Churches and Spiritual Impotency
By Editor
A PRESBYTERIAN paper published in San Francisco deplores the low spiritual condition of the churches and the indifference of the masses to the things of God, and says: "Timid, half-hearted, half-converted worldly members and officers and preachers are not the class to break the spell of mammon or stay the mad rush of the votaries of pleasure." This is certainly true, and it is, moreover, a confession that the ministers, officers, and members of the churches are, at least in some degree, responsible for the evils which some have sought to attribute to the lack of Sunday laws, to Sunday picnics, and to numerous other things which are themselves results rather than causes. If the churches were themselves converted, there would be less demand for human laws to enforce supposed religious duties, and there would be tenfold greater devotion to those things really enjoined in the Scriptures. The demand on the part of the church for legislation in her interests, is an open confession of spiritual impotency. Saul did not seek unto a witch until, because of his apostasy, God refused to speak to him; neither will the Church seek alliance with the State so long as she feels strong in God and in the power of his might.