We have a wonderful church, my friends. It is a church to live with; a church to be proud of. Those who miss what we are privileged to enjoy are missing something from the fulness of life. We have not broken with the historic continuity of the Christian faith: there is no chasm, filled with wreckage, between us and the fathers of the church. Above all we have enshrined our beliefs in a marvellous liturgy, which is ever old and ever new, and which had the good fortune to be put into English at a day when the force of expression in our Mother tongue was peculiarly virile, yet peculiarly lovely. I know of nothing in the whole range of English literature that will compare with the collects as contained in our Book of Common Prayer, for beauty, for form, for condensation and for force. They are a string of pearls. And indeed, what I have said of them applies to the whole book. When I see Committees of well-meaning divines trying to tamper with it, I shudder as I might if I witnessed the attempt of a guild of modern sculptors to improve the Venus of Milo by chipping off a bit here and adding something there. Good reasons exist for changes, doubtless; but I feel that we have here a work of art, of divine art; and art is one of God’s ways of reaching the human heart. We are proud that we have not discarded it from our church buildings, from our altars, from the music of our choirs. Let us treat tenderly our great book of Common Prayer, like that other great masterpiece of divine literary art, the King James version of the Bible. There are plenty of better translations; there is not one that has the same magic of words to fire the imagination and melt the heart.
These are all trite things to say to churchmen: I have tried, on occasion, to say them to non-churchmen, but they do not seem to respond. There are those who rejoice in their break with historic continuity, who look upon a written form of service with horror. It is well, as I have said, for us to realize that our friends hold these opinions. One can not strengthen his muscles in a tug of war unless some one is pulling the other way. The savor of religion, like that of life itself, is in its contrasts. I thank God that we have them even within our own Communion. We are high-church and low-church and broad-church. We burn incense and we wear Geneva gowns. This diversity is not to be condemned. What is to be deprecated is the feeling among some of us that the diversity should give place to uniformity—to uniformity of their own kind, of course. To me, this would be a calamity. Let us continue to make room in our church for individuality. God never intended men to be pressed down in one mold of sameness. In the last analysis, each of us has his own religious beliefs. The doctrines of our church, or of any church are but a composite portrait of these beliefs. But when one takes such a portrait throughout all lands and in all time, and the features keep true, one can not help regarding them as the divine lineaments.
This is how I would have you regard the beliefs of our church, as you have studied them throughout this course—as our particular composite photograph of the face of God, as He has impressed it on the hearts and minds of each one of us. I commend this view to those who have no reverence for beliefs, particularly when they are formulated as creeds. These persons mean that they have no regard for group beliefs but only for those of the individual. Each has his own beliefs, and he must have confidence in them, for they are the grounds on which he acts, if he is a normal man. Even the faith of an Agnostic is based on a very positive belief. As for me, I feel that the churchman goes one step beyond him: he even doubts Doubt. Said Socrates: “I know nothing except this one thing, that I know nothing. The rest of you are ignorant even of this.” Socrates was a great man. If he had been greater still, he might have said something like this: “I freely acknowledge that a mathematical formula can not satisfy all the cases that we discuss. But neither can it be stated mathematically that they are all unknowable. I am not even sure that I know nothing.” Surely, under these circumstances, we may give over looking for mathematical demonstrations and believe a few things on our own account—that our children love us—that our eyes do not deceive us; that the soul lives on; that God rules all. We may put our faith in what our own church teaches us, even as a child trusts his father though he can not construct a single syllogism that will increase that trust.
This does not mean that we shall not benefit by examining the articles of our faith; by learning what they are, what they mean and what others have thought of them. The churchman must combine, in his mental habits, all that is best of the Conservative and the Radical. While holding fast that which is good he must keep an open mind toward every change that may serve to bring him nearer to the truth or give him a clearer vision of it.
How we can insure this better than by such an institution as the Church School for Religious Instruction I am sure I do not see. May God guide it and aid it in its work!
