{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_61170/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_61170","id":"gutenberg_61170","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61170","summary":null,"tags":["Category: How To ...","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Pastoral theology"],"text":"+Transcriber's Notes+\n\n - This book is written by a seminary professor to his students and\n   others considering work in pastoral ministry.\n - Detailed information on the Transcriber's changes are listed after\n   the text.\n\n\n\n+THE PASTOR:+\n\n+HIS QUALIFICATIONS AND DUTIES.+\n\nBY\nH. HARVEY, D.D.,\nPROFESSOR IN HAMILTON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.\n\n\nPHILADELPHIA:\nAMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY.\n1701 CHESTNUT STREET.\n\n\n\n----------------------------------------------------------------\nEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by the\nAMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,\nIn the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.\n----------------------------------------------------------------\n\nPublished February, 1904\n\n\n\nTo\n\nThe Memory of\n\n+WILLIAM COLGATE,+\n\nTHE ENLIGHTENED AND MUNIFICENT FRIEND OF MINISTERIAL\nEDUCATION, WHOSE COUNSEL AND SYMPATHY GUIDED\nAND CHEERED THE WRITER'S EARLIER STUDIES,\n\nTHIS VOLUME IS\nGRATEFULLY DEDICATED.\n\n\n\n+PREFACE.+\n\nThe nature and duties of the pastoral office form a subject of great\npractical moment. The thoughts suggested in this volume are largely\nresults of the writer's personal experience in the ministry and of his\nobservation of pastoral work in our churches. The literature of the\nsubject, however, has of late become specially rich and valuable, and\nthe hints which a careful study of this furnishes have also been freely\nused. The experienced pastor, for whom some of these suggestions will\nbe needless, will remember that they were originally embodied in\nlectures delivered to the classes in the Hamilton Theological Seminary,\nand prepared for young men who, for the most part, were as yet\ninexperienced in the pastoral care.\n\nWith the earnest prayer and hope that the work may receive the approval\nof the Master and may contribute in some humble measure, to the higher\neffectiveness of the Gospel ministry, it is now submitted to the\nChristian public.\n\nH. H.\n\nTHEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, Hamilton, N. Y.,\nOct. 30, 1879.\n\n\n\n\n+CONTENTS.+\n\n+SECTION I.+\n\nTHE DIVINE CALL TO THE MINISTRY\nProofs of the necessity of a Divine call; Modes in which this call is\nmanifested: 1. The internal call; 2. The call of the church; 3. The\ncall of Providence.\n\n\n+SECTION II.+\n\nSETTLEMENT IN THE MINISTRY\n1. Choice of a field; 2. Obligations assumed in becoming a pastor;\n3. Ordination.\n\n\n+SECTION III.+\n\nPUBLIC WORSHIP\nObjects to be sought: Unity of thought; Sustained interest; Religious\nimpression.\n1. _Pulpit Decorum._ 2. _The Service of Song:_ Sympathy of pastor with\nchoir; Selection of hymns; Devotional singing. 3. _Reading of the\nScriptures:_ (1.) The selection; (2.) The reading; (3.) Comments.\n4. _Public Prayer:_ (1.) The form; (2.) The matter; (3.) The order;\n(4.) The manner. 5. _Preaching._ (1.) Sermons: Doctrinal; Experimental;\nPractical. (2.) Exposition: Advantages; Methods.\n\n\n+SECTION IV.+\n\nSOCIAL DEVOTIONAL MEETINGS\n1. Prayer-meetings; 2. The covenant-meeting; 3. The inquiry-meeting;\n4. Meeting for examination of candidates for the church; 5. Meeting for\nthe officers of the church; 6. Church meetings for business.\n\n\n+SECTION V.+\n\nADMINISTRATION OF ORDINANCES\nPreparatory instruction; Administration--1. Of Baptism; 2. Of the\nLord's Supper.\n\n\n+SECTION VI.+\n\nTHE PASTOR AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL\nInterest in Sunday-school essential to pastoral success; Methods of\npastoral work in the school.\n\n\n+SECTION VII.+\n\nPASTORAL VISITATION\nThe duty of visitation: 1. Its limits; 2. The method; 3. Its\nadvantages; 4. The visitation of the sick.\n\n\n+SECTION VIII.+\n\nREVIVALS OF RELIGION\nNature, sphere, and necessity of revivals; Methods of promoting them;\nEvils to be avoided.\n\n\n+SECTION IX.+\n\nCULTIVATION OF SOCIAL LIFE IN THE CONGREGATION\nNecessity of pastoral direction of social life; Suggestions as to\nmethods.\n\n\n+SECTION X.