Canton Register

Call on Your Pastor.

Very many parishioners make a sad mistake by neglecting to call on their pastor and his family. They think, perhaps, that it belongs to him and his wife to make all the calls. But such is a grave mistake, and should be corrected. Judgment, it is true, should be exercised in this matter. Lengthy calls should be avoided, and calls on Saturday not often made unless on special business.

But there are times when calls by parishioners would be highly appreciated by a pastor and his wife. Try it, brother and sister. Perhaps you have not called upon your pastor for six weeks; it may be six months. It may be a whole year, and so you do not know how they appear at home in their own family. And neither do you know how he and his family fare in temporal things. You wonder, perhaps, why Mrs. A., the minister's wife, don't go to church of late; why she is not a teacher in the Sunday School; why not to the circle and other places of entertainment. Yes, why?

Go immediately, and learn why. If she is too modest to tell you the reason why, then gently inquire something about her apparel, and perhaps you'll be led into the secret of her absence. Be careful that she does not disguise the fact that she is very needy, with no means to relieve her necessities. Call on your pastor and family, and cheer them by alms-deeds, and show that you appreciate his labors, and esteem him highly for his work's sake.

A short call on your minister and a few words of cheer in commendation of his sermon the past Sabbath, may lift a heavy burden from his aching heart. For often to him his sermons seem very poor, and not in time nor place, when, perhaps, it was just the meat which fed you. Don't be afraid of putting him up by speaking in a proper manner of his efforts to feed the hungry souls. If you were fed by the truth presented, tell him so, and speak of it in the prayer-meeting.

If you would call on your pastor and family, it would be reciprocated. You would see him more frequently at your home, and there would be stronger attachments created, and there would be a better understanding between pastor and people, and a strong bond of love and union felt.-Morning Star.