The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-07-07
PULPIT AND PUBLIC.
BY REV. AEsON TITUS.

ought we to say. Judgment beginning
with the highest, cleanest and best, 1t
is able to be q source of holiest help to
struggling men. The accent Of the
prophets word was Of warning and in
struction; and the heart fired with
living message was for the turning OF
men from sin. The pulpit is the
prophets forum. In it ne is king.
And because the messenger of the
church holds this exalted place he
should learn the lesson of the great test
he will be subjected to. The pulpit is
the place where judgment should begin.
The holy of holies is the attraction Of
all eyes and the desire Of all hearts.
The preacher, to occupy the crucial
position, has been, or should be trained
for it. His books, his culture, his dis
cipline is all for this most public of all
places. The preacher is public man.
He cannot be anything else. The
preachers intellectual and spiritual
powers alike are subjected to the high
est test. This is as it should be.
Therefore, the consecrated man in his
Masters cause should thank him whom
he serves that this is so, and that it is
fundamental in the economy Of spirit
ual and eternal life.
The preacher should be the best kind
of man. He has everything to as
sist him to be such. The people are
right in demanding more of their mes
sengers Of God than they do of the
neighbors who toll by their side. He
may be ''only man; but with all his
discipline and spiritual gain he should
have been the best kind of man. In
a sense, the preacher is one with us,
subject to passionate points and selfish
seeking, yet in these he should still be
the man who stands in the highest place
the world of mortals know. He lives
in toiling world, crowded by crowding
men, but never should he forget the
task of his life. In the pulpit and out
of the pulpit he should net cease to be
man. In great concerns and in petty
details the minister is looked to as
none other. The opportunity for criti
cism is ample. With him there is no
hiding. His is light upon candle
stick. Grocery bills and mission con-
tributions and all the range between
are scrutinized by sharp and discerning
eyes. Truly judgments begin at the
house of God.
The pulpit is the platform of spirit
ual instruction. Formerly it was more
intellectual than spiritual, but other
agencies blessed Of God have come in
as hand-maids to the church. Maya
zines, periodicals, scholarly works for
common folk, have played sad havoc
with this part of the preachers king
dom. Thankful are we for this. The
pulpit as an organ Of information is
not what it was, but around it is a
higher scholarship than mere book
learning can give.
Conservation, faith, help for others,
spiritual enthusiasm and insight are
mightier forces than go out from
schools and printing houses. Because
Of this, the church is not less scholarly,
but broader and more generous in its
scholastic and spiritual gifts. Its
higher mind has put zeal in the hearts
CT all its disciples. Never was the
church doing more and better work for
the world than to-day. Its ministra-
tions reach out and extend to the
uttermost. The uprising of colleges
and the extension of missions, the
close-ftting applications of religion to
the affairs and reforms of to-day, the
great activity of Christian workers in
science, a more fearless zeal in dealing
with questions past scholars felt they
had settled for good, each and all of
these testify to the breadth as well as
the depth of the pulpit of to-day.
The book still in the pulpit is the
Bible. It is going to stay there. 1t is
the greatest studied book. But how
different it is regarded. The God of
the sacred word is he after whom the
scientist has been seeking. This God
revealed in the heights, in the depths,
in historic movements and the chang
ing social order and in nature and in
revelation, is the true God. There is
but one God. The church fettered by
creeds, the Outgrowths Of paganish
PHILOSOPHERS has been slow in learning
this, but with large pulpit, with a
scholarship which knows no fear and an
enthusiasm out-running dogma! there
is opening an era sure to hasten and
extend the spiritual coming of the
heavenly king.
Since the ministry occupies slightly
changed position, many deem it has
declined in its influence. The change
has come about IN the creeds proclaimed
and not in the position Of the pulpit
The preacher has changed but the pull
pit remains firm as adamant. Those
who carp and sneer at the pulpit are
getting left. The great concerns of the
Masters church among men are moving
/ FOO raDidIv for them They are not