Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-04-26


| clared that he had found the Englisl
had done for his country what he hal
hoped to do, bnt could never have sue
ceeded in doing.
Not one of her own sons, " said Arab
could have given Egypt the release
from oppression and injustice and ths
good government which she now enjoys
All that have fought and struggled tc
attain is accomplished. In my blindness
was resisting the surest means Of
achieving my own aims. was fighting
for tie liberation of my country. / am
sorry now did so, and am glad fol-
my country's sake / was defeated" Sc
the men against whom Christianity
wages its righteous war will in the end
rejoice in their own defeat. Such war
is waged against them not because we
hate them, but because we love them.
THE POLLUTION OF MODERN CITIES.
So today the church of Christ in our
centers of civic life is confronted with
just such crisis. The hour has come
for the righteous indignation of the
church Of Jesus Christ in our great mod
ern cities. 1t is the hour for righteous
wrath and for the action-yes, the vip-
lence of the Christ under the influence
of that wrath. This is so.
~ Because of the tremendous growth
and importance of these great modern
centers of life. The city is the heart of
modern civilization. 1t is the key to the
century. 1t is the key to the future. The
past 80 years have seen the city grow TO
dominate the world. 1t has drained the
life from the rural districts and concen-
trated it at these nerve centers of the
world. Here civilization has massed its
numbers. The cities Of the ancient
world, before the fall Of that ancient
world, were insignificant in comparison
with the giant cities of the close Of the
nineteenth century.
Imperial Rome, mistress of the an
Gent world, was a pygmy beside Lon
don, the capital of the modern world.
And London of today is but a faint
of what viii 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 infu-
ence Of the city is now absolutely SUI
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, it is precisely in the city |
that the failure of the church Of Christ has |
been most pitiable. Taking the modern
world as whole, Christianity has made |
progress within the past
quarter Of century. In America Chris
tianity has advanced with rapid strides, |
taking the country as a whole. We |
have enrolled &c, 100000 adherents in the |
United States. We have thousands of |
churches. We are building thousands
# new ones every year. Church mem
1ership has increased in larger proper
ion than the population. Christianity
$ triumphant all along the line, reckon
ny things in their total
Our progress in the heather world has
,een miraculous. Closed gates have
'pened wide. Nations have been baptiz-
d in day. The ports of the earth are
low open to the Christian missionary,
nd their triumphs have been miraculous.
3ut here our boast must end and our
orrow begin. This increase has been in
he rural districts. II has been in the
mall towns. 1t has been in the country.
II the cities we have not only failed to
Increase, but Christianity has perceptibly
eclined in its organic life within the
asst generation.
HEATHENISM IN OUR CITIES.
A distinguished writer who has given
ears to the study of this subject de-
lares that there are from three to six
ines az many churches for given pop
lation in the country as in the city and
nat in our great cities, as we all too well
now, there are vast populations nearly
r quite destitute. The old Twentieth
district in New York had a
opulation of 10000, and there were
lree little Protestant churches. In the
hole nation for every 60, 600 people there
re 100 evangelical churches. But there
one district in New York with 90 900
,uls in which there is one Protestant ,
lurch. In the heart of Chicago there
re 10000 people, it is said, without a
ngle church, either Protestant or Cath I
lie. In six assembly districts Of New ,
ork there is population of 100000 /
eople, for which there are 81 Protestant
lurches and 3.01S saloons. The whole !
,untry east of the Mississippi shows :
lat there are as many churches as sa-
ons, and yet for this population in New |
ork, larger than the city of Cincinnati, /
Iere are 100 times as many saloons as q