The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-06-05

hAo btot l11Cuuo IOhouhCtu Hill iOot,
forsaken of God and without hope.
Yet he stoutly maintained his integ-
rity, and in the face of it all ex-
claimed: For l know that my re-
deemer liveth and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth"
But let us come down to New Tesla
ment times and see if there is any con-
ISOLATION for the preacher wo does
not work. When we speak of work,
We mean manual labor,-the kind that
will make a man sweat. Jesus Christ
is held up by our preachers as the one
we should all follow, and yet they
spurn the very first precepts of that
noble life. The world was sadly in
need Of preaching in His day, yet He
spent the first eighteen years of His
active life in the hardest kind of work,
preaching only on the Sabbath. And
during the three years of His ministry
He spent the time in tramping up and
down in Jewry, 'doing good to the
souls and bodies of men," This was
harder work than men now do in the
harvest fields. Jesus never rode but
one mile in his life, but now it would
be counted a disgrace for a man to
walk three or four miles before
preaching; he might get his linen
soiled and not just suit the audience.
Jesus had walked twelve miles
through the mud before noon when
He preached that wonderful sermon
at the well. His toilet at that time
was no better than if he had just
come from the harvest field and the
woman. perhaps, had just come
from the wash-tub, yet they both
preached sermons that caused a great
company of people to believe. Thus
we see that it is not necessary that a
man should be just out of the band
box to preach an effectual sermon, but
ever a laboring man with his every
day clothes on may be the e of
doing great good. Let us not think
from this that there is any virtue in
slovenliness. We shall find in ex-
aiming farther into the life of Jesus
that cleanliness is the first degree in
goodness. :
Not one of the Apostles, before he
was called, was a professional theolo-
gian. They were all laboring men or
business men. Even the great Apostle
Paul, the most learned man of his
day, was a tent maker and, at one
time, during his ministry, worked for
two years at his trade.
The disciples at first had all things
in common and the Apostles had a
| great deal of hard work to do to see
| that everyone got his share in the
daily ministrations. So they had
Stephen and Philip and five other
men appointed to do this work, while
they should do nothing but pray and
preach. Now this act of the Apostles
is one of the strong arguments used
by our preachers, that they ought not
to have to work. There Is no proof
that this was ordered or even sanc-
toned by the Holy Ghost. On the
other hand there is much to show that
it was contrary to the will of God.
| Jesus had several times taught his
| disciples that he who would be great
est among them shold be servant of
| all. | suspect that this move was
i~nstigation by Peter who had been
| trying to work himself into the
| highest places in the new Kingdom.
| At the crucifixion, Peter had been
brought down into great humility and
was willing to do the most mental
service for his Master. And during the
time he was serving tables the Holy
Ghost was poured out upon him and
! the other disciples, and Peter preached
the greatest sermon of his life. In
fact we have no account of his ever
making any more converts at
Jerusalem. The Apostles seems to
have been laid on the shelf, for a
time, after they got above work
ing; and Stephen and Philip, the
newly appointed table walters, had
to do the preaching. stephen full of
faith and power, did great wonders
and miracles among the people" And
by his preaching great numbers of
the people and the priests were con-
verified. Philip, also, went right to
preaching and went down to that
wicked city of Samaria-which Jesus
himself had shunned-and preached
Christ to them. Here Philip preached
such powerful sermons and did so
many mighty works in healing the
sick that, the people with n accord
believed, "And there was great joy in
that city" Thus the promise, which
Jesus gave his disciples, that they
should be able to do greater works
than He did, was fulfilled.
Peter, who no doubt had become
tired of doing nothing at Jerusalem,
and hearing what great things had
happened in Samaria, came down
hunting for a job of laying on of
hands. While the angel of the Lord
hurried Philip away to the South,
where he met the eunuch, in the
chariot, and to him he preached
Christ. This man carried Christianity
into the heart of Africa and founded
the Abysmian church which exists
until this day. AS soon as the eunuch
was baptized, "The spirit of the Lord
caught away Philip and he was found
at Azotus, and he preached in all the
cities until he came to Caesarea."
What a burlesque this little episode is
on the preachers who think they
ought not to work. Stephen and
Philip, the mental servants of the
Apostles, were chosen by God to do
the important work of planting the
church in Palestine, while among the
self-appointed Doctors of Divinity, not
half of them are ever again mentioned
in the Bible narrative. Thus we see
that the Lord loveth a laboring man
and is not afraid to trust him with
His most important missions, while
He has not much use for an idle
Doctor of Divinity. No doubt the
Apostles soon saw their mistake and
all went to work again on Bible lines,
and finished up their careers with
victory, but like Peter they had to
learn some hard lessons by experience.
Not until the time of the Emperor
Constantine did the church adopt the
custom of paying their preachers. Be
cause Christianity had become popu-
lar, Constantine saw it would be to
his advantage to make 1t the national