THE METHODIST MINISTER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 21, 25 January 1881, Page 2

THE METHODIST MINISTER.

[Communicated.] Luce Topsy, he grows. Promotion froth the ranks is the principle that obtains among Methodists. The intelligent and p«3»; SUiJay suiiumL' becomes a teacher "on trial." Having proved himself faithful in that which is least, he is received as a fully accredited teacher. When he in his turn addresses the Behoof or when he engages ih pr&yer, it is observed that he has aoino gifts tot extemporary speaking. He is. then judicioufity encouraged and watched, and in time it fa proposed that he. should preach. Here biß diffidence probably presents obstacles, but, vVhen he gets accustomed to (he idea, he consents to go with somo senior lay preacher and conduct part of a service. This he does occasionally. for several months, when, upon favorable report, he is made a lay preacher "on trial." lie is now encouraged to read divinity and to study composition. AfteJrthelapseof not less than twelve months he preaches a "triaiserfalion " beiore his lay brethren, and this tuini,?sers, eiod is carefully examined viva voce in theology. If he gives eati9faction he is passed and becomes a fully accredited preacher. As hift gifts continue to. unfold, it is first suggested, and eventually becomes a confirmed opinion, that he should attempt to enter the ministry. He Itt encouraged and directed in bis reading, and in due time preaches another trial sermon, and is recommended by his fellow lay men as a candidate for the ministry. The lay&en, in taking this step, are required to remember that they may one day be called upon to receive the candidate as their paStbr. This checks rashness on their part. The nextgtiurt before which the aspirant appears is the annual District Meeting, where he preaches before a. committee of ministers, and is examined viva voce in divinity, and by papers in literary subjects. He is then sent on to Conference, which meets about two months after the District Meeting. Here he preaches again, undergoes another viVa vote examination, and' a medical examination. Hia literary papers are reported on, and, except in rare cases, he is sent to some training institution for one, two, or three years, preaching each year before a committee, and undergoing an examination. He is then sent to circuit work as a 'probationer ' for four years, during which time he is under the supervision of some senior Minister. At the end of each of the fonr years of probation he is examined in a variety of subjects, presents a list of the books he has read, re ceives advice upon it, and preaches the ! inevitable trial sermon. When the four years have expired he is ordained, becomes entitled to an allowance for life in case of inability to work, is permitted to vote in Conference, and gets higher pay. But the event generally associated with the end of probation is marriage; for the Methodist Minister "grows," not " lives and dies in SINGLE BtESSEfcNESB." Celibacy during probation is insisted on because thVprobationer is a Student, because he baa to work in new stations for small pay, and because it would be unwise to allow him to marry on the strength of a position that he might fail to obtain. But a. still more cogent reason is that every man is supposed to prepare a home for himself before he is entitled to it. When a new station is taken up it has a probationer for four years, at the end of which it is expected to build a parsonage, increase the stipend, and take a married man. Each probationer, then, though perhaps moved every year, practically prepares a home for himself. Learning, it will be allowed, is not his chief characteristic. The course of training through which he passes is as long and as stringent as that required by any church, but its purpose is not to produce men. "Ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in their head." The weapon is thought less important than the using of it. Effect is the end kept in view. The object is not to be well armed, or to fight by bookish rule, but to win. Every examination prescribed, and every book recommended is calculated to that end. . The Methodist does not go on a eparrow hunt vrith a park of artillery, nor does he catch white-bait with a harpoon. Still he has no taint of that contempt for learning which led the street preacher to put the poser, " D'ye think Paul knew Greek ? " Every Methodist minister, of modern manufacture, at least, is at home with bis Greek testament. After the period of probation is over, each man, having been taught that a studious disposition is the best education, begins to follow the natural bent of his mind, and ie is soon Been that there are diversities of giftß, but one spirit. It is evident from the number of trial sermons that Preaching is set great store by among the Methodists, In fact no other gift can atone for want of pulpit ability. This principle, acting both on preachers and on people through several generations, has gradually raised the quality of the one and the taste of ibe other. The time when the preacher could play his part as Quince was instructed to play the lion— " You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring" — has long passed by. But a man might as well expect to get on by " giving it mouth,". as the Cornish say, as by " stark theatric practised at the glass." Men who " saw the air too much" or who "tear a passion to tatters" are as sure to provoke severe criticism as the pulpit coxcomb is to provoke contempt. A few yawns and a few sharp shutting of watch cases might be the only criticisms upon learned dulnesg, but certainly those preachers who " Pensive vigils keep, Sleepless themselves, to give their hearers sleep." are never sought after. The popular Methodist preacher is a man of piety and energy, well read and modetately orthodox, with a good voice, a fluent tcngue, and easy action, and who has learned tint, "Men must be taught ai though you taught them not, And things unknown proposed as things forgot." In reproof he will be fourd faithful and plain spoken. He has to deal with none of the " pomp that crooks the r regnant hinges of the knee. . . . Why should the poor be flattered." A striking peculiarity in the Methodist Preacher's life is his , ■ ■■. Perpetual Motion. Like the ghost he was there, he is here, be is gone. In the early days " Wesley's preachers preached every morning, so be moved them every fortnight. This soon became intolerable, and it is now found that to move every three years is a troublesome business. Not only does he " drag at each remove a lengthening chain " of baggage and babies ; not only does he break up his home and lose his accumulated capital of inflmnci, but there is a standing temptation for bim when leaving a circuit to describe it favorably, and when arriving in a circuit to describe it unfavorably. It cannot be an advantage for a man, however strong his character, to stand continually within the range of such a temptation. It is felt that the present law will "make a handsome corpse and become its coffin prodigiously." People who do not know him often look upon the Methodist Minister as the embodiment of Nabbowkbss and Austbbity. It is tme that he is, now and then, a staunch anti-Bmokisr, a violent . anti-dancer or a bigoted teetotaler. He may be great upon the practical difference between "tweedledum and tweedledee." He may defend his position with a " plentiful lack of wit," 4< and not have sense enough to be confuted." ! " For c'en when vanquished he m»y argue still." But when encountered in this form he is generally the head of a I arty of one ; and

even then, if you will let him Btrain out his gnat, "it is all Lombard-street to a China orange," that he will quietly proceed to swallow his camel by making a fool of himself at a tea-meeting. If it was ever the hope of the Methodists to " merit heaven by making earth a hell/ it has ceased to be so —in New Zealand, at all events.