New-York tribune., 1871-08-04
ARE I'VE 4 CHRISTIAN PEOPLE,

Some curious IaCU5 Wc1c DIOuBHJ out dJ a
late meeting Of Home Mission Society held
in Philadelphia, bearing upon the past success
of Christian teachers in prOmulgating their
creed among tho masses of the people in this
country. The popular belief is, of course,
that Christianity is 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 denominations was stated to be under
100000, leaving 100000 persons outside of
regular religious public instruction. To reach
this mass it was claimed that "every agency
chad been faithfully tried; Bibles, tracts, and
religious papers have been distributed Sab
"bath and mission schools established tea
gatherings, shows, amusements reading
"r0Oms lodging -hOuses-eVery effort which
"might serve as link between the few regen-
"erate and the multitudinOus unregenerate
"essayed with prayer and faith. And YETI
the good clergyman lamented, "the poor had
"not the gospel preached to them." City
Missions and Young Mems Christian Associa-
tions were doing a good work. but partial
one. The masses We're not converted simply
because the masses were not reached.
certain stratum of society eludes all religious
effort because it is always on the street, the
road, the wharf. The remedy for this de-
ficiency, the Conference decided, lay in street
preaching. 1.-The common people heard Jesus
"gadly,n because He came to them IN the
market, the field the seaside; if He had shut
up His truth in crimson lined and carved
churches, divine as it was, the common peo-
ME would have known nothing about 1T.
All great religious movements in every age,
from His day till the present, were inaugu-
rated by the same means. Ambrose, Chrysos-
tom, Augustine, Peter the Hermit, Wesley.
Whitfield, Luther, who moved the hearts of
nations to their depths, were outdoor
preachers.
Now, while we admit there is a great deal
of common sense in this proposed remedy, we
doubt if it covers the whole ground. In the
first place, we question the justice of our rev.
erend friends in ranking all on-church going
people as not Christians; or, to use the tech
nical phrase, unregenerate.p Whether, as
Tennyson claims, there lies more faith in
honest doubt than in half the creeds," we do
not profess to know but we do know that
the great mass of thinking educated men in
our cities seldom are church-gO while no
one of reasonable intelligence would deny to
many of them strong religious convictions
usually of more force insight, and effective ac-
ton than an inherited, dull, unquestioning be-
lief. We suggest also, that much of the inef'
fectiyeness of preaching rises from this very
injustice Too many clergymen forget that
they are, after ali, fellow-snners and ques-
TONERS after truth on precisely the same plane
as their hearers A man who, in years of cul-
trre and thought, is probably far the superior
of the young speaker in the pulpit, when he
hears portion of the audience addressed as
christian brethren" and himself classed as
an unrepentant hearer simply because he has
not been seen at church OF Sunday school, is
more likely to be amused than convinced.
The show, the dress, the unvaried formal rou-
tine of church services repel many minds, and
among them some of the strongest and most
unconventional; still more, tho poor, who are
always conventional. An educated woman could
dare to appear in church shabbily clothed;
but the washerwoman in the alley, starving,
as she may be. for the bread of life, will not
have it unless she has decent dress in which
20 90 after it. Outdoor preaching will remedy
cllis difficulty; but the preachers must bring
their minds and habits out of doors, as did
their Master, before they can reach the COM
non people. Christianity is enveloped not
orly in a vail of e1clusiveness, but in book
ca5ed dogmas, technical phrases, technical
ideas, which make it to lawyer, man of
business, or q workman, 0s difficult as new
science. The men who bring religion home
to the masses come to them talking their own
dialect-witness Whitfield, Spurgeon, Beechcr
Whatever arrogance or conceit they may have
is tlat of the man, not the saint.
In short, the world-all the worid-needs the
word of God. There are days in every mans
life when, carrying the hod, or in bank or
Office, he longs in his secret soul for some
strOug, new birth to make straight the things
that perplex him-some new basis OF power
and comfort. The man who can speak TINS
woId To him must, III some measure al leas'.
have lived his life and learned his language.