National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-10-15
PREACHING.

PREACHING.
A subject so sacred as that of preaching
the Word of God demands, when speak
ing of it, the most considerable thought.
Some may think it is not within the pro-
vince of the secular press to discuss it at
all; this, however, is not the fact, for
were it not for the secular press very little
of what is said and done in the churches
would be known to the general public.
The facts concerning the minIstrations of
the pulpit are published far and wide, and,
as a rule, they are allowed to go to the
country without single word of comment.
With singular unanlmity, the great dailies
of the world seize upon the utterances of
ministers as part of the news of the day,
and yet, with keen judgment as to what
will be interesting to the public, sermons
are selected which are supposed to involve
some of the advanced thought of the age.
While this is being done it may not do the
ministry any particular harm to know
something of the criticism to which it is
subjected in the sanctum, but without max
ing special reference to any individual
minister.
The worlds people have this fault to
find in general terms, that the pulpit is
weak by reason of lack of learning and
courage. Too many men of ordinary cal
ibre find their way into the ministry. They
consume their time and the patience of
their congregations in repeating over and
over again worm eaten platitudes and ideas
which had their birth hundreds of years
ago, the progeny, for the most part of
very human and narrow conceptions of
Infinite Power and mans relations to it,
and also upon mere surface understandings
of the.deep and almost impenetrable mys
teries of the lessons of the Bible. Theology
was founded too much on the idea that
man has personal and familiar acquaintance
ship with God, and, therefore, the right to
talk with Him, to pray to Him, to advise
Him on pretty much the same terms Of
'hail fellow, well met" This false idea
in turn has created the impression that
friendship with God can be kept up on
the same general obligations as that upon
which mortal friendships rest Modern
sermons are full of this absolute nonsense;
in fact, the terms prescribed by the minis
try upon which mankind may be reconciled
to God, if adopted as the standard for
cohesion in social compacts, legal obliga-
tons and human friendships, would
blot them all out of existence. 1t other
words, it is a very low standard of morality
which the pulpit sets up for our guidance.
For amoment think of the head ofa worlds
institution, like the army, or a news
paper. Does the controller Of it forgive at
shutdown inattention to duty on the part of
his subordinates? Not much. Some of
the lesser sins of omission and commission
may be forgiven once or twice with proper
excuses and proper repentance, but that is
all. Graver crimes meet the fate they
deserve on the spot. No minister would
dare to preach that the head of a worldly
affair could be constantly trified with and
all be well in the end, aad w that is the
weakness they invest the Godhead with, and
it has mos, disastrous effect upon the mass
ofmankiDd. Here we do rot stop to refer
to the supposed order of intelligences rising
higher and higher between man and God,
but one thing is certain, the infinite and
eternal distance between the two is not
made by the pulpit sufficiently apparent;
hence the lack of reverence for the Su-
preme Being everywhere apparent and crop
ping out in word and deed. Appreciation
of God can only be cultivated by exalting
the ability of man. The more a man can
understand and know of God the more
profound will be his veneration, the deeper
his gratitude for the gift of life. This is
one of the gravest faults to be urged against
the pulpit that it permits such looseness in
worshipful intercourse. Then again it is
something dreadful to near ministers making
attempts to say fine things and forgetful of
thunderbolts. Poetical imsginings are all
well enough in their way, but they have
little or no influence upon an iron plated
century blowing its way on and up to a
higher civilization. They are like the cele-
brated Westerner's ideas of specie basis
"a barren ideality." Christian and in
fdel alike admit that during the
three years of his ministry Christ
so impressed himself and the importance of
his mission upon the world that His name
and power have increased from year to year
ali down through the intervening ages, and
those who believe in him believe they will
both 60 on increasing. Now, when the
pulpit in purely historical sense, stops to
realize what the strength Of this name is
and what the mightiness Of the power it
represents is, it ought to have the cour-
age to trust in it. and demand obedience.
But all we hear is, eff you will, Christ
will, making it depend altogether upon
the individual whether Christ is obeyed or
not. Such q doctrine would never obtain
in the management of cotton mill. 1t is
true the ministry urge men to "follow
Christ" "forsake all and follow, Him."
and the formula consists in joining church,
paying pew rent and going to communion.
That never changed any mans heart.
Hearts are changed by an assimilation of
human life to that of the divine. The
nearer a man lives as Christ lived the
nearer he will be to him, and the nearer
he gets the better he will be. So we see,
for the lack of courage in the pulpit, men
going about protesting religion and ably
serving the devil The world is little
better than the pulpit gives it credit for be-
ing, anditdemands from the pulpit higher
r