The problem of religious progress . inia, North Carolina, and Georgia,which, in the year 1800, had but few scatteringProtestant Churches, there were, according to theCensus of 1890, 106,257 Protestant Church organi-zations, or two thirds of all the Protestant Churchesin the United States—the abundant harvest of zeal-ous pioneer seed-sowing. And what a multitudeof cognate religious institutions accompany theseChurches, comprising an amount of Christian lifescarcely paralleled in any other land—the resultsof seventy years labors, fully testing the spiritualvitality of the American Churches. A gr
The problem of religious progress . inia, North Carolina, and Georgia,which, in the year 1800, had but few scatteringProtestant Churches, there were, according to theCensus of 1890, 106,257 Protestant Church organi-zations, or two thirds of all the Protestant Churchesin the United States—the abundant harvest of zeal-ous pioneer seed-sowing. And what a multitudeof cognate religious institutions accompany theseChurches, comprising an amount of Christian lifescarcely paralleled in any other land—the resultsof seventy years labors, fully testing the spiritualvitality of the American Churches. A great change has taken place in the spiritualactivities of the Churches. Formerly, prayer-meet-ings, except in the occasional revival seasons, wererare, and only a very few persons were allowed 01expected to participate in them. All through thelast century, and for some time into the present,this custom prevailed. The gifts of the laity werenot exercised, and their voices were seldom heard in 1784 1830 SlNDAY-ScilDOl. 1890 Spiritual Vitality. 417 exhortation or supplication. Rev, Mr. Fisk,* of NewBraintree, Mass., had been pastor of that Churcheleven years before he heard the first word of prayerfrom one of his members. And when the Httlcband of zealous evangelicals went off from the OldSouth Church, Boston, in 1808, to organize thePark-street Church,tas a breakwater against the in-coming tide of Arianism, they met several times forconsultation before any one of even these redoubt-able champions of orthodoxy had sufficient courageto open his lips in vocal prayer. Women neverprayed or spoke in any religious services. The only religious meetings of the week wereon the Sabbath. There was no evening lecture, noaltar for social prayer, no intercessions in concertfor the coming of the kingdom, no schools for thereligious education of the young, no religiousweekly periodicals, discoursing earnestly of thesigns of the times, the demands of the age, thegreat questions of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdeca, booksubjectchurchhistory, bookyear1895
