New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-11-27

If utilized Tor al IL - W
making of him.
SUGGEsTION 10 THE CLEEGf.
ar n, mon in the community, the clergy
sbould be the greatest optimStS. II j. lhueeu
~ .I,a. ,bo,. 900 much that is saddenng and
1;~oo,,r, ,;no and they often have good reason
49, doubt whether their individual efforts have
had anv apprcciablc result IN raising men 10
-, biober plane of living They 50 often come
:, contod with the Scamy side OF ne, anu
o,vinc 70 their intelligence and training under
stand 50 much better than most ether people
,bat the problem of moral progress really
,noor. that they must naturally take serious
,;o,, If life and its possibilities y frivolous
arorcv,non ar one 10 whom life is only sue
ccssion of amusing experiences, can nave 10
Influence. and deserves little respect.
lint seriousness is not pcSslmlSm ana II Is
far removed from bitterness or despair. Ter
t,;nlv the Founder of Christianity must nave
understood mere perfectly than any OF li'S
followers can how hand task the moral re-
Generation of the world was to be. lie must
have seen more clearly than any OF Ills com
mi;sioned teachers in the Churh how "eaN'
and imperfect, and prone to evil human ha'uIc
/. And vet there was not the laIntcSt 'rd''
IS nos.;nism in Ills character. He never de-
-,o;rod If the world. or Of humanity nor al
lowed the meanncSScs or littlencSNeS OF 'hoNo
around Him to cloud that sunny vision OF a-
s,rod hone. which to this day Is the tr"cN'
note of His religion. lie was Scrlou, always
sad donbtlcs, often. rs every son OF man 1T
times must be but never hopeless, never dole-
ful and never aucrllouS because many thlh2'
in tbc world did not happen according to HIS
desires.
And il is a suggestive fact that joyouSleNS
most characterized the primitive Church, Which,
humanity speaking. it had 50 little to be Joyous
,ho,,t If loved to think of its coming tn
nm, h and of it, Master rs happy child, with
a smiling face and comclA men. II was OILY
whom tbc memory Of the Christ age became
blurred and faith in His promises became
faint that Christians gan - look exclusively
on the darker side of life. 20 that by S'raileo
uaradoX. i'm the So-calcd ages of lalth, lh''e
VA, nm undcrtonc Of uniaith tingcd by despair
that is totally out of harmony with the true
spirit of Christianity.
And this s,lt Of pcS,imi,m often cry Ntai'/c,
into infdclity. some time age reV'icu
rlcrgymnn tried to show noted lnlldcl 'ha'
Christianity deserve, respect If only because
il tric, 10 save the world from H. vices an"
crimes. All that" broke in the iniid,l WIN
brutal franl,nc,s "docNn't interest me III the
lclst The old world j, not worth saving
And col, q few months ago Il social Ictcrmor
# some local prominence gave substantially
the same reason for Withdrawing from his re-
form propaeanda OF course no such we"
can find place in the Christian Chuich b"t
il seems 10 "a, that some ccrgNmcn are TOO
much inclined T. take a pc->Imi>uc view "I
the great movements and impulses oil modern
If. They forget that on their own Nh""
ing cod j. guiding these movements ana I'M
pulses one, for instance. secs IN the rlP'd
crluth Of some denomination of CHRISTIANS
with whose view, he docs not agree, the
speedy dcathkncll OF all religion. Another
speak, Of the drink evil almost m tone OF
DESPAIR Another seem, t. think that the
Church and the Nation Will soon come 10 IN
end. because all the people are not yet en-
lightcn.d enough To appreciate the puh.'
school,. And another fears that truth VIII ere
long pcri>h from the earth. because some men
arc learning new truth, about the Bih', ~
though a larger anil trucr knowledge 90 that
book destroyed the value of the message II
contains.
Now with all due Difference we would >ug-
gD,t 10 thc," men. whose pc>,lm>m j. an I'M
oon>ciou, habit. rather than "a clearly held
principle. that the world D, pretty apt 10 %
ON without much reference 10 our hopes or
fcar,. We frequently have a way of thinking
that a crisis impcnd>. needing bat a few mono
crime, or sins or mistakes on the part OF the
people We do not like Ia bring 1t ON. But
somehow or other every such dreaded crisis
ra,,c, without anything in particular happen
iuc knd If We take the trouble u look back
on il We may see that it WAS not n crisis at
all. but Just a little way mark along the path
of progress. The clergy should not forget thai
while they are 10 take life with becoming N"r-
business they should not tIkc themselves too
seriously The compass of eternal truth l. not
measured by their conception of il. And wise
and far->ccing ~ they may bee, their views of
great institution or OF great movement,
either religious, social. political, are not of
necessity diyincy true. The God whose mos
sage they are sent f. declare, Is God of IN
finite WISDOM goodness, and love. and may be
trusted T. make Ills purpose good. \ harsh
condemnation Of men with whose views they
do not agIcc and qucrulouS wall oi despair,
because these men. for the time being. hold
place, of influence and power i ali attitude
unworthy of a minister Of Christ.
TUE iTO\T m nc ORNERT TDRE