Morning journal and courier., 1884-05-12
Advising Young ministers.

1 Rev. Edward D. Eaton's Address
 The Necessity of Vitality I'm the
 Preacher and Sermon-what Sermons
 WIIl Survive.
 Before the graduating class of the Yale seminary and large congregation Rev. Ed ward D. Eaton, of Oak Park, H., delivered an address last evening in Center church. President Porter, Professors Barbour, Fish CT, Harris and Dwight, and Rev. Dr. Smyth occupied the platform. The address was substantially as follows: The central activity of the Protestant minister's life is unques- tionably preaching. The synonym of clergy man, preacher, Is an evidence of this The work of your theological school training has taught you this. Pastoral work may come or go. but this one thing you must do, prepare ! to preach one or two sermons week. How | to do this it is your business to find out. The fact that you are to preach to a nasty, busy age must be remembered. The re- | morseIess whirl of business threatens to de- stroy the preacher and his work. This Is, moreover, sordid age. when what Brad | street can tell about man is all that is worth knowing. It. is an age of culture, of fecundi- ty of thought, of advance in science, of ag- I nosticism, when mems faith is dim It Is
 this world, this busy. this gnawing, this doubting world that the sermon must live in. Can it find place in this world?
 propose to inquire what elements in the sermon will survive in this world. Among those qualities which will conduce to the survival of the sermon the first quality will mention is that of vitality. Nothing that has not vitality can hope to survive. In order that the sermon may have vitality there must be vitality back of it in the minister. The
 minister must submit his body to discipline. There must be vitality of character also.
 It is 8 wonderful thing that ministers will
 barter their birthright for the name of being
 good fellow or good joker, losing what
 they can never gain again, the esteem of the people, Mr. Miln, who has left our ranks tc
 become an actor, says that the conversation of ministers is no better than that of actors believe this is a islander, but it is well tc | guard ourselves in this regard.
 But the sermon itself must be vital or | ganism. How many sermons lack distinct
 purpose and are blindly constructed. def
 nite life principle is a first requisite in ser
 mon. My congregation must understand that; my congregation must feel that-vhJ should not one of those things be at the bot
 tom of every sermon? To have vitality
 sermon must be product of seriou mind. A lazy minister can never preach th' vital sermon nor the surviving sermon. Th'
 preacher must be a student of nature. Mel ] love to watch nature, and love to have na ture's ways brought into a sermon. We neet to know men and to sympathize with them 3 A minister must know something of litera
 ture. We cannot afford to lose that help . But most of all, the Bible must be studied l I would commend the study of Hebrew. 3 Vitality will manifest itself in the power 0
 adaptability and variation. You all know hoy t wonderful is natures power of adaptability
 Every plant is adjusting itself that it ma. 8 ! survive. The sermon must have the samt power of adaptation. Homeletic training il important, also the study of theology, bu | both must be used carefully. sermon must have endless variety. We must preacl , ' to the intellectual wants of the congregation Our preaching needs to be practical. Tht people come to church from practical dutie l and will be profted by those sermons whicl ! teach them how to do good, how to pray. F Of all men ministers should not be sol emn. I am not pleading for time-servlnl = minister, 8 weathercock minister. Eau ' ! preached to the times. Savonarola and Johl n l Wesley preached to the times. The atmos . phere of the world to-day has been rarifet :, es air on the mountain side; but the air II chill and we must bring the cross of Jesu
 Christ to illuminate and warm the world, 8
 the only remedy for sin, as the only hope o
 salvation.
 The central, the highest vitality in the ser - mon, is spirituality. Strenuous study, faith ,- fully adhered to- is necessary for this. It :, not thing of itself. By so much ssswe ar covetous that our sermons should be intelleC
 tual, by SO much the more should we be spin
 itual. The temptation of 8 minister's stud
 table and his library is to be too intellectual '- May the spirit of Christ animate your ser j. l mons and your prayers o, tha ', l we could take our hearers before the thron
 of God. Receive ye the Holy Ghost"-wh - should not the minister say that himself
 Why should not the word of God be rein a spired to him by the same spirit that frs !. inspired it? Gordon Hall dying of the cholera ' urging the beathen around him to come t @ Christ; Miss Wells, at Athens, Alabama
 holding the fort of Christian education t l. the negroes, amid great opposition e Mrs. Coffin laboring for the savage people i | Armenia; why do these names stir ou blood SO? Is it not because these names r these deeds come to us with voice saying
 "Be thou also ready" Never was there 8 f age so full of inspiration for spiritual preach
 ing and the spiritual preacher. If our preach - ing is of that character our sermons wi
 survive.