HARRIED PARELATES

Sunday the cause of religion suffered another attack when the forces of the Salvation Army invaded New York's Greenwich Village, to convert the wayward inhabitants. The attacking army consisted of a single old gentleman armed with an umbrella. When the band played "Abide With Me", he refused, and shouting, "I don't believe in religion of any sort," belabored the commanding Major about the head with his weapon. In this instance, the temerity of revivalism in attempting to usurp the place where so many lost causes have died in peace may be criticized. But no one can but commend the truly Christian spirit of Major Harvey who merely smiled at his assailant, and refused to protect himself or have the other arrested.

It is unfortunate that the Major's conduct is not typical of the attitude of the church at large to such onslaughts. Usually when a pastor sees a menacing umbrella, he attempts to wrest it from the hands of the brandisher, and break it against future attacks. And in his failure to do so, he betrays the weakness of his body. Such was the case of Dr. Straton who recently lost in court his case against a militant atheist whose propaganda was hardly worthy of such attention.

The reports in the paper of last Sunday's sermons betray an almost complete devotion to denunciation. Spiritual affairs were neglected for exaggerated portrayals of the menace of companionate marriage, agnosticism, militarism, and the holding of opinions instead of convictions. The churches, like the Salvation Army, might possibly devote more time to the harmony and volume of their figurative bands, and thus there is a probability that the sound of whacking umbrellas might be drowned out completely.