Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-03-06
The Pulpit of To-day.

The conditions of a powerful pulpit
to-day are essentially the same as for
merly; devotion, sincerity, open-mind-
edness, translucency of soul. The pull
pit must contain consecrated men, who
live for the highest thought, the no.
blest life, the purest sympathies; who
are out of the world, do not seek its
prizes, do not court its applause; who
are not sectarians, not churchmen, not
polemics, who lay by their indi-
viduality, their pride, their self-suffic-
iency; who are no hypocrites or pre-
tenders; who do not strut, vapor, put
on airs of superiority, or practice affec-
tations of any kind, but who stand fair
~ on the border line, where humanity
blends with diVinity,-men Of glowing
enthusiasm, of invincible hopefulness,
of perfect goodwill, friends and SER
wants of mankind. Such are not rare,
Nand they are becoming less uncommon
with every generation. 1t will be gen
orally allowed that the great need in
all communities and at all times is of
men of this stamp. The culture of the
moral nature is still the chief concern.
The prevalence of knowledge renders
compulsory a finer Interpretation of ma
ture, history, experience. We depend
on the pulpit TO supply this perennial
demand. We depend on the pulpit to
furnish the conditions of its mainte-
nance. The habit of fault-finding be-
cause it does not satisfy them is an ev-
idence of the expectation that exists
yet in the world of thinkers. That
people are discontinued, that they COM
plain, that they stay away from church,
may be a good sign. The pulpit should
be based on the attribute of intellectual
power. The occupant of it should be
held to high standard. 1t is our duty
to insist that the Sunday shall not be
wasted, given up 10 quacks, drivelers,
buffoons. My quarrel with the commu-
nifty is that it is too acquiescent; criti-
cises too little; is too easily satisfied;
accepts mediocrity of learning, tai
ent, devotion; abuses too mildly; ridi-
cules too gently. The people who say
the hardest things are, unfortunately,
people who do not begin with aspira-
ton. Religious men are the first to de-
tect imposture. The pulpit can be
trusted to purge itself from intruders.
A distinguished preacher once said,
when | wish to throw stones at the
church windows, | shall go outside"
1t was we'll remarked, for to throw
stones is hostile and rather q lawless
proceeding. 1t is true, all the same,
that the real improvement of the pulpit
comes from the inside, from the growth
of serious opinion among earnest men,
who see what the age and the soul re-
ba Il
John Ruskin and certain clergymen of
the Church of England, published two
or three years ago, throws much light
on the prevailing tendency toward
more spiritual understanding of the
pull pits office; the short preface by Dr.
Matteson displaying admirably the
temper of the leading ecclesiastics.
AS, in the case of a battle, the hard
fighting is done by the ordinary SOL
diery, whose disciplined valor carries
the day, so, in this warfare of religion,
the ordinary labor is performed by OBJ
scure men, whose names are never
spoken, and whose consecrated lives
attest their fidelity to the highest inter-
ests of man. The officers bear the
brunt Of the criticism, but they do not
fill the ranks.
The best and the worst has been said
about the pulpit, yet it is not probable
that any agency will ever take it's
place. Its very imperfections and in
the nature of things it cannot be all it
aims to become-act as a constant spur
to its improvement. Other ministra-
tons, honorable and capable as they
may be, do not propose to themselves
the same objects, of course cannot pro-
duce the same results. O. B.
FrOthjngba711, IN atlantic.