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Show DECAY OF FAITH AMONG PROTESTANTS ; , All history records that what a man believes to be true and of benefit to himself ami his neighbors he will advocate by word of mouth and support by contributions from his purse. Xot only that, but be will contribute gencrouly to the support of the ; men who devote their time, education and talents yf to the propagation of truth and the destruction of error. I When his faith in the reality of what he once ! i thought, was true, or a revelation from God to man, ! . begins to wane, his contributions fall away and in j ; time are entirely withheld. I : Reports of the many conferences of the Metho- I dist Kpiscopal church held not long ago in the mid- y die west show that whatever prosperity missionary -: enterprises of the church may claim, that prosperity j ; has failed to reach the pastors. Heading lhe Ma- j '! tistics of the salaries?, one wonders that any cdu- I caied man. no mailer how sincere or devout, can be I secured for the ministry. Twenty pastors, prcsum- ; j ; Jibly married men, attached to the Wisconsin con- fcrcncc. which takes in the eastern part of the state, ' average a salary of Ies than Jji-KjO a year, and many ; of these have to preach in I n o or three villages to ' i earn that much. The best pastorate in the confer- I nice, that of the Grand Avenue church, Milwaukee, I . pays its minister 2,000 a year and the use of a ? ' house estimated in rental at $4iH. Forty years ago this same church paid its pastor $-'.:)00 a year. Thirty-tight ministers affiliated with the M. F. 5 conferences of the middle west get annually from : ' $400 to $G00; fourteen from $1,000 to $1,200; six- '; leen from $1.l'0u to $1,G00. and only three over $1,- ' i! "'00. Nor is the Wisconsin conference exceptional I : - in ite niggardly support of its preachers. The Des j oines. Ia.. conference reports 37 vacant pulpits out f . of 217. for t lie reason that the preachers are not '' Mipjiorled. Five withdrawals are reported from the - ' northern Jowa conference because the preachers ? could not live on the salaries promised. ! ; The Indiana conference, although it includes a j . number of large and prosperous churches, pays only an average salary of $700. which is somewhat lower than ihe average pay of school teacliprs in the stale. .Michigan ministers are appealing for more gen- erous treatment of themselves and families, and .! poufheni Illinois reports ihe loss of pastors at Ef- fiugham and Alton, who were compelled to go into ! business to support their families, j Compared villi earning in other callings, these f salaries for married men are ridiculous, and with the I increased cost of living are a premium on illiteracy. I These ministers are expected to live respectably and, in appearance at least, to dress as gentlemen; they ) liave to meet social demands, to contribute for this I mid that meritorious work, and dress their wives ' find children becomingly. Say what we may about ; evangelical poverty, if the preacher ami his family I ere shabbily dressed, the cold shoulder will soon re- f mind them of their social inferiority. The pick- and-shovel men. the scrapers on the public highway, ! the mortar mixers for the stone mason, are better ! paid than these gent lemon who bear the title of reverend and wear the livery of an honorable "class. I The tmith. shooing mules and horse-?, has a princely I income when compared with the Methodist Episeo- pal ministers, who barely receive in some parishes a little more than a dollar a day. 1 Who is lo blame for this pitiful condition of af- I fairs. Wt-11, according to Mr. Harold Boloe, the I professors in our universities, many of whom are I Protestant preachers, are largely lo blame for the expulsion of faith and the destruction of private ; and family morality among the people. The atro- I ' cious views held and the opinions subversive of all I morality expressed by thoe men occupying the I chairs of learning in our universities are revolting I to Christian faith and public decency. Again, alas! that we have to record it. the Prot- estant ministers themselves, by their destructive i criticism of the Holy Scriptures, by their political I harangues from the pulpit the throne of moral . and doctrinal solidarity and by their sensational Sunday drivel, yclept sermons, arc etrangling the " . .S 7?c 1 '"" --' I faith of the people in the divinity of Christ, in the i judgment after death and in the reality of a reve- j lation from God to the human race, j That which the people no longer believe, they will no longer support. Every teaching body, when it is no longer possible to believe in its good faith, must necessarily fall and fail, even in the opinion of its own sect or party, and disdain, mistrust and estrangement increase in proportion. The ministers no longer know what they believe, nor what they aim at. nor, indeed, what they say; even what they pretend to believe is not known, and interest alone determines their utterances. Fifty years from now the denominational churches, in proportion to population, pop-ulation, will have decreased o0 per cent. |