+\n\nTHE PASTOR AS AN ORGANIZER\nImportance of organizing power; Necessity of the study of the people;\nMethods of organization; Development of intellectual gifts and stimulus\nto higher education; Development of gifts for the ministry.\n\n\n+SECTION XI.+\n\nFUNERAL SERVICES\nNecessity of simplicity and brevity; Eulogies of the dead to be\navoided; Subject-matter of funeral address; Services at the grave;\nAttentions to the bereaved.\n\n\n+SECTION XII.+\n\nCULTIVATION OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT\nImportance of the missionary spirit; Methods of promoting it:\n1. Regular missionary contribution; 2. Stated missionary sermons;\n3. The monthly concert.\n\n\n+SECTION XIII.+\n\nTHE PULPIT AND THE PRESS\nThe press made to subserve the pulpit.--1. By a religious newspaper in\nevery family; 2. By the circulation of books and tracts; 3. By the\neducation of the judgment and sentiment of the people.\n\n\n+SECTION XIV.+\n\nRELATIONS TO OTHER DENOMINATIONS\n1. Cultivation of friendly intercourse; 2. Mutual recognition of\nsincerity of character and intention; 3. Occasional exchange of\npulpits; Union meetings.\n\n\n+SECTION XV.+\n\nCHANGE OF FIELD\n1. Evils of change; 2. Inadequate causes of change; 3. Valid reasons\nfor change.\n\n\n+SECTION XVI.+\n\nMINISTERS NOT IN THE PASTORAL OFFICE\n_First, Evangelists:_ 1. Foreign missionaries; 2. Home missionaries;\n3. Revivalists.\n_Second: Teachers._\n_Third: Licentiates._\n\n\n+SECTION XVII.+\n\nPASTORAL STUDY\n1. The Method; 2. The Subjects: (1.) General Culture; (2.) Biblical and\nTheological Culture; (3.) Sermon Preparation.\n\n\n+SECTION XVIII.+\n\nPASTORAL RESPONSIBILITY\nWhat it includes; Limitations of it.\n\n\n+SECTION XIX.+\n\nTHE PASTOR'S OUTER LIFE\n1. Business Relations; 2. Political Relations; 3. Social Character;\n4. Personal Habits.\n\n\n+SECTION XX.+\n\nTHE PASTOR'S INNER LIFE\nPower with God the condition of power with men; The promise of the Holy\nSpirit; Means of maintaining an inner life \"endued with power from on\nhigh:\" 1. The habitual practice of secret prayer; 2. The habitual\nself-application and self-appropriation of Divine truth; 3. Habitual\nself-surrender and consecration to Christ and His work; 4. An habitual\nlooking above for the reward.\n\n\n\n+THE PASTOR.+\n\n       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *\n\n+SECTION I.+\n\nTHE DIVINE CALL TO THE MINISTRY.\n\nA special call from God is essential to the exercise of the Christian\nministry. Reason itself would suggest that He, as a sovereign, would\nselect His own officers and send His own ambassadors; and the Divine\ncall of the ancient prophets, the analogous office in the old\ndispensation, creates a presumption of such a call in the Christian\nministry. None were permitted to intrude into the prophetic office. God\nsaid: \"The prophet which shall presume to speak a work in My name,\nwhich I have not commanded him to speak, shall die\" (Deut. xviii. 20);\n\"Behold, I am against the prophets that steal My words\" (Jer.\nxxiii. 30; see also Isa. vi.; Jer. i. 4-10). The proof of this is seen\nin the following considerations: 1. Ministers, in the New Testament,\nare always spoken of as designated by God. This is obviously true of\nthe apostles and of the seventy, but it is seen also in the case of the\nministry in general. The elders of Ephesus were set over the flock by\nthe Holy Ghost (Acts xx. 28). Archippus received his ministry \"in the\nLord\" (Col. iv. 17). Paul and Barnabas were separated to their work by\nthe Holy Ghost (Acts xiii. 2). 2. The ministry constitute a special\ngift from Christ to the church; for \"He gave some, Apostles; and some,\nprophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for\nthe perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the\nedifying of the body of Christ\" (Eph. iv. 11, 12). The gifts for these\noffices are bestowed by God, and the men are sent forth to their work\nby God Himself, in answer to the prayers of His people. (See Rom.\nxii. 6, 7; Luke x. 1, 2.) 3. The nature of the office, as implied in\nthe terms used to designate it, requires a personal Divine call. They\nare called \"ambassadors for Christ,\" speaking in His name; they are\n\"stewards of God,\" entrusted with the Gospel for men.\n\nThe ministry, then, is not chosen as a man chooses a profession,\nconsulting his inclination or interest. It is entered in obedience to a\nspecial call from God, and the consciousness of this is essential to\npersonal qualification for the work. The emphasis which the Scriptures\nplace on the Divine vocation of the minister implies a distinction\nbetween a call to the ministry and the ordinary choice of a profession.