The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-01-18

affairs, and | at liberty to accept call
elsewhere l must confess the call from Milton
was a surprise to me. / have never been there
(you know do not believe in candidating for
place.. and so | suppose their church committee
came up here to listen to me. Two years ago
nothing would have induced me to go to Milton.
Today it seems perfectly clear that the Lord says
to me, 60" You know my natural inclination
is toward quiet, scholarly pastorate. Well
Milton is, you know, noisy, dirty, manufac-
turning town, full of workingmen, cursed with
saloons and black with coal smoke and unwashed
humanity. The church is quite strong in member
ship. The Year Book" gives it 500 members last
year, and it is composed almost entirely OF the
leading families in the place. What l can do in
such a church remains 10 be SEEN My prede-
cessor there, DIR. Brown, was profound sermon
izer and generally liked, i believe He was a
of the old school and made no attempt,
understand, to bring the church into contact with
the masses. You will say that such a church is q
poor place in which to attempt different work.
/ do not necessarily think The church OF
Christ is in itself, believe a powerful engine to
set in motion against all evil / have great faith
in the membership Of almost any church in this
country to accomplish wonderful things for hui
manity and am going to Milton with that
faith very strong in me. feel as II very great
work could be done there. Think of it, Alfred!
town of $4,000 workingmen, half of them for
eigners; town with more than 60 saloons in full
blast, town with seven churches OF many differ
ent denominations all situated on one street and
that street the most fashionable in the place, a
town where the police records show amount of
crime and depravity almost unparalleled in mu-
nicipal annas-surely such a place presents an
opportunity for the true church of Christ to do
some splendid work / hope do not overestmate
the needs of the place. | have known the general
condition Of things in Milton ever since you and
/ did our summer work in the neighboring town
of Clifton. If ever there was missionary ground
in America, it is there. l cannot understand Just
why the call comes to me TO go to a place and
take up work that in many ways is distasteful
to me. In one sense / shrink from it with sen.
sitiveness which no one except my wife and you
could understand. You know what an almost
ridiculous excess Of sensibility / have. 1t seems
sometimes impossible for me to do the work that
the active ministry OF this age demands of a
1t almost kills me to know that l am criti-
cised for all that l say and do And yet know
that the ministry will always be the target for
criticism. ! have an almost morbid shrinking
from the thought that people do not like me-
that am not loved by everybody, and yet l
know that If l speak the truth in my preaching
and speak it without regard to consequences some
is sure to become offended and in the end
dislike me. / think God never made man with
so intense a craving for the love of his fellow
men as possess, and yet am conscious that
cannot make myself understood by very many
people. They will always say, How cold and I'M
approachable he isP' when in reality love them
with warnings Of heart. Now, then, am going