In the Biblical World, published by the University of Chicago Press, and edited by the President of the University, William R. Harper, there is an interesting editorial entitled, "Two obligations of the Church to a Christian Society." We quote briefly from this
"article;--There never was a time in which the Christian spirit was more manifest than to-day. The religious interpretation almost universally given by the daily press to recent events in our national history; the multiplication of institutions for the care rather than the punishment of the criminal and unfortunate; the appeal to avowedly Christian motives in matters of international dispute; the appearance of a new moral sense in municipal politics; the rise of interdenominational religious bodies; ... all these are but a few of the evidences of the fact that social life is growing Christian. In literature the same is true. There never was a time when so many religious books were read, or when the interest in religious problems was so general, not merely among members of churches but throughout the entire novel-reading world. And finally, whether as friend or foe of the Christian faith, it seems inevitable that every prominent scientific man should sooner or later enter most earnestly the field of religious discussion.
"But there is another side to all this great movement. The statistics of organized Christianity show that the growth of many denominations in certain portions of the country has practically ceased. There are, in fact, great sections of the United States in which, if accurate statistics could be obtained and all due allowance made for the double counting of members and the erasure of members whose whereabouts are unknown, the membership of several denominations would show a decided decrease. Statements concerning the inefficiency of the church among working people may be exaggerated, but unfortunately are not altogether without foundation. The great socialistic movement, though having for its watchwords some of the most fundamental principles of Christianity, is yet often openly hostile to the church as an institution. Whatever may be the number of voting men passing into the ranks of the ministry either without theological training or ill prepared, it is no longer a matter of doubt that the number of students for the ministry in colleges and theological seminaries is diminishing, not merely in the United States, but in England. Scotland, and Germany.
