Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-03-05
Disciples of Christ.

meeting. In discussing the topic
Loyalty to eur Church, the bisto,r
OF the local congregation and ~
origin OF Primitive Methodists was
brought out, and as some memhars
belonged to other bodies. and tba 8
NJ s., We're, as it were, in a transition
stage, not knowing what they mioh.
be called soon. the outsiders osra
some history Of the church to which
they We're loyal. About the sama
time, in the beginning of this eentnrr
that Primitive Methodism ORIGIN.
ated in England, there were several
centers of great religious awakening
in this country. Out of these reviyals
under different leaders there grew -
general desire to take the Bihla
and the Bible alone, as their rule OF
faith and practice Consequently
they rejected human names and
creeds, desiring to be known simpIv
as christians or disciples of Christ.
In 1897 the people now known in the
z. ). census as disciples of Christ
were compelled to sever their con-
nection with Baptist associations and
plead for a restoration Of Primitive
christianity, its doctrines, its ordi-
nances, its fruits
Like all reform movements tho
leaders of this had to fight against
misrepresentation, malice, ridicule.
but they fought a good fight against
error and sin, and proved their right
to exist and labor for the union of all
of Christ's people. With varying
success they labored, until in 1880
we find them with 100000 members.
In the next decade they increased Ia
64l, 05l. NJ. M. Davis, of Texas, writes
OF the next five years. The religious
census of 1895 is most encouraging
document to our people. The per
cent of gain with the Baptists is 1876,
Presbyterians 1918, Methodists ll.67
Congregational 1911, but with us ii
is 1851, almost three times that of
the most successful church except
ourselves
T. A. Abbott in the Christian
Evangelist, gives the following:
The Independent, of New York. in
its issue of the first of the year pub
fishes some very interesting statis-
ties. The figures are taken from the
census returns and are therefore
presumed to be as accurate as it Is
possible to make them. They cover
the period running from 1890 to 1885,
five years. In this period of time
the leading Protestant churches have
grown taking the strongest branch
of each church) as follows:
1890 1895 Gain.
Methodist Epls.. 2,2ios54 2,62ss95 sso63i
Reg. Baptist (s) l,5SO.oe6 l.4l7si6 1877 $50
Presbyterian N. 7Ss,224 s02, 751 lO4 5ss
Congregationalist 5l2-7I 60O.oOO s7,2sa
Disciples 6ll.05l s2S,563 2S2,6l2
The first has a gain of 81 members
for each preacher, the second, 10:
third, %; fourth, II; while our own
shows a gain of 81 for each minister.
The Methodist church organized
one church for each 10 preachers.
Baptist about the same, with the
Presbyterians it took nearly Is. Con-
gregationalists, l6, butw us it took
just a little over ?. There was a gain
of is members to each church of the
Methodist; 8 to the Baptist; IA to
the Pfesbyterians, Is to the Congre-
gationalist and 80 to our own. The
above figures are worthy of close
and criticize study and will richly re-
pay close analysis. You will notice
that the gain with us was more than
twice per preacher than of any other,
and nearly the same ratio per church.
The Independents statistics show
that the Disciples of Christ still ex-
eel in the ratio Of their increase. The
editor says, "In the actual number of
communicates the Roman Catholics
are still well at the head the Metho-
dists are second, the Baptists good
third, the Presbyterians fourth, tho
Lutherans fifth, the Disciples of
Christ sixth, the Protestant Episcopal
church seventh, and the Congrega-
eight. One of the remark
able instances of growth is that Of
the Disciples Of Christ. In the last
five years they have advanced be-
You'd both the Northern Presbyter-
ian and Northern Baptist denomi-
nations. Taking the denominations
singly instead of in groups, the Dis
ciples must be given the sixth place
instead of the eighth, which they oc-
cupied in 1890, coming next after the
Methodist Episcopal church, south"
Why is it that these people are in
creasing 50 rapidly among their re-
ligious neighbors? Is ii because they
have more talented men, or more
means at their disposal? We say
no. 1t Is because they search for
truth, and having found it, dare to
preach it, in its simplicity and pur-
ity. Describing all human additions