The Bishops of the Methodist Episcoy burch have been considering the spirit tual conditions of that body, and as a result of their deliberations appointed committee to prepare and issue a call for the observance of a week of prayer about the end of this! month. The occasion for sich an observance is found in the low spiritual condition of the Church. The Committee sny that the past year has witnessed no actual gains in membership—the losses quite keeping pace with the gains; while the preceding year the gain was very slight compared with the usual showing. It is claimed by the Committee that the Church is losing its power over getting hold of the people as it once did the masses; that it is not reaching and
that there is extravagance, frivolity and carelessness as compared with the carlier days is more than suggested; all of which indicate a great loss in spiritual life and energy which accounts for the lack of converting power.
Bishop Andrews—not of the committee—is of opinion that the distract tions of war during the past two years accounts in large measure for present church conditions, and that the Me-thadists have not suffered more probably than the other branches of the Church. This is doubtless true, but there is also much truth—perhaps quite as mutch in what the Committee assign as the causes of the declension in spiritual life and power. Fifty years ago the Methodist churches were plain, simple structures, indeed that was the. rule in general with all denominations with the exception perhaps of the Roman Catholic and the Episcopalian. The Methodists were about the last to enter upon large expenditures, i.e., expenditures beyond what were necessary to provide a comfortable and commodious house of worship, chiefly for show and architectural effect. As to stained glass, probably such a window could not have been found in all the Jand. Such extravagance would not hare been tolerated. The dress of the wor shippers was equally plain and simple with rare exceptions. The writer well remembers when the change in dress in the younger members of the congregationS, especially the feathers and finery of the head dress, began to attract attention, and called forth the rebuke of the clergy in many 2 sermon. I remember hearing of one indignant brother who took [for his text the words "Top not com discourse. down" (Mat: 24, 17) to give point to his
All this simplicity has vanished with the growing prosperity of the country durin: the last 25 or 30 years. I have often heard the remark "the Methodists build the finest churches now; it isn't the church of the people that it once w: and to finery and feathers its members arr, ind none.'. From whatever cause there is little question that it has, as a church, Host in large measure the position i for-! merly occupied as the church that reached joe mae. This i the fact that under lies the appeal of the Bishops—an appeal which might well be addressed te all the churches of the land at the present time.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.