The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-06-08
interpret man to God. Like the slen-

rush down out of i-e Heart Of the
Infinite. These he shall translate to
all the world. But to do it he must
be attuned, as we'll to every cry of
earth; all its joys and agonies must
be his own; the wars and sorrows Of
man, his dim aspirations; all wrongs
and injustices, all science and art and
culture; all coarseness; the grotesque
criminal, the moving idiot, all beau
ty; the love of a mother, the sacrifice
of a friend-these must be his.
Above the din of the factory he must
hear the shrek of the child; through
the city's roar must come to him the
low sob of the oppressed, the mufled
groan of the underworld, where men
writhe, the hot curse in the palace
where men sin, all selishness, all
moral grandeurs must be his, and all
the wandering cries of earth must
break at last upon his heart.
His commission is the SD OF
Isaiah, his inspiration is Calvary; in
him, in his soul, God and man must
flow together, two vast tides meeting
and ,mingling and blending-not a
fame of fire, not an altar and a ritual,
but a. man; a living soul; sweating
blood drops, agonizing and interpret
ing, aud bringing together mar and
God. This 70 the pulpit and its mean
fng,
humanity Is not long ri OF the
woods, standing erect and looking, at
the stars Is a recent achievement.
The life of the spirit Is still somewhat
alien The airs from that land touch
our brows strangely; but the marvel,
the wonder, the incredible blazing
wonder is that we respond at all!
That we hear. however DULY; that
we %apprehend, however dimly; that
amid the fierce m~ultitudinous cries we
do detect this one high note and, how
ever falteringly, respond! This is
the wonder! For through thick dark
ness and across unknown heights a
far journey have we. come! But we
have come, and though in OUT strong
crude moments we may jeer at u
own spiritual aspirations, neverthe-
less the church, the pulpit, and the
speaking, interpreting man, witness
to our final conviction of the reality
OF the spirits life.
And 1t syrnbolizes and reveals at
last the Hottest and most powerful
achievement Of the race. Greater
than industry, greater than COM
merce, greater than government, or
philosophy or literature or science or
art, it reveals the hidden forces Of
the human heart, and by it we declare
the secret conviction Of our soul
that we are spiritual beings related to
4 vast thrilling spiritual order whose
meaning Is thus revealed. The man
who believes himself called to oc-
cupy 1t may we'll cry: "Woe, woe Is
mel" for he shall stand between the
living and the dead.
Has the pulpit justified itself; has
It revealed the secret? Has 1t
brought God and man together, max
ing valid his dimmest aspiration?
Witness Paul; tortured, wrung, until
at last he sings his hymn of love and
The world grows suddenly gentle and
still to listen. Witness Joseph Parker
Or Philips Brooks. Have not these
succeeded? Witness Brown; the
drawn face Of the man; his tragic
mien. What brushes him so terribly?
hWherefore art thou red in thine ap-
parel, and thy garments like him that
treadeth in the wine vat?" What Is
It but the crucifixion of a soul trying
II relate a Borrowing, suffering hui
manity to a loving, suffering, SORROW
ing Father! Day and night the cry
breaks up against his heart; the cry
Of mans pain and his sin; day and
night he hears the voice of God
speaking tenderness and love; and ne
is trying to bring them together, to
make them one.
Wherever in any pulpit stands n
who brings God down into life, n
VINO can translate the confused voices
Of mankind and speak them up to
Him, there stands one who reveals
and interprets mans place in the uni.
! verse.
know not what Gods expectations
may be, nor how bitterly we fall
short of the achievement which might
be ours, but this I know: the way has
been long and very rugged. I see h
! crudeness, the confusion, the impo-
tence; but through these running I
| catch strange and marvellous light
CLEANS as from the very throne OF
God.
No, not meeting Gods expectations,
and yet perhaps God sniles even
while He weeps, perhaps He is
pleased and proud a little bit, even
while He holds us to be broken in
the shadows. AS I look over the
process, the fearful process of Crea-
tion; as I behold the first dull face
blinking at the stars; as I hear the
first awed whisper Cod" as 1 see
~dynasties. nations, civilizations, races,
move shadowy across the horizon; as
I behold the savage bending low be-
fore his fetch; as I see this act be-
come the gorgeous ritual; as l see at
last a father ascending the mountain
to bind his son.. his only son isaac,
as a living sacrifice upon the flaming
altar; as I behold men sinking them
selves in the slums; as I hear the call
from the plains Of China where mar
tyred men and women gave their
lives; as I hear the voice OF prayer
ascending and the clarion call to
righteousness, I sometimes think We
have discovered and re:ealed the
meaning at last.
And when again I behold Himself,
even God, binding His own Son, the
Child of His heart, upon that same
mountain top, as I witness the cross,
the dark heavens open and through
the rent veil I catch q glimpse of the
Heart of the Eternal, and it seems to
me that at last in Jesus Christ, God
and man have come together. That