HE ENTERS A DENIAL
Sermon Regarding the Diminishing
of Sunday Audiences.
pr. Talinn^o Present* Some Hard
Facts .Showing Tlint Church At
tendance in America Ih Not
in Decadence.
ICopyrlght, 1901, by Louis KlopsCb, N. Y.]
Washington, Sept. 15.
Most encouraging to all Christian
•workers is this discourse of Dr. Tal
mage while denying the accuracy of
statistics which represent Sunday au
diences as diminishing. Text, He
brew’s 10:25, “Not forsaking the as
sembling of ourselves together.”
Startling statements have been made
in many of the pulpits and in some of
the religious newspapers. It is heard
over and over again that church at
tendance in America isin decadence. I
deny the statements by presenting
6ome hard facts. No one will dispute
the fact that there are more churches
in America than ever before, one de
nomination averaging two new
churches every day of the year. The
law of demand and supply is as inex
orable in the kingdom of (lod as it is
in the world. More churches supplied
argues more church privileges demand
ed. More banks, more bankers; more
factories, more manufacturers; more
ships, more importers; more churches,
more attendants.
In ail our cities within a few years
churches have been built large enough
to swallow up two or three of the old
time churches. I cannot understand
with what kind of arithmetic and slate
pencil a man calculates when he comes
to the conclusion that church attend
ance in America is in decadence. Take
the aggregate of the number of people
who enter the house of God now and
compare it \yith the aggregate of the
people who entered the house of God
25 y’ears ago, and the present attend
ance is four to one. The facts are
most exhilarating instead of being de
pressing. That man who presents the
opposite statistics must have been
most unfortunate in his church ac
quaintance.
You are not to argue adversely be
cause here and there a church is de
pleted. Churches have their day.
Sometimes merchandise will entirely
occupy a neighborhood and crowd out
the churches and families ordinarily
attendant upon them. Sometimes a
church perishes through internecine
strife. But there are no facts to over
throw the statement that I have made
in regard to the increasing attendance
upon the house of God. Now, I am
ready to admit, as every intelligent
man will admit, that there are
churches which have been depleted,
and it is high time that a sermon be
preached for the benefit of young men
who are just entering the Gospel min
istry and for the warning of prosper
ous churches as to what are the causes
of decline in any case. If merchandise
crowd out a church, that cannot be
helped, but under all other circum
stances decadence in church attend
ance is the fault either of the church
or of the pastor.
Churches are often cleared of their
audiences by the attempt to transplant
the modes of the past into the pres
ent. The modes and methods of 50
years ago are no more appropriate for
to-day than the modes and methods of
to-day will be appropriate for 50 years
hence. Dr. Kirk, Dr. McElroy, Dr. Ma
son, Dr. De Witt, Dr. Vermilyea and
hundreds of other men just as gpod
as they were never lacked audiences,
because they were abreast of the time
in which they lived. People will not
be interested in what we sayr unless
we understand the spirit of the day in
which we live. All the woe-begonish
statistics are given by those who are
trying in our time to work with the
worn-out machinery of the past times.
Such men might just as well throw the
furnaces out of our church basements
and substitute the foot stoves which
our grandmothers used to carry with
them to meeting, hnd throw out our
organs and our cornets and take the
olt^fashioned tuning fork, striking it
on the knee* and then lifting it to the
ear to catch the pitch of the hymn,
and might as well throw out our mod
ern platforms and modern pulpits and
substitute the wineglass pulpit up
which the minister used to climb to the
dizzy height of Mont Blanc solitariness
and then 'go in out of sight and shut
the door after him. When you can
get the great masses of the people to
take passage from Albany to Buffalo
in stage coach or canal boat in prefer
ence to the lightning express train
which does it in four hours, then you
can get the great masses of the peo
ple to go to a church half a century be
hind the time.
The trouble begins away back in the
theological seminaries. It is a shame
that larger provision is not made for
ministers of religion, for the sick and
the aged and the infirm who have worn
themselves out in the service of God.
