St. Paul daily globe., 1893-01-30

seventies, when the wave Ot discussion
on the problem of endless punishment
swept the land. he did not make direct
allusion to it at all, and it was men like
Canon Farrar who placed themselves on
record in dealing with the topic. In
deed, think that OH the topics where
liberal men have dwelt with great en-
phasis, he has hardly put himself on
direct record at all. But he is still the
man who is most interesting to the lib
eral thinker, and he does in certain
way point out the probable direction of
Our Future Preaching.
Points out the direction OF our future
preaching. say, for it seems to me that
his method will make many more lib.
eral thinkers than the controversial
liberal churches, and yet there are two
things to be said at this point, two
things that will hold US in check if we
are about torun headlong into fulSome
eulogy.
The first of two things to be said is
that no one man combines all the ele-
ments needed in century. and, while
Brooks was a great preacher on given
lines, there are other men equally great
OH lines that he did not touch or touched
but lightly, and that therefore we are to
mention Caird, the theologian, who has
made great success on a distinctly
theological basis; and we are to men
ton, likewise, FiSke and Savage, who
are trying to give meaning to the inter
probation of the scientific side, and we
are to mention men of much less reputa-
ton, like his own neighbor. Allen. of
the Episcopal divinity school, who
touches the Christian problem from the
historical side; and we are to mention
Martineau, a much greater thinker. who
approaches the problem from the meta
physical and historical side, and pre-
SentS many phases Of truth that Brooks
entirely ignored.
But with all these facts in view, with
the idea before us that his mission was
to carry a broader religion to con-
servative people, that his home and his
place and his sympathieS led him to
touch the conservative and the Guilt
waited, that it seemed his special mis-
Siou to influence the young men of Har-
ward college, we must conclude that he
Filled Special Mission
of the highest kind. The speaker went
into somewhat lengthy estimate Of
Or. Brooks preaching, showing the
difficulty of making just estimate of
what man really meant by such eX
pressions as preaching Christ OF preach
ing doctrine, because preaching might
quite another to Mr.. Savage. But he
said he thought Bishop Brooks had
used an expression in his Yale lectures
that was far enough outside theological
channels to mean practically the same
thing to all thinking meu. That eX-
preston was embraced in the deClara-
ton, The renewing and perfecting OF
their characters referrlng to men in
generaD is the great end of all" The
speaker then continued:
OF course, all men do not enjoy such
preaching as his nor believe much in it.
There is large and respected class
who want to see you draw your weapon
and lift the banner of war when you
come on the platform. They want to
see you apply the keen edge of the
blade and let line of blood follow it as
you go along. When you come to the
bed of the sick they want you to lecture
on the lack in the other mans remedies
to your waiting patient. Andsuch men
do not enjoy this method of preaching
that has some indetinitenesS. But look
at it and tell me if it does not have the
feature of good and valuable method.
The best orator is not the one whose
pose and presence you remember
longest: it is the one who made your
blood thrill and your heart stir with
emotion and prepared you to espouSe
his cause. The best singer Is not the
one whose every movement you watch,
who is exploiting brilliant voice as an
artist-the best singer is the one that fills
your mind with its own hopes and sets
you living again in your past or your
own future at suchsa rate that you for
Upta a those
and hopes. And Phillips Brooks was the
best preacher, because he did not
bother men with theories that were
dead or unbOrn-becauSe he had the
power to Wake-the hearer just that past
that is either the pride or the sorrow of
each, and, i'll connection with 1t, the
hopes that always come to the person
believing in human
Improvement and Progress.
There are two things, it seems to me,
that every one felt who attended the
ministry of Phillips Brooks. and those
two things, combined with the memories
and hopes called out by the vital and in
spring presentation of them, united to
make those deep and lasting impressions
he produced on his time.
The first was the feeling that in the
divine there was humanity. His God
was IullN Interested Ill lHelI, lull Ol
sollcitude for them, loved them-hls
God was the same that Whittier pre-
sented in poetry. And his Christ was
none the less sympathetic and humane.
What his theory was of the life of
Christ may still be and forever remain
question. Whether He was more than
He is to you, or less than to Cardinal
Newman. do not know; but the one
thing L do know was that his Christ was
full of all sympathy with the woes
and burdens of men; that his was deeply,
profoundly humane.
The second fact that one always felt
was that there was divinity IN his idea
of humanity. What God was in essence
man was in his essence. If the essence
of God was eternal and divine, also was
the essential life of man. There might
be more to thiS-more that we do not
know or cannot explain; but this much
we do know and can explain. These
are the two great facts that one always
heard, not in bold statements, but woven
into the most beautiful and poetic ser
mons that were preached in our Gay,and
uttered with faith i'll them so pro-
found and vital that the weary went
away strengthened, and the common
man better prepared for the duties Of