Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-03-23
Ancient and Modern Preachers,

men will be made better and be led TO
understand and perform their duties
toward each other and toward the
Creator, But trnth is OF two kinds,
natural and rovealed-that which re.
lates to spirit. OF the former kind
are the truths of science; of the latter
the holy Scriptures. And as all truth
emanates from God, whether II be
written In the stars above or in the
rocks beneath whether revealed 10
Moses, Isaiah and John, or TO Her
schell, LaDlace or Humboldt, il must
always harmonine and always reflect
the character and goodness Of it's
Author Tho presentation of religi.
Gus truth is preaching but only those
men who arc ordained by the Church
are received us preachers. Under
ancient conditions of society, when
tho world lay In darkness and ignor-
ance, oral instruction was the best, IL
not the only, mode Of preaching that
could be devised. And from the period
when the church emerged from the
patriarchal roof unto the present
separate class of men have been de.
voted TO this sacred purpose, and
through their influence and example
the world has been kept from dcstruc-
ton 30 long. But new civilization,
creating new forms Of society and the
progress of scientific inquiry, has
brought forth other agencies whereby
Christian truth may be presented to
the people, so that the peculiar Office
of tho preacher is no longer what il
was. The printing press and the elec,
trio telegraph have far outstrippcd
the human heart and voice in the
powet Of preaching, and were they as
devoted in their work as the living
preachers they would soon and alto
gether supersede them. They are
now and hcnceforth to be the true
evangelizers of the world. II matters
little whether Christian nations or So
cieties send two or two hundred mis-.
sionarics to heathcu lands; for should
Chris,endom be dcpopulated of its re.
ligious professors TO send them forth
as teachers they world still be insult.
ficient in numbers, and would be un.
able to grapple effectually with Pagan
ism and idolatry in their various forms.
1t is Of course proper that Christiani-
ty should seek to reclaim all mankind
and bring them back 10 the truth but
then il must utilize such agencies as
tho press and the telegraph TO do its
work These can effect more good in
q shorter space than all the mission.
aries VIC might send abroad
To-day the newspaper and printed
page take the place, to great extent,
that the priest and minister formerly
held, but with this important advan-
tage-namcly, that while the minister
addresses hundreds weekly, the news.
papers speaks to thousands daily
And the newspaper must increase in
power and influence, while the other
decreases; for preaching is no longer
tho peculiar province or labor of one
class of men, and Jehovah has dcclar.
ed that in the last days lie will pour
out His spirit upon all flesh, SO that
our sons and our daughters shall
prophecy.or teach, and the young men
shall see visions and the old men shall
dream dreams, and even the servants
and handmaids will not be forgotten
in those DAYS. But the telegraph, the
printing press and tho locomotive
must hasten forward this time. AL.
though OF comparatively recent date,
their influence in controlling aud de.
Gliding the fate Of nations has been
wonderful. Christian civilization gave
them birth. and they have reacted
with beneficial effect upon Christiani-
ty. They have not only brought to-
gelhcr more closely than ever man
TO man and thought to thought, but
they have also led men nearer to God
in affection and desire than they had
ever been before. SO that the two
leading ideas Of the present century
Those that stand out boldest and
most prominent and that direct the
course Of human events--arc the Fa-
therhood of God and the Brotherhood
of Man. AND thuso ideas are not the
results of preaching, but of reading.
They are the work Of tho newspaper
and the telegraph more than Of the
minister.
In public address made some time
ago in this city by o Chinese mission
airy ho stated that he had spcnt nine
years in Foo-Chow before he had the
satisfaction Of receiving a single con-
vert into the Church, and then his
first one corrcspondcd in character to
our Fourth or Sixth ward "roughs,"
who are supposed to be tho most hope.
less class Of souiuty to labor WITH
How can it be believed that, with only
the agencies employed in the past, the
Christian Church, at this rate of in
crease, shall within the next thirty
years reach the millennium, which so
many apprchend to be near at hand,
and which none have placed beyond
Tho year 1900, ADJ II is plain that
mower and moro powerful agents Of
Christianity must be applied to this
work il this halcton period is 10 come
within this or the next century, or,
indeed, at all. And science has dis.
covered none that can compare with
the newspaper and the telegraph,
In other ages pricsts made war or
peacoi In this age tho newspapers
does this. But when we shall have
stretched cable fiUm San Francisco
across tho Pacific Ocean to China and
Japan, as no doubt we shall do in less
than a generation, perhaps in less than
a dccudc--for the world progresses
more in ten years now than it did in
century befOre-wo shall then have
inaugutated a harmonizing influence
between the civilization OF tue West
and the barbarism of the East second
only to Christianity itself The East.
ern world already pefcelees that il
must, 10 preserve its own autonomy,
fall in with the progressive march OIL
tho West Hence China, Japan aud
other nations hfe sondlng their en-.