Wesley himself, before he was, according to his own statement, converted to God, might sit as the model for the modern saint. We are going back to the theology of the tenth century. In the largest denomination of the land, their chief Theological Seminary for the instruction of the future preachers of the church, was built and endowed by one who is notorious as a stock gambler, and whose business transactions are condemned by even the lax, Wall Street morality. In the next largest denomination, the most popular female college was, in like manner, built and endowed by one of the heaviest brewers of the country. The influence of these illustrious examples, is felt in almost every country church.
Property controls the pew, and property controls the pulpit.
Mammon is the chief minister in Christ's kingdom. The affairs of the church are conducted upon the same business principles as those which control other successful corporations. Experimental piety is branded as fanaticism, which in the poor is not to be endured, and in the rich is only tolerated as a necessary evil. All this comes from the efforts to build a Christian character with self as the foundation. The seeming success is but a splendid failure.