Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-12-17
lie COMMERCIAL TIA VELLERS
OF THE CHURCH.

FRIDAY MORNING, DEC. II. 1876.
7E COMMERCIAL TIA VELLERS
OF THE CHURCH,:
No observant spectator Of the proceed
tngs Of the State Convention of Young
Mems Christian Association in Staunton,
could have failed to see that there was a
plainly discernable milky way in its firma
ment IF heavenly blue. and that its exist
ence caused much gentle stepping, and
careful picking Of the way by the speakers.
The clusters Of little stars that formed it
were the lay preachers the ne W departurs
which is breaking in on the uniform ceru-
lean. The ministers saw it, and the lay
man saw il, hut there was the greatest Tt
luctance to say so by both. Anything was
preferable to coming square up to the is
sue. Lay preaching, some said was good
at the proper time and rlace, and under the
proper circumstances, which may be as
truly said of murder, and which is not
exactly the Tin season and out of season"
mentioned by the apostle. The fact is, and
might as well have been admitted, that
this milky way is gradually becoming
brighter and brighter and if some arrange
ments are not made by the fixed stars, the
world will look to it for its light. No move
ment that is Of the Almighty takes any
backward step, and the successful growth
of this lay preaching, and its wonderful
effects show, as far as human ken can know,
that it is from Him. The starch has got
to come out Of the regular pulpit; they
must come down and among the people,
and be Of them, and the stiffness which now
characterizes the average minister must be
dropped, or the lay preachers will distance
him. Why is it that when a man goes to
church he can't feel that the man in the
pulpit is a man like himself, and go s away
with the feeling that the truths set forth
were quite correct and all that sort Of thing,
and might be practised by the minister, but
not by him.. Why is it that men will drop
into house OF worship with the love Of
God in their Eearts-the looe of God, not
80 much the fear, but good, honest,
anxious desire to please Him just for the
love they bear Him, and get it chilled in
twenty words firm the pulpit, or in some
rhythmic logic, set to dismal tunes called
hymns? Why is it that the air and man.
ner of ministers are deemed not ''pr0per''
unless prim, reserved and terribly icicled:
and that company of young men and wo
men will come to the very DIOR Of the
church with cheerful. smiling faces, and
get enter with funeral step and counte-
nances hung in mourning performing an
unconscious act of hypocrisy? What is
there so horrible in a church that calls for
this? Is it the presence Of God there-that
very presence that the minister presently,
in gloomy terms, tells his sad-faced hear
ers, brings to them a JOY unsp .akable? We
do honestly believe that the Christians of
hl,rch brighten more young people off
m Satan enticeS away How different
N all this was the hearty, CHEEKY lay
her at the Convention Thursday
and Friday morning with his Bible
ng.. How very like man he was
/ wing man! How full of life and
re were bis services, so varied and in
-hort minutes that one could not tire
hem; how homely and everyday his il
lustrations-no 'sbathed in golden SUM-
light" and all that sort of pretty froth.
like but ,es taking color moment and
then fitting forever. How full of business
the man was-the business of soul-saving,
and how like business he treated it! We
believe that Christianity pays at least a
hundred thousand souls a year for dignity.
] q politics, in commercial, life, in all our
affairs it makes no friends and loses many,
and yet the church buys it at fearful
price. We have church and lay dignity in
its perfection on that restfnl day called the
Sabbath; we have it in all its grimneSs in
those friendly gat herring called Wednesday
evening lectures, when one would like to
feel near to his mig. Dor and to G ID at the
same time, and we have it at the, marriage
service at the de;.th-bad, aud at the CHRISTI
ening. It is the great refrigerator of the
world, aad will cool even SD warm ithirg
as CHRISTIAN love should it he placed with
in it, Manliness is the frank, open hand:
dignity is the callous glove that covers it,
through which no warmth comes in the
pressure. It is greatly like its brother, Aus
terity. Naturalness don't beget lack of
consideration. We hardly think any man,
not brute, wonld have TESTED with that
lay preacher the other night about religion.
The audience smiled and often laughed
outright with him, but it was no smile at
his subject, but with the speaker. His
natural tone, his natural manner, his ear
nestness, all won even the most unthink-
ing into interest. To think Of saying a
light word to such man would artle any
man with its improperly.
We don't know how near ministers can
come this. and still b. proper, but we do
know that thealearer they come the closer
they will be to the people. They must
PIT away their stills. Christ did not use
them; 10 Teachers words ever were sim
pier ami tenlerer and more conversational
than His. The world seems, unless all
signs deceive us, to be hungry to hear His
words repeated again as He said them.
These new lay preachers are the CONNER
cial Travellers of Christianity, and they
are making. more progress than the Old
Established Houses. 1t is matter Of
grave Importance to decide whether they
have the right Wav. Souls depend on the