The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-07-06
SABBATH cHURcH4GOfNG.

4 SABBATH cHURCH2GOTNG. !,
The question is raised whether Sab
bath attendance ,churchis diminish
ing? Various public journals have
commented on the subject. and assigned
causes for the falling off of church,
goers. 1t is alleged ministers have not
kept pace with the people in the pro-
gress of intelligence, but are content to
preach the old WORKOUT dogmas as
enunciated generations ago; that they
are too timid to give any new inter-
pretations of divine truth, which a
closer study of the scriptures, aided by
the light of science, have revealed ;
that for these reasons men of thought
who respect the church excuse them
selves from attendance on the Sabbath
services. These criticisms have a
show of plausibility, but are not just
in their application to the church in
general. There are ministers all over
this country and in Europe who are
abreast with the times; they preach no
new gospel, but diyest it of the tradi-
tiOnal creeds with which it has been
hampered, thereby adapting it more to
the reason and understanding of men.
The christian world has been bound to
creeds as with hoops of iron: a depart
ure from old formulated articles of
faith, which are only Of human devils
ing, subjects to the charge of heresy.
In ecclesiastical councils convictions
for heresy have often been found on
the charge of departure from the creed
rather than from the teachings of the
scriptures, thus placing the authority
of the creed above the Bible. 81
1t is doubtless true that many of the
pulpits are not supplied with the grade
of talent adapted to intelligent au-
diences; this is a misfortune which
theological institutions Of learning are
laboring to obviate. 1t does detract
from the interest Of church services
for minister to appear before an in
telligent audience without preparation.
A labored attempt to prove a self-evi-
dent and long-admitted truth is about
as profitable as the endeavor to con-
vince a reasonable man that two and
two make four, or five and four make
nine. The suggestion has frequently
been made in the religious press that
ministers, or at least large proper
tion of them, would do more effective
service if they preached only one SER
mon on the Sabbath, and put their best
effort into that one, instead of dividing
it into two; one well digested sermon
is better than two, or even half doz-
en-, hastily put together sentences,
without logical arrangement. Still
there are hundreds of preachers who
are adequate to the task of preparing
two sermons every week acceptably
for even a series of years. ae i.
The statement that church-going
has been diminished is not supported
by facts; it may be true i'm various To-
calities, but not the country in general.
Statistics based on the United States
census for long periods of years show
a gradual increase of church attend
ance in proportion to the increase
of population. There never has been
a period in the past history of the
country when the churches in most of
the large cities were so thronged with
hearers as now. What is true of the
large cities is equally true of the
smaller cities and towns, with excep-
tional cases. The people of this coun-
try, and of other civilized lands, cannot
afford to allow the Sabbath to go by
default; it is an institution which has
come down to us through the ages of
the past; it is the mark of civilization
the world over where it is properly OBJ
served. 1t is an acknowledged neces-
sity by all enlightened peoples and ma
tions. Even heather countries have
their particular days of devotion. If
any good citizen habitually neglects
Sabbath attendance of any church he
is not in harmony with the christian
sentiment of the world.