The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1862-01-02
The Pulpit.

say the pulpit
Must stand Acknowledged while the world shall
stand,
The most important and effectual guard
Support aud ornament of virtues cause.
There stands the messenger of truth, there stands
The legate of the skies = His theme divine,
His office sacred, his credentials clear.
by him the violated law speaks out
Its thunders and by him, in strains as sweet
As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace,
He Establishes the strong, restores the weak,
Reclaims the wanderer,
And trains by every rule,
OF holy discipline, to glorious war
The sacramental host OF Gods elect,
Are all such teachers Would to Heaven all were
But bark - the Doctors voice Fast wedged be-
tween
Two Empires he stands, and with swollen checks
Inspires the aers his trumpetii- The Task.
In this world, there are very evidently
two rules of action and they are very evi-
IDENTIFY opposites, Every good thing has
its counterpart. Each Que, seen in its own
colors, in its own garb is, this one lovely,
that one hateful. He is rare man indeed
who loves sin for it's own sake. 1t is only
when the fallen, puts OH the seeming of the
mtallen steadfast that We Z" first endure
their embrace"
The gentleman from" down below knows
this. Per consequence he does not seek to
ensnare man by presenting undraperied sin
for mans consideration. lie seeks to con-
troll men through the lust of the eye" in
the beautiful adornngs of the present pleas.
ure, and through the "pridc of life in the
hope of future gains from the present wrong
Nor does he seek the destruction Of any of
the great instrumentalities OF good, directly.
Such a course would alarm and arouse all
the forces Of truth. II permits those who
are set to keep watch and ward" over the
garrisons of righteousness to sleep. Then
he is busy, While men sleep, he "sows
tares." Then he is in the camp Of the good
adulteroting the food taking the edge and
point off the weapons of righteous warfare,
misplacing and disarranging the stores
suppose, for several reasons, that the
most successful effort ever made by him in
this way, was when he made the pulpit serve
his cause, by divorting it from the great
purpose of its erection, and by making it a
depot of news, or arostrum of debate 1t s
certainly the legitimate province ofthe pulpit
to instruct. Dizziness in the pulpit, Il must
he admitted, is an objectionable fault: but
its spice and vivGcity should be the spark
ling Of the water Of life, and its instruction
should be Of the way of the Lord.
II should undoubtedly denounce sin, all
classes, all sizes, all forms of sin, and the
sin of all times and places, especially of the
present time and place, But its denunca-
ton of sin should never be In tile name of
party. Both parties, all parties, will be
judged by the perfect Law. This party may
be right i'll one point, that party in another,
and both be wrong in many. So far as par
ties are the expunentsof good, and do right
80 far they may he connected with the pull
pit as auXiliares; but, in it's integrity, the
pulpit can never be connected with them OF
either Of them as an auxiliary. II proclaims
that law which will judge all partisans. II
should, it must discriminate but its dis
elimination should be that of the impartial
Judge, who appeals to the law, and gives
sentence according to the commandment.
The pulpit is the expounder of the high
or law" Hence, tho attempt to connect
the pulpit with human culture, with oduca-
tion, and with politics is all wrong and
the discussion of all questions of literary,
scientific, historic or political Importance in
the pulpit, is unsupported by scriptural or
apostolic example: Education, science, his
tory, even politics, should not be ignored by
the pulpit They should not be even spar
ringly used but they should be used as adj
juncts, and the subject should be always
the Gospel of Jesus.
When the pulpit is used as a place to in.
weigh, politically, against sin, when re-
pentance, and faith, aud regeneration, and
sanctifcation are lost sight of, when Bethle-
hem of Ephratah, and Nazareth, and Beth
any, and Main, and Calvary. and the road to
Emmaus are left TO the country preachers
when popular minister tlokles the ears of
a fashionable audience with funeral SER
mon on John Brown, in which all the politi-
cal issues of the day are disposed of accord
ing to the Gospel of the 7rt6xns or Rich
mond Enquirer, or when some literary ce-
lebrity mounts his literary hobby, and rides
post from Genesis to Revelations, on liter
ary stills that place both him and his hear
at safe distance above repentance to-
ward God and faith in Christ" then, the
pulpit instead of being, ." The most impor-
tant and efiectual guard, support and orna-
ment Of virtues cause" becomes like Samp-
son shorn OF his looks, weak, despised,
prostituted; g.inds at hand-mill and is un.
pleased. Cow9TR, JR,
pEnEgrsyaa, pso 27ta, le.l