Editorial October 9, 1943 Issue

Why Should I Attend Church?

John Randall Dunn

Who is not gladdened by the simple, graphic word pictures which flow from the pen of the gentle New England poet, John Greenleaf Whittier? What delightful verses are those to be found in his defense of the Quaker meeting! He pictures, in his poem called "The Meeting," the objections raised by a stranger attending for the first time a service of the Quaker denomination:

"What part or lot have you," he said,
"In these dull rites of drowsy-head?...
Our common Master did not pen
His followers up from other men;
His service liberty indeed,
He built no church, he framed no creed."