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The Pulpit’s Silence on Purity
Sy Reb. A. Pohlman. Pl. 0., Philadelphia.
There must be a reason why the ministry is silent
on the subject of impurity; and the reason I be
lieve to be ignorance, not that of entire ignorance,
not that the minister does not know, for he is a
man before he is a minister; but I believe that most
ministers are ignorant of the scope of the general
subject. There is a reason for that ignorance, too,
because only in the very recent past has there been
any really good literature that has given the statis
tics and presented them in away that the minister
would be appealed to by the presentation of facts.
So that his ignorance is to be excused, if I dare
plead for his ignorance on the subject—that he
does not think it is half as bad as it is. But even
after they have been fully informed, there still is
a reticence; there is a silence about it all, that I
attribute to cowardice, to fear. They do not know
how to present it even if they knew the facts in the
case; and if they knew how to present it, they
would be fearful that there might be a great dis
turbance in the congregation on the subject. The
man who is afraid to speak on any particular sub
ject in the pulpit shows that he has not realized
the first functions of his ministry, which functions
are, as a mighty warrior, to attack the foe when he
sees him, and not to run away from him.
I fear that the difficulty is not that the minister
is ignorant, nor yet that he is afraid, but that he
does not just know how to handle the whole sub
ject. Listen I Why should a minister or a school
teacher or a mother, or anybody, for that matter,
be afraid to offend or to create a false sentiment in
the minds of the children, when every boy and girl
who has gone to a public school has seen what has
been chalked or scribbled or scrawled on the walls,
and the information has already gotten to them? I
am not afraid to talk to a boy or a girl; I don’t
worry about the fact that maybe they don’t know
anything about this subject. The trouble is they
know too much already, and know it wrongly. And
here, with all due respect to those who counsel
waiting and training teachers to teach these things,
I would be in favor of beginning today or tomor
row, in the schools, or anywhere, and then train
the normal school teachers. If we do make mis-
Takes now, with all of our inability and inefficiency,
we cannot make it much worse than it is without
any instruction.
And right here the pulpit fails —because I, for
one, believe that the pulpit is the most powerful
moulder of public opinion in the country today on
subjects of morality and ethics, as well as of reli
gion; and I believe that because it has that power,
if it knew the awful evil that is sapping the life
force out of humanity, it would go on its knees be
fore God and ask God, who has promised to give
wisdom to every one who lacketh —just ask God how
to handle a subject that is so delicate. Then if he
does not know whether he ought to do it promis
cuously at a general church gathering, I would
suggest that you ask him to call a meeting of the
men. He will be surprised at the number of men
who will come; and just talk to them frankly—
not as a minister to men, but as a man to men. He
will get a mighty wave of encouragement from
them; and they, too, though they may not say it,
will think it in their hearts, “We are mighty glad
our dominie has at last come to say something on
the subject.” Ministers ought to be, generally
speaking, cultured men, and ought not to make any
very great blunder in ’ the matter. Only let us
awaken them to the enormity of impurity, and
then call the men together and the women to
gether, and if they are fearful and timid (as un
doubtedly they will be) then ask them to invite
some woman physician to talk to the women. Let
the minister get his boys around him, and let the
minister’s wife, or some woman physician, get the
girls around her.
I have one other word to say, that the whole sub
ject shall be dealt with not as impurity, but as
The Golden Age for November 19, 1908.
purity. That, after all, is the secret of the whole
matter. We are using a phrase now in ministerial
Christian work, called “personal work,” in which
we are not content just to preach to the congrega
tion, but to get down and reach each one; and that
personal work is considered by those who never did
it as an exceedingly difficult thing—that men will
feel that they ought to repulse you if you go and
ask them about their relationship to God; that it is
none of your business. It took me quite a little
while to get into the habit of talking personal re
ligion, and I have talked to several thousand men
since I have been a pastor in Philadelphia, about
their personal relationship to Jesus Christ. I have
never once been repulsed. I have talked to men and
women about the subject of purity, and have never
yet been told by word or look to turn the subject.
It is the way in which it is done, and anyone can
speak about it, if he does it intelligently.
The minister in the pulpit with the subject of
impurity needs to discuss it from the standpoint of
Jesus —not just gloss it over; not just ignore it;
but in the due course of his ministry, in the regular
order of his preaching, to bring that subject up just
as he would any other, because purity of the indi
vidual and purity of the home lie at the basis of
all right society and of the church. And if the
minister is silent in the pulpit on the subject of
purity, he may be one of those who is helping, by
his silence, to spread the whole matter of impurity.
My final word is, that you stand by the minister.
I believe that God will give all of us grace enough
to handle this subject rightly and with pure motive
and pure mind, if we desire so to do —not only to
advance purity, but to advance the Kingdom of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
A woman entered a police station in Holland and
asked the officer in charge to have the canals drag
ged.
