Show church sets good example imposing sacred edidi edifice cc being 0 E erected in new york Is to be conducted along democratic lines its sponsors have announced wrom from the literary digest diges aen U usually in new york w when a church congregation moves to ft a fifth or park avenue location it becomes exclusive but to prove poe the rule by the exception the madison avenue methodist Aleth odist episcopal church recently moved into a new handsome structure on park avenue in tile the midst of the elite residential estial area and bee became ame mora more democratic it changed its name to christ church eliminating lh denominational title and took steps to do away eventus eventually ily with tile the outworn system of renting pews to members it has thrown open its doors to all christians and made its choice seats available to visitors in removing the denominational methodist title the church followed the example set a few years ago by rev hey dr harry emerson fosdick whose park avenue baptist church became simply the riverside church v athen lien it moi moed ed into the rockefeller bu built it temple on morning heights the subsequent action of 0 christ church la Is not surprising in view of tile the tart fact that its dashing and immaculately macu lately dressed minister rev dr ralph W V was a pupil of doctor fosdick years ago it at union theological seminary and has since followed closely in his liberal footsteps through tart epigrammatic sermons delivered to consistently large congregations and over a large radio network doctor Soc kmin has become recognized as an outstanding methodist spokesman in the country ills his books and lectures have added to ills his followers instigator of the methodist world peace movement and a liberal la in ills his social and economic views lie he Is 15 a well known figure I 1 on the monday morning sermon pages of new york lork newspapers lie he has been minister of christ church for 17 years and tor for two jears before that was the associate minister he has held no other pulpits to distinguish further ills his ministry lie he moved ills hla congregation into the most lavish and ornate though yet uncompleted edifice of the methodist church it Is 1 a marked departure from the hie staid bareness and simplicity of the old type protestant church tall mustached sleek and only forty four years old doctor sock ma roan I 1 Is known for ills his pointed comments on topics of the day A few of ills eibi epigrams rams in sermons are we have pork barrels in congress because we have hogs at home our exportation of christianity Is hindered by the inferior quality of the home product it is unfortunate when a revolt against convention becomes extended into a convention of revolt our trouble with philanthropy Is that it Is personalized depersonalized de dangerous as are the currents of lawlessness even more sinister ster are the social inertia and evasions of oaths tha so called bcd lcd decent man on the street al L living v ing condl conditions Hons affect religious belief just as truly as belief in god affects conditions of life the danger of the machine age lies iles in men having authority over great mechanical forces but w ith the conceptions of a pigmy in this depression wo we have begotten a wartime spirit of co opera tion without a wartime parit of haried balled ai just how far apart from the bradl traditional old white frame or red brick methodist church the new christ church has gone may be seen from the description of the edifice furnished by the ralph adams adama cram As the designer of the gothic cathedral of I 1 C st t john the divine alv alno bishop william T mannings mammoth episcopal structure in new york tork city and other buildings mr cram had long advocated gothic as the truly christian church architecture until he made a trip some years ago to the east this tour convinced him that byzantine is much more nearly nn an artistic manifestation of the early and undivided church and that gothic and renaissance churches are essentially catholic styles and were developed for the definite purpose of expressing the catholic rel religion lgon philosophy and ways of life so the design tor for this now new melh belh odest church became byzantine created along the lines of the art which found its first great expression in constantinople about GOO A D and which lias has been e expressed in such buildings as st marks in venice and the capella Pa ra latina and monreale in palermo after the example of doctor Fos dicks installing of gothic statues of saints and an altar with a gold cross in his baptist church it was not cot so difficult for doctor Sock mans congregation to permit gold leaf domes mosaics and handsome marbles in their new temple another reason for choosing this I 1 style mr air cram explains was that there are a large number of other churches in new york similar in general dimensions whereas such byzantine examples as exist are found only in large structures moreover a gothic church should properly dominate its surroundings which in a large city Is impossible christ church hox however ever has been designed rather ns as so to speak a jewel both outside and in that is to say a building that will command attention and create a sense of reverence through the delicacy of its details and the richness of its materials and color when completed complete the interior of the church will be of utmost richness of color and materials the four great columns of purple levant marble the high paneling of precious e marbles in various colors anil and the mosaics that soine home time will cover the upper walls and arches should give an effect of great splendor the arrangement of the chancel is ia of the primitive form though most unusual in this country the altar and clergy stalls are in front of oe a rubly richly carved arid and glided gilded screen partially open behind which in tile the are the seats of the choir and organ console it is not intended to have stained glass in tile the but to depend on the rich design and iconography of the future mosaics both for teaching purposes and to serve as memorials the windows are to be filled with bullseye bulls eye glass similar to that used in st marks venice the total investment Is about |