[Index]
- Abraham, Story of, [335]
- Action, test of belief, [332]
- Ade, George, [110], [170];
- fables in picture plays, [319]
- Adults and children, compared, [14]
- Advertisement of ideas, [127]
- Aldrich, T.B., [322]
- Alger, Horatio, [16], [174]
- America, Fluid customs in, [224]
- “America”, hymn, [191]
- American Academy of Sciences, [57]
- American ancestry, [179];
- American Association for the Advancement of Science, [50]
- American Library Association, [51]
- American Library Institute, [52]
- American readers, [42]
- Americanization, [17], [73]
- Americanization of England, [225]
- Ancestry, American, [179]
- Anglo-Saxon ancestry, [181]
- Architecture, American, [218]
- Archives, family, [184]
- Army, international, [159]
- Art, American, [217];
- effect of, [163]
- Art, Early forms of, [37]
- Association, value of, [45]
- Atoms of energy and action, [122]
- Attractiveness a selective feature, [26]
- Austen, Jane, [176]
- Author, Function of, [67]
- Authors Club, N.Y., [51]
- Auto-suggestion in drugs, [233]
- Aviation, Newcomb’s opinion of, [86]
- Belief, What is?, [339]
- Bennett, Arnold, [175]
- Bible, King James Version, [337]
- Birth of a nation; picture play, [322]
- Book-stores, disappearance of, [238]
- Books in selective education, [27]
- “Book-Taught Bilkins”, [89], [98]
- Book-titles, Possessive case in, [19]
- Boston tea-party, [183]
- Branch libraries, Reasons given for using, [11]
- British Association, [307]
- Brooklyn Public Library, [4]
- Brown, Susannah H., who was she? [281]
- Browsing, [27];
- uses of, [104]
- Bryce, James, quoted, [216]
- Buildings, Monumental, [141]
- Bulwer-Lytton, E.G.E.L., [86]
- Burbank, Luther, [24]
- Cabiria; motion picture play, [319], [322]
- Captions in motion pictures, [318]
- Carnegie, Andrew, [77]
- Carnegie Institution, [85], [306]
- Cartoonist, Anecdote of, [294]
- Centre, What is a?, [145]
- Centralized associations, [58]
- Certainty and belief, [330]
- Chaucer, [293]
- Chautauqua, [265]
- Chemistry, New drugs from, [232]
- Chicago Evening Post, quoted, [109]
- Chicago, Field houses in, [148]
- Chicago Women’s Club, Paper before, [197]
- Children’s editions, [6];
- rooms, [31]
- Christian Science and drugs, [233]
- Christianity, [331]
- Christmas book shows, [170]
- Church School of religious instruction, [329]
- Church, Use of symbols by, [188]
- Churches of Christ in America, Federation of, [220]
- Circulation by volumes, [6];
- Circulation, Publicity, [142]
- Civil Engineers, Society of, [52]
- Civil War, Notions of, [180]
- Classroom libraries, [29]
- Clergy, Slight influence of, [13]
- “Close-ups” in motion pictures, [317]
- Clubs that meet in libraries, [148]
- Clubwomen’s reading, [259]
- Colloquial speech, [92]
- Color-photography in motion pictures, [327]
- Combat, Settlement by, [158]
- Commercial travellers, [198]
- Commission government, [216]
- Constitution, United States, [50], [214];
- amendment of, [226]
- Continuum, [116]
- Cook, Dr. Frederick, [95]
- Copyright conference, [53]
- Courses of reading, [268]
- Court, International, [159]
- Creeds, Uses of, [333]
- Crowd-psychology on a ferry, [247]
- Dante, [46]
- D’Annunzio, G., [322]
- Delivery stations in drug stores, [241]
- Democracy a result, [72];
- Department stores, [238]
- Despotism and democracy, [213]
- Dickens, pathos of, [175]
- Disarmament, [161]
- Discontinuity of the universe, [124]
- Distribution of books, [67], [129]
- Distributor, Library as a, [198]
- Divorce, Freedom of, [217]
- Don Quixote, Heine on, [173]
- Drug-addiction, [234]
- Drugs and the man, [229]
- Eaton, Walter Pritchard, quoted, [316]
- Eclecticism in America, [213]
- Economic advertising, [130]
- Economic writings of Newcomb, [86]
- Education, American, [218];
- Efficiency in association, [48];
- What is? [257]
- Elizabethan drama, [323]
- Energetics, Theory of, [114]
- Energy, Atomic theories of, [113]
- England an elective monarchy, [214];
