Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-10-26
THE CONTEST BETWEEN VICE I'M
THE CHUREH,

THE CONTEST BETWEEN VICE IND
THE CHURCH..
This is a rebellious people, lying children,
children that will not hear the law of the Lord.
ISAIAH xxx:9.
In the United States there are more than
fifty religious denominations owning more
than hundred thousand church buildings,
presided over by hundred and fifty thou
sand ordained preachers of the gospel. This
gives about one church for every four hun
dred of the population, and larger proper
ton of spiritual teachers. Hundreds of mil
lions of dollars are invested in church edi-
fees, and it is estimated that the cost of
maintaining religious work of every descrip-
ton amounts in the aggregate to something
like two hundred and fifty millions of dol
lars year.
With such number of churches and
preachers, and with the outlay of this i'm
mense amount of money, the public has
right to expect sope notable impression up
on the public morals right to expect
that the world would be getting better day
by day, and approaching the period of the
millennium when men shall beat their swords
into plowshares and their spears
into pruninghooks, and shall
not learn war any moro. But what is the
present aspect of affairs in the midst of this
boosted Christian land? Never before since
the government was founded has the reign
of Belial been more absolute than at the
present time. A man dare NOT trust his
brother in the slightest particular. Crime
stalks openly in our strests, vice parades our
public places, laughing at the law and its
minions, while all manner OF uncleanness
intrudes itself even into the sacred portals
of the church.
A glance at the pages Of the daily newspa-
pers will reveal degree of depravity exist
ing that will appall those who have not OK
a1nined the matter. Murders of unheard. of
atrocity are of daily occurrence in all parts
of the country men who have been honored
and entrusted with official position prove re-
creant to their trust bank officials abscond
with the money placed in their hands for
safe keeping ministers of the gospel are ar
raigned before the courts for hbidinous
conduct; women reported as spotless
heretofore are constantly proving recreant to
their marriage VOWS, while our police courts
are thronged daily with offenders Of every
grade, gathered from every class of society
and every sex and condition. The criminal
record Of a year would fill many ponderous
volumes, and yet the half would not be told.
So forcibly has the condition of affairs
impressed itself upon some ministers of the
gospel that they are becoming alarmed, and
ere forced to the conclusion that the church
is powerless to combat or stem the tide of
sin and degradation that is sweeping over
the country. In recent sermon on this
topic the Rev. Dr.. Abbott E. Kittredge, en-
eminent Presbyterian divine of Chicago.
said:
If the world is growing better, then it might
be pleasant change to have it grow W., se
But YOU and l kno1o this evening that such
words of cheer are untrue. It matters not in
what direction you look, sin is on the increase.
The church Is losing ground in her conflict
with sin she has almost ceased to be felt IA d
| power. If a majority of our church organiza-
| tlons were to-day to become extinct, the world
would hardly know it.
There is much truth in these words. The
church is losing ground daily in it's conflict
with sin, and to-day its influence is scarcely
felt. Is not this hum1liating confession to
be obliged to make?
But there must be a reason for this condi-
ton of things. The time was when the
church was the absolute governor Of the
moral sentiment and the slightest actions of
tie people. It no longer restraints its mem
bers, from the commission of crime, but has
rather become refuge for those with crimii-
nal intent-a cloak with which they can hide
their depravity from the scrutiny of the out
side world, thus enabling them to pursue
their vicious career for long time without
detection. This is due to many causes,
principal among which is the lack of ability.
sincerity, earnestness and watchfulness on
the part Of the clergy. Men seek holy orders
nowadays not for the opportunities thew
may afford of doing good, but that they NAV
have q comfortable, luxurious living without
too much work, and an assured position in
polite society. A large number of them are
indolent and refuse to use the abilities thew
possess in the cause of the master thoy
profess to serve, while many others are
incapable of properly interpreting
his word. Few possess that
earnestness which was the Distinguishing
characteristic of Hha earIv 1Sc;D)o, ,,1
they are therefore unable to infuse into their
hearers that enthusiasm that is an inapor-
tant element of religious life. They preach
their sermons in half-hearted manner. and
they fall upon careless ears or, if listened
to with attention and a desire for profit,
have tendency to depress rather than ele
vate the religious impulses of the mind.
The moral character of many ministers of
tae gospel is such as to drive thousands
from the house of God, and make of them
atheists or iu6dels. There has scarcely been
8 week for the past ten years that the weak
nesses of some members of the cloth have not
been aired in the public prints or in the
courts. The effect has not only been to do
stroy the influence of the clergymen in
question, but to cast disrepute upon all
Others. Moral regeneration on the part of
q minister exercises far wider and worse
influence upon the morals of the communi-
ty tan the faults of any other man, for peo-
pie have come to look for exceptional purity