FOOTNOTES:[1]It would be well were every church to see that the pastor is furnished with a sufficient supply of such publications. Some churches are accustomed to make regular provision for this object. They believe that the soldier should not be expected to purchase his own ammunition.—Editor.
[1]It would be well were every church to see that the pastor is furnished with a sufficient supply of such publications. Some churches are accustomed to make regular provision for this object. They believe that the soldier should not be expected to purchase his own ammunition.—Editor.
[1]It would be well were every church to see that the pastor is furnished with a sufficient supply of such publications. Some churches are accustomed to make regular provision for this object. They believe that the soldier should not be expected to purchase his own ammunition.—Editor.
RELATIONS TO OTHER DENOMINATIONS.
The pastor’s position and work bring him into contact with other ministers and churches in the community, and his comfort and usefulness will to some extent depend on the esteem and confidence with which he is regarded by evangelical Christians outside of his own church. He will find many of the noblest Christian men and women in churches differing in name from his own, and he should seek to maintain with them the most frank and cordial relations. This is especially important as regards the pastors, since, when relations of mutual affection and confidence exist, the ministry in any community can be eminentlyhelpful to each other, and by combining their counsels and influence can often greatly advance the religious interests of the whole people. I suggest, therefore:
1. Do not isolate yourself, standing aloof from the general Christian community, but seek the acquaintance of all good men. Show a friendly, cordial spirit and a readiness for all offices of kindness, alike in the relations of social life and on those public occasions when all Christians gather for united counsel and worship. In such a course you will find the love and sympathy of the Christian community attracted to you, greatly augmenting your comfort and influence, and giving added power to your public work.
2. Such friendly relations among Christians of differing views involve of necessity a full recognition of their common Christian character and a hearty accord, each to the other, of sincerity and purity of motive in their church position. This a just self-respect requires you to insist on for yourself, and this, in the spirit of genuine charity, you should freely accord to others; such a position is consistent with the most full and free expression of your denominational sentiments and the most earnest defense of them. It simply requires that amidst the different opinions of Christian men there should be a charitable judgment of each other’s character, and a careful abstinence from language that might reflect on the motives of those who differ. It is, I think, the common fact that the genuine respect and confidence of any Christian community are most fully secured by that pastor who, while always decided and earnest in the expression and defense of his denominational convictions, is also always careful, in the spirit of true charity, to recognize the sincerity and integrity of those whose convictions may be opposed.
3. An occasional exchange of pulpits by the evangelicalministers in the community has many advantages. It is a public recognition of the substantial unity of Protestant Christendom. It gives to the minister a wider audience than if always limited to his own congregation, thus enlarging his acquaintance and tending to secure for him the interest and confidence of the whole people. It is sometimes a relief, enabling him to make use of former pulpit preparations when specially pressed by the exigencies of pastoral work. In such an exchange it is obvious that courtesy and comity require that the minister should conform to the usages of worship observed in the congregation where he is thus officiating, and that the subject presented should belong to the Gospel as held in common by evangelical Christians, and not to matters controverted among them. In this, as in all relations with other pastors and churches, the minister should observe with scrupulous delicacy the requirements of courtesy and honor.
4. Union meetings are sometimes held by churches of different denominations for the promotion of a revival of religion, during the progress of which each church is expected to waive its distinctive peculiarities and all unitedly press on men the claims of the common Gospel. Such a union of effort has undoubtedly proved useful among feeble churches and in neighborhood meetings remote from large centers of population; for there, from the paucity of numbers and gifts, all the Christian forces must needs be concentrated in order to maintain the interest. In such meetings every consideration of honor requires that the subjects presented should be restricted to those common truths of the Gospel in which all are united; a departure from this is always to be deplored. Among strong churches, however, where gifts abound, the utility of such a union is more doubtful; indeed, it isquestionable whether there are not positive disadvantages. For, (1.) The members of the participating churches in such a meeting are placed under unusual circumstances which often serve to repress rather than develop their activity, and thus the labor falls on only a few more prominently gifted persons; whereas, a meeting in which the responsibility rested on only one church would have drawn into active work the mass of its members, and secured to it the blessing which such general activity brings. (2.) According to the Baptist faith, the ordinances of the Gospel vividly set forth Divine truth before men, and in the experience of our churches their administration is commonly attended by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in the consciences of those who witness them. But in a union meeting these cannot be administered, or even alluded to, without impropriety, and this element of power is lost. (3.) It is not unfrequent, at the close of such meetings, that the efforts of such churches to secure members from the converts result in friction and unkind feeling—an evil sometimes more than counterbalancing the good done in the temporary union. While, therefore, it is not denied that union meetings have sometimes been useful, as a general thing they are not desirable. A church will ordinarily develop more effectively its own gifts and its own spiritual power by working alone and in accordance with its own principles and methods. It allows its light to shine most fully and clearly only when it steadily teaches and defends whatever of truth it has learned by the teachings of the Word of God. At the same time, its relations to the other churches in the community will, in the long run, be far less likely to be embarrassed and embittered.
CHANGE OF FIELD.
Instability in the pastoral office is the common fact and every pastor, sooner or later, meets the question, Shall I change my field? One cause of this is to be found, doubtless, in the restless spirit of the age, which is impatient with the old and ever clamoring for the new. This is specially the case in our country and is one of the natural results of rapid growth and a widely-diffused spirt of enterprise.
I.Evils of Change.
The evils of a change of field are many and serious and only the most imperative reasons will justify a pastor in making it. For, 1. It involves a serious loss in the pastor’s working capital, for the confidence and love of a congregation, which a true minister acquires, constitute a chief element in his power. These, however unlike mere popularity, are only slowly acquired; but, once secured, they add immensely to the value of his public and private work. But this advantage is all relinquished on leaving the field, and must be again slowly acquired at another post. A pastor’s power also to benefit a people by a wise adaptation of his work to their character and needs must depend largely on his knowledge of them; but in making a change this is lost, and can be regained only by similar study of a new congregation. 2. Few ministers widen their range of original investigation after their first pastorate. At the first post they are compelled to push out into new lines of thought, but in a new field the temptation to use old subjects, if not old sermons, often proves irresistible, and their life-thinking is likely to move roundin the same narrow range. Pastoral change often thus checks intellectual and theological growth. 3. This restless expectation of change also discourages broad, comprehensive plans for the instruction and development of the church, and tempts the minister to aim exclusively at immediate results. Hence, his sermons are largely sentimental or sensational, confined within a limited range of topics, and the development of church-life is correspondingly dwarfed. 4. The marked decline in public respect for the ministry is probably in part a result of this feverish restlessness, which weakens confidence in them as men of high, unselfish purpose, and compels a community to regard the minister no longer as a permanent force in its life, but rather as a transient sensation.
