USA > Ohio > History of Ohio Methodism : a study in social science > Part 16
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The prime object of the Book Concern has been from the first to "spread Scripture holiness over these lands." How well it has succeeded in doing so can scarcely be estimated; but in Cincinnati alone the book sales for 1896 amounted to $205,302, and in 1897 to $302,310; while the periodical sales for these years were, respectively, $329,853 and $321,019. During the century of its existence it has distributed many thousands of books, periodicals, and tracts, none of them of a misleading or questionable character. Some of its publications are equal in freshness and vigor to the best in secular literature; most of them superior in their teaching of heart-purity and a sound morality, and unsurpassed as guides in correct inter- pretation of Scripture, and, like it, all of them "profit- able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in- struction in righteousness."
But the diffusion of knowledge as well as the promotion of piety has always been felt by the Church to be a matter of importance. In the year 1843 the Cincinnati Book Committee submitted a plan for a "Social and Domestic Library" to the several Annual
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Conferences, intended for the ultimate action of the General Conference. Already they had seen the value of such an undertaking. John Murray had issued in serial volumes a "Family Library" in London; Con- stable was publishing his "Miscellany" in Edinburgh,
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WESTERN METHODIST BOOK CONCERN.
and the Harpers were reprinting many of these works in their "Family Library" in this country. Their cheap price and handy size procured for them a large circulation. They were introduced into many homes and into Sunday-school libraries, and were devoured with eager interest by even the younger class of read- ers. The plan proposed by the Book Committee did not meet with favor,-or at least no action was taken
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upon it. The General Conference of 1844 had under consideration other matters of weighty importance, and the question of the Church and slavery occupied nearly all the time of the session. But what the General Conference did not sanction by adopting the plan, the agents have gradually carried into effect. Perhaps the scheme, if at that time it had been enter- prised in, would have proved a failure; yet during all these years an approach has been made towards its consummation. The books which have been pub- lished during the last quarter of a century, or over, have justified the policy which was suggested a quarter of a century earlier. For, while at first only books of a strictly theological or devotional character were printed in the Book Concern, we have now works of a more miscellaneous sort, adapted to the wants of the family circle, young people's societies, and the Sunday-school,-such as were contemplated in the proposed Social and Domestic Library.
In this distribution of a sanctified literature the Western Book Concern has had an ample share. In history and biography, in theology and doctrinal treatises, in commentaries on the Bible, and in guides to the higher life, Ohio Methodists have excelled. So far our writers can be considered only as the pio- neers of a riper age, embellished with all spiritual and intellectual endowments. "Tell ye your children of it; and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."
Chapter X. The Dutlook. 285
E need the rich and the refined and the learned, but not at the price of abandoning the poor and the uneducated. We want a ministry equal to the best in the universal Church in eru- dition and pulpit talent and intellect ; and we want a ministry that can go into the hamlet, hut, and the lowest cellar without overaw- ing their tenants with its respectability. How can these two be obtained and continued? How can each class and each man be induced to move contentedly, spontaneously, and eagerly in his own sphere, unimpeded by jealousy against caste? Romanism can do it. Why not Methodism ?"- Whedon.
66 REAT is the power of a life which knows that its highest experiences are its truest experiences, that it is most itself when it is at its best. What a piece of the man was for that shin- ing instant, it is the duty of the whole man to be always."-Phil- lips Brooks.
E will trust God. The blank interstices Men take for ruins, he will build into With pillared marbles rare, or knit across With generous arches, till the fane 's complete."
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
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CHAPTER X.
O HIO, one of the richest and fairest regions of the earth's surface, has witnessed a century of material and moral progress that is unparalleled in the history of the world. We have reviewed briefly but gratefully some of the historic achievements of the Methodist Episcopal Church upon Ohio soil. No one agency within the State has exerted a more power- ful moral and spiritual influence, and contributed more to the cause of education, human freedom, and moral reforms, than this Church. She rounds out her first century with devout thankfulness for the record of past achievements and present prosperity.
The triumphs and progress of the past, however, must not lead the Church to forget the demands of the present. It is important to know the trend of history and the special problems of the age, and how to solve them. As we have studied the progress of Christianity in general and the growth of the Meth- odist Church in particular, not only within the State, but throughout the world, we have been impressed with the fact that the Church is moving forward with hope and enthusiasm, and keeping pace proportion- ately with the growth of the country itself. In the midst of the present signs of the greater growth and spirituality ยท of the Church we can not take a de- spondent view. The slow, irregular, and spasmodic development of the Church in a few localities is no indication of the trend of the general progress.
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There never was a time when there was so much zeal, devotion, and benevolence in the Church as there is to-day. The preachers, as a class, are earnest in presenting the gospel and living up to it. They are radiant with hope and aflame with zeal. The mem- bership is not only on the increase, but the congre- gations are in earnest in the propagation of the gospel; and, as a rule, the people fill the churches. The volun- tary contributions to the support of the Church and its benevolences, as well as for civil and local pur- poses, show that religious enterprises are conducted on a scale heretofore unknown.
