American Agriculturist, February 24,1923 
161 
“As A Man Thinketh, So Is He” 
Beginning Readers’ Discussions on the Country Church 
T he sculptor carves out of enduring 
marble the image of his subject. The 
painter arranges in outline and tint 
the likeness of his model. Yet rare 
indeed is the writer who with his pen can 
erect the statue and in word picture present 
to the mentality of others, his own splendid 
vision and imagery of his' hero. Such talent 
is the genius of Idealism. 
In the January number of the American 
Agriculturist, Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., 
under the title “Where Have Men Like This 
Gone,” deals with the character and life 
work of Rev. John Christopher 
Weiting. The real pathos of the 
article, is the potent, but sub¬ 
dued and pure recital of a local 
folklore. To the many who read 
that story, who never knew or 
heard of Rev. Weiting and his 
congregation will come a mental 
and romantic conception of the 
whole panorama covering forty 
years of time as though the au¬ 
thor had designated the writing 
as fiction. Fiction excites imag¬ 
ination, fact in this case com¬ 
mands admiration. The infec¬ 
tious tinge of sympathy with 
passing associations, youthful 
memories, kindred ties, seasoned 
reverence and the instinct of hero - 
eulogy, all unite to make a splen¬ 
did perspective of the subject for an idq^alis- 
tic writer. It seems to me that this splendid 
vision of community life, .would have been 
perhaps more pleasantly remembered with 
the shadows of the past resting upon it, than 
by comparing it with a different epoch in a 
changing light. The past is ever secure; the 
present ever changing. 
Your editorial questions and courteous re¬ 
quest for opinions upon the subject matter 
will reveal as much discord in sentiment as 
kindred theological and social subjects gen¬ 
erally induce. The most senseless deceptive 
word ever coined is the nose-filling and 
twangy “Normalcy.” There never was, nor 
never will be any such condition of stability. 
Religion is a state of mind, so was transpor¬ 
tation by oxcart. Electricity is crowding 
to the front. The inter-allied church move¬ 
ment has failed. Dogmas and Creeds are 
ever, and ever have been, 
ready to split apart. There 
is no stability meaning 
(fixity) in mentality. 
What proof does the past 
furnish that religious con¬ 
victions would be better 
if they stood still? If the 
sincere devoutness of Rev. 
Weiting was perfection in 
1828 and for forty years, 
surely that perfection 
came out of terrible up- 
heavels, and even then, 
was moving and surging 
in response to or against 
far away influences. Let 
us refer to unimpeachable 
history. The^time was late 
in the Eighteenth Century. 
“The doctrine of Bossuet, 
that transubstantiation 
was affirmed in the Gospel, 
and the doctrine of Tillot- 
spn that transubstantia¬ 
tion is an absurdity when 
put together, produced by 
logical necessity the infer¬ 
ences of Voltaire. Thus 
two propositions each of 
which separately is com¬ 
patible with the most ex¬ 
alted piety, formed when 
held in conjunction the ground work of a 
system or irreligion.” Thus the conflict of 
creed produced Atheism. The oldest civili¬ 
zation on earth has its religion established 
upon philosophy. Savage tribes, including 
the American Indian held to an allegiance 
with a Supreme power, but had no theology, 
yet he without a bible knew as much about 
revealed religion as the greatest divine. He 
knew just as much about the soul after death 
as any man knew. It has never been neces¬ 
sary for a fearless talker who was also a 
good pyschologist to have religious convic¬ 
Farmers Can Write 
T he response to Mr. Van Wagenen’s article and our editorial bn 
the Country Church has over-whelmed us. Over 250 letters have 
been received, showing the tremendoug interest in this vital sub¬ 
ject. The great number of letters and their high quality has made 
it impossible for us to judge them in order to announce the prize 
winners in this issue. Some good letters are being published on this 
page. These letters are not necessarily the prize winners. Those 
that we think are the best will be announced in our next issue. In 
the meantime, we want to take this opportunity to acknowledge re¬ 
ceipt of all the fine letters about the Country Church. They make us 
more certain than ever that the farmers themselves can write the 
best and most interesting material for farmers to read.— The Editor. 
It is no evidence that country people and 
city people as well, are not religious when 
they go or do not go, to hear political 
speeches, eugenics, sex problems and 
women’s dress, lectured from the pulpit. 
The people know what they want and if 
they do not find it they stay away. Those 
who want society and display, find a fashion¬ 
able church and try it on as they would a 
new hat. No religion? Well, just let a 
modern congregation sit on wooden benches 
for four hours and listen to an old-time min¬ 
ister with throat of brass and adamantine 
lungs, preach on foreordination, 
baptism of apostolic succession 
and ask their opinion of that re¬ 
ligion. 
The -fact of the matter is that 
they are all right if they think 
they are, and that was ever true. 
tions in order to make so-called converts or 
originate sects. A knowledge or knack of 
rousing excitement and frenzy that is in¬ 
herent in some form in all men, has often 
been too readily mistaken for zeal and fer¬ 
vor. Touch a lighted match to a stack of 
wet straw, and touch another to an oil tank. 
If the straw did not burn and if the oil did 
burn, questionable logic indeed would give 
the whole blame or credit to the matches. 
But put the oil in the straw and either match 
would burn both. Who can say that the 
clown exhorter Billy Sunday did not have 
“the power” when he tore off coat and col¬ 
lar and challenged the devil to fight? He 
swayed thousands of men, women — and dol¬ 
lars to the sawdust trail, in comparison with 
dozens and a meagre living by the old-time 
preachers, who were correct in deportment 
and orthodoxy. 
“As a man thinketh, so is he 
Who is to try his conscience? 
The working of his heart and mind. 
Thou canst not see. 
What in our dull brain may seem 
stain— 
In God’s pure light, may only be a 
scar. 
Brought from some well-fought field 
When thou wouldst only faint and 
yield.” 
People are just as religious as 
i' I ' they ever were if they think so, 
> and just as ready to change 
creeds, dogmas, ceremonies, as ever has been 
done, probably not as cruel to torture or con¬ 
demn, not as melancholy, not inclined to ex¬ 
clusively listen to thunderous theology to 
the utter exclusion of the “still small voice” 
which gives assurance, aid and comfort in 
the realization of self effort well done. If 
theology is anxious for going back to the 
past, it is unfortunate in the inducements it 
presents. —John L. Wilson, Titusville, Pa. 
I 
“Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife. 
Their sober wishes never learned to stray” 
A Gloomy Picture 
N my judgment, the present day careless 
attitude toward religion and the church 
in rural communities is due to causes over 
which we seem to have no control. 
If you will recall your early life on the 
farm, I think you will remember that in those 
days there were few at¬ 
tractions that drew us 
away from the old home 
life. In those days there 
were no autos in which 
to, ride for miles, over 
dirt or mud roads. Then 
too, each neighborhood 
had within its borders a 
large number of well-to- 
do families, who owned 
their homes. There were 
many children in these 
homes. To-day as a 
rural mail carrier, I ride 
through a section of the 
country where at one 
time many people lived. 
They had good homes and 
large families, and they 
all seemed to have a com¬ 
mon interest in the com¬ 
munity life. All of this 
is gone now; those that 
now are working these 
farms are doing it in a 
half-hearted way. Some 
places^ are deserted or are 
being worked by someone 
who does not own them 
and does not care about 
the place. 
{Continued on page 170) 
