Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-05-05
Acai. remark that BrooklyD pastorate

Is characterized by brevity. Oethlnk my
! self of but three ministers OF the gospel now
| preaching here who were preaching when l
came to Brooklyn. Most OF the puipits
around me have changed seven or eight
times since my arrival
Sometimes the pastorate has been briet
for oae reason and sometimes for another
reason Sometimes the minister's OF che gos.
pel have been too good for this world. and
heaven has transpIanted thsn. sometimes
they changed PLACES by the decree OF tnsr
determination. Sometimes they came with
great blare of trumpets, proposing TO carry
guished before they were distinguished
Some got preached ont in two or three years
and told the people ell they knew. Some
with holy speed did IN a short time work
which it takes a great many years TO do.
Whether for good or bal reasons Brook
Ign pastorate is characterized by brevity,
not much of the old plan by which minis
ter of the gospel baptized an infant, then re
ceive1 him into the church, after he had BE-
come an adult married him, baptized his
children, married them AID lived on long
enough to bury almost everybody but him
self. Glorious old pastorates they were.
Some Of Us remember them-Dr. Soring,
Peter Labaugh, Dominic Zabriskie, Daniel
Waldo, Abram Halsey.
When the snow melted from their fore.
heads, it revealed the flowers of An unfading
coronal. Pastorates of 90 40, 30, % years
helped into the pulpit or into the carriage.
they were old AMI decrepit, but when the
Lords chariots halted one day in front OF
the old parsonage they stepped in vigorous
as an athlete, and as we saw the wheels OF
fire whirling through the gates Of. the sun
set we all cried out, my father, my father
the chariots of Israel and the korsemen
thereofm
I remark again, a Brooklyn passionate IS
characterised by its happiness.
No city under the sun where people take
such good care of their ministers. In pro-
portion as the world outside may curse
congregation stands close up by the man
whom they believe in. BrOoSlyn society
has for its foundation two elements-the
Puritanic which always means quiet Sab
bath. and the Hollandish, which means
worshiDful people. On the top OF this an
admixture OF all nationaliries-tha brawDY
Scot, toe solid English, the vivacious Irish,
the polite French, the philosophic German
and in all this intermingling of population
the universal dominant theory that a man
can do as he pleases provided he doesn't dis
turb anybody else.
A delightful climate. While it is hard on
weak Threats, for the most OF US it is
hracing. Not an atmosphere made up of
the discharged gases OF chemical factories or
the miasms Of swamps, but comlng painting
right off 5000 miles Of Atlantic Ocean be-
fore anybody else has had chance to
breathe it All through the city society
os kind, genial, generous, sympathetic
people. How they fly to you when you are
in troubled How they watch over you when
You are sick How tender they are with
YOU when you have buried your dead!
Brooklyn is a good place to live in, good
place to die in. good place to be buried in,
good place from which to rise in the
beautiful resurrection.
In such city I have been permitted to
re-
years how many heartbreaks. how many
losses, how many bereavements! Hardly
family of the church that has not been
struck with sorrow. But God has sustained
you in the past, and He will sustain you in
the future. l exhort you to be of gooi
cheer, Oh thou Of the broken heart. sweep
ing may endure for night. but JOY cometh
in the morning. I wish over every door OF
this church we might have written the
word mpathy"-synpathy for all the
young.
We must crowd them in here by thou
sands aud propose a radiant gospel that
they will take en- the spot. We must make
this place so attractive for the young that a
young man will come here on Sa bbath morn
ing, put down his hat, brush his hair bach
from his forehead, unbutton his ovarcoat
and look around wondering if he has not by
mistake got into heaven. He will see in the
faces of the old people not the gloon which
some people take for religion, but the sun
shine OF celestial peace, and he will say.
why, wonder if that isn't the same peace
that shone out on the face Of my father and
mother. when they lay dyingY
And then there will come dampneSs in
his eyes through which he can hardly seq,
and he will close his eyes to imprson the
emotion, but the hot tear will break through
the fringes of eyelashes and drop upon thu
coat sleeve. He will put his head on the
back Of the pew in front and sob. 'Lord
God of the old people, help me' We ought
10 lay a plot here for the religious capture
of all the young people in Brooklyn.
Yes sympathy for the old. They have
their aches and pains and distresses. They
used to. We must be reverential in their
presence. On dark days we must help them
through the aisle and help them find the
place in the hymn book. Some Sabbath
morning we shall miss them from their place,
AMI we shall say, wv aere is Father So-and-
so to-1ay?" and the answer will be: "What,
haven't you heard? The Kings wagons
have taken Jacob up to the palace where his
Joseph is yet alive
Sympathy for business men. Twenty
four years Of commercial life in New York
and Brooklyn are enough to tear ones
nerves to pieces. We want to make our
Sabbath service here a rescue for all thesa
martyrs OF traffic, foretaste of the t land
where they have no rents to pay, and there
are no business rivalries, and where riches,
instead of taxing wings to fly away, brood
over other riches.
Sympathy for the fallen, remembering
that they ought to be pitied as much as
man run over with a rail train. The fact is
that in the temptations and misfortunes OF
life they get run over. You and 1 in the
same circumstances would have done as
badly. We should have done worse perhaps.
If you and had the same evil surroundings
an the same evil parentage that they had
and the same native born prociivities to evil
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