- Ephemeral, Meaning of, [36]
- Episcopalians, [220]
- Eyes, injured by small type, [302]
- Fairy tales, [75]
- Falsity in books, [39]
- Feminist movement, [267]
- Flag, what it stands for, [187]
- Fiction, [39];
- Fluids, Mixture of, [118]
- Force symbolized by flag, [194]
- Ford, Henry, [237]
- Freedom, What is? [192]
- Gallicism in book-titles, [22]
- Gary system, [246]
- Genealogy, American, [179]
- Gibbs, J. Willard, quoted, [118]
- Good-will, Influence of, [17]
- Government, Federal, [213]
- Gravitation, Law of, [83]
- Gray’s Elegy, [111]
- Greek tragedy, [324]
- Group-action, [45];
- on a ferry, [247]
- Hall, G. Stanley, quoted, [253]
- Harvard Classics, [109]
- Heine, Heinrich, quoted, [173]
- Henry, Joseph, [80]
- Heredity, and memory, [73];
- History and, [179]
- Hertzian waves, [121]
- Hilgard, Julius, [80]
- Hill, G.W., [84]
- Holmes, Mary J., [104]
- Homer, Methods of, [198]
- Honesty, Lack of, [32]
- Huey, Book by, [305]
- Hunt, Leigh, [109]
- Huret, Jules, [41]
- Identity, Meaning of, [114]
- Impeachment, [214]
- Indicator, in English libraries, [225]
- Indifference to books, [133]
- Information in books, [94]
- Inspiration from books, [101]
- Intemperance in reading, [40], [100]
- Interest, Importance of, [287], [289];
- International agreements in science, [85]
- Internationalism, [159]
- Intoxication by fiction, [40], [100]
- Ivanhoe, [175]
- James, William, [138];
- Keith, Cleveland, [84]
- Kent, William, quoted, [229]
- Kepler, quoted, [177]
- Kinemacolor process, [327]
- Kinetic theory, [120]
- Koopman, H.L., [308]
- Lagrange, [114]
- Languages, written and spoken, [90]
- Large type, Books in, [301]
- Law, Enforcement of, [158]
- Le Bon, Gustave, [45]
- Lee, Gerald Stanley, [77]
- Legibility of type, [306]
- Libbey, Laura Jean, [41], [104]
- Libraries, Economic features of, [67]
- Library associations. [49];
- Lindsay, Vachell, [321]
- Lines, Length of on printed page, [309]
- Liouville’s theorem, [123]
- Lippmann, Walter, quoted, [216], [228]
- Literature an art, [165];
- Los Angeles Public Library, [96]
- Lower-case letters. [307]
- Loyalists, United Empire, [180]
- Lummis, Chas. F., [96]
- Lunar theory, [84]
- Magazines, Support of, [68]
- Magical remedies, [233]
- Magnet, Definition of, [87]
- Make-up in motion pictures, [317]
- Malemployment, [229]
- Maxwell Jas. Clerk, [115]
- Mayflower, The, [183]
- Medical Record, Strasburg, [305]
- Meetings in libraries, [147]
- Memory, Latent, [74]
- Meredith, Geo., [110]
- Mexican commission, [194]
- Military associations, [48]
- Mill, John Stuart, [243], [244]
- Mind, Male and female types, [272]
- Moderation, Lack of in America, [235]
- Mohammedanism, [219]
- Molecular theory, [115]
- Moon’s motion, [84]
- Morals, Eclecticism in, [216]
- Morgan, J.P., [169]
- Motives of library users, [11]
- Moving pictures, [313]
- Municipal ownership and operation, [154]
- Music, American, [218]
- N-ray, [333]
- Narrative, earliest literary form, [37]
- National Academy of Fine Arts, [57]
- National Academy of Science, [52]
- National Education Association, [50];
- Address before, [145]
- Nautical Almanac, [80]
- New country, What is? [182]
- New England Society, [179]
- New York, Free Circulating Library, [19]
- New York, Library support in, [200];
- West side readers, [42]
- New York Public Library, [11], [30], [220]
- Newcomb, Simon, Sketch of, [79]
- Newspapers, [36]
- Newton, Isaac, [83]
- Non-partisanship of library, [250]
- Norris, Frank, [322]
- Omar Khayyam, [108]
- Open shelves, [104];
- Origin of, [225]
- Optic, Oliver, [174]
- Ostwald, Wilhelm, [114]
- Pacifism, [157]
- Pageant of St. Louis, [188]
- Pantomime in the motion picture, [320]
- Papers, Ready-made, for clubs, [270];
- scientific, [275]
- Pater, Walter, [168]
- Paulist fathers, [220]
- Pauperization, intellectual, [68]
- Pendleton, A.M., quoted, [140]
- Perry, Bliss, quoted, [211]
- Pharmacy, School of, address to, [229]