II.Inadequate Causes of Change.
Many causes operate to unsettle a pastor which ought not to produce that result; indeed, some of them, if rightly interpreted, would have served rather to strengthen than to dissolve the pastoral relation. Thus, 1. Mental depression. A sedentary, studious life often induces abnormal nervous conditions, and the hypochondriac misinterprets the feelings of the people and underestimates the results of his ministry. A change is in consequence resolved on, which subsequent developments show to have been wholly unnecessary. 2. The loss of popularity. This is often due to real defects in the character and work of the pastor, and its true remedy is not a change of field, but a correction of his faults. Imperfect preparation has, perhaps, made his sermons commonplace and his pulpit a failure. Or he has failed to cultivate executive, pastoral, and social power, and, as a result, the church is not in effective working condition, and no bonds of personal sympathy and affection bind pastor to people. Or there are imperfectionsin his spirit and life, and these forbid confidence and respect on the part of the congregation. In all such cases a loss of popularity does not indicate so much a change of field as a change in the spirit, plan, and work of the pastor, for these defects would in any field soon lead to the same result. 3. Difficulties in the church. Such trials enter more or less into every minister’s lot, but they may be no indication of duty to change. The trial may be sent as a discipline, designed to develop, through faith and patience, a nobler character and higher power in the pastor. Change in this case is only a cowardly running away from duty, and consequent failure to gain an intended blessing. Many a disruption of the pastoral tie, it may be feared, is thus only a shrinking from trial and intended discipline and results only in loss to pastor and people. 4. Ambitious seeking for distinguished position. There is an unhallowed ambition which, unsatisfied with advancement through natural growth, is ever restlessly seeking, by newspaper notoriety, sensational sermons, and influential friends, to secure prominent places in the ministry. A vacant pulpit in a conspicuous church is usually beset by many such ambitious aspirants for place and notoriety. It is hardly necessary to suggest that such a spirit is at the farthest possible remove from the genuine spirit of the Christian pastor; and in the end it reacts disastrously on the reputation of him who indulges it, for self-seeking and pretense are sure, sooner or later, to be exposed.
III.Valid Reasons for Change.
A change of field is doubtless sometimes the duty of a pastor, and the providence and Spirit of God, which guided him in forming the pastoral relation, will make equally plain the obligation to dissolve it. Some of the reasons which may require a change are the following: 1. Growthin pulpit and pastoral power beyond the scope of the field. A young man has settled, perhaps, in a circumscribed field. Fidelity in study and labor has developed him, so that his capacity plainly fits him for a wider sphere. If this is made evident by the judgment of his brethren and the providence of God, he is required by duty, alike to his own life-usefulness and to the cause of Christ, to enter the wider field opened before him. 2. The necessities of health in himself or family. The severity of the draft made in this age on the intellect and nerves of the minister may sometimes compel change so as to obtain relief by the more free use of previous pulpit preparations. This, though unfortunate for the intellectual growth of the minister, is still to be chosen rather than broken health. Or the climate may prove unfavorable, and on this account a change be demanded. 3. Inadequate salary. The pecuniary support may be insufficient for the growing needs of the pastor, and a new post with larger salary may be opened to him. Here, however, great care must be taken in scrutinizing motives, for a wealthy church and a large salary have glittering attraction and appeal strongly to mere selfishness. The need of a larger income must be real, not fancied. 4. Permanent discomfort and embarrassment in his work. A minister, even after the most conscientious discharge of his duties, will sometimes find controlling influences in the church arrayed against him, or his cherished plans of church work defeated by counter-counsels; so that the pastor and permanent and influential members of the church are in relations wholly incompatible with comfort or efficiency. Now, if these relations cannot be altered, it would seem clearly his duty to leave, and to enter a field where his relations will be congenial and his labors unobstructed.
Finally, I suggest: A pastor must expect trials in anychurch, and commonly, in a change of place, he will only find a change in the form of trial. It is a serious question whether in most instances of change a simple faith in God, a patient forbearance, and a persistence in faithful work would not have avoided the necessity and added much to the strength of the pastor in the higher development of all the forces of his intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature, and in the enlargement of his influence as a minister of Christ. Certainly, the unrest so widely seen now in the ministry argues a great wrong somewhere, either in pastors or in churches, and is serving to deteriorate the character and weaken the influence of both.
MINISTERS NOT IN THE PASTORAL OFFICE.
All ministers are not called to the pastorate; and it is sometimes the duty of those who were once called to that position to leave it and enter a different department of ministerial work. In the ministry which the ascended Christ gives His church, besides pastors, there are “evangelists” and “teachers”—terms designating important classes of ministers permanently existing in the kingdom of God. A brief characterization of these, and of the functions with which they are charged, may properly be presented here.
First, Evangelists.
