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2 (510) THE
A REPLY
(To a Recent Letter to "The Ministers, Officers
and Members of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States.")
By a. Lay man and Deacon of the Church.
If it is true, as stated "by those who are in a
position to be sure of their ground that "In
many hundreds of our churches there was
not one adddition" during the past twelve
montlis' time "on profession of faith" to these
churches, then something is terribly amiss in
the workings of our church and the situation
is truly appalling.
The facts in the case are that these churches
are located in the "new south," where for
twenty years population, commerce and
manufactures have increased to such a noteworthy
degree as to occasion national remark
and to torce the belief that this very region
has promise of continued growth and is perhaps
the most virile portion of this active republic.
It is a further fact that other denominations,
such as the Methodists, Baptists,
Campbellites, and several new sects have
taken advantage of this tide of progress and
have increased their membership in proportion.
What their actual gain in membership
is may be seen by a reference to their annual
reports and it will be found that they show
active vigorous growth. We see their new
churches on every hand, their funds for all
purposes are likewise increasing year by year
and in the foreign field they are correspondingingly
aggressive. They have been occupying
similar territory with our own church and
nave in no way been especially favored. Now
"what will you do about this" self-confessed
"paucity of accessions" in the Presbyterian
Church in the United States on profession of
faith ?
The answer to this vital question is, to the
writer's mind, not far to seek. As a mere
layman and deacon in our beloved church, as
one interested most deeply in her welfare and
having had an intimate relation with our
church in many States and over a considerable
period of time I risk setting forth as briefly
and as clearly as possible the two great
causes that are responsible for the humiliat
mg state of affairs as evidenced above. And
it must be remembered that our church as a
whole, and not only the churches with no additions
at all, has been sluggish and comparatively
indolent so far as growth is concerned.
As a whole and entirely aside from
the very worst or the very best examples, we
are, according to statistics by no means holding
our own in converts.
To the writer's mind, the principal reason
for this lack of growth is that we do not make
especial efforts for converts. By this I mean
we do not hold unusual services at unusual
times with the avowed intention of
reaching the unsaved. Protracted meetings,
revival services, or evangelistic services of
any other name are extremely rare in our
church. Whatever mav be said to t.ho rnn
trary I believe this to be true. In my various
changes of residence, and holding myself to a
regular attendance at church I have never,
so far as I can recall, heard announced from a
Presbyterian pulpit that protracted services
would be held for the unconverted and that
Brother Brown or Smith would assist the regular
pastor. Not once in twenty-five years
have I heard of a series of evangelistic meetings
where I .have attended divine worship.
In our own'case this includes many years in
Virginia, and in Texas, my home. I also had
several years in New York City, and in Pennsylvania.
I have seen far longer or shorter
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S<
periods in Maryland, the District of Columbia,
and in Mississippi. I state these facts to
back my assertion that unusual services in
the Presbyterian Church are very rare. If
the students at Richmond or other parties
would make a careful canvass of the situation
they would find that by actual and definite
statistics, the Presbyterian Church does not*
expend the time nor put forth the energy and
money necessitated by a regular attempt to
hold protracted services at which highways,
and byways are to be ransacked for lost souls.
However, other denominations do put forth
such efforts, yearly and systematically, at
which times they bestir themselves and pastor
and people work for days together in the
earnest effort to redeem the unconverted.
