THE

General Baptist Magazine.

MARCH, 1885.

Church Leakage.

II. THE FAULT.

IF the "Erasure Column" in our Denominational Schedules indicated that all who came under it were lost to the church, and lost to God, the weight of that column would be appalling. But, as we saw last month, that column creates a false impression. It makes things look worse than they are. We read it as signifying lost, hopelessly lost, whereas when we inquire into the matter, we discover that large numbers of the "erased" are only lost to be found again after many days, like Joseph in Egypt, or Livingstone in Africa. No wonder the column has frightened us, for its figures are ghostly. They are less substantial than they seem. The fact, then, that "Church Leakage" has become so alarming is, first of all,

I.-The fault of our book-keeping.

Our statistical columns are manifestly imperfect. They hide quite as much as they reveal, and they suggest much that is not true. The "Received" column will serve for illustration. That column is generally understood to mean, "Received from other Churches." But it means much more than that. It includes all who are received by the Open Fellowship churches, without baptism. It also embraces many who return to church fellowship after having been erased. How many of the erased are so received? Let the experience of one church testify. At Commercial Road it has long been our habit to admit certain persons to membership on "Report of Visitors." Those received in that way are, in nearly every case, baptized persons whose membership has lapsed, and whose names must have been erased. For a period of five years-1879 to 1883-these averaged about half of all we entered in the "Received" column. We received sixty-five, but only thirty-four by transfer from other churches.

Thirty-one came from the ranks of the erased.

During those five years we erased ninety-five. We recovered, therefore, nearly one-third of all we lost by erasure. Of course, they were not the same persons we had lost, any more than those received by letter are the same who have been dismissed by letter. The point is, that they belonged to the same class.

If, then, other churches have an experience at all like our own, there is reason to believe that, whatever may be said for other columns, GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE, MARCH, 1885.-VOL. LXXXVII.-N.S. No. 15.

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CHURCH LEAKAGE.

the leakage, or erasure column, is far too heavy. It ought to be at least one-third less than it is. At the same time there must be a fault elsewhere than in the book-keeping, for when all abatements are made, the numbers lost by erasure are far greater than they ought to be. Nor is the fault far to seek. It is to a large extent,

II.-The fault of the individual member.

1. Many make a bad beginning. They come to Christ without believing in Christ. Judas belonged to the apostolic band, but he was a "devil," and not a Christian. Simon Magus was baptized, but for all that he was a questionable believer. His heart was not right before God. That is the case with far too many. Jesus had disciples who believed not. They were drawn to Him in various ways-some out of curiosity, some for the loaves and fishes, and some, doubtless, because He was a new Teacher. The consequence was that when He explained to them that there was only one way in which they could really and truly come to Him, viz., as they were drawn of God, many of them felt they had no business to remain. They had not been drawn by the Father, and so they "went back, and walked no more with Him" (John vi. 64—66).

The church to-day cannot expect to fare better than the Master fared. Human nature has not changed since the first Christian century. Judas is still represented by lovers of the bag. Simon has been succeeded by others who share the same ambition for place and power, and if they cannot have these things the church has no attraction for them. Not all who seek the fellowship of the church are worthy. Who has not felt in certain cases that the candidates for membership have been humanly persuaded and not Divinely impelled? Thus has the pastor beheld a divided duty. Fear of doing wrong has kept him, and the church too, from doing right. They charitably hoped that the root of the matter would be found in those they baptized, but no. The sun arose; they were scorched; and "because they had no root they withered away." Again, what pastor has not felt when two or three young friends have come into the inquiry-room together, that they have been drawn and encouraged to come one by the other, and that none of them have been really drawn by the Spirit of But hope and fear have again prevailed. The candidates have been received, but only to prove that they entered the church out of regard for each other, and not out of regard for Christ. For when some slight disagreement has dissolved the friendship, the same acid has dissolved their Christianity, and it has remained to say, they went out, that they might be made manifest that not all are of us" (Margin of Revised Version).

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2. Many are weak and sickly among us. If born again, their vitality is low. They have no spiritual appetite. They need constant coaching to keep them up to the mark. They stop away from the house of God for three months at a stretch, but they are hurt if you remonstrate with them. They say, "O, although we never come, we love the chapel, and we shouldn't like our names taken off the books." Such people would get along very well if they had a pastor exclusively to themselves. But inasmuch as some pastors and a few elders have a

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good deal to do besides paying constant and fruitless visits, they are compelled at last to say, "Erase."

