The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-04-20

/ fsl While the growth and Importance
/ 80 ,f.a .-ssx h.ys. been thus overwhelming
| and continuous 10 increase with inesssa-
/ ihIs swiftnesS. it il precisely in the city
.bas the failure Of the church Of Christ has
/ been most pisiable. Taking the rno*iern
| world as q whole. Christianity has made
r...,,.yEabIe ursa-ress within the past
I quarter Of century. In America IA -
| fiauity has advanced with RAPID STRUTS
| taking the country as = whole we
| have enrolled a0, COO. 600 adherents IN the
| TTu;,el States. We have thousands oil
| churches. We are building thousands
| of new ones every year. Church mem
| bersfip has increased in larger proper
| ton than the population Christianity
is triumphant all along the hne' reckon
| ing things in their total.
| Our progress in the heather world has
| been miraculous. Closed gates ha. =
| 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 ana our
sorrow be..in. This increase has been IN
| the rural districts. 1t has been in tine
small towns. 1t has been in the country.
In the cities we have not only failed TO
increase, but Christianity has perceptbly
declined in its organic life within the
past generation.
HEATHENISM IN OUR CITIES.
A distinguished writer who has given
wears TO the study of this subject de-
clares that there are from three to six
times as 11any churches for given pop
ulation in the country as in the city and
that in our great cities, rs we ell too well
know. there are vast populations nearly
or quite destitute. The old Twentieth
assembly district in New York had a
population of G0,000, and there were
three little Protestant churches. In the
whole nation for every Gu, 900 people there
are 1a0 evangelical churches. But there
is one district in New York with sc, 900
souls in which there is one Protestant
church In the heart of Chicago there
are 6O.C00 people, it is said, without a
single church, either Protestant or Cath
Ole. In six assembly districts of New
York there is population of 5000
people, for which there are 81 Protestant
churches and 3,01S 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 1900 people,
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 ana
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
at these Sabbath entertainments over
which the distinguished colonel presides.
Roman Catholicism has not held its own
in our cities. In 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
tan stands today. In New York city
the Baptist denomination has declined
within 20 years in actual numbers. The
gain of o few hundreds on the rolls is
more than offset by the difference in
strict,less 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.
81 The truth is, tle city of today, the
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 a righteous character. The
pressure Of work is insane. Men are in
a 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 results in dissipation
rather than amusement.
In the reaction from this debaucherv
OF body and soul sane amusement seems
almost an impossibility; hence the deg
radiation of OR amusements in the cities
today. Our theaters wallow in filth |
They pander to the gutter They pander
to the Bowery. They pander to the vi
cious in high society and in low society
and there is scarcely an exception. Gam
bling is rampant and opens its thousand
doors to allure the young and to abso-
iuteIy destroy. In this horrible pressure
OF life the social evil is intensified. Wom- |
anhood in degradation becomes a mod |
ern power for evil. Saloons have mil
nplled not only in numbers, but in their
power for evil, in their attractions. in
the free table which they set, until it is
next to impossible for a man with hon.
est intentions in the lower walks of life
to 1--we In modern city and keep out of
these hell holes.
VILE LITERATURE IN OUR CITIES.
The reading matter which is provided |
TOT TINS population is of the most degrad- |
ed character. 1t is thrust under the nose |
OF the passing crowd. 1t is nailed upon
the bulletins i'll glaring colors. It is cir
cuiated among the young and the foolish. |
the ignorant aid the thoughtless, to bear
It's Irult OF death from day to day.
The influence in the higher circles of
society is irrational, materialstic. and |
tends to destroy reverence, faith and the
stability of home and home ideals. The
Ia