The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1880-11-13
COUNTRY AND CITY PAsToRATEs.

Ministers in the rural districts, and
any number Of pastors in our villages
and towns, have a great yearning for
city pulpits. The notion prevails that
4 church in a great metropolis, like
New York, or in city like Brooklyn,
or Philadelphia, or Boston, or Chicago,
or some other important center Of pop
ulation, presents the most inviting field
for Christian labor and for the widest
ministerial influence. Under this inn
preston, the feeling is cherished by
most of the young men in our theologi-
cal seminaries, and by scores OF village
pastors that nothing is more to be de-
sired either for usefulness or happiness
than their advancement (?) to a city
church. Seeing n few Of their class
mates and early associates in the minis
try holding these positions Of superior
cminencc, % while they are left to oc-
cupy humber fields, they are, at times,
tempted to envy them their success, and
they secretly sigh for similar promotion.
We do not mean TO intimate that city
pulpiis offer no advantages TO preachers.
\ man adapted to the wants OF great
city, and able to exert an influence on
its crowded population, holds a very
important position. But no, less impor-
tant are the opportunities of usefulness
offered by comparatively small and OBJ
scurc fields of labor.
In the matter of congregations, We
could name scores in villages and towns,
with which, for size and intelligence,
those of most city churches VIII bear no
comparison. Very recently We were
supplying pulpit less than fifty miles
from New York, whose pastor had gone
toprcach for church in an Eastern city,
and on that occasion we found an as
sembly much larger than was present
on the same day at any Baptist church
in New York. Nor is this an exceptional
case. We could cite many more Of the
same kind in proof Of the fact that ga
wide field of usefulness" and opportuni-
ties for "reaching the masses" are not
advantages confined TO the crowded
populations of cities. In such COM
munities, moreover, it will be found that
a pastors influence reaches beyond his
own people. He is recognized, as few
city PASTORS are, in circle that extends
beyond the limits of his own congrega-
ton, and his worth and work are APP
prcciatcd by a multitude that seldom or
never attend upon his ministry.
In this light, it is manifest that many
village pastors who are coveting city
pulpits are greatly mistaken in their
notion of the superior advantages of
settlement in city; and, with more
correct and comprehensive views Of the
situation, brethren anxious to occupy
metropolitan pulpits would discover it
TO be much wiser for them to cultivate
contcntment, and TO take heed to the
apostles counsel, to "abide in the same
calling wherein they are called"
II is not to be doubted, that, at the
present day, certain order of pulpit
talent is required by our city churches,
and that the interests of the common
cause often demands that peculiar gifts
should be recured for positions to which
they are especially adapted. When this
is the case, there arises necessity for
change in the pastoral relation, involv-
ing no little self-denial on the par, of
some of our rural churches, and the
transfer of relations, under such circum-
stances, seems to be dictate of duty
on the part of pastors who are thus sum-
moned to other spheres of service. But
in all other cases the usefulness and hap
piness of ministers who are successfully
serving churches in more retired places
will be found to be greatly promoted by
better appreciation OF the fields Of Ia
Dor to which they should recognize them
selves as appointed by the Great Head
OF the Church. Rdbhia Ufekh.