Boros György (szerk.): Értesítő a Nemzetközi Unitárius Conferencziáról (Kolozsvár, 1897)
A Nemzetközi Unitárius Konferenczián tartott beszédek és felolvasások - Beszédek és felolvasások
178 Pastoral Care — so great a mission and so many opportunities as the minister himself; for people gather, in such regular crowds and with such an end in view, nowhere else, except in church, where, during an hour or so, he can, according to his will, be a lord and master over many souls. He has to make a wise use of the social problems of the day, for they afford a rich material to his sermons, bring a sense of variety into the pulpit, and render the servant of the word a being who lives amongst us, and, in thougt and feeling, is one with us. Hereby the church gains in influence, in authority, and in power; and religion disentangles itself from the mystic gloom of theories and of disputes quite out of date, and becomes a wellhead of living waters to humanity, which is able daily to quench the thirst of the spirit. The minister who would conceive contrariwise of his vocation, may be a learned theologian and a zealous spirit, but the needs of life and of his age are unknown to him; for the saving word should, in season and out of season, be preached, even from the housetops. He has to regard himself as a professional guard of public morality, who, armed with truth himself, compels us to make the general principles of social duties our own, and to let them exercise a ruling influence on the mode even of our thought and feeling. He will, however, do well to beware of meddling in party-politics, for his post and person must be trusted and revered by all. He must be a guiet island, where, amidst even a dreadful storm at sea, one may safely land. His is the role neither of a prosecutor, nor of a defendant, but simply that of a judge who can pronounce condemnation, or pardon, as the case may be. Moreover, we know that political passions are very apt to break loose, and unmercifully to sweep and to
