Scotsman Archive: Preacher as a man 14 April, 1950

"The Preacher as a Man" was the subject of the final Warrack Lecture delivered yesterday in St Mary's College of St Andrews University by the Rev Dr E D Jarvis, Wellington Church, Glasgow. The kind of man a minister was was perhaps of greater importance to-day than ever, said Dr Jarvis.

"Time was when Scots were a nation of churchgoers, and the place of the Church in the community was unchallenged. Time was when the minister was respected because of his office. Such times are almost, if not quite, gone. It may be too much to say that for the majority of the people nowadays the Church means little or nothing. At least it is true that very many turn upon it uninterested or critical eyes.

"The minister has come down from his pedestal and rubs shoulders with his fellows. What place he holds in the esteem of the congregation over which he is set and of the community of which he is a member, he must win for himself; and the Church gains or loses according to the measure of that esteem."

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