Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-05-19
SERMONS by TELEPHONE.

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SERMONS BY TELEPHONE.
The First Baptist Tabernacle Of Gin
scinnatiis to be connected by telephone
with such of its members as desire to.
hear the sermon and service without
leaving their homes A tran9mitter has
been placed in front of the pulpit, and
the Citizens Telephone Company will
put the Instruments of subscribing
church members in connection with it.
THE PARADOSIcALP PROFESSION.
Henry ]. Barrymore, in Forum.l
Theoretically, minister is preacher
and pastor o,nbined; in practice he is
either, or neither, but not both. At
best you have the Rev. DR.. Jekyll,
preaching like a seraph, and the Rev.
Mr. Hyde. neglec.ing his parish calls;
or You have the Rev. DIR. Jekyll, the af-
fectionate friend of every immortal soul
intrusted to his care, and the Rev. Mr..
Hyde, cxpositor of hackneyel plati-
tudes. Meanwhile the hungry sheep
look up unfed and murmur disma;
plant. we paid for two Jekylls.' say
they.
The protest, think, should proceed.
from the pulpit. not from the pew. The
mere business of sermon making-unin-
terrupted by other concerns-would be
enough to stagger any conscientious
literary craftsman. To write one adj
dress each week, and allowing for two
months vacation, one has produced
three volumes a year Relying wholly.
upon manuscript, as some clergymer.
7 do, one will achieve an annual output
of six volumes. And the writing, tho
designed continually to present the
same theme to the same people. is to be
lprofound without being wearisome
lsscholarly without being pedantic,
brilliant without being sensational -
Tho produced at a rate which would
have appalled, Alexandra Dumas or
| Lope Felix de Vega.
\ This tireleSs author of ours is mean
while to journey from mansion to cot-
ttagc and from cottage to mansion,
lringing our door-bells and inquiring
1 after our health. He is met to spend
lltoo much time in the study he is TO
A keep open house all day and every day
To all the world he can never be spared
at dinners and receptions; he is indis-
4 pensable at weddings and funerals.
From time to time he must address
i Temperance meetings. attend missona-
ny conventions, raise money for hospi-
|tals, go sponsor for all sorts of philan-
thropies. figure prominently on schoo.
boards take an atcive interest in mu-
4 nicipa! reform, and read papers at the
conferences of learned societies.
1t is an axiom of the laic philosophy
THAT a minister ought to be poor. That
lis, no doubt, very amable maxim:
How poor?" Too poor to pay his
.ldebts1 Too poor to- provide for the
comfort of the wife the church has bid
3lsden him TO take2 Too poor toprovide for
4 his own old age. Too poor 10 be fear
Hess in such an hour as candid word
from the pulpit may throw him into
Temporary unemployment Lowell was
mot far wrong when he said that no
4 man had a right to preach until pos
|'sessed Of an independent income; for
l4owell's pardonable hyperbole laid bare
1.-THE ethical problem of the modern pull
i|.pit Put u man in A position of rnisera-
Esble dependence and you make him a
EHeravcn. He will preach what is best
4 for his people. That man is sound
4 He Is; reliable. You always know
where to find him" Bishop Potter. who
\ speaks of the pulpit as throne, may
Il Well reverss the figure. The real throne
is not the pulpit. 1t is the pew.
{. Again, a minister is paradoxically re-
{, lenirsd tn preach his highest conceiva-
4 Bile ideals, and is then blamed for his
inability to live up to them. People act
4 as if clergymen claimed to be perfect
They seem To think when once mar
4 has donned a preachers coat he is ex-
4 exempt from temptation. We coulc
be good, they say, IF only we were
4 preachers" Then how deplorable thai
/ a man Who has taken holy orders
i should fall short of complete sanctity;
4 and how surprising that. having him.
4 self failed of he goal, he should still
recommend the goal to his parlshion.
ers!
4 There comes a time when a man car
4 NEITHER stay in the ministry nor get oui
3 of IT, He can not stay IN it, because. al
the age of as or 90, he has reached TIL,
{ ministerial dead-line. Churches prefer
i. youthful preachers. They like the
young face, the erect figure, the spir.
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