Newspaper Page Text
July 10, 1912] THE 1
needs, and the Church would still hold on her
way in her high and holy calling. And the
fathers, by their return to the sacred duties of
the Church in the home, and to their sacred
obligations and privileges on the Sabbath day,
would gently and lovingly and firmly lead the
dear boy back again into the fold of the great
Shepherd, who is calling loudly and appealing
to-day to the men of the nation: "Suffer them
to come unto me."
A SHEPHERD OR A RANCHMAN?
?
BY CIjELAND B. M'AFEE, D. D.
A word to my brother pastors: My brethren,
some of us are witnessing great changes in the
demands on ministers. They are wise changes,
inevita'ble changes, and our only caution must
be against losing too much of the old in the
groat gains of the new. More and more a pastor
is being converted into a ranchman. His
work must be organized; he must find heads of
departments; he must deal with work in the
large and let others do the details of it; he is
not to use his strength and time in work with individuals,
but must lead and inspire movements
and set other men at work with individuals.
That is, he is not so much a shepherd of a flock
as a shepherd of shepherds. Under the present
pressure in a large church, anything else is almost
impossible.
There are a good many to whom that is a very
satisfactory plan of work. The old idea seems
to them a mistake anyway. They strike off
happy phrases about it, snappy at least. The
later proposals make general, habitual pastoral
calling almost impossible. Announcements of
four afternoon committee meetings or conferences
for next week are in my mail this morning,
and I am a shrinking violet in such matters
compared with my more efficient brethren. Very
well, say the satisfied ones, "it is not a man's
job to run around attending pink teas or holding
old ladies' hands;'' " it is a mistake to spend
the afternoon pulling door bells until one becomes
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man get into the real job of the church, battling
with giant wrongs, and men will not care whether
he trots around the parish all afternoon or
not." Those are all sufficiently accurate quotations.
They are not quite satisfactory as definitions
of pastoral calling, however. Dr. McGiffert says
that scientific historians are always suspicious of
dramatic events, because real events are not
generally dramatic. And one is inclined to suspect
phrases which make serious work look ridiculous,
because serious work is not generally
ridiculous. But it is perfectly evident, phrases
or no phrases, that enlarging our functions into
the directing of a ranch precludes any large degree
of personal shepherding.
There is the same general movement in the
plan for enlarging the staff of the church, so
thait there may be specialists in the various departments.
There must be a special Sunday
school leader, according fco the analogy of the
day schools, and he must gather the teachers
into training classes and bring his school up to
the standard of ten points so that it may receive
a certificate to that effect and be put on the
published list with honor. There must be a worker
for men and boys to correct the evil of there
being three million fewer men in the Church
than women. There should be a social worker,
to keep the church in touch with social needs
and movements and so to make it a force in
the community. Then there must be an assistant
minister for calling, funerals, reception of
solicitors and other irksome details. These are
all to make the church more efficient, and they
arc necessitated by the fact that no one man can
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S C
possibly do the work of a large church today.
Only a blind man can fail to see that the need
is as real as is here stated. Ask the pastor of
any large church whether he does not need all
these helpers and more if he could have them.
I aih perfectly frank to say that my own church
would be more effective if I had them all.
At the same time, it is evident that someone
must manage and direct all the staff and that
me pastor is the one to do it. And the more he
does of it the easier it is for him to get into
long-range connection with his flock. My word
now is that all of us who are feeling the pressure
of the neiw social demands shall guard our own
hearts that they do not lose their pastoral impulses.
A Montana 9heep ranch can be managed
from a New York office, but the man who
manages it is not apt to think so much of the
Iambs as they need. He delegates that, and both
he and they miss a good deal by it. If we must
become ranchmen, and we must, let us keep the
heart of the shepherd. Having our organization,
let us remember that individual human
souls are our chief concern, and let us permit
no man to take our crown. There are many
pastors who set us good examples of the power
of such a spirit. They keep their hearts warm
by frequent personal contacts with men whom
they are seeking for Christ or whom they are
building up in him. Such men are safe with
any amount of machinery.
The men in danger are those of us who are
led by the apparent bigness of the new tasks to
undervalue the power of our highest mission?
the dealing with Ifuman souls directly in Christ's
behalf. "We are social servants, but we are primarily
seekers of lost men, to pray then in
Christ'8 stead that they be reconciled to God?
The Presbyterian Banner.
MY HEART NEEDS THEE.
