Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-11-10


wind itself in the interior of the institution
and upset and demoliSh some of the vener-
able and time-worn features of this great
university, The students are to raise the
standard of TevOlt-nOt against beans as a
steady diet, for that is in complete c0nsis-
tency with the intellectual atmosphere that
environs Harvard-but against the pods or
| husks. They draw the line at the bean,
| and protest against having the hod or en-
easement thrust down their thrOatS.
/ 1t is neither the cook nor steward who
is guilty of all attempt to feed husks to
/ these unfortunate thirsters and seekers after
knowledge. but the official preachers of the
/ institution who have undoubtedly fallen
| into the very prevalent error that the fine,
/ intelligent, rich-bloOded and handsomely
attired lads, who have been nursed in the
lap of luxury and pampered with daintieS,
are of superior race, to whom
il would be an insult to preach
the plain, straight gospel, unorna-
mented with brass s-mountings and filagree
work. That is to say, the university
preachers seem to think these young bloOds
are too good to be told that they are COM
mon sinners and need forgiveness and saliva
tion quite as much as the hars-tisted coal
HEAVIER or dusky-viSaged bootback. SO
( feed them fine, elaborate discOurseS in
which sky-blUe is artistically set off with
rose-color and scarlet, in which they utter
what they suspect and conjecture about re-
ligiOn. and air ingenious theories, and tell a
vast amount of what they do not know,
leaving the impression Of brilliancy upon
their unfortunate auditOrs-and nothing
else.
And, after a long period of abOunding
emptiness and prolonged intellectual suffer
ing and sufferance. these poor students
have been forced TO protest. Let no one
plunge to the easy inference that these
young thorough-breds are literary dudes or
intellectual snobs. They are not that kind
of blOoded cattle. They are men, They are
also men of sense and recognize that
they are of common clay, constructed on
the same general plan, and of the same ma
bAlai a. Otiiti ftNpAN. GIL" N'PN''SiilH N4iNs'
they are human beings, under the curse of
sin. and that they need to be saved from
themselves and enabled to overcome then
natural impulses and tendencies TO dc
wrong. and that their salvation must come
from a higher ard stronger power than
themselves.
What these practical young men demand
is straight goods. and no refined intellectual
fiummery or flub-dub. They want the
gospel simple, direct, unadorned,
Shorn of all the modern improvements and
deformities. They want something from
the sacred desk that will assist them in the
great battle of life; something that will aid
them in overthrowing and properly utiliz-
ing the world, the flesh and the devil;
something that will help them To be better
men, of use in the wOrld-pure, holy and
cumplete-Tue gentlemen. good citizens
-unselfsh. Christ-like, grand. They
want the clean kernel, the
pure milk of the cocoanut-the
sincere milk of the wOrd-the solid truth,
the pure goId-of the gospel-and they
ought to have it.
And this is all quite true of other people,
OF the well-fed and elegantly-housed and
attired mIliOnaire-Of the intellectual pro
feSsiOnal man-Of the university graduate
who has gone into law. or politics, or states
manship. These do not 20 to church tC
listen 10 learned essays about the truth;
they need and they want the truth itself.
They do not want man TO stand up in the
sacred desk to preach at the gospel, but tC
preach the gospel, in its simplicity and
entireness.
Who are the men who draw the largest
audiences in the world? Who never ad,
dress anything anywhere or on any Occa
siOn-but crowded houses? They are the
men who utter the plain, essential truths
of the gospel. in such way that it is ap
plicable to all classes and conditions of meI
whether pampered aristocrats OF beggars
and gutter-snipes, in a language that al
can understand-in a wOrd-precisely a:
Christ preached it, making no distinction
among classes and recognizing no caste oI
difference between races or grades of SOci
ETY.. Such a man as this is Spurgeon,
who is one of the simplest and most earn
est of preachers; and Dwight l.. Moody is
another man of the same kind, who recOg
nizeS the need of ali men for a common
gospel and a common salvation from sin
and its effects and penalties. Then no man
can fail 10 understand and appreciate the
rugged plainnesS and the pointed directness
of DIR. John Hall; or the Sledge-hammeI
blows of Phillips Brooks. always delivered
at the centre of the target, the human
heart.
The gospel is leveler. 1t is the most
democratic and republican of all the inSti-
tutions the world ever saw. But ii levels
up. 1t takes the lowest forms of humanity
and lifts degraded and corrupt men and
women into an atmosphere of light, ant
purity. and hOliness-and it takes tht
pharisee and transforms him into simple.
unselfish, childlike and faithful follower OF
the divine-human ideal.
The day when intellectual gymnastics
and displays of literary pyrotechnicS were
admired in the pulpit has passed away.
The pulpit has been forced to adapt itself
to the common people, and it has also dis
covered that only in so adapting itself can
it reach and transform all classes and con-
ditiOns of men. The man of blue blood
and fine culture needs and demands pre-
ciSely that clear and pure gospel truth
which saves the day-labOrer and the scav-
enger; he will stand side by side with him
at the bar of Almighty God. and he needs
the same redemption and remission of sins.
He needs the meat of the nut-not the
husk.
uo,.,'o