Men and Things by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 30, 1871

Men and Things.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

“MEN’S HEARTS FAILING THEM,” &c.

Prominent among the signs which should precede the immediate coming of the Son of Man, Jesus gives this one: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Luke 21:26. That this sign is now being fulfilled no one can doubt who notices the feeling of the public mind. A feeling of distrust, of fear, and of alarm, is coming over men as to the future. Rev. A. M. Milligan, of Pittsburgh, Penn., says:—

“Patriotic men are holding their breath, earnest men are talking anxiously together as they consider the great questions underlying the welfare of the commonwealth. Patriotism is inquiring, What can be done to save the nation? The danger that threatens our nation to-day is that the moral substratum, upon which only national life can exist, is in a state of decay, and threatens early dissolution. You see it everywhere in public affairs. You see it in legislative halls and in judicial seats—in the whole character of society. The question is, Can it be arrested? and if so, how is it to be done?”

DECLINE OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND.

A few weeks since, we gave an article from a prominent paper deploring the decline of religion and the ministry in this country. Now from across the water comes the sad lament of the same state of things there. The English Independent says:—

“In truth, there is something very much the matter among us, and something, it is impossible to deny, wrong with the ministry. It is losing power. The number of men with real preaching ability seems to grow smaller. Ministerial success is superficial. There are ministers who can fill chapels by consolatory sermons or clever talk, but do not sift their hearers, stir their consciences, or fill their souls with divine inspirations. We are very unwilling to prophesy in sackcloth. We are not given to croaking; but there are many facts to which we cannot shut our eyes. A very large part of our ministry appears to be ‘movable.’ Those pastors who build up a strong edifice of affection and influence, by years of patient labor and sterling character, are comparatively few. The language that has grown prevalent among us about ministers and churches is professional and mercenary. A cry comes up from the colleges that the young men who offer themselves for the ministry have neither special grace nor special gifts. Leanness has fallen upon our land, and we are in very serious danger as a denomination. In the days that are at hand, we shall become powerless and contemptible if our pulpits are not filled by inspired men. Any woodenheaded man may act the part of the priest. A High Church clergyman will manage well enough if he can read passably, intone musically, and bear himself gracefully in a procession. But the men who have no title to attention but their ability to teach and to proclaim divine truth, must needs have very different qualifications. Truth is often painful, but always useful, and we have spoken it. Much might be said about causes and remedies; but we care now to say only one thing: our churches stand in need of a profound and very real religious revival.”

These are painful facts, but it is well to know them. They show that our position on the fall of Babylon is correct, and hence that the coming of Christ draws nigh.

MUCH WORK WITH SMALL STOCK.

I was much impressed with the force of the following words. I see them illustrated almost every day. The writer says:—

“Then, too, how strangely people invest the capital of their capabilities—solve the problem of what they will do with God’s gift of life. Here is one, not brilliant, not greatly endowed in any way; but he has a kind heart, a fair share of common sense, and an active temperament. He puts all there is of him into current coin and keeps it in circulation. He has no gold in the ingots, for purchasing provinces or paying kings’ ransoms, but plenty of the small change so necessary for constantly recurring needs. On a comparatively small capital he does a large business, enriches not only himself, but all with whom he comes in contact; while another, with ten times his ability, a man of genius, an original thinker, a ripe scholar, makes no use of his powers, but hides all these noble gifts in a self-indulgent, or an obscure and sordid life, the willing slave of a lymphatic temperament. To know our own worth, and how to invest what we are in such a way as to yield the most for ourselves and humanity, is the great problem, and to its solution are directed the experiences of our lives.” It is not the man that has the greatest ability who always does the most work. By no means. I am sure I know of men and women among us who are doing almost nothing for God or humanity, who still really have stronger minds and more ability than others who are active workers in the cause. What is the matter? They lack energy and application. They are waiting for something to “turn up,” instead of taking right hold with the determination to make things turn up. It is bad to be rash and hasty, and to make mistakes; but even that is better than to idle away one’s whole life doing nothing, for fear we may not move just right. Strike out, and trust in God. If you then make mistakes, confess it; and correct them, and try again. You know not what powers you have, till you try.

