The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-04-20


world, before the fall of that atcient
world, were insignificant in comparison
with the giant cities of the close Of the
nineteenth century.
Imperial Rome, mistress of the an
cient world, was pygmy beside Lon
don, the capital of the modern world.
And London Of today is but faint
prophecy Of what will be the London Of
the close of the twentieth century, at the
present rate of progress. Here in the
city is concentrated the wealth of the ma
ton, the wealth Of the world. Money,
and all the power of money, and all
that money means to society, to COM
merce to politics, to the masses, to the
race, are to be settled here. The influ-
ence Of the city is now absolutely su-
preme as the governing power. The
city governs our politics, state and ma
tional. The city governs. the commerce
of the world, national and international
The city governs the formation OF the
social structure. 1t governs fashion; it
rules literature; it controls. the press; it
makes the atmosphere which those who
rule the nation breathe.
(2) While the growth and importance
Of the city have been thus overwhelming
and continuous to increase with incred-
ible swiftness, il is precisely in the city
that the failure of the church of Christ has
been most pitiable. Taking the modern
world as a whole, Christianity has made
remarkable progress within the past
quarter of century. In America Chris
tianity has advanced with rapid strides,
taking the country as whole. We
have enrolled 20,000,000 adherents in the
United States. We have thousands Of
churches. We are building thousands
of new ones every year. Church men,
bership has increased in larger proper
tion than the population. Christianity
is triumphant all along the line, reckon
ing things in their total
Our progress in the heathen world has
been miraculous. Closed gates have
opened wide. Nations have been baptiz-
ed in day. The ports of the earth are
now open to the Christian missionary,
and their triumphs have been miraculous.
But here our boast must end and our
sorrow begin. This increase has been in
the rural districts. It has been in the
small towns. 1t has been in the country.
In the cities we have not only failed TO
increase, but Christianity has perceptibly
declined in its organic life within the
past generation.
IIEATHENIsM IN OUR CITIES.
A distinguished writer who has given
years to the study Of this subject de-
clares that there are from three to six
times as many churches for given pop
ulation in the country as in the city and
that in our great cities, as we all too well
know, there are vast populations nearly
or quite destitute. The old Twentieth
assembly district in New York had a
population Of 10000, and there were
three little Protestant churches. In the
whole nation for every 1000 people there
are 100 evangelical churches. But there
is one district in New York with $4,000
souls in which there is one Protestant
church. In the heart of Chicago there
are 10000 people, it is said, without q
single church, either Protestant or Cath
olic. In six assembly districts of New
York there is a population Of 36O,O00
people, for which there are 81 Protestant
churches and 3,018 saloons. The whole
country east Of the Mississippi shows
that there are as many churches as sa-
looms, and yet for this population in New
York, larger than the city of Cincinnati,
there are 100 times as many saloons as
churches. The First assembly district
of New York in 1880 had $4,000 people,
z Protestant churches and 1,072 saloons
--153 saloons for every church.
Nor does this failure of church life
simply apply to Professionalism. Our Jew
ish population has become atheistic and
have deserted their synagogues by thou
sands. AT an Ingersoll lecture one-half
the audience will be found composed of
Jews, and it is remarkable fact that
sometimes whole families will be found
ut these Sabbath entertainments over
which the distinguished colonel presides.
Roman Catholicism has not held its own
In our cities. In a Roman Catholic popu-
lation of nearly 100000 in the city of
New York the number of the faithful is
exceedingly small as compared with this
tremendous total. The Catholic church
does not hold one-half its people who
move from other nations and locate in
our cities. They drift into indifference,
into materialism, into atheism.
The failure of Professionalism at pres
ent in our cities is one OF the most pain.
full facts before which the earnest Chris
tian stands today. In New York city
the Baptist denomination has declined
within 90 years in actual numbers. The
gain of few hundreds on the rolls is
more than offset by the difference in
strictness with which the rolls have been
kept. What is true of the Baptist de-
nomination is true Of every other evan
gelical denomination in this city.
(8) The truth is, the city Of today, tho
modern city, whether in the east or in
the west, is a seething hell, in which the
manhood of the nation is daily being
consumed. Materialism is rampant. The
god of the city is the god of mammon,
the god of power. More and more have
the strong fallen into this fetch wor-
ship. Their motto is, money by all
means, by any means, fair or foul" The
hot breath Of this scourge soon burns
out the ideals, the faiths, the hopes and
the love born into the heart Of man un-
der normal conditions. The sum total
of the forces that affect life in our cities
today is overwhelmingly against the de-
velopment Of q righteous character The
pressure of work is insane. Men are in
q fever They do not stop to think.
Things high and holy and noble are
brushed aside in the wild, mad scramble
of the hard, modern business world.
Men are driven TO such an intense speed
that the moral point of view is lost. The
reaction from this resnlts 10 diasinaion