The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-10-09
THE REQUISITES OF A SUCCESSFUL
MINISTER.
BY @. V. N. SMITH,
Topeka, Kan.)
Tread AT THE KANSAS STATE CONVENTION.

READ AT THE KANSAS STATE CONVENTION.
The question is asked what are the
requisites for successful minister; in
other words what are the requirements
needed in the young minister of to-dayp
When asked this it reminded me of
the anecdote told of the minister's boy.
A guest in the minister's family in
quired of the boy what he intended to
become when man. The young prod
| ICY replied that he had not decided
whether he would be minister or a
common man! So it is a problem
whether l would take the average
preacher of the gospel with his accre.
tions, or the common man," to minis
ter to the wants of humanity.
There are frequently questionings
that come to the surface, whether the
the efficiency of the church of to-
day can be increased, and with this the
associated question whether we have
in general a ministry the standard of
which cannot be improved. And if
Improvement is necessary, what are
the qualities that are needed to produce
our highest conception Of the teacher
of human beings in all degrees Of ma
turity and under every species of envi-
ronment. Should it be the man of pure
morals alonep Should it be the hui
manitarian, the man actuated only by
impulses responding to the appealing
cries for relief from the great bur-
den that has been cast upon us
human creatures, the burden of hered-
ity, of unrest, Of discomfort, of dis
ease Should the man with our
ideal qualities be endowed with the
great intellect alone, man of pro-
nounced mental ability, with wonder
full information, with facts, with clear,
logical differences, with rhetorical en-
Enlistment, with all that the greatest
intellect of man can attain ? Is this
alone sufficient to make the desired
minister for the age?
Do you desire spirituality separate
from other qualities?-the man whom
the breath of mortality would seem te
soil and contaminate with it's impurity
who would be inappreciative of NOR
tai woe because of the great width an6
depth of the intervening gorge between
him and his fellow creatures !?
Once again, should it be the practi
cal man with his work in church and
parish, organizing, building, construct
ing2 The man ignorant of sympathet
ic response, of intellectual influence, OF
spiritual benefit, but giving a life tc
simply organizing, building up mon
ument to die when he dies ?
To repeat, does the ministry of to.
day need and demand these separate
and distinct qualities apart from all
others,-the purely moral man or the
purely intellectual or spiritual or prac-
ical minister W
Let me answer the question. We
want neither quality alone, but men
with all these qualities. moral force,
intellectual fibre, spiritual purity and
practical utility,-all these beautifully
wrought and developed.
An elderly man with silvered hair and
clear, pure countenance had been adj
dressing motley audience for an hour
or more. The sermon was not pro-
nounced on any theme.
The speaker had taken no high NOR
al standpoint. Neither had the picture
of the fiery furnace been particularly
glowing; yet an unkempt disheveled
listener went from the service satisfied
with having heard a moral and con-
scientious man. Much as our listener
despised church and its attending fea-
lures, his prejudice was overcome by
words uttered by the right man. The
truth of this incident convinces me of
the necessity Of that innate moral worh
to reach the heart of vice and corrup-
ton. Truly we cannot afford to have
our ministers wanting in this attribute.
A lady once remarked that the min
ister's illustrations were so novel and
so fresh, that he was so full of facts, that
the sermon was SO perfectly constructed,
that the analysis was so clear and the
man so conversant with authors and
concerning active currents of modern
ideas, that she was forced to be inter-
ested and that benefit had been derived
from listening. Will and can we afford
to be without the educated intellect,
the disciplined mind ?
1t is not infrequent that we have
been impressed by an apparent incon-
gruity between preacher and the posi-
tion that he endeavors to fill. Often
you have listened to a man seemingly
devoid of sympathy, soul and spirit,
and at once you have realized the need
of spiritual fitness. Indescribable as
this is you all apprehend what this in
tangible and yet essential force in man
is and how needful it becomes in quite
degree in the one who fills such a
place.
feel that every man has this quality
to certain degree; and that all have it
| in VARYING daUraaQ and the nradnmi