That portion of the clerical world who, as pastors, are most nearly in
connection with the people, are necessarily affected with the influences
that touch theologians, and also with the condition of their people.
They find that what they have been trained to regard as a _fundamental_
doctrine of the Bible, has ceased to be defended by those who have been
their teachers in theology, and who are the leaders of their sect.
They find their own minds very greatly in doubt as to many points taught
them in their theological training. They find intelligent laymen refusing
to enter the church, whom they feel to be as really followers of Christ in
heart and life as any in their churches, while they see many professors of
religion as selfish, worldly and unprincipled as most of the world around,
and yet they can not exclude them.
They find intelligent young men coming to them expressing a desire to obey
Christ and to unite with his followers in efforts to “be good and to do
good,” but unable to subscribe to the creed of the church in regard to a
depraved nature and associated tenets, while by one expedient or another
these pastors waive the difficulty and receive them into their churches.
They find intelligent mothers and Sunday‐school teachers throwing aside
the Augustinian dogma, and training their little ones to believe that they
can love and serve their Saviour with their present nature and faculties,
and that every attempt to conform to the rules of duty is well‐pleasing to
God, and a step forward in the path to heaven.
They find intelligent Christian mothers wishing to bring their children to
the communion with no other profession than that they desire and intend to
obey their Saviour in all things.
In this state of things, some of the most successful and intelligent
pastors have decided, in such cases, to cut loose from their creeds and
confessions, and to receive to the communion any young children whom their
parents believe and feel to be thus prepared for it.
The position assumed by the parochial clergy in the great revival of the
past year, has been a remarkable index.
_The people_ of all sects and creeds came together to express their wish
and intention to serve the Lord Christ by obedience to his word in heart
and life, and their pastors sat with them as equals in all respects before
the common Father. They related their experience; they exhorted each other
to persevere; they united in prayers for help and guidance, and their
pastors ceased to urge attention to those “doctrines” founded on the
Augustinian theory, which in former revivals were made so prominent.
There are incidents that have come under the personal observation of the
writer the past year in regard to the parochial clergy which are very
ominous on account of the character of the persons involved, who not only
are among the first in intelligence and influence, but may properly be
denominated, in reference to the leading class of pastors, “representative
men.”
In one case, a young man of great intelligence and moral worth, who might
properly be regarded as a “representative man” of the better portion of
“Young America,” informed the writer that he and his wife had accepted the
general invitation of their pastor to receive the communion. Inasmuch as
the doctrines of the creed of that church were not accepted by him, the
inquiry was made whether this step was taken with the approval of his
pastor, and the reply was in the affirmative.
The inquiry was then made, on what ground he united in this ordinance. The
reply was, substantially, that he wished to be good and to do good, guided
by the teachings of Christ; that he wished to be united in feeling and
action with good men, who cherish the same aims, and also to make it
manifest that he was associated with that class; that he regarded this
sacramental ordinance as instituted for this very purpose, while his
minister, as a consistent Protestant, did not insist that he should
interpret the Bible according to his creed or be shut out from this
privilege.
In another case, an intelligent mother who had trained her children
exclusively on the common‐sense theory, informed the writer that she had
taken them to the Lord’s Table with the consent of one of the most
distinguished pastors of the land, without any examination or admission to
the church. She simply narrated to him her own opinion that her children
from early years had learned to love the Saviour and to be conscientious
in daily efforts to obey his teachings; that they and she felt that they
were commanded by their Saviour openly to acknowledge themselves as his
followers, “even to the death,” if need be, in order to fulfill all
righteousness, and that they did not and could not believe the creed of
that church, nor in the right of any man, or body of men, to exact such
belief under penalty of exclusion from the table of their Lord.
The pastor welcomed these lambs of the fold with their mother, and felt
that had he driven them away it would have been in defiance to their
Saviour’s word, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid
them not.”
In still another case, one of the most honored Congregational pastors of
New England openly declared to friends of the writer that it was in vain
to try to preach this Augustinian system any longer; that _the people
would not hear it_, and that he should have to preach to bare walls if he
attempted it any more.
Many other similar incidents that have come to the knowledge of the writer
in different quarters of the country, might be added, but the above will
suffice as illustrative indications of the present position of pastors.