CANNOT SHUT THEIR EYES TO IT.
By Editor
Among the prophecies regarding the nature of the closing hours of time, there are many that predict a sad decrease in spirituality among the professed people of God as we draw near the end. But when the evidences of spiritual declension appear in the Church, and we call attention to them as evidences that we have reached the last days, and the end is at hand, many are wont to meet it with the self-complacent reply, “Oh, you are pessimists! You are glad to get some charge against the churches. It is not as bad as you say.” But it is not what “we say” that is put in as evidence. We do not manufacture any testimony to show the low state of spirituality in the land. We allow the parties concerned to bear their own evidence; and when they testify to facts which prove the prophecy, though they may not perceive that it is against themselves, we deem it unbiased evidence which we have a right to use to show that the word of the Lord is surely coming to pass, and the great day of the divine promises is at hand. We have testimony to-day from another, whose position would lead him to speak cautiously, and as favorably to the Church as possible, on this point. A dispatch to the Morning Inquirer of this city, dated Des Moines, Iowa, June 3, 1901, says:— Prof. E. J. Wolf, of Gettysburg, Pa., created a sensation in the Lutheran synod, Monday, by his report on the condition of the Church, saying there was a woeful lack of spirituality and godliness in the denomination, that the fire of piety burned low. He said:— “Our church has suffered very seriously from defective government; and as long as loud voices are heard for individualism and unbridled liberty, as long as the general good must be subordinated to the rights of private judgment, our progress must halt, and our institutions languish. The love of many for the Church has grown cold. There is no disguising the present laxity and barrenness, the low estate of piety among us. The scramble for dollars leaves little time for the care of souls.” As the eye of the reader rests upon these words, many passages of Scripture will flash upon the mind, especially that prediction of the general waning away of spirituality, while the closing messages of the gospel are being given to a deceived and drowsy world. Rev. 14: 8; 18: 1-5. And when one reads in this extract, “The love of many for the Church has grown cold,” he thinks at once of Matt. 24: 12: “And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.” Is it not doing so now? After that, verse 14 only remains: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” The next paragraph, which closes the dispatch, might be headed,— WILL NOT RECEIVE THE TESTIMONY.
Dr. A. H. Studebaker, of Brooklyn, denounced the report as the most disgraceful jeremiad he had ever heard, said it did not in any manner reflect the spirit or belief of the synod, and after a hot debate it was referred back to the committee for abridgment, revision, and rewriting, leaving out the offensive parts. It is, perhaps, not to be wondered at that they are not willing to admit the charges; but does denouncing the report as a “disgraceful jeremiad” alter the facts in the case, which are not disputed? We are not anxious to get anything against the churches, but rather try to cultivate that charity which Paul says “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” 1 Cor. 13: 6. Instead of falling away in spirituality, we would that the churches in all sections would obey the word of the Lord, given in Lev. 19: 30: “Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.”