\nThis distinction, in one important element at least, may perhaps be\nthus expressed: In the case of the minister the work is one to which\nthe conscience _obliges;_ he feels that he _ought_ to engage in it, and\nthat he cannot do otherwise without _guilt._ But in the case of one\nchoosing another profession it is a matter of aptitudes, tastes,\ninterest; he feels that it is _right_ and _wise_ thus to choose, but\nthere is no sense of imperative _obligation,_ so that it would be\nmorally _wrong_ to do otherwise. In the one, there is the sense of\npositive obligation as expressed in its strongest form by Paul:\n\"Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the\nGospel\" (1 Cor. ix. 16); in the other, there is a sense of the\nrightfulness of the choice made and a consciousness of the Divine\napprobation in making it, but the contrary choice would not necessarily\nbe morally wrong.\n\nAs to the manifestation of this call, two opposite errors are to be\navoided. On the one hand, the call is conceived as consisting in a mere\npreference for the work of the ministry, and the result is that men\ninfluenced only by literary tastes or unhallowed ambition rush unbidden\ninto the sacred office. On the other, it is regarded as a supernatural\nmanifestation, like a voice from heaven, attended with intense mental\nstruggles; and, as the result, men who ought to enter the ministry are,\nin the absence of such manifestations, deterred from entering it and\nmistake their true mission in life. Evidently, this duty is to be\nascertained in the same manner as any other duty. The call, indeed, is\na Divine act, but so also is regeneration; yet in neither case is the\nmanifestation necessarily or ordinarily supernatural. The evidences of\nit are found in a prayerful examination of one's own experience\ncompared with God's Word. Christian young men, therefore, should be\nurged to ponder carefully the question whether God is not calling them\nto the ministry. A pastor's utmost wisdom and discrimination should be\nemployed in inspiring and guiding young men to right thinking in regard\nto their life-mission. Many a life-failure might thus be prevented, and\nmany a noble man whose life otherwise had been devoted to secular\npursuits would be saved for effective service in the pulpit. This call,\nI conceive, is manifested in the heart of the individual, in the\nconvictions of the church, and in the providence of God.\n\nI. THE INTERNAL CALL.--The elements of this are: 1. _A fixed and\nearnest desire for the work._ \"This is a true saying, if a man desire\nthe office of a bishop, he desireth a good work\" (1 Tim. iii. 1). There\nmust be desire; for no man will succeed unless the work enlists the\nwhole enthusiasm of his being. This is more than a love of declamation,\na glow in the work of composition, or a taste for the studious,\nliterary life of a pastor: it is a quenchless enthusiasm for the work\nas the proclamation of God's message and the means of saving men. It\nsprings from love to Christ and love to the work itself. Paul said:\n\"None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto\nmyself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry\nwhich I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the\ngrace of God\" (Acts xx. 24). 2. _An abiding impression of duty to\npreach the Gospel._ The apostle Paul said: \"Necessity is laid upon me;\nyea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel\" (1 Cor. ix. 16). Not\nalways, indeed, will this inward impulsion to the work be so distinct\nand imperative, but it will always be felt, and with greatest force as\nthe soul draws nearest to God and the true nature of the ministry is\nmost clearly perceived. Hence, in determining the question of vocation\nmuch prayer is necessary, and the convictions which predominate in the\nsoul, when most consciously in God's presence, are to be most carefully\nconsidered. 