TULHTS AM)
character; was common place enough in
every respect His thoughts about re
ligious matters were crude, and, when,
ever occasion offered, he W h coarse
jest for sacred things, or the common
sneer of the ignorant man. His phys
ical habits were of a kind to make him
only fairly decent When the idea of
his being a minister, a man to stand up
in the desk made sacred and wis by the
Great Teacher, was announced, the com
panions of the man received the rejwrt
with a smile. It was all well enough
that this young man should lecomo a
christian, and a raemler of the church,
but it was carrying the matter too far,
that he should suddenly develop into a
minister. In the meetings following his
change, he had stood up and made a few
pert remarks, had recounted his past
history after the style of Sam Jones or
Oam bmall, and, lo and behold, a few
men who take it upon themselves to cre
ate ministers, imagined they had discov
ered a prodigy, and at once proceeded
to invest him with the title, privileges
and authority of a clergyman. This is
a fair case; an illustration of what is
taking place all over the land in certain
denominations. It is paralleled only by
the instantaneous creation of a doctor by
the issuance of a diploma to an unedu
cated man, upon the payment of a small
sum of money. It is just as mischiev
ousmore bo, for a man may bring his
lxxly back to a fair condition of health
after a quack has tampered with it to
its hurt, but a soul once set in the wrong
direction by a quack in the pulpit is
uot likely to recover.
This man is now beyond the age of a
regular course of study for the minis
try. Aside from that he is married, is
poor, ig daily engaged in a business
which, in every aspect of it opposed
to religious thought and only yieldu a
fair living. Study for the ministry is
fnt of the quention for the man. What
rULriTEEHS. 27
is the result ? Another botch at the miiu
isterial trade; another third-rate mind
where only firt-rt intellect U!,,K.
in the place where the living voice ought
to be, the most powerful of all mediums
of all mediums of mental, moral and
spiritual influence, stands a man of med
iocre talent whose lifeless, Untie, mo
notonous iteration of commonplace, will
never awaken a single new and helpful
thought Who is to blame ? Firt Un
common sense of the man ought to have
served him, and come to the rescue of
the general public, or that part of it
where he locates; and, in the second
place, the ersons who presume to know
the signs of the so-called M providential
gift "ought to make au examination of
their abilities as judges, and make it in
the light of nineteenth century intelli
gence, Iwforo they foint au amateur pul
piteer upon the public.
It will not answer to bring up that
old, fossilized cry, that some of the Unt
men of the church were self-made, or
rather, "providentially gifted." No
body believes that tho beat dot-tow have
taken to medicine without study. No
body will believe that the Wt lawyer
haa taken to law without long, care
ful study of the principle of law.
You are not likely to leave your valua
ble watch, or your best shoos, for rejmir,
with men who, without study or labor,
have taken to watch mending or shoe
mending. Because a man can stand up
and pray interestingly, or talk fur ten
minute with tears in his words, a well
as his eyes, or even makes a fairly good
talk to the Sunday school children, U no
reason why he should lie considered a
proper candidate for the pulpit The
greatest pulpit figure in this city once
said to the writer, " When I was getting
ready for this work, the hardest task I
had was to pray or talk in public." He
is a man who it alvuhnl ami ImmbM
by the Mrrlnf of the tli-m of the