The Progress., 1893-04-22
THE PROGRESS.

hoped to do, but could never have sue
Cceded in doing.
Not one of her own sons" said Arab.
"could have gi."n Egypt the release
from oppression and injustice and the
good government which she now enjoys.
All that have fought and struggled to
attain is accomplished. In my blindness
| was resisting tho surcst means of
achieving nv own aims. ] was fighting
for the liberation of my country. / am
sorry now | did 50. and | am glad fos'
my Country's sake | was Defeated 80
the men against whom Christianity
wages its righteous war will in the end
rejoice in their own defeat. Such n W.
Is waged against them not because We
hate them. but because we love them.
THE POLLUTION or MODERN CITIES.
So today the church OF Christ IN our
ccnters of civic life is confronted with
Just such crisis. The hour has como
for the righteous Indignation of tho
church of Jesus Christ in our great mod.
ern cities 1t is the hour for righteous
wrath and for the action-yes, the vio-
lence of the Christ under the influence
of that wrath. This Is so.
Cd Because of the tremendous growth
and importance of these great modern
CenteTs of life. The city is the heart of
modern civilization. 1t is the key to the
century. 1t is the key to the future Tho
past 80 years have seen the city grow to
dominate the world. 1t has drained tho
life from the rural districts and concen-
trated it at these nerve CcnterS of the
world. Here civilization has masSed it,
numbers The cities of the ancicnJ
world, before the fall of that ancieu5
world, were insignificant i'll 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 il but faint
prophecy Of what will be the London of
the close of the twentieth century, at tn
present rate of progress. Here in the
city is concentrated the wealth OF the na-
ton, the wealth of the world. Money,
and all the power of money, and all
that money means to society, to con-
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 tho world. national and International
The city governs the formation Of tho
social structure. 1t governs fashion; IL
rules literature; it controls the press; il
makes the atmosphere which those who
rule the nation breathe
% 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
remarkable progress within the past
quarter of a century. In America Chris
tianity has advanced with rapid strides.
taking the country as a whole. We
have enrolled 20,000,0 600 adherents in tho
United States. We have thousands OF
churches. We are building thousands
of new ones every year. Church mem
bership has increased i'll larger proper
ton than the population. Christianity
is triumphant Ill along the line, reckon
ing things in their total
Our progress in the heather 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. I
But here our boast must end and our
sorrow begin. This increase has been in
the rural districts. 1t 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.
HEATHENISM IN OUR CITIES.
A distinguished writer who has given
years to the study of this subject lie
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
population of 10000, and there were
three little Protestant churches. In the
whole nation for every 60, 600 people there
are 120 evangelical churches. But there
is one district i'll New York with 80. 900
souls in which there is one Protestant
church. In the heart of Chicago there
are 10000 people, it is said, without
single church, either Protestant or Cath.
Ole. In six assembly districts of New
York there is population of 300 900
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 az
churches. The First assembly district
of New York in 1880 had Al, 600 people.
2 Protestant churches and 1,072 saloons
-153 saloons for every church.
Nor does this failure of church life