The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-06-28
Some of the Essentials and RESPONSE
biities of the Twentieth Gen.
fury AlumnuS.
Continued from page fve.)

IrdFel. luel T al dOul1udhI Op0AlAA5o
for the conscientious, the gritty and
the skillful.
The churches are calling for more
ministers and the home and foreign
missionary fields are yellow with the
harvest, ready for the sickle. The
splendid part played by our denomi-
national colleges in supplying this
demand can not be over estimated. 1t
is to them, mainly that the country
must look to remedy this want and
every body should fervently hope that
this feature may grow and widen and
develop, as the years go by. But let
US not forget that a misfit in this
noble calling means a thousand times
more, than in any other. By indis-
criminately urging, like Jeroboam,
men of doubtful moral and mental
equipment, to assume priestly dignl-
ties We may, like Jeroboam, live to
regret it. We hear much nowadays
about the decline of church activity
and the indifference of the world to
it's benefcent influences and support.
Paradoxical, as it may seem, this is
true and it is not true. The world
is no worse than it has ever been, but,
as enlightenment advances, supersti-
tion recedes. For many centuries the
church had it's iron heel upon the
neck of the world and the world,
slavishly, (and often hypocritically)
flung itself in the dust before it. But
the church must now stand on its
merits.
No more emperors hold the stirrup
for a pope gregory to mount his mule.
No more Henry Plantagenets walk
barefoot through the streets of Can
terbury and kneel in chapel houses
for priests to fog them" Let us for.
get the oceans of blood which have
been shed and the millions of treas
ure destroyed, for the sake Of reli-
gion, and thank God that the church,
shorn of it's bigotry and narrow &C.
clesiasticism, is still with US, a
thousand times purer, more modest
and more capable, than ever in its
history, of carrying out it's divine
mission We leave fools to wallow in
the mire of their folly but the most
of US would flee from this country, as
we would from a modern Sodom, did
we realize that all the chvrch doors
were permanently closed.
Yellow sensationalism in the pull
pit and fiddles in the choirs, as aids
to fill empty pews, can not be too
severely condemned. At the same
time, the ministry seems a little slow
in pursuing the vigorous, aggressive
and practical methods which enlist
the interest and cordial sympathy and
cooperation of the world at large
, The Bible and its teachings must ever
be the guiding star, but tame essays
upon dry, doctrinal questions, which
are no nearer solution, than during
the days of the early and belligerenr
church fathers, have only an occa-
Sional interest any more. Froude
~ on o1r Of oh
sence Of many years, revisited Oxford
university, greeted the old Verger
and inquired about his spiritual con-
dition. The venerable officer replied:
ct have heard every sermon in this
chapel for 40 years, but thank God,
! am Christian still"
A wider and more varied fund of
general, literary and historical infor-
nation Will aid many to so clothe
Bible teaching, as to attract the great
unwashed and inspire to better liv-
ing. A layman, when perusing the
reports of a religious paper is struck
WITH the unanlmlCy OF expressed gra-
stifcation over increased salaries and
well filled Dantries, but they should
remember that a growing and yigor-
'ously used library is equally essen
-tial. Did our ministers pelt their
Congregations about their hypocrisy,
their dishonesty, their murderous
hatreds, their gambling, (not only
over the green cloth, but in cotton
and other futures}, with the same
tenacity, as they pelt the "whiskey
evil" We would soon see revolution
in the morals and daily life. of the
public. Above all, and over all, it
should be said of the ministry, as
Jefferson said of Monroe: "You might
turn soul wrong Side out and never
discover a blemish" The notion that
the clergy must always wear a long