PLENTY OF PREACHING, BUT NOT TO THE POOR.
"REPLYING to John Baptist's, 'Art Thou He that should come?' Christ, among other evidences of His Messiahship, quoted this: 'To the poor the Gospel is preached.' In another place we read, 'And the common people heard Him gladly.' Is it true to-day in this Christian land," asks the New York Evangelist (Presby.), "that the Gospel is preached to the poor, and that the common people have an opportunity of hearing the Word of God? In answer, visit almost any of our churches on a Sunday morning. The pews are occupied almost entirely by the wealthy, the cultured, the fashionable portion of society. The furnishings are elaborate, the music artistic, the sermon sometimes plain and practical, but more often metaphysical or oratorical. The common people, the workingmen and women, not to speak of the lowly and degraded, are conspicuous by their absence. One reason why they do not come is because they could not feel at home in such surroundings. Nor will it meet the case to say, as may be said, that efforts to reach those people were never so abundant or more successful. Witness the Salvation Army, the mission Sunday-school, and evangelistic work; for all these only accentuate and emphasize the social and class distinctions that never ought to be found inside the church of God. The very existence of such agencies implies that there are two kinds of sinners, the rich sinners and the poor ones; and for each of these a different Gospel must be provided." And just the above condition is a sign of Christ's second coming. "The love of many shall wax cold." See Matt. 24:12-14.