Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-09
MINISTER'S BUSINESS
is TO GIVE MESSAGE
REV. E. S. HODGIN SAYS UTTER
ANcE is DEMANDED
True Clergyman, He Says, Is One
Who Is Responsive to Life About
Him-Not a Propa-
gandist

Rev. E. S. Hodgin, successor to DR..
Burt Estes Howard, assumed charge of
the pastorate of the First Unitarian
church and preached his initial sermon
yesterday morning.
Rev. Mr.. Hodgin begins his local
pastorate at the commencement of his
tenth year of ministry and yesterday
morning preached an eloquent sermon,
paying q high tribute to his predeces-
sor. He said in part:
IF you should be Unexpectedly asked
what is your religious belief, you
probably would hesitate and stammer
and become confused, feeling you are
giving very poor account Of yourself
because you could not produce on de-
mand a statement of your faith. This
confusion might be the result of in
difference and lack of conviction on
your part, but the probabilities are it
is entirely to your credit, indicating
yours is a vital rather than a crystal
lied faith.
IF anyone should ask you unex-
pectedly what you know about science
scientific truth, the law of falling
bodies for example, you could give an
immediate answer and one entirely
satifying yourself. But il you had
given your life to science such a gem
eral question would only throw you
into confusion and embarrassment. The
ability to give a concise answer to a
general question is less likely to be an
indication of how much one knows than
an indication of how little he knows.
while no one is expected to have
his knowledge of science and history
condensed into a sentence or two he
is expected to have his religious faith,
which is far more subtle, reduced to
a formula that can be produced on
demand.
LAS a matter of fact, only dead
bodies can be analyzed, dissected and
labeled, and only a dead or waning
religion, so far as vital power is con-
cerned, can be reduced to exact defini-
ton. Religion is that indefnable, i'm
pelling power which our experience
and knowledge have generated and
(which pushes us on as steam drives
machinery. We can comprehend the
mechanism, but not the power that
makes it go.
Bearer of Message
"As a certain kind of indefniteness
is evidence of a more vital religious
faith than the detiniteness of dogma,
so a little less clearly defined field of
action for the minister and the church.
instead of indicating declining use
fulness, may indicate the reverse.
THE work Of the minister was for
merly thought to be clearly defined.
He was the bearer of a message. This
message was thought to have been re-
ceiVed from some source Of knowledge
closed to ordinary mortals. This opin-
ion of the source of the message is
being modified, but he has the message
emanating from somewhere which it is
his business to proclaim in season and
out of season, and a man is deemed
unworthy to occupy pulpit unless
he be conscious of such a message de-
manding utterance.
Il confess to a growing skepticism
toward the man who thinks he has q
message. My experience is that such
man is usually crank. fanatic or
an egotist of some kind, who is blind
to the real needs of men and incapable
of doing the work that needs to be
done. His message is usually an hall
lucination that has taken possession
of him, which he encourages, and that
drives him on to deeds of desperation.
We may need such men as propaganda
lists to stir up the dry bones of human
society and give it a new starting point,
but certainly he is the last person who
can truly minister to the vital needs
of man and woman.
"The true minister, from my point of
view, is the one who can hold his pre-
conceived notions of things which he
is often to mistake as his message in
allegiance and be responsive to the life
| about him."