The Church

"The church was not lacking in wealth, nor in men, nor in dignity, but it was sadly lacking in unction and power. There was a general tendency to forget the difference between human learning and the truth revealed by the Spirit of God. There was no scarcity of eloquence and culture in the pulpits, but there was a marked absence of the kind of preaching that broke men's hearts. Perhaps the worst sign of all was the fact that few were awake to these things."

No, this is not a description of the church in our day . . . although it could be. It is from Iain Murray's The Forgotten Spurgeon, and it describes church life in England in the 1850's just before Spurgeon thundered on to the scene. So, indeed, there is hope!