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218
From Here to Forever
spirit of reform pass away, their descendants “new-model the cause.”
Blindly refusing to accept any truth in advance of what their fathers
saw, the children of the reformers depart from their example of
self-denial and renunciation of the world.
Alas, how widely have popular churches departed from the Bible
standard! Said John Wesley, speaking of money: “Do not waste
any part of so precious a talent, ... by superfluous or expensive
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apparel, or by needless ornaments. Waste no part of it in curiously
adorning your houses; in superfluous or expensive furniture; in costly
pictures, painting, gilding. ... So long as thou art ‘clothed in purple
and fine linen,’ and farest ‘sumptuously every day,’ no doubt many
will applaud thy elegance of taste, thy generosity and hospitality.
But rather be content with the honor that cometh from God.
Rulers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, merchants, join the church
as a means of advancing their worldly interests. The religious bodies,
reenforced by the wealth of these baptized worldlings, make a still
higher bid for popularity. Splendid, extravagant churches are erected.
A high salary is paid for a talented minister to entertain the people.
His sermons must be smooth and pleasing for fashionable ears. Thus
fashionable sins are concealed under a pretense of godliness.
A writer in the New York Independent speaks thus concerning
Methodism as it is: “The line of separation between the godly and
the irreligious fades out into a kind of penumbra, and zealous men
on both sides are toiling to obliterate all difference between their
modes of action and enjoyment.”
In this tide of pleasure-seeking, self-sacrifice for Christ’s sake is
almost wholly lost. “If funds are wanted now, ... nobody must be
called on to give. Oh, no! have a fair, tableau, mock trial, antiquarian
supper, or something to eat—anything to amuse the people.”
Robert Atkins draws a picture of spiritual declension in England:
“Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is engraven on the very front of every
church; and did they know it, and did they feel it, there might be
hope; but, alas! they cry, ”We are rich, and increased in goods, and
stand in need of nothing.’
8
,Wesley Works, Sermon 50, “The Use of Money.‘
9
Second Advent Library, tract No. 39.