The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 294

"'Tie not the Stoio's lessone, got by rote, The pomp of worde and pedant dissertatione, That oan sustain thee in that hour of terror : Books have taught cowards to talk nobly of it, But when the trial oomes they stand aghast. Hast thou considered what may happen 11.fter it? How thy aocount may 1tand, and what the answer?" (Nicholas Uowe.) D.T. Ver. 7.-Oharge against religi<>WI ministwr,. "The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is mad." What the prophet means here seems to be thiR-that when the pre- dicted retributfon had come Israel would learn that the prosperity which some of the prophets had 11redicted (Ezek. xiii. 10) proved them infatuated fools. Although some render the expression, " the spiritual man is mad," a mad man the man of spirit, the ma.n of the spirit is frantic, the idea seems to be the same as that conveyed in our version, viz. tha.t the man pretending to have spiritual inspiration a.nd prophesying was mad. We may take the words as a charge against religious ministers, and make two observations. I. IT IS A CHARGE TIIAT IS SOMETIMES TOO TRUE. There have been religious ministers in all ages, and there are still in connection even with Christianity, who are foolish and "mad." 1. There are men of weak minds. There are men in the ministry utterly incapable, not only of taking a harmonious view of truth, but even of forming a clear and complete conception of any great principle. We say not a word in dis- paragement of men of small cerebral power a.nd feeble understanding. Heaven made them what they are; but they were never intended for the ministry. In the ministry they do enormous mischief. Their silly sentimentalities, their crude notions, their inane conceptions, bring the pulpit into contempt. They are " fools." 2. There are men of irrational theologies. There a.re men who, though not always na.tura.lly weak- minded, nevertheless propound theological dogmas which are utterly incongruous with human reason, and therefore unbiblical and un-Divine. The doctrines that multitude9' of men are predestined to eternal misery, that Christ's death procured the love of God, that all that men require to make them good and happy for ever is to believe in some- thing the.t took place eighteen hundred years ago,-such dogmas as these a.re often pro- pounded in pulpite, and they are utterly foolish; they strike a.ga.inst the common sense of humanity, and ha.ve no foundation in the teaching of him who is the "Wisdom of God." The prophet that talks such things is a" fool," and the spiritual man is "mad." 3. There a.re men of Billy rituals. The crossings, the kneelings, the bowings, the robings, the upholstering, the grimacings, which constitute much of the ministry of a large number of what are called Protestant ministers, justify the people in calling them fools and madmen. The outside world is constantly pointing to the pulpit, and saying, " The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man. is mad." Alas I that there should be a.ny cause for it I II. lT IS A OHA.BGE THAT IS OFTEN A SOOFFING OALUMNY. The unregenerate world have from the beginning identified preaching with folly and fanaticism. The general impression to-day in England is that preachers are intellectually a feeble folk, effemina.le, lackadaisical, unfit for the business of the world. Now, an. idea.I preacher of Christianity, instead of being a " fool" or " mad," is the wisest and most philosophic ma.n of his a.ge, and that for three reasons. 1. He aims at the highest end. What is that? To make himself e.nd his fellow-men what they ought to be in relation to themselves, in relation to society, in relation. to the universe, and in relation to God. Men are wrong in all these respects, and their wrongness is the cause of all the crimes and miseries of the world. 2. He work& in the right direction. Where does he begin this work of moral reformation? At the heart. "Out of the heart are the issues of life." All human institutions, conduct, a.otions, flow from the likinas and dislikings of the human heart. He deals therefore as a philosopher with the font~! sympathies a.nd antipathies of the soul. 'l'o clear the stream he goes to the fountain, to stren~then the tree he goes to the roots, to improve the productions of the world he works upon the soil. 3. He employs the best means. What are the best means to touch the heart effectively, to girn its sympathies a new aud right direction? Legislation, a.rt, poetry, rhetoric? No;  294, 'l'HE BOOK OF HOSEA, [OH, IX, 1-17,