The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1872-11-20
The Audience that Does not Gather.

| that there is In CnlS lanu vast multitude
never reached by the gospel; who never hear
it and only indirectly enjoy any of its bene.
fits. There are many who deliberately re-
nct the gospel, many who are led away from
the church into unbelief and vice, and many
who, under evil influences, never enter the
church to which they are earnestly invited,
and into which they know they would be
cordially welcomed. But we speak of those
whom the church does not seek out and
compel to come in, and who, practically, are
almost as far removed from US as if they
we're in distant land. The poor, the igno-
rant, the degraded, the vicious and the un-
believing, who never enter church door ;
who, whether rightly or not, feel themselves
excluded and array themselves against the
church; who shut themselves off from its
sympathy and rejoice in every opportunity
to make mock OF religion.
Nor would we shut our eyes to the fact
that this class is increasing, and that the dis
tance between it and the church is growing
wider. There is noble Christian effort;
there are many instances of successful work
in and for the masses. Still it is true that
there is growing separation between the
church and very large part of our popu-
lation. There are more who never enter a
house of worship, and there are more young
men growing up in the church who do not
unite with it. The leaven is not penetrating
the whole mass, but only detached parts of it.
We know that this should not be SO. We
know that in apostolic times and in times Of
the great reformation it was not so, and that
if shall continue to go on the gravest results
may be anticipated There is, therefore, no
more serious question before US than this:
How can we make the gospel reach the whole
mass of the people, SO that the lowest will
hear its message of love and feel the power
of its life?
1t will not do for US to ascribe the unwill-
ingness of SO many to hear the gospel to
their repugnance to the humiliating truths
of the Bible; for they fill school-houses,
they attend open-air meetings, they thrODg
theaters to hear the same truths. There is
deep seated enmity to the law of God, but
there are also convictions of conscience and
longing8 of the heart which the gospel meets.
The hostility is in great measure against
the church. Processing Christians are looked
upon as hypocrites; the churches are called
proud and selfish, caring more for pew rents
md responsibility than for souls, and minis
ters are profession whose first concern is
for the salary.
This has been felt, and many experiments
have been made to 'overcOme it. Free pews
are advertised, but they are only partially
filed. Open-air services are held, but they
must be temporary. Theaters are rented
for Sabbath services, and are filled with
those who do not attend the churches; but
still the hostility to the church remains, and
those who gather elsewhere to hear the Cos
pei do not come to the places where, from
necessity, the stated administration of the
ordinances must be.
Many causes, no doubt combine to pro-
duce this result. 1t may be impossible to
define all or to measure the power of each
one. We may find in this one of the un-
happy results of that strife between labor
and capital which furnishes problem so
difficult to the political economist. When
employees are on strike, or when they feel,
whether rightly or not, that their employers
are not paying them just wages, it is difficult
for them to come to the same church on the
Sabbath. So long as these industrial rela
tons make social distinctions, it will be diff
cult for separated classes to sit down at the
table of the Lord together. That hostility
to wealth, which in Paris developed in COM
munism, pervades large part of society,
and rises against the church, because it re-
ceives the support of wealth.
For something of the same reason, costly
houses of worship, although not too costly
for the worship, sometimes become him
drance to the work of the church. They be-
come, in many minds, associated with wealth
and pride, and are thought to be for the rich
and not for the poor. Although they are
really open to all, and every one would be
cordially welcomed, those who dress plainly
and live without luxury do not feel at home
in them, for they do not feel that the Vor
ship is for them.
In the style of our services, also, we have
drifted away from the mass of the people.
Our congregations are not missions where
aggressive work is carried on, but schools
and homes for those who are in the church.
The sermons are elaborate, the music is arts
tic, the prayers are from hearts that have
always prayed, and have never known the
depth of temptation and sin. There is,
therefore, little to attract the unbelieving
and wicked; there is no Outgushing of Cos
pei sympathy, there is no common expert
enCe, there is no response to the yearnings
of their sad, deSolate hearts. When the
pastor of we'll established congregation
breaches in some strictly mission station his
whole manner changes, and those who lis
tened dreamily in the pew, now are all at
tention and wonder at the change. New
non nreratinns often have moral power over