A DECLINE ADMITTED

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 17, 1868

A DECLINE ADMITTED.

ONE of the preachers of the late Methodist Convention, held in this city, made confession to the fact, which he of course lamented after the customary manner, that true spiritual life was fast declining in the denomination, that the old spirit was rapidly dying out, that simplicity of faith and habit was no longer in the fashion, and that they were all come at length to a stand beyond which they could not pretend to see their future. It is by no means a hopeful look to take of matters. When the public preachers and the leaders of a religious organization boldly come before the assemblages of their followers, and state that the light and life is going out, and that they neither account for it nor advise how to prevent its total extinguishment, it may be reasonably inferred that there is a fundamental, interior cause for such a change of things, which it is well worth the while to ferret out, and bring to the surface.

Nor do we entertain any great doubt that the cause is practically discerned by them, even while in the act of making the confession. It all means this: that they have pursued the form and lost sight of the substance; that there has been too much consideration paid to the outward organization, while the life itself has been left to take its chances; that the world has successfully prevailed against the spirit, and the love of power has crowded down the devotion to the truth in its simplicity; in fine, that the people have fed upon the husks when they should have had the kernel.— Banner of Light.