The record-union., 1894-02-24

OF dlnerent denominations are emu]ous
% one another to a greater extent than
ever before only in good works. They
want 10 save as many souls as possible,
anu each church would be glad to in
crease Its own membership by the addi-
uon OF many as possible of those who are
saved. But an attentive perusal OF the
weekly budget of news from the churches
VIII show that hundreds OF converts are
constantly made in Baptist revival meet
lngs, who are suffered to join churches of
other denominations without 40 much as
word 10 disssuade them. And there Is
the most delightful harmony of effort on
the part of pastors and laymen of ali the
revivals which are now blessing our
land. This is practical Christian unity.
1t does not demand any sacrifice or sup
preston OF principle"
''If an autopsy were held on every
church when it died" SAYS the Boston
Christian Register (Unit.), 1--WE should
discover various causes of ecclesiastical
mortality. We should find that some
churches die of marasmus. They have
been starved to death. The bread which
has been served to them has not been the
bread Of life; there has been too much
chatt, too little nutriment. Other churches
have suffered from indigestion; they have
not had sufficient exercise. They have
become gouty or dropsical. They have
failed to recognize that every church
must do something for the community in
which 1t lives. A church which lives
only TO promote its own existence will
soon have no existence 10 promote.
Other causes of mortality are spiritual
paralysis. Very often there is a loss of
vision. church becomes hard OF hear
Ing. The minister has to speak louder
every Sunday, and sometimes his mes
sage only tickles the ear. 1t does not pen
citrate to the bfain or conscience. Some
times, in the words of DR.. Holmes, ap-
piled to vehicle. which does not resem-
BILE a church. but which many churches
do certainly resemble:
There's d general flavor of mild decay
Though nothing local, as one may say.
But some morning, before the minister
has got to tifthly and stopped perDlexed,
the church goes to pieces like the one
horse shay. Perhaps the fact that the min
lister did not stop at filthy from Sunday
to sunday, but went on to tenthly and
fifteenthIy, may have had something to
do with it. But we suspect that, if the
truth were known, the most potent cause
of church mortality is heart failure. Out
Of the heart are the issues Of life, and, un-
less there is some heart in church, there
is to be very little life"
1--WE think it very doubtful" says the
Standard (Bapt.) OF Chicago, "if the emf
nent preachers of half or three-quarters
OF century ago would all rank. to-day as
they ranked then. Their sermons as
printed do not seem to lay hold upon the
present generation in any such way as
one would expect from the light in which
they then were estimated. Those of US
who may remember hearing some Of
them preach IN our young days saw, as
we sat and listened, a halo about their
heads born OF the admiration and love of
a generation then quite past. for whom
pulpit power meant very differently, in
some things. from what it means now.
If we were to say that we have none TO
equal, IN real pulpit ability, Sharp, and
Cone, and Welch, and Wayland, and
Fuller, that would be equivalent to de-
manding that the present shall always be
a copy OF the past, and standards OF hu-
man judgment unvarylng from age to
age. Then, by just the same rules that
decline In the American pulpit might be
argued, like decline might be claimed in
nearly all other spheres of human activ-
ity. Wecan think OF but one or two such
spheres in which signs of decline like
what might be imagined in the case of
the pulpit do not appear. The discov-
erer, the inventor, the man Of scientific
research, IS in a position TO command
new grounds Of appeal to the admiration
OF his age. How is it with the lawyer,
the statesman, the soldier. the man or
affairs? Can you lind such names on the
list of congressman, even in the Senate
itself, as Clay, Randolph and Webster?
Have we anywhere Hamilton, or a jay,
or a Franklin? Was even Lincoln, a
Washington reborn, or Grant some great
General of the Revolution come to life
aTain?"