The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-08-10
WORK OF A CLERGYMAN.
ONE OF THE CLOTH CHATS a
WHILE ON THE SUBJECT.

Every. hing.
The central figure was a prominent clergy
man of New York. His pleasant face was
scanned with the lines Of thought, while his
pen scratching rapidly over the paper was
laying tho framework of one of those brainy,
vigorous m which have been SO often
reported. Looking up and observing q visi-
tor, whom he had been too busy to notice be-
and proceeded to the completion of his task.
"You catch me in a busy time," he said,
pleasantly, as the pen ceased moving and he
threw himself buck in the chair with an mir
Of relief. 1.-THE general public seems to be
under the impression that we ministers nave
nothing to do but to laugh and grow stout,
preach a sermon or two and enjoy the good
things Of this world" said the clergyman.
''This idea, strange to say, is shared by some
members of our own congregations, who, il
they took the interest in the church they
should, would soon learn to know better.
"Not long ago I was accosted as I came
out Of my study one morning by an old
parishioner of mine with the remark, tAh,
how do you doa What do you expect to find
to do that will enable you to kill the time
between now and next Sundays?
"This, I i'm sorry to say, expresses the idea
formed by the masses of a clergyman's life.
Idle? No, indeed, we are not. l have been
in both the business and Christian world for
over twenty-five years, and I never worked
20 hard in my life as I have since I became q
minister.
A cLERGYMAN's WORK.
"Tho world Of laborers and mechanics are
crying out for less hours, yet we work from
fourteen to nineteen hours a day, Sundays
included. To DO sure, there is a certain ad-
vantage in our business-for such I must
term tin the fact Of its not being monoto-
nous. We generally try to spend our morn
ings in our studies, but we arc subject to SO
many Interruptions that I do my best think
ing and almost all my writing after 9 p. M,
and have for nearly twenty years. We are
public men, the servants of the people, md
should be at their disposal at any hour Of tho
lay or night. I have always made myself
Easy Of access, and hold myself in readiness
to extend sympathy or do good where good
ian be done. We are subject to sudden calls
for funerals, baptisms, weddings and sick
calls, and are expected to lend an ear to the
wall Of sorrow from whomever it may
come.
A q minister you are justly expected to
yivo consolation. To do this you must give
the matter your undivided attention. Then
m the preparation Of our sermons. This
necessarily takes time, and q great deal Of it.
It takes thought and study to enable o cler-
gyman to present to his congregation Sun
day after Sunday and year after year
thoughts that will reach their hearts, md
preach sermons which will not pail upon
them, and do more harm than good by turn
ing them from the church with q feeling
akin to disgust at the minister's poverty Of
expression or meagerness of thought.
what time l can get from my sick calls
md other drains upon my timo I devote to
study, but l have not an idle moment, and
have no opportunity for social calls what
sver. My method Of making a sermon is this:
In the first place I settle on a theme early in
the week, read about it, investigate it and
think about it until tho inspiration seizes me
to write, and then it is my habit to write it
1T one sitting. It is done by simply letting
my thoughts accumulate. Everything O
man reads, sees and thinks about in his life
and travels is held by tho cumulative power
which stores up ideas. There ere occasions
when q sermon comes like q flash md is seen
from beginning to end by puro inspiration,
and some Of the best sermons lever preached
have come in That way, suggested by some
thing I had seen or somebody had said"
VITAL TO SUCCESS.
fare these studies all retrospective, deal
ing entirely with the traditions of the past?'
''They should not Re, but l regret to say
that in som cases they orc, and this accounts
for the failure some men mako as ministers
Of the Gospel. They seem to forget that tho
world is progressing, that every year the
people to whom they preach arc becoming
better informed on oil subjects; that tho
minds of the young, like sponges, are absorb
ing all the knowledge they can, and that
each generation is becoming better informed
than the last. These points are vital to the
success of a clergyman. He must not only
keep abreast Of the times, but, if possible, in
advance of them, as a school teacher must
ahead of his class. Once let YOU congrega-
lion pass you in this education, SO that they
look down upon you from the height of their
superior knowledge, and your usefulness is
destroyed. The narrowness of your. views is
1t once detected by their better trained ill.,
~tellects, and the truths you may tell them
lose their value. A congregation look to
their minister for guidance and for help, and
it is folly for the blind to lead those who can
see or the weak to assist the strong.
"Not only that, but how is a minister go
ing to preach a telling sermon on tho wrongs
existing in the world unless lie reads about
them, hears of them or sees them! The read.
ing a minister is obliged to do in this day to
keep track of these things and watch tho
world is prodigious. The reviews, magazines
and new books, to say nothing of the litera-
ture Of the past, Of which you spoke, that a
minister must necessarily read would take
all the time of an ordinary man. road his-
tory in its broadest sense. I read everything
pertaining to the world of oil nations, secular
md religious. lido not think a mans heart
can be enlarged or his sympathies be where
they ought to be unless he becomes &C
quainted with the affairs of this vast uni
verse, to oil of which he can we'll apply the
Scriptures, and find in each incid4at o con-
6rmation Of tho Word Of God. To do this re-
quires a student and a thinker, and a think
ing man can never be an idle one. We often
work the hardest when to outsiders we seem
idle."-New York Tribune.