THE CLOSING MESSAGES.—NO. 15.
By R. F. Cottrell
It is now a historical fact, that in 1844, the cry, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, was distinctly made by those who believed in the second coming of Christ at hand. It was believed that the fall was a moral one, and was applicable to the churches in general. The first evidences that the cry was from Heaven—that it was the fulfillment of the prophecy—are that the message was heard, that it was heard at the right time, and came in the order given in the prophecy. But leaving these, we inquire, What evidences have followed the preaching and the rejection of the Advent doctrine, showing that a moral change has taken place in the religious world, and especially in the most popular Protestant churches of our own country? In reply to this inquiry, we notice, in the first place, the great spiritual dearth, so extensively acknowledged in 1844. A little previous to this time there was much of revival interest in the various churches of our land, and awakenings and conversions were general; especially where Advent preaching was tolerated and encouraged, revivals prevailed and conversions were numerous. But when the tide began to set so strongly against the doctrine of the soon coming of Christ, a change so marked took place that it was felt and acknowledged by the churches themselves. We give some of their own testimonies to the fact: The Christian Palladium for May 15, 1844, speaks in the following mournful strains: “In every direction we hear the dolorous sound, wafting upon every breeze of heaven, chilling as the blasts from the icebergs of the north—settling like an incubus on the breasts of the timid, and drinking up the energies of the weak; that lukewarmness, division, anarchy and desolation are distressing the borders of Zion.” The Religious Telescope of 1844 uses the following language: We have never witnessed such a general declension of religion as at the present. Truly the church should awake and search into the cause of this affliction; for an affliction every one that loves Zion must view it. When we call to mind how few and far between cases of true conversion are, and the almost unparalleled impenitence and hardness of sinners, we almost involuntarily exclaim, ‘Has God forgotten to be gracious? or is the door of mercy closed?’ About that time proclamations of facts and seasons of prayer for the return of the Holy Spirit were sent out in the religious papers. Even the Philadelphia Sun of Nov. 11, 1844, has the following: “The undersigned ministers and members of various denominations in Philadelphia and vicinity, solemnly believing that the present signs of the times—the spiritual dearth in our churches generally, and the extreme evils in the world around us, seem to call loudly on all Christians for a special season of prayer, do therefore hereby agree, by divine permission, to unite in a week of special prayer to Almighty God, for the outpouring of his Holy Spirit on our city, our country, and the world.” Prof. Finney, editor of the Oberlin Evangelist, Feb. 1844, says: “We have had the fact before our minds, that in general, the Protestant churches of our country, as such, were either apathetic or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age. There are partial exceptions, yet not enough to render the fact otherwise than general. We have also another corroborated fact: the almost universal absence of revival influence in the churches. The spiritual apathy is almost all-pervading, and is fearfully deep; so the religious press of the whole land testifies. Very extensively church members are becoming devotees of fashion—joining hands with the ungodly in parties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities, &c. But we need not expand this painful subject. Suffice it that the evidence thickens and rolls heavily upon us, to show that the churches generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord, and he has withdrawn himself from them.” - It may be said that our views of the moral fall and spiritual death of the churches are shown to be incorrect by the great revivals of 1858. Of the fruit of these revivals let the leading Congregational and Baptist papers of Boston bear testimony:
Says the Congregationalist for Nov. 19, 1858: “The revival piety of our churches is not such that one can confidently infer, from its mere existence, its legitimate, practical fruits. It ought, for example, to be as certain, after such a shower of grace, that the treasuries of our benevolent societies would be filled, as it is after a plentiful rain, that the streams will swell in their channels. But the managers of our societies are bewailing the feebleness of the sympathy and aid of the churches. “There is another and sadder illustration of the same general truth. The Watchman and Reflector recently stated that there had never been among the Baptists so lamentable a spread of church dissension as prevails at present. And the sad fact is mentioned that this sin infects the very churches which shared most largely in the late revival. And the still more melancholy fact is added, that these alienations date back their origin, in most cases, to the very midst of that scene of awakening. Even a glance at the weekly journals of our own denomination will evince that the evil is by no means confined to the Baptists. Our own columns have, perhaps, never borne so humiliating a record of contentions, and ecclesiastical litigations as during the last few months.” A Presbyterian pastor of Belfast, Ireland, uses the following language respecting the recent revivals in this country: “The determination to crush all ministers who say a word against their national sin [slavery], the determination to suffocate and suppress the plain teachings of Scripture, can be persisted in and carried out at the very time these New York Christians are expecting the religious world to hail their revivals. Until the wretchedly degraded churches of America do the work of God in their own land, they have no spiritual vitality to communicate to others; their revivals are in the religious world what their flaunted cries of liberty, intermingled with the groans of the slave, are in the political.” N. Y. Independent, Dec. 1859. - During the time of the great Irish revival of 1859, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church of Ireland held its session in Belfast. Says the Belfast News-Letter of Sept. 30: “Here in this venerable body of ministers and elders, we find two ministers openly giving each other the lie, and the whole General Assembly turned into a scene of confusion bordering upon a riot.”
- These sad facts need no comment. In Ireland the ministers of the gospel are unable to meet in General Assembly without a riot among themselves; in America prayers for the enslaved were not allowed in the revival meetings. No wonder the fruit of genuine piety is difficult to be found. R. F. COTTRELL.