“My husband has been threatening for some time
to drown himself,” she explained, “and he’s been
missing now for two days.”
“Anything peculiar about him by which he can
be recognized?” asked the officer, preparing to fill
out a description blank.
For several minutes the woman seemed to be
searching her memory. Then her face brightened.
“Why, yes, sir. He’s deaf.”
Lobe and the Commandments.
(Continued from Page Six.)
side near Jericho. Jesus knew about him, and
went around there that he might restore his sight.
Yonder was a poor man with a palsied hand, dang
ling at his side. Jesus healed him. Yonder were
some tried fishermen who had toiled all night and
caught nothing. Jesus went over and gave them a
great draught of fishes. Yonder was the hungry
multitude and he fed them. But alas, alas, yondet
was a poor, crimson, sinner woman and he forgave
her her sin and restored her character, and made
her the mighty evangelist who stirred up the city of
her birth.
This was the way Jesus spent his life. This was
the kind of love he had, and this is the kind of love
that he commands us today to have.
LOVE UNTO DEATH.
Jesus also loved unto death. How marvelous!
It is hard to find men and women who are willing
to endure the slightest hardness for their fellow
man, or for Jesus. The reason for it is, we have
not caught the spirit of the new commandment.
When I was a college boy I had a warm personal
friend 'who was very mischievous and sometimes
bad. He was a good friend of mine and befriended
me when no one else would, One day the presi-
dent of the college passed this young man’s room,
which was on the third boor of the building. He
saw the president, and let loose a bucket of water
on top of his head. It was an awful ugly trick,
and one for which he should have been punished. I
happened to be looking out of my window, which
was just beneath my friend’s room, when the water
came down on the head of our president. He saw
me and took it for granted that I threw the water,
but I finally established my innocence. I was then
asked to give the name of the person who did it. I
refused. I was threatened with expulsion if I did
not do it, but still I refused, and I have refused
until this day. Why? Because that boy had been
good to me; he was my friend; he loved me, and
I loved him.
Love will change the whole tenor of life. You
have heard the story of the young man, during
Cromwell’s days, who was condemned to die. He
tried every means to escape, but failed. Finally, his
sweetheart took the matter up. She appealed to
judge and court, but failed. Her last resort was
to go, on the day of his execution, up into the bel
fry and lay hold of the tongue of old curfew, and
prevent it from ringing at the time of the proposed
execution. Her plot was a success. At the ap
pointed time for the bell to ring, she laid fast hold.
The old sexton climbed up his scaffold, and threw
himself upon the bell rope and the bell swung to
and fro, but not a sound escaped its metalic lips.
A second and a third time he did it, but still no
sound was heard. The old sexton was deaf, and did
not know the bell had not rung.
The young woman came down from the belfry
and started toward the place of the proposed execu
tion. On her way she met Cromwell. He was com
ing to see what was the matter that the bell did not
ring. Seeing him, she dropped upon her knees, her
face white as porcelain, and lifted her mangled,
bleeding hands, while the blood stained and trick
led down her elbows, she told out her story of love
Cromwell listened and looked, and finally interrupt
e dher by saying:
HERE WAS LOVE.
“Go, woman, thy lover shall be free; curfew shall
not ring tonight.”
It was love that suffered; it was love willing to
die. Think you that her lover ever forgot it? I
have fancied them in after years, when their lives
had been joined together. I have fancied her in
need. I have fancied her appealing to him for
sympathy, for encouragement, for help. No, it has
hardly been a fancy; I have not been able to go that
far; I have not been able to conceive of him for
whom she had done everything, waiting for her to
appeal to him for help. His whole life was wrap
ped up in hers. Her very thoughts he read, and
her every desire he was only too glad to grant. Oh,
there is no such thing as hardness where love holds
sway! How this old, cold world needs it throb
bing in its veins today.
But this is not the sublimest lesson of the story;
it was simply love in exchange for love. Behold
another scene: It is shifted from London to Cal
vary. There, hanging upon the cross between two
thieves, is a man. Who is he, and what has he
done? He is the Son of Man, the friend of sinners.
What has he done? He has blessed humanity at
every point. He has left no stone unturned to com
fort and to bless. There is not an accusation
against him —not one. Why is he there on that
cross? Why that gaping wound in his side? There
is one word that tells the secret —love.
Oh, friends, this is Jesus, the blessed Jesus, who
died loving a world from sin to salvation. How is
it to affect my life? Can there be any hardship
where his Master passion dwells? Oh, Master
forgive us if we ever felt so. Through thy suffer
ing and death we are what we are. But for it we
would know nothing of the peace that dwells in our
hearts. Save us from looking at anything required
at our hands to glorify thy name, as a hardship.
Baptize us with thy love, the love which thou didst
have for us. Help us to show it to one another,
and thus to show it to thee.
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