The news & observer., 1896-12-27
There is an old English. rhyme which

says:
"A pastor without any people
Is like a church without a steeple"
Dean Swift added two lines, which
said:
"A people without pastor
Are like dog without q master
This fits us better, for we have LOSE
ours and are now cropping around in
search Of another one. Calling preach
or is always q perplexing and embarrass-
ing thing to do. What is the best mode
of procedure has long been a vexed ques-
lion. There are some objections to every
method that has been tried. 1t is Like
the election Of judges of our courts; nine
times in my recollection the mode of their
election has been changed in Georgia,
and now the press and the people are
bowling for another change. But the
churches don't change. They think it
| better to endure the objections rather
than abandon the faith and formula of
/ their fathers. The Methodists get their
preachers froEn the bishops and the people
! have no choice in the selection. If they
are disappointed they make no complaint,
for they know that the year sill soon pass
| and a change will come.u The rotation
! must 90 on. There is ne interregnum.
/ They are never without preacher.
/ This Plan saves the people some mbarrass
ment 1t is hard upon the preachers and
especially upon their wives and children.
! No permanent abode; no home attach
ments; no vine and 6g tree; no neghbors
! of long standing who have been true and
tried in sickness aud health. By the time
they begin to know them and to love
them the year is gone and they must
separate. DF, johnson, the great philo.
sopher, said; 81 have always looked upor
! ii as the worst condition of mans destiny
| that persons are so often torn asunde
| Just ss they become happy in each 9th
cr's society" Methodist preachers wive,
and children are the gypsies of th
church. ] have always syrnpethized Will
them.
Another objection 70 the Wesleyan
method is the bishops lack of information
as to the needs of the different churche
end the qualifications Of the preacher
! TO be assigned. OF course he has TO con
sult the elders and these have their IN
! yorites, their college mates, their like
and dislikes, and the appointments some
times are disappointments and eaus
heart burnings that are smothered, bu
| felt We see by the papers that Re7
! Robert T0ombs Dubose, grandson
Bob T0Oms, was given six little sc8tt2rp
country churches for the coming yeaf
and be says he cannot take the burden
/ for his health is very poor and the win
ters travel from church 70 church woult
Iendanger his life. 1t looks Ike somebod,
bought TO have known this before. Sonte
i Gx r,..s{,, as
sarcastic, unkind book about this power Of
the bishops over the people, and pictured
n great iron wheel revolving horizontal
iy and the bishops sitting on it in digni-
fed ease, while the wheel rested on the
bowed shoulders Of the humble preachers.
| The Episcopalians get their preachers
from the bishops, too, but they don't ro-
tate, neither do they get far away from
railroads or civilization. They are the
most devoted sectarians Of all Christian
denominations devoted to their church,
! its venerable renown, its rituals and ira
ditions-deyoted to their bishop almost ia
idolatry An indifferent preacher is al
the same to them as the most eloquent
divine, for they perform as much Of the
service as he does and only need him for
a leader. If he can read the ritual pass
ling well and administer the communion
he is all right with them. 1t is an admir-
able feature in the ritual of this church
that the people both young and old take
so prominent q part in the service.
asked critical cynical friend one Sunday
morning where he was going in such II
hurry. I'm going up to my church to
worship God-not man." said he. | read
the other day about an old fisherman who
had taken great liking to an Episcopal
preacher who was fishing in his neighbor-
hood, and he accepted his invitation to
come and hear him preach in a neighbor-
boring church next Sabbath. He put on
his best clothes and rode the old mare tU
the little chapel and took front seat
and tried to be deyout for the first time in
4 his life. After the service was over he
took the preacher by the hand and said,
well, parson, / promised to come and
/ | come. / didn't understand much of
what you was saying and doing, but L
| ris and sot with you the best l could.
have always thought that there was
most too much risin and sottin in that
church and not enough in the others. We
/ took a little 1ity boy with us tochurch
| last Sunday. 1t was his first venture OF
that kind, but he had been going to ma
tinees. "Aunty, what are they all doing
now" he whispered. They are saying
their prayers" she said. So he bowed
his head and repeated, Twinkle, twinkle
| little star" After the service he said he
didn't think 1t was nueh OF show
| The Baptists have the most democratic
methed Of calling preacher. 1t is the
very essence Of simplicity. They call
when they please aAd every meMber has
vote. They keep him as long as it is
mutually agreeable and either party can
dissolve the relation at pleasure. OF
course there is always some embarrass-
ment about getting rid Of an unwelcome
preacher, but there is one way that is
generally successful. They can starye
him out The method will move him as
effectually as smoking out rabbit out OF
hollow tree.
The Presbyterian mode OF calling
preacher has much to commend it after it
is happily done, but is beset with embar-
rassment in the doing of it. The call is