SENTIMENTS AND IDEALS 113
practical expression. How often does the preacher by his sneers at human frailties, his depreciation of human virtues, his one-sided exaggeration of the moral depravity of human nature, tend to develop in his hearers misanthropy rather than the noble sentiment of philanthropy, the twin sentiment of the love of God ! Indeed he has sometimes represented God to the people in such a barbarous caricature as to de velop, at the very best, no higher feeling than that of a cer tain fearful awe, and at the worst a positive disposition of hostility. Of course, the moral failings of men should not be ignored nor the depravity of the human heart covered up ; but the essential dignity of human nature may be effectively impressed without hiding its scars, and the infinite precious- ness of the humblest human personality may be so presented as to appeal to the noblest feelings, without minimizing its weakness. Nor should the character of God be so repre sented as to leave out His stern moral severity ; for the law is as truly an expression of His character as is mercy. But this can be so done as to stir more profoundly the feeling of love for Him. To develop these noblest sentiments of love for God and love for man one need not cover up human sin nor hide the divine holiness.
To develop these sentiments until they become dominant in the lives of the people is the supreme business of the preacher. What a noble function ! More than any other worker in the great process of character-building, he deals directly with sentiments and ideals. His primary business is with the emotional life. He should not he must not omit teaching; for his task is precisely that of refining and rationalizing the crude emotions of the instinctive life, or ganizing them around great ideas and principles, so that they to whom he ministers shall come to have fixed tendencies to right feeling when they deal with situations involving ideas and principles. This defines his most vital relation not only to individual lives but to the social life. It is his great task to help the world toward a better organization of society primarily by building up right public sentiments and ideals.
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