CHAPTER XLVII. STATE OF THE PASTORS OF CHURCHES.

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.