The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-09-17

only a poor copy Of a man who was
elected to a professorate because he
could not preach. We want less dead
wood in the theological seminaries M
more flaming ~evangels. I declare that a
man who cannot preach himself cannot
teach others how to preach.
sympathies of the People.
At a meeting of the general assembly
States a clergyman accustomed On the
Sabbath to preach to an audience of two
three hundred people, in an audience
room that could hold fifteen hundred, was
appointed to preach a sermon on how to
reach the masses. / am told inc incon-
gruity was too much for the risibilities Of
many of the clergy in the audience. Now,
a young man coming out from such be-
lwarfing influences, how can he enter into
the wants and the woes and the synpa-
thies of the people who want on the
Lords day a practical gospel that will
help them all the week and help them for
ever?
Young ministers are told they must
preach Christ and him crucifed. Yes, but
not as an abstraction. Many a minister
has preached Christ and him rue
fed in such a way that he preached an
audience of FIVE hundred down to two
hundred, and from two hundred to one
hundred, and from one hundred to fifty,
and from fifty to twenty, and on down
until there was but little left save the
sexton, who was paid to stay until the
service was over n lock up. There is
a great deal Of can't about Christ and
him crucifed. 1t is not Christ and him
crucified as an abstraction, but as an om-
nipotent sympathy applied to all the
wants and woes of our immortal nature
q Christ who will help us in every domes-
tic, social, financial, political, national
strugg!e-a Christ for the parlor, a Christ
for the nursery, 4 Christ for the kitchen,
q Christ for the barn, a Christ for the
street, a Christ for the store, a Christ for
the banking house, a Christ for the fac
tory, a Christ for the congressional as
sembly, 4 Christ for the courtroom, a
Christ for every trial and every emer-
gency and every perturbation.
1t is often the case that the difficulty
begins clear back in the home circle
with misrepresentation az to which child
ought to be colsecrated to the ministry.
John is a keen, bright boy. He is good
at a bargain. When he trades at school,
he always gets the best Of it. Make him
q merchant. He will soon gather a for
tune and go right up to take his place
among the commercial princes. George
has great cerebral development. Phren-
ologically. language is large. Make him
q lawyer. re will argue his way to the
front, and lie will take his place among
the Mansfelds and the Storys. Henry
has large girth at the chest and is mill
tary in his step and bearing. Send him
RI yVocf poinf VVo shall COO him rof N
brigadier general. William is fond of
sketching. especially Of shetching ships,
and he knows as much about a vessel as
an old sailor. Make him a shipbuilder.
The vessel that he builds will success
fully wrestle with the Caribbean whirl-
wind. Aleck is not very well. He has
never had very good digestion. Since
that last malarial attack his spleen is
enlarged. He has a morbid way of look
ing at things. He will sit for hours look
ing at one figure in the carpet. His man
ners are SO mild, so soft, so gentle, so
af~ectionate,s so heavenly, and he cries
easily. Make him a minister. Now, my
friends, that is a great mistake. If you
want to consecrate one Of your sons to
the gospel ministry, take the one widest
awake, the brawniest. the most bril-
liant, the most irresistible. the most po-
tent. A tremendous work opens before
q profession whose n object is to lift
the nations toward God and prepare
them for heaven.
Meeting Public Needs.
All, my friends. churches will be large
~ attended just in proportion as We min
listers can meet their wants, meet their
sufferings. meet their bereavements and
meet their sy~pathies. If there be a
church with small help. small audience;
medium help. medium audience; large
help. large audience. If there lie a fam
inc in q city and three Ge9ots OF bread
and one depot has 100 lccres and IN
other 500 loavcs and another depot
10000 ~loavcs, the depc. that has 100
loaves will have applicants. the depot
that has 500 lo.yes vii. have far more
applicants. the depot that has 10000
loaves will have throngs. throngs,
throngs.
Oh, my brethren in the Christian min
istry, we must somehow get our Shout
der under the burden of the people on
the Lords day and give them a good
stout lift, and we can do it. We have it
all our own a 1t is a great pity if,
with the floor clear and no interruption,
we cannot during the course of an hour
get our Eynu OF Ou- pFayeF OF OuT seT-
mon under such momentum we can, by
the help OF God, lift the people. body,
mind and soul. clear out of their sins,
temptations and troubles.
l think that ministerial l~aziness often
empties the church Of auditors. Hearers,
who are intelligent through reading news
papers and by active association in bust
ness circles, will not ON the Sabbath sit
and listen to platitudes. Hearers will
not come to ermons which have in them
no important facts, no information, no
stirring power. no adaptation, no fire.
The pew will not listen to the pulpit un-
less the pulpit knows more than the pew.
Ministerial, laziness has cleared out many
churches. Such ministers saunter around
from parlor to parlor under the name of
pastoral visitation and go gadding about
through the village or the city on err
rands of complete notkingness and wrap
their brains around a cigar and smoke
them up, and then on Saturday afternoon
put a few crude thoughts together and
on Sunday morning wonder that the