The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-12-15
5flilstellaneous,
WHAT A MINISTER SHOULD
BE.



man; to tell you of the Infinite God, of
the real Man, not the fabulous, of the
actual Divine Scriptures, of the live re-
ligion; to help awaken it in you, and or
ganize it out Of you; engineering for the
great religious enterprises of mankind,
and leading the way in all the progress
i've movements of the race? Then en-
courage this young man in lis best eff
orts, rebuke all meanness, cowardice, dis
honesty, afectation, sloth, all anger, all
hate, all manner of unfaithfuIness, cheer
and help him for every good quality !;
honor his piety and morality reverence
all self reliant integrity, all self denying
zeal. Bid him spend freely his costliest
virtue, twill only greater in the spending
If he have nothing to say, le, him say it
alone; make no moekery in hearkening
where ears catch nothing but wind, ard
the audience get cold; give him empty
room. But if he have truth to tell, listen
and live.
Do you want such minister, as SUI
perintendent of the highest husbandry,
the culture of your soul? Or q parasite,
q turnkey, who will lie lies in your very
face, giving. you all of religion, except
Feeling, Ideas and Actions; man al
ways quoting and never living; making
your meanness meansr after it is baptized
and admitted into the church, and stuff
ed with what once, to noble men we're
sacraments? Then will tell you where
to find such by the quantity at wholesale.
| will show you the factories where they
are turned out for the market. Nay,
give me any pattern of a minister which
you desire, will lead you to tho agent,
who will copy it exactly, and from dead
wood now laid away in churches, laid
up to dry, in three years furnish the ar
ticle made to order, as readily as shoe
makers lasts,and by a similar process
warranted sound in the faith" if not in
that "once delivered to the saints" at
least in that new kept by the sinners!-
There are towns in Virginia which breed
slaves for the plantation and bagnios of
the South, and also Northern towns which
breed slaves in churches. God forgive
us for taking his name in vain.
/ know some men think the minister
must be little mean man, with little
mind. and little conscience, and a little
heart, and q little small soul, with little
efeminate culture. got by dwelling over
the words of humanty's noblest men;
who never shows himself on the highway
of letters, morals, science, business, poll
tics, where Thought, well grit for toll,
marches forth to kingly victory but now
end then creeps round in the parlors of SO
Cit ty, and sneaks up and down the aisles
of meeting house, and crawls into the
pulpit, lifting up his cowardly and devil
lied face, and then with the words and
examples of Moses and Samuel. and Da-
vid and Elias, and Jesus and Paul before
him, under his eyes, in small voice
whines out his worthless stuff, which does
but belittle the exeguity of the soul, which
appropriately sleeps before him in the
pews, not beneath him in spirit, only be-
low him in space. | know men who want
such minister, that will ''preach the
Gospel" and never apply the Christian
religion to politics, to business, to society
to the life of the family or the individual,
not even to the church, An admirable
doctrine for Scrbes, and Pharisees, and
hypocrites Glad tidings of great JOY is
it to the brokers and stealers of men !
Religion nothing to do with politics -
the morality of Jesus not to be applied to
the dealings of man; the golden rule too
precious for daily usel Sucha man will
save souls-preseryed in hypocrisy and
kept on ice from youth to age! How he
can call his idolatry even worshipping the
Bible, l know not; for you cannot open
this book any where, but from between
its Oldest or its newest leaves, there rus
ties forth the most earnest, human speech,
words which burn even now, when they
are two or three hundred years old!
X X 4
How much real minister of Religion
may do! He deals with the most con-
corning of all concerns-what teaches of
the deepest wants of all men. How q
man in such calling can be idle or in
different, or dull to himself, 1 see not.
The covetous man may be weary of mon
ey; voluptuary sicken of pleasures, and
one ambitious and greedy of praise, get
tired of new access of power, and loathe
his own good name; but how minister
of religion can ever tire of toll to bless
is past my finding out. How
much real teacher of absolute religion
may bring to pass Earth had never SO
palpable need ola 1--we minister with liv-
ing religion in him, care not whether
you call it christianity or no-but the feel
ings, the ideas, and the actions of such
religion as human nature demands. The
harvest is truly plenteous, but the labor
ers-where are they?
No man has so admirable an opportu-
nifty as the minister to communicate his
best thoughts to the public. The politi-
clan has his place in the Senate, and speaks
twice or thrice in session, on the exter-
nal interests of men-chiefly busying him.
self about measures of political economy,
and seldom thinking it dscorous or states