3. _A sense of personal weakness and unworthiness and a\nheartfelt reliance on Divine power._ This, indeed, is not an infallible\ntest, for youth is naturally self-confident, and in the case of some\nmost useful ministers a reliance alone on the Divine Arm has come only\nafter long and bitter experience of self-failure. But a self-confident\nspirit should certainly suggest the fear of self-deception, since it\ncan only spring from a false self-estimate and from wholly inadequate\nviews of the work. Paul said: \"Such trust have we through Christ to\nGod-ward; not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency\nis of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament\"\n(2 Cor. iii. 4-6).\n\nII. THE CALL OF THE CHURCH.--This is the expressed conviction of the\nchurch, after sufficient acquaintance with the candidate, that he is\ncalled to preach the Gospel--a conviction resulting from evidences of\nhis qualifications, such as the following: 1. _Sound conversion._ This\nqualification is vital and central. A defect here is fatal--fatal to\nthe minister himself as almost certain to result in his living and\ndying unconverted, and fatal to the people as placing their souls under\nthe guidance of a spiritually-blind, godless pastor. Few positions have\nin them so many elements of danger as that of an unconverted pastor,\nsince, though officially laboring for the conversion of others, his\nvery office places him beyond the scope of all the ordinary means\nemployed by the churches to lead men to Christ and furnishes the\nstrongest incentives to yield to self-deception. No man should enter it\nof whose conversion the church with which he is connected has doubt;\nregard alike for the soul of the candidate and for the souls of men\ndemands that in respect to this primary qualification the case should\nbe absolutely clear so far as man may judge. 2. _A superior order of\npiety._ He is to be \"an example of the believers in word, in\nconversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity\" (1 Tim.\niv. 12). He must needs be, in some respects, a model, and must\ntherefore be in advance of the people in experience and life. No\nbrilliancy of intellectual or literary or rhetorical qualification can\natone for the absence of a devotional spirit and a pure life in a\nChristian pastor. 3. _Soundness in the faith._ He is both to \"hold fast\nthe form of sound words\" (2 Tim. i. 13) and to \"speak the things which\nbecome sound doctrine\" (Tit. ii. 1). A man who is unsettled in his\nconvictions of religious truth, or who palters to the love of novelty\nby a perpetual straining for that which is strange and startling in\ndoctrine has no rightful place in the pulpit, however popular his\naddress or large his following. The ultimate result of his work is\nalmost always disastrous to the cause of truth. 4. _Adequate mental\ncapacity and training, and scriptural knowledge._ He is to show himself\n\"approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly\ndividing the word of truth\" (2 Tim. ii. 15). As the chief work of a\nminister is public instruction, it is plain he must possess the mental\nforce and knowledge requisite to make his ministry instructive. Moral\nand spiritual qualifications cannot be made a substitute for\nintellectual, for the preacher's work is to unfold and enforce truth in\nthe pulpit as well as to illustrate it in holy living. Piety,\ntherefore, essential as it is, if not accompanied with mental gifts and\ndiscipline, is not evidence of a ministerial call. Some good men have\nmade a life-mistake by taking on them the responsibilities of public\ninstructors when deficient either in natural abilities or in the\ndiscipline and knowledge which are essential to meet the continuous and\nexhaustive draft of the pulpit. 5. _Aptness to teach._ God's Word is to\nbe committed only \"to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others\nalso\" (2 Tim. ii. 2)--men \"apt to teach, patient, in meekness\ninstructing those that oppose themselves\" (2 Tim. ii. 24, 25). Great\nabilities and learning do not suffice; there must also be the special\ngift of teaching, the power to gather and interest and hold the people.\nThe ablest sermon fails unless the people are awake and attentive. Paul\nand Barnabas not only preached the Gospel, but they \"_so_ spake that a\ngreat multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed\"\n(Acts xiv. 1). 6. _Practical wisdom and executive ability._ Nowhere are\nthese qualities more important than in a pastor, whose good sense,\ntact, judgment, power to organize and set at work all the moral forces\nof his church, are in constant requisition. A large part of the\npastor's power depends on the possession of certain practical\nqualities; in the absence of these, men of great mental abilities and\nspiritual worth have failed in the pastorate. 