y general taxation--that is to say, being a successful,
well-fed parasite--naturally neglected those who did not in any
way contribute to its support. It became aristocratic. Splendid
churches were built; younger sons with good voices were put in the
pulpits; the pulpit became the asylum for aristocratic mediocrity,
and in this way the Church of England lost interest in the masses
and the masses lost interest in the Church of England. The neglected
poor, who really had some belief in religion, and who had not been
absolutely petrified by form and patronage, were ready for the
Salvation Army. They were not at home in the church. They could
not pay. They preferred the freedom of the street. They preferred
to attend a church where rags were no objection. Had the church
loved and labored with the poor the Salvation Army never would have
existed. These people are simply giving their idea of Christianity,
and in their way endeavoring to do what they consider good. I
don't suppose the Salvation Army will accomplish much. To improve
mankind you must change conditions. It is not enough to work simply
upon the emotional nature. The surroundings must be such as
naturally produce virtuous actions. If we are to believe recent
reports from London, the Church of England, even with the assistance
of the Salvation Army, has accomplished but little. It would be
hard to find any country with less morality. You would search long
in the jungles of Africa to find greater depravity.

I account for revivalists like the Rev. Samuel Jones in the same
way. There is in every community an ignorant class--what you might
call a literal class--who believe in the real blood atonement; who
believe in heaven and hell, and harps and gridirons; who have never
had their faith weakened by reading commentators or books harmonizing
science and religion. They love to hear the good old doctrine;
they want hell described; they want it described so that they can
hear the moans and shrieks; they want heaven described; they want
to see God on a throne, and they want to feel that they are finally
to have the pleasure of looking over the battlements of heaven and
seeing all their enemies among the damned. The Rev. Mr. Munger
has suddenly become a revivalist. According to the papers he is
sought for in every direction. His popularity seems to rest upon
the fact that he brutally beat a girl twelve years old because she
did not say her prayers to su