The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-12-11

'hS, WoAh COuScCIdtcS anu HlOtlVoS grow
and deepen. A young man was attract
ed to our ministry forty years ago, by
the field it opened to him for discussion
and controversy. He loved debate, and
his reason was charmed by the argu-
mentative battles of those days. And
yet he became one of the tenderest,
sweetest, most reverent souls our
church ever knew. A lawyer, for want
of brief, was starved into preaching.
Not high motive, yet years of faith
full and fruitful service would stop
the mouth of any who questioned
to-day, either his motive or his conse-
Grafton. Jesus, when a boy, said,
know ye not that 1 must be about
my Fathers businessp" If he thought
of his great work as a business, may
we not welcome the honest young man
who, setting the ministry beside other
professions, chooses it as his business
in life? 1t is ours to direct his course
and trust that as he grows into the
serious work of life, the gospel in it's
grandeur will grow upon him and with
him, until it makes him the great
apostle of the faith and the humble
disciple of the Master. 1t is our
business to take them at the door of
the temple and lead them in to appre-
ciate and share its glories.
8. ''But must go through the col
lege and the theological school, and
thus give six years of my best time,
before 1 begin my work." Yes, we
answer,-if you can. The best soldier
will not go into battle half equipped, if
he can help it. He who is thoroughly
furnished for every good work. will do
vastly more and better work.
4. But the other professions are
near at hand and l must be at work.
My work is my bread and butter" Let
us answer, if there is any short road to
other professions, so is there to the
ministry. The road through the schools
is the best road. But there is a road
direct from the plow, the bench, the
net or the home. Peter and James and
John took that shorter path, and many
have gone that way since. Our West
Pointers are best and first, but the vol
unteer will do some grand fighting.
Because he has no thousand dollars to
send him through school, shall the
work lose the lifelong labors of a
good, true soul? No, we will help him;
we will take him into our home and
our study and divide our knowledge
and work and experience with him,
and help him to the start which he
needs. Let the consequences be upon
our heads, if one laborer is kept from
the field, for want of an apprentice
ship. At this point we come upon a
great responsibility. We have hitherto
waited for the young to come to US.
We havsSyut the burden upon inexperi-
ence and asked it to open the door for
experience. Ought we not to 60 to
them? should we not seek the appren-
ticep He knows not his powers or his
fitness, or the work to be done. We
know the work and we know the abili-
ties and the possibilities wrapped up in
a boy; our duty to him is plain. We
must go to him. The church is full of
good material. 1t is in the Sunday
school, in the unchurched world, in the
busy marts, even in the pulpits of other
churches. Let us seek them, and teach
them and lead them into this great vine
yad. Men preach the best they have.
If some preachers of other faiths should
hear from kindly lips, of our larger
faith and our earnest work and our
brave, good workers, they would re-
joice and say, welcome, this is what
1 have been looking for, and praying
for. Your faith is mine, and 1 am
henceforth of you.'
Here, then, is my last word. 1t is ours
to show that whoever comes to this
work will join good company of
workers. 1 learned to love the minis
try because reverenced the men in it.
We shall draw men to our work when
they see band of honest, earnest,
united helpful workers, who stand to-
gether as brothers. The ministry has
had its faults, and they have brought
reproach upon the cause, and have
proved stumbling block to others.
Cowper describes some of them thus:
'The things that mount the rostrum with a
skip,
Aud then skip down again; pronounce text.
Cry hem! and, reading what they never wrote,
Just fifteen minutes huddle up their work,
And. with a well-bred whisper, close the
scene"
But to-day among the multitude of
brave, good, honest men who have
wrought we'll, those whom Cowper saw
are scarce. Ours is to show that none
such are here and none need apply. The
Fellowship of brotherhood is the at
tractive and strong bond which will
draw many to us. Loving the workers,
they will learn to love the work. 1t is
enough if we can make the work so at
tractive and the workers so helpful and
inspiring that many will come to us
saying: "Let US work in this beautiful