The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-12
RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS FOR
SUNDAY


I'm 1890 at the Quadrennial General
Conference of the Southern Methodist
K Church, the Bishops in their ad-
dress bemoaned the decaying tone Of
pEs4y and pointed out their own way
OF restoring IL if it be possible. The
late yer erable and profoundly conse-
Grated Rev. DR.. Lovick Pierce, father Of
Bishop George F. in a hundred page
pamphlet declared that the average
plety of the Methodist Church was far
below what it was forty or
fifty years, before and ever
later. He was ninety when he made
his positive, reiterated assertion. We
suppose there is not a Methodist of
real intelligence and observation in the
South, WIN is as old as sixty years
who will not indorse these opinions.
This low standard, this decay Of piety,
ss not, confined to Methodism. The
Review and Herald writes of THE Dy-
ing Church. The article is too long
TO be reproduced in full. The editor
says:
a cal III IlIC pbo-
7orate and presiding eldership of the
Methodist Episcopal church have af-
fOrded the writer a good opportunity
go study preachers and people; and
mis- convictions are deep and strong,
that, in vital godliness and aggressive
power, the church has been steadily
r~etrUggading for a number of years
not in wealth, numbers or social eclat,
Of COURSE, but in things which are far
more. essential to the salvation of the
world"
1f is true and there are many causes
that could be stated. We only sug-
Eest two: the substitution of hand
shaking, stand-up-counting for heart
work and puLgent conviction at the
TaNars. The evangelistic methods
have entered the churches and lowered
h way of salvation, bereft the great
fundamentals of power, depressed the
EO1nme and zone of goodness, and gone
Int counting moses and reporting Civ
ings in money as am evidence of relig-
fous zeal and prosperity. The heart is
10 he changed if the life is to bic changed
The great doctrines of the new birth,
of regeneration is to be revived in all
1Ene churches if there is to be genuine
co4Bsecration of life, a really profound
spirituality in the memberships, Wick
edness aboundS, and the ~WOrld-un-
saved, unrepentant, unregenerate, I'M
Etahle-has got into HE churches, and
No a very great extent fills them. DR..
Pierce says that when MethOdists
abandoned the Glass Meetings, estab-
Kshed by John Wesley, the piety of the
church began to decline and has con-
-fSnued. The Review and Herald says
sand the thoughtful, observant members
and ministers see it.:
Leagues" and 'endeavors," and
fAbrotherhoods" are formed, and mum
Beers counted, to throw dust in the eyes
of the people, and make them believe,
If possible, that great successes are
constantly achieved in the church of
God, when the exact opposite of these
things are true"
1T contends that while it is true, that
there is more light and truth among us
now than ever before; but at the same
time there is more wickedness also,
and in consequence of the light, it is
more ~dTeadfully wicked"
You cannot substitute machinery
for piety. Man is defiled by sin, is lost,
rs helpless away from God. His sins
ryill find HIM out, and it is death
eternal that will be his portion here
after. He must have the life in him
'fhe life of the soul-the life that is hid
with Christ in God. He must be born
again, must be marvellously, thor
oughly changed. Their must be a life
OF holiness, of growth in grace, of faith
and s~ek-denial, of service, and conse-
grafton. That is what God caches in
his Book, and no man can question or
avoid it. Here the Great Teacher.
Verify, verify I say unto thee, Except
m man be born again, he cannot see
tine Kingdom of God" Because the
farnal mind is .enmity against God
So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God" MOT by
works OF Righteousness" but by the
renewing of h Holy Ghost"
The article above quoted from was
sent to us from Wilmington and we
were asked "to give our views" The
che clipping and concludes. eff the
Virgins are asleep or Slumberlng let
xbem DE walked up before the COM
rpand is issued to go out and meet the
Bridegroom"
This godly, gifted man, the lamented
Fsfsfyop Phillips Brooks, whose life was
xzach a blessing to dying humanity,
r,xerad nightly for "a new, complete
zseart."-Re knew for he had the exper-
Seuce in himself, what b new birth
r,zant and what followed. He knew
fhaa all real piety and peace centered
IN Christ. He said this, and 1t is pre-
r5sely true:
-It is nothing less than character,
kofhfng less than a new, a complete
Fzrart, a. fulfilled manhood, that Christ
Nv trying to give US. Therefore we may
(he patient, and be sure that the per-
of His gift cannot be all at
1rs-e- He who enters into Christ en-
~~ru ;ndo a religion of life and growth