p. 102 | Increase of Skepticism by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 10, 1874

Increase of Skepticism.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

For more than a quarter of a century, Adventists have been opposed to the majority of religious teachers concerning the conversion of the world. Adventists claim that the world is drifting away from God, from faith in the Bible as an inspired revelation, and from faith in Christ as a personal, living Saviour. Their opponents, on the other

hand, claim that the world is growing better, and that the Bible and Christianity are rapidly gaining ground. But, however desirable such a state of things might be, the facts in the case are sadly against it. The favorable view which is taken of this question is largely based upon the few thousands who are being converted from the heathens, while no notice is taken of the wide-spread and rapid increase of skepticism, spiritualism, Romanism, and formality in nominally Christian lands.

The New York Tribune, in an extra (No. 12, price 25 cts.) of 32 pages, has published in full a report of the Evangelical Alliance held in that city Oct. 2–12, 1873. Carefully prepared papers by the ablest ministers in all parts of the world were read before this Alliance. From these papers, I take the following statements relative to the state of religion in the different countries of the world. These men cannot be suspected of taking too gloomy a view of this question, but rather as confessing only what stern and abundant facts compel them to. Let us look at the condition of things in the different nations of Europe beginning with

HOLLAND.

“Rev. M. Cohen Stuart of Rotterdam spoke for Holland, and said:—

“Nearly four-tenths, it is true, of the population belong to the Roman Catholic church, and nowhere, perhaps, has the pope more pious devotees and zealous adherents. Neology, unbelief, and religious indifference, have sadly served the cause of the Roman See, its church daily increasing, if not in relative numbers, at least in power, boldness, and influence.”

This is not a very flattering view for a Protestant to contemplate. After three hundred years’ contention with the Romanists, the Catholics are now rapidly gaining on the Protestants. The speaker continues:—

“No, it is not the church of Rome, however daring and dangerous, which is the most dreadful enemy of Christianity in Holland. There is a tide of neology, a flood of unbelief, which no dykes or moles can keep back. Thousands, it is true, of the lower and middle classes, and these undoubtedly the best and soundest part of the people, steadfastly and staunchly cling to their old Bible faith, often with a strongly marked, ultra-dogmatic tendency, and with a narrow-minded stubbornness in some secondary points (an inveterate aversion, for instance, to hymn singing and to vaccination), still with a piety, on the whole, solid and sound. But a great many, a sadly increasing number, are more or less forsaking the gospel and becoming estranged from Christian truth. Materialism and irreligion are slaying their tens of thousands in the ranks of so-called Christians. So it is everywhere in Europe, so in Holland especially.”

The upper and educated classes gone over to skepticism and tens of thousands more from the church following them! But what is the condition of the Protestant church there? Of this he says:—

“It is evident, indeed, that the utter confusion into which the Reformed Church of Holland has fallen cannot last very long, lest it should lead to a total disorganization and overthrow of the whole.”

Not very encouraging that. Listen further:—

“It cannot, alas! be denied; bitter are the fruits of the reigning spirit of the age now already visible in Holland. Church attendance is fast decreasing. Levity and dissipation are progressing, and the old Dutch character is tending to degenerate.”

Poor Holland! Not much hope of a speedy millennium there. Let us pass on to

GERMANY.

Here was the home of Luther, the birthplace of the Reformation, the land where it gained its strongest hold and most numerous followers. How does it stand there now? The learned and world-known Rev. H. Krummacher, of Brandenburg, spoke for that country. In his remarks, he said:—

“I do not seek to deny that in my country, as in others—yea, perhaps more than anywhere else—an incredulous and anti-Christian culture is in vogue, and that the symptoms of that sad fact show themselves, alas! too frequently, among the people, in the Parliament, in the literature, in the daily papers. The alienation of thousands upon thousands from any kind of worship, especially in our large cities; the intoxication of the masses with the idea of socialism; the hunt after riches, which has spread even to the highest classes; the war waged by many writers under the pretext of science, especially of natural philosophy, against the fundamentals of religious truth; the favor which these representations of unbelief venture to expect from persons of rank and from the common people—as, for instance, David Strauss, who has written his second “Life of Jesus” for the German nation, and his “Life of Voltaire” for a German princess, a daughter of the royal house of England, the lately so painfully tried Princess Alice of Hesse—all these are dark shadows of the religious and moral life in Germany, the same shadows which are at present darkening the whole civilized world. The newspapers and the popular sentiment, ruled by them, usually take the part of the opponents of the gospel.”

What a picture for that highly favored nation, once so celebrated for its faith and piety! But now the masses are gone over to socialism, and unbelief and opposition to religion is popular in all classes. He thus laments the deplorable effects of the late war:—

“The unparalleled victory which God granted to the nation in the late war has not regenerated us in faith and elevation of our souls to him. On the contrary, the new epoch that has been inaugurated, as far as human eyes can see, proves itself to be an ever-proceeding dissolution of positive faith and Christian interest; and this is not only the case in a few parts of the country, but throughout the whole of Germany. Two or three years have passed since then, and today it will no longer be rash to assert that the expectation that a religious revival would be the fruit of the great national events, as was originally fostered, has not been realized. A deepening and increase of Christian life has not been associated with the political and national progress. This is, I think, a fact of history. This fact is a deplorable one—or must we use stronger and harder expressions, and say it is hopeless, it is desperate?”