Of this class, Philip, Barnabas, Apollos, Timothy, and Titus are examples in Scripture—men having no permanent, local charge, but commissioned to preach andadminister the ordinances of the Gospel wherever the Spirit and providence of God might call. These men were engaged, for the most part, in work analogous to that of our foreign and home missionaries—preaching the Gospel where it was not already preached, organizing churches, and supervising them in their incipiency while yet feeble and struggling. It is probable, also, that at times their work resembled that of those men called, in a narrower sense, evangelists—men engaged in assisting pastors and churches in special services for the promotion of revivals of religion. Possibly, Barnabas, when sent by the church at Jerusalem to labor in the great awakening at Antioch, may be conceived as acting in such a capacity, as also Timothy when left in Ephesus by Paul to hold in check certain heretical tendencies in that city (Acts xi. 22–24; 1 Tim. i. 3, 4). Evangelists, therefore, may be considered under the following classifications:
I.Foreign Missionaries.—In considering the question of duty to enter the foreign field, the first inquiry necessarily relates to qualification, since without this no mere desire or emotion in regard to the work can have any weight. As among the more obvious requisites for the missionary work the following may be mentioned: 1.A sound body.Most of our mission-fields are in the East, in an enervating climate, and under conditions such as severely test the vigor of the physical constitution. No person already enfeebled by disease or seriously predisposed to disease should venture into the foreign field, as the probabilities would all be against his ability to labor there. On this point, it is obvious, skilled medical advice should be sought. 2.Common sense.The practical administration of the affairs of the mission, temporal as well as spiritual—its building, its finances, its business contracts and relations, the whole management—usuallyfalls upon the missionary, and requires large practical tact and sagacity. In a new field he has no reliable advisers and must depend on his own judgment in deciding on all the temporal concerns of the mission. In the older fields, while some of the business cares may be devolved on native helpers, he must still move among the native churches as a practical and influential adviser, guiding their affairs, settling their difficulties, and correcting their mistakes. An unpractical, visionary mind, however scholarly and brilliant, is obviously unfitted for such a position. 3.Facility in learning to speak in a foreign tongue.A foreign language, and most of all an Oriental language, is difficult to acquire, especially so as to use it readily and fluently in common speech. Some men of good abilities have here failed in the foreign field, and, though useful perhaps in other departments, have never been effective in preaching. There should be, at least, an ordinary aptitude for language sufficient to ensure that with persevering effort the man will be able to master and use the vernacular of the people. 4.Power as a preacher.Preaching, among the heathen as elsewhere, is the grand means of evangelization, and the conditions of power in it are everywhere essentially the same. The missionary must be “apt to teach,” with a ready command of his faculties for argument and illustration, and a mastery of the art of putting things. In the conversational method of preaching in heathen lands, he is often obliged to meet in popular argument acute and profound reasoners, when his defeat before the people might prove a serious check to the Gospel. 5.Faith, energy, and perseverance.At these outposts of Christianity a timid, wavering spirit, faint-hearted and irresolute, will be sure to fail. Courage, determination, energy, alone will achieve permanent results. Carey and Judsonwaited years with unfaltering confidence for the first convert, and without substantially the same elements of character no man will succeed in pioneer work.
In deciding on the qualifications of a young man, however, it is to be remembered that he is as yet, in many respects, undeveloped, and qualities now present only in the germ and tendency will often in the actual work reveal themselves in marked power. Abroad, as at home, circumstances and emergencies develop the man. No young man, therefore, may hastily dismiss the question of a personal call to the foreign field on the ground of disqualification. Rather, he should carefully study his own character, and seek counsel of those best fitted to judge his capabilities, that in deciding a question of such moment he may act deliberately, with a full and impartial view of all the considerations, and with a clear conscience, always recognizing the danger that unconsciously to ourselves our selfishness is likely to magnify the reasons adverse to a missionary life and underestimate the force of those in favor of it.
The nature of the missionary work and the manner of its prosecution I shall not here consider: these will be found very fully presented in the work of the late lamented Rev. M. J. Knowlton, D.D.,The Foreign Missionary,and in that of Rev. Dr. Rufus Anderson, entitled,Foreign Missions, their Relations and Claims.The position of a missionary is in some respects one of great delicacy, and requires on his part the most careful circumspection. Here may be mentioned: 1. His relation to the Missionary Board at home. Charged with the administration of the funds entrusted to them by the churches, the Board must of necessity exercise a certain measure of supervision and guidance in the conduct of the foreign work. The exact line of demarcation between the authority of the Boardand the independence of the missionary in directing movements is not always easy to discover, and without a spirit of gentleness, forbearance, and concession the most serious complications may arise. In the expenditures of the mission, also, the keeping and rendering of an exact account are of the utmost moment, so as to avoid even the suspicion of wastefulness or malappropriation. The rule of Paul is here, as in all financial trusts, the only safe one: “Being careful of this, that no one should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us; for we provide for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men” (2 Cor. viii. 20,21[1]).2. His relations to the native pastors and churches are also of great delicacy. In the older missions the work of the missionary is largely that of general supervision of the native churches. But in this the missionary may not exercise an arbitrary power. He is not a bishop with authoritative episcopal power, subjecting the pastors under control and ignoring the independence of the churches. Rather, his power is moral, and his work is to train the churches and pastors for the independent exercise of their respective functions. He should, therefore, carefully guard against an arbitrary spirit or any methods of procedure which could militate against the just independence of pastors and churches. It is a distinguished proof of the high character of the noble men who have gone out as missionaries that, while in these and other respects their relations are of such delicacy, difficulties between them and the home Board have so rarely arisen, and the churches they have trained so fully exemplify in their character, organization, and working the simplicity and independence of the churches of the New Testament.
II.Home Missionaries.—Most of these are pastors ofnew or feeble churches, and their position differs from that of ordinary pastors only in the fact that their support is derived in part from some missionary organization, and that they are under consequent obligation to render a report of their work to the body which thus aids in sustaining them. Some of them, however, are engaged in purely itinerant ministerial work in the waste places of our cities, or in newly-settled or unevangelized parts of our country, visiting from house to house, preaching as Providence may give opportunity, organizing Sunday-schools, and forming churches. Few positions demand more force of character, soundness of judgment, intellectual ability, indomitable energy, and self-sacrificing devotion. Among the men occupied in this work are some of the noblest and most devoted servants of Christ. Their duties, however, being in most respects the same as those of ordinary pastors, do not need here a separate treatment.
III.Revivalists.—In all ages gifts have been bestowed specially adapted to the awakening and conversion of souls. These gifts may not, and sometimes do not, fit the man for the pastoral office, but as supplementing a pastor’s gifts they are often of high value. The revivalist may not always possess the learning and teaching power of the settled pastor; he might perhaps fail in the qualities essential to the continuous guiding, organizing, and governing of a church; but in power to make vivid the truths and impressions already received by the people, to develop hitherto latent conviction, and to press men to a definite and avowed religious decision, he may be specially gifted. Some pastors eminent in teaching and pastoral qualifications lack the awakening power, and thus it is often true in the spiritual work that “one soweth and another reapeth.” In such cases the revivalist comes as a reaper, with special gifts for ingathering, wherethe long and patient toil of the sower and cultivator has preceded him and has already prepared in the souls of the people the ripening spiritual harvest.
