Arizona republican., 1922-05-08

his day. His English was rich and
flowing, full of apt and beautiful il
lustrations, whic h illumined the
truths he taught 1t was simple
preaching, and yet the most cultured
and thoughtful people heard him
gladly and were satisfied ''Who goes
to hear Phillips Brooks preach?' was
once asked, and the reply was a just
and true one, "Oh, the hungry peo-
pie" They were the men he filled
and sent not empty away.
1t has been said that more than
any other man he had an intellectual
perception of spiritual truth, and it
might also be said that he had equally
a spiritual perception of all truth,
which he touched and enkindled with
his own fire. He was more con-
cerned with teaching the beauty of
holiness than with revealing the
ugliness of sin. He prea cleed heaven,
not hell; Gods love rather than his
punishments. The brightness and the
glories of this present world was the
message of his own glad and happy
spirit. He did not know so perfectly
| the sadness and the suffering of life
as many have discovered it. But in
| this message of hopefulness many
sorrowing hearts found their greatest
peace and consolation and took up
| life's tasks and disappointments with
| fresh courage and faith. But what
| made him so hopeful? Was 1t not
his tremendous faith? Was not this
another secret of his power? Strange
| that men should have ever been SO
blind as to question the reality of
that faith. He could do without some
of the outer coverings and husks to
/ ,fnl1 CD, ,rvlRs &C
to the living kernel itself. But Phil
| lips Brooks believed in the great veri-
ties with no wavering and doubling
! heart or mind. God was his Father,
known and perceived and reverend
and obeyed Christ was his Savior
and Brother. loved as no human rela-
tion could be. always personal and
living and present with him.
/ have called Phillips Brooks a spe-
| cialist. He loved to describe himself
| simply as a preacher This seemed
| to him the greatest office and calling
in the world But this does not mean
that he had not other gifts. The few
poems that he has left show that he
| had the poetic intuition in no small
| degree. He had decided administra-
! tive ability and his hold and influ-
encc upon the community was SO
| large that he came at last to be rec
| ognized as the foremost citizen OF
Boston, succeeding to the proud posi-
| tion once held by Webster, Everett
and Winthrop. Everything in human
living stirred and profoundly inter-
ested him. Art, literature, politics
every department Of life, with the
| possible exception of music. This
profound human interest of his was
| ore of the secrets of his vast power
over the conscience and understand
| ing OF men. But with all his human
| interest, he seemed to live in a di-
viner atmosphere. From the serene
| heights of this other world, he looked
| forth upon the turmoil, the problems
and the unrest of our present living
and seemed to read their meaning IN
the light of the eternal rather than
| the temporal
| When we come to the narrower
definition Of his profession we are
| told sometimes that he was not a
theolog.an. What do we mean by a
theologian? He certainly gave US
no system of theology. He did not
deal with systems. In a technical
sense he was not a metaphysician and
perhaps was not at home in the dis