The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-12
REQUISITES OF A PREACHER
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ltLOG V AOA 4 lSJ M 4A "A ASA$~A V
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 risk the argument upon the assumed advantage of the spoken above the written word. That advantage de- pends upon the effect of the spoken word not simply upon oneself as an en- dividual, but also upon the whole body of which he is a part. It is indeed quite conceivable that the spoken word may find a Judgment in the heart of one nearer when all others are un- touched The written word usually has a better fortune. But the highest efficiency of the spoken word may be far above that of the written word. The power of preaching. insist, that which is natural and legitimate to it, | is the power to reach the one through 1 the many. It is the power to bring the consenting reason and the awakened l conscience, and the kindled emotion of | the whole to bear upon every part. You can easily test this principle. You l find yourself in an inattentive congre- | gation, or if is is formally attentive, | unawakened and unkindled The state | of that congregation is hindrance to your reception of the truth. You ex- pend good part of your power of re- ception in resistance to the general in- difference. You find yourself in anoth- CT congregation. The mood is eager and expectant. The congregation knows the preacher and is ready for him. Before he has uttered word you are in measure committed to him through those who have learned to feel his power.
 | Every person who attends church may be made to answer twofold pur- pose. To the degree to which he is re- ceptive he thereby becomes influential.
 He is communicating force. In fact I he may actually, communicate more good than he receives. I doubt not than in every congregation there are those whose chief virtue is the fact that through their quick sensibilities they are distributing agents of the truth.
 It is this possibility of using men as his allies in the interest of righteous ness, which constitutes one of the chief | attractions of the pulpit to men of what is known as a popular power
 There is true philosophy in the vul- gar commercial test of preacher | Gan he draw?' Drawing men means that the preacher is utilizing them
 And now if you ask me in what this power of the preacher to utilize an au
 dience consists, or why it is that one
 man can make an audience preach
 with him more than another. I do not
 intend to be beguiled into any detailed
 answer. The personal power is always
 insufficient and often misleading. But
 I will give one answer, without preju.
 dice to what>I may wish to say here.
 after which seems to me to be most in
 elusive. The power of a preacher tc l reach the individual through the audi
 ence is usually in proportion to the
 depth and breadth of his humanity
 The great preachers have various per
 sonal characteristics. Some have hu
 nor. and therefore pathos, and others
 have neither. Some are men of pres ence others are not Some speak, oth
 CTS read Some are thinkers, others
 speakto the limit of the last thought
 But all within my knowledge, withou exception, who stand the test of com
 polling others to join with them il
 their work of persuasion, are men O
 tremendous humanity.
 What do we mean by humanity whel we apply it as a quality to the individ ual? Certainly it is something yer. different, as qualifying term, iron the adjectives which come out of tn
 same root. To say that a man is hu | l ,~ %1
 fault on which we look with leniency i
 not with tenderness. We like to drav our great men little nearer to us ol
 the common ground of shortcoming and imperfections. It was not on tn } whole an unpleasant discovery whel ; the American people found out tha Washington had vigorous vocabula ry. And when we go a. step furthe and say that man is humane we sim
 ply apply to him a term of advance, civilization. We mean that he has tn
 great qualities of justice, tolerance ant
 charity. But when we speak of tn ] ! humanity of. an individual we refer, , think, to the amount of human natur which is to be found in him. It is word of amplitude, a. term of inclu l siveness, standing oyer against every
 
 thing which is narrow or hard, or thin 7 as well as against mere artificialit 7 and conventionalism. We natural } turn for our chief example to tha l great impersonality, Shakespeare t who, however elusive he may hay l been in himself, held in his imagina : ton every type of human nature, an 5 whose creations are therefore as secur ! l.. of ha ,oa of it's own history. Or we turn to ou
 own Lincoln, whose personality whe measured at this point seemed almos l as great as thats of the nation. . doubt if the national conscience eve e carried a heavier burden of justic . than that which weighted his sou t Recall Emerson's word about hin S spoken at Concord on the day of hi e burial, He is the true history of tn . American people in his time. Step b