THE MODERN PREACHER'S FUNCTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1383, 1 June 1878, Page 19

THE MODERN PREACHER'S FUNCTIONS.

No man is a true preacher whose whole duties are taken up in church organisation and administration. Tho preacher is a digester of truths. It is his right ; nay, more, it is lub duty, to take the truth and give it forth as the outgrowth of his own personality. The man who is educated to say things in,the same way as other men, to develop truth according to a certain mould, is a nuisance. No man has a right to stand and B &7> I represent in myself the whole truth, any more than one kind of fruit represents all the fruitage of nature. Paul would have been kicked down the corridors of all the theological seminaries in the United States, if he had dared to say this to them. Nevertheless it stands true that no man ever yet was built large enough to preach th» whole of God, the whole of truth, the whole of justice. We attempt to mould our ministers in a bullet mould of doctrine and method of teaching, so that when they come out of the mould they roll any way ; and it doesn't much matter which way. Just as far as the sermon does not represent the consciousness of the speaker, it isn't true. A man who can only give us didactic teaching, misinterprets the Gospel, his functions, and his Master. Because of this misconception of its functions, there has been a species of contempt for the Christian ministry growing up in this country. It is the noblest calling of man, when his whole personality is exerted in the exaltation of man. The preacher is the man-builder ; he represent the highest form of education. In this work he must follow his fellow men, wherever their labour or their thoughts lead them. Whatever science, whatever political economy, art, or statesmanship bring, he should know. He must keep himself in sympathy with the thoughts of men, and his teachings must boil with the fermentation of love. This is the kind of teaching which we seek to send throughout the land. It is peculiarly necessary in our own country, with its wide extent, and under our complicated form of government. Nothing can save our Government, so complex in ifa> work-

ings, unless you can inflame the religious spirit of the nation. That which man needs is manhood ; the manhood thai comes from the conscious union of the man with his Creator. Out of that alone can come self-control and honest government. — Henry Ward Beecher.