Part 17 (1/2)
The people went to hear him even after they had ceased to believe in him. They applauded, laughed, or were silent as he pleased. But they were being entertained--nothing more. His art was still perfect, but his power over the minds and souls of men which made men believe and do was gone forever.
Believe what you say, therefore. Say what you believe. Say it simply, earnestly, as though you were pleading for all that is dearest to you on earth. For, after all, that is what you are speaking for--truth.
And if the truth for which you are speaking is not dear to you, go about your other business and remain silent.
Let your brother who has ”the call” utter that message which your faith is not strong enough to voice; for he, having ”the call,” will ”speak as one having authority,” and therefore ”the common people will hear him gladly.”
To effect anything; to achieve a result; to make your words deeds, as the old Scotch thinker declared they should be or else not be uttered, you must teach. And in your teaching you must teach ”as one having authority.”
To the Master we must go, after all, even for our methods of utterance, and at His feet learn that oratory is the utterance of the truth by one who knows it to be the truth. And so will your words be words of fire, and your speech have weight among your fellow men.
VII
THE YOUNG MAN AND THE PULPIT
All who do their best, and in doing their best do a good piece of work, deserve equal credit whether the work be little or big. The architect who builds a house has wrought for humanity as truly as the statesman who builds a government. One man can make bricks well and another lead armies to victory; yet each one has fulfilled his destiny if his achievement was what he was fitted for and if he has done his best.
From one point of view all occupations that help one's fellow men are important. Who shall say that the hod-carrier has not done as much for humanity as orator or poet. The cook is as necessary as the philosopher. Compare the blacksmith and the sculptor. The point is, that all useful labor is equally n.o.ble. It all has its place. Each of the workers of the world is required in the human cosmos.
It may not be that the worker himself sees that he is essential. It may not be that he understands the outcome of his striving. For that matter we are each and all toiling as blindly as the coral insect, and yet our labor is as much a part of a symmetrical structure as is the life and peris.h.i.+ng of that polyp.
We are all pouring out our energies day by day without understanding what effect our spent lives will have in the general result of human effort. And some of us get heart-sick, no doubt, and weary; and discouragement whispers, ”What's the use,” and many another wily phrase of Satan.
Very well; let every man, however humble or conspicuous his place among men, understand that his work _does_ count and will become a part of an harmonious whole. ”All things work together for good.”
No matter that _we_ do not know what we are here for. _We_ may not understand how our lives are to be woven into the great design of the world's work any more than a single thread of some wonderful and beautiful rug understands the pattern of which it is a part.
No matter, I say. The Master-Weaver understands what we are here for and what we are doing, and that is enough. He has uses for every sound thread and doubtless one is as important as another. Vaunt not yourself O thread of purple, over your fellow-thread of white!
a.s.serting then that the man who quarries stone has served humanity as well as he who writes a book, if quarrying stone is what he can do best; a.s.serting the equal value of all things done well and the equal dignity of all sincere and honest work of hand and brain, I shall not be misunderstood when I say that the present day has developed three careers of usefulness which, while not more important, are more continuously prominent than any others.
These are statesmans.h.i.+p, journalism, and the pulpit.
The Pulpit deals with faith. It has to do with religion. Religion makes moral ideals vital. Moral ideals make individual life sweet and satisfying, national life strong and pure. ”Righteousness exalteth a nation.” The young man and the pulpit are therefore preeminent in conspicuity.
The American people at heart are a religious people. They are practical and fearless, too. If you will listen to the chance conversations of the ordinary American you will find that the laymen of the Nation have some very decided views upon the Pulpit, the man who fills it, and the work he ought to do.
In the breast of the millions there is not only a great need but a great yearning for certain things of the soul which it is for the Pulpit to supply. This paper is an attempt to talk as one of these millions to the young man who is about to mount to this sacred station.
”I have just come from church,” said a friend one day, ”and I am tired and disappointed. I went to hear a sermon and I listened to a lecture.
”I went to wors.h.i.+p and I was merely entertained.
”The preacher was a brilliant man and his address was an intellectual treat; but I did not go to church to hear a professional lecturer.
When I want merely to be entertained I will go to the theater.
”But I do not like to hear a preacher princ.i.p.ally try to be either orator or artist. I am pleased if he is both; but before everything else I want him to bear _me_ the Master's message. I want the minister to preach Christ and Him crucified.”