My heart needs thee, O Lord, my heart needs
thee! No part of my being needs thee like my
heart. All else within me can be filled by thy
gifts. My hunger can be satisfied by daily
bread. My thirst can be allayed by earthly
waters. My coJd can be removed by household
fires. My weariness can be relieved by outward
rest. But no outward thing can make
ray heart pure. The calmest day will not calm
my passions. The fairest scene will not beautify
my soul. The richest music will not make
harmony within. The breezes can cleanse the
air; but no breeze can cleanse a spirit. This
world has not provided for my heart. It has
provided for my eye; it has provided for my
ear; it has provided for my touch; it has provided
for my taste; it has provided for my
sense of beauty?but it has not provided for
my heart t Provide thou for my heart, O
Lord! It is the only unwinged bird in all creation;
give it wings, O Lord. Earth has failed
to give it wings; its very power of loving has
often drawn it in the mire. Be thou the
strength of my heart! Be thou its fortress in
temptation, its shield in remorse, its covert in
the storm, its star in the night, its voice in
the solitude! Guide it in its gloom; help it in
its heartache; direct it in its doubt; calm it in its
conflict; fan it in its faintness; prompt it in
its perplexity; lead it through its labyrinths;
raise it from its ruin! I eannot rule this heart
of mine; keep it under the shadow of thine own
wings!?George Matheson.
Riches deceive men by making them think
themselves other than they are. It was a favorite
saying of Francis of Assisi that what a
man is in the sight of God, that, and only that,
and nothing else, he really is. Now riches are
unquestionably a great hindrance in the way
of seeing ourselves as God sees us.?W. It.
Huntington.
tJ f irf (819) 5
THE BIRDS' SOCIETY LIFE.
When newspapers tell about the dinners, teas
and other entertainments that people give each
other, they call it society life, or something of
that kind, and it seems to be very interesting,
not onily to the society people, but to many newspaper
readers who are not invited to these gatherings.
Now the people who love the free birds
know that birds have a short period of society
life, and although these friends are not invited
to the birds' socials, they can look on if they
are polite and do not stare too much or make
noises.
Most people only think of birds during the
Sprintr. When thev #rp sincrinrr n-n/1 ~
? O B ?? Wim8?u8 up
their birdlings, and during this latter time they
make more alarms and shrieks than songs, for
eats, hawks and boys are daily and hourly threatening
or killing their dear babies. Then, toward
the end of July and the first of August
the singing stops, and then the shrieking stops,
for what young birds are left alive have learned
to know danger and can fly from it, and the
bird families keep out of sight among the trees,
or go to the nearest woods or woody thickets or
shrubs, and stay for three weeks.
Changing feathers is a serious business; one
11 il -a?
van nut jfn 11 uiem on iiKe a coat and pull on
new ones. They fall out and new ones grow
in very quickly, but the birds feel rather helpless
when the large wing and tail feathers are
out and the new ones are not large, so they find
quiet places for those weeks. And this is the
bird's social season. If you go to a woods or
park early on an August morning, you will find
robins and other birds in flocks, not in pairs and
families. The young birds are introduced to
Iheir many cousins, and are told all that is necessary
to ^nable them to keep up with their elders
when all take the long journey south to spend
the winter.
There is much talk but no singing at these
meetings, and if even a very good friend comes
t:> look on every bird disappears. This is a polite
rebuke to the uninvited, yet if I whistle the one
call I always use when filling the water pan in
my garden, any of my birds who are at all sociable
give an answering chirp, and do not immedintolv
-.1- ' ...
iuj iu uruixi^. on 11, iney snow me plainly
that we. are not sueh churns as in April, May,
June and July, when I chase away cats and fill
bath pans.
All about, under the thick foliage, are bird
sociables, robins on the grass, finches and their
kind high on the branches, little warblers and
fly-catchers on the topmast twigs. One can believe
the proud mothers are saying: "Allow me
to introduce my daughters, Tweedle-dum and
Tweedle-dee, and my sons, Oheeip and Crup;"
or, "So pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs.
Oaktree; I've been so busy with housekeeping
and my children, that I've had no time to make
calls." And I am quite sure that, when a mother
bird sits on the edjge of her nest and sings to
her little ones, dhe is teaching them all the manners
and customs of the very highest bird society,
which are, as among people, to be kind and
pleasant as you wish others to be to you.?Young
Christian Soldier.
"The time of rejoicing draweth nigh,'
Do you think of that, my brother,
When the clouds are in the sky?
When the darkness deep and lowering
Gathers o'er your spirit's track,
And you cannot see beyond it
And you dare not travel back.
'Tis a weary road; and trouble
Forces from your heart the cry?
"God forgotteth." No. "Remember
Your rejoicing draweth nigh.