7. _Finally, a good\nreport of them which are without._ A minister cannot escape opposition.\nIf faithful to Christ, he may experience, as thousands have\nexperienced, bitter persecution; but in purity and integrity of\npersonal character he is to \"have a good report\" (1 Tim. iii. 7),\n\"giving none offence, that the ministry be not blamed\" (2 Cor. vi. 3),\nbut \"commending\" himself \"to every man's conscience in the sight of\nGod\" (2 Cor. iv. 2). Without this acknowledged purity of spirit and\nlife, his work as a minister is necessarily a failure, for otherwise he\ncannot keep the consciences of men on his side.\n\nNow, the call of the church is founded on evidence in the candidate of\nthese qualifications, either in their germ and promise where the\ncharacter is immature, or in their fully-developed form where age and\nexperience have matured the man. This conviction in the mind of the\nchurch is ordinarily an essential evidence of a Divine call; for\nplainly, since the individual himself is not the proper judge as to his\npossession of these qualifications, the church is the natural medium of\nthe call, and its decision ought ordinarily to be accepted as final.\n\nIII. THE CALL OF PROVIDENCE.--Circumstances may absolutely forbid\nentering the ministry, but it is obvious that all difficulties are not\nto be interpreted adversely to a call, for such obstacles may be, and\noften are, simply a discipline educative and preparatory to the highest\nsuccess in the sacred office. The strength and symmetry of character\nwhich have afterward given eminence in the ministry have often been\nacquired by means of the struggles encountered in the preparation to\nenter it. But God has distinctly promised direction to those who ask\nHim: \"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord\" (Ps.\nxxxvii. 23); \"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that\ngiveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and _it shall be given\nhim_\" (James i. 5). To the man of prayer, the call of Providence comes\nin the events of his life, which, as interpreted by the Spirit's\nguidance, are finger-boards at every turn, saying, \"This is the way,\nwalk ye in it.\"\n\nNo man ought to enter the sacred work without this distinct\nconsciousness of a call from God. For, 1. _Without this he obtrudes\nhimself into the office of an ambassador without a commission, and\nincurs the guilt of presumption._ God has not sent him and has given\nhim no message, and as he stands up to speak in God's name not one of\nall the promises of God to His accredited servants belongs to him, but\nhe is exposed to all the threatenings against those who speak without\ncommand. 2. _Without this also he cannot speak consciously, as an\n\"ambassador for Christ,\" \"in Christ's stead\"_ (2 Cor. v. 20), _and he\nof necessity lacks the courage and boldness of him who is conscious of\nbearing a Divine message._ True ministerial boldness in the pulpit\ndepends on this consciousness of being God's servant, bearing God's\nmessage; in the absence of this he cannot speak with authority.\n3. _Nothing but this consciousness of a Divine call is adequate to\ninspire for the toils of the pastor's office and sustain in its\ntrials._ Disappointments and discouragements come, in which he must\nfall back for support and comfort on the great primary fact that he is\nGod's servant, specially called to that office and that work; and if\nthis fail him, all the true sources of courage and strength are\nwanting, and his condition is pitiable indeed. Therefore, as Luther\nsays: \"Every minister of God's Word should be sure of his calling, that\nbefore God and man he may with a bold conscience glory therein, that he\npreached the Gospel as one that is sent; even as the ambassador of a\nking glorieth and vaunteth in this, that he cometh not as a private\nperson, but as the king's ambassador.\"[1]\n\n\n+FOOTNOTES:+\n[1] Luther on _Galatians,_ p. 32.\n\n\n\n+SECTION II.+\n\nSETTLEMENT IN THE MINISTRY.\n\nI. CHOICE OF A FIELD.\n\nThe choice of a field, especially of the first field, is a matter of\nmuch moment, as it is sometimes decisive in its influence on subsequent\ndevelopment and usefulness. A young man, however, should beware of\nundue anxiety respecting it. A Divine call involves not only an\nappointed work, but also an appointed field of work. The subject should\nbe made, therefore, a special matter of prayer, and the opportunities\nProvidence may open for making the acquaintance of churches should be\nfaithfully improved. The Lord will then direct by the leading alike of\nHis Spirit and the heart and of His providence in external events.