Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-05-18
The Best Answer to Bishop Potter.


preacher and orator is national. One
of the most important features oil
his scholarly and powerful discourse
was that in which he contrasted the
religious and moral conditions that
existed in this country century age
with those that are found today.
Bishop Potter's generalities in the
pessimistic line disclosed his lack oil
knowledge of American history. DR.,
Barrows revealed his thorough mas
terry of the facts On which he main
tanned that the Republic is far bet.
ter, as well as bigger, in 1889 than
it was in 1889. Under this effective
treatment statistics became as elo.
quent as they were conclusive. They
cannot be denied, and their logic is
resistleSs. Take, for instance, this
pregnant and powerful paragraph:
1t has been the teaching of our
greatest statesmen that the acquain.
lance and spread OF religion were es-
sential to our safety and prosperity.
De Tocqueville said that despotism
may govern without hate, but liber.
ty cannot. Ours is the only great
nation where religion has fair field,
unincumbered by State alliances. a
hundred years ago the Methodist
churches had only handful of con-
gregations. They now number more
communicates than were then peO-
pie in the country. The Baptists,
who were then mildly prosecuted
North and South, have to-day nearly
three millions Of members. The
Congregational churcnes in New
England were not then entirely dis
established, and when their sever
ance from the State occurred it prov
ed blessing and not a curse. The
Episcopal Church IN Virginia, whose
parsons we're discredited on account
of their Tory leanings, and who had
become so dissolute that the Legis.
lature found it needful to pass spec.
ial laws prohibiting them from drunk.
enness, was disestablished in 1885,
aud thenceforward, under the great
leadership of Bishop Meade and
others, the church of Madison and
Washington began its better life,
and to-day numbers more communi-
cants than all the Americans church
es at the opening of the century. A
hundred years ago the Presbyterian
churches were often built with funds
raised by means of lottery, while
drunkenness prevailed in all ranks
among clergy and people to an al.
most incredible extent. The temp
erance reform is one of the brightest
stages of the last century, and we
ought to thank God that in hun
dred years most of the liquor has
gone out Of the veins of the Ameri-
can Church, although, it must be
sadly confessed, the political power
OF the liquor interest was never more
despotlc and destructive.
At the beginning of this
century," added DR.. Barrows,
"French infideIity ruled the educa-
ted classes of America, and Christi
anity was thought to be speedily
doomed. But what has been the
outcome? In 1900, there were $780,.
900 church members in population
of 100000, while to-day, out of
population of 65,0O0,000, there are
100000 church members, includ,
ing Roman Catholic population of
100000. When we reflect that the
numerical strength Of the church has
augmented three times as rapidly as
the population, when we note the
rise aud progress of Sunday schools
which this century has witnessed,
when we recall the fact that nearly
all the great missionary, philanthro-
pic and reformatory societies are
less than hundred years old, when
we contemplate the vast sums that
are given for Christian education
and watch the troop of colleges,
which, as Mr.. Beecher once said, go
lowing over our Western plains
like Jacobs kine,' and as we joyfully
remember that OH every day seven
new church buildings are erected on
the soil covered by the national flag,
and that on every Lords day 10000
confessors Of the Divine Man of
Nazareth are enrolled beneath the
standard of the Cross, we surely
have good reason for believing that
WaShington's hope expressed in his
first inaugural has been realized,
and that our people still render their
dutiful homage to the great author
of every public and private good"
These are solid facts, in we'll mar
shalled battalions, that Bishop Pot
ter will not venture to dispute. They
are familiar to all well.informed stu
dents of American history. They
show that American growth and de-
velopment have not been all materi-
al, but that religion and good morals
have been exercising an increasing
control over the national life. The
tone of politics, of society, of public
life, and of journalism and literature
is lar higher than it was a century
ago.-N. Y. Mail and Express.