The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-12-29
BILL ARP ON CALLING A PREACHER.
THE PASTOR WITHOUT A FOL.
LOWING.

The.dethods of the Several Denomi-
nations I'm Getting Pastors and
Making Changes.
There is an old English rhyme which
says
"a pastor without any people
Islike q church without q steeple."
Dean Swift added two lines, which
said:
"a people withouta pastor
Are like q dog without a MASTER
This fits us better, for we have lost
ours n are now cropping o in
search OF another one. Calling Il.
preacher Is always q perplexing aud
embarrassing thingto do. What Is the
best mode Of procedure has long been
q vexed question among the churches.
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 PEG.
pie are bowling for another change.
But the churches don't change. They
think 1t better to endure the objections
rather than abandon tho faith and
formula OF their fathers. The Metho-
dists get their preachers from the
bishops and the people have no choice
pointed they mako no complaint, for
the y know that the year will soon pass
and q change will come. The rotation
must go on. There Is no interregnum.
They are never without Il preacher.
This plan.saves the people some embar-
rassment. 1t Ia hard upon the preach,
ers n especially upon their wives and
children. No permanent abode; no
home attachments; no vine and fig tree;
no neighbors of long standing who have
been true and tried in sickness and
health. BY the time they begin to
know them and to love them the year
1s gone and they must separate. DR..
johnson, the. great philosopher, said {:
II have always looked upon it as the
worst condition OF mans destiny that
persons are SO often torn asunder just
asrthey become happy in each others
society" Methodist preachers wives
and children are the gypsies of the
church. | have always sympathized
with them.
Another objection to the Wesleyan
method is the bishops lack Of informa
tion as to the needs of the different
churches and the qualifications OF the
" preachers to be assigned. or course
he has to consult the elders and these
have their favOrites, their college
mates, their likes and dislikes, and tho
appointments sometimes are disaD.
pointments and cause heart burnings
that are smothered, but felt. We SOC
by the papers that Rev. Robert Toombs
Dubose, a grandson OF Bob Toombs,
was given six little scattered country
churches for tho coming year and he
says he cannot take the burden, for his
health Is very. poor and the winters
travel from church to church would
%endanger his life. 1t looks like some
body ought to have known this before.
Some forty years ago q Mr.. Graves
wrote q sarcastic, unkind book about
this power of the bishops over the PEG.
pie, and pictured a great iron wheel re-
volving horizontally and the bishops
sitting on 1t in dignified ease, while
the wheel rested on the bowed should
ers OF the humble preachers.
The Episcopalians get the preachers
from the bishops, too, but they don't
rotate, neither do they get far away
from railroads or civilization. They
are the most devoted sectarians of all
Christian observation-disclosures to
their church, it, venerable renown, its
rituals and northumberland to their
bishop almost to idolatry. An ioditfer-
emit preacher is all the same to them a.
The most eloquent divine, for they per
form as much Of the service as he does
and only need him for o leader. If he
u read the ritual passing we'll and
administer the communion he is ali
right with them. 1t is an admirable
feature in the ritual Of this church that
the people both young and old take so
prominent Il part in the service. L
asked q critical cynical friend one Sun
day umorning where he was going in
such q 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 q great liking
to an Episcopal preacher who was fish
ed his invitation to come and hear him
preach In a ~neighboring church next
Sabbath. He put on his best clothes
and rode the old mare to the little
chapel and took a front scat and tried
to be devout for the first time in his
life. After the service was over he
took the preacher by the hand and
said, well, parson, l 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 | could"
I have always thought that there was
most too much risin and sottin In that
church and not enough in the others.
We took q little city boy with us to
church last Sunday. 1t was his first
adventure Of that kind, but he had been
going to matinees. "Aunty, what are
they all doing now," ho whispered.
They are saying their prayers she
said. So he bowed his head and re-
peated, "Twinkle, twinkle little star"
After the service he said he dident
think 1t was much Of q show.
The Baptists have the most demo
cratic method Of calling q preacher. 1t
Is the very essence of simplicity. They
call whom they please and every nom
Der has q vote. They keep him az long
as 1t Is mutually agreeable and either
party can dissolve the relation at pleas
ure. OF course there is always some
embarrassment ABOUT getting rid of AN
unwelcOme preacher, but there Is one
way that Is generally successful. They
u starve him out. This method will
move him as effectually as smoking a
rabbit out OF a hollow tree.
The Presbyterian mode of calling a
preacher has much to commend it after
1T 10 happily done, but is beset with
embarrassment in the doing Of 1t. The
call 10 strictly democratic for every
member has o vote, but after the call
lie made and the preacher ordained as
pastor the presbytery locks the door
and puts tho key In its pocket and says
now that you have got him you must
keep him till say no. 1t is like the
law OF marriage and divorce. 1t Is easy
enough TO get married. but H. used ~