Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-05-07
MODERN MINISTER'S.
The KIND OF Preaching Most PORular-Min-
isterial Iclcles are Failures.
Rec. Darid SsriHg in Cincinnati 7iTes-StGr.

Each generation makes Its own SER
wants Each good hOusekeeper knows
what a good philosophy it is TO find
young girl who needs a home and whe
wishes to work and then kindly TO
help her grow up into the house. One
can here aud there find few dOmestics
who have been so made by the home,
that In the absence of the mistress
the downstairs and upstairs ma
chlnery runs smoothly and silent
ly. All professional men, the law
yer and preacher, along with
poet and eSsayiSt, are only servants in
that larger house-the nation or the
age, The theological student Of to-day
must hasten TO fit himself to the new
surroundings, that he may be a success
full servant in the house of God. Ehe
information and the customs Of yeSter-
day must be modified for tomorrow.
The literary style of the pulpit must
not drag along behind the public, and be
only q kind OF curiosity. The COyenan-
tiers aud United PresbyterianS under
took % make RouS' version OF the
Psalms pass through this century, and
indeed through all the coming ages.
The version which said
Behold how good "a thing iii
And how becoming well
Together such as brethren are,
IN unity % dwell.
met the demand of the plain Scotchmen
OF 1850 because, the poetic feet and
rhVmes Of Walter Scott and Burns had
had not yet tuned the Scotch ear; but
now poetry has become so melOdious
that the ROus version will with difficulty
work its way 10 the end Of this decade.
The Psalms themselves undergo no
change, but the versions must wear the
best literary attire the passing day can
manufacture.
The theological student must be not
little careful about securing that style
OF expression which has done such ser
vice for Wendell Phillips and for the
lawyers and statesmen now living-a
style simple, condensed, and free from
dead words and dead phrases. The
popularity OF firstly" secondly" and
lastly" is gone forever. They were
good words once, but all that need be
said IS that the world has passed away
from them.
The age may, perhaps, be impatient,
and therefore unwilling for speaker
10 take "a drink of water and then say
''sixthly. This change is not, proba-
bly,. the result Of Impotence, for the
times of Tacitus were not in hurry;
and yet TacticuS never used word
which he could omit If be paused TO
take drink ne did not make out Of
words and drink kind OF literary
sandwich Tor the reader or audience.
Our times are swinging back toward
the style of FacituS and julius Caesar.
The sermon must be more the speech
of q common public man than that OF
eithera theOlOgiaa or metsphySlcian.
II is % 40 importance whether our age
ought 10 ike abstract theology and
metaphysics. The simple fact is
thar il does not like those forms Of
expression, and will not pass in our
period. The orbits of the styles are so
large that the star or comet OF jeremy
Taylor or a Carlyle having once grazed
the earth vii not Craze it again within
tho life time OF the children now in
arms. If il takes 1900 years to bring
back the simplicity of TacituS we need
not fear nor hope the near return OF the
sermon which appeared TO the veneer
able Scotchwoman as containing "a dale
OF darkness
Whatever may be the number and the
value OF religious doctrines, this age
makes use of only a few and these are
such rs tend TO make men better.
Christianity is now great reform and
its clergymen must need be refOrmers.
They must avoid fanticiSm, but there Is
nothing i'm the shape of a real human
bettermeut they must not attempt to
establish II the pulpit could raise
she wages OF the sewing woman and
lower her house rent and she price OF
her coal and bread, il Should do so.
Helpfulness is dogma which over
shadows the questions which once en-
paged Abelard and Jonathan Edwards.
As was natural in world full OF deVel-
oDment, sympathy for soul In danger
OF hell mas wdened so as 70 include the
person in danger Of hunger and cold.
The soul AS seen in perditiOn induced
the church TO ponder over a woman in
rags. and over children whose home is
the streets, the Incorporate man in the
gutter.
The new color Of society makes it
necessary that only those young men
should seek the ministry who are both
students and philanthrOpistS. The de
Oand for the cold intellect has fallen of
greatly in the past twenty-five years.
IL is fatal to carry an lcicle In the
pocket If statesman can not do II
and live. neither can the coming
clergyman. lie must be very sensitive
10 all the gladneSS and sadness of his
feUow-meu and able TO be with them as
an elder brother. That growth Of love
which mas made AndOver the battlefield
i'm which giants have fought for better
hope for pagan millions, Is an under
growth that covers the nation, aud it is
not an underground of weeds but of
flowers.
Assuming fine mental ability aud
broad education. the candidate for the
Christian ministry must possess relig-
ious nature. His word must be full of
COD. and then it can become full of
Christ, and then full of mans soul. The
religious IS Just as real As the poetic ma
ture or the hunger for gold. If Hum
boldt loved TO study nature, II New
Ton loved To study the stars, 50 Marcus
Aurelius was q student OF God. Paul
was religious before he became Chris
tian. FenelOn and Madame GuvOn were
Northumberland" The greatest quality
In Cardinal Newman was mis- repoSe In
God. Charles Wesley and Whiteheld
were deeply colored by the light Of the
Infinite.