The Washington herald., 1917-02-11


students be echoes. Gods men are not
echoes, but voices. I am a voice cry
ing in the wilderness.
Must Make Sacrifice.
When a man starts out TO follow the
Galilesn and carry first aid TO men in the
trenches of life, he had better be sure
nc loves and will glory in long, grueling
experiences; or retire behind the ammu-
milton wagons, where II is absolutely safe
and remain a spectator.
The man who accepts the calling Of
going out among men to carry the truth
of God to them must not say, Mother,
butter my bread; mother. make my bed
for me-. He must expect to meet dim
Guilty. Observation-Disclosures, discourage
ments. and even prosecutions and the up
hill trail. Moreover, he must never allow
the world to get the impression that he
thinks he is getting 1t hard. The world
hates a wilmer; but it will love and fol-
low brave men.
"'I do not want my boy to be a min
ister because OF its social limitations
III there is one thing above another
that the world does not want, it is a
teacher; II there is one thing the world
hungers for, it is a Brother. Hhe broth
erly, manly. sympathetic minister will
have no lack Of social fellowship, he had
better not blame 1t on the calling. but
on himself The trouble experienced by
too many ministers on this score arises
from the fact that they assume to teach
men. They not only assume to teach
men, but they vaporiZe on evolution. be-
ginnings, suppositions, and unfinished and
growing theories. Man does not care so
much where he came from and how as he
does for the fact that he is here, what
he is headed for, and how to succeed.
Men want no ministers theories and
doubts and unbelief, they want brother
who has faith and hope and a measure
Of ability to work these forces into every
day life Man will give little social notice
10 a teacher, but he will give his life for
4 brother.
IF the minister OF Jesus Christ is pro-
PEELED by the driving force of a great love,
lowmen, ne will not complain Of the way.
nor advise his one son, or ten sons, to
avoid the ministry of the Son of God
Agrees with Critic.
From a doctor in Iowa we have re-
ceived a letter written from the point
of view of a layman who is familiar both
with the country church of today and
the country church of thirty years ago.
This writer sympathizes strongly with
the complaints of our contributor who de-
cided that the pulpit was no place for
his son. He writes.
"As a layman, not member OF any
church, but fairly regular attendant,
agree most heartily with the minister
loint of view.
You say, 1T is true that minister is
as free to investigate the truth as the
physician, and he is as free to teach
what he believes to be truth as most
teachers or Journalists but l do not
believe he is trained to do either. The
minister says that when the boy enters
the theological seminary he notices the
weight of a dead hand; conformity rather
than Investigation is the keynote The
seminary is founded to propagate GER
ain beliefs and perpetuate certain forms
of polity.
MY father was an uneducated man.
'ut a Arm believer in certain sectsrian
doctrines. He was what was then term
cd a local preacher / recall even the
language of many of his sermons Dur
ing my teens read some of his books,
under his encouragement, for he had an
ambition to make a minister of me. To-
day listen to sermons and they seem
On echo of what Tsheard and read thirty
years ago. l never hear a word of what
modern science has done to better man.
kind physically or morally.
Ministers Ignorant.
During later years have counted sew
eral ministers among my most intimate
friends. They seem almost totally ignor-
ant of human physiology or anatomy, and
think, also of psychology. In discus
sing The Inside of the Cup with one of
these friends one day, he said, People
would never think of most OF the things
discussed in that book IL such men as
Churchill would not write that kind of
stun A good neighbor Of mine asked
her minister to explain some passages
OF Scripture, and was told not to bother
her head about 1t, for such things are
only for we ministers to study
These instances represent an all-too-
frequent attitude of the ministry to leave
things as they are. Too many of them,
especially in the country and small town
churches, are inclined to draw their
breath and their salary and not an
oversupply Of either. / believe the fault
Is in the training.
when / sit and listen-as 1t becomes
my lot to do--to ministers preaching
In small country towns, and to too small
congregations; when they often do not
even use ordinarily good grammatical
construction of sentences: when / listen.
as I recently did, to the revolving details
of . murder in order to illustrate what