f harmony with the
plain teaching of God's Word? It is all well enough to be nice and orderly
in the house of God, but there is no substitute for the power of the Holy
Spirit. Jesus Christ is the advocate between God and man, and the Holy
Spirit is the executive officer in the holy trinity. If the church with
its splendid machinery were endued with power as it might and ought to be,
there is no telling what might be done in the next ten years. But what
good is all this machinery, with no power to run it? What good is an
engine without steam? I saw Engine 999. It was beautiful to look at.
Everything was as near perfect as it could well be. But it was standing
stock-still. Why? There was no steam; no power to move a wheel. That
represents a good many congregations. The machinery is there, but no power
to run it. In Ezekiel's vision he saw a marvelous vehicle, which moved
with great rapidity. But it did not move itself. The spirit of the living
creature was in the wheels; but for that it would not have moved at all.
So it is with the church. If the Spirit of the living God is not in it, it
will not and can not move forward. Oh, this spiritless, powerless
performance called worship. How it detracts from the usefulness of the
church!"

Such a description as given by Paul in the above prophecy, and by this
bishop, is true of sect Babylon of to-day. Such graceless, spiritless,
Christless institutions are dark enough to obscure the beautiful light of
the gospel.

The _Christian Advocate_, the organ of Methodism, a few years ago said:
"We are approaching a crisis in church life. Gradually, but surely,
disregard for the Bible, for the Sabbath, for the church, and for God, is
taking possession of Christians. Teachers whose reputation for scholarship
gives them wide influence, give it as their opinion that the Bible is not
inspired at all, except as other great books are inspired. This poison has
penetrated all our churches. The virus of skepticism has entered the
pulpits in our own denomination."

Who can take issue with this editor? We very heartily agree with him. If
any one is disposed to doubt that the virus of skepticism has entered the
Methodist pulpits, he will only have to read the account of the meeting of
four hundred of the leading ministers of New York and vicinity, including
Bishop Edward G. Andrews. Below we give an account of the meeting as
published in the _Atlanta Journal_.

_Methodist Ministers Question The B