Has the Offense of the Cross Ceased?
By S. B. Whitney
[THE following, under the above caption, I clip from the “People’s Literary Companion.” Its questionable origin reminds one of the truthful adage relative to a diamond from a muddy pool. S. B. WHITNEY.] “The faithful exhibition of the cross of Christ is not all that the circumstances of the church require. “You may go into one of our churches and find it filled with a gay and fashionable audience, who will sit and quietly hear the most sound and faithful preaching—such preaching as would have roused the indignation of the same class of hearers fifty or sixty years ago, and have set the whole parish in a flame against the wildness and fanaticism of the preacher. How is it, I would ask, that the gay, the dissipated, the worldly-minded, can now so calmly bear what would, a few years ago, have proved so offensive to their pride, and so outrageous to their feelings?” “The truth must be acknowledged, that, from some cause or other, the offense of the cross, so far as the preaching of it is concerned, has, in a great measure, ceased. Now we know that this cessation of hostilities is no real reconciliation, no solid peace, between the conflicting elements of nature and grace. It is but a hollow truce. Men tolerate the gospel, but will not renounce their sins; they will go to church, but they will not give up the theater and the ball-room, the card-party, the gaming-table, and the race-course. And what is the consequence? The minister who has preached thus faithfully, looks round upon his audience—is glad to find it so numerous, and, upon the whole, so attentive. He has preached the word, and he hopes that it will not be unfruitful. He has not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God, and it is not his fault if they refuse to receive it, and are not benefited by it. And yet, after the most powerful of his discourses, how many are there of his flock who come to him in deep distress of mind, saying, “How shall I escape the wrath to come?”” “Shall we attempt to explain why such effect has ceased to follow the preaching of the gospel? Is it not because, while the world has apparently come nearer to the church, the church has really drawn nearer to the world? It seems as if a mutual approximation had taken place, and a mutual sacrifice had been made; but, in truth, the sacrifice has been chiefly on one side, and that the wrong side. Things which are, perhaps, not unlawful in themselves, have become a snare to a great mass of professors of religion. The world has smiled upon them, and they have too often been fascinated by its smile. Music, for instance, is not only gratifying to the ear, but may be made profitable to the heart; and sacred music may well raise the mind to glowing anticipations of the nobler harmonies of Heaven. And yet, alas! for the infirmity of human nature! music has too often proved the connecting link between the church and the world. Doubtless there are many professedly Christian residents in the neighborhood of the metropolis, who will put themselves to considerable inconvenience, and perhaps expense, to attend a concert, who would be afraid of taking cold by going on a week-day evening to hear an excellent sermon in a church close to their own doors. So much more do they value what will please their ears, than what would touch and amend their hearts! And when the world sees such conduct on the part of Christian neighbors, what other inference can they be expected to draw from it, than that professing Christians do not believe what they profess; that their religion is but a cloak, which hangs loosely upon them, and which they are glad at any time to cast off, in order that they may enjoy the pleasures of sense? This is one great cause which serves to neutralize the effect of the most earnest and faithful ministrations of the Sabbath and sanctuary. It is doubted whether the minister means what he says, when he denounces the love of the world, and the things of the world; because they who profess the greatest attachment to his ministry are so little affected by his preaching. And if he who thus preaches begins himself to descend to any kind of frivolities, then he may preach like an angel, without ever converting one sinner from the error of his ways.”