FRANCIS BURGETTE SHORT

FIRST CHURCH, SPOKANE, WASHINGTON

Francis Burgette Short was born in the State of Delaware December 20, 1868. His parents, Isaac Burton and Julia Ann Short, were leaders in the religious thought and activity of their community. Their home was the stopping place for the "presiding elder" and the "circuit preacher.” The subject of this sketch graduated from the Wilmington Conference Academy in 1889 and from Delaware College in 1891. The honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the College of Puget Sound in 1913. He has served conspicuous pastorates in the Wilmington Conference at Harrison Street and Epworth Churches, Wilmington, Delaware. He has also had successful pastorates at First Church, Portland, Oregon; First Church, Salt Lake City, Utah, and he is now pastor of the First Church, Spokane, Washington, where his influence is felt in the politic, civic, business, and religious movements of the city.

BROTHER ENOCH

FRANCIS BURGETTE SHORT

"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."-Gen. 5. 24.

THE biography of good folks is always interesting and inspiring; it stimulates the mind, quickens the moral sensibilities, and pushes farther back the horizon of life, that keener eyes may glimpse the far-away but oncoming events. Every epoch of history has had its moral heroes, who have made glorious the times in which they have lived and conspicuous the things for which they have stood-those moral Gibraltars out there in the seas of human passion and storm. The Bible is the book of unbiased biographies, and as such it gives itself entirely over to the task of character revealment, presenting to us its varied characters who are seen in their proper moral garments, and in the activities in which they were both interested and engaged. I want with as much clearness as possible, to present one of these characters to you this morning.

The compendium of facts of Enoch's life are few: He was born. He lived. He went back to God. Great facts these. Wonderful is the fact

of having a life to live right here on the earth among folks, with burdens to carry and opportunities for serving. Glorious is the fact that one may so faithfully carry life's burdens and respond to its opportunities that the way back to God and heaven may be found. "Enoch walked with God"-blessed privilege!-"and he was not"; his earthly sojourn was ended, "for God took him" -glorious consummation! Read that text slowly. It is as heartful and tender as ever fell from a pure mother's lips as she looked into the laughing eyes of her own sweet child. "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." The whole world loves the short story of Brother Enoch's life because the whole world has seen his life duplicated in its every community. We have all seen and know Brother Enoch; and we love him too.

Character is assertive; it cannot be suppressed; it must speak in the voice, flash in the eye, throb in the hand-grasp, and pour itself out upon the generation in which it lives. Some characters, like some plants, are ever and always poisonous and destructive, while other characters, like other plants, are ever and always life-giving. Brother Enoch belonged to the latter class; he was of heroic mold and a choice spirit; he faced the issues of life, as they came to him, bravely, and won for himself the brilliant place which he ever holds in the sky of God's moral universe because "he walked with God."

Life demands and seeks companionship. The very fundamental of soul growth and human happiness was expressed, when God said, "It is not good for man to be alone." God wanted his ideal creation to develop, to grow, to be happy. Companionship is a necessity for growth and for happiness. God never intended that good folks should withdraw themselves from the crowded thoroughfares. Here is where they should be. The hermit may become a cold storage of facts and philosophies, but he will never be the center of life-giving impulses and inspirations, so long as he remains a hermit. Facts are good and necessary, but the soul cannot live and grow upon mere facts any more than a hard-working man can get fat eating dry shredded-wheat biscuits. The soul must have facts that have in them the warmth and the inspiration which holy companionship assures; and the busy world, out there, requires just the tonic which really good folks bring to it. And the greatest asset of this community and every community is its possession of some Brother Enoch to warm and cheer and lead on its hosts along the highway to God and heaven.

The importance of companionship becomes more and more evident. The lack of the proper companionship is the large factor in the establishment of our juvenile courts and penal institutions. The general thought of the prison is that it is a place for the punishment of wrongdoers. This seems to be a necessity both for the criminal

and society, and the average criminal, after serving his term, is released and returned to society with the same character, possibly worse than when he entered the prison. There is a sense in which his imprisonment has been a failure. The

State owes it to society to punish the criminal and it also owes it to society to return the once criminal back to society a much better man than when it placed him in its institution. The State should make some effort to so befriend its criminal class while serving sentence that they may be inspired with better motives and higher ideals of life and this idea has taken root and is being practiced in some of our penal institutions with marked success.

But why this youth before the kindly disposed juvenile court? Somewhere behind all somebody has failed to furnish the proper companionship. Who was it? I cannot answer that perplexing question. It might have been an unsolicitous or unwise parent; it might have been some unguarded preacher; it might have been some indiscreet teacher; it might have been some so-called friend. But O the tragedy of these improperly companioned lives! What shadows they throw across their homes! What grave responsibilities they throw upon society! O, holy task of the church to inspire communities to bring to bear upon these young lives the influences they need, the influences of men and women who walk with God!