have more
good reading than our father found
available. Many people look to it for
spiritual culture."
' X asked the dean to give his views
upon the liberalization of Sunday,
which, during the past decade, has
been so notable, particularly in New
??rk
L "I am not sure that It is
an tin-
I "Well, that man started in with the
determination that he would not use
any of those gestures or mannerisms,
and It became painfully apparent in
the- course of the first five minutes
that he was thinking more of his ges
tures than he was of his argument. He
was struggling against a habit, and tb
Jury became Interested in the struggle.
Then he got mad, warmed up to hi
subject, and used one of the gestures
J. had described. The juror grinned.
"A moment later h had crossed his
Index fingers, and every juryman
counted 'Once.' You could see their lips
move. He pulled those fingers apart
asthough each had struck, a hot iron.
But it was too late. ' When he finished
' he had made the poorest speech of hi
life, was perspiring as though he had
Won a foot race, and the Jury was try
ing to keep from laughing: outright.'!
don't believe they had heard a word of
his argument, but they had followed
every gesture.
j "By the way, he did cross his finger -
just three tWea in the course of his
speech, as I' nad prophesied. The third
time he got mad and cut his talk short.
It was two months before he forgave
me. But X won the case." ..
mixed good," he answered. "Upon
many It entails seven days of labor.
It ha robbed a multitude of their day
of rest It has increased labor In the
transportation business especially.
"The fourth commandment did. not
say Oo to church on the Sabbath,
but It did bid mankind to abstal;
iv in
from toil. Insofar as the Hberallsa-
tlon of Sunday mean the loss of that
humane Intent. It surely is bad.
"The Sabbath was made for man
and for that part of the man which
suffers neglect during the other six
days. - J .
Inasmuch a the world now 1 tend
ing toward the use of the Sabbath for
the promotion of human health and
for adding to the sest and relish of
human life, the world Is trending sen
sibly; it Is following the teachings of
the gospel. To Tteep the Sabbath holy
is to use the Sabbath for good purpos
es. , There are . conceivable circum
stances where something else than
church attendance would actually be
for the glory of God and one's own
good." I
I asked Dean Brown the plain, flat
questions "is there a hell? Is there a
heaven?" hoping thereby to secure a
basis of comparison between the old
theology and the new. I gained ex
actly that.
"The idea of an arbitrary Judgment,
of a fixed, supernatural punishment
for sin. was a human device," he an
swered. "But it sprang from a true
philosophy the philosophy that sin
will bring Its own punishment.
"That punishment begins, on earth,
however, and will continue just as long .
as sin continues. Someone once said:
The Almighty write a very plain
hand.' On all side we see the hells
which men build for themselves. The
consequences -of evil doing, inevitably
work themselves out without super--natural
intervention.
"And as to heaven, X should say that
the rewards of righteousness also are
found on earth in peace and in the
sense of a more complete self realisa
tion. The highly developed righteous
man of modern days 'does not think
much about "the bliss of transporta
tion into a celestial paradise where
he will forever abide after the moll
and turmoil of his earthly life.
"That seems to have been held out
by ancients as a sort of pay for be
ing good. In these days of advancing
thought no bribe Is necessary to the
sensible.
"And did not the Master say: The
kingdom of heaven is within you?
Very few protestant churches now
teach the existence of a material heav
en or a material hell."
X asked the dean to comment on the
comparative efficiency of the churches
and such organisations as the Anti
Saloon league and other social bodies
which, starting out to do a definite
thing, move toward it irresistibly, In
straight lines.
"The Anti-Saloon league has scored
because it has lined up all the moral
forces of the country, most of them
church born, against a specific evil,"
he answered. "If the churches of the
country thus could line up against
all evil, the nation would be trans
formed. -
"It must come to methods somewhat
similar. If all the good people of the
nation could unite for definite work
we should see great moral progress.'
"Is America progressing In religious
efficiency as rapidly as other coun
tries?" I Inquired.
"In America," said the dean, "we
probably are not as well advanced as
our English cousins, who, despite the
weight of a state church, are doing
better and more progressive religious
work than we are, giving religion a
larger place In the lives of the people
than it has here.
"But we have made far more re
ligious progress than have the coun
tries on the continent. We are mov
ing steadily toward a greater simplic
ity of faith a faith with fewer arti
cles, but vital and strongly held.
"In the United States more people
than ever before are believing in God
and In the essential spiritual leader
ship of Jesus. And this Is not so much
on the basl of any theological theory
as because of a new appreciation for
the qualities the Master showed.
"We are expressing our religion
rather in terms of social service than
in terms of church ceremonial.
"It may not be a bad sign even if It
be true that fewer go to worship In the
pews. The essentials of religious life
are more fully met by worship ex
pressed In terms of service through
the working days.
Labor for General flood.
"Decreasing church attendance may
be regarded without terror if an in
creasing Christian spirit marks the
conduct of our routine of existence. '
"The expression of the religious
spirit in public worship la undoubted
ly desirable, to be striven for and en-
-
couraged, but the man who endeavors
to do justly, to love mercy and to walk
humbly before God, Is deeply religious,
whether or not he goes to church.
'The existence of such men In in
creasing numbers In the community Is
everywhere evidenced by the growing
number who are willing to give time,
- money and enthusiasm to definite and
hard labor toward the general good.
