St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1905-05-10

life is the range OtGod himself. DoWn ueeP
in the lowest sub-soil of the physicalit has
its roots, and high in the brightest heaven
it exhaIes the perfume OF its blossom. No
subject of human thought, then, is alien
to the minister's work; for no work IS
more fundamental, more comprehensive,
or important than his. Heis specialist
in only one thing:-religion, the great
Transforming factor of the world. But
he must take account of all things
biology, sociology, practical politics,
business, popular clamor, present drift, -
everything that man is interested in, he
must be interested in. His work is the
work of helping men to find themselves,
and finding themselves,-the selves that
they were meant to be,-to find their
place in the kingdom of God. And you
cannot help man to find himself and
his place, unless you know more about
the man than be knows himself. Does
such life and such profession narrow
a man? One need not ask the question.
How can man spend lifetime in look
ing at the vision of an opportunity like
this. and exert every energy of body and
mind and soul in its realization, without
having his own soul stretched and ex-
banded UNNECESSARILY?
And there has never been time like
the present. True, much in our age that
we count we'll nigh perfect, future gene.
ration will doubtless label faulty and
stupid. But experience means something.
Some mistakes once made can never be
unwittingly repeated. Wehave advanced,
progress has been made. The air has
been cleared of many misconceptions.
Religion has freed itself from much thee.
logical lumber. Some things have been
fought out and settled forever. A new
method of study has come in. A new
attitude toward the great mystery of
life is beginning to prevail.
Present day views are sure to be
changed; in some cases we may, to de-
gree, react to the older positions, but the
old apriori way of looking at things has
been discredited and can hardly again
come into power. Man is learning that
always before these great problems OF
life and its relation to the eternal he must
stand receptive, as questioner, the
listener and the docile pupil; with no
hard and fast preconceptions; with only
a mind and soul sensitive to the leadings
and pleadings of the Almighty Father.
He must ask, not, How ought things
to be-" but rather, How are they"
Reality is the watchword Of the hour.
All this makes the task OF the minister
of today as a leader and moulder of
thought, indeed no easy one, but withal
congenial task to the man who would
do the work that abides. The test of
reality as applied to profession, makes
of the office less, of the man far more.
The worth of the ministry is today less
formal, less conventional, and therefore
more arduous, but to the man who
wants to do mans work in free mans
way, the appeal is mighty.
Again, the day of provincialism in
religion is past. Sects continue and
strange vagaries of doctrine persist, but
everywhere the world currents of thought
are prevailing. Isolation and a marrow
segregation in this day OF ours is we'll
nigh impossible for very long, and the
day hastens on when there shall be form
ed that new man in Christ Jesus, who
shall unite in himself Jew and Gentle
Oriental, and Occidental, Slav and Mon.
gol and Teuton, drawing from each
something of value to complete his full.
ness of stature and his fitness of charac-
ter to be citizen in the new Jerusalem.
This is the vision Of appeal to present
to the young man of today,-a vision to
guide and inspire and steady him. And
young men are susceptible to such appeals
for the desire for real and worthy service
is instructive in the heart of man, and
the impulse of the hero is neither lacking
nor feeble. Tell it in Gath, publish it in
Askelon, it is great thing to be minis
ter Vermont Missionary.