IS THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION DECLINING? 429 



influence in tliis regard. Oratory in legislative bodies has to a 

 great extent lost its influence. Its place has been taken by simple, 

 compact, time-saving statements, often printed but not delivered. 

 Committees do the work which used to be done after discussion be- 

 fore the public. So the people will not listen now to the pulpit 

 orator of former generations. They demand short, crisp sermons 

 that bristle with points, and are practical and helpful. In other 

 words, the oratorical and highly intellectual character of the pul- 

 pit which used to attract worshipers no longer attracts them. 

 They feel that they can get more benefit in this regard by reading 

 in the comfort of the home. Multitudes of people can no longer 

 be induced to attend church to be instructed by the minister or to 

 get his judgment on topics of the time, or to be stirred by his elo- 

 quence; they can get all these things cheaper and easier by read- 

 ing at home. When, now, this is re-enforced by the fact that mul- 

 titudes dislike the doctrines of the Church, and resent them when 

 they are preached, we can easily understand that church attendance 

 should decline very greatly from this reason. 



But this is no evidence that the Christian religion has declined. 

 If men absent themselves from public worship because it is no 

 longer necessary for them, as good citizens and as respectable mem- 

 bers of society, to attend, or because they may get their instruction 

 and stimulation elsewhere easier and with less expenditure of time 

 and money, that is simply an evidence that attendance upon church 

 in the past has been due in great measure to other than religious 

 reasons, and that, these no longer holding, attendance has disap- 

 peared with them. The attendance upon public worship, though 

 reduced so far as number is concerned, is now more simply and 

 purely for religious reasons, and therefore minister and people may 

 with greater freedom make the services more distinctly religious. 

 This is indeed the real situation that has emerged. The ser- 

 mon has declined relatively in importance, and rightly so. It had 

 an exaggerated importance in the Protestant Church, especially in 

 the non-liturgical churches. There is a world-wide tendency now, 

 which is increasing in power, to improve and enlarge the worship 

 of the Church. Liturgies and ceremonies of worship are more 

 discussed now in the Protestant world than are sermons and lec- 

 tures, because it is becoming every day more evident that the 

 Church is organized for common prayer and for public worship, 

 and not merely to furnish a pulpit for a minister. The pulpit is 

 more and more being merged in the worship, and is losing its domi- 

 nation over the worship. With this tendency goes increased atten- 

 tion to the Holy Sacraments, especially the Holy Communion, more 

 frequent celebrations and more frequent participation, increased 



