The Washington herald., 1914-03-01

should counsel them to be prompt. enter.
prising. direct. inventive. accurate, and
thorough. You would be as.onished to
know the loozkness with which clergy
mon do many things Go into the study
OF the averase minister and ask hiEs
to show you the marriage certificates.
the buptismal and funeral records, and a
tabulated. indexed list OF the members
and the movements OF the people OF his
church and watch the surprised and
helpless look that viii come into his
face. b. SSs=
ASK him II he answers every letter
promptly and what he d.rs with the
letters he receives and the carb,a copies
Of his replies You will tnd that he
never rles his letters: you aill find that
he ieglscts tn make carbon copies oa the
letters he writes, you will find. IA: he
has very little data concerning his pee
Die. Yet he Is supposed &c be the leader
OF tho church which has called him TO
preach and have a masters grip ON his
work ard ali is detsiis
Some ministers seldvrl answer a let
ter. They are poor men of business and
the:r manners are bad. They are sluv-
cnly. Indifferent. and inpo,ltc. No man
can be succescfui who neyIects the IT,
tie things or who fs erreIsss about the
minutas Of his. own work. He must be
punctuai and particular. and have full
knowledge of his business at all times
" he hopes TO prosper at the task he
has taken In hand.
Every letter a minister gets should
be fleo and indexed and carbon copies
should be retained of all the letters
he writes 30 that he may know what
has been done and said and how IL has
been done and said. This will require
patient labor. but once performed IL
will iron out thousands OF rough places
In the work of American ministers and
will safeguard them against the
schemes Of unscrupulous persons
Dead Pews Innuence Preacher.
The clergy. TO a large degree, can
be held accountable for the social and
moral condition OF the country" Dr.
Matthews went on to say. ".As with
the people SO with the priest we are
told in the twenty-fourth chapter of
Isaiah. In other words. the people.
back in those old Bible times. iniu-
enced the priests. controlled their ut
terances and dominated their opin-
ions
Il am afraid that II is SO today.
Ministers are delivering piatitudes, are
saying nice things to tickle the fancies
and mn the itching ears OF a vain.
superficial, pleasure-Ioving and pleas
people
Ministers have no right to preach
what the people want. They ought to
preach what the people need-not what
will please the people but what will
save the people. The minister should
not be Influenced by anybody. / am
bound TO say. however. that he Is often
Influenced by a dead and hypocritical
pew. The preacher who yields. who |
panders to any clique or crowd is
traitor TO God, a hereto and a coward. |
'I also blame the ministers. as ! have !
said. for the state of religion In this |
country Many Of them are preaching |
Infamous heresles. reciting essays, Civ |
ing out hypodermic doses Of encyciope-
n.as and are teaching Hindooism. pagan |
Ism and Unitarianism- They should turn /
about .and 20 straight hack to the |
Scriptures. And once back they should |
stay there.
There is no reason for immortality |
anywhere In the United States II the |
churches were aroused by their ministers |
10 their civic duties. to the necessity for |
and good, citizenship In |
public and Private life we should hear |
little about graft, little about the white |