We have naval asylums and soldiers’
asylums for men who fought on land
and sea for our country when these
men have become aged or crippled, and
it is a shame that larger provision is
not made for the good soldiers of Jesus
Christ who have worn themselves out
in battling for the Lord. Ilut lack of
provision in that respect makes a tend
ency to turn our theological seminaries
into hospitals for sick and aged and
infirm ministers. When a man begins
to go down, they give him the title of
1). D by way of resuscitation, if that
fails, then the tendency is to elect him
to ft professorship in some thelogical
seminary. There are grand exceptions
to the rule, but it is often the case that
the professorate in a theological sem
inary is occupied by some minister of
the Gospel who, not being able to
preach, is set to teach others how to
preach. In more cases than one the
poorest speaker in the faculty is the
professor of elocution. We want more
wide-awake, more able-bodied, able
minded men, more enthusiastic men in
our theological seminaries and in the
professorates—men like Addison Alex
ander, who could during the week
teach young men the theory of preach
ing and then on Sunday go into the pul
pit and with the thunder and light
ning of Christian eloquence show them
how. What would you think of a fac
ulty of unsuccessful merchants to
train young merchants or a faculty of
unsuccessful lawyers to train young
lawyers? It is often the case that
theological seminaries cut a man and
clip him and square him and mold him
and bore him and twist him until all
the individual is gone out of him and
lie is only a poor copy of a man who
was elected to a professorate because
he could not preach. We want less
deadwood in the theological semi
naries and more flaming evangels.
At a meeting of the general assem
bly of the Presbyterian church of the
United States a clergyman accus
tomed on the Sabbath to preach tc
an .audience of 200 or 300 people, in an
audience room that could hold 1,500
was appointed to preach a sermon on
how to reach the masses. I am told
the incongruity was too much for the
risibilities of many of the clergy in
the audience. Now, a young man
coming out irom such bedwarfing in
fluences, how can he enter into the
wants and the woes and the sympa
thies of the people who want on the
Lord’s day a practical Gospel that
will help them all the week and helj:
them forever?
xoung ministers are torn tney musi
preach Christ and Him crucified. Yes
but not as an abstraction. Many a
minister has preached Christ and
Him crucified in such a way that he
preached an audience of 500 down tc
200, and from 200 to 100, anil from 10C
to 50, and from 50 to 20, and on down
until there was little left save the
sexton, who was paid to stay unti;
the service was over and lock up
There is a greao deal of cant aboul
Christ and Him crucified. It is not
Christ and Him crucified as an ab
straction, but as an Omnipotent sym
pathy applied to ‘all the wants anc
woes of our immortal nature—e
Christ who will help us in every do
mestic, social, financial, political, na
tional struggle—a Christ for the par
lor, a Christ for the nursery, a Chrisl
for the kitchen, a Christ for the barn
a Christ for the street, a Christ foi
the store, a Christ for the banking
house, a Christ for the factory, a
Christ for the congressional assem
bly, a Christ for the courtroom, a
Christ for every trial and every emer
gency and ever perturbation.
It is often the case that the dif
ficulty begins clear back in the home
circle with misapprehension as tc
which child ought to be consecrated
tothe ministry. John is a keen, brigh!
boy. He is good at a bargain. Wher
he trades at school, he always gets
the best of it. Make him a merchant
He will soon gather a fortune and gc
right up to take his place among tin
commercial princes. George has
great cerebral development. Chrono
logically, language is large. Make
him a lawyer. He will argue his waj
to the front, and he will take his
place among the Mansfields and the
Storys. Henry has a large girth a1
the chest and is military in his stej
and bearing. Send him to West Point
We shall sec him yet a brigadier gen
eral. William is fond of sketching
ships, and he knows as much about
a vessel as an old sailor. Make him a
shipbuilder. The vessel that he builds
will successfully wrestle with the
Cariboean whirlwind. Aleck is not
very well. He has never had very
good digestion. Since that last ma
larial attack his spleen is enlarged.
He has a morbid way of looking at
things. He will sit* for hours look
ing at one figure in the carpet. His
manners are so mild, so soft, so gen
tle, so affectionate, so Heavenly, and
he cries easily. Make him a minister.
Now, my friends, that is a great mis
take. If you want to consecrate one
of your sons to the Gospel ministry,
take the one widest awake, the
brawniest, the most brilliant, the
most irresistible, the most potent. A
tremendous . ork o tens before a pro
fession whose one object is to lift
the nations toward God and prepare
them for Heaven.