This Is religious impulse of the high
est order. w
. "Nothing could be dot ncourag-.
Ing than the modern plainly apparent
Increase among the fortunate of the
sense of their responsibility toward
the less fortunate. The best modern
men are not satisfied with mere char
ity.' A social conscience ha come into
being.-making them feel responsible
for the permanent well-being of those
members of society whose advantage .
and opportunities have been Inferior
to their own.
"There has been a greatv change In
these matter since X was a boy. Then
the name of great theologians were
those with which to conjure; now the
maglo name are those of personali
ties like William Henry Baldwin, Jane
Addama, Booker T. Washington, and
Graham Taylor. V L " , .
"I have recently returned . from a
journey through"" the west and south.
I found In both sections a much deep,
er Interest In religion and the vital
things of life than existed when I was
college there JO year ago. Men are
thinking less of feathering their, own
nests than of benefiting their com-
munltle by public spirited 'service.
"In the great farming states, espe
cially, ' such as Wisconsin, . Illinois,
Iowa, and Minnesota, the churches are
at work along broader lines. In the
various tat universities w find
students working with an almost in
spired industry so that they may learn
the best the. world can offer them and
then go back -to their home communi
ties and lift them tb a higher level.
These great state institution are mar-'
velou promoter of a spirit truly di
vine. "And all this indicates that reli
gion. Instead of dying out, is steadily
becoming m.ore vital. It Is changing
its form of expression as It achieves
new growth. It is concerning Itself
less with ritual and more with things
that matter such as 'education and
the home. Industry and politics.
"I like that word -pontics.' I wes
much pleased when a professor told
roe, recently, of a strong Junior who
had come to him snd said that, while
he was fitting himself for the practice
of law. his real ambition was to go
back and work definitely for clean
politics."
I requested from the dean an ex
planation of the great preponderance
of women over men In general churcb
membership.
"One reason for It," he replied, "is
. the fact that .religion has been too
narrowly construed. The work gen
erally centered In church building la
particularly women's work, bit If we
could enlarge our Idea of church work
so that when a man went out '-to fight
any evil he would feel that he, also,
was doing church work, we mlgh4. find
the attendance of men increasing.
Another reason, perhaps, is that we
have had in Christian art an effemi
nate conception of Christ The media
eval painter almost Invariably made
his face a woman's with a beard. We
find him feminized by mediaeval
writers.- Thomas a Kempis' 'Imitation
of Christ is a fair sample. There Jesus
is not described as an example of good
citizenship but as a meek and negative
personality, not calculated to make
strong appeal to the Imagination of the
virile man.
It Is Work for Men.
"In these days we emphasise more
the virile points of Christ's character
and young men will respond to this.
Christ's job Is very frequently a man's
Job. In California the president of a
men's church . league called Its mem
bers together on Sunday morning to
help prevent the prizefight between
Jack Johnson and Jeffries. Five
hundred men came forward. It was a
Job for men. They shut the fight out
of Oakland and then shut It out of
California. That was church work
real men's wo(k. It Vwas work that I
was glad to have the men of my con
gregation tackle on Sunday morning."
I asked the dean about religion and
Its relation to education, Its relation te
the modern child.
"In adolescence," he replied, "those
faculties responding to the unseen are
more active than in later life. If they
are well developed they help to build
good character.
"The religion offered to children in
the eld day often mad them miser
able and terrified them. The old-time
boy regarded the Almighty as a great
taskmaster, always trying to catch him
in the commission of some sin. The
religion of the present day should sup
ply the child with principles fit for
the foundation of good character and
wrought out in concrete terms.
"There are other than Biblical char
acters who can be used to teach the
children religious principles, and. pos
sibly, modern characters, easier for
them to understand. If Gideon. Bar
ack, Samson and Jephthah are good
characters for chlldho to learn about,
why can not they also be Instructed
from the lives of modern and certain
to be more Interesting and easily un
derstood persons, such as William H.
Baldwin and Jane Addams?
"Religion should furnish the child
with concrete ideals, and should un
cover the deeper motives and stimuli.
This must be done, if character Is
really to be formed, and nothing can
accomplish it so certainly as religious
teaching."
My final question to the dean con
cerned the dangerous tendencies of
present-day existence.
"Prominent among them." he replied,
"is overemphasis upon and a strained
self-consciousness of the matter of
sex. The less consciousness there is
of this In ordinary life the better for
society. X doubt the wisdom of what
seems to be the present tendency to
eliminate the sense of modesty. It
seems to me that the discussion of the
whole sex question is being overdone.
It Is, X fear, among the tendencies of
modern society which tend to make
against the home.
rau inni nmnn r . manv ni nara i tx una
.- a -a as
fact that divorce has become common-
place. This fact has largely done away
Sth the old-time forbearance between
i tried people. Too many, in thes
days, think it easier to separate and
try again than it Is to make an hones
endeavor to adapt themselves and win
their . happiness by personal adjust
ments. "And. next to that, among the evil
tendencies of this particular generation
X shoulld put the almost universal
greed for gain. Money count for more
than it over did before. Nor 1 this
true only of the prosperous. It is an
unfortunate detail of the progress of
the time which of f era all a measurably
equal opportunity, that the opening of
- opportunity has ruined many by in
stilling avarice for money or the things
which money buys In the hearts of
thousands who, in the differing cir
cumstances of former days, would
never have been distorted by greed."