The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-02-02
CHURCH ATTENDANCE.
A Correspondence Further Discusses
Matter rhat Has Been Referred To.

was an aTllCle Oh Jue uSCiihS VI Nii'i ~
attendance, which has started me think
ing on a subject that have pondered a
great deal The subject is a grave one.
No one will dispute the fact that church
attendance is becoming less and less,
in proportion to the population 1 do
not think with Prof. Wright that it is
due to church members praying them
selves to death" True prayer could
have no such effect, if the foundation
of christian belief, the New Testament,
is true. If prayer is the expression of
earnest expectant desire, it can have
no killing effect, but the reverse.
Ninety per cent. of the prayers 1 have
ever heard, (and / have had extraordi-
nary opportunities Of hearing and
studying prayers,) ninety per cent. Of
the prayers, l say, are at the best only
agunized expressions of unbelief and
fear.
harmony with the words used.
Churches are dying for the want of in
telligent instruction in the art of be-
lieving prayer. While this is true Of
church members to a large extent, it is
not the primary cause of the decline
in attendance upon the public services.
The primary purpose of the church
and the ministry is the preaching of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, for the sole pur-
pose of bringing the story of Gods love
and pity to men, and to bring hope and
comfort, trust and peace into the life.
The commission given by Jesus to his
disciples anu the church, to the end Of
time, was preach the gospel, heal the
sick, etc.
How many of the sermons aim only at
these ends, or in any appreciable degree
serve these purposes? We would lay
the blame wholly at the door of the
ministry. Hundreds of godly men have
acknowledged that they We're under the
thumb of their church officials, and
others who held the main purse-strings
of the congregation. 1t is "a common oc-
Curreuce for ministers to be informed
that they must draw such crowds as
will increase the collections. Worldly
officials have the theatre idea of success
and so demand what they call attrac-
tions, in pulpit and in music, both of
which often have but little of what
Jesus Christ would approve. Let an
other bondage under which many min
listers groan is the yoke of sectarian
orthodoxy They must run their SER
vices, so far as doctrine is concerned,
into the denomnational mould. They
give anew, advanced or original thought
at their peril. All sciences advance,
change and improve, on investigation,
but religion must not dare to advance
in discovery or revelation. That is
the churches idea, but it is not the idea
that God has impressed upon the gem
eral intelligence of man. Men naturally
expect to find larger unfolding-greater
depths, higher good, as time rolls on
1 do not believe with DR.. Briggs, that
the decline in church attendance is due
to increased intelligence, or to multi
plications Of books, unless the pulpit
steps down from it's one divine mission
Of preaching to save man-the whole
man, and to "break every yoke Of fear,
dread, ache and pain of body, mind and
spirit.
There is nothing which so attracts
crowds of people and holds them as by
a spell, as conversions of strong rugged
men, or even children. Let us have the
truth that makes men free, and au-
diences will be large. Let the church
know how to touch men when they are
consciously sore, and she will gather
the multitude as Jesus and his apostles
did. We everlastingly say come to
Jesus come to Jesus" but it is seldom
clear what is meant, or required. Jesus
went to men. He did not wait for them
to come to him. "Now ye are the body
of Christ, and members in particular"
If God is to be manifest to men today,
if they are to feel Christ's healing touch,
it must be through US.
Why has christian science, despite
it's vagaries, grown 50 rapidly? 1t is
alone because it has touched men where
they are most consciously alive and
where everything for the present is
real TO them that is their bodily ills.