Article May 30, 1908 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from Charles F. Aked

[Rev. Charles F. Aked as reported in the New York World.]

"Is Christianity played out?" asked the minister, quoting a recent article in a magazine. "What are the causes? First I would say that the pulpit is out of touch with the times. Everything has progressed except Christianity. Many thinking and progressive young men and women have been driven from the Church by the stupidity of the preachers. The pulpit is out of touch with the times. Compelled to a life of grinding poverty, treading always the same old paths of a thousand years, hide-bound and restricted in our actions, we have become the laughing-stock, parrots of dead Church cries, instead of preachers of the living Christ. ... When I first came to this great city of New York, the center of empire, its broad avenues thronged with eager, strenuous crowds, pulsating with energy and hope, I saw the buoyancy of the American people, I learned their character of hope, and endeavor, and electric activity. When I interviewed my parishioners, and they are among the most representative in the city, I find the spirit of religious depression very unlike the spirit of abounding enterprise in business, in manufacturing, in engineering and construction."

[The Outlook.]

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