The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-19
PULPIT And PRESS
Rev. DR.. III. A. GoodenoUgh Regards.
Them as Greatest of Agencies
Gave Strong and Practical Address
In Trinity Church, New Haven on
SUNDAY.

Rev. D. H. A. Goodenough, for
years a beloved pastor, of the Prospect
M E. Church of Bristol, and of late
the able superintendent of the New
York district, has just been appointed
pastor of the important Trinity Church,
New Haven. He began his work Sun
day and gave most practical address
to a large congregation.
The sermon was a Palm Sunday
sermon, but in theAevening the new
pastor cave more introductory ad-
dress speaking on the subject, The
Minister and His Message. DR..
Goodenough feels that the work in
the church is beginning very auspi-
ciously In his sermon, DR.. Good
enough characterized the pulpit and
the press as the greatest power ex-
tant in modern life, with especial ref
erence to the newspaper He hit at
the tendency of some ministers to IN
duIge in hard judgments, and depre-
Gated the practice of too hastily con-
demnif1g the people to whom minis
tiers preach. He said in part:
1.-The minister of the gospel is but
a man, like other men. If not, he had
better cease to be a minister. Every
calling is sacred. We should not
look at our work, whatever it may be,
whether shoeing horses, making clocks
or teaching school simply as means
of obtaining a living but as an oppor-
tunity for self Improvement and for
serving another. That is as true of the
preacher as anyone else.
1.-The two greatest powers extant
are the pulpit and the press. The
press may mean the printing of books!
How poor the world would be without
its books! To read a book that you
take time to read, that is worth the
time, is time well spent. The press
also means the newspaper The news
paper is a powerful factor in modern
life and in national government. Ia
ken all for ALL there is no power
known to mortals for mental and
spiritual results that compares with
the pulpit. The pulpit, of course, i'm
plies the preacher.
1.-The preacher should be the sun
NEST man in the world, yet no other
man can meet so many things that
tend to darken the sunlight that is in
him. The preacher must be an op-
timist, whether he wants to be or not.
No matter what his own feeling is, he
may be for the time being as blue as
indigo and as sad as disappointed
maiden but in the pulpit he must be
hopeful and optimistic. The people
have been in the turmoil and dust and
strife all the week. On Sunday they
need a mental and spiritual tonic. The
preacher is in the pulpit to admins
ter SUCH If he can't do it if he has
no business there. He should not in
dulge in harsh judgments, and he
must not be too anxious to send peo-
pie to hell.
Perhaps it is superfuous to eau
ton preachers against sending people
to hell in these days some people
think they ought to send more of you
there than we do. I sometimes feel
that some folks deserve to be there
But it is none of my business to send
htem there. Unless some of>them mend
their ways, they will get there sure
without my help. The late DR.. Mo
Kelway, the brilliant editor of the
Brooklyn Eagle, when writing of the
insurance Investigations, said, Not
withstanding these Investigations and
what will follow honest men will con-
tinue to do business and they will go
to heaven. Dishonest men will con-
tinue to do business, and 1t in