1. The relation of the evangelist to the pastor, in special religious services, is always one of great delicacy. The most frank understanding and cordial co-operation between them is of the highest moment. Much care, therefore, should be taken not to encroach on the prerogatives of the pastoral office, or to lessen the estimation in which the pastor is held by the people. There is sometimes danger of this. The sermons of the evangelist, limited as they are in number and frequently repeated, not only have the attraction of novelty to the people, but are often spiced with a fulness of anecdote and delivered with a freedom and force which the pastor’s cannot possess, by reason of the different and wider range of subjects which he must discuss and the far heavier and more extended draft made on his resources. The less thoughtful hearers will contrast what seems to them to be the comparative dullness of the pastor with the freshness and spice of the evangelist, and the pastor unjustly suffers. Among the converts also there is often a special attraction to him who had been the immediate agent in their conversion, while the long and patient toil of him who had probably prepared the way for that final step is overlooked or disparaged. Plainly, it is the duty of the evangelist to recognize and hold in check these tendencies, and to strengthen in every possible way the pastor’s position in the convictions and affections of the people. He may thus render his work a permanent blessing in the churches by making it the means of cementing the relation of pastor and people.
2. A young pastor will naturally defer in the arrangements for the meetings to the judgment and experienceof the evangelist, but it is doubtful whether, under any circumstances, an evangelist should seek the control of them, or a pastor should concede it to him. Especially should the pastor maintain the control of those meetings in which candidates for admission to the church are examined; for here the pastor, apart from the official duty Christ has laid on him in this vital matter, has by his acquaintance with the people much better qualifications for judging character, and is far less likely to mistake than a stranger. Indeed, the temptation to seek theéclatof a large accession of converts may enter as an unconscious influence in the case of both evangelist and pastor, leading to undue haste and neglect of just discrimination in the admission of members, and resulting in great ultimate injury to the church. No point, therefore, needs to be more carefully guarded.
3. The object of the evangelist is the awakening of souls and the revival of religion; his subjects, therefore, are properly adapted in their nature and in the manner of their presentation to secure that result. The range of topics is thus necessarily limited, and the manner is naturally stimulating and exciting. From this comparative narrowness in the range of his theme and of his biblical and theological investigation, there is danger of one-sidedness in his views of truth. Seeking as he does, also, immediate results, he is liable to fail in perceiving and estimating at their just importance ultimate results in the permanent life and power of the church. Measures have sometimes been adopted in the midst of a religious excitement which the calm after-thought of the people could not approve, and the result has been a reaction in the public judgment, condemning the work and seriously injuring the church.
4. Eccentricity in the evangelist, when it is natural asa part of his individuality, may possibly be an element of power, at least as awakening curiosity and calling the people to the house of God, but when assumed and cultivated with a view to popular effect it is always unfortunate. Sensational subjects, slang phrases, vulgarisms, overcolored anecdotes, exaggerated statements, oddities of manner, though for the moment exciting the attention, and possibly the applause, of the audience, inevitably in the end react to the disadvantage of the speaker and his cause; the sober after-thought of even the irreligious will condemn them in one who is dealing with souls in the great concerns of religion.
“He that negotiates between God and man,As God’s ambassador, the grand concernsOf judgment and of mercy should bewareOf lightness in his speech. ’Tis pitifulTo court a grin when you should woo a soul;To break a jest when pity would inspirePathetic exhortation; and t’ addressThe skittish fancy with pathetic talesWhen sent with God’s commission to theheart.”[2]
The evangelist, perhaps, is in special danger of seeking the temporary advantage which eccentricity brings, because for the time it gathers the multitude to his preaching; and, leaving soon, he fails to see the disastrous reaction which afterward it is sure to bring.
5. Some of the most eminent evangelists have used substantially the same subjects through their entire career, at each repetition of them adding to their clearness and force of argument vividness of illustration and effectiveness of appeal. Rev. Jacob Knapp, whose work has perhaps been surpassed in extent and power by no preacher of the present century, adopted this method.The writer was with him in three series of meetings, the first near the opening of his remarkable career, the last about thirty years after, near its close, and in each of these that distinguished revivalist used, for the most part, the same subjects. But the advance in all elements of power was immense, especially in the last repetition of his course. Few persons in the vast multitude which gathered daily for six successive weeks to listen to this, which proved the closing series of his life, can ever forget the compactness and force of his reasoning, the graphic power of his illustration, and the wonderful effectiveness in his application of truth to the conscience and the heart. He had gathered into that series of seventy-five or one hundred sermons the richest results of his life-thinking and experience and had made most of them marvels of power. This concentration of the whole force of the man on a few sermons gives the evangelist great advantage in the pulpit and would seem to be the dictate of true wisdom.
6. In his personal religious life the evangelist, while possessing great helps, has a possible danger on the side of spiritual pride. Moving constantly in the midst of revivals, he is liable to forget that for the most part he is simply reaping where other men have sown, and that conversion is but the culminating point in a long series of influences of which his was only the last; and in the grateful affection of revived Christians and of converted souls, which sometimes rises to spiritual adulation, he may fail in that genuine humility which recognizes all spiritual effects as the work of the Holy Spirit, and may unconsciously assume an air of spiritual superiority painfully in contrast with his obvious weaknesses. Power with God is thus lost, and with it, power with men.
There is no ministerial office of higher responsibility or greater usefulness than that of the evangelist. It hasbeen filled by some of the noblest and ablest men in the church of God—men “full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,” whose names are fragrant in the memories of multitudes as heralds of salvation. Ordinarily, only experienced men should enter it; for it requires a purity and strength of character, a soundness of judgment, and a largeness of faith and patience, of practical wisdom and knowledge of men, such as extended experience only will give.
Second, Teachers.