Nothing like perfection, however, has been reached. In spite of the fact that the moral and spir- itual conditions of the Church are healthier and bet- ter, yet the present conditions of society show that the Church is confronted with hindering influences and serious social problems. The outcome of these contending forces of evil and good is not without promise of success for all that is noblest and purest in our holy religion. It may be helpful to notice a few danger signals that lie along the pathway of progress of the Church, and then pass to consider some of the essential Christian forces which should operate for the overthrow of evil.
One of the dangers arises from the temptation to represent the Church by numbers rather than by the character of those who compose it. The numerical growth and preponderance of the Church signifies but little if we lose sight of the higher and deeper spir- itual forces which the Church represents. Moral and religious growth can not be put on a mathematical
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THE OUTLOOK.
basis. Figures are outside the domain of spirituality. People sometimes unite with the Church for social or commercial advantages, but possess very little in- terest in her real spirit or aim. The spirit of Chris- tianity is developed by means of Church organiza- tions, and has "its exact phenomena, its numerical representations, its distinctly-cut channels, its streams of varying depths and velocity, registering water- marks all along their pathways." It is, however, im- possible to measure all the forces that move and domi- nate the Church. Certain it is that care should be exercised that the Church is composed only of men and women who have been born again.
The Church, in her efforts to keep in touch with the world and increase her membership, may be tempted to make the entrance to her communion so easy as to obliterate the distinctions between the pro- fessor and non-professor. Such a Church will soon awaken to the fact that she can not shuffle off the influence and power of worldly members, and sooner or later must succumb to them, and so lose her evangelical prestige and power. The spirit of the Church is vastly more important than her form or numbers. The future improvement within the Church should be in the direction of the character of the mem- bership.
Another signal of danger is the neglect of home life. The time has come for the Church to emphasize anew the power and blessedness of a refined Christian home. The home life of the people sustains a very important relation to the Church. If the father and mother are absent from home evenings, and neglect family ties
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and fellowships, the children soon grow restless under the parental restraints, and, when age and opportunity permit, will seek society and pleasure outside the home.
In this stirring, throbbing age too little time is allotted in the home for developing strong, abiding affections between parents and children, and fostering a moral and religious life. The army of young people who walk the streets at night without any fixed aim, but to seek pleasure, will sooner or later become en- trapped in Satan's wiles. The drift of young life is away from the Churches. It will continue to be so until parents think more of cultivating an intimate fellowship with their children than they do of club life, secret societies, and all gatherings that require their absence from home at night.
The evil does not stop here, but sometimes ap- pears later in life in the form of a disregard for do- mestic life and a consequent lower tone of morals. The increase of club life and bachelorhood is at the root of much of the impurity of to-day. Intelligent and refined womanhood, strong, aspiring manhood, do not spring from a people who disregard the sanc- tity of home life. The most sacred place this side of heaven is the Christian home, where parents and chil- dren enjoy mutual love and confidence. The per- manent and abiding force of the Church must emanate from such a pure source. The Church of the future that would exert a great influence in the world, must exalt the home life, where Christian instruction and paternal love go hand in hand in developing char- acter that will reveal its power in the Church-life.
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THE OUTLOOK.
The progress of the Church is likewise menaced by the spirit of worldliness. Ohio has passed through the pioneer period, which witnessed great self-sacri- fice, simple and economical habits, and sturdy man- hood. A mighty stream of emigration from a large and highly developed section of the Eastern States flowed into the West, and leveled forests, cultivated rich lands, and covered them with prosperous homes. These natural advantages made possible the second period of large manufactories, increased values, and large wealth.
We are now in the third period, when we are tempted by our vast accumulations and material great- ness to live a life of ease and luxury, with a conse- quent reduction of character. The material improve- ments tend to attract, dazzle, and charm the eye. The tendency is for the visible to take such a hold of men that they lose sight of the invisible; and then they are ready to say, "Is this not great Babylon that we have built?"
The Methodist Church has from the beginning of Ohio's history sought to make the mental and moral development of the people keep pace with the march of progress on material lines. The religious forces working in connection with man's voluntary endow- ments have produced our Christian civilization. The spirit of Christianity has been the dominating power in the control of the collective social body. All health- ful development in the future must recognize this elmentary constituent of social progress. If the spirit of worldliness floods the Church, it will cripple her power. The history of the world shows that a Church
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as well as a nation invites failure and destruction whenever there is a disproportionate material develop- ment.
The only safeguard to our Christian civilization is to consecrate our wealth to God and ourselves to his service in the spirit of helpfulness to others. There is no other way to turn the current of thought and life from self-gratification to the development of a Christian civilization whose moral splendor shall out- shine the brightest visions of the old prophets.
