Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-04-16
AREWELL SERMON DELIVERED
BY REV. ". b. DOUGLASS At
BARTON. VT, APRIL s, 1900.

Phil. 2, 20.
The Apostle Paul was an itinerant
preacher. What is called in modern
days, ''a settled pastorate" had no
charm for him. He was ever seeking
a wider sphere Of influence in which
to operate, as chosen messenger of
the Cross. In this he initiated his
Divine Lord, who went from place to
place and from city to city, seeking
the good, the uplift, the moral and
spiritual elevation of the largest pos
sible number, in the briefest possible
time. Jesus would send his messen |.
gers before his face to prepare the
way, and then enter the open door
and do exceeding abundantly above
all the people could ask or think. The
Apostle, possessed a burning zeal
for the salvation of all humanity. He
could not confine his labors to one
center of ministerial activity. There
were other fields needing his atten-
ton, calling him to their fold, that
they also might receive the light and
the truth. His, was in the most sig
nificant sense, an itinerant life. We
find him in Greece, in Italy, in Rome,
in Spain, in Asia; We find him seek
ing the larger centers of population,
entering noted cities like Ephesus,
Thessalonica, Corinth, Athens and
Rome, that these famous places might
be blessed by receiving the Gospel
message and the Gospel messenger.
The early church knew of no system
of pastoral supply only the itinerant.
Indeed, strictly speaking, this is the
only method of the present day. All
ministers are practically itinerants.
1t takes men of great variety of tai
ent to fill some places acceptably, but
such men in large numbers can be
found in the itinerant fold. There are
some good people who think that the
removal Of the time limit would be an
advantage to universal Methodism,
while others claim that such a system
would destroy the time honored itin-
eracy. The ''settled ministry of the
itineracy" has many advantages. 1t
gives the pastor an ever widening
circle Of friends and acquaintances.
He becomes acquainted with the lead
ing men Of communities and Of his
State. The church has an opportunity
to form the acquaintance of men in
the ministry whose lives will be amin
spiration and a benedictiOn to the
communities to which they may be
sent. With new lines of thought and
with different voice and
larger capabilities, the new pastor
comes to succeed in places, where his
predecessor failed. The new talent
increases the power and eff ciency OF
the church. It's perpetuity depends
not upon the logic of Paul or the
OF an Apollos, but upon the
many sided life of cons ecrated
Christian ministry, baptized by the
Spirit of the living God. A man of
many talents, an all round Christian
gentleman, in sympathy with the pro-
gressive spirit of the age, who is not
afraid of hard work, who has the
courage of his convictions and the
over self, is the man who to-
day is called to fields of highest USE
fitness.
It's the time limit that makes pastor
ates seem SO short. Had there been
no limit, people might have begun to
wonder ere this, when I would think
cr,1x Of Ip1f hi
AS it is, our relations
Are severed to day amid circumstances
Of the pleasantest kind. I do not ask
for permanent abiding place. I do
the rauks of the Methodist ministry.
While you may think our system is
somewhat oppressive, you will pardon
me- if I say, think you are very much
mistaken. The freest and most indie
pendent men in America to-day are
the rank and file of the Methodist
AS rule, do they not have
is good houses as the average of their
oarishioners? If he is man in love
with his work and in sympathy with
his fellow men, a man among them,
10 they not respect him and honor
ind trust Lhim? Do they not tell him
heir heart sorrows, their home joys,
heir secret perplexities, their peculiar
rials?
There are those who pity the poor
wife. They think hers is a
ife of drudgery. AS a rule she has
plenty of work to do. If she is a
mother of children, she has her many
cares like all other mothers. But what |
If the children reared in the parson-
Lge? Ihave sometimes thought that |