The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-12-09
the people and sympathy for the masses
was the keynote of all good preaching.
Amplifyinr the idea he said.

the people and sympathy for the masses
was the keynote of all good preaching.
Amplifying the idea he said:
II Is a fatal error to confine our ministry
TO the higher classes of society and TO think
that the simple people ought to be satisfied
vim me crumbs thai faii from the table
you acquire unlimited sway over the peo-
pie; would you be their idol, their un-
crowned King. then lay aside your love OF
and live among them Be poor, as they
are poor; give your money to charities:
ia take e, the coat from your back and give ,d II
your last cent with your humble neighbor.
Do this. and then speak and act, and you
viii be beloved, blessed and worshiped.
Many high-salaried preachers who
preach to cushioned pews filled with
elegantly dressed people may hin that
hard doctrine. but it comes very near
being the doctrine of the Master.
And who was this lecturer? We have
said the lecture was delivered before
he senior class OF students of Union
Theological Seminary. Who was the
lecturer who thus expounded the secret
OF effective preaching to Protestant stu
dents and told them if they wanted to
influence and benefit, to move and
capture the people they must Low them
and put themselves in close sympathy
with the masses? 1t was the Rev.
Alexander p. Doyle, of the Roman Cath
Ole Church, a representative of the
Paulist fathers. So far as known. it
was the first time in the history Of the
country that a Roman Catholic priest
had been invited to address the students
of a Protestant divinity school. Father
Doyle was introduced by the Rev. DR..
Briggs. In some predatory remarks,
after saying that he always embraced
every opportunity to promote the cause
of Christian unity, he continued:
It goes without saying that all our re-
ligious Misunderstanding and most of our
that we do not know each other we'll
enough. Ignorance of each others opinions
and want of appreciation of each others
ideas and extravaganza notions to each
other. while a better knowledge and
broader charity would have united us in a
common brotherhood. There is much that
Is in common between US like the solid
mother earth that unites these two cities
on either side of the East river, but there
has been a stream running between us as
swift. as dark, and, at times. as danger
Gus as the river itself. 1t has had its shoals
and hidden rocks of error, and 1t has been
poisoned by the sewage of religious preju-
dice. and 1t has been running strong and
swift with its current of misconception;
but the day Of building a great bridge
came. and on the day that the bridge
opened its wide avenues for the people
to pass and repass. on that day we con-
ceived the greater New York that was born
Of the vote Of the people in the late cleo
tons. These are days of bridge building
over the streams of religious prejudice, and,
as / used to boast that / passed over
the Brooklyn bridge before there was any
bridge there, when only one cable was
laid and a little footpath over it, so /
rejoice tonight that mine is the pleasure
to be the first to pass over the bridge
Of religious liberation and join hands with
you in Christian unity.
This was we'll conceived and ad-
mirably expressed. and the lecture which
followed was probably one of the best
the students had ever listened to-. 1t is
to be hoped that Wien they go out in
the world to preach they will remember
the words of Father Doyle that the way
to reach the people is to love them, and
that 1t Is a fatal error for ministers of
the gospel to confine their ministry to
the higher classes of society. The apos-
ties were told to preach the gospel to
the gentiles, not to the genteel.