Again, the open dramshop, with its degraded manhood and wretched sophistries, is the colossal in- iquity of the century and the greatest hindrance to the progress of the Church. The General Conference of 1896 declared that "the Christian's only proper atti- tude toward the liquor-traffic is that of relentless hos- tility." The saloons in Ohio for June, 1897, numbered nine thousand one hundred and eighteen; and the entire number of Church organizations of all denomi- nations was nine thousand three hundred and forty- five. There are within the State nearly as many saloons as churches. The Methodist Church, with more than twenty-three hundred Church organiza- tions and nearly three hundred thousand members within the State, is a mighty army in the field of conquest.
Dr. J. C. Jackson, Sr., has carefully estimated that the liquor-traffic in Ohio is responsible for forty- five per cent of idiocy, seventy per cent of insanity, eighty-two per cent of crime, and seventy-five per cent of pauperism.
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The sum total of these four items of the saloon in account with Ohio is as follows:
3,705 idiots, . . cost per year,
$562,196 70
5,186 insane, .
cost per year, 890, 176 90
12,596 convicts, .
. cost per year, 511,458 22
55,928 paupers, .
. cost per year,
1,035,000 00
77,415 rum victims, cost per year, $2,998,831 82
This takes no account of the more than 3,000 drunkards who annually die in Ohio. It does not reckon in Ohio's share of the cost of the trial of the 53,436 whisky homicides, noted by the Chicago Tribune, from 1886 to 1896, nor of the 32,925 counted by Judge Parker of the Federal Court of Arkansas and the Indian Territory within six years, nor of Mrs. Helen Gougar's list of 3,004 wife murders by drunken husbands in one year. The Dow tax pays into Ohio treasuries about $3,500,000 per year. It will be seen that this is but a little more than what the traffic costs the State for the mere support of its rum-manu- factured idiots, insane, criminals, and paupers. It leaves almost nothing to offset the extra expense of trials, loss of labor, cost of liquor, and the like, which a late conservative estimate of the highest authority places at $70,000,000 expense inflicted on the State annually.
In view of these startling facts the Church must redouble her efforts for the suppression of the saloon and the establishment of civic righteousness.
We should not limit our view to the obvious ac- tivity of evil agencies on the one side, without con- sidering the active agencies for good on the other.
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One of the triumphant forces at work in the field is the Divine truth. The Church is the nursery of truth. It is here that it is fostered, expanded, and diffused, because it is the strongest force against sin and vice. It is the one authoritative teaching of God; and the Church has the privilege of making it known to a sinful world. The work of reconciliation has been committed to the Church. Its authority over the mind and conscience of men must not be weak- ened or impugned. "The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword," and exerts more power in the world to-day than at any time in its history! It is the one instrumentality to persuade men to a voluntary acceptance of Christ. The Divine Word of Truth will supplant error, and prove its own inspira- tion through its power to take hold of men's minds and hearts. The voice of God speaks to every one who comes under its power, and enables him to say, "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart."
The Church invites humiliation and defeat when- ever her faith in God's truth is weakened. The great- est leaders in the moral and religious world and the most active and successful Churches have been dis- tinguished by their faith. The great need of the hour is "to preach the Word," and to let every sermon be a Divine message to sinful men. Some one asked Mr. Gladstone what was the great question of the day. He replied, "There is only one question; and that is sin and salvation." The Divine truths concerning repentance, regeneration, and our crucified and risen
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Lord, are the greatest power for the uplifting of our fallen race to God.
The most vital part of the gospel is to make men righteous. The fruits of the gospel are in the con- duct and character of the believers. This is the crown- ing proof of Christianity. People do not need so much dogmatic theology as ethical precepts and principles. They should be taught what is right and wrong in all relations of life. Correct believing and unrighteous living is not the moral code that will rescue the world from sin. The vital and essential doctrines of the gos- pel were made to harmonize with the ethical teachings.
The minister who preaches the Word so as to probe the hearts of hearers and bring life and actions to the bar of conscience, will not have to resort to enter- tainments and outside issues to secure an audience. We believe the gospel touches every important ques- tion of the day. The preacher, however, is not called upon to explode the objections of the corrupt enemies of the truth, and discuss questions irrelevant to a positive gospel message. He is to preach the reality of revealed religion and its power to transform char- acter and correct conduct. Such a preacher will have hearers and be a center of power.
Next in importance to the Divine message is a wise and consecrated ministry. The transcendent dignity of the Christian pulpit must be upheld by de- vout and educated messengers of God. We presume that consecration is paramount; but education is only second in power. "It was the Prussian schoolmaster," said Von Moltke, "who conquered at Sadowa." The
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land of scholars is the land of power. An intelligent ministry is an effective ministry. Men will always listen to a preacher with a clear, vigorous, and acute mind. Nothing short of a liberal education will fit a man for the most effective discharge of the duties of the Christian ministry. That man has an erroneous conception of his duty who will enter the ministry with but little preparation, and assume the most sacred responsibility of ministering to immortal souls.
