Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-07-03
GFres!ds Department.
A Rule That Would not Work


Several years ago, in the State
of Georgia, an excellent brother,
who had been for some time'ex-
ercising his gifts;;' was called to a
pastorate of the church to which
he belonged, and where for years
they had acted upon the old idea
of not stipulating what salary
the pastor should have, but leav-
ing each member to give what he
felt like giving-the aggregate
amount being always very small.
This excellent brother, who by
the way is said to be one of the
best preachers in Georgia, told
the church frankly that if he ac-
cepted their call he should give
up his plantation and devote his
whole time to their service, and
that he should except them not
only to stipulate what salary he
should receive, but also to pay it
promptly. This met with consid
erable disfavor; but they were
anxious to secure the service of
SO excellent a preacher, and the
church finally fixed upon a def
mite salary, and put the deacons
to work to raise it. One brother
still refused to put down his name
for any given sum, and not wish
ing the pastor to feel hurt at
this, went to him and said:
81 intend to give you some
thing, but am opposed, on prin
ciple, to subscribing any definite
sum. l may not be able to pay
much; may fail in my crop, and
may not be able to pay anything.
But / viii give what | feel in my
heart at the end of the year to be
right"
The pastor pleasantly dismissed
the subject, and presently asked
the good brother if he would not
like to run his plantation for him
next year, saying that he wanted
to give his whole time to the
work of the ministry, and wished
to get some reliable man to farm
for him. M
The face of the good brother
frightened as he replied, aThat
would suit me exactly; / want a
place, e,and yours is one of the best
know"
Every well, replied the pastor
l will vacate the first of next
month, and you can just move
down.
@But upon what terms2 What
will you give me?''
"Oh, we will settle that at the
close of the year; 1 am not will
ing TO make definite promise
now.D
"But that will not suit me. |
have a family dependent upon me
and must know definitely be-
forehand what | am to get"
"Well, | suppose that would be
more agreeable to you; but l can
not tell now what / can pay you
the crop may turn out badly,
or the price may be so low l can
not pay you anything. But you
just move down; and if you will
work faithfully, l will give you at
the end of the year whatever /
may feel to be just"
The excellent brother lost all
patience, and replied to this:
"You must have very poor
opinion of my Judgment if you
think l will farm for you on any
such terms. Did you ever know
a man to be fool enough to make
a contract with such conditions
as you proposeg"
"No, replied the pastor, never
did; but you wanted me to be
fool enough to make a contract
to serve the church on just those
terms.n
The brother was fairly caught,
and at once hurried off and put
his name on the subscription to
the pastors salary for a good
sum.
We are glad to say that the
faithful, honest stand taken by
that pastor has brought forth its
legitimate fruits, and has been
ever since well supported. Would
that churches and pastors gener-
ally could learn the proper lesson
from this incident.-Religious
Herald.