The word “teachers” is employed in the New Testament as the designation of men in churches whose special work was public religious instruction. It is so used 1 Cor. xii. 28—“God hath set some in the church, first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers”—where the word, while doubtless including evangelists and pastors, evidently extends to all whose official work is Christian teaching. Probably, also, in Eph. iv. 11—“He gave some, Apostles, some, prophets, some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers”—the word has like breadth of meaning, designating men not pastors who publicly taught the Word. There are many endowed with teaching power whose gifts the churches, according to New Testament example, utilize in positions other than the pastoral office. They are called to various departments of work as secretaries and agents of missionary and benevolent organizations, as instructors in institutions of learning, as authors and editors engaged in creating and diffusing a Christian literature, and as laborers in other positions in which there is occasion for the exercise of ministerial functions; and they are, therefore, often ordained to preach and administer ordinances. On this class of ministers, we submit the following remarks:
1. Teachers, like evangelists, have no official authorityas governing officers in the church. They are members with all the rights and duties of membership and differ from others only as empowered to preach and to administer ordinances. They are amenable, as others, to the discipline of the church, except that those who have received ordination through the action of a Council should not be divested of the ministerial office except by another Council. They have no right to ignore the ordinary obligations of church membership in pecuniary support, attendance on meetings, and personal devotion to church-work, but rather, from their conspicuous position, they are required to be in these things examples and leaders in the church. 2. This class of ministers in a church always stand in relations to the pastor of peculiar delicacy. Though without official authority, their character and gifts often give them great influence in the church and in society. Much care, therefore, should be used to avoid any intrusion on the prerogatives of the pastor. For example, in marriages and funerals within the bounds of his own church it is ordinarily proper that the pastor should officiate; only very unusual circumstances will justify a minister in allowing himself to set aside the pastor in such services. In the public and social worship of the church he should beware of taking too prominent a place or of occupying too much time, or of obtruding himself into the business and discipline of the church in such manner as to embarrass the pastor. In all relations in the church and in social life he should accord the pastor the just precedence which belongs to his official position, and his influence should be scrupulously used to encourage the pastor’s work and strengthen the pastor’s hands. Resident ministers may thus become to the pastor a source, not of discomfort and embarrassment, but of blessing andstrength. 3. In the absence of the pressure of obligation which a pastoral charge brings, the minister is in danger of a secularized spirit, which weakens in him the sense of spiritual realities and impairs his power in the public ministration of the Gospel. To prevent this, he should earnestly cultivate in his own soul the ministerial spirit and should avoid all social or business entanglements which may either militate against his own spiritual life or may weaken his influence as a minister in the community. The secretary or agent whose work calls him from home has need of special care lest, in the constant changes incident to travel, he loses habits of personal private devotion and of biblical and theological study. It is possible thus to retrograde in spiritual character and power, even when pleading the holiest of causes. Indeed, in such an itinerant life, the mind, thus in constant contact with the churches and the ministry, may well be on its guard lest it allow itself to be filled with the current ministerial and church gossip, and yield to the temptation to pass from church to church bearing this rather than “the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.” Few positions afford such large opportunities to carry blessing to pastors and churches as that of the secretary or agent of our benevolent societies. In counselling the young or the perplexed pastor, in healing divisions in churches and removing misunderstandings between pastors and their people, in inspiring and guiding the action of Associations and other public bodies, their position gives them great power, and opens before them a wide field for beneficent influence. Such men were Alfred Bennett, John Peck, and many others in the past—men whose presence was felt as a benediction in the churches, and whose words gave everywhere an impulse to the spiritual life; and such also are many of those who now fill that responsible office.
Third, Licentiates.
There are many persons whose gifts qualify them for usefulness in the occasional or the stated preaching of the Word, but whose age or attainments or needs do not make it expedient to ordain them. To such it is usual to give a license, authorizing them to preach either within the bounds of the church, or, more widely, wherever Providence may open the door. This confers no authority to administer ordinances; the only ministerial function it authorizes is that of preaching and conducting public worship. Here I suggest: 1. It is evident that such a license should be given only with wise discrimination. A man of unsound judgment, of defective knowledge of the Scriptures, or of doubtful moral and religious character should never be accredited as a preacher of the Gospel, however strong may be his personal impressions of duty or attractive his address in the eyes of the multitude. In the end he will be likely to injure rather than aid the cause of religion. The want of caution in hastily or thoughtlessly granting a license has often resulted in introducing to the sacred office men whose career has been calamitous to themselves and to the churches. 2. No man should, ordinarily, venture to preach without a license or some form of authorization from the church. Every Christian, it is true, is required, in his sphere, to publish the Gospel; but this surely does not empower him to assume the office of the public ministry. A call from God in the soul of the man is, it may be admitted, the matter of prime moment in a call to preach; but an inward impression of duty to preach certainly gives no right to the ministerial function, unless it be confirmed by the church, the Divinely-constituted judge of qualification. To enter on the public work of the ministry self-moved and self-appointed has no warrant inScripture or in reason and is an act of assumption and disorder which can only result in evil. 3. Churches and pastors, while using a wise discretion, should carefully seek out and develop ministerial gifts. Much power doubtless remains latent which with proper care might be developed and utilized in ministerial work. Many a Christian life now left undeveloped, might be greatly enlarged by being thus placed in its true sphere of activity; and many a waste place within the bounds of our churches, under the culture of a licentiate, might be made to glow with spiritual life and beauty. It is surely one of the highest duties of a church to recognize and make effective the gifts Christ has bestowed on it; and among these none are of greater moment than the gift of ministerial power.
FOOTNOTES:[1]New version.[2]CowperTask,book ii.
[1]New version.
[1]New version.
[2]CowperTask,book ii.
[2]CowperTask,book ii.
PASTORAL STUDY.
Study is an oft-repeated injunction on the Christian ministry: “Meditate upon these things: give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all” (1 Tim. iv. 15); “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. ii. 15). The reasons for this are obvious. Knowledge is everywhere power. The ministry, from their position, are the natural leaders in religious thought. To command respect, they must be men of mental grasp and activity, and must be in advance of the thinking of those around them. Besides, no other profession is so heavily tasked for brain exertion. The Senate, the Bar, and the Platform only occasionally demand the highest efforts of the intellect. But the pulpitrequires weekly its elaborate sermons. They must have freshness, originality, force, or the pastor loses his hold on the people. And this exhaustive drain on his resources continues steadily year after year. No man can meet such demands without constant, earnest study. He must be ever growing. His mental processes must be ceaselessly active, pushing into new realms of investigation, gathering new materials for thought, increasing his discipline, and making him a broader, richer, deeper man.
In the life of a pastor two extremes are to be avoided. On the one hand, he is not to be a mere book-worm, secluded in his study, with no practical, living contact and sympathy with life around him. Some ministers of large literary culture have been comparatively useless from want of living connection between their thinking and the real needs of the busy actual world in which they lived. On the other hand, a minister may not be a mere desultory man, a gossip from house to house, occupied with newspapers and magazines, skimming the surface of popular thinking in ephemeral books that may attract his fancy, but neglecting the severer processes of self-culture essential to mental growth. Instability in the pastoral office is often a result of this. Freshness, originality in thought and expression, is lost, and the people, weary of repetitions and empty platitudes, cease to respect and love the pulpit. The grand object to be sought, then, is to combine the student and the pastor—a mind growing in knowledge and power by habitual work in the study and growing in executive ability and social force by constant activity in the church and contact with the people. To secure this there must be a system—a system wisely formed and steadily pursued. What shall this system be? In answering this I propose to pursue two lines of suggestion—the method of study and the subjects of study.
