MISERLY CHRISTIANS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6947, 28 June 1929, Page 4

MISERLY CHRISTIANS

“THREEPENNY-BIT SOULS.” AN OUTSPOKEN MINISTER. A scathing indictment of the “miserly souls and habits of churchgoers, who, it was asserted, expect the unsearchable riches of Christianity as a reward for their miserable offertory,” was made by the Rev. J. Hunter at the Baptist Church at Bathurst, New South Wales, recently. “Decreased attendances at church services,” said Mr. Hunter, “arc enough to make the angels weep. The churches are living by their wits. They arc doing comparatively . nothing and getting nowhorc, except nearer to extinction. The Pentecostal lire has been quenched. Revivals are matters of history. Conversions arc as rare as nuggets in a salted goldmine. What is the cause of all spiritual impoverishment? Has God ceased to bo gracious? Is He purposely withholding His generosity? No. Impoverishment is to be found in those who arc called His people. . They have been too miserly to be happy and too selfish to be blessed. They have expected the largesse of God to be poured into threepenny-bit souls. “It is no secret that the average professed Christian spends more on his recreation than on his religion; more on material luxuries than on spiritual necessities. His miserliness has become proverbial. It is common to hear small change spoken of as ‘church money,’ and yet he wonders why his Church does not make progress.”