tude, in the case of our own Association, has been due in no small degree to the large and reconciling spirit of the gentleman who immediately preceded me in its Presidency, Mr. Edwin D. Mead, for nine years its honored and efficient head. It is due still more, however, to the prevailing spirit of religion in our time. It is a time which is gradually learning to place the emphasis of religion less on dogma and rite, and more on character and conduct and social endeavor. It briefens the creeds; it federates the sects; it seeks for religious unity; it gives itself, with a devotion which may well challenge our respect, to the alleviation of human misery and to the reform of the social and political order.

It is not surprising, therefore, that our liberal religious associations and sects in America should have felt the impetus of this movement, which, indeed, they have helped to create, - and should devote themselves more and more to affirmative utterances and constructive endeavors, and to the search for the deeper unities of religion and life.

And yet, when all possible weight is given to the growth of liberal religious sentiments in the community, does it not remain true that this vaunted freedom and liberality are characteristic of but a small portion of the Christian world? It is true of the Unitarian body, but the latter is one of the smallest of sects, almost insignificant beside the great Protestant denominations of the country which still maintain standards of doctrine and pursue methods of religious teaching that have changed but slightly during the centuries. In centres of population and culture a few exceptional preachers may be found who, though occupying orthodox pulpits, stand for liberty of thought, reinterpretation of doctrine, and a broader fellowship. But how few is their number, how slight their influence compared with the vast hordes who still listen every Sunday to expositions of religion and morality but little changed from those which satisfied their fathers! There is in such teaching little encouragement to be found for that. "scientific study of religion and ethics," that "acceptance of free, spiritual, and universal religion," which our Association was founded, forty-four years ago, to promote.

Here in New England, too, the remarkable growth of the Roman Catholic church whatever good service that body may render to the devotional needs of its members cannot but tend to lower the atmosphere of scientific enlightenment, freedom, tolerance, and the supremacy of the ethical over the theological and ritual elements in religion. The threatened acquirement of political as well as ecclesiastical power by this church can only mean the strong reinforcement among us of religious dogmatism and hierarchical pretensions, and precipitate in the near future conflicts of opinion and purpose beside which all our previous religious differences will seem of little import.

It may be worth noting in this connection that the latestborn of American denominations, the church which seeks to bring a mystic piety to bear upon the physical ailments of man, and which boasts the largest and finest temples and speediest growth in membership of any religious organization among us, is quite as strongly pledged to the suppression of individual opinion and the maintenance of the supreme authority of church officials as is the oldest and most venerable of Christian churches. In no Christian denomination to-day is church conformity so vigorously insisted upon, in none is the individual expression of opinion and the free development of belief so absolutely forbidden. The very sermons and prayers of its sanctuaries must be only stereotyped copies of the utterances of official boards.

Surely, therefore, no one who takes a large, well-informed view of the existing religious situation in the United States can justly say that the battle for religious freedom and liberality has been fought and won, and that the work of an Association like ours, pledged to liberty and the scientific spirit, to conscience and progress in religion, is no longer required. Why, the conflicts of opinion in the religious life of our country have hardly begun! What went before has been only the preparation of the spirit for the larger and sterner issues which await us. While ignorance of the approved results of historical criticism and the comparative method in religion; while the claims of hierarchies and synods and offi

cial boards to supreme authority arrest the free development of truth; while the rights of the individual conscience are denied, the Free Religious Association of America, with every other similar agency, is needed to voice the sentiments of liberty and democracy in religion, to bear an honorable and effective part in the struggles which await us, and, with what ability and earnestness it can enlist in its service, to lead the way to better-informed, nearer just, and more truly religious solutions of the problems of American thought and life.

Not to give up our labors as an Association, but to reconsecrate and readjust them to present-day needs and opportunities, is the impending duty before us. Religion needs ever new and higher affirmations; philosophy must be restated in terms intelligible to our present consciousness; ethics must be applied to existing problems. The social question especially should be more emphasized than it has been in the history of our Association. Our founders were more interested in the philosophical and theological than in the practical aspects of truth. But in our day the social problem is uppermost, and no association of an ethical character can hope to exist, or to enlist in its service the ablest, most devoted advocates of ideal and humanitarian causes, which does not consecrate a large share of its attention to the great social movements and political reforms of the time.