First, the Method.
1.Be a student everywhere.The pastor’s business is to deal with the human mind and the actual experiences of men; he should, therefore, go through the world with his eyes and ears open, thoroughly studying men and life around him. In the street, in society, in the social meeting, the mind is to be ceaselessly at work, observing character, studying phases of experience and life, and gathering materials for mental work. Many of the best trains of thought, most interesting views of Scripture, and most effective illustrations will be suggested in conversations and in the prayer-room. No man can afford to lose these; for, springing as they do from direct contact with the people, such trains of thought are most likely to meet the wants of the congregation and deal with the questions most vital to them. The studious pastor who preserves these texts and thoughts and illustrations as they occur will be surprised to find how rapidly they accumulate, and how fresh and rich they often render his thinking and instruction.
2.Have a book always on hand.Every life has its spare moments, and much may be added in culture and knowledge by a right use of them. Most of the current literature of the day, and much in standard biography, history, science, poetry, and art can be read in this way, if the right book is at hand. A half, or even a quarter, of an hour each day will accomplish the reading of a large number of volumes in a year; and if these are well selected, they will greatly add to the minister’s breadth and intelligence, while they will refresh rather than exhaust his mind.
3.Consecrate a specific part of each day to severe systematic work in the privacy of the study.The habit of general observation and reading, before suggested, can be noadequate substitute for this. The time thus appointed for hard study should be sacredly devoted, and no ordinary occurrence be allowed to interrupt. The advantages of this are obvious. (1.) A habit once fixed is an ever-increasing power. The mind acts with greater rapidity and force when the habit of study at fixed, regularly recurring periods is formed. Instead of spending hours in vain attempts to fix attention and concentrate thought on the subject in hand, the mind enters at once with full energy into work. The more fixed and long continued the habit, the more easy, rapid, and powerful the mental processes. This is one secret of the immense amount of brain-work performed by some men: by fixed habits they instantly concentrate mental force, and work at white heat. (2.) If these hours are once fixed, and are fully understood by the people, they will ordinarily be free from interruption. The congregation will conform to the pastor’s plan and will respect his fidelity in preparing for their instruction on the Lord’s Day. What part of the day should be selected for the study cannot be determined by any rule; it must depend partly on the minister’s habits, and partly on the necessities of his position. Ordinarily, the morning is best. The liability to interruption is less, and it leaves the afternoons and evenings free for visitation, meetings, and social life.
Let me add, nothing but a high ideal of the ministry and a fixed purpose to realize it will enable a pastor to persist in such a course of study. He must believe in it as a solemn duty he owes his God, his people and himself, or he will fail. Indolence is often fostered by a false dependence on genius or on the spur of the occasion to give effectiveness and brilliancy to public utterances. Unthoughtful hearers, also, will often praise the off-hand, unstudied sermons and discourage elaborate preparation.Besides this, there are obstacles to study in the pastor’s work. He has cares connected with the sick, the afflicted, the erring; executive work in the organization and discipline of the church; and duties he owes society in the varied relations of life. These are often pressing, and the danger is that they crowd into the hours for study. Many a man circumscribes his own intellectual growth and pulpit power, making himself permanently a narrower and weaker man, by allowing these outside cares to destroy his processes of mental discipline and growth. Here nothing will overcome but a profound conviction that study—persistent, regular, life-long study—is the solemn, first duty of every man who ventures to stand up in the pulpit as an instructor of the people. Let other duties have their place, but the first, the most imperative duty of him who teaches others is to teach himself.
Second, the Subjects.
Let us suppose that the pastor has fixed his hours and made them sacred to severe, thorough mental labor; what shall he study? I answer: Not his sermons only. A grave mistake is often made here. The whole time is devoted to sermon preparation, leaving no room for general culture, biblical investigation, or theological studies. As the result, the mind becomes empty and barren. It lacks material for thought. The man is perpetually pouring out, but never pouring in, and the vessel becomes empty. He faithfully grinds at the mill but puts nothing into the hopper. Some conscientious, hardworking thinkers in this way fail as preachers. They have no freshness. The mind runs perpetually in the same grooves and moves always in the same narrow circle, whereas, if they were reading, investigating, looking on subjects from new standpointsand receiving the mental impulses which contact with other thinkers gives, the mind would be ever growing, ever enriching itself, and the sermons would be full of fresh and interesting views of truth.
Three objects are to be sought in the study: general culture, biblical and theological investigation, and sermon preparation.
I.General Culture.
By this I mean studies adapted to the development of the whole man. The pastor is not to be, in the narrow, technical sense, a mere theologian. He should seek to be a man of broad culture, developing his nature on every side and forming a full, symmetrical manhood. To accomplish this his studies must take a wide range, and open to him all those great realms of truth which science, philosophy, poetry, and history reveal.
1.The sciences.The pastor should not, indeed, turn aside from his sacred work to become a devotee to science. But in this age of scientific investigation, when the problems of science are so largely occupying public thought and so vitally touching the profoundest questions in religion, and the applications of science are so marvelously transforming our whole civilization and life, surely, at such a time, the man who stands up weekly to instruct the people, assuming to lead public thought, ought not to be ignorant of the results that science has reached, although he may not stop to pursue the processes of scientific inquiry. Astronomy, geology, botany, chemistry, each open a new world of truth, pouring light on the interpretation of God’s Word and abounding in richest illustrations of the sacred themes of the pulpit. Standard works on these and related sciences are within the reach of every pastor, and even one on each of them,carefully read, would greatly enrich and enlarge his thinking.
2.Philosophy, or the science of the mind.The preacher undoubtedly mistakes when he aspires to the character of a philosopher, and turns aside from his direct and earnest work for souls to lose himself in dialectics or the mazes of metaphysical speculation. But his work as a minister is to deal with the human soul—to influence the mind by reasoning, by persuasion, by the array of motives; and mind, therefore, in its power and the methods of influencing it, may well constitute one of his life-studies. It is here he comes in contact with the master-spirits in the world of thought—minds which have controlled the thinking of the ages—Plato and Aristotle, Descartes and Bacon, Leibnitz and Locke. In the pressure of a pastor’s life all these cannot be read, but a few choice, standard works on mental science, such as Hamilton, Mansel, McCosh, and Porter, may surely be read and carefully digested.
