commented upon by both the press and the pulpit . At a meeting of the presbytery of Philadelphia , Mr . Barnes , author of a commentary widely used and pastor of one of the leading churches in that city , " stated that he had been in the ministry for twenty years , and never , till the last Communion , had he administered the ordinance without receiving more or less into the church . But now there are no awakenings , no conversions , not much apparent growth in grace in professors , and none come to his study to converse about the salvation of their souls . With the increase of business , and the brightening prospects of commerce and manufacture , there is an increase of worldly-mindedness . Thus it is with all the denominations ." -- Congregational Journal , May 23 , 1844 .
In the month of February of the same year , Professor Finney of Oberlin College said : " We have had the fact before our minds , that , in general , the Protestant churches of our country , as such , were either apathetic or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age . There are partial exceptions , yet not enough to render the fact otherwise than general . We have also another corroborated fact : the almost universal absence of revival influence in the churches . The spiritual apathy is almost allpervading , and is fearfully deep ; so the religious press of the whole land testifies . . . . Very extensively , church members are becoming devotees of fashion , --join hands with the ungodly in parties of pleasure , in dancing , in festivities , etc . . . . But we need not expand this painful subject . Suffice it that the evidence thickens and rolls heavily upon us , to show that the churches generally are becoming sadly degenerate . They have gone very far from the Lord , and He has withdrawn Himself from them ."
And a writer in the Religious Telescope testified : " We have never witnessed such a general declension of religion as at the present . Truly , the church should awake , and search into the cause of this affliction ; for as an affliction everyone that loves Zion must view it . When we call to mind how ' few and far between ' cases of true conversion are , and the almost unparalleled impertinence and hardness of sinners , we almost involuntarily exclaim , ' Has God forgotten to be gracious ? or , Is the door of mercy closed ?'"
Such a condition never exists without cause in the church itself . The spiritual darkness which falls upon nations , upon churches and individuals , is due , not to an arbitrary withdrawal of the succors of divine grace on the part of God , but to neglect or rejection of divine light on the part of men . A striking illustration of this truth is presented in the history of the Jewish people in the time of Christ . By their devotion to the world and forgetfulness of God and His word , their understanding had become darkened , their hearts earthly and sensual . Thus they were in ignorance concerning Messiah ' s advent , and in their pride and unbelief they rejected the Redeemer . God did not even then cut off the Jewish nation from a knowledge of , or a
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