IS THE WORLD GROWING BETTER?
By Editor
IN reply to this question we collate a few expressions, from many that are accessible, of authorities which all will admit were in position to know whereof they spoke. The Christian says:— The annual increase of population far exceeds the number of conversions to Christ. The State of New York has more heathen by deliberate choice within her borders than there are members of churches in the heathen world. And while from 100,000 to 200,000 are supposed to be yearly evangelized, the total number no more than equals the annual victims to alcohol in the three Christian countries of Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. A recent issue of the Missionary Review gives these facts:— In the year 1800 the common estimates rarely placed the population of the world as high as 800,000,000. Let us suppose it even 1,000,000,000—an estimate that would usually be considered extravagant. Of this 1,000,000,000 it is claimed that there were 200,000,000 Christians of all kinds, Greek, Romish, and Protestant. This leaves 800,000,000 of the non-Christian population of the world in 1800. The present population is reckoned by the highest authorities at about 1,400,000,000. Of these 400,000,000 are claimed as nominal Christians. Suppose these to be all true Christians—and none will claim that—we have 1,000,000,000 yet unsaved. That is, there are 200,000,000 more souls to be reached and rescued by the gospel than there were in 1800—now ninety-three years ago. Rev. Dr. Kitteridge, Chicago, Presbyterian, says:— It matters not in what direction you look, sin is on the increase, and the church is losing ground in her conflict with sin; she has almost ceased to be felt as a power. If a majority of our church organizations were to-day to become extinct, the world would hardly know it. Rum engenders poverty, poverty and rum engender crime. From the government rum shop the wild beast hunts his prey. Is christendom struck with judicial blindness that she sleeps? Are her eyes holden that she cannot see? There are armies marching and countermarching, with banners on which are emblazoned Dynamite, Anarchism, Communism, Nihilism, No Sabbath, Down with the Church and State, recruited from the dramshop and officered from the kennel. Are we so deaf that we do not hear the tramp of the gathering legions? Nations that fatten the wild beasts of passion will be devoured by the wild beast of rapine and ruin. The late Hon. J. B. Finch, speaking of the United States, says:— There is not a large city in the land that is not controlled by its grogshops. Henry Ward Beecher, shortly before his death, used the following scathing language:— All the framework of society seems to be dissolving. On every side we find men false to the most important trusts. Even the judges on the bench are bought and sold like meat in the shambles. One must go into court with a long purse to obtain justice. The judiciary of New York stinks like Sodom and Gomorrah. Men say they hardly know a court in which to trust a case. It is no longer an honor to sit on the bench; for if the judge be an upright man, his character will be contaminated by the great majority of his associates. Rev. Robert Atkins, of Liverpool, England, speaks on this matter thus:— Preaching in ceiled houses, sabbath after sabbath, to the same congregation, appears to me but little better than mockery, when the awful state of Christendom arises before me, overshadowed as it is with the cloud of Almighty vengeance. . . . Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is engraven on the very front of every church; and did they know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope; but, alas! they cry, "We are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing;" and this blasphemy is added to apostasy. The editor of the Golden Rule says:— The Protestants are outdoing the popes in splendid extravagant folly in church building. Thousands on thousands are expended in gay and costly ornaments to gratify pride, and wicked ambition, that might and should go to redeem the perishing millions. Does the evil, the folly, the madness, of these proud, formal, fashionable worshippers stop here? These splendid monuments of popish pride, upon which millions are squandered in our cities, virtually exclude the poor, for whom Christ died, and for whom he came specially to preach. No wonder God withholds his holy influences. No marvel the heavens are brass, and the earth iron. The Advent Watchman says:— One of the religious papers tells a story in relation to church gambling, which contains a lesson worthy of repeating. A member of a church went to his pastor and entreated his personal intercession with his favorite son, who had become ruinously addicted to the vice of gambling. The pastor consented, and, seeking the young man, found him in his chamber. He commenced his lecture, but before he had concluded, the young man laid his hand upon his arm and drew his attention to a pile of splendid volumes that stood upon the dressing table. "Well," said the young man, "these volumes were won by me at a fair given in your church; they were my first venture; but for that lottery, under the patronage of a Christian church, I should never have become a gambler." The Philadelphia Times says:— Honesty has fled from the world, and sincerity has fallen asleep. Piety has hidden herself, and justice cannot find the way. The helper is not at home, and charity lies sick. Benevolence is under arrest, and faith is nearly extinguished. The virtues go a-begging, and truth has long since been buried. Credit is turned lazy, and conscience is pinned to the wall. Says the Hornellsville Times:— The records of the past have never presented a more fearful and corrupt state of society than now exists throughout most parts of the United States. The newspapers from every quarter are becoming more and more loaded with the records of crime.