3.Æsthetic Culture.God has not made us mere logical machines, but beings of taste, imagination, sensibility, to be moved by objects of beauty. Much of God’s book is in poetry addressed to the imagination, and the universe around us is crowded with endless forms of the beautiful. Where a cold, impassive logic fails, truth often comes with resistless power through the imagination and the sensibilities. The cultivation of this side of our nature is essential to the development of a full manhood and is important alike to pastoral and pulpit power. For this, one of the best means is the careful reading of the greater poets, the mighty creative minds whose works have stood the test of ages. Among the last occupations of that magnificent man, the late Dr. Wayland, was the re-reading of Shakespeare and Milton; and these wonderful creations ofgenius afforded his ripened mind the richest instruction and keenest enjoyment.
4.History and general literature.Historical study should, without doubt, find no small place in this general culture. It enlarges the whole range of thought, shedding light on God’s vast plan of providence and grace, and thus interpreting the Bible; while in all its wide extent it is filled with illustrations adapted to enforce the truths of the Gospel. Nor should the higher class of works in fiction be excluded, for they often have great value, both for their delineations of character and life and for the culture they give to the imagination.
Now, in respect to this general culture, the points I here emphasize are, that it should be systematically and earnestly prosecuted, and that on all the subjects studied only the standard, thoroughly-tested authors should be read. Such a plan of reading, steadily pursued year after year, will make an ever-growing mind, developing symmetrically on every side into a noble, intellectual manhood. It only requires conscientious earnestness and persistency. The time wasted by some ministers in mental dissipation over newspapers and ephemeral literature would suffice to put them into communion with those master-minds of the ages, and secure the culture and wealth found in these highest realms of thought.
II.Biblical and Theological Culture.
The great work of a pastor is instruction in the truths of the Bible; and wherever else he may fail, he must at least be a master in the Gospel. Ignorance on some of the topics already mentioned, though unfortunate, may still be tolerated, but in the man who ventures into the pulpit as a public instructor in the Bible, a want of biblical knowledge and the utterance of crude, undiscriminatingstatements of truth can never be excused. No mere rhetorical power or seeming earnestness can atone for a want of thorough mastery of the themes of the pulpit. Biblical and theological investigation should, therefore, have a large place in the pastor’s plan of study.
1.Here, first of all, and most important, is the direct study of the Bible, bringing the mind into living contact with God’s Word.As students in the Hebrew and Greek, let a part of each day be given to careful, critical study of the Scriptures in the Divine originals as they were indited by the Holy Spirit. No translation, however perfect, can possibly give one the whole impression of the original. A little careful work each day in reading the original Scriptures will soon make the process easy and delightful, and its value is above all price. But, whether in the inspired original or in a version, the Bible should be carefully studied. It is God’s own Word, the great instrument of His power, “the sword of the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit works only through Divine truth, and that must ever be the mightiest pulpit which most fully and clearly unfolds these living words of God. (1.) As accessory to biblical interpretation, I suggest the study of the geography and history of Bible lands. The power to localize the characters and events of Scripture and place them in their historical surroundings is of the highest importance. Thus, in reading the Pentateuch and earlier historical books, how much more vividly are the events conceived if you are familiar with the localities in Egypt, the desert, and Palestine; or in reading Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel if you have clear ideas of the place and history of Assyria and Babylon; or in the New Testament if you have studied the condition and localities of the Roman Empire, then dominant! For this such works as Smith’sOld and New Testament History,Rawlinson’sFive Ancient Monarchies,andMilman’sHistory of the Jewsor Stanley’sJewish Church,would furnish the historical information, while a good biblical atlas, kept always open before you, would give the needed maps. Full historical and topographical discussions will be found in Smith’sBible Dictionary,Robinson’sBiblical Researches,or Thompson’sLand and the Book.(2.) The Bible, I also suggest, should be studied in its unity. The book of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is one whole, from first to last unfolding, by successive steps, one system of truth and method of redemption. It is not a mere fortuitous collection of sacred writings, but one grand revelation from God, each part related to every other and essential to the whole. The types and prophecies and symbols of the earlier Scriptures contain the germs of the later Gospel, and no man will thoroughly understand the one Testament without a careful study of the other. This interior, vital unity in the several parts of Scripture is developed in such works as Fairbairn’sTypologyand thePhilosophy of the Plan of Salvation.(3.) The books of the Bible should be studied in their chronological and historical connection. Suppose one is studying the prophecy of Isaiah: he will ascertain its meaning far more clearly if he have carefully studied the period when Isaiah lived, the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah as given in Kings and Chronicles. Or suppose he is reading the Epistles of Paul: their interpretation will be far more clear if he have studied the character of Paul and the circumstances under which he wrote as they are developed in the Acts and the Epistles, aided by such a work as Conybeare and Howson’sLife and Epistles of St. Paul.(4.) The Bible should also be studied analytically. A cursory reading of the Scriptures does not interpret them; they must be carefully analyzed if one would penetrate into their full meaning. For example, one is reading Romans; he begins,“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in holy Scripture, concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord; who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Now analyze or extract the propositions here contained. It is affirmed here of Paul, 1. That he is a servant (doulos) of Jesus Christ; 2. That he is a Divinely-called Apostle; 3. That as an Apostle he is set apart unto the Gospel of God. It is said of the Gospel, 1. That it was foreannounced by the prophets in Holy Scripture; 2. That its subject-matter is concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. It is declared of Christ, 1. That as to His flesh, or human nature, He descended from David; 2. That as to His spirit of holiness, or Divine nature, He was clearly shown to be the Son of God by the fact of His resurrection. Now, the man who will patiently, steadily work out such an analysis of God’s Word as he studies it will penetrate the heart of it, and its richness will astonish him. The great thoughts of God will be laid open to his view as they never can be to the careless, superficial reader; and if, with such biblical work in the study, the pastor devotes a part of the Lord’s Day either to expository preaching or to a lecture in his Bible school, this direct connection of the work of the study with that of the pulpit will add interest and force to both.
