Causes of Spiritual Declension.
By Wm. Penniman
ANOTHER name might be given to spiritual declension, namely, departure from God. Of course there are many ways of departing from God, but they all amount to the same thing; they have the same result. There is but one way of coming unto God the Father—a way of his own appointing. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." And again he said: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day." We have, therefore, the aid of the Holy Spirit in coming to the Father. In order to have this aid we must be in earnest, and do all we can to comply with the conditions of salvation. If Christ is the way, then he is our Pattern. He kept his Father's commandments; John 15:10; therefore we must keep them. In disobedience Christ cannot lead us, neither will the Father accept us. As we come unto God by obedience to his law, and to the teachings of Christ through faith in him, we depart from God by disobedience, by conformity to the world and the rejection of light. The great mass of the people in this age, including both the church and the world, are trampling upon the law of God. The majority nominally accept the gospel, but reject the law, as obedience to that brings crosses which they are not willing to bear. Therefore there is conformity to the world and rejection of light, and this is one great cause of spiritual declension among all the churches. In regard to the rejection of light, Joseph Cooke has truthfully and forcibly said: "The universe is so made that whoever sins against light draws blood on the spiritual retina of the moral eyes." And in respect to conformity to the world, inspiration has said: "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15. In the Advance of Jan. 25, 1883, appeared an article on this subject, by Geo. T. Pentecost, from which we quote. We invite the careful attention of the reader to his words:— "3. To fraternize rather than antagonize the world. There is a theory, if not articulated, at least to a great extent acted upon, viz., that the world, that is, the church-going and respectable world has become so far Christianized that it needs only to be 'led along' and a little further cultivated, to bring it within the pale of salvation. In other words, the worldly virtues of the age are more often made the subject of panegyric than the world which is at enmity with God is made the object of holy assault. One is almost sick and tired of hearing the culture, material progress, advanced civilization, and scientific attainments of the age, lauded and praised. Especially when the most of this worldly advancement and progress is leveled at, or subtly used against Christ. We forget that the world at the top is as much 'in the wicked one' as the world at the bottom. That the atheist of the Herbert Spencer type, and the infidel of the Charles Darwin type, are as really and even more powerfully the enemies of God than the atheist of the Herr Most type and the infidel of the Robert Ingersoll type. The world—whether high or low, church-going and church-patronizing, or non-church-going and opposing, which is not for Christ, is against him; and is not to be patronized but antagonized. It is not to be saved by flattery or petting, but by slaying, that it may be made alive. "4. To be in harmony with the age. I have heard it said of a distinguished minister that he was 'in harmony with the age.' I think that was about the worst thing that could have been said of him. In my judgment it is more and more the duty of the pulpit to show the people how the age we live in is out of harmony with the gospel, or the age which is to come; and yet a distinguished minister of one of the evangelical denominations in New York has, in a recent series of sermons widely and eagerly printed by the secular press, boldly advocated the publishing of an expurgated edition of the Bible, that will be more in harmony with the light and culture of the nineteenth century, in which the Jewish and Christian fables (miracles) of both Old and New Testaments shall be cut out; the supernatural elements removed, and the worship of the ideal humanity represented by the 'clear Christ' (sic) left to take care of the world. Oh, the age, both in the church and out of it, is sadly out of harmony with God's word, and we need a ministry that will boldly antagonize it as Peter did when he said, 'Ye have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory;' as Paul did when he cried out, 'Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish.'" "5. To be up with the times, whereas the times are sadly behind the gospel. Young ministers, and old ones too, to meet this demand, spend their days in the study of modern science, and philosophy, and all manner of literature, alas! (if we may judge from some of the sermons we have heard of late) we fear to the great neglect of the word of God, which is and always has been in advance of all time, all science, all philosophy, and all literature. Up with eternity is far more in order than up with the times. "Time and space do not permit me to speak of the lax and almost total neglect of discipline as another evidence of the loss of spiritual power. First there is a lack of fellowship and watch-care, and when defection comes there is a lack of discipline. Every day we are put to the blush by unbelievers who throw in our faces the scandalous lives of men who yet are permitted to retain their place and standing in the church. And the members who are simply allowed to drift away from outward communion and inward fellowship is legion. If we are ever going to see God's power and glory in the church again, 'judgment must begin at the house of God.' We read with wonder and incredulity of the backsliding, idolatry, and perverse sinfulness and defilement of God's ancient people, the Jews; but I know if we had a prophet in these days, such as Jeremiah or3Isaiah, the worldliness and wickedness, the carnality and corruption of the Christian church would not appear a whit better. Different in kind, but the same in spirit and origin, namely, a carnal mind and a worldly heart. I believe the sins of the flesh and of the spirit are as great to-day as ever in the days before Israel's taking away into Babylon. Therefore are we carried away captive, and powerless both to meet the world or escape it. Our harps are on the willows, or worse still, we are dead and indifferent to our condition; content with the devil's wedge of gold for ourselves, and goodly Babylonish garments for our wives and daughters. It is high time that we should awake out of sleep, cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light." Mr. Pentecost must certainly think that the Millennial age will be a long time coming. Who can say that his description of the spiritual condition of the churches is not a truthful one? Compare Paul's description of "the last days" in 2 Tim. 3: 1-5. And yet we are accused of a lack of charity if we believe the apostle's prophecy, and obey his injunction, "From such turn away." WM. PENNIMAN.