The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-31
REV. MIR. SCOVILLE'S ESSAY
DELIVERED AT THE GATHERING
 or EPISCOPAL MINISTERs

Hnesdny--Those Who Attended tn,
 New Haven County ConyocatIon a,
 St. PauPs Church Were Treated to H
 Very Able Address -"Thoughts on
 Church Life in the Commumtty'' was
 the Subject.
 One of the most interesting parts ot
 the programme of the New Haven
 County convocation that was held in St.
 PauPs church Tuesday was the essay
 delivered by Rev. Charles o. Scoville,
 curate of Trinity church. this city. It
 was delivered in the afternoon and an
 interesting discussion was held on it.
 The subject of the paper was
 Thoughts on Christian Life in the
 Community" and it was as follows;
 I find it rather difficult to express in
 any title the thought which l had in
 mind in writing this essay, nor am I at
 all certain that I can express in word in
 any way the things which I desire to say
 But it is something like this. l wish
 if I can to put into words the ideals
 which ought to be ours for our work in
 the world as Christian ministers. And
 our ideals of what the church life ought
 to be here in Connecticut, I say here where we are laboring because l am thinking of real ideals rather than
 dreams of what might be under some ideal conditions.
 Or if I could express it in another way l would ask the question of what we would have here in the parishes in which we, if some fairy would give us the power to so change things that we could have just what we would.
 Or possibly there Is another more practical way of expressing the thought by asking what as young men in the ministry of to-day we can reasonably put before us as our ambition and the thing for which we are able and willing to labor for.
 There Is nothing more interesting and instructive to me than the discussions which are constantly arising in our church concerning the preparation and quality of the men who should enter the ministry: such as the recent meeting Of the conference of the Church club bought forth and which we hear from on every hand. And yet I must confess that the more hear the more l feel perplexed as to whether the question is completely understood or adequately represented
 The question always presents itself to me in somewhat different form from the way it is commonly considered.
 The question of the efficiency of the ministry is question which, in my judgment, reaches far beyond the mere preparation beforehand for the work. It Is question of getting and keeping before ones mind definite and dis tinct plan of what one is trying to do.
 As we read history and try as best we can to understand what has happened in this world, and the character and achievements of those who have been as great men, we find that the opportunity presented for doing which must be done by some | one often develope great men quite as much as great men prepare and execute < great things. That is when you place before a great body of men an appor- tunity for doing some definite thing | there is usually found some one equal to the task of doing it. The recent dis covery of gold in Alaska is a fair illus tration of the tendency which exists in | all human nature to do and dare pro- yided there is an adequate reason for l doing.
 Now I submit that in the ministry of the Christian church of this day things have so worked themselves around that 1t, is not easy for young man to so decide his life work and ambition that 1t is possible for him to keep before hish mind just what he is trying to do.
 That unless he is man with strength of character to keep his own ideals he S in the greatest danger of drifting with the current. And shortly finding lis position as he can for himself in the world to put himself upon precisely the anne grounds of competition that he would in any other work in the world, md as much as ill him lieth to see that 10 one else gets head of him. Now l ubrnit that if this is the spirit into which a man is to be thrown when he commences his ministry, and if he has lot somewhere within him the spirit to esist such tenderness, that it will take o1net hing more than a collegiate edu- ation, something more than can or will yer be given in any theological semi ary to make an ideal man, much less n ideal Christian minister of him If [ man without private means and with ' verage ability and helf-respect has ny belief that this is the spirit, and he competition into which he is to en- CT; he will hesitate some time before a will believe that he is called of God [ Q do any such thing. And when he is z nee embarked in any such position and eels the necessity of yielding. to it, f ither from the desire to support his I lmily, or from personal ambition, in- t tead of going OF to develope the real r trength and manhood and Christian f haracter which might have been pos c ble in him, we are apt to find develop lg some of the smallest and most c ersonal weaknesses to which this q DOT human nature is heir. For on the c ne hand is the necessity of having per V 1nal popularity, and good degree of arsonal advertising must be coupled f ith an appearance of great piety and l. lf-abnegation, and this is a combina- o on notleasy to make editicat tion in the = yerage man. f. Of course I have put this in the bald a lals mt iID 1