The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-12-29

I was Illuminating about these things
because we have lost our preacher and
are looking around for another. He
had o call to u bigger and maybe a
better place with 0 larger salary, and
accepted before we hardly knew he
was called. He hadent finished up this
church and he knew il, but | reckon
afraid that IL would fioish him up
If he staid, for tho ii mes we're SO hard
we couldd't pay him promptly, though
we did the best we could. Preachers
want their salary in the bank, and 1T
ought to be. [ was present once when
o preacher was ordained. After the
when the people went up to
give him their hands and their bene-
dictioIs, n old man said, "May the
Lord keep you humble; we will keep
you poor" Ano they did. For forty
years l have been looking for u country
church that paid the preacher q sufi-
cientsalary and paid it promptly. Pay
ing the preacher is the unsolved prob.
lem and has been ever since there were
ought to get to heaven, for they have
q hard time here. Goldsmith tells us
OF the village preacher
"a man he Ia to all the country dear,
And passing rich at forty pounds q year"
So great and good a man as Jonathan
Edwards after twcnty-four years OF
faithful service at Northampton was
voted out OF his pulpit, aud like an old
horse turned out to Craze and die. We
lind q good deal OF fault with the
preachers and sometimes with their
wives and children, but after all they
arc as a class the best people we have
got and set us the best examples. How
sooI would we lose u morality with
out them. They have their likes and
dislikes, and perhaps their favorites in
the church, and so do we. n tho old
times they preached for smaller sala-
ries. The salary was q secondary con-
sideratiOn, but now 1t Is the first. Over
fifty years ago | went to school to an
freshman who suddenly took o notion
that he would quit teaching and go to
preaching. He studied q year and
then applied to- the presbytery at Co.
lumbus for examination and license.
The committee reported favorably and
he was about to pass successfully, when
old DR.. G%ouldipg, the moderator, lean
ed forward and said II will ask the
candidate q single question. Brother
Gray, do you feel in your heart that tho
Lord has called you to preach the gos-
pei to the people ?" Yes" said he,
''if they pay me for IT," He was not
licensed. He attached too much i'm
portance to the pay.
The other day | met my friend Mil
ton Gambler IN Atlanta and asked him
about a young preacher, and he said
Yes, he is q very promising
can you pay ?" When 1 told him he
looked surprised and said mo more
than that? | don't think you can get
him. Good preachers have gone up
There are but few lo~ng-cUntinued
pa~storatcs In these later years. A.
soon as a preacher gets q re putation he
Is called to a weather. church, and he
goes. It is easy for him to see that The
way 10 clear and it is the Lords will
when the salary Ia increased. The pas
torates in England and Germany are
lifelong and there is no chance for tho
college graduates save to wait for their
death or approximation or for new
churches to be established.
The Presbyterian mode of calling q
pastor has no fixed rules or usages
For awhile the vacated church Is all al
sea, but by and by the applications be
gin tocome in and references are given
A correspondence is had and inquiries
are made as to tho applicants charac
ter as a man and a preacher aud q
worker. and Us to his wife and chill
dren. LII it be practicable he is invited
to come and preach u trial sermon and
mingle for q day or two with the PEG
pie. This is a hard experience on any
sensitive Christian man, for he realize:
that he is On trial and hat the Jury Is
composed Of perhaps a hundred mcr
and women to whom he is a strangei
and who know nothing OF his inner life
his emotions. his struggles and misfor,
tunes. The situation is against him
for people will naturally wonder why
he does not stay where he Is If he
Is the right sort OF a man. Maybe
he does not wear we'll and his people
arc tired OF him. And so he is a suspect
The test of u preacher from a single
sermon and a days acquaintance is a
very unfair trial both to preacher and
people. But what else can be done
The result not unfroquently Is that one
or both are disappointed and another
change Is wanted. The church issplit
up. There are majoritics and minori
ties until finally the subscriptions fall
oil and the preacher has to go or starvc
Money is the sinews of church prosper.
ity as we'll as Of war. The love oil
money is the cot Of all evi. and the
lack o! IL is nearly as bad. 1t will chill
and paralyze the spiritual life of any
church. BILL ARP.