3. Unwise marriages cause a considerable amount of loss. If the word of God had said, "Seek first a husband, and all other things shall be added," it would have met with more acceptance than the authorized version in some quarters. Anyhow, that reading is acted upon. What follows? The godly are no sooner married to the ungodly, than the religious life becomes increasingly difficult. Sometimes the husband finds himself terribly handicapped, and on the other hand the poor wife, hampered, perhaps, with the growing cares of a family, and anxious to humour her husband lest he should do worse than stop at home on the Lord's-day, stays at home with him. Occasionally she accompanies him to entertainments and places where she herself would never think of going. Her conscience is defiled. Her spiritual nature is deprived of its necessary support. Her soul languishes. By and by they remove to a distant place. She seeks no transfer. Nothing is heard of her. The only alternative is with pain and sorrow to cross out her name.

4. Unwise removals account for not a few of those who drop out of church fellowship. It is so in London particularly. The wilderness of bricks, the densely populated streets, and the heavy rents, make people long for a nice house in the country. The difference in rent will more than cover the railway fare to and fro. Add to this the fresh air for the children, and, as Dr. Parker says, "a paddock to graze an ass in," and what more can be desired? By and by it is discovered that there is everything for the body, but nothing for the soul. There is no place of worship to which they can think of seeking a transfer, and it is a curious circumstance, that in nine cases out of ten, these people would sooner lose all the religion they have than "ride on a Sunday" to the place where they can get good and do good. What comes of it? In due time the handwriting appears against them, and they are "found wanting." It is

III.-The fault of others.

Our space is almost gone, but two or three matters may be indicated.

1. The first relates to the minister. At a Presbyterian Conference on this subject one candid friend had the grace to say that people lapsed" because they regarded their ministers as humdrum to the last degree." Hear it, ministers! but pray remember that he was speaking of Presbyterians, and not General Baptists.

2. Deacons, elders, etc., are sometimes to blame.

A gruff deacon can drive people away; a cross seat-steward can create empty pews; so can a chapel-keeper who has confused ideas about cleanliness and comfort. It is marvellously easy to alienate people. The saints are not shod in such a way as to have their feet perfectly free from corns. We need to tread very lightly.

Then come neglected visiting, and the little things, which after all are the great things. In short, the fault is not single but multiform. In some way or other, through our ignorance or imperfection, it clings to us all. "He that is without fault" is nowhere to be found.

J. FLETCHER.

Tierra del Fuego ; or, the Story of Captain Allen Gardiner.

AT the extreme south of South America, separated from the mainland by the long, winding Strait of Magellan, is a large inhospitable island, called Tierra del Fuego. The mountains in the interior are snow-capped all the year and the scenery near the coasts, in some places pleasant and even park-like, is in others wild and rugged and gloomy in the extreme. This land is pre-eminently the region of storms and tempests; sometimes the sun shines out brilliantly, but for the most part the skies are clouded, and rain and hail are frequent. Still further to the south is a number of small islands, separated from Tierra del Fuego proper by Beagle Channel, so named from a vessel which in 1832 visited these parts on a voyage of exploration, having on board a young naturalist since become world-famous, the philosopher Charles Darwin. The following is Darwin's description of the inhabitants :-"These poor wretches were stunted in their growth; their hideous faces were bedaubed with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their voices discordant, and their gestures violent. Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself believe that they are fellowcreatures and inhabitants of the same world." And yet in the January number of The Nineteenth Century for the present year is an article by Max Müller, in which he shows that this people, now so degraded, are the descendants of a race high up in the scale of human intelligence. An ordinary English agricultural labourer seldom uses more than a few hundred distinct words, whereas these Fuegians have a vocabulary of 30,000 words, proving the high state of mental development of the men who formed the language. So true are Tennyson's words, that "throned races may degrade."

More than forty years ago a good man, a sea-captain named Allen Gardiner, felt a strong desire to introduce the blessings of Christianity among these wretched people. He appealed to several of the great missionary societies, but whilst all expressed sympathy with his object, they were fully occupied with other work, and unable to enter upon an altogether new field of labour. Having some private means, this noble-minded man made several attempts to establish a mission comparatively unaided, but these proved unsuccessful. But at length, in the year 1850, a small society was formed; a lady at Cheltenham contributed £1000, others assisted, and in a vessel called the Ocean Queen a missionary party of seven persons set sail for Tierra del Fuego. Captain Gardiner was the head of the little company; his companions were Mr. Williams, a surgeon, who for this cause gave up a good practice in Burslem, and now went forth as catechist or Christian teacher; Maidment, another catechist; Erwin, a carpenter, who had previously been to the same place with Captain Gardiner; and three Cornish fishermen.

They arrived at their destination on December 5th (1850), in the summer season of that hemisphere, and in good spirits bade farewell to the Ocean Queen. They had two large boats and a quantity of stores