Such is the faith and purpose of the present leaders of the Free Religious Association of America, and such will be the aim of their administration of its affairs.

Our programme to-day is an indication of this. It recognizes Free Religion as a movement, not as a theory or a finality. It covers the fields of religion, philosophy, sociology, and politics. Our only regret is that it affords so little time and opportunity to the distinguished speakers who are to discourse to us on their favorite themes. Thomas Carlyle once advised that whenever we are in doubt as to what constitutes our personal duty, we do the duty that lies nearest to us and whose faithful performance will make clearer our remaining obligation. So our speakers to-day will consider simply the Next Step which should be taken in their respective fields,

and which will lead to larger vision and enduring service. With this appreciation of their purpose let us now give them our earnest and grateful attention.

The German poet Schiller once said: "You ask to what religion I belong. To none. And why? Because of religion.” The gentleman whom I introduce to you as the first speaker of the morning might well adopt this word of Schiller's as the motto of his present endeavor. After a long struggle with his reason and with his conscience in one of the old evangelical churches of Christendom, he freed himself and stepped forward into light and liberty. And if to-day he does not attach himself to any existing sect or denomination, it is, I am sure, out of the same loyalty to reason and conscience which led Schiller to feel himself a citizen of the religious world, and not to join any particular denomination or sect. For such the platform of the Free Religious Association has a peculiar affinity, and upon it he will receive our warm welcome and recognition. I present to you with great pleasure Rev. Algernon S. Crapsey, D.D., of Rochester, N.Y., who will speak to us on "The Next Step in Religion." [Applause.]

ADDRESS BY REV. ALGERNON S. CRAPSEY, D.D., OF ROCHESTER, N. Y.

THE NEXT STEP IN RELIGION

I think it was Parson Adams in "Tom Jones" or "Pamela": you will remember which who said: "When I speak of religion I always mean the Christian religion; when I speak of the Christian Religion I always mean the Protestant religion; and when I speak of the Protestant religion I always mean the religion of the Established Church of England." [Laughter.] That gave definiteness, you will perceive, to Parson Adams's thought; he did not have to wander far afield.

To-day we shall not be able to discuss at all the question of the future or "Next Step" of religion in general. When we speak of religion we will speak of the Christian religion, that religion in which we ourselves have been nurtured; and when we consider its next step we will simply have to consider that from the point at which it has arrived.

For every man's next step depends exactly upon where he is now. [Applause.] If I were, for instance, to take my next step here [standing at the edge of the platform], I would step down on to these tables of the press — and have a wider influence than I have now. [Laughter.] Then if I were to take another step, it would be a long one, down to the level of the people; and then I might step on until I was out of doors; but every step would be taken from the point where I was at the moment. And therefore, in order to know where we are going, we must find "where we are at." [Laughter.]

Furthermore, it is necessary for us to know a little of where we came from. We are all of us children of the civilization of the Mediterranean Basin. Our religion is the religion of the Mediterranean Basin. It is that conception of life and of man's reaction against the universe which was crystallized in the Mediterranean Basin between the year 400 B.C. and the year 400 A.D. It took about eight hundred years for that view of the world to become crystallized, to organize itself, and then to take possession for a limited time of a certain section of the world. The Christian church is the outcome of all the thinking that was done, of course, from the beginning of time down to that period, but especially of the definite thinking that was done from 400 B.C. to 400 A.D. It began with the philosophy of the Greeks, especially the Eleatic school and the school of Plato, which brought into man's thought the doctrine of the Absolute; and it ended with the Christian dogma which was formulated and organized under the pontificate of Leo I. So that we are children of that thinking and children of that acting.

We are also the offspring of certain political conditions. The ancient City States had their religions. They were merged into the great Empire that followed, and our religion