Ah, my friends, churches will be
largely attended just in proportion
as we ministers can meet their
wants, meet their sufferings, meet
their bereavements and meet their
sympathies. If there be a church
with small help, small audience, medi
um help, medium audience' large
help, large audience. If there be a
family in a city and three depots of
bread and one depot has 100 loaves
and another 000 loaves and another
depot 10,000 loaves, the depot that
has 100 loaves will have applicants,
tne depot that lias 500 loaves will
have far more applicants, the depot
that has 10,000 loaves will have
I throngs, throngs, throngs.
Oh, my brethren in the Christian
ministry, we must somehow get our
shoulders under the burden of the
people on the Lord’s day and give
them a good stout lift, and we can do
it. We have it all our own way. It is
I a great pity if with the floor clear
and no interruption, we cannot dur
ing the course of an hour get our
hymn or our prayer or our sermon
under such momentum we can, by the
j help of God, lift the people, body,
! mind and soul, clear out of their sins,
j temptations and troubles.
Why should we go away to get an
illustration of the vicarious suffering
of Jesus Christ when at illoomfield,
X. ,T., two little children were walk
ing on the rail track and a train was
coming; but they were on a bridge
of trestlework, and the little girl
took her brother and let him down
through the trestlework as gently as
! she could toward the water, very
' carefully and lovingly and cautious
: ly, so that he might not be hurt in
; the fall and might be picked up by
i those who were standing near by;
' while doing that the train struck
her, and hardly enough of her body
was left to gather into a funeral
casket? What was that? Vicarious
suffering. Like Christ. Pang for oth
ers. Woe for others. Suffering for
others. Death for others. What is
the use of our going away off to find
an illustration in past ages when in
Michigan a mail carrier on horse
back. riding on, pursued by those
flames which had swept over a hun
dred miles, shw an old man by the
roadside, dismounted, helped the old
man on the horse, saying: “Now,
whip up and get. away?” The old
man got away, but the mail carrier
perished. Just like Christ dismount
ing* from the glories of Heaven, to
put us on the way of deliverance,
then falling back in the flames of
sacrifice for others. Pang for others.
Woe for others. Death for others.
Vicarious suffering. What is the use
of our going away off in ancient his
tory to find an illustration of the
fact that it is dangerous to defy God
when in the Adirondacks I saw a
flash of lightning and bolt so vivid
I said: “That struck something very
near?” A few hours afterward we
found that two farmers that Monday
morning had been seated under a
tree, the one boasting- how that the
day before—on the Lord’s day—he
had got his hay in and so cheated
the Lord out of that part of the time
anyhow, and both of them laughing
over the achievement by which they
had wronged the Lord of His holy
day, when the lightning struck one
dead instantly, and the other had
been two weeks in bed when we left
the Adirondaeks and has become an
invalid, I suppose, for life. He did
not make as much out of the Lord as
he thought he did. Was it any less
an illustration for my soul because
1 met the clergyman on his way home
from the funeral, and he told me of
the facts and said the body of the
man who had been destroyed was
black with the electricity?
O Christian workers, we have got
to freshen up. What is the use of
our going back in the Christian clas
sics to find an illustration of the vic
torious Christian deathbed when my
personal friend, Alfred Cookman, a
few years ago went away in as im
perial grandeur as did Edward Pay
son ? Is it any less an illustration to
me and to you because 1 met him a
few weeks before in front of Trinity
church, Broadway, and I said:
’ “Cookman, you look as if you were
working too hard?” Where in all
the classics is there such a story as
that of Cookman when, in his last
moment, he cried: “I am sweeping
through the gates washed in the
blood of the Lamb?”
Oh, fellow Christian workers, what is
the use of our being stale and obsolete
and ancient when all around us are
these evidences of God's grace, God’s
deliverance, God’s mercy and God's
wisdom? We have got to freshen up
in our sermons, freshen up in our
songs, freshen up in our zeal, freshen
up in our consecration, and if we do it,
my brethren and sisters, we will no
more have to coax people to come to
church than if you throw corn on the
ground you have to coax pigeons to
come and eat it, no more than you
would have to coax a tired horse to eat
oats you throw in his manger. Yes,
we must freshen up in our Sunday
schools and in our prayer meetings
and in our pulpits.
