Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-11-02
mnAr THE CITY RANrs.
The Best brains and the Most Honest
Men Needed in City Politics and In the
Christian pulpif. .t .-. a.. 81

H
The Rest Brains and the Most Honest
Men Needed in City Politics and In the
Christian Pulpit. ie
The Rev. DIR. Johnson of Grocer Theo-
logical Seminary preached in the Second
Baptist Church Sunday. He took the
text from Acts TX, @, "Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do2" He applied his
text in the direction of tho idea of the
choice of life work. He referred to the
conceded fact that all around us are
men filling positions for which they are
entirely untitled. They have made a
wrong choice. The speaker went on to
show how it is that because person
has strong liking for certain profess
sion 1t does not at all follow that ho
possesses the natural qualifications for
1t. God told Paul to seek out In the city
OF Damascus q certain man named
named Ananias, good man, who would
tell him what he should do.
Following natural inclination for
distinction and the higher paths In life
men unhesitatingly step in only to dis
cover afterwards to their chagrip what
q mistake they had made in their choice
of Il life following. That that we adrhire
most is not always that which we are
best fitted for. Men who fill the Chris
tan pulpit to-day are much better fitted
for the blacksmith's forge. 1t is SO on
every hand, in every path of life. In
political life, too, there are plenty Of
aspirants for Congress, for the Presi-
dency and for Cabinet offices. Here i'm
this State hundreds of people are not
unwilling to serve in the Legislature.
Among those who do serve how many
OF them fit the place and properly serve
their constituents with honesty, single
mindedness, probity, or are mentally
habilitated for the position2
The desire to serve is no definite proof
that the applicant has the brain qualifi-
cations nor the integrity for the position.
What is needed this moment in the
two most important directions, politics
and the Christian pulpit, is mon of
brains. We need the best mental and
moral endowments there. The brightest
and best men of the community are
needed. We have not got them. They
are demanded at this moment in city
politics, here in Wilmington as in every
other community of the United States
there lisa demand for you.
The one black spot in this government
Vi u llSV ptOplt 10 Illb ldlluTb VI InuulCl-
pal administration. The better men are
needed there. Because they leave 1t to
others comes this failure. The city is
left in the hands of men who are entirely
mercenary. The besp brains and the
highest integrity should be there. For
the pulpit, too, there is demand as
there never before was for the brightest
and the best mental endowment.
In speaking of the political features
OF the question DIR. johnson said it is
of course known that it would not in a
pecuniary sense pay the best men of the
community to take position. But it is
their distinct and emphatic duty to do so
and if they fulfil their responsibilities
as citizens they cannot avoid the call.
II is their answer to Paul's question,
Lord, what shall dor"
Also, the preacher added, that because
one has dislike or an aversion to GER
tain following it does not follow that
that is the one he is not fitted for.
Lastly, there is the feature of emer-
gency. Although man may be fitted for
one of two positions, his duty properly
followed, in these days where all profes-
sions and businesses are elbowing one
another with almost a surfeit of appli-
cants, is to step into the one where there
is instant demand, to that place where
the demands of the community clearly
show the need Of his service. Each one,
to find out his calling, should go and
ask some good, some Ananias, as did
Paul, and find ont what he should do.