Copyright, 1903, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY (June) New York: 158 Fifth Avenue T AN OUTLOOK HERE are not a few persons who maintain that the day of religious enthusiasm is past and gone for ever; that men are becoming increasingly secular in interest and outlook; and that faith has given way before the broad light of reason. This opinion is freely expressed both in the study and in the street; but, if we interpret the signs of the times correctly, the facts are against it, and in favour of the hope of a revival of religious fervour, zeal, and power. Some of these indications can be briefly stated. There is, to begin with, a somewhat different mood observable in the younger ministry of the evangelical churches. The intellectual sermon per se, itself a reaction against an unintellectual type of gospel preaching, is giving way to a more spiritual form of address which, without ceasing to be thoughtful, appeals to the spiritual instincts of the hearer and quickens the moral sense. Another sign is to be found in the attitude of the hearers themselves. With comparatively few exceptions, congregations do not ask either for scientific lectures, or literary theses, in the place of sermons. They do not seek ornate and pompous discourses on the one hand, or conventional platitudes on the other; but they hunger for something strong, and deep, and true, suggestive of heaven and holiness, and 374339 |