ENORMITY OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC IN THE UNITED STATES.

“Those who would measure the enormity of the liquor traffic by the money which it absorbs, will be impressed by some figures presented by Mr. Edward S. Young, Chief of the U. S. Statistical Bureau, at a meeting of the Congressional Temperance Society, in Washington, last Sunday evening. Mr. Young stated the annual product of whisky in this country to be, according to the returns made to the government, 62,500,000 gallons, representing a money value of $375,000,000; fermented liquors, 6,300,000 barrels, worth $126,000,000; imported liquors, $100,000,000. There are in the United States 150,000 licensed liquor stores, whose average annual sales are $4,000 each, making a total of $600,000,000; and this exhibit he thought was probably $100,000 below the facts. Mr. Young used the following comparisons, to enforce his statistics:—

“‘An expert could not count more than $20,000 in one-dollar notes in a day. Working twenty-five days in a month, it would take one man one hundred years to count the money. If spread upon the ground in notes of the same denomination, it would cover an area of 20,446 acres. If paid in gold, a ton of which is worth $574,000, and loaded on wagons each carrying one ton and occupying a space of seven yards, it would require 1,045 wagons, which would form a procession six miles long. In silver, worth $31,200, it would require 19,230 wagons which would form a line of seventy-six miles in length. To complete the picture, let the wives and children of drunkards, and the widows and orphans of those who have died drunkards during the past year, follow these wagons in melancholy procession, their cries of anguish ascending to Heaven, and the line would extend thousands of miles.’”

“And all this, not only taken from the productive capital and labor of the country, but used in such a way as to weaken its productive power and increase crime and misery of every form. And yet society tolerates this horrid traffic, and government legalizes and protects it, for the filthy pittance which it drops into the treasury. —Christian Statesman.

A LOOK AROUND THE WORLD.

“Latest and best authority gives the population of the globe at 1,350,200,000; in America, 72,800,000; in Europe, 287,000,000; in Asia, 798,600,000; in Africa, 188,000,000; in Australia and Polynesia, 3,800,000. These people speak about 3,600 different languages, and are cut up into 1,000 different religious sects. The adherents of the principle religions, counting the whole population, are supposed to be nearly thus: Greek Church, 69,992,700; six other Oriental churches, 6,500,000; Roman Catholics, 195,000,000; Protestants, 97,139,000; Mohammedans, 160,000,000; Buddhists, 340,000,000; other Asiatic religions, 260,000,000; Pagans, 200,000,000; Jews, 6,000,000.”

“The whole number of languages and dialects into which the holy Scriptures have been translated is two hundred and fifty-two. Of these, two hundred and five are versions prepared since the origin of Bible societies, at which time the Scriptures had been translated into only forty-seven different languages. The two great Bible societies of the world, the British and Foreign, and the American, have issued, of these, two hundred and forty-three. The greatest work of the American Bible Society has been the preparation of the Arabic Bible, by the Rev. Drs. Smith and Van Dyck, which will go to 150,000,000 of Arabic-speaking people, and the Slavonic and Bulgarian Testament, which will supply 80,000,000.”—Christian Union.

These figures and facts are worth preserving by any one. What proportion do Christians bear to the population of the world? We Protestants do not think that the Roman Catholic and Greek churches are much, if any, better than pagans, and evidently they are not. This leaves less than one hundred million who can be regarded as Christians, while the population of the world is over thirteen hundred million; that is only one in thirteen. But this includes every man, woman, and child, in all these nations, who are called Christians. Millions of these make no profession, but are worldlings and infidels. The entire Protestant-church membership of the whole world is said to be only about sixteen millions. How many of these are real Christians? One-half would be a liberal calculation. This would give us only eight Christians out of every thirteen hundred souls! A poor encouragement for the conversion of the world! D. M. Canright.