The Colorado statesman., 1911-10-14

Long, now iOuB tNtiybONJ
the pulpit among colored people in Ger
tain sections has been very weak
thing. The preachers have been, In the
main, merely time servers, preaching
to win applause on one side ana 10
swell the table" on the other. Espe-
cially in the south has this type OF the
minister fiourished. Loud on Jesus in
the records, he has been mighty solt
on Jesus in the actual. or right, the
pulpit ought to be the standard OF NOR
ality in our form OF government. Inc
preacher ought not to have any hesl-
fancy in denouncing sin in high or low
places. His rule of life should be the
truth clear cut and clean under every
condition and cline. All men in the
sight ofSGod should look alike to him.
But. alas! we find no moral courage In
the ministry today. The ministry ls
about as yacillating as any other class
of men. We speak particularly OF the
preachers of our race for the reason
we are not in position to know ABOUT
the white preacher. And our re-
marks OF them are not general enough
to cover the entire profession put
the great majority fall under our ham
mer OF condemnation. The race and
the church of God Is suffering for
strong moral ministry with conviction
and the courage to give expression 10
their views. The average negro preach
or ia about as much of demagogue
as the average white politician. NO
intellectual ideal. No convictions, no
real Bible religion. The gospel they
preach is uttered with view OF IN
creasing the public collection. Then
another class of negro preachers whlch
is a curse to the race, is the newspa-
per fiend. 1t is the hypocrite who
shapes his sermon with a view OF get
ting it in the press. Manly courage and
unadulterated religion is left entirely
out of the scope of the sermon, with
view of conforming his remarks to
suit the white press. Every oppor-
tunity this class of preachers nave
they are in the daily newspaper ONCE
publishing a sermon they never ut
tered. Some expostulation on the I'M
morality of the race, or condemns
ton of the negro crap shooters; as
rule these are the subjects this class
of negro preachers discuss. You
never hear of one of them denounclng
the barbarity of lynching, disfranchise-
ment or any other public indignity
heaped upon patient and long suHer-
ing people No, their one object is
selfishness. Their one effort is to get
some white man to say he Is gooo
Niger" The pulpit should rise above
such cheap demogogy and without Oh
fense to any man shell the woods with
the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught py
the Bible.-New York Age.
A prominent Baptist divine jour
neyed to Pittsburg some months age
to attend some sort of an alliance
and from what we can learn he alb
sorbed a great deal of practical infor
nation which he purposes to radiate
among his fellow ministers. During
all his previous ministerial life he had
been using from one to two hours In
delivering sermons just as hundreds
of others have been doing. But in the
great gathering that he attended he
heard the greatest sermon of his life
preached in less than forty minutes
He also met a gentleman who had
travelled a thousand miles to make q
three-minute speech, and that three
minute speech was worth ones going
a thousand miles to hear. Now these
things had a wonderful effect on ouI
good brother. First, they forced him
, to think of that somewhat unfamiliar
text which reads thus: Il have played
the fool" second, they caused him tc
embrace the resolution not to play
the fool any more in the matter oi
long-winded sermons. From thence
forward he determined to deserve the
title reverend" instead of never
end" Not only that, but he has put
the brethren under his charge-he's
a president or moderator or some
thing of some association or conven
tion-on notice that hereafter they
must limit their sermons to thirty
five or forty minutes. This is com
mendable reform-but not unmixed
with danger. If all ministers were
limited to forty minutes in which to
deliver their sermons the great body
of them would find their occupation
gone forever. If man has anything
to say he can say it in thirty or forty
minutes, while on the other hand If
he has nothing to say he will need
an hour or two in which to say 1t!
However, here's hoping the suggest
ed reform will become popular.-Dallas
Express.
Business is the life of a nation. Re-
ligion, education, art, science and lit
erature must feed upon the surplus
created by business. First of all things
we must have bread and without 1t
we cannot build churches. school
houses and promote institutions OF
learning. Business is the fount that
makes all brooks flow and while there
may be eddies and counter currents
in the tide of a nation, the steady,
poWerful Swoop of the stream must