the relation of
children to parents; of manners, serenity, and battlings; of working
and food and prophecy; of trade and usury, of sin and righteousness,
of repentance and salvation. Yet by means of all this he made noble
the daily living of our earthly lives and gloriously triumphant the
ending of them.

Speak helpfully therefore. Remember that the great problem with each
of us is how to live day by day; and that is no easy task, say what
you will. This human talking with human beings is not only consistent
with the preaching of your religion--it _is_ the preaching of your
religion. Christ came to save sinners, but how? By faith? Yes. By
repentance? Yes. By these and by many other things; _but by conduct
also_.

I do not think the ordinary layman cares to hear you preach about some
new thing. The common man prefers to hear the old truths retold.
Indeed, there can be nothing new in morals. "Our task," said a
clear-headed minister, "is to state the old truths in terms of the
present day." That is admirably put. In science progress means change;
in morals progress means stability. No man can be said to have uttered
the final word in science; but the Master uttered the final word in
morals.

Many people greatly debate whether the minister of the Gospel should
"mix up in politics." There is a protest against ministers using their
pulpits to express views on our civic and National life.

I have no sympathy with such views. Of course the preaching of his
holy religion is the minister's high calling; of course the spiritual
life practically applied should receive his exclusive attention. But
does not that include righteousness in the affairs of our popular
government? Does it not involve uprightness in public life?

It seems to me that the Master took a considerable part in public
affairs. Did he not even scourge the money-changers from the Temple?
And John Knox, Wesley, and other great teachers of the Word profoundly
influenced the political life and movements of their time. Savonarola,
to whom I have so often referred, was a skilled politician, though of
so high a grade that he may be justly called a statesman.

Upon this subject the views of the ordinary laymen of the country are
these: Whenever a civic _evil_ is to be eliminated it is not only
appropriate, but it is the office of the minister to help eliminate
it. Whenever the cause of light is struggling with the powers of
darkness the place of the Christian mini