Richland beacon., 1878-01-05
New York SUM-
Tie Empty Churches.

now 10 gel people 10 cnn!cn, Is a queslion
which, as We learn from Deacon Richard
Smiths paper, the Protestant preachers CT
Cincinnati IRE holding meetings to debate.
1t appears that the congregations liz the
churches o. these preachers are small; that
it is less io>day than it was twenty years ego !;
and that the outlook for the future is not a, all
hopeful. The language that fell from tue
from the lips of the Cincinnati preachers, the
dolorous refrain that issued from the mouths
of tho Rev. Mr.. Emery end the Rev. DR..
Morey, and the Rev. Mr.. Mum, nigh, almost
raise \ feeling Of despair in the minds of
those who still adhere TO them. IF the at
tendance upon their churches continues to
diminish for the next twenty years, tie costly
edifices will have to be given up 20 the owls
and the bats and the biuerns, or tanned to
other uses than those for which they were
built
But why is the attendance upon these Gin
cinnati churches dwindling, They are costly
buildings with cushioned pews and carpeied
floors, and pleasing pulpts. Behold how
spacious and attractive they are. Hear the
swell Of their organs and tie melody Of their
singers. How lovely are the hymns. This,
now, Is the holy incense of prayer. Listen
TO the voices Of their preachers, soft and
sweet, os they advance through their sermons
from exordium to peroration, as they rise into
eloguence. as they wander through the fields
Of imagination, as tl.ey proceed with their
orderly ra,iocinalion, as they indulge in ap-
peal and exaortation, as they take their flight
beyond the clouds. Learned men are these
preachers; most Of them have studied He-
brew, Gree. and Latin, as we'll as logic, met
aphysics, and mathematics. Trained IN the
arts Of rhetoric and oratory are they. Excel
lent salaries do they draw, as q stimulus to
their minds. They are mostly men OF good
social position, so-called, men Of elegant man.
ners, men who know how to dress and dine
and drive, and who are familiar with the
ways Of the respectable world Of which they
are part.
Yet, with all these attractions, the Cncn.
natl churches do not attra, audiences, and the
preachers hold meetings TO find out what they
shall do about it.
The preachers whose eloquence is dis
played in them deal with subjects of the most
tremendous import to mankind. The rela.
tons of man TO his maker, the everlasting
interests of the immortal soul, heaven and
hell, the eternal and infexibIe laws Of truth
and right, the principles Of practical righteous
ness in their application to life, and the Whole
duty of man in this word-these are the
themes which i, is their business to expound
from their pulpus. What other themes can
equal these in interest What other themes
can men be as DESTROYS TO know about! Ye'
the Cincinnati preachers complain that the
people will not listen to them, and that the
attendance upon their churches is falling of
year after year Is i, not ground Of wonder
ments
The Cincinnati preachers do well to confer
with each other abou, the matter, while ye'
there are some hearers left to them. Lei
shem question one another closely, and see il
shey themselves are not somehow ia fault