Article October 16, 1909 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from Frederick A. Bisbee

[Christian Commonwealth.]

Every denomination is recording a decrease in membership, in spite of the fact that the churches never had so many organizations, never paid as many officials, never spent so much in advertisements, as at the present time. Much of this activity is a sign of weakness, not of strength. It is a fact of great significance that this decline of the churches synchronizes with a deep and widespread revival of spiritual religion, which is to be found in almost all countries of the world. There are thousands of people in England alone who never go to church, but who meet together in groups to meditate on the things of the soul, the relation of the soul to God, and the relation of this life on the earth-plane to the cosmic significance of man. Many among these people are finders of the deepest things of life, and many others are earnest inquirers. Now, it seems to us that the Christian churches need to see with a clear vision the significance of what is taking place outside them: the churches are too enveloped in their own smoke to see how large and how rich the country is through which they are passing; they are too cramped by their point of view, too self-involved.

[Rev. Frederick A. Bisbee, D.D., in Universalist Leader.]

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