Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-07-21
CRITICISING THE MINISTER


but is rather the fruit of many years OBJ
servation of the ways of parishes with
their ministers-ways by no means pecu-
liar to one denomination.
When the minister is first settled every
thing was heavenly"-too heavenly to
last. Wherever two or three of the parish
meet together, Fluctuations are exchanged
upon their good fortune, and the new
minister's praises are loudly chanted.
The new minister introduces some in
novations in the service, the parish work,
etc, whose novelty pleases and every one
seconds all his ideas with enthusiasm.
Let not the minister, however, deceive
himself by dreaming that this ideal state
Of things will last. His trial hour has not
yet come. But it will. Generally, in the
second or third year of his pastorate, the
reaction sets in. The novelty has worn
off; and his people, having become ac-
customed to his special gifts and graces.
accept them as a matter Of course. The
wave of enthusiasm has subsidized and a
cold wave of criticism sets in, swelling as
it rolls.
The time is always to be dreaded when,
at the sewing society, Mrs. Brown first
ventures to remark that Mrs. Robinson
told her that Mrs. Colonel Smith said she
thinks Mr.. Blanks sermons are too long
and dry, or that his gestures are so awk-
ward, or what not. 1t seems little
thing but it is the beginning of the end,
the
| q Little rift within the lutte,
| That by and by will make the music mute"
Mrs. Browns remark invariably calls
| forth corroborative testimony from other
ladies, who do not wish to appear deficient
in critical acumen. Each adds her little
drop Of depreciation to help make the
mighty ocean" which will, perhaps,
eventually sweep the minister from the
pulpit. The wife goes home and enter
tains her husband with the comments OF
the sewing circle or the gossip she had
picked up in a round of calls. And the
next day, in store or bank or wherever
male gossips most do congregate, the hus-
band says:
people don't seem to like Mr. Blank as
well as they did at first. My wife says, "
etc, etc.
Then each of the male gossips pluck a
feather or two from the plumage of the
minister's once admired virtues, until he is,
so far as character goes, literally picked to
pieces.
People now go to church in a critical
mood instead of an admiring one, which
makes a deal of difference how a sermon
sounds to one. 1t is so much easier to crit
icise a sermon than to write one More
often, however, it is not the minister's SER
mons which give dissatisfaction. / have
seen-every one has-able men of excellent
character criticised out of their pulpits for
the most trivial nothings. 1t might be
some insignificant personal eccentricity,
some popularity of dress or bearing or
manner. 1t might be because he was con-
sidered to slight his sermons, and spend too
much time running about the parish call
ing, or in working in outside charities and
town matters Or it might be because he
spent too much time in his study, writing
three months since he has called on Mrs
| Jones'"
A wise old physician of my acquaint-
ance, used to say that nothing insured n
young doctors success so certainly as a
good how dye do" This is pre-eminently
true of the minister He may POSSESS all
the virtues, be ST. Francis and ST. Au-
gustine blended in one; but if h, has not
good how dye do" woe unto him IT,
however, he has the social graces in a
marked degree, when the wave of criti-
cism sets in, the parish will loo 1skance
upon his suavity and wonder if h. Is quite
sincere.
Whatever the special ground of COM
plant, the period of criticism is certain to
come, and the minister may as well be
mentally prepared to undergo it. If, how
ever, he be q good man and true, "let
nothing him dismay." Let him go straight
on, doing his duty conscientiously as God
gives him to see it, and ten TO one he will
come out like Christian Of Pilgrims
Progress" when he espied two lions" in
the narrow way he needs must go. And,
the period of criticism once out-weathered,
the minister may consider himself well
settled in the saddle for long trip.
Two or three things it would be well for
us of the parish to remember First, be-
cause we pay the minister small sum for
services faithfully rendered, we do not own
him. lie Is not teetotum to be spun at
our pleasure. He is an independent souI,
accountable not to the parish, but to God
alone for his opinions and the conscienti-
Gus use of his powers. If the minister's
idea of his duty and his peoples are so
radically opposed to each other that COM
promise is impossible, then there is but one
remedy. Let them "part in peace" in
mutual dignity and self-respect
Secondly, we must remember that the
minister is human-indeed makes no pre-
tensions of being otherwise First-class
angels are almost as rare in the pulpit as
in the pews. The secret of his power lies
IN the very fact that he speaks to US from
the level of our common humanity. Be
ing human, he will necessarily have i'm
PROJECTIONS. But do not lei us look at him
through microscope, exaggerating each
little roughness into a mountain. Let ms
stand far enough off for the proper per-
spective, take the large view, and get the
altogether" of him. If, on the whole.
seen thus, we find him to be earnest, sin
cere, faithful to the best he knows, doing
his duty as in Gods sight, do not let us
block his way with our petty criticisms
Let us accept him for better, for worse
Just as he is. If there be some points we
wish were different, let us remember it is
often wiser to bear those ills we have"
than fly to others that we know not Of"
Instead of standing colby off and CRITICS.
ing him, take hold and help him.
Beware always of the first beginning of
criticism. Don't begin it yourself, and, if
some one else does stife your natural hui
man impulse to hear and to tell some new
thing, stamp it ont then and there, as YOU
would little fire on the edge of sun
dried prairie.
If minister really has faults that it
seems to you may seriously impair his use
fulness, then it is for you to have the
/ courage Of your convictions, and tell him
Of them between him and you alone. Tell
him and no one else. 1t may be giving
him the faithful wound of a friend"
but better this than the secret stab in the
back, the whispering it all about the pa
IRISH in confidence.
! How often, when
Hrsannas languish on our tongues.
And our devotion dies,
when We seem wholly given over to the
i I'll III ~,