ce. We have hinted at the possibility of giving
offence, and, of course, it is not pleasant to do this, especially
when, as is often the case, that offence has to be given to people whom
you love and honour for their works and character and sacrifices. In
this world, however, unpleasant things have to be faced, and frequently
the line of least resistance leads in the end to the greater trouble.
It is even more unpleasant to have to disappoint the hopes, and
discourage the desire for service, of some young aspirant whose piety
and devotion you admire; but it is better to hold a man back from the
very thing he longs for most than, by cowardly acquiescence in mistaken
purposes, to contribute to place him in a position for which he was not
born. Has this never been done? Have we never known officials vote a
formal recommendation "rather than hurt the young man's mind," or
"rather than estrange his parents who are such good supporters, you
know," trusting, meanwhile, to Providence for a happy issue out of all
their troubles? In the case of a local preacher the providential issue
may be the man's own discovery, sooner or later, of his own unfitness.
In the case of a candidate for the ministry some Connexional Committee
sitting in some distant town "may take a stand we cannot take who are
on the spot." These providences do not always come to pass. The
brother concerned does not always discover his unfitness. He is
frequently quite satisfied with himself, and remains so to the end of a
career long drawn out, with a persistent contentment which would be
amusing if its results were not so tragic. The Central Committee does
_not_ invariably "find out for itself" the facts we are afraid to
communicate, and, as a consequence, the candidate goes successfully
through, and in after years, as like as not, becomes a Conferential
problem. Often the truest kindness lies in doing the thing hardest to
do and most painful to bear, and in the doing of this thing the sacred
obligation of the church may consist. Here is a lesson that needs
learning and remembering. No man becomes a preacher in Methodism
except with the assent and calling of the Church. This must not be
forgotten when preachers are being criticised. Do you say that such
and such an one ought not to be in the pulpit? It is probably quite
true, but it is also true that some Church helped him up the stair.
He, poor man! is not the only person to blame for your unsatisfi