The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-28
SUMMERTIME CHRISTIANITY.
REV. C. II. STRONG DISCUSSED
LIGHT CHURCH ATTENDANCE.


Churches on sunday, May 20, Out
of White Population of $4,000.
MIR. Strong Regards the Proper
tion of One Out of seven a Very
Poor Showing for NominaIIy
Christian City-Summer Heat May
Account in Part, But Easy Indif-
ference the Chief Cause.
Our Summer Christianity" was the
topic of an interesting discourse by Rev.
c. H. Strong at ST. Johns last night.
1t was the Summer Christianity of Sa-
vannah to which Rev. Mr.. Strong espe-
cially referred, and 1t was the small at
tendance upon church worship In the city
during the summer months which brought
this topic to Mr.. Strong's mind
He had noticed the falling off in his
| own congregation. and was inclined TO
believe that ST. Johns was not the only
sufferer. He accordingly took steps to
inform himself of the attendance at the
various Protestant Churches of the city
during the previous Sunday, sending out
| twenty-five young men of his congregation
for this purpose. The attendance upon
the morning services at each of the Prot
estant Churches was reported to him in
this manner, and last night he gave his
congregation the benefit of the total fig
ures.
Mr.. Strong did not give the attendance
at each of the churches, though it was
learned from him that the attendance va
ried from 81 to 375. At one or two churches
the pastor was absent, or there was some
other cause to which an unusually small
attendance could be attributed. AT two
| other churches there were special fea-
lures which doubtless increased the at
! tendance so that Mr.. Strong considered
that the attendance was a fair average
for summer Sunday in Savannah.
The total attendance at the morning ser
| vices of the Protestant Churches for the
| previous Sunday, Mr. Strong stated was
| 1900. He had not ascertained the attend
ance at the Catholic Churches during the
morning, but he estimated this at 1000
or total of $500 for the day at all the
white churches. Making the liberal al
| lowance of so per cent. more for those
| who attended the night services who had
not attended the morning services, he es-
| timated total attendance of 1850 or in
| round figures 5000 for the entire day. Es-
timating the white popua ton of the city
at $1,000, Mr.. Strong commented upon
| the character of the showing made. 1t
| was very sad state of aTairs indeed he
! thought, when 1t could be approximately
shown that only one person in seven of the
| city's white population had attended d.
vine services during the day.
| That in a nominally Christian city on
a very pleasant Sunday only one-seventh
| of the population should have attended
| church services, was not a creditable
showing, he thought, either for the
| churches or for the people. with only
| 5000 people at church for portion of the
day where were the other 10000, he in
| CURED. Doubtless many were at the va
rious seashore and other suburban re-
| sorts. Many others, no doubt, among the
| employees of the railroads, were in per
formance OF their duties for these COM
| panies, while many others were at the
| commercial offices in the business dis
! trict finishing up work left over from Sat-
| urday. This, however, only accounted for
a small percentage of the absentees. The
real answer as to the whereabouts of the
absent ones was that they were quietly
at. spending Sunday as they pleased, in
tent perhaps upon their worldly affairs
and not even breaking that deadly chain
of the routine work of the week. 1t might
De true. he seId, that they were spending
the day in the company of their loved
| ones, but it was equally true that they
displayed an utter indifference to their
! duties to the church.
OF the churches In which the count
was taken, Mr. Strong said. only two
were half full while the vast majority
of the others were not more than one
third full This was strange condi-
| ton of affairs, he said, in a Christian
city. filled with churches and charitable
institutions and which boasts of its en-
| Eghtenment and refinement
Mr.. Strong in beginning his discourse.
| had alluded TO the desertion of Christ
| by his apostles in the garden of Geth-
| semane and the denial of his Lord by
| ST. Peter under circumstances which
seemed to make the act particularly base
In considering this strange conduct upon
the part of one who proved himself to
be the strongest and the leader among
| the apostles, Mr.. Strong said that the
conditions and surroundings should be
considered. The apostle was worn and
| exhausted He had passed through much
excitement and was fatigued bodily and
mentally. He was shivering with the cold
| and his vital forces were evidently at n
low ebb Much allowance must be made
for his physical condition at the slime
Mind and matter are closely related and
the effect upon the mind of the physi-
cal condition Of the body is understood
by those who have given the subject any
thought.
Bringing this point TO bear upon the
question of lax church attendance in Sa-
vannah during the summer months Mr..
Strong said chat our summer climate
doubtless does have the effect of dimin-
ishing the vital forces and of decreasing
the inclination to mental and physical
activity.
"After all possible excuse has been
made" he said, after canvassing this idea,
at seems shameful state of affairs that
so small a percentage of the population
| should be in attendance upon church ser
| Vices The pastors of this city are as
earnest and as conscientious a SET of men
as are to be found in the pulpits of any
city of it's size. They are painstaking
and devoted to their duties. There Is
not n lazy man among them. They con-
| stantly make sacrifices for their people
and those who are outside of their fiocks.
| There is NOT a man among them who
would not leave his bed at any hour of
the night to go to any distance and en-
counter any hardship for the sake OF
some man who really needed him, though
he may never have heard of that man be-
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