The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-12-11

minded man. They may like it in the
doctor. The merchant must put up
with abuse and almost insult, to keep
his customers. The editor stiles his
convictions, to say what the stockhold-
ers dictate, or an exacting public de-
mand. But the preacher, while he
speaks the truth in love, will be heard
and honored by those who differ. 1
speak out of busy twenty years of
constant service, and 1 say that have
had the utmost freedom in my pulpit
and my work, and some of my best
friends and helpers have been among
those who differed from me most.
What other profession can say more ?
2. We can say again, that the min
lister above all others is his own master.
He calls no man master, save only that
one whom he delights to follow. He
is master of his time and can choose
his hours of labor, recreation and rest.
He is no slave to ten or sixteen hour
law. He works when at his best and
so works freely and can thus work
twenty hours with joy. The relentless
Office or corporation or store, does not
command him, sick or well. His tasks
are varied. 1t is not a steady grind at
one thing. If he wearies at one task,
he finds rest in another, and having
accomplished it, he returns, with re-
newed vigor to the first. He can desert
his study to-day, and while he comforts
the sorrowing, heals the sick, and car
ries sunshine and hope into many a
heart and home, or makes some man
brave again, to take up life's work and
go forward,-he has enriched his own
life, and goes to his study on the NOR
row with his soul full of life and
thought and vigor, to write manly
words of truth and love, for those who
shall feed upon his words when Sun
day comes.
No wonder men break down at the
desk, or in their great enterprises. 1t
is not from over-work; it is the dead
level monotonous pull at the same thing
The merchant figures and thinks, thinks
and figures, in the same line and on the
same things, and wears out one set of
faculties, while the rest of this grand
outfit wastes from neglect the equal
balance is lost, and a wreck follows.
His clerk stands behind the counter, to
do thoughtless, mechanical thing, and
smile and speak of the weather, day
after day, year after year, and the color
fades from his cheek, the light from his
eye; vigor goes from his thought and
strength from his body, and he is broken
down before his time. No wonder the
men weary Of ten hours day, and cry
eight is enough, when you think what
they are doing. One monotonous,
thoughtless task for ten hours day,
six days in week, four weeks in
month, twelve months in a year, and
then repeat it, with no change, and lit
tie improvement. It is not the work
of which he wearies. Man loves to
work. 1t is the low, unthipking, me-
chanical monotOny that makes a think
ing, soulful man cry out. The minis
ter does not weary Of eight, or ten, or
eighteen hours day, because his work
calls upon all the forces of his manhood
to help. His soul and body are doing
the worlds work laid upon him, and
the ''yoke becomes easy and the burden
light" And SO it comes that the min
listers are among the hardest workers,
and live the longest of any class of
workers.
8. You see, therefore, that the young
man will find the ministry the health
lest profession. He can take better
care of this body through which the
soul and mind do their work.
4. Again, we can say, the ministry
pays financially. 1.-THE laborer is worthy
of his hire" and there is no profession
that yields more comfort and better
average living than the ministry. mot
one lawyer in dozen makes a living
out of his profession" said promi
nent judge of this State. They must
turn to something else. This is not
true of the ministry. Ninety eight per
cent of the men who go into business
fail. Ninety-five per cent in careful,
conservative Boston. Can you say this
of the minister He earns his money.
1t is more than the average earnings
of his congregation. And he gets more of
it with less trouble than any other man.
We hear great deal about stingy par
ishes and poorly paid ministers, and
much we hear is true. But when the
old Indians "poOr preach" has offset
the ''poor pay" shall affirm that the
ministry is better paid, and gets its pay
with less loss and less litigation than
any other profession. See the work
and worry and strife it costs men to
get their money, and how hard it is to
keep it. They must live on this low
plane and give the best of their lives to
this sordid work. But the minister
works first in the realm of noble thought
and holy living, while "all these things