Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-04-22

2DAY, APRIL %
, most serious blemishes of that age.
Lecky said: "Walpole governed b,
all assembly which was saturate,
with corruption" Our American
congress, though by no means i'm
msculate. is an assembly of saints a.
compared with the English parlia
ment Of those evil days. Fashion
able life and sentiment were coars,
and foul. The writings of De Foe
Swift, Fielding and Smollett full,
illustrate this.''
An English writer, Rev. Kichart
Watson. says: SIN a great many in
stances the clergy were negligent ant
lmmoral-otten grossly 30. The pop
ulace oil the large towns were ignt-
rant and profligate, and the inhabi
tants OF the villages added to ignOr
ance and protiigacy british and bar
barous manners. A more striking in
stance of the rapid deterioration o
religious light and influence in /.
country scarcely occurs than in oul
own, from the Restoration to til.
time of Methodism. 1t affected no
only the (Established) church, bu
the dissenting sects in no small de
gree"
THE UNITED STATES.
| 1.-The corruption of manners work
ing downward through English so
ciety during the reign of William
I'LL. Queen Anne aud the first tw.
Georges. extended to American
shores, changing the moral aspects %
the people," Official records in 1915
show many gallons Of liquor used by
the lnOurners assembled to bury
prominent ministers of churches IL
New England, as also several gallons
of wine at the funerals of paupers
"Afalrs had come to such q pass thai
In l742 the general court forbade the
use Of wine and rum at funerals" o!
the Scotch.Irish Presbyterians settled
at Londonderry, N. H.. about 1719 /,
was said: 1.-The Derry Presbyterian
never gave up a pint of doctrine OF
a pint Of rum" Que of their descen.
dants says of them:
"of the g,odly men of old Derryffeld
It was often said that their only care.
TIM ne'5 sn. Ms1d and only
| Was u string OF eels and 4 jug Of ru.n.n
"The clergy in the Virginia colony,
favoring the style OF those in Eng
land, were morally low, and the pee.
pie lever STILL"
"Doelling was not a sectional but
q national vice." sald Rev. Leonard
Woods. 81 remember when [ could
reckon up among my acqueihtancet
forty ministers who were intemper.
/ 0f
times said in Boston newspaper
"A great many dcacOns in New Eng'
land died drunkards. have list oi
one hundred and twenty-three intem
perate deacons in Massacbuse se it's, for.
ty-three of them became sots.''
DIVORCES.
The multitude of these seem in oul
| day to show agrowing laxity of ln0r.
al, but we must remember that the
grounds upon which divorces cat
tie obtained are by eur laws more
numerous than formerly, aud it is
questionable whether larger pro-
portion are granted upon the serious
grounds, adultery than formerly. The
records Of churches show in the good
old days the great number of church
trials upon charges OF drunkenness
and uuchastity. Aud as setoff against
the frequency OF divorces now, we
may call to mind that the newspapers
OF the years gone by teemed with ad.
vertisemeDts Of runaway wives to as
great an extent as those OF our day dc
with divorce suits.
SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY.
The general assembly of the Pres
byterian church in 1898 said: "a dis.
solution of religious society seems
threatened by the supineness and in
attention of many ministers aud pro.
fessors of Christianity" Our nu.
thor states. and the reviewer thin K g
justly: 1.-The last two decades OF the
eighteenth century were the darkest
period, morally aud spiritually, ilI
the history OF American Christiani-
ty." We find new era beginning
with the great revivals about the
year 1900, aud the topics given for his
second caption under this head give
an ldea of this new era, viz:
l. The new life organizing.
II. The new life aggressive.
lll. New lay activities.
~. City missions.
v. Home missions.
vi. Young Mems Christian Asso-
ciations.
VII. Foreign missions.
VIII. Pecnniary benevolencsa.
TX. Type of religious character.
In the revivais, of these later years,
especially during the last tive decades
there has been less OF unWhOleIome
excitement and of Objectionable phys
lcal phenomena than characterized
the early revivals in Scotland amsng
the Presbyterians. in England under
the Wesleys. in America under Whit
neld ana Edwards, and in Tennessee
and hentucky at the be2inning of this
century. A more deliberate and in.
teiilgent action of the religious sensl-
oilitles ia everywhere apparent"
"ihe traits of this new life have
been All increase Of nearly ten millions
o. COMMITMENTS in the Evangelical
c. ches from 1900 to $780,"
.-"ring the seven decades from 1910
to 1890 there were collected in this
count for foreign and homemissions
-9'oJo'I47, OF which 88 per cent
''aised during the last 80 years.
- '!"y the last decade, though en-
bracing years OF great financial pres.
sure. the contributions to these object g.
have averaged yearly, S., ,1O3 ,e57. more
Than three times as much as the YEARLY
average from 1850 to 1860.
STATISTICAL EXHIBITS.
In the year 1875, according to Rev.
kobt. Baird, ID d.. there were only l.
9lo church organizations OF evangelical
denominations In the United States:
isoO ................. ............ r O3s
ISs,, '-''.''''. 40. l4S
'.... ..-........ " ,O.O
CHURCH kDIFICEs.
isW i.V -.................3 34 5;1
IsS0 .''.''.'''.. ..'......-.......-..4S.O Il. OBJ
1851 ...... Not Vet Insw3 90; la
ORDAINED MlNIsTERs
!Soo ,Soo ''.............. ................2 z G6l
io.o ..-.........- Il G.,9
-.----..' -..-'-...--.. .G9 $40
An increase OF 4,3l5 ordained minis.
ters IN thirty years, and an iacrease IN
tho last ten years OF % ,26l.
COMMUNICATES.
,Se" ,SS ''''.'........... 3bi 81! .......
iSW ....'............ 3,52? 3sS 3l65, ,ll6
is'o ...-...-......... 80. q 613 :iYi 3I4j 4S
''S' ''................ ...l0, W.. 9G3 3 3!E 597
Gain from 1900 to 1880 ...........,9 8. 7Ol O9I
The increase from 1870 to 1880 was a
little more than in the next previous 70
years and NOR. Than in the first SO years
FINANCE VI CONTRIBUTIONS
10 foreign AID home mIs,ien hnardu