“The Signs of the Times.”
UNDER this caption the Central Baptist, published in St. Louis, Mo., makes the following statements, which we have reason to fear are as true of most other denominations as of the Baptist,—and “the sad picture” certainly does not look as if we were gradually gliding into the millennium of a converted world:— “Never before could we count up so many vacant pulpits. Why are they vacant? Some of these churches which seem to be content in their orphanage are able to pay handsome salaries; and for every one a suitable minister could be found and supported. Is this a good sign?” “We never before could name so many ministers without charges. Some of them cannot travel about on candidating tours. Their means are too small. Some of them are well educated and have a spotless record. What must be the state of religion in the country, and what the appreciation of the ministerial office, when men of worth are left without employment?” “There are not a few ministers, some laboring for their flocks, some retired for a season, who are suffering intense anxiety, if not actually suffering for the necessaries of life, because their salaries are not paid. What shall we think of a church which will daily accept the labor of a pastor without remuneration? What must we think of a church which will make it uncomfortable for a pastor to remain with his people and then neglect to pay him his just dues?” “Never within our recollection have the different institutions and enterprises founded under the sanction of our denomination, felt so severely the pinchings of poverty. In every part of the missionary field the laborers are suffering. Students of the ministry are compelled to leave their studies and seek secular employment, and teachers eminently qualified to give instruction in biblical science, are compelled against their tastes and wishes to seek other fields where education is considered of higher value. “This is a sad picture; but a sadder one might be drawn without doing violence to truth.” “And this sad state of things exists, notwithstanding the general awakening of last spring. The churches are cold. There are no revivals. It is difficult to draw the line in matters of morality between the church and the world. The public conscience is debauched, and if there is any higher life in the church, it is so far hidden in the private life of the few that society is unconscious of its presence. Whither are we tending?”—Messiah’s Herald.