“It is true the number of candidates for the service of the church, the school, and the ‘Tunere Mission,’ has alarmingly diminished during the last few years.”

Alas! for any sign of an early millennium here. Let us pass on on to

SWITZERLAND.

This was the land of the great reformers Zwingler and Calvin. What a rich harvest of souls the Reformation here gathered! What glorious anticipations were indulged for the future of this country. But now listen to the sad tale of one of its prominent ministers, the Rev. Eugene Reichel of Montmirail. In his speech before the Alliance he said:—

“On the other hand, we have to contend with a rank infidelity—a second mighty source of evil in Switzerland. It is not a thing of yesterday. For a long time already a deplorable unbelief has led captive the masses of the people. They have left their churches to engulf themselves in the vortex of business and worldly pleasure. This state of things in a measure paralyzes the efforts of the servants of Jesus. On every side, infidelity is become rampant and much more aggressive than in former years. Better organized than once, and finding an efficient support both in the indifference of the people and the countenance afforded by government, this insidious foe closing up its ranks is not slow to assail the truth.”

Of a certain party there professing to be Reformers, he says:—

“When, however, we eagerly draw near to inquire into the spirit of the ‘Reform,’ we discover at once that all its parade is but the flimsy disguise of a deadly hostility to the gospel, and its rallying watchword only a reiteration of the ancient enmity to Christ so expressively set forth in the language of the parable, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ Such, alas! is the utterance of the lower classes, of the public press, of the legislature, and, I am sorry to be obliged to add, even of the pulpit itself.”

The masses led captive by infidelity; the lower classes, the public press, the legislature, and even the pulpit arrayed against Christ!! We will not dwell here, but hurry on to

ITALY.

Of course we do not expect much of Italy, and we shall not be disappointed. But why should we not expect religion to be flourishing here? It was planted here by Paul himself and has had eighteen hundred years in which to grow and spread. If the gospel is designed to convert the world, why has it not at least held its own where it was planted by the apostles? We leave others to answer if they can. Rev. Matteo Prochet of Genoa, in his account of Italian affairs, said:—

“A very complicated state indeed it has been for some years past, and is now so more than ever. ‘The Roman Catholic religion is the religion of the State,’ says the first article of the Italian Constitution, and in fact 25,000,000 Italians have been baptized by the priests, are on the priests’ rolls, and entitle Italy to the name of a Roman Catholic country. We find an enormous proportion of the population which, while it remains outwardly Roman Catholic, belongs really to the religion of I don’t care, or is no religion at all. We have still to look at a party which is making awful progress in Italy. I mean the unbelievers. The number of those who have come to the rejection of all religion from a more or less philosophical and logical inference, from assumed principles, is comparatively small; but their influence is increasing every day and pervading the masses. Whether their names be free-thinkers, positivists, or naturalists, they all find themselves on the same platform:—‘No personal God, Creator, or Judge; man’s conscience his only rule; the religion of humanity the common bond that will one day bind together all nations in one family.’ Confounding Romanism with Christianity, it is an easy work for them to show the former in complete opposition to every freedom, and to find adherents among a people which is the more eager for liberty that it has been longer deprived of it. Add to this the natural tendency of man to say in his heart, ‘There is no God,’ and you will readily realize the importance of the impending danger, more dreadful than superstition itself.”

As is well known, Protestantism has scarcely a foothold in Italy. Of them the speaker said, “Their influence is of very little value.” Seventeen millions of the population cannot read. While nearly all are nominally Catholics, yet an “enormous proportion” have no regard for any religion, and the prevailing skepticism of the age “is increasing every day and pervading the masses.” It must be a hopeful soul indeed who can see any immediate sign of the wished-for millennium here. Let us now take a peep at religion in

GREECE.

Here, so far as faith in the Bible is concerned, the old Greek church holds everything under its power. This church, as all know, is as far gone in ignorance, corruption, and apostasy, as the Catholics themselves. Rev. Mr. Kalopathakes spoke for Greece, concerning which he said:—

“God has enabled us thus far to establish but one church, but that little church is something that troubles the Greek church.”

Only one little church in all Greece! Again he says:—

“You have no idea of the power of that national feeling. It makes religion and nationality one, one and inseparable. He that gives up his church is looked upon as an outcast. He is looked upon as worse than Judas. You can imagine how one stands before a whole nation in that light. If he has an office under the Government he has to lose it. If he is a professor or a teacher, he has to lose that. If it is a young lady, she has very little chance to get married to a young man. You see, therefore, the difficulties against which the Protestant has to contend.”

True, we do not know that unbelief is as wide-spread there as in other countries, yet he says that there is a large class “who believe nothing at all.” From here we go to

SPAIN.

Here, too, we find the masses of the people turning away from all religion. Rev. F. Fliedner of Madrid, speaking for Spain, said:—

“Salmeron, the last President, protested against Spain being called still a Catholic country, and it is true that not only a great part of the country is indifferent to religion, but that also there exists among the lower classes a bitter hatred against the Roman Catholics. In the last revolution in the South, they put the Archbishop of Granada in prison, destroyed some churches and nunneries, and the famous processions of the Holy Week did not dare to come forward. Only in Valladolid the people said: ‘Our Holy Virgin is republican, too.’ They adorned her with the red cap, and carried her around. We do not require to enlarge on the harm which such exercises must do to religion in general, and to the evangelical movement in particular.”

Catholicism and opposition to all religion are all we find here.

D. M. Canright.

(Concluded Next Week.)