Is Prophet of The Highest

1908

Qualities That Are the Attribute of the Ideal Minister

As the touch of genius lifts the master above the mere musician, so this sense of the unseen lifts the ideal minister above the mere preacher of sermons. It is the investiture of a priesthood verified not by tradition, but by experience. It is immediacy of access to the eternal fountains of salvation. He lives among men as one of them, simple, unselfish, human, hopeful, yet they know that he walks with God.

"And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended."

He is a scholar, but criticism has never violated that shrine of the spirit where the pure in heart see God, says a writer in The Atlantic. The unfading newness of everlasting truth gives to his speech the freshness of springtime. The unsearchable mystery of infinite holiness gives to his thought and conduct gravity and reserve, as one who has beheld things which it is not possible for a man to utter. The demands of social service have not stamped him with the professionalism of a reformer. The ardor of churchmanship has not made him an ecclesiastic. He remains a prophet of the highest. When he speaks men feel that he is standing on holy ground. When he prays men perceive that he is prostrating himself before the risen Christ.


Thoughts

No man ever succeeded in walking one way when he was looking another.

Beware of the man whose own dog will not trust him.