INIQUITY ABOUNDING by C. P. B.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 21, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 49.

INIQUITY ABOUNDING.

By C. P. B.

At the recent meeting of the Evangelical Alliance Conference at Syracuse, N. Y., the spiritual needs of the rural districts were discussed by several ministers, who agreed that "the proportion of non-church-goers is as great in the country as in the city, and the number of those who can render efficient aid to the pastor is comparatively small." One speaker said that he could lay his hand on a dozen country pastors who had told him that they could not call on a single member to lead in prayer. Another referred to a town of 2,700 inhabitants, 2,000 of whom never go to church. The 700 who do attend, many of them somewhat irregularly, are divided among four churches.

In the discussion of the needs of the cities Dr. George U. Wenner, of New York, said that in a twenty years' pastorate on the east side of that city, he had seen twelve churches in that district alone decline and disappear, and five more, he said, were ready to follow; and during that period only two had been organized.

Dr. Parkhurst spoke on the "Cause of Estrangement from the Church," and said that the great cause of the failure of the church to reach the masses was lack of love. His conclusion differs somewhat from that arrived at by a number of California ministers, who ascribed a similar failure on the part of the churches in this State to the lack of a Sunday law. This reason could not of course be assigned in New York, for there they have a Sunday law; and, indeed, it is doubtful if the attendance at church in California was much if any better before the repeal of the Sunday statute than it is now. People who have a desire to attend church will do so whether the law requires them to rest on Sunday or not; and those who do not care to listen to preaching are not likely to attend such services simply because the law forbids their engaging in secular pursuits.

But interest in the question of non-attendance on religious services is not confined to ministers, as is evidenced by the fact that one of the leading dailies in San Francisco recently undertook to solve the problem. On a Sunday morning an enterprising reporter of the paper referred to sallied forth, disguised as a poor man, in rather shabby attire, and visited several churches of various denominations. His conclusion was akin to that of Dr. Parkhurst, namely, that there was a lack of love in the churches, especially for the poor. In only two of the many houses of worship visited, did the disguised newspaper man

receive anything like a welcome, while in several he was treated with positive rudeness. Hence, the conclusion that many of the poor stay away from church because they are not welcome in such garments as they must perforce wear.

But the matter was not allowed to rest here; some five or six hundred non-church-goers were visited and asked why they did not attend church, and of course the replies were varied. Some simply said that they did not care to go, others said that the sermons were dull and uninteresting, while others said that they were just as good as those who did go, and that they did not see that going to church could do them any good; but we believe that none assigned as a reason the lack of a Sunday law. From all of which it appears that the real reason why people do not attend church is because of a lack of interest in spiritual things; indeed, it seems but just to conclude that we have reached the time foretold by our Saviour, when because of iniquity the love of many should wax cold. But let us remember, also, that "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." C. P. B.