The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-04-26


row listens to some remark of her
next neighbor. adds nothing to his
composure, and certainly lends no
spiritual zest to his message. For
the time. being he feels himself an
automaton, going through his PAGES
for the edification of his hearers. Is
it any wonder that when man re-
turns home from such an experience
having learned on his visit to the
vacant church that he is only one
of 81 applicants, many of whom are
yet to be heard-that he is in such
frame of mind that proposition to
become book agent or almost any
thing else becomes alluring?
The ministerial profession is un-
like almost any other business on
earth in that candidate is always
kept in the dark in regard to the
condition of the church in whose va
want pulpit he has asked to be
heard. In business life, a company
seeking a manager thinks it only
proper that before he accepts the
position in question he should have
free access to the books and learn
about the condition of the business
This is especially true if the COM
pany is seeking a man to take full
charge of plant, as minister is eX-
pected to take charge of a church.
But the minister must accept the
call, if it is offered to him, blindly
and 'for better or for worse" ac-
cording as fortune favors him. It is
not unusual for him to find after
he is on the ground that the church
is hopelessly in debt-a condition
that is not infrequently concealed
from hnt
such that for some other reason sue
cess is not possible.
A clergyman always gropes in the
dark on a candidating trip, and he
comes at last to feel, after he has
made two or three vain attempts to
better his fortunes, that Its heads
you win, tails l lose" in almost every
venture he makes of this kind. The
churches are usually looking for
bargains in ministerial timber, and it
sometimes pleases them to conceal
purposely the real difficulties of the
situation until they have landed high
and dry the ministerial fish who has
snapped at their bait.
One clergyman recently told of
| how he accepted a charge in large
city of the middle West, believing
such that success was bound to fol-
low. The trustees pointed out the
line residence neighborhood in which
it was located, and impressed it up
on him that it was most fortunately
situated in this regard. After he had
been on the ground for some time,
| he found to his dismay that 95 per
| cent. OF the families who lived within
| nall or three-quarters of a mile were
Jews. They were Jews of the better
| SORT TO be sure, but not available
material for "neighborhood support"
| IN Protestant church. And vet the
| appearance OF the neighborhood lent
| lIselI easily to the Misrepresentation
of the trustees, who had only one
| thought IN mind-namely, to secure
a minister for church that is, and
always will be, forlorn hope until
1t is picked up bodily and moved 2 %
miles away.
Lack of proper financial support
and the soul-trying experiences of
seeking pastorates through the can
| dldating system" are not the only
things that make men turn from the
| ministry. Some one has said: only
God and the pastor know the heart
breaking, faith-destroying crimes
that are committed by some churches
against their PASTORS men perfectly
able and willing to do the work the
| church needs to have done, but who
are simply not allowed to do it be-
cause Of some crafty, wire-pulling, &C.
clesiastical boss, who assumes to
know more in minute about run
ming church than the pastor does
in a lifetime" Many a church has
been wrecked by a boss, and that
| Doss not always a man. The church
Doss can usually put to shame the
political boss when it comes to un-
demanded and treacherous methods
or administration. Many minister
has learned this to his sorrow. Is it
| any wonder, when a minister finds
himself compelled to shape his work
and his message to please some busy
BODY of church official, that he
loses faith in the calling to which
he was ordained and turns his back
upon it?
layman was returning from a
church meeting at which matters of
I Importance had been under consider
aJion. He was in a most unchristian
mood because of the unchristian
| Wrangling he had listened to on the
part of those who sought to dictate
the course of affairs in the church
1T fills me with something good
deal hotter than righteous indigna-
! LIon, he said, Ito see a whole church
minister, trustees, elders, and all
the rest, bowing down to two or
three old bundles of Grape in the
middle aisle just because they clutch
the strings of certain mighty purses.
! am ready to resign my position in
the church after every such meet
ing, And yet, the minister, if he
would hold his job, must cheerfully
tolerate these bundles of crane, F."
and show a smiling countenance to
all other disagreeable members of
his parish, whether they find fault
with him for doing a thing or find
fault with him for not doing it. He
must show his own Christianity,
whether others do or not
The game isn't worth the can
/. die said clergyman recently to a
sympathetic friend. 81 am no lon
} ger needed as a spiritual leader. |