They go down in .their pockets, for the .additional
funds and at times pledge so much
weekly ''until the meeting shall be closed" at
the Jdiscretiou of the. pastors engaged in the
work. They may be truly termed religious
"Progressives" though not more so than the
early disciples following in the footsteps of
their Lord. Now it may be that some will
arise at this point and will condemn this so
called sensational and emotional religion and
object that they are opposed to "pleasure"
methods. To all such I reply, "By their fruits
ye shall know them." It is we who are inquiring
at our headquarters Avhy the Lord is
withholding his spirit from many hundreds
of our churches that have not received one
single convert on profession during a twelvemonth
and from many hundred others that
have received only one during the same period
of time. 1 will also recall that Christ was
termed a dangerous agitator and that his
methods were untrammeled, and far removed
from the accepted tenets of the day. In the
writer's humble opinion the evangelistie services
of our brethren in the Lord are ofttimes
misrepresented and the spectacular features
exaggerated. The danger to the Church of
Christ today is not high pressure methods,
but low pressure methods?not so much over
zealous religious enthusiasm as no enthusiasm
at all where indolence, and letharsv. anathv
and indifference all combine to breathe a
blighting and deadly miasma ovef spiritual
life and growth. Now what would a business
man or other man of affairs expect from the
two "systems" (for such they seem to be in
actual practice), the one that of regular, systematic,
and at times machine like meetings
twice Sundays and one week nights at stated
times and in unchanging order, seldom or
never broken by an extra spark or religious
enthusiasm as opposed to this same series of
religious services, but interrupted at least
yearly by days and nights of evangelistic
meetings where an intense effort is made to
save souls and where often the entire community
is shaken with the striving for those
who at no ordinary times ever darken the
aoor or tne church by liieir presence? Just
what is yearly passing before our eyes, viz:
The Presbyterian Church growing but slowly
and in large measure from the Sabbath School
while the others augment this addition by others
gathered from the great harvest field entirely
beyond church atmosphere. Our dividends
as a denomination are poor because the
capital involved is meagre and we are receiving
them correctly on the investment involved.
Palestine, Texas.
i I
(To be continued.)
Has your religion any difficulty in it, or is it
in all respects easy to you? Are you simply
taking your own pleasure in your mode of living,
or do you find your pleasure in submitting
to God's"pleasure?
)UTH [ May 8, 1912
THE CHURCH AND THE POOR.
BY REV. E. C. GORDON, D. D.
The primitive church under the Christian
dispensation drew its early converts among
th6 Gentiles from the poor. This experience
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uits ueen repeated over and over again. But
the Church, has not continued to consist chiefly
of poor people. Under anything like favorable
conditions in the struggle for life, liberty
and wealth, Christians have outstripped their
fellows. And "this success has been in direct
proportion to the strictness with which Christians
have adhered to the primitive doctrines
and the primitive practices of their religion.
Since the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century,
Protestant countries have beaten Catholic
countries in this struggle; even as evfery
Catholic country , has beaten every Pagan
county, and as everywhere Christians, especially
Christians of the stricter sort, have beaten
irreligious persons.
The reason for this is apparent to every intelligent
observer. The primitive Christian
religion inculcates and insists upon the pracfipp
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cumulation of wealth and which foster high
ideals concerning liberty according to law.
The nearer people adhere to the primitive
doctrines and practices of the Christian religion,
the greater will be their productive
power, their capacity to contend with their
fellows in every department of human endeavor.
What of time and energy others
waste in idleness, in selfish indulgence, in the
practice of vice and crime, the Christian
spends in productive work.
It follows from these plain truths that sooner
or later, there must come a separation of
some sort between the Church and the great
mass of men who remain outside of the formative
influence of the Christian religion. This
separation is normal and inevitable, and issues
naturally enough in alienation on the part of
those who remain poor. These resent the
greater prosperity of their neighbors. Instead
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w*. m 11 ii'uuiif, 1,111s gicnicr piusperiiy iu iih
true cause, they attribute it to unfair social
conditions. They forget, or never learn, that
conditions in this world have always been
unfair with respect to the weak as against
the strong. They forget or never learn that
the practice of the Christian religion makes
men strong; strong to resist temptation, strong
to labor and to wait; and wise withal, wise to
get hold of and to use the best means to secure
their desired ends; so that they are able
to overcome adverse social conditions, and
to mould and use them to their own advantage.
Because of this ignorance or this forgetfulness,
it is to be expected that the poor
win aisnKe tne Uhurch when the Church becomes
rich and powerful.
This alienation is greatly fostered by another
circumstance. The possession of intelligent
foresight^ the opportunities to amass
wealth, the practice of the economic virtues
are not confined to God's people. Many of
the Devil's people possess these advantages
and opportunities and practice these virtues
so as not only to produce wealth but also to
rob their fellows under the cover of the law.
This is an old story and one that is ever new.
Frequently it is difficult if not impossible to
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maKe just discrimination between the Devil's
rich and Christ's rich. In many ways the two
classes intermingle. This intermingling is fostered
by our modern methods of doing business.
The Christian, the non-Christian and the
anti-Christian meet and work together in all
sorts of business enterprises and share the rewards
of success. The methods ^may become