It is high time that the church of
God stopped writing apologies for the
church. Let the men who are on the
outside, who despise religion, write the
apologies. If any people do not want
the church, they need not have it. It
is a free country. If any man does
not want the Gospel, he need not have
it. It is a free country. But you go
out, 0 people of God, and give the Gos
pel to the millions of America who do
want it! It is high time to stop skir
mishing and bring on a general engage
ment. I want to live to see the Ar
! mageddon, all the armies of Heaven
and hell in battle array, for I know our
conqueror on the white horse will gain
the day. Let the church of God be de
voted to nothing else, but go right on
to this conquest.
AMID SILENCE AND GLOOM.
l.iiHt Sceiicd of file Grnnil Army Kn
cnmirinent—'Torrance for C'om
luander-in-Cblef.
Cleveland, O., Sept. 14.—The con
vention of the Thirty-fifth annual en
campment of the Grand Army of the
Republic came to a close yesterday
aim'd the silence and gloom of im
pending death. News of the grave
condition of the president east a
shadow over the proceedings, and it
was, consequently, decided to proceed
|--1-1
ELI TORRENCE.
with the election of officers and to
refer all other important business of
the session to the incoming council
of administration.
Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, of New York,
withdrew his name as a candidate for
commander-in-chief before the nom
inations were made.
Comrade Ayers, of Delaware,
moved the nomination of Gen. Thom
as J. Stewart, of Pennsylvania, Gen.
Gobin seconding.
Gov. Van Sant of Minnesota placed
Judge Eli Torrance in nomination.
The Torrance vote stood 476 to Stew
art’s 230. When Gen. Wagner moved
that the vote be made unanimous in
favor of Torrance, the motion was
carried. ,
Other officials elected were: Senior
vice-commander, John H. McElroy,
Washington, D. C.; junior vice-com
mander, James O’Donnell, Illinois;
surgeon general, Dr. W. R. Thrall,
Cincinnati; cliaplain-in-chief, Rev. L.
M. Boyle, Pennsylvania.
THE STRIKE SITUATION.
Presldont Shaffer Helieve«l to l»e in
New York Arranging: a
Settlement.
Pittsburg, Pa., Sept. 13.—The ab
sence of President Shaffer from Amal
gamated headquarters was noted this
morning, and when the day passed
and he did not appear, the report that
he was in New York was received
from several good sources. Officers
of the organization declined to dis
cuss the strike in any form, and said
that they did not know where Mr.
Shalfer was.
Tt was learned to-night that Pres
ident Shaffer, with several of his ad
visers, took the 10 p. m. train for
New York, presumably under an ar
rangement with the steel people to
settle the strike. It can not be said
positively that this is the case, but all
signs point to this.
Beports early in the day were that
a settlement was looked for by the
Amalgamated men. This belief was
strengthened by the current issue of
the Amalgamated Journal, which told
of President Shaffer’s renewed ef
forts for new negotiations. His pres
ent trip to New York is believed to
be the consummation of these efforts.
Until the result is known no develop
ments are expected in the strike situ
ation.
CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS,
Warden Swenson Must Answer for
Premature Kelense of f'nlted
States Prisoner.
Sioux Falls, S. 1)., Sept. 14.—'The al
leged premature release from the
Sioux Falls penitentiary on August IS
of Richard A. Tubbs, ex-mayor of Al
cester, who was convicted in the Unit
ed States court of sending objectiona
ble matter through the mails and
sentenced to a term of two years in
prison, took a sensational turn, yes
terday afternoon, when the United
States attorney tiled contempt pro
ceedings against Warden Swenson oi
the penitentiary.
An order was issued returnable in
the United States court at ten o'clock
next Monday morning, when Warden
Swenson will be required to appear
and present his side of the case.
AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.
The Lout Art of Tcniiiprlni; Coin>er
Discovered by a Civil War Vet
eran at Macliiiis, Me.
Machias, Me., Sept. 14.—John H.