Well did the far-seeing and now sainted Simpson say, "What the Methodist Church needs now is not more ministers, but better trained ministers;" to which may be added the saying of Bishop Foster, "A call to the ministry means a call to the most thorough preparation for the ministry."
The leaders of Israel must face the forces of evil and be capable of wisely directing the forces of Al- mighty God for their destruction. The gross ma- terialism, lurking sensuality, destructive skepticism, political corruption, and the colossal iniquity of the liquor-traffic, demand Christian giants to work their overthrow. Preachers are better equipped for their great task if they have read widely, and trained all their mental powers.
The Church has proceeded upon the supposition that when she founded colleges and universities her future ministers must be educated. Each candidate for the ministry owes it to himself and to the Church to avail himself of these facilities, and become thoroughly furnished unto every good work. The laity are becoming educated. Young people in every vil- lage, town, and city are unwilling to tolerate an inferior
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standard of ministerial culture. The highest possi- bilities of the ministry hinge on Christian education.
The Church is an organized form of Divine life. Wherever there is life, there is some form of it. The life of Christ is incarnated in his true followers, through whom he works for the extension of his kingdom. The Church has scarcely begun to utilize the active as well as the latent spiritual forces at her command. The ocean of electricity always existed, but it required intelligent effort to organize and con- secrate it to an end. If we can secure the consecra- tion of the latent energies of the Church, we may accomplish wonderful results for God and humanity. The true conception of the Christian Church is not that of a hospital where souls are nourished and pre- pared for heaven, but that of a grand army marching for the conquest of the world. The Lord works through the binding force of organized Christian effort, and keeps alive the good influences set to work.
Rev. G. P. Mains truly says :
"A paramount need of the hour is for ministers who have a genius for organizing their lay forces for spiritual work. The laymen in great numbers are willing to work; yet many of these, for want of con- viction and use, are standing in the Church with idle hands, so many undeveloped spiritual possibilities. Let these possibilities but once be borne into active expression; let them be wisely organized and hero- ically led for achievement, and the Church will awaken in an hour to the conscious ability needed for the evangelization of every city in America."
Each local Church should arrange for a concerted
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action on the part of the members to visit regularly and systematically every unconverted family in the community, with a view to a neighborly acquaintance, and to influence for good. In some localities a good share of the spiritual force is expended in trying to keep alive the flagging life of the Church. The mem- bers resort to social gatherings, entertainments, and festivals, and say to the world, "Come and help save the Church," whereas the Church should be able to say, "Come into the Church and be saved." Such Churches must throw aside the pharisaical attitude towards the world, and be ready to go and do God's will, even if it does require assiduous toil and self- sacrifice.
In Ohio thirty-three per cent of the population belong to some branch of the Christian Church. Two hundred thousand young people, a strong and valiant army, are found in the Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth Leagues, Baptists' Unions of the State. If all these Christian forces were federated and prop- erly organized to carry forward a campaign against organized iniquity, nothing could resist their power and influence.
Another mission of the Church is to work for social as well as personal redemption. The individual is the unit of the family, and the family of society. If we get the individual right, we get the right social conditions. The Church can not overlook the im- portance of the transcendent value of a single soul. The work of the Church, however, does not stop here, but must extend her power for social redemption. She must study how to rescue the individual and so-
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ciety from all organized forms of iniquity. She must be the active agent in business and society, and in political and civic affairs, and so develop the com- munity conscience that it will work for the overthrow of the evil forces, and make for righteousness.
The danger is that in proportion as the Church attains power and strength she will be a conservative force and an ally of the existing order of things. It is historically true that the dominant Church has always erected barriers in the pathway of reform and the establishment of civic righteousness and sobriety.
"It was the Established Church of Jewry that crucified Christ as a disturber of the existing order of things; it was the dominant Church of Christendom that cried out upon Galileo and Columbus as dis- turbers; it was the dominant Church of England that haled Wesley out of its pale, and forced the Puritans to seek haven in the New World: they were disturb- ers. The dominant Churches of America supported slavery in practice, even after they were forced to abandon it in theory, and ostracized the Abolitionists as disturbers."
Lincoln could not understand the defection of ministers; and Phillips had his conscience bewildered, and his moral sense outraged by the indifferent atti- tude of the Church regarding slavery.
Our Christian institutions have been founded and inspired by Christian principles. Their very existence is threatened by an organized saloon power and po- litical debauchery. The cohorts and legions of evil have entered with soiled hands and feet our Christian institutions, and corrupted them. The demand of the
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