The Progress., 1893-02-25

manhood is sacred. Every man is great
i'll proportion as his manhood is great
and he who has greater personality and
greater manhood than the preacher IN
the pulpit is IA more sacred man and en-
titled to WELD mighticr influence over
men AS teacher of the God
He was an honest nan. He could not
have been a manly man without being
an honest man. He held honest opinions.
He did not preach mere theories. He
preached what he believed in the depths
of his inmost soul and life, and what he
could not speak from the innermost
depths Of his great soul he left unsaid.
There was thus the spirit of sincerity in
every word that fell from his lips
Second-His power consisted in his
cdtholicity, in the breadth of his sym
pathies and his views.
He was born into ritualistic church,
and he wore the forms as an honest man
wears his clothes. He never used forms
| for the purpose of exhibition. The church
| in which he was born and to which be
ministered was large enough to hold him,
and that Is the grandest compliment that
can pay to the Church of England to-
day. | mean, when speak of the church.
even its ecclesiastical, mechanical ar
rangements. Ii strained toward the last
but it did hold him.
He was rash enough TO believe in the
broad basis Of fraternity of spirit and
of heart, and it did not shock him to sit
/ ON tba r,1o ffor,, With ord;porx, D,.ocl,-to
rian or Baptist or Methodist preachers
He did not worry about apostolic sue
cession. He believed in that wider, truer
church universal. His soul was a truly
great soul, and for that reason he was in
capable of small thoughts, small jeal
ousies Of man with man, of church
against church, Of ecclesiastical machine
against those who are outside Of the ma
chine. For that reason small men never
liked him. Small men, whose souls felt
secure simply within forms, never agreed
with his policies or his principles or with
his methods of enforcing his thought or
his life work.
THE TRULY GREAT SOUL
Great souls are never capable of small
thoughts. You remember when Jenny
Lind gave an entertainment in Leipsic
On one occasion Mendelssohn was pres
ent, and they were given great ovation
The great crowd thundered its applause
and continued until Mendelssohn said to
Jenny Lind that she must go forth and
say something to the people. She said
she would if he would 60 and make the
speech. So arm in arm these two great
musicians came before the people. When
the tempest of applause which greeted
their appearance had subsidized, Mendels-
sohn in the most graceful way paid the
highest and most delicate compliment to
the great singer and proposed that the
cheers of all Leipsic should be given to
her. Then, while the building echoed
with one of Mendelssohn's songs, they
went back to the room behind the ros.
trum. There was no jealousy between
two such souls. A great many small
musicians that play the second fiddle.
that just know how to scrape little, are
mighty in jealousy. but great souls are
never jealous.
So of this preacher. Small thoughts
were impossible to him. He saw the good
in all churches, and he saw good outside
all churches. He was high priest OF
the race. He saw good even in these low
evangelical churches that, from the high
church point of view, are Uery low. Phil
lips Brooks even held old fashioned re-
vivals in Trinity church. He preached
about a church outside the church, and
the most eloquent, most powerful pres
entation of that church outside l ever
heard from mortal man came from his
great heart. He was the bishop of this
great church universal.
Third-Not alone TO his catholicity,
but also because of his prophetic power.
his success is due.
The true preacher of God is prophet,
not priest. IL was his peculiar func- |
tion to prophesy. do not mean to predict |
future events. The work of the prophc, !
OF old was to give ne,o vieics of God and |
of truth. The Aaronic priesthood ended |
with the Christ, and from the Christ |
went forth the line of those who should /
prophesy, and who in his name should 1
uhiOiu HCW NltNS VI SOu anu vi lTuI1
New theology? Yes, his theology W
not only new; it was the nepest theology
And to get from him sermon was to
get from Gods own life new breath. a
new revelation, new view of truth.
HE FoREsAw THE BETTER TIME.
He was prophet in the true and high
sense of the word, and therefore he was
progressive. lie did not stand still or
bow down to dogmas. He would not
INIT himself to ecclesiastical conclusions
of councils or great men in the past.
With his great heart fixed upon the
spiritual realities of truth, he pressed
Onward, onward ever, from day to day,
never pausing in that upward march to-
ward the summit of truth, toward the
ull revelation of God. If you want to
NOW what a preacher in the Goth cen
ury will preach. study the life of such a
nan.
Fourth-His success rested on another
hing-his tremendous edrnestnesS. No
,ody went to sleep while he preached