THAT the popular churches are fast losing their hold upon the people, is confessed by leading ministers and editors everywhere. The Watchman and Reflector, a Baptist paper, says :
"But account for the fact as we may, the fact remains that our New England people—men and women, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh—are separating themselves more and more from the Christian Church and its influences. And it is with this fact that we are concerned. How to meet it seems to us to be one of the gravest difficulties which confront the church of to-day."
The fact none can deny; but is there not a cause? Are not the churches and ministers themselves to blame for this? Read this and then judge :
THE POOR SHUT OUT OF THE CHURCHES.
A writer in the Christian Union of June 10, 1874, says :
"The city in which I reside, in Western New York, has hitherto sustained an excellent reputation for good morals and good order; but within a few years many large manufacturing interests have concentrated here, the population has increased rapidly, and immorality and crime now seem to be on the increase.
"In the evening, and especially upon the Sabbath-day, weather permitting, a large concourse of citizens come forth upon the streets seeking pleasure and amusement. These people are ‘naturally as good as anybody,’ but they rarely attend church, and receive but little, if any, religious instruction from our ministers of the Gospel. We have several large and commodious public halls that can be rented, but they are rarely used for religious purposes on the Sabbath-day.
"We have many learned and eloquent preachers, but they never preach to the ‘rabble.’ We have many large and beautiful churches, but they are almost exclusively occupied by their builders and owners. I attended one of these churches last Sunday evening. It is of the modern style and structure. The walls are of stone, even to the cap of the lofty and graceful spire; the pulpit and pews are of black walnut; the floors are covered with a rich carpet, soft to the touch and delicate in pattern; the gallery is large enough for a quartette choir and a magnificent organ decked with blue and gold. Gas jets, unnumbered by me, threw a brilliant light over the splendid scene. The congregation was not large, yet occupied the whole church. Clothed in garments luxuriant and tasteful, they adjusted themselves to the enjoyment of the spacious and elegant comforts prepared by themselves. After the ponderous bell ceased tolling, the choir sang a selection, as I supposed, from one of the old masters.
"Looking over this assemblage of the educated and refined, their names upon the pews, and assured of their record in the Lamb’s Book of Life, I could not appreciate the great necessity of preaching to them. Yet the eloquent pastor devoted twenty minutes to calling sinners to repentance. The chapter he read from the Bible and the theme of his prayers and sermon seemed applicable to the spiritual wants and necessities of a class of people who were not present, but who were roaming the streets outside of the walls of that fashionable edifice.
"To the thoughtful observer there seems to be a serious misapprehension of duty and a great misapplication of money and talent in spreading the Gospel in cities. Concede that it is the privilege of the rich and the righteous to build fine churches with luxurious appointments, and to employ eloquent divines to preach to them; but do these ‘close corporations’ render the Gospel acceptable to the needy? Or do they furnish it to the poor without money and without price? It is not necessary to make any ungenerous criticisms, but all the ministers in this large city know that the large class of people who most require religious instruction do not, and will not, attend these elegant churches where they officiate, and that the reason of their absence is something in human nature that cannot be despised, and that cannot be ascribed to ‘total depravity.’ Our Saviour said that he came upon earth that the Gospel might be preached to the poor, and cannot ministers who claim to be commissioned by him, and who would follow his example, devise some way in which they can preach to the sinful and neglected masses?”
No wonder that such ministers and such churches do not hold the masses who are of the laboring and poorer classes. These are virtually shut out of these fine churches.
How unlike the preaching of Christ and his apostles is this modern preaching! They sought the multitude, especially the poor. But these shut themselves up in their gorgeous temples, with a few rich nabobs, and then talk as cold and as stiff as the old Pharisees. No wonder that men are breaking away from such a dead carcass, though it does call itself the Church of Christ.
What is needed to-day is, not polished preachers and wealthy churches; but live, earnest men with warm hearts, who will go where the people are, and adapt themselves to their circumstances. Such men with the blessing of God, will see fruit of their labor.
EVERY DAY RELIGION.
"We must come back to our point, which is not to urge all of you to give yourselves up to mission work, but to serve God more and more in connection with your daily calling. I have heard that a woman who has a mission makes a poor wife and a bad mother. This is very possible, and at the same time very lamentable; but the mission I would urge is not of this sort. Dirty rooms, slatternly gowns, and children with unwashed faces, are swift witnesses against the sincerity of those who keep others’ vineyards and neglect their own. I have no faith in that woman who talks of grace and glory abroad, and uses no soap and water at home. Let the buttons be on the shirts, let the children’s socks be mended, let the house be as neat as a new pin, and the home be happy as the home can be. Serve God by doing common actions in a heavenly spirit, and then, if your daily calling only leaves cracks and crevices of time, fill these up with holy services."
So says Mr. Spurgeon; and let all the people say, Amen. D. M. C.