Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-07-01
JOINT MEETING OF WHITE AND COLORED BAP-
list MINISTER'S.


Baptist ministers was begun in the white Bap-
list church in this place, and it is hoped may
result in the accomplishment of much good.
The meetings throughout the session of the
body have been harmonious and pleasant.
The Introductory sermon was preached by
Rev. Solomon Funk, Of Rockingham, and was
an able exposition of the proper style of preach
ing, and was listened to with marked attention,
especially by the colored ministers, who.
| throughout the meeting, were attentive listen
ers and seemed anxious to gather all the In
| formation they could; and when it came their
| turn to express their views on any of the top
les under discussion, they did SO in an earnest
manner, and net infrequently eloquently and
| in good language.
The meeting was organized by the election of
Rev. ]. M. Pitcher, Of Covington, Moderator,
and Rev. B. A. Franklin, (cord.) Of Lewisburg,
w. Va, Secretary.
The ministers present during the meeting
were, viz: white. Rev. w. Y. Abrams; Rev. w.
s. Perry, of Bridgewater, Rockingham; Rev. ].
H Taylor, of Augusta; Rev. Solomon Funk, of
Rockingham; Rev. c. F. Fry, of Augusta; Rev.
Chas. Manly, Of Stanton; colored, Rev. Mil
ton Howard, of Augusta; Rev. s. NJ. johnson,
of Augusta; Rev. L. w: Carter, of Augusta;
Rev. G. B. Howard, of Rockingham Rev. R.
Banks. of Augusta; Rev. n. Payne, of Hinton
w. Va; Rev. T. 7. Jackson, Of Lexin gton;,
Rev. R. II. Porter, of Stanton; Rev. B. s.
Jones, of Waynesboro, and Rev. G. w. Elliott.
of Lexington.
| The reports from the various districts showed
| the churches to be in very prosperous and
fourishing condition.
| On Thursday night the subject assigned to
them-"Duty of the Church to the PASTOR
was presented by Rev. W. s. Perry and B. S.
Jones.
| On Friday morning, the meeting assembled
| at Ebenezer Baptist church (col and. after the
usual religious exercises the subject on the pro
| standardization Of the Pastor to the
church"-was taken up and discussed by Rev.
g. B. Howard, colored, in very fluent and adj
| mirable manner.
| He said that the pastor occupied to the
church the relation of " shepherd to his flock,
but it was not SO absolute as that of the shep-
herd, but was rather charge which he held
subordinate to theg great shepherd, Jesus Christ.
Again, the pastor should be the spiritual adj
wiser of his people, and should teach by exam
pie as well as by precept. He would rather see
| man leading christian life than to be all the
time talking about christianity.
| The pastor should not only be spiritual
teacher, bpt be should do all in his power to
promote the intellectual growth of his people.
This point was well and torcibly Illustrated by
the analogy of the preparation of the s0il for
| the seed.
| And, above all, the pastor should study the
| wants of his congregation, and direct his ser
vices and discourses SO as to meet that want.
The speaker strongly urged the following
qualifications as necessary fer faithful minis
ter, viz: Genuine love to the Lord JESUS Christ,
| which will make him love his feliowman, mo-
rality, soberness, truthfulness. honesty, chari-
ty, kindness, meekness, sociability, inteilectu-
al culture, familiarity with the Bible and les
lament and Biblical history.
He was obliged by Rev. J. n. Taylor. who
spoke more particularly e the solemni-
ty OF the preachers Office, aad ot the
great responsibility attached to it. He is the
watchman on the walls Of Zion, on whom de-
ponds the safety Of the city; he is the sacred
ambassador of Christ to convey His messages to
a SHINING world, and make known the will Of
his King.
pastor should preach TIE Irltl, hGys5er
disagreeable it may be to others; he should
not preach to please men, neither should he
dabble in politics.
In conclusion, he urged on pastors the impor-
tence of punctuai1ty, and gave illustrations
from his ogr experience showing its great inn
portanee.
Rev. DIR, Barnas Sears, being called upon,
made few desultory but excellent remarks,
| characterized by that epigrammatic and con-
else style which alwaysmakes 1t a pleasure to
| listen to him.
| He said that in preparing for the olhes OF
pastor man must inform himself Of his duties
and endeavor to increase his power to do good.
OF course his chief study should be Christ, but
| to make this effective he must gather knowl-
| edge from all sources.
| He beloved in preparation, but not in sefIuon
writing. A man should think over his subject
study it, seek Information on it, and then write
| it out If he wishes to do so. He said that when
he left college and went to preaching, he
| preached out ali his carefully and laboriously
| prepared sermons in three months, and found
| that systematic sermon writing would not do
He also urged that all sermons and discources
shoglI be adapted to the occasion, and gave
several instances. whsre fire sermons had pro-
duced effect because the audience we're
| thinking about something else.
| He urged that pastors should not get angry.
He said ministers should not get insulted.-l
| they have no right to be insulted Avoid get
ting angry, exercise ealmness, kindness, and
forbearance and all the little trials and trou-
| bles between the pastor and his people will
| soon be amicably settled
| The discussion was closed by Rev. w. S. Per-
| ry, who maintained that there were different
| grades of ministers and spoke feelingly OF the
kind feeling and deep interest he had for the
| spiritual welfare of the colored people.
| On Friday afternoon, the subject-"Qualif-
| cations and duties of deacons"-gave rise to an
interesting discussion partisipatedin by Reys.
G. H. Payne, DR.. Manly, Pitcher. and Howard.
| On Friday night, the subject of ''Scriptural
Church Discipline" was discussed by Rev. r.
| 81. Porter, DR.. Manly and G. B. Howard.
| On Saturday morning, the subject of "How to
study the Rible' was considered. ]. L. Beale
and DR.. Manly had been assigned to present
this subject; but in the absence of Beale, DR..
Sears was requested to take his place.
DIR. Sears said that one mode was to take one |
| book of the Bible and study that and make a
model, and another was to havea book of COM |
| mentartes and study the subject of a sermon |
but he thought the best plan was to unite these
| two plans.
The minister should read the passage under |
consideration several times carefully. Thel
| same passage read at different times, will sug-
gest different thoughts. dependent upon the diff
ferent moods of the student.
T.is should be done before the commentary |
is consulted. Put yourself in position to |
judge of the correctness Of the Commentary
Study first the bible, and then the commentary.
Occasionally preach expository sermons. This |
gives variety, and expository preaching fer
tilizes the mind. Some sermons should be care |
fully written, and others should be delivered |
without being written at all-the written SER
mon will tend to give correctness 70 the pnwrit- |
ten, and the unwritten Will tend to give free |
dom to the written.
Be careful about the proof texts, for they are
liable to lead to Study for yourself before
using commentaries. They are useful in sug-
costing trains ofthought, in reminding you of
what might be overlooked, and In correcting |
erroneous views. They multiply your points of
view. and furnish facts of history that you may
be ignorant Of otherwise. We get most of our
ideas from others-but few are original.
He recommended thatit was best, in st udying
the books Of the Gospel, to study first the Cos
pei Of John.
1t was simple and contemplative. 1t presents /
the divine side of Christianity. 1t is not his
tory, nor poetry. The different Gospels were
written for different purposes The Gosnel nv |