- Philadelphia Free Library, Address at, [67]
- Philosophy, an interesting subject, [133],
[138];
- in America, [220]
- Phonograph, Uses of, [94]
- Physics made interesting, [138]
- Pickford, Mary, [247], [317]
- Planck, Max, [113], [120]
- Planets, Orbits of, [83]
- Players’ Club, N.Y., [51]
- Pocahontas, [183]
- Poincaré, Henri, [113], [120]
- “Poison labels” for books, [96]
- Porter, Noah, [334]
- Posse, International, [159]
- Possessive case, Use of, [19]
- Pragmatism in America, [221]
- Prayer Book as literature, [337]
- Prescott, William H., [95]
- Press, Slight influence of, [13]
- Pride, Personal and group, [185]
- Princeton University, [219]
- Printing Art, magazine, [308]
- Programitis, club disease, [286]
- Programmes, Club, [268], [280], [295]
- Public as library owners, [205]
- Public Library, [169];
- Publicity, Library, [140]
- Publisher, Function of, [67]
- Puritanism, [219]
- Quanta, [121];
- hypothesis of, [113]
- Race-record, Library as a, [74]
- Radio-activity, [231]
- Rayleigh’s Law, [120]
- Readers, Do they read? [3]
- Reading, mechanism of, [91];
- skill in, [135]
- Realism in education, [246];
- in motion pictures, [314]
- Recall, earliest form of, [213]
- Records, varieties of, [94]
- Recreation through books, [99]
- Religion in America, [219]
- Renewal, Preservation by, [97]
- Repetition a test of art, [166]
- Reprinting, Use of, [98]
- Re-reading, Art of, [163]
- Residual personality, [290]
- Resonators, [121]
- Revolution, American, notions of, [180];
- versus evolution, [279]
- Revue Scientifique, [113]
- Roethlin, Barbara E., [306]
- Roman Catholic Church, [220]
- Roman viewpoint in history, [181]
- Rome, decadence of, [227]
- Rousiers, Paul de., quoted, [55], [56], [57]
- St. Louis Academy of Science, paper before, [113]
- St. Louis, library tax in, [200]
- St. Louis Public Library, [140], [254], [302];
- meetings in, [150]
- Sampling books, [110]
- Scenery in motion pictures, [317];
- School libraries, [29]
- School, Non-partisanship of, [70];
- Community use of, [155]
- Schoolmen of N.Y., Paper before, [23]
- Scientific societies, [52]
- “See America First” movement, [191]
- Selection In nature, [23];
- mechanical, [47]
- Selective education, [65]
- Sex in library use, [15]
- Sexes, differences of, [272]
- Shakespeare, [178];
- Shaw, Edw. R., [304]
- Social Centre movement, [145]
- Society for Psychical Research, [82]
- Society of Illuminating Engineers, [57]
- Socrates, quoted, [338]
- Sorolla, [164]
- Southern views of Civil War, [180]
- Spelling reform, [93]
- Staginess of the theatre, [315]
- Standard Dictionary, [87]
- Standards in literature, [36]
- Statistics of reading, actual, [4]
- Story-telling, [37];
- extraordinary, [282]
- Structure of energy, [118]
- Superficiality, meaning of, [105]; [269]
- Swift, Dean, [208]
- Symbols, Use of, [188]
- Taste, literary, [171];
- origin of, [4]
- Tax, library, [200]
- Teacher, influence of, [13], [243]
- Text-books, Defects of, [270]
- Therapeutics, Changes in, [230]
- Tocqueville, de., quoted, [56]
- Toronto, University of, [220]
- Trade-literature, [98]
- Tradition, Uses of, [93]
- Travel, Foreign, in United States, [41]
- Trollope, Anthony, [176]
- Tutorial system, [219]
- Tyndall, John, [138]
- Type sizes, Standardization of, [304]
- Un-American, what is? [226]
- Unfitness, Elimination of, [24]
- Union, symbolized by flag, [189]
- Unity of place on the stage, [324]
- Universal City, [317]
- Value, Structure of, [119]
- Van Dyke, Henry, quoted, [193]
- Verne, Jules, [86]
- Violence, systematization of, [157]
- Vision, Conservation of, [305]
- Volumes, Statistics by, [4]
- Walton, Isaac, [165]
- War, European, [209], [249]; status of, [158]
- Wesley, John, [46]
- West, source-consciousness of, [182]
- White, Gilbert, [165]
- Wien, Wilhelm, [122]
- Women’s Clubs, [210]; reading of, [259]
- Woodbury, George E., quoted, [219]
- Yale Alumni Weekly, quoted, [292]