The Spread of Ir reverence by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 12, 1909

The Spread of Ir reverence

By C. M. S.

In one particular at least there is a striking similarity between the church history of Constantine’s day and the church history of our own day. In those early days there came such a letting down of the standards of discipline that the church became literally swamped with a partially converted mass of people, who, instead of going on into the fuller light of the gospel, turned the great bulk of the church’s membership into the darkness of the great apostasy. In these days the great church organizations have so eased upon the requirements of membership that gradually and insidiously there has come in a striking change in the general sentiment of the church body. The salt of the organization is becoming so highly diluted through this means that it is losing its power to preserve, and conditions that would not have been tolerated a half century, or even a quarter century, ago are “quite the thing” at the present time. The minister has quite largely ceased to be the spokesman of the Almighty with a message from heaven; and it has become his business to entertain his audience for the length of time that his audience shall choose to permit the entertainment to go on. He is circumscribed and limited to an address of from twenty to forty minutes, and the trend of his remarks must be such as will please rather than reprove, as will deal with popular themes rather than the requirements of God’s law, as will tickle the ears of the listeners rather than make sinners uncomfortable. Through this transformation within the church body, the ministry, the church edifice, and what they both stand for, are losing the place they once occupied in the reverent regard of the people. The minister’s utterance has come to be regarded more as the opinion of a man than as a message from heaven, more as an interlude in the musical program than as God’s winnowing instrument to separate the chaff from the wheat; and wherever the pulpit has yielded to the unconverted pew in the matter of the character and quantity of the discourse, the pew’s estimate of the pulpit is about right.

In the July 14 issue of the Northwestern Christian Advocate there appeared a lengthy article under the heading given to this article, from which we take the following:—

That we are living in a light, flippant age, few people will deny, and thoughtful men and women everywhere view with real alarm the hold irreverence has upon the present generation. It seems to be in the very air, and is spreading to such an extent that there are few sacred things left in the world. . . .

To most people the word irreverence calls up only thoughts of disregard for God and his institutions. If you speak of

people being irreverent, they immediately think of the things that have crept into churches and church life, to dishonor God and bring reproach to his cause. To be sure, there is plenty of irreverence in churches and church work to-day, but it is not all confined there. The light, operatic music, the sermonette, the “attractions,” and other things that modern churches must have to “draw the crowds,” are not the only forms of irreverence in life, by any means. The time was when the church was regarded as a place dedicated to the worship of God, but nowadays it would be difficult to find out what many of them really stand for.

This writer then pictures the inattention, flippancy, and positive irreverence manifest in the Sunday-schools, and the carelessness of parents in reference thereto; the substitution of concerts for sermons, and lectures for prayer-meetings; the turning of the house of God into a place for social gatherings, suppers, concerts, fairs, and money-making schemes; the prevalence of a spirit to joke about Bible facts and turn Scriptural truths into laughable themes; the growing use of slang, vulgarity, and even profanity among society women and girls; the increasing lack of modesty in so many walks of life, with an increasing boldness in discussing delicate subjects; the increasing restlessness of women and their desire to be more prominent in public affairs (the writer of that article is a woman); the growing tendency to look upon housework as drudgery and live upon store foods; and with it all the increasing disregard for human life manifested in various ways, and the gratification of appetite at the expense of the health of both parents and children.

The picture which that writer gives of present conditions is “true to life;” and the conditions furnish a striking fulfilment of the prophetic Word. “Evil men and seducers” are waxing “worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” “The love of the many” for the things of God is waxing cold—all evidences of the near approach of the time when our Redeemer, as he faithfully promised, will return. But the sad part of it is that the blinded leaders of such organizations do not see in such conditions any sign of that great event. Even the writer of the article from which we have quoted sees nothing in the portrayed conditions that fulfils the prophecy relating to our times. The article closes thus:—

And yet we are told the world is growing better. Yes, it is growing better, and one of these days we will return to safe and sane thought and living. Once more religion and life and labor and modesty and all the best things of life will be exalted and restored to their rightful positions, and everything will be well.

Thus are the people lulled to sleep on the very eve of eternity in the assurance that all is well with them, or will be soon; that the new generation, schooled in irreverence, immodesty, and doubt will soon, by some magic metamorphosis, blossom out into the very kingdom of God, and peace and righteousness and brotherly love will permeate every stratum of society. In the place of that ignis fatuus the truth as it is in the Inspired Word must be made known, that the blood of souls may not be upon the garments of those to whom God has committed this world’s last message of warning and mercy.

C. M. S.