Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-08-04
RELIC Gus.
Filling the Pews.

tor spoke in behalf of the churches OF the
neighborhood, and part of his address
was In reality a very skillful charge to the
people. He said to the people, who had
called a council to install their new pas
tor: "You have called this man 10 fill
your pulpit, and now 1t Is your duty to
fill the pews. When he Is absent from
the pulpit he will provide a substitute
to fill his place. When you are absent
from the pews, will you provide sub
stitutes? You will expect him to preach
each Sunday, morning and evening; but
will you be present morning and evening,
and do all that you can to make the SER
vices successful?" More was said to the
same effect, and the proper division of
labor between pastor and people in order
to secure the highest success was out
lined in an effective manner.
The trouble with some churches is that
they lay on their pastor the double duty
of filling the pulpit and the pews. He
must draw. Happy for him If he can
draw so strong a homiletical hand as to
be able to win alone, but only man of
striking popular gifts can do this. 1t is
better to say, the church must draw. a
churchfull of pews ought to draw more,
for their own filling, than one pulpit. a
church, as to drawing, should be like one
of the long breaking-teams used in sub
DUNG the vigin soil in the early days of
the middle west, or like Elisha's twelve
yoke of oxen, hitched to one plow. With
such team in front. of it, the share of
the mighty pillow cuts its way through
matted grass and interlacing roots. and
what broad furrow the mold-board
turns up, But one OK could hardly
draw the pillow over the surface of the
ground. So the pastor should not be
hitched to the parish pillow to break up
falow ground alone, but he should have
the assistance of every member of the
church.
How may the people assist in filling
the pews? 1t seems almost too simple to
say, by sitting in them during each SER
vice, but that is Just the seat of the
difficulty. How can a minister draw
own people draw away from it, about
one.half of the time? The spectacle of
the Sunday evening service in too many
churches is very disheartening; tug-o
war. we might say. with the pastor, the
choir and few faithful members inside
the church at one end of the rope. and
the world, the flesh and the devil and
two thirds of the church members out
side of the church, at the other end. No
wonder that at the close of such set-to
the pastor feels tired, too tired to write
] J., oh hn tit,nn-
feels like doing so.
Let him put more leverage into his SER
mons? Yes, lie would like to; but his
pulpit platform is not good pou sto
from which to move the world when he
has no better fulcrum than empty pews.
lie might do it-part of the world, at
least-if he could pivot the short end of
his lever over the presence and prayers
of an enthusiastic membership. Empty
pews are withdrawing. Like bad
chimney on gusty day, they draw the
wrong way. An empty pew is vacuum
which nature abhors-average human
nature. Let the members of the church
help the pastor to preach by occupying
the pews. Give him something to shoot
at. You may not need the ammunition
of this or that sermon, but you will at
least give him the range, and some sinner
behind you may be hit hard, and then
you can direct him to the right source of
/ healing.
Members can help TO fill the pews by
creating warm and cordial social at
mosphere. Every pew should be pass
age leading into the kingdom of Christ.
The social atmosphere of a church
should be balmy and inviting. Sinners
cannot be deluded into the belief that the
way TO heaven lies over the Greenlandlsh
ice-cap of a cold, unsocial church. The
north pole of organized Christianity is
not so attractive as the north pole of the
globe. No one is ambitious TO discover
il. but neglected strangers sometimes
think that they come within a degree or
two of it when they enter the church of
the Minus Zero, shiver through a SER
vice, slide out into the street between
rows of icy members, and have to 60 to
a ball game in the afternoon to get
warm.
The best way to fill the pews of a
church is to make it a center of practical
Christian activities. People admire an
active church. They like TO see things
done, and they can easily distinguish
between things that ere done in routine
way and things that are done in earnest.
One might feel mild interest in witness.
ing the evening dress prade of a body of
troops, but how powerfully he would be
drawn to see the same body of troops if
they were engaged in an actual battle in
which he had important interests at
stake. There is nothing so fascinat-
ing as earnest efforts put forth
for the attainment of high, unselfish
ends. When the members Of church
are really in earnest, when they are filed
with the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of
evangelical earnestness, when they do
good to all men as they find opportunity,
81, ~. 4. 4,