294 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING
evitably and, for the most part, unconsciously determines where it will place the emphasis, what aspects of any sub ject it will consider as primary or as unimportant, or en tirely overlook; and that this bias of his own mind will determine in large measure the results of his thinking. In view of his inevitable limitations, can the preacher be sure enough of his message to justify intolerance? Intolerance has been a notable bane of the ministerial function in all ages. In this age particularly the preacher should be on his guard against it; for intolerance is especially offensive to men who live under modern conditions, which tend to de velop the spirit of tolerance. No man can set himself up for an oracle now with a hope of impressing intelligent men with anything but his own egotism or fanatical folly.
The tendency of the ministerial function toward intol erance is strengthened by the fact that, according to the conventional conditions under which the preacher usually speaks, he " has the floor to himself." No reply is made to his utterances, certainly not at the time, and generally not at all. His deliverances usually go without public chal lenge. Rarely is he called upon to prove the truth of his declarations ; and this fact only imposes on his conscience the heavier obligation to be careful and cautious, to look on the other side, and to measure his words. Too often a preacher is insensible to this obligation of honour, and cul tivates license in dogmatism and intolerance because the decorum proper to religious services leaves him an open field to deliver his own opinions as the unquestionable truth of God. Of course, he should not suffer his caution in this matter to render him weak in his religious convic tions or negative, timid and doubtful in his utterance of them. But it should lead him to more patient and thorough study, a greater respect for differing points of view and a more humble consciousness of his limitations.
Again, he sometimes has occasion to deal with matters about which he has some general information, but about which he can hardly be presumed to have special knowledge.
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