Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-09-05
Are We Christian People ?


out at a late meeting Of a Home Mis-
sion Society held in Philadelphia,
bearing upon the past success Of
Christian teachers in promulgating
their creed among the masses of the
people in this country The popular
belief is, Of course, that Christianity
~ the religion of the land opposing
this, one of the speakers brought up
on one hand the Mormons, Indians
Chinese, and Voodoo worshipers, and
on the other, the enormous majority
outside Of the churches compared
with the small minority within. In
Philadelphia, which was taken as an
example of this, while the population
is set down as 100000, the average
attendance in churches of all de-
nominations was stated TO be under
100000, leaving 600 900 persons out
side Of regular religious public in
structiou. TO reach this mass it was
claimed that every agency had been
faithfully tried Bibles, tracts, and
religious papers have been Distribute
"ed Sabbath and mission schools
established tea-gatherings, shows,
"amusemenLs, reading-rooms, lodg-
ing houses -every conceivable ef-
''fort which might serve as link be-
tween the few regenerate and the
"multitudinous unregenerate essayed
"with prayer aud faith. And yet"
the good clergyman lamented, "the
poor had not the gospel preached
"to them. City Missions and Young
Mems Christian Associations were
doing good work, but partial
The masses were not converted SIM
ply because the masses were not
reached. A certain stratum Of soci-
ETY. eludes all religious effort because
1T is always on the street, the road,
the wharf. The remedy for this de-
ficiency, tho Conference decided, lay
in street preaching. "Thc common
people heard Jesus gladly" boca use
He came TO them in the market, the
field, at the seaside if be had shut
up His truth in crimson-lined and
carved churches, divine as it was, the
common people would have known
nothing about it. All great religi-
GUS movements in every age, from
His day till the present, were inaug
urated by the same means. Ambrose,
Chrysostom, Augustine, Peter the
Hermit, Wesley, Whitfield, Luther,
who moved the hearts Of nations to
their depths, were out.noor preach
ers.
Now, whilo we admit there is vast
deal of common sense in this propos-
cd remedy, we doubt if it covers the
whole ground. In the first place we
question tho justice of our rever-
end friends in ranking all non-church
going people as not Christians; or,
to use the technical phrase, "unro>
generate" Whether, as Tennyson
claims, "thcre lies more faith in hon
est doubt than in half the creeds, we
do not profess to know but we do
know that the great mass Of think
ing, educated men in our cities sell
dom are church-goers, while no one
Of reasonable intelligence would de-
ny to many Of them strong religious
convictions, usually OF more force,
insight, and effective action than an
Inherited, dull unquestioning belief.
| We suggest, also, that much of the
ineflectveness Of preaching rises
from this very injustice. Too many
clergymen forget that they are, after
ALL telIowsinners and questioners af-
ter truth on precisely the same plane
as their hearers. A man who, in
years of culture and thought is prob
ably far the superior Of the young
speaker in the pulpit, when he hears
q portion Of the audience addressed
as "Christian brethren" and himself
classed rs an unrepentant nearer,
simply because he has not been seen
at church or Sunday-school, is more
likely to be amused than convinced.
The show, the dress, the UNMARRIED
| formal routine of church services re-
pei many minds, and among them
some of the strongest and most I'M
conventional still more, the poor,
who are always conventional. An
educated woman could dare to APP
pear in church shabbily clothed but
the washerwoman in the alley, starv-
ing, it may be, for the bread Of life,
| will not have it unless she has de-
cent dress in which to 90 after it
Outdoor preaching will remedy this
difficulty but the preachers must
bring their minds and habits out of
doors, as did their Master, before
they can reach the common people
Christianity is enveloped not only
in vail OF exclusiveness, but in book
cased dogmas, technical phrases, and
technical ideas, which make it TO q
lawyer, u man of business, or q work
man, as difficult as new SCIENCE
The men who bring religion home to
the masses come to them talking
their own witness Whitfield
Sturgeon, Beechor. Whatever arr
rogance or conceit they may have is
that of the man, not the saint.
In short, tho word-all the world
needs the word of God. There
are days in every mans life when,
carrying the hod, or in bank or Of
fee, he longs in his secret soul for
some strong, new birth to make
straight the things that perplex him,
some new basis of comfort and pow
= or. The man who can speak this
word to him, must, in some measure
at least, have lived his life and learn
cd his language.-N. Y. Tribune.
EE Since the Democratic paper,
+, have tried 10 offset the pammany
: frauds with defalcations 10 the Inter
nal Revenue Department, the facts