Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-05

NNNh AhNAN ANlAy hilhN NNilliohl hpNtNlAtH
and lyceum lectures. II Is noteworthy
that the last few years have seen the
issue Of an unusual number Of books on
homiletics-books for the guidance Of
the rising ministry; while never was
money more freely given for the COM
pleter equipment of theological schools.
These things do not look as II the pulpit
was soon TO be abandoned.
And the people keep on building
houses Of worship. Right in the midst
of the recent hard times there was
revival Of the most discouraging work
in this connection the paying off of
church debts. Awhile ago a business
man, speaking of an establishment for
casting church bells, remarked that
they were making money now, as there
had recently been many revivals i'm the
churches. The incidental and half
amusing cOllocation of religion and
business was very significant as to the
continued hold of Christianity on the
popular mind. The church-bell men,
like the book men, seem to feel little
anxiety as to the future of Christianity.
Foreign missions and similar Chris
tian enterprises have never been so
well sustained as at present. The popu-
lar interest in religious affairs is shown
also in the fuller reports given by the
secular press of religious conventions
and gatherings. The Sunday-school
also has had great increase in social
power within a score of years. Again,
if there was any general abandonment
OF belief in Christianity, it ought to
show itself among the students in our
1nllnarau fV,l- al, 4
men, feeling less respect for merely
traditional ideas. But we are told that
the proportion of protesting Christians
among the young men in American
colleges is greater than it was twenty
five years ago. In the universities and
other scholastic circles of Germany the
present generation has seen a great in
crease in Christian faith. If it be said
that the BROAD Church" party has be-
come prominent in the Church of kn-
gland, it must also be noted that within
the last thirty years that same church
has made wonderful advance in true
Christian earnestness. These things
do not look as if Christianity was dying
out.
This idea about the increase of inf
deity often arises from the error of
mistaking free inquiry for positive un-
belief. The present, as compared with
the past, is an age of independent
thought. A man is not so ready to be-
lieve thing simply because mis- par
ents believed 1.-THE wishes to decide
the question for himself This NAV in
volve on certain points a temporary
suspense of Judgment The difficulties
that are necessarily involved in certain
doctrines may make the man feel for o
time as if he must reject those doc
trines. When he finally accepts it,
then it may be only with certain modi-
fications. But though a man insists
on examining certain doctrine for
himself-though he hesitates for some
time before accepting tit does not
follow that he will finally reject it. Nay,
though he does reject it in the precise
form in which it has been presented to
him-accepting it only with certain
mOdificatiOns-it does not follow that
he rejects the substance of the dogma.
He may still accept the heart Of the
doctrine wholly, unreservedly. And
the fact that man has examined the
Christian doctrines for himself, that
they have vindicated themselves to his
judgment, that, though at first he
found it difficult to receive them, his
reason has at last absolutely compelled
him to accept them in substantial if not
perfect completeness-this fact gives
them power over his mind and heart,
gives him an earnestness in urging
them upon others, which a purely
passive orthodoxy could never impart.
The earnest believers are those who say
to the learning of the past; "Now we
believe-not because of thy saying, for
we have heard ourselves, and know
that this is indeed the Christ, the Saw
iOr of the world" The present age
may scrutinize the Christian doctrines,
it may modify the creed on certain nom
essential points; but the substance of
those beliefs-the heart of the Christian
taith-it holds more firmly than ever
before. .--ZiO1a's Herald.