Editorial Postcripts

DANGER!—Some ministers' wives, fearing that adulation and recognized success may turn their husbands' heads, and that they will become puffed up with ego and develop a fatal superiority complex, seek to keep their husbands' feet on the ground and to help them remain humble and usable. In harmony with this laudable aim they seek to curb these tend­encies through rather constant criticism of the weaknesses in their work, along with indiffer­ence to their struggles and achievements, exhibiting lukewarmness toward their endeavors and excellencies and registering definite cold­ness toward the praise of others. Some are plain naggers ; others are lukewarm and clammy. Here is a bit of counsel for wives with this understandable attitude: Your motives may be the best, and the need for curbing inflation may be very real. But you are running a grave risk of misunderstanding and even of domestic catastrophe with such a program. Repression may be needed, but do not let all the apprecia­tion and praise and understanding come from other women of talent. That course is fraught with peril. Invidious comparisons may begin to form in the mind. Men are human, even though ministers. And your husband may be led un­consciously to draw his encouragement and stimulus from sources elsewhere. That is dan­gerous, and definite catastrophes have come as a result. Surely a word to the wise is sufficient. You should be the most interested, the most understanding, and the most inspiring person in the world for him. As to his perils and tend­encies, pray with him and for him over his weaknesses.

VESPERS!—The plan of a vesper-hour service, just before the close of the Sab­bath, where our people live within easy dis­tance of assembly, is excellent. Wholesome music blended with responsive readings, prayer, and meditation, and a quiet message of uplift and helpfulness make an ideal ending for the Sabbath day. But let it be a message of spiritual life and helpfulness, of practical guid­ance, not a moral essay or an ethical preach­ment. Let it be based on the Word, not on philosophy and opinion. Let it strengthen our faith, increase our love, nerve us for the fray, and fit us for better living and service. Let it be such as will enable us to go forth more effec­tively equipped for the battles and marches of life rather than to wonder just what the speaker had been reading last, or just what he was trying to accomplish. It should create a sense of confidence, quietness, and strength, and not be that which raises lurking doubts and questions. In such instances the vesper service were better not to have been.

THEORISTS!--There are always some who are not active ministers but who pour forth a constant stream of counsel for us on ministerial matters—brethren who are not ministers, who could not preach successfully if their lives depended upon it, who never had the pastoral care of a church, who never drew and held an evangelistic audience through a series of meetings, who never had the pressure of the multiple responsibilities of a district and its attendant goals. It is easy to admonish on how things ought to be done when one is not in the place of responsibility, and has never carried the load.

PERFORMANCES!—In secular con­certs of the musical classics—from Bach, Chopin, Schubert, et cetera—the rendition is definitely a performance. Certain standard numbers in the repertoire are repeated time and again by different artists in different con­certs. The skill and artistry of the various per­formances are usually compared with others ; and artists are rated as good, better, or best, on the basis of the results. And likewise, with sacred numbers; when church singing is re­stricted to well-known religious classics, the same tendency for the rendition to become a performance becomes characteristic, with simi­lar ratings, as voices and renditions are com­pared. In sermons we do not content ourselves with repeating a few of the great classic sermons of the centuries—of Augustine, Saint Francis, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, or Moody. That would gravitate as verily into a performance, a ritual. No, we give living, cur­rent, pertinent messages, suited to the need of the moment. We present sermons with an ap­propriate appeal. Similarly, the music of the church should have the same pertinency and application of message as the sermon, suited to the need of the hour. We of the Advent Move­ment must shun musical performances for our church services. We should give living mes­sages from the Word of God, meeting each congregational need of the hour. And this should similarly be done in music, presenting sermons in song to meet the special and immediate needs of men.                                                                

L. E. F.