The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-13
PULPIT
And Pew Must Work
Together.
POINTED SERMON
Preached By DR.. Lewis tc
His People.

was strong plea from the pastor
for help and cooperation on the part
OF the members of tile church in his
work.
MI Lewis took his text from Exodus
lS'2l-22, Moreover. thou shalt provide
out of all the people able men, such
as rear God, men of truth, hating COW
etousness; and place such over them,
10 De rulers of thousands, and rulers
OF hundreds, rulers Of flfties, and rulers
OF tens; And let them judge the people
at all seasons: and it shall ne, that
every great matter t:lcy shall bring
unto thee, but every small matter thew
shall judge: so shall it be easier for
myself, and they shall bear the bur-
den with thee"
Moses was unquestionably the great
Sst leader the world has ever had,
Grant, washington, Wellington, Napol-
con or Hannibal were none Of them his
superior. Endowed by nature with
commanding presence, indomitable
courage, prophetic vision and sublime
Iaith, he stands without a peer among
the great generals Of history. Notwith-
standing his greatness, Moses made
the mistake which myriads of men of
all degrees of greatness have since
MADE, namely: that of trying to do all
the work himself. Success came when
he discovered that the true relation
between himself and his people was
that OF cooperation.
The true minister is a servant but
not servant in the sense that he hires
out for certain sum that the people
may be excused from working You
engage a servant for your home that
you may be relieved of certain labors.
out when a minister Is settled 1t is not
expected that he will do the preaching.
praying and calling for the parish.
should a church attempt to work upon
thls basis, 1t would only be a very
snort time before the visible church in
that particular locality would cease
altogether. Neither is the minister a
servant in the sense Of being an over
seer. The directors Of a factory hire a
superintendent who Is expected to do
nothing except see that those under
MIN properly do their work. OF the two
positions, the minister's work would
come far nearer the latter, for it is
ms outy to set others to work rather
than to do the work himself but even
this is not the ideal plan, for since the
minister has not the authority to en-
force his commands, what he says will
amount to but little unless he practi-
ces what he breaches. The ideal rela-
ton then between pastor and people is
that OF being co-workers. The Apostle
Paul speaks of such as '1aborers to-
gether with God" The pastor is a SER
want, out no more so than the people.
Both are servants Of a common mas
ter and together they toll for the ac-
complishment of great and far reach
ing purposes.
1t is necessary that each side, namely,
tnat OF the pastor and that
OF the people, should be &C.
casionally reminded of this relation
ana the consequent duties which it in
wolves. Suggestions to the minister
along this line are usually quite plenti-
tul. People, as rule. do not hesitate
to tell him how many and what calls
ne should make, what subjects he
should discus IN the pulpit, how
long his sermons should be- and
occasionally even outline the method
OF treatment. For fear the people,
however, will not do their duty per-
fectly in this particular, ministers are
accustomed to criticise one another.
Thus there are associations where the
ministers get together and criticise
each others method of sermonizing
and plans of pastoral work. So severe
are these criticisms, at times, that if
they could be overheard by the mem
bers of our churches, they would Won
der how we ever again would dare to
enter the pulpit, But it is through this
kindly and impartial criticism that
faults are corrected, and that success
in certain lines, which at first seemed
impossible, is at last attained.
While the pulpit seems to have
abundant opportunity to find out its
duty toward the pew, the pew in turn
has but very scant privileges in this
direction. The people of the church
seldom have their side of this mutual
contract emphasized except at the in
stallation of a new pastor, and of all
times in a church's history that is the
one time when advice along this line is
not needed, for under the enthusiasm of
a new pastorate, every church is for
six months or possibly year, so
watchful along these, lines that sug-
gestions are not necessary. When they
are needed, there is no one to offer them
but the pastor He naturally hesitates
for fear that people will think he is
criticising or fault-finding, and if there
is anything in all the world that the
average minister shuns, it is that of
having his congregation think him a
chronic Pathfinder. So diligently have
l sought in what follows to avoid this
danger, that in some cases l fear that
/ have not spoken plainly enough to
make myself understood. On the other
hand / would not seem to err by MAX
ing what l have to say seem light or
trite, for it comes out of a full heart,
and If you are as sensitive as believe
you to be, you will be able to read be-
tween the lines much more than will
be said If you are able to do this 1t
will be far better, for a hint, If seen,
is always worth more than hit.
LIN the first place, then, let us
suggest that you can help the minis
ters by finding out one thing that needs
to be done, and then doing it. The
trouble with our churches today is that
a few do all the work. This is not
good thing for the few who do the
work, for they soon become exhausted
under the strain and find that they must
retire from active Christian service. 1t
Is not a good thing for the many Tor
it deprives them from taking part in the
active working of the church;' therefore
they are not specially interested in
what is going on; they feel no personal
responsibility, and where responsible
ity is not felt, interest soon dies. There
are scores of people in our churches
who, when they have paid their pew
rental and occupied their seat once on
Sunday, feel that their whole duty is
done toward the church, The church
worker of today needs to do fewer
things as to quantity and more things
as to quality.
Then, too, there is a decided advan-
tage in choosing your own task, IT you
see something that needs to be done,
that is almost certain sign that you
are the one to do it. The fact that
you saw the need. argues that there
Is a natural affinity between you and
the work. Many people fail to do their
best work because they get into the
Persons suffering from sick headache,
uizzlness, nausea, constipation, pain In
the side, are asked TO try one vial of Car