\nSeveral suggestions, however, may here be important:\n\n1. _Carefully consider the question whether duty does not call to a\nmissionary field._ No one should evade a full, fair consideration of\nthis, for success and comfort in one's life-work depend, not on\nobtaining what is termed an eligible settlement, but on occupying the\npost God has assigned us. All parts of the world are now opening to the\nGospel, and in our own country vast populations are gathering from\nother lands, sent hither to be evangelized. Evidently, many of the\nyoung men now called to the ministry must be designed by the Master for\nwork among the destitute. Eminence among ministerial brethren is a\nproper object of ambition, but it is a mistake to suppose that the\nchoice of a mission-field, either East or West, will prevent this. A\nmuch larger proportion of our foreign missionaries rise to eminence in\ntheir work than of ministers at home. The men who are recognized as\nChristian leaders in the West are mostly men who went there to struggle\nwith the difficulties of a new country and a small salary. By roughing\nit at the outset they developed manhood and power. Some of the ablest\nand most eloquent men of this age developed in pulpit power at the\nWest. It is true in the ministry, as everywhere, that he who for\nChrist's sake will lose his life shall save it. A sacrifice and a\nstruggle for Christ in earlier life give development and momentum to\nall the elements of power in a man. There is here wide room for a\nventuresome faith; and nothing is more certain than that many, by\nseeking at once great things for themselves, dwarf their after-life.\n\n2. _If different fields offer, that is ordinarily to be preferred which\naffords the highest incentives to exertion and the widest room for\nexpansion._ Few things are more chilling to a young man than to find\nhis church hemmed in, with no possibilities of future growth. This is\noften the fact in old and decaying communities overcrowded with\nchurches. Seek, therefore, not so much an old church or a large salary\nas a center where population is gathering, so that the field will grow\nwith your growth. This was the Apostles' plan. They went where the\npeople were, and gave their lives to the work where the largest numbers\ncould be reached. Still, duty may call to a field where these elements\ndo not exist. In that case, do not fear. A man's gift, faithfully used,\nwill make room for him. In any field it will take time to grow so as to\nfill it, and the experience will be valuable; and when one has grown to\nthe full measure of his field, and is still advancing in power, other\nand wider fields will be sure to open before him.\n\n3. _The call should ordinarily be unanimous, at least so far as to\nensure that no important influences are opposed to it._ On this account\nsufficient time, if possible, should be spent with the church to study\ncarefully the elements of which it is composed and form an intelligent\njudgment of its characteristics and tendencies. Many mistakes might be\navoided by care to secure a thorough acquaintance between the candidate\nand the people before a call is accepted--mistakes which are sometimes\nmost unfortunate alike to the minister, in rendering his pastorate a\nfailure and embarrassing him in forming another relation; and to the\nchurch, in hindering their union and weakening their effectiveness.\n\n   TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: This next point includes the word\n   \"niggardly,\" which is a fine word, meaning \"stingy,\" \"grasping,\"\n   or \"miserly,\" but, to those who are unfamiliar with the word or\n   who are not paying strict attention, it can sound like a racial\n   slur. When presenting this material, please strongly consider\n   the substitution of a synonym.