In the Book of Record there are innumerable entries concerning the worldliness, discord, and general declension of the churches, and some of these are as full of lamentation as the prophet's roll. Wise men and fools have been alike eager to try their pens at writing bitter things against the degenerate church of God. A ruthless severity which has never fallen short of the truth has drawn the indictment, collected the evidence, and commented thereon unsparingly. At any rate let us, hope that those who penned the charges and reported the evil deeds were themselves all the easier when they had relieved their minds. If all churches were as a church we know of, if all manifested the same unity, concord, and zeal, the very smallest drop of gall which ever entered into the composition of ink would be far too much to write out the complaints of a century.
Facts are facts, and ought to be as freely stated to honor as to dishonor.
So far as we can judge, the popular part is that of the censorious critic, while he who praises will certainly be suspected and will probably be condemned as a flatterer, or an injudicious partisan. The pastor of a church which we know of was weary in mind and needed rest. He had but to intimate the need, and he was urged to wished him to do as he judged best, and what is better, they furnished him with the means to make holiday whenever he pleased. Quietly and unostentatiously this was attended to as a matter of course, but it was none the less gratefully received. No one had any wish but that the pastor whom they loved should find refreshment from mental strain, and come back full of the blessing of the gospel of peace.