| The Beauty of Self Control |
Chapter 16 |
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Most likely, however, the fact is that more men do go to church, or at least more men are interested in religious life and work, at present, than have been at any time in the last hundred years. It has been shown over and over again that there has been a marvelous progress in the influence of Christianity within a century. But in some way the croakers give out the impression that religion is waning, that the churches are dwindling and dying out, that very few men are interested in the work of Christ. The truth of the assertions is taken for granted, and ministers and church officers, as well as the rank and file, go about bemoaning the sad condition of things and wondering what is going to be the end of it all.
Not long since somebody sent out a scare article about the exhaustion of the material in the sun. This material is being consumed at an amazing rate, and the writer showed that in a certain number of thousands of years the sun will be burnt out, becoming only a big, cold, dark cinder, like the moon. What shall we do then? There is even less to alarm any thoughtful person in the talk about the dying out of Christianity than in the assertion that the sun is burning out. Those who are pessimistic about the scarcity of men in the churches and the general decadence of Christianity ought to look up the statistics, ought to read the reports of the wonderful work and progress of Young Men’s Christian Associations, of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement, of the great missionary conventions and of the story of the Christian work that is being done in the cities, and the tremendous things the Sunday schools are doing throughout he world.
Such a view of the situation ought to set in motion a new tide of cheer, hope, encouragement, in the churches and among Christian people. Instead of deploring the dying out of Christian life and activity there should begin now a new era of gladness, of enthusiasm, of praise, for the great things the church is doing.
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