Show CRITICISM MUST BE KINDLY nothing good can come of method which does not speak the truth in love there Is the story of a contentious contention man who said to bla As pastor 1 I cannot preach or pray or slug sing but I 1 can raise objections such men are not rare there Is one at least in almost every church club lodge or society of whatever kind the critic Is ever with us and candidly we need him we cannot do our beat bea work W ork without him he Is like the brake in the mechanism of a motorcar ile he holds us back when we wa would go too fasl if at times be h delays our progress he Is necessary to our safety nis ills conservatism counteracts the possible evils of radicalism ical ism much might be said for the economy of criticism but the method of criticism Is also important the brake should work smoothly the critic need not destroy the organism be proposes oses to reform often the effect of his criticism is wholly destructive sometimes his methods remind us of the man ohp set fire to a barn to rid it of rats A sensitive spirit who had been harshly treated by a critic retorted 1 I know there Is a cinder in n my eye but you cant remove it with a the apostolic injunction 11 speaking the truth in love gives the critic a safe rule of action no truth however severe Is unwelcome it if it be spoken in love it takes the spirit of christ to take the sinner by the hand the while we take sin by the throat christian herald |