The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-07-02
THE DIVINE COMMISSION

If it be not under all circumstances
impairment for the laity to criticise the
methods Of the clergy it may be allow
able to suggest that many of the regu-
larly ordained preachers of the Word
commit II very crave mistake in descend
ing from the high ground Of authority
and meeting doubt and disbelief half
way. 1t cannot but strike the majority
Of secular observers that the pulpit is
too much inclined to tempolize and com
promise with the pews. The Christian
minister who modiiies his teaching to
suit the notions of the congregation to
which he has been set apart to break the
bread Of life is guilty of a fearful crime.
1t is his duty to preach the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the truth:
to declare the Gospel in its entirety; to
labor in all faithfulness and earnestness
in eXpounding the sacred oracles. If he
fails to do this he is a traitor to his trust:
4 denier of the Master, and worse be-
cause a more dangerous foe to religion
than the open intidel whose utterances
so only for what they are intrinsically
worth.
1t is 4 most melancholy rellection-sad-
dest of all to the doubling but sincere
soul yearning for the repose of faith and
eager to cast off its burden of scepticism
at the foot of the cross-that they who
are the appointed almoners of spiritual
food to men, to whom it is given to I'M
bar the gates of the eternal glory and to
declare the peace which passeth all un-
derstanding, should disrobe themselves
| of the dignity of their divine vocation
and come down into the market place to
debate with the so-called scientists, and
to be discounted by them or to make
unauthorized concessions to their theo-
ries. Such was not the spirit of the no.
hlc army Of the martyrs who have gone
| to their reward. To these heroic wit
ncsscs for the verify of Christianity its
ncxplicable mysteries were the seals of
its celestial origin and the promise of an
infinite fulpess of truth in due time to
be revealed. None of that glorious COM
pany of the apostles who builded strong
and steadfast the buttresses of the
church felt called upon to accommodate
its doctrines to the grasp of unilluminated
human reason or to relax its claims to
the obedient and reverent acceptance of
mankind.
Unless the Christian scheme is to be a
failure, the Christian priesthood must
hold fast to The faith once delivered to
the saints. 1t is their function to preach
the Gospel as they find it, unreservedly,
intentionally, and in accordance with
the ancient ereeds. The result they can
safely leave to the Divine Founder Of the
Church. 1t is not for them to attempt to
reconcile the supernatural with the natu-
raj, or to declare Il truce with what is
known as science. The scientist himself
will thank them, when, tired at last with
cropping among conjectures and weary of
tentative and empiricle hypothesis which
every fresh discovery forces him to aban-
don for new one he cries in agony of
heart for gertrude, that they have held
fast to the higher truth and can point
him to the supernal light. Than the dill
gent and enthusiastic student of physical
phenomena there is none who realizes
more bitterly the essential vanity of mere
ly human knowledge and the disappoint-
ment of the long effort of the human in
tellect to explore and lay bare the CEN
trail secret of the universe. The clergy
should deal no longer in tame and cow
ardly sllrrenders. If they must apollo
gize for religion, let them do so after the
bold and manly fashion of the Christian
fathers whose apologies were strong, de-
tiaEi, carm. and unpertubed eXpositions
Of the Gospel, and who spoke as those
speaking with the authority of a divine
commission.