2.In the study of the Christian doctrines it is, first of all, important to have a system.This plan of work should be so arranged that in a course of years, taking one subject at a time, the pastor may make a thorough investigation of all the leading topics. As the basis take such a work as Hodge’sOutline of Theology,or any good compendium of theology, and, following the order of subjects, work in eachuntil its main points have been mastered. For illustration, suppose the subject is the doctrine of inspiration. First work out carefully the questions in your chosen text-book, and read some of the best authors on the subject, as Lee, Woods, Gaussen, and Hodge. All the points involved will thus be brought distinctly before the mind. Then collect the leading passages of Scripture bearing on it and examine each critically and patiently and note down your own impressions. Follow this by writing a full and careful statement of your own view as the result of the investigation. Or suppose the subject to be that great central doctrine of the Gospel, the atonement. After working out the questions as presented in your text-book and reading the best authors accessible to you, so as to become master of the vital points, then examine the priesthood and sacrifices of the Old Testament, the predictions of the atonement in prophecy, and the passages bearing on this doctrine in the New Testament. Having thus before you the elements of a decision, write out fully your own view. Such a process of theological investigation, steadily pressed year after year, and connected as it would be with the reading of the great masters in theology, could not fail to make the pastor a clear, strong religious thinker and his pulpit a power in leading religious thought. Let me also urge the study of the history of doctrines in connection with such a course of theological investigation. Take such a work as Hagenbach’s or Shedd’sHistory of Doctrines,in which the course of theological thinking on each of the great truths of the Bible is traced through the ages, and the varying phases of the doctrine through successive periods, and the forms in which it has been held by the world’s profoundest thinkers are presented. Such a study is wonderfully stimulating to thought and affords a broader basis for the formationof opinions. If also, in direct connection with this investigation of a great truth, the pastor should preach on the leading points involved in it, he would greatly add to the definiteness of his own views, while the work of the study would thus come into the work of the pulpit, enhancing the interest and power of the sermons.
III.Sermon Preparation.
The preparation of sermons should doubtless fill the chief place in these hours of private study.This subject, however, belongs to the department of homiletics, and will be found amply treated in works specially devoted to it, such as Broadus on thePreparation and Delivery of Sermons,Shedd’sHomiletic and Pastoral Theology,and the several courses ofYale Lectures on Preaching.I will, therefore, on this topic only emphasize the importance of high ideals of sermonizing and pulpit preparation.
The sermon is the embodied result of the pastor’s culture and reading, the public expression of his whole spiritual and intellectual manhood, and he is bound to show himself “a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. ii. 15). He dishonors Christ and His Gospel if he habitually preaches without thorough study.
The sermon is the message God sends by him to the people. It unfolds high and holy themes, into which “angels desire to look,” and on which the profoundest minds of the ages have dwelt with wonder and awe. It deals with the souls of men and the great interests of eternity. Surely, the man who ventures to stand up and speak carelessly and thoughtlessly on such themes and amidst such interests has failed to grasp the primary idea of his great office as a Christian pastor.
PASTORAL RESPONSIBILITY.
The pastor, in a true and important sense, is entrusted with the care of the souls of his congregation; he is, therefore, under obligation to use his utmost power for their conversion and sanctification, “warning every man and teaching every man,” that he “may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. i. 28). Paul said to the Ephesian elders: “Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood” (Acts xx. 28); and in exhorting the people on their part to obey the ministry, he urges as a reason, “for they watch for your souls as they that must give account” (Heb. xiii. 17). This responsibility plainly includes: 1.A personal life such that it may constitute a fitting example.The pastor is to be “an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim iv. 12). Thus, Paul ever referred to his own life, not as perfect, but as publicly exemplifying the Christian character, saying to the Philippians (Phil. iv. 9): “Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard, and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you;” and to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. ii. 10), “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.” A defective, irregular life in the pastor neutralizes the ablest efforts in the pulpit and may become a pre-eminent means of the ruin of souls. 2.Wise and faithful dealing with the individual souls of his charge.Paul went “from house to house,” from soul to soul: he “ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears,” and he proposesthis as an example of ministerial fidelity, requiring the pastor to be “instant in season, out of season.” Evidently, he did not regard the work of the minister as done when performed only in the study and the pulpit: it included personal dealing with souls. 3.Earnest effort to become an able minister of the New Testament.The most solemn urgencies press on the pastor the duty of seeking the highest possible intellectual and pulpit power. The themes he unfolds are the grandest that can engage the thought of man or angel. The end to be secured—the salvation of souls—is the most momentous ever committed to a finite being. God will not hold guiltless the indolent, reckless minister who causes the Gospel to be despised and imperils the souls of his people by a careless, unstudied presentation of the message He has entrusted to him. 4.The faithful declaration of the whole counsel of God.He is to show distinctly the threatenings as well as the promises of the Gospel, and the danger as well as the hopes set before the soul. No subject is to be avoided because unpopular or distasteful. No personal considerations are to prevent the plain, distinct enunciation of all the words of God. Jehovah says to the watchman: “If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ezek. xxxiii. 8; iii. 17–21).
Pastoral responsibility, however, has its limitation. Christ does not require of His servants impossible labor; but as they have received their talents, so they are to use them, each “according to his several ability.” If faithful to his trust, the pastor is “unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish” (2 Cor. ii. 15–17), and it is his right to feel he has “delivered his soul” and is “pure from the blood of all men” (Acts xx. 26, 27). Such was the ministry of Paul, a mere man,aided in this only by such Divine help as is promised to every other servant of God. It is fidelity, not success, which constitutes the limit of responsibility. Success belongs to God. Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God gives the increase. Jeremiah spoke with the earnestness and tenderness of lips inspired, but he was unpopular, and, as men would measure, unsuccessful; nevertheless, his name stands high among the ancient worthies, because in that degenerate age he was faithful to his trust and work. Besides, a minister’s power is not measured by the immediate, outward result. The powerful revival in which hundreds are gathered into the church finds its occasion, indeed, in the peculiar gifts of some popular preacher, but its real causes often lie hid in the quiet, patient toil of other men differently gifted. Every man has his special adaptation and work—one sows and another reaps—and only in the great harvest at the end of the world will the actual results of each man’s work appear. Hence, Christ says to every servant of His: “Be thoufaithfulunto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. ii. 10). Fidelity, then, is the limit of responsibility; and the earnest pastor, who, with heartfelt loyalty to Christ, has to the extent of his ability and opportunity faithfully fulfilled his calling, may know assuredly that he has the approval of the Master, and that awaiting him at the end is the sure reward of the faithful.