The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-02-25

The Oregonian, supposed to be an au-
thoritative critic on all church affairs'has
done good deal Of preaching to preach
ers within the last few days.
Phillips Brooks has generally been the
text, and the sermons have been to this
effect. that Phillips Brooks was the great
success we know him to have been be-
cause he was so earnest, 80 liberal, so
honest, 80 sincere; and the moral drawn
has been that II preachers generally
would be as earnest. as liberal. as honest
and sincere as Phillips Brooks they might
be as successful as he was. This is abb
surd to that degree that 1t is hardly pos
sible to characterize 1t truthfully without
using English and calling II simply rot
but the native American "bosh" may do
as well. or course, Phillips Brooks ear
nestness and liberality and sincerity and
honesty had a great deal to do with his
success. With all his natural gifts, lack
ing the earnestness and the liberallty. his
success would have been much less re-
markable. The earnestness would have
helped him anywhere, and the liberality
helped particularly In Boston, where he
had large Unitarian community to draw
upon But he might have had all the
earnestness and llberality and honesty
that he did have, and more, II that were
possible. and II he hadn't had the "biri
and smeddum," the great natural gifts,
that he possessed, we should have had
no editorial sermons to the clergy based
upon the facts OF his career. These SER
mons have been exceedingly unjust In
their reflections on the clergy as a class.
Unquestlonaby. there are many OF then
who are not earnest or honest or liberal
or sincere who meet with no success be-
cause they are so disqualified. But then,
too. there are hundreds Of them just as
earnest and honest and sincere and lib.
ertl as Phillips Brooks. who meet with no
apparent success. And why? Becaus,
they havn't his physical immenslty, noi'
his eye or voice; still more because they
haven't his genius. This ingredient,
really has a great deal TO do with Phillips
Brooks success. 1t secured him the re.
spect OF his denomination, 1t made hin.
bishop in spite Of his liberallty. II he
hadn't been as big intellectually and spir,
itually as he was physically. he would
very likely have been tried for heresy and
have been put out.
We have no notion of depreclating the
great qualities OF earnestness and liber-
ality and honesty which Phillips Brooks
possessed, but II cannot be too fatty un
derstood that these qualities do not en-
sure a great outward success. There are
men without any Of them whose outward
success Is quite as pronounced as that OF
Phillips Brooks; and there are men with
all OF them whose only success is that Of
the inner life, the approval OF their con-
science ON work that has produced no |
visible results. Especially do the SINGER
ity and honesty often stand in the way |
of outward success. even when the ma.
tural gifts are not inconsiderable,
Heresy In the church is a taking card
In these last days But heresy outside
Of It is not. unless there goes along with
h some striking reputation. To sum up
We cannot have too much earnestness
md sincerity and honesty and liberality,
'ut elersymen expecting these things. as
uch, to bring success may be cruelty dis
appointed, and to infer the presence OF
hese qualities from any great outward
fI