56
CHRISTIAN
CHURCH,
THE
to a liberal scale, and after an easeful fashion, has stimulated a passionate eagerness for wealth, and the determination to have it has led to a disregard of the code of honour, while the possession of the good things of life, as they are called, has produced enervation of character; restlessness, born of ease, has destroyed steadiness of habit; and impatience of toil has driven men to seek riches in doubtful rather than in diligent methods. In these ways, it is said, the claims of the Christian life are subordinated to the interests of the moment. Against this must be set the fact that the apprehensions which here find expression have been common in all ages ; they cannot be accepted as evidence of the declining influence of Christianity without some more tangible evidence. Earnestness, ambitious of greater Christian consistency, is always alive to contemporary evils. “ The Lord’s day is become the devil’s market day ” was the complaint of a bishop in 1724. Immorality at thesame time was considered to be so rampant that men said, “ Our light looks like the evening of the world.” It is thus that men who measure public manners by the measure of their philanthrophic desires will ever speak. But for the purpose of the scientific historian, contemporary morals must be measured by a comparison of factsand statistics, and not by the despondency of the good. When, therefore, we find a steady diminution in pauperism and crime, and a marked increase of longevity owing to a more careful regard for human life and its conditions of health and happiness, we shall see that the advance of moral improvement is steady and sure, even if not rapid enough to satisfy the desires of the good. The most wholesome sign, under these circumstances, is the dissatisfaction of the good, for it is the witness that the spirit of earnestness and devotion is still a powerful factor in social life. When we quit the warm realms of zeal and enter the cold sphere of statistics, we find that the progressof moral standards advances with slow but decisive foot. The percentage of crime is strikingly lower; the paupers are proportionately fewer; greater care for the condition of the poor indicates a more tender public conscience.. Social ambitions among us are becoming more unselfish. The general moral sense is higher. Intemperance is now a disgrace; slavery is illegal, and would be impossible to any enlightened Christian society. The ethical principles of Christianity have been planted deep among our social ideas, and have revolutionized manners. In our judgment, whatever undesirable features remain as blemishes on our civilization, the standards of moral life are gradually improving, and this improvement is largely due to the prevailing force of Christian ethics. Secondly, it is said that everywhere men are increasingly reluctant to identify themselves with the Christian religion. Many discard the outward forms of Christian II. The Measure of Christian Progress in Matters worship; attendance at worship is declining; and, perhapsnot Reducible to Statistics. most startling of all, the number of those who join the (i.) The Alleged Decline of Christian Influence.—In ranks of the Christian ministry is steadily diminishing estimating the present position and prospects of the among all Christian denominations. This last fact is the Christian religion, it is necessary to refer to matters which one which Christian churches should face: a searching are regarded by its friends and foes as tokens of its inquiry into the causes for the decline of candidates for the ministry of the Church would be of the greatest declining influence. First, it is said that there are signs that Christianity interest. Till such inquiry has been made we can only has lost, or is losing, its moral influence. Ordinances speculate upon causes. Among these the following have and institutions which owe their sanctity to Christian been suggested:—(a) The unsettled condition of theoinfluence are no longer socially observed. The Sunday, logical opinion, due to the progress of historical criticism.. for instance, is being slowly transformed into a day of This is probably one cause, and it has given rise to the pleasure. Still more significant, it is alleged, is the question how far the Christian churches should relax the lowering of moral standards: that which was once re- terms of subscription required by their ministers. Theregarded as harmful is now treated as legitimate; the can be no doubt that many of the dogmas to which subincrease of luxury has led many to treat indulgences as scription is required are, if not obsolete, yet expressed in though they were necessaries; the wish to live according terms which are at least incongruous with modern ideas.
English-speaking world amount to nearly £3,000,000 annually. (c) In this connexion may be instanced the diffusion of the Bible in the world. The British and Foreign Bible Society was founded in 1804 ; the American Bible Society twelve years later ; in 1891 these two societies were but two out of 80 Bible societies in the world. In 1800 the translations of the Bible were 47 in number; there are now 90 complete and 230 partial versions, making a total of 320 translations more or less complete. (d) Evidence of the continuous growth of aggressive Christian energy may be found in the rapid increase of missionary bishoprics which has taken place of recent years. In the first half of the 19th century 23 new bishoprics were founded ; in the latter half there were 69 ; the rate of increase was trebled in the second period. The same feature is shown in the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. During the 19th century it has added 73 new bishoprics, and 52 of these belong to the latter half of it. The two churches added to their organization 165 new sees in the same century, and no fewer than 73 of these have come into existence since 187 °(e) But apart from figures, the whole position of Christian business has undergone a change in public estimation. Missionary meetings used to be dull, and missionary literature flat and insipid. Now all this is changed. Meetings are large and enthusiastic, and missionary literature displays a culture and breadth of treatment unknown to our fathers. The journals or magazines issued by societies treat of every land from Greenland to Patagonia, from Japan to the Southern Islands, and they set forth with intelligence and learning questions of geography, philology, sociology, art and science, native manners and customs, in addition to, or in illustration of, direct missionary information. The popular sympathy which so often waits on popular knowledge has been further enlisted by what are known as missionary loan exhibitions. In these vivid illustrations of native life and missionary work are given by means of costumes, curiosities, and models. To such an exhibition in Birmingham there were as many as 100,000 visitors; and everywhere similar exhibitions have been crowded. As a witness to the changed popular feeling towards missionary enterprise, perhaps nothing can be more striking than the fact that there are now in England and America public monuments commemorating the zeal and devotion of the missionary. In Washington Square in New York there is a church which is a memorial to Judson the missionary; in Westminster Abbey there is a monument to David Livingstone, who lies in the ancient national shrine where the greatest of Englishmen are buried.
