Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-08-31
Why Not Be Tolerant!


1t is very hard for us all to see alike.
We have been differently educated. We
have had a wide diversity of experience
in our Christian warfare. Some have
enjoyed the calm repose of professors
chair; some have commended, as for dear
life, against the goddess host that is,
finding its home on the hitherto unoccu-
pied lands of the Republic Some have
settled in the quiet and restful parishes
of the older States; others have carried
the Gospel to the heather, and without
losing hold of the doctrines of sin and
salvation, have been drawn toward
those among whom they have laborsd
with tenderness and affection to which
the church at large is almost stranger.
How can we look for complete uniformi-
ty of opinion from those who have had
or are having such variety of expert
ence! Why should the pastor whose
chiefest anxiety is to persuade his hear
ers to become Christians, be blamed if
he breaches few doctr1nal sermons, or
the professor of theology if, in his class
room he insists upon the thorough mas
terry of the system he is set to teach?
Can not both do their work without
jealousy of the other? The preacher
may be somewhat loose in his theological
definitions; if he succeeds in presenting
the Gospel so that men accept it and
live in accordance with its pre-
cepts, can not we trust the grace of
God to destroy the error. and give eff
cacy to the truth? ~ e., ay,,.
So great is the difference in mental
habit. and in the demands which differ
ent fields make upon pastors, that it is
not strange if certain doctrines and GER
tain methods are made prominent at
the expense of others. Can we not
tolerate differences in each otherp s4is.Y
Have we no place for the evangels
list or the teacher in contrast with the
pastor; for the literary preacher in con-
trast with the theological; for the man
whose sympathy is with the new rather
than with the oldp May not these .'di-
versities of gifts be of the "same
Spiritp' May not the Master have
need of them? 1t is not enough if the
aim be the samep Weneed union. con-
centration of effort. There were never
such opportunities for Christian useful
ness as to-day. We never were in
greater danger of letting them slip.
Shall we divide our forces in the face of
the enemy? Why seek for an impossible
unanimity i'm doctrinal belief? Why
not be satisfied, as we have been for the
most part for many years, with a SUBJ
stantial agreement upon the great YER
tiles, and cure our infirmities, and get
rid of our jealousies, If we have any, in
earnest work for men! - az
1t is easy to misunderstood and mis-
represent. People in regard to whom
there is some little suspicion, are not
always correctly reported. No man of
power ever gives more than partial
representation of himself on any single
occasion. Yet words which have a
definite aim and legitimate place at
the time of their utterance are often
made the ground of charges hard To
bear, and injurious TO the cause of
truth. Shall we not be tolerant of each
others deficiencies, and bid God-speed
even to those who think that their mis-
sion is in the discerning or the setting
forth of new phases of divine truth, as
well rs to those who know that they
have been called to stand in the old
paths, and therein find rest for their
souls p Chicago Advance Yt en- ~