The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-06-29

bllO NlllJtIs
PROPHET VERSUS PRIEST.
II is better even TO create a sensation
occasionally that may give rise to ad-
verse comment than to die or to vege-
tate. The temptation Of the ministry Of
today is to talk smooth things. 1t is to
please the machines. Men object to be-
ing hit. They object TO personal meth
cd of applying truth. We have societies
for suppressing vice, but none for sup
pressing advice to the preacher. The
preacher is overwhelmed with advice,
and he is afraid not to take it. A minis
try of power is ministry of freedom,
ministry that thinks for itself and acts,
as led by the spirit Of God. The minis
ter who survives and is Of the church
triumphant will therefore be o prophet,
not priest; leader, not an echo. He
will be led by the spirit of God, not by
the traditions Of men. The keynote to
his creed will be freedom Of thought and
progress in knowledge, "By their fruits
ye shall know them" A ministry that
has no fruit is a dead ministry. 1t may
be as orthodox as the recent general as
sembly of the Presbyterian church, but
if it bear no fruit 1t might be as heter-
odox as the devil for all that it amounts
to in the history of humanity. The or
thodox church is the church that saves
men. The orthodox ministry is the min
istry of power unto salvation, and this is
the ministry of faith which is the true
successor of st. Peter of old.
Second-It is a certainty that this
church triumphant will be a saving pow
er. 1t will be known as a church simply
because it saves the world. There are
two conceptions Of church current to-
day. One is the election idea; the other
is the commission idea. The one is an
aggregation of saints met together for
self edifcation and self enjoyment, gath
cred apart and out Of the world, not
even in it. The other is community
army sent forth in the world, to live in
it, to die in it and for it, The one means
isolation, the other conduct. The one
means tradition, the other life. The one
that will survive is the one that saves.
The church that has no saving quality is
good for nothing but to be cast out and
trodden under foot of men. "Ye are the
salt Of the earth" The work of the
church is the salvation of this world,
here and now-this whole world, man in
his entire relations. And the church
which lives in this crowded center of
modern life must be q church that
touches with saving power every ramif-
cation of life. Man is a spiritual being.
He is moral being. He is physical
being. The church must save him
spirit, soul and body. If the church of
Jesus Christ does not thus touch man, it
must die and otherpowers take its place.
TRADITIONAL ToNBS.
Its first work must of necessity be q
spiritual one. 1t must stand for and
emphasize the eternal, spiritual verities
and their triumph over matter. 1t must
bear witness to the truth thus--it must
present to q thoughtless world the great
problem ever fresh. What shall it
profit a man if he gain the whole world
and forfeit his lifeI" Itmust teach with
renewed emphasis from day to day that
q mans life does not consist in the
abundance of the things that he may
possess. There are plenty Of dead
| churches in our great cities, that are
dead because they have preached no such
thing, and they died because they did
not preach it, and wealth and pride and
vanity have taken possession and eaten
them up, and the spirit Of God has de,
| parted. The church that lives and sur.
wives will be one that leads back to the
Father the wandering child, the orphan
world. 1t must be full of zeal for man
1t must be full Of faith in man as it has
faith in God. The life of Jesus shows
boundless faith in man. The infdelity
that refuses to believe in the possibility
of saving men is as mean and as bias
phemous as the inidelity that refuses as
sent to the postulate of the Godhead
The worship of God is the service ol
man, if Jesus is to be believed.
The Protestant church if it must tri
umph must go back to Catholicism ani
learn again the lesson which it has for
| gotten, and it is that mans spiritual ma
ture is bound up whether he will or moi
with his body. We must relearn tn,
fact that there is a gospel of the body
that the body is an organ of the soul
that there is a physical basis even of sal
walton; that Jesus healed the sick anC
fed the hungry; that he came with heal
ing in his tOuch; that he recognized thc
| tremendous power Of this work over thC
| soul. The church must have its gospe
| of healing. 1t must build its hospitals
rather than its dismal, traditional tomb
with stained glass windows and solemn
churches. II needs corps of evangelis
| -consecrated doctors whC
| preach the gospel Of Jesus as they hea
the bodies of men.
The church that saves man today mus
touch the intellectual part of man
Mans reason is an organ of the sou
turned toward God, not toward matter
y is here that we aMlrehend the Bible
1t is here that we reach the full sweep O.
the deep truths of religion. 1t is tn,
work of the church to apply here jhC
simple gospel to every human deed ant
every human relation. The church mus
solve some of the migktiest problems o.
human philosophy and of social science
If the church prove the cure all for hu
man ills in our great modern city. 1t Il
| q hard work to do and do thoroughly
| 1t Is hard to tell the truth and make the
caustic application atall times to men
and to society. If the salt have saving
power, it must be rubbed in. A disserta.
tion about salt will never accomplish the
work. An exposition of the theory of a
mustard plaster will not cure any man
| 1t must be put on him. So the church
that triumphs must be the church that
preaches-that applies practical gospel
| of salvation to men as men are today, to