Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-05-09

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BE sure of your man. Seek him by earnest
prayer. Take pains and time to know that
he is sound in the faith, correct in conduct,
and fervent III heart. man in whom God
| has ''revealed His Son that he might preach
Him." When you have found him, take him.
rs a true woman takes the one she loves. into
the heart and keep him there.
.. For the very first thing the pastor needs
is the peoples confluence and I00e lie must
have them. If you receive him with doubt or
suspicion, if you keep him at n cool distance
from you, he can do you no good. lie comes
to labor for your souls, but how can he do
this unless he can get at them ? ! know that
confidence is plant of slow growth, and that
one cannot give the heart to another till he
calls it out. But give him fair chance Lis
ten to him till perchauce you hud in your
hearts n response to the word he brings, and
you feel that the Lord has sent him If you
have confidence in him you will respect and
honor him as the Lord commands. You need
not fear that in these days of rampant inf
deity and profanity he will get any undue
reverence. A good minister of Jesus Christ
doesn't want people to do obeisance to him.
or to stand in awe of him. He doesn't want
people to cross the street when they meet him.
or the children to run for fear of him But
he does like to have the respect due to his Of
flee and work, he likes to be kept aloof from
ridcule, and have the children pay attention
in the church and salute him in the street
If you love your pastor you will sympd-
Mize tcih linn and pray .t0r him. 1t is not
his work he is doing, but the Lord 4 and yours
And you are sharers in the work He is not
to carry the church on his back as il it were
n helpless child, but it is to walk along with
him. be leading it by the hand Paul often
used to say Pray for me :" II that great
apostle so needed the prayers of his brethren
you may be sure Christ's ministers need yours
now. They must have help from God or fail
help in study, help in preaching, help in
bearing burdens.
Then again give him an open ar and heart
good hearer is "a great help to the preacher
Not that we wish our hearers to swallow ev-
erything we say rs infalible truth. Nor, on
the other hand do we want them to sit as
critics and fault-hnders, on the watch for err
ror and ready to pOunce upon any mistake or
fault, and hold it up to cOnd, ,inLntiOn. Far
rather would We have you listen patiently and
then 90 home and, like the noble Bereans,
search the Scriptures daily whether these
things are So If you find us in any error
let us know it, only be sure you show it by
the Word of God. II may be that it seems to
be error only because it crosses some popular
opinion or some pet theory. And if your
pastor breaches plain and pungent truth that
| touches now and then some sore spot in your
heart or character, don't get angry with him
1t is no more pleasant for him to preach it
than for you to hear it. He is only obeying
God. For that same God who said Com
fort ye, comfort ye my people, said also
Cry aloud and spare not, show my people
their transgressons and the house of Israel
their sins 1t is part of his work to reLuke
and warn man as well as to comfort and cheer
| And If you did not H6td these sharp truths YOU
would not feel them. The physician, feeling
around your body, touches a spot and you
start-why? because there is sore there.
What do you do about it? Get angry at him /?
No, but ask him to help you. So the preacher
| touches "a sore spot in your soul and YOU start
and get angry at him, or cherish IA secret
grudge against him. How much better to ask:
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do: = How
much better to say with good brother, 81
love the truth, even if it cuts.
3. third thing God requires of you, is to
give the pastor support. l suppose good
many Christians think they are doing a be-
nevolent decd when they pay the minister's
salary. If they pay note of $40 they feel
that they are doing right and expect no cred
1t for 1t. But if the same man pays the same
amount on subscription, he feels that he is
doing good deed for which the minister
ought to be very thankful Now let us see
how our Lord regards this matter. When he
sent out his twelve apostles to preach and do
good, lac charged them to take no gold. nor
|
says the workman is worthy Of his meat "
When He sent ont the seventy disciples He
told them to live on the people, and laid down
the same great principle The laborer is
worthy of his hire And so important was
this word that it had to be repeated the third
time by Paul: The laborer is worthy of his
reward. Aud TO illustrate and enforce this
principle, Paul was inspired to quote twice in
the New Testament what Moses had already
rift in tl.. pl,aIt
the on that treadeth out the corn" That is,
just as the OK fed and lived on the grain he
was threshng, 50 the pastor is to live on the
people he serves. But the law on this point,
is laid down fully in l. Corinthians TX -"Who
goeth warfare at his own chargesg Who
planteth vineyard and eateth not of the
| fruit thereof Or who feedeth flock and
eateth not of the milk of the flock: If We
| have sown unto you spiritual things is it q
great thing if We shall reap your carnal thngsy
Do ye not know that they which minister
about holy things, live of the things of the
temple And they which wait at the altar are
partakers with the altar 2" That is. they share
in the sacrifices and live on the offerings
brought to the temple. Even so hath the
Lord ordained that they which preach the
gospel should live of the gospel And the
same thing in another form is repeated in
Gal VI. Let him that is taught in the word,
communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things This, then, is Gods law, that
the hearers of the gospel should support the
preachers of it, and this law rests Oh the great
principle that the laborer is worthy of his
hire. The pastors salary, then is not giU
but pay, and it is just rs much O,red to him as
the bills of the baker or the butcher are to
them. The money so paid is for value receiv-
ed as much in the one case as in the other.
The baker gives his equivalent in bread the
butcher in meat, and the pastor in-some-
thing better-sermons and prayers and plead
ings that may save soul from death and hide
a multitude of sins.
The only question that remains. then, is
this How much is "A support! And this is
to be answered partly BY his circumstances
and needs and partly by the ability of the
church to pay. But in making the estimate
there is one fact that ought never to be lost
sight Of and that is Tie cdiue Of gospel priCi-
kgeS. The preaching, the praying, the sacra-
ments, the Sunday school, the church fellow
ship, the pastoral vsitaton-all the sacred
influences that cluster round a church and go
out from it, what are they worth to you
No money can pay for them! Suppose they
were all taken away and you and your fami-
| ly left in n barren wilderness of heathenism
and worldliness, with no Sabbath, no church,
no Bible, no pastor no Sunday school.
| Would you not be willing TO pay heavily TO
bring them back again: The more, then, you
prize the precious gospel and its institutions,
the more readily and gladly will you even sac
rifce for them, And though it may be diff
cult to decide just how much of ones income
ought to be devoted TO its support, one thing
is plain: Our preaching ought to cost us more
than our luxuries, more than our amuse-
ments, moro than our newspapers, more than
the cigars we smoke or the hneries we wear,
nay, more than all these put together. Nor
ought the salary to be determined by the very
least that pastor can live on. For Christian
love and liberality would lead a church TO
treat him generously, not closely, He ought
to have an aeerage living among his mem
bers, somewhere about half way between the
richest and the poorest of them. He has no
business to live in brown-stone palace on
Fifth avenue, and they have no business to
IL