The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-07-31
THE ECHOOLMASTER, THE PREACHER
And THE EDITOR.
The Relative Position of these Diq-
natarieS Towards the People,
and the Necessity of Har-
mony and Corporation
Between Them.
WHY SHOULD THEY NOT pull.
TOGETHER IN THE GREAT
PLAN OF SALVATION

PLAN OF SALVATION
Extracts from the Opening Address of +. 7
Cooper, Esq, before the Teachers Convention
In Jackson. July 49, lSSO-pubshed by reques
OF the Teachers.l
While i am bound to feel con
siderably abashed in the presence of 50
much learning; in attempting to addres.
an audience so full of wisdom and sober
ness; body of doctors and sayants SC
grammatically exact; men and women
much of whose active lives is supposed tC
have been spent in an open and pronounced
war against the tolies of the day, and in sys.
tematic and persistent efforts to smother out
the frivolisms of the times;-yet do not
fail to recognize the close affinity between
the Teacher, the Preacher and the Editor.
In certain broad sense, they are all edu.
Gators of the people, or should be. The
Schoomaster builds the foundations; the
Editor puts on the Notwithstanding and
the Preacher covers the structure. The
Schoolmaster teaches the young idea
how to shoot" the Editor undertakes to
point out the target which is to be shot at,
and to tell the grown up idea when to fire 4;
the Preacher, full of meekness and devo-
tion, and with the main issue always in
view, extends his reverential hand to the
great hereafter, the objective point of all
well-balanced intelects, and tells US of the
life beyond.
Who will say there is not, or should not
be, beautiful harmony between all three
Of these great aids and stimulators to the
practical, working intelligences of the
masses? =? Why should they not pull together
in the great plan of salvation inauglrated
by the Christian religion? Why should
they not work together as faithful coadju-
tors in the ameioratiOn and elevation of
mankind!
AN EDITORIAL OVERTURE TO THE PRO-
FESsORs.
For myself, l am willing to shake hands
with all the preachers and teachers on this
common ground. 1t is mistake to sup
pose that because hard destiny perches
man upon the editorial tripod thai, there
fore, he ceases to be free moral agent,
and begins to live on air and glory, "a very
poor article of glory at that sometimes,)
and to grOpe through life without an object
or purpose. If the editor appreciates his
vocation as he should he will find wide
opening gfOrmaturing the very best of plans,
and splendid opportunity to execute
them. If he is worthy, and if he fills his
post creditaby, and if it is seen that there |
is healthy principle permeating all his |
ltterances, he will be apt to draw and to |
hold an intelligent audience of many hun |
1reds of thinking and respectable people.
What tremendous incentive is here
given to the editor to improve his opportu-
nifty and to win the confidence, friendship
md praise of good men How self-evdent
S the demand for an impregnable underly-
ng integrity of purpose and sound plan
If actiOnl l do not claim for the editor
more virtue than the average distribution
lives. Perhaps he is not as pious as he
ught to be, but he has one comfort-he is
lot the very worst type of humanity, and
N the average believe he has alittle more
eligion in him than the politician or the
ighwayman, and he can have, and very
many of him do have, high and good
urpOse in living.
THE WORK OF THE PREACHERS.
AS an unsanctifed editor am willing to
dmit that the preachers are doing good
rIy hot ha nrlA ho; t., |
ad fix without them. They are the trusted
oldiers on the picket line of duty, to warn
ur armies of the ambuscades, and secret
mares, as well as the open and bold ap-
reaches of the enemy. They are the
lile-posts on the public highway, to tell
S when we are in the right road, how far
is to the end of the journey, and how
lany ratiOns we must put in our knapsacks
make it. What could we do without
lem, and where would be here, and where
'Ould we be likely to go to when we left
ere The battalions and regiments and l
my corps of that willy old General Satan
Ould slip up on our blind sides, penetrate
II strOng-holds in the night when we
ere asleep, perhaps, and scatter and I
our fighting forces, were it not a
+ the vigilant watchfulness of these faith !
i sentinels upon the outposts
Let no man underrate the great II
Ork of the preachers. They are a
e advanced guards of our civil u
alton and the pillars of our morality. a
hey are grand class of true-hearted, u
men whose hands would
y to hold up, and with whom would be Z
al to cooperate.
See what they have done for the Chris .
IN peoples of the earth Wherever you .
ID a nation with
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION b.
there you find a people
the enjoyment Of an advanced state of =
'ilization. There you find a good code of ~ =,
VS. and of morals. There you find field !,
the arts, the sciences, and inventions. :,
ere you find both physical and mental p
velopment in their highest perfection. :,
ere you find woman respected and pro- az.
ted. There you see the very highest 3,
ses Vi huhlah happihess anu cuiliNa- an
n. -
{ is a conspicuous and notable fact that so
lrly every useful invention Of modern
les had its incubation in a Christian
intry. Do you ask for a miraeleY Here
nds out in bold relief one OF the greatest 10
grandest Of miraelesl A race favored co
Heaven with superior physical develop se
mt and mental growth; who, in the march Ii
have eclipsed and surpassed ca
others; who are to-day the recognized WI
] acknowledged Arbiters Of the world
authors Of nine-tenths Of the worlds fr'
entions, the owners Of nine-tenths Of Ia
worlds wealth, and holding in their Al
IDS the erowning scepter to the worlds h'
pire Of literature. A religion which tel
do an this for people cannot be false ca
;. There must be an enduring virtue 70