The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-09-22

interest in the church. 'Why are the
Masses drifting from the Faith?" is ask
ed on every hand. Though many reas-
ons are assigned for the change, all Of
them are charged up to the Pew.
Is the true reason not chargeable rath-
Is there not need of new Wesley to sud
denly startle mankind with what seems
a new doctrine?
In those delightful heart-to-hea talks
called "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,
Oliver Wendell Holmes hints at the very
trouble l have above suggested, when he
compares the dull preacher and the lively
listener to a crow with king-bird after
him, and adds:
I'VE are all theological students, and
more OF us qualified as doctors of divin-
ity than have received degrees at any
OF the universities. 1t is not strange,
therefore, that very good people should
often find it difficult, if not impossible to
keep their attention fixed upon a sermon
treating feebly subject which they have
thought vigorously about for years, and
heard able men discuss scores Of times
the brilliant discourse that men would
have from the pulpit. There is majesty
in the glacier, there is form in the crys-
tai, there is beauty in the gem; but they
are cold. heartless things, without life
or warmth. Oratory is not enough, logic
and learning do not make sermon.
There must be in it that subtle some
thing which, for the lack of a better
name, we call soul. If it would draw men
and women and hold them, it must have
4 in it that which will make them yearn
for better, a fuller life and to their
questioning souls must answer: Come
unto Me, all We that labor and are heavy
laden, and | will give you rest
In these days Of utilitarianism there is
especial need for return to the old
landmarks of the Faith. In world
which threatens to absorb all our ener-
gies in dcbasing money grubbing where
the soul is imprisoned in the present-day
interests and the threads Of our life are
tied up in the hard knots of complex
problems, there is need for an inspiration
to higher life, call for nobler living and
doing. What we heed is not Judgment
pronounced upon us, nor a SPIDERS web
of logic woven about us from which there
is no escape, but that spiritual help and
godly counsel which the sheltering arms
of the church typify.
Wrong doing must be denounced, sin
must be condemned but when l hear a
wholesale denunciation of theatres and
clubs and social pastimes, and the people
of whole city or community held up to
public execration and devoted ito ever
lasting damnation, can but despise the
man for his narrowness and pity those
who believe him.
Generalizations are always unfair I'm
doubtedly there are doubtful operas, and
there are leering plays, and such should
not be patronized by the pure minded.
There are sometimes evil practices in
clubs, and sin may come in social pleas
ures. Shall all men turn hermits be-
cause of that? Can no good come out OF
Nazareth? There is also the Shiny novel
and the lewd picture. Are all books to
be tabooed for that and picture painting
be prohibited? Because there are chilly
days and even lingering sheltered snow
banks in May, do we deny that summer
is coming on?
y Does it not too often happen that such
wholesale denunciations are born of pre-
judice or at best of ignorance? Emerson
tells the story of the friar Bernard from
Mount Genie, who went to Rome to re-
form it's corruption.
His piety and good will easily intro
duced him to many families of the rich,
and on the first day he saw and talked
with gentle mothers with their babes at
their breasts, who told him how much
love they bore their children, and how
they were perplexed in their daily walk
lest they should fail in their duty to
them.
What he said, and this on rich en-
broidered carpets, marble floors, with
cunning sculpture and carved wood and
rich pictures and piles of books about
yor?'
'"They told him of their life, gentle,
refined, thoughtful of others. Then the
friar Bernard went home swiftly with
other thoughts than he brought, saying:
This way of life is wrong, yet these
Romans whom l prayed God to destroy
are lovers, they are lovers. What can
/ do?
While it is the duty of the Pulpit to
warn a froward and perverse generation
it is also its province to shed perpetual
benediction upon all who come within the
sphere of its influence.
destroying strain, where we consume our
forests in a generation and hasten to
despoil every tract of virgin soil, where
our cry of "after-us-t the deluge" is ma
turally followed by the dismal wall of
an aggressive pessimism-under such con-
ditions. it should be refreshment and
inspiration to retire from the dusty thor
oughfare, where ali meanings are con-
fused, into some upper chamber OF the
soul whose windows are open to the
East The church on the Sabbath should
offer such a sanctuary and her ministers
extend such spiritual comfort.
The preacher should be man in the
widest sense of that word. Human, as
Christ was human-in all Of his feelings
and passions, desires and aspirations.
Else he cannot sympathize with those he
is to teach and guide. Above all he
should be tolerant, all his impulses as