\n\n4. _The salary should be adequate for a comfortable support, and should\nbe fairly proportioned to the pecuniary ability of the congregation._\nThe minister will be expected to live in a manner at least equal to the\naverage style of life among the people, and the salary should enable\nhim to do so. A \"donation,\" as a part of the payment of ministerial\nservice, is to be avoided if possible. It is perhaps a necessity in\nsome localities from long-established custom; but it is essentially\nunjust to the minister, because it calls that a gift which is really a\ndebt, and its effect is to foster in the people false ideas of\nministerial support. The New Testament declares that \"the laborer is\nworthy of his hire\" (Luke x. 7), and it is injurious alike to the\nself-respect of the pastor and to the respect of the people for his\noffice to make his support a matter of gratuity. It is better, in my\njudgment, to accept a smaller salary, the payments of which are fixed\nand regular, than to insist on a larger one, a part of which comes in\nthe uncertain form of a \"donation.\" In the matter of salary, however, a\ntrue pastor will always tenderly regard the circumstances of his\npeople; and in a congregation composed chiefly of the poor, or in times\nof financial depression and disaster, he will be ready to suffer with\nthem, cheerfully accepting a smaller stipend and practicing a more\nrigid economy. A selfish, niggardly, parsimonious spirit is nowhere\nmore offensive than in a Christian pastor.\n\n5. _All business arrangements with a church should be made with\nbusiness definiteness._ It may not, indeed, be necessary or desirable\nto insist upon a formal written contract, but it would save many a\npainful misunderstanding if the chief features in the agreement were\nalways in writing. Properly, the call of the church should specifically\nstate the chief points agreed on; but, whether this is done or not, the\nletter of acceptance should specify them distinctly. The points to be\nthus specified are: the time at which the pastor will enter on his\nwork, the amount of salary and the times of payment, and the vacation\nto be allowed. This should ordinarily not be less than four weeks and\nshould be understood as fully releasing the pastor during that time\nfrom all responsibility for the pulpit and from all pastoral service.\n\n6. _The minister, in all his relations with a church, should exhibit a\ndelicate sense of honor._ He may not encourage a call when there is no\nserious probability of its acceptance. A church call and its\ndeclination may gratify a man's vanity and give him a temporary\npublicity, but such ministerial coquetry is destitute of Christian\nhonor, and in the end reacts disastrously on him who practices it. It\nis no light thing thus to trifle with a church of the Lord Jesus\nChrist, and to dishonor the ministerial office before the world.\n\nII. OBLIGATIONS ASSUMED IN BECOMING A PASTOR.\n\nIn accepting a call to the pastorate of a church, the following things\nare understood: 1. That the pastor accepts as scriptural the doctrine\nand practice of that church, and places himself under obligation to\nteach and defend them; for this is obviously a chief duty in the office\nof a pastor. If his convictions do not permit him to uphold the\ndoctrine and practice of the church, he is untrue to himself and to it\nin accepting the office. And if, while occupying the pastorate, his\nviews of doctrine and practice undergo a change, he is, indeed,\nentitled to full freedom of personal conviction and action, but he is\nunder obligation to resign his office; for an essential condition on\nwhich it was conferred on him has ceased to exist, and every\nconsideration of honor requires him to withdraw from it. It is\ndifficult to conceive a more dishonorable position than that of a\npastor who, after having accepted the sacred office of teacher and\ndefender of the doctrine and practice of the Gospel, as understood by\nthe church, and having subsequently undergone a change in his own\nconvictions, shall still retain that office only to subvert the\ndoctrines he had placed himself under solemn obligation to defend.\n2. It is understood, also, that he accepts the care of the souls of\nthat congregation as a sacred trust from Christ, to devote himself\nwithout reserve in labor and prayer for their salvation. The one great\nwork of his life, to which all the faculties of his being are to be\nconsecrated, is the salvation of those souls and the edification and\nperfection of that church. If he accepts the office for its emoluments,\nfor the literary position it gives him, or the stepping-stone to some\nother position; or if he shall, while pastor, allow himself to become\nabsorbed in other interests, so as to divert his chief energies from\nthis sacