Witnessing to Facts

It is possible to conceive of a type of man that would be prompted by pride to exaggerate his own faults, but it would be difficult to think that a person of this character could be found occupying a position of religious prominence. When, therefore, an honored minister states in earnest, unreserving words the facts which evidence to him weakness and incapacity in the religious body of which he is a conspicuous representative, we can but conclude that, though possible overstated in a moment of depression, the grounds of his appeal must be saddeningly true.

In a late issue of one of the leading denominational weeklies, the editor takes a very pessimistic view of the religious condition and outlook, and presents an impressive array of evidence in support of this contention that "the world is stranded on the rocks of sin, and in imminent danger of applling disaster." Public corruption and private greed, social and political contempt for ethical standards, the frequent sacrifice of honor and patriotism for vulgar wealth or distinction, the indifference of might to honesty and justice in its economic and political dominion, and the consequent spirit of bitterness and anarchy which are rife among the masses,—all these are pictured with starling force, and this "carnival of sin" is further declared to be not the cause but the result of spiritual deadness in the church. "The decadence of the church," says he, "is not so much due to these conditions as these conditions are due to the decadence of the church." It is like the voice of Tolstoi crying in the wilderness, "The evil from which men are suffering is produced by the fact that the majority live without that which alone affords a rational guidance for human activity.—without religion, and even lower than they!"

This recognition of the causal relation between the failure of Christian people to apprehend and utilize the spiritual resources of their religion, and the "appalling" human conditions referred to, is most significant. He alone who is entirely sure of the adequacy and availability of spiritual truth can enter upon the struggle against the asserted forces of evil with confidence and true courage, and it is clear that an awakening of the dormant religionists of every denomination and faith to this fact must precede their successful labor for the world's redemption. Christian Science declares that in the absence of a satisfying evidence of the present supremacy of revealed truth. Christian effort can but be nerveless and ineffective, and hence its insistence that there is continuous and imperative need of those demonstrations of healing which characterized our Lord's ministry, and which, as he declared, were to be the convincing proofs that should abide, with all believers and throughout all time, to establish faith and inspire endeavor.

This brother's pessimism is not unique: it discouraging note is echoed in the columns of well-nigh every Christian periodical that comes to our table. His thought that "the current of life is sweeping away from the church and not towards it." is constantly expressed, and it seems quite inexplicable that those who thus perceive and openly declare the inefficacy of their own "hold upon God." should not be able to rejoice in the faith and achievement of those who can bear witness to better things.

Christian ministers are constantly deploring the fact of empty pews, despite painstaking and expensive effort to make the services attractive. They constantly refer to the lapse of interest in the prayer-meeting, the neglect of Bible study and of the cultivation of the spiritual life. They speak of the increasing difficulty in raising money for church support and religious work, and of the growing indifference of the people to the ends for which the church exists. In an entirely different vein, Christian Scientists are privileged to speak of churches and other assembly rooms that are always crowded, though without "attractions;" of deep and abiding interest in the prayer and experience meetings; of the devotion of the people to Bible study, and to the spiritual overcoming of every sickness and sin; of large and continuous giving for church needs and beneficent work, and of a great awakening to the spiritual life and all that it means for humanity.

The contrast between these two lines of testimoney, is very marked and full of meaning, and in view of the unquestioned facts, it seems to us entirely in keeping with Christian propriety and expectation that only kind and things will be said by Christian ministers of a movement which is giving so creditable an account of itself, and which is attaining results whose impressive absence from his own parish prompts many a pastor to write for his church paper in terms that are no less frank than regrettable and suggestive.

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Editorial

The Mental Remedy

September 3, 1904

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