THE DECLINE OF CHURCH-GOING.
We find in the Journal of Commerce a letter from that always interesting and instructive writer, Mr. William C. Prime, giving some rather startling accounts of the decline of religion in New England. It is the habit of Mr. Prime every autumn to make excursions in his own carriage through the more picturesque and attractive portions of the New England States; and this mode of traveling brings him into much more intimate relations with the people than are possible in the rapidity of an ordinary journey. He stops over every Sunday, of course attending church wherever he happens to be; and the facts he has observed afford occasion for these reflections:— “I confess that year after year I grow more and more to wondering why it is that New England country people do not seem to have much interest in their churches. Whatever the denomination, we always find empty churches on Sunday mornings and very small groups on Sunday evenings. In villages of considerable size, with surrounding farms on which the population is not small, it never happens that we find a morning congregation of more than forty or fifty persons at church, and usually the number is much less than that; while at evening service it is almost invariable to find only ten or fifteen females and rarely more than two, three, or four men, In large towns the attendance is proportionately small. The proportion of the people of parts of Northern New England who are regular church-goers would seem to be small, even smaller than in our large cities, if one can judge from personal observation during the past few years on pleasant September and October Sundays.” “It was not so once. I know country churches which once gathered in on Sunday morning pretty much all the population around, and which are now full of emptiness. I see plenty of churches which are sheds for horses and wagons, which, by their extensive size, indicate that they were once used by many families, and which are now not only empty, but roofless, shabby, and useless; nor could I learn that the building of other churches had led away the congregations: “Probably the same is true of parts of New York and other States.” Mr. Prime is a careful and conservative man, and does not give utterance to any casual impressions or exaggerated opinions. What he says is surely so; but if he had gone further and explained the causes for such a state of things, he would have laid the public under greater obligation. The decline of church-going has been noticed in many quarters, and by observers who are far from sharing Mr. Prime’s orthodox and devout sentiments. It is, we believe, just as evident in the churches of this great city as it is in any rural village; and the essence of the fact everywhere, at least to the superficial observer, must be declared to be that the prevailing forms of Christianity are losing that hold upon the public mind which they once possessed. There are as many churches as ever, but there are fewer worshipers. There may be as many church-members, but the earnestness and the piety of their faith has suffered an eclipse. There are as many sermons as ever, but they no longer warm the hearts of men as once they did with the fire of “righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.” There is, then, a most notable decay of religion among us. Men are ceasing to be Christians, and what are they becoming instead? Faith in Christ, in the Scriptures, and in retribution hereafter for deeds done in the body, no longer controls their actions. And what is taking the place of that faith? And where is the fault? Why is it that the venerable bulwarks are broken down? Why is it that ideas of truth for which men have endured everything, even the loss of life, are thus thrown away and abandoned? Is it the fault of the infidel teachings of modern science? Is it the fault of the church? Is it the fault of a clergy grown rich and luxurious, and, like the masses of their congregations, unbelieving at heart? Is it because the true doctrine of the Saviour has been cast aside by the churches, and the imaginations and devices of men substituted in its place? Or is it because some new and more practical application of that doctrine in the institutions and relations of society is necessary to reconcile the inconsistencies and revive the ardor of the ancient creeds? These are questions which merit the most serious, nay, the most solemn attention from all persons interested in the welfare of mankind and the safety of society. But unfortunately the considerations which we have now presented are none of them new. They are familiar to priests and to philosophers of every name; but as yet none of these have been able to give an answer which has brought any comfort to the anxious minds of the religious, or silenced to any extent the doubts of the scoffing.— N. Y. Sun, Dec. 14, 1879.