Duffy, a civil war pensioner of this
town, has discovered the lost art of
so tempering copper that it will take
and keep an edge equal to that of
steel, lie claims that, his discovery is
very simple and that every copper
and brass worker treads upon it
daily, but fails to see it. He thinks
that what he has discovered is but the
beginning of a great series of diseov4
erics that must follow it.
PERFECT TUITION.
Th« AdTMitAKC* Offered by the Mftridofl
Seminary—A Home Institution Tlmt Is
Deserving of Hlg Patronage — El'
celienre In Instruction Not
Oiten Obtained
Abroad.
Maddox Seminary was first estaN
fished at Oxford, Miss., in 1854, where
it flourished for forty years under the
name of the Oxford Seminary. In 1894
that talented gentleman and great edu
cator, Prof. S. A. Maudox, secured
control-of the meritorious school, and
since that time Prof. Maddox has la
bored with zeal and fidelity for the
establishment of a school of learning
that would reflect its thoroughness
and excellence in every pupil that en
tered its portals, and how well his ef
forts have been rewarded is well known
to the citizens of not only this but
many other states. In 1897 there came
a. change in the location. The ravages
of epidemics often interfered with its
usefulness, and these interruptions,
becoming burdensome, it was decided
to seek a more favored spot, where
the already well merited reputation
of the seminary might be properly
fostered and incresed. The capital
City of Arkansas was finally choset
and with open arms the citizen of
Little Rock bid it welcome.
On a lovely site in close proximity
to the main portion of the city with
lines of transportation at its very
feet, and yet far enough away upon a
beautiful elevation, environed by hand
some residences it flourishes today,
seemingly especially favored by na
ture and the arts of man for the cul
ture of pure tender minds that con
tribute so largely to the splendid
womanhood of this great free land.
Put attractive surroundings and iom
\aodious, well appointed buddings,
completely furnished are but the ac
companiments to that greater ele
ment without which adornments ara
but a pretense.
It is the course of instruction the
success of inculcation and the thorough
tuition that wins with the public in
these institutions.
The Maddox Seminary has gr mnded
itself solidly in the principles of
correct instruction as to place itself at
the head of the front rank in this
course of education. With a liberality
of thought, an intuitive conception
and an energy of action, combining the
best Qualities of a public educator.
Prof. Maddox has held steadily on this
most important sphere of usefulness
until he has obtained a record in
the promotion and successful direction
of a school for young ladies that
has traveled away across the land and
given him a prestige of 'which he may
well be proud.
In his work he is assisted by the
very best talent obtainable, and the fac
ulty is well balanced in all the differ
ent courses in which instruction is giv
en. In fact Prof. Maddox has a $10,
000 faculty composed entirely of spec
ialists. i
The literary and art departments are
especially strong and thorough and
consist of the latest and most improved
methods advanced by modern think
ers. Mathematics are given special
attention and unlike many other sem
inaries do not stop at trigonometry,
but embraces analytical geometry, cal
culus, advanced astronomy and ad
vanced physics.
The courses of music, elocution and
art are unexcelled, and have won for
this seminary a reputation that is well
deserved.
With this advantage right here at
home, why should our citizens send
their daughters abroad for an educa
tion that can be obtained at home, in
easy reach in case of sick
ness or other condition that may
intervene. It would be useless expen
diture of money and in most cases
without obtaining as good results as
this seminary offers.
There are twenty-one teachers and
officials in the employ of this institu
tion, and with a strong local following
tion, all of them are high class special
ists in their chosen vocation and well
versed in the duties incumbent upon
them.
I he next term promises to be more
largely attended than heretofore, 190
scholars already being enrolled. The
citizens of Little Rock are greatly In
terested in the success of this institu
tion, and with a strong local following
there is no auestion as to a grander
and bigger success.
The fact is not to be ignored that by
Its presence in our midst $150,000 is
annually expended among our mer
chants and trades people. Many an
article from our close competing mer
chants is sent out by student pur
chasers to their homes abroad, not
counting that students’ friends and
relatives are constantly visiting them
and shopping while they are here and
thus the institution becomes a public
benefit as well as a school of superior
training.
There is no institution in the state
that is more deserving of constant and
united support by the peolple than
the Maddox Seminary, which is un
questionably one of the most thorough
efficient and meritorious schools to be
found in the United States*