Where to Be a Pastor
SjHOULD a young minister,, take a large church or a small one for his first pastorate?” Some cynical persons might respond to this question that a man fresh from the theological seminary, who has had no experience, had better “take” whatever he can get. For it is true that some men who have risen to great eminence have not found it easy to secure a very favorable hearing at the start, Another person might respond that a young man whose ambition led him to “seek great things for himself” would very likely be forced to content himself with small things. Certainly the surest way for any man to secure a wide field is for him to fill full and overflow a narrow field. All that any licentiate of real force and consecrated heart should reasonably ask is to find some pulpit, high or humble, in which to begin his heaven-directed work. When God calls a man to the gospel-ministry, he is very apt to get calls from his fellow-men to preach that gospel. The demand exceeds the supply.
Supposing that a young man of abilities and fervent piety were permitted to choose between two calls, the one to a. large church and the other to a small one, which of the two should he prefer for his first pastorate? I answer unhesitatingly, the small church. In Scotland the rule has been to locate the “apprentices” in a rural parish, and then let them work their way up into the large towns. A wise custom it is too. Thus the great Chalmers began in the little parish of Kilmany: Dr. Norman McLeod’s first settlement was among the farmers and weavers of Loudon; the eloquent Guthrie had hard work to get the humble parish of
Arbirot, and the sainted McCheyne commenced his wonderful ministry at Dundee as the pastor of a new colony of artisans and day-laborers. There are several strong reasons why a small church is to be preferred at the outset. And I shall always thank God that my own lot was cast during my early ministry, in a little parish of about one hundred souls, a considerable portion of whom were shoemakers, gardeners, and coachmen. A distinguished lawyer who attended my church during the summer months, used to say to me, “I want you to preach the gospel so simply and plainly that my coachman and gardener can understand you as well as I do.” That sensible advice did me, as our Southern friends say” a heap of good.”
(i.) The first argument for a small parish is that it gives a young minister a better opportunity to study individuals. He has fewer persons to count, and he counts every man and every woman; yes, and if he is wise, every child. The most profitable study for every minister, next to his Bible, is human character. The misfortune with many of our young ministers in these days is that they know more about books than about human nature. When there are but few individuals in his flock, the pastor gets a deeper insight into each one; and he also learns more thoroughly that mighty lesson, the infinite value of one immortal soul. A crowd is an inspiring object for me to preach to; an individual soul brought into close and living contact is an inspiring personage to preach to me. In a big city we deal with the masses; in a quiet rural or village parish a pastor deals with each man, woman or child. That minister rarely gains a great hold or exerts a great power over a congregation, who has no personal hold on the various persons who compose that congregation.
(2.) A second argument for a small parish is that it gives the young beginner more time for uninterupted study and more time to think. Almost no great immortal work has been produced amid the pressure of a large pastorate. Jonathan Edwards could not have written the “Freedom of the Will,” John Bunyan could not have written the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and Charles Hodge could not have prepared his massive Theology, if they had been the pastors of big city churches, with their door-bells playing a perpetual St. Vitus’s dance. Many a city pastor has maintained himself mainly on the good stock laid in during his early settlement in some quiet neighborhood. A young minister must learn the use of his tools. He must learn how to think, and how to put his thoughts into the most effective shape. If he ever expects to be a vigorous, meaty, instructive and enduring extempore preacher, he must first spend several years in carefully writing out his discourses. A small church will afford him the best opportunity to lay good, broad, solid foundations by deep meditation, deep study of the Word and of fertilizing books, and
WHERE TO BE A PASTOR. J
deep study of human nature. Nearly all the greatest American ministers have commenced their careers in small, or in secluded parishes. Dr. Archibald Alexander once said to us in his Princeton lecture room, “Young gentlemen, do not be ambitious to begin in the city; I never knew but one man who did this and held out through a long life without breaking down.”
The strain upon pastors grows heavier every year. The multiplication of societies, enterprises, and “causes,” (some of them without much effect); the tendency to overload churches with what does not belong to them, the encroachments and the competitions of the busy world about us, make the life of an earnest spiritual pastor no holiday business. Young brethren, if you know when you are well off, do not itch for a call to a large town; and do not lose one golden hour that you may now be spending in some modest little corner of the Master’s vast vineyard. If you have bread to put into your mouths, and nutritious books to study, and immortal souls to win for Christ, be thankful and buckle to your work. Time enough to shoulder up the bullock when you have learned to carry the calf. Bend your whole undivided strength upon your first charge, even if it does not contain over one hundred precious souls; and remember that a single soul for whom Jesus died, is a tremendous trust. Those who are overloaded too early in life break down the soonest. Therefore if both a large church and a small one were offered at the same time to any young minister, it would be the highest proof of his sagacity for him to accept the latter. He would be far more likely to hold a position of commanding influence and usefulness fifteen or twenty years afterward.
There are many other practical questions that I should like to discuss — such as the relations of a pastor to the Sunday-school, — the methods of receiving members into the church, and of dealing; with those who may require ecclesiastical discipline — the performance of marriage-rites and the administration of the sacraments. But the limits which I had prescribed for myself forbid my consideration of these and several other kindred topics. My chief aim has been to set forth the great principles and purposes which should animate and inspire the sacred office of a Christian Pastor. How far I have been enabled (with the divine assistance) to realize my own ideal of pastoral labor, will appear in the following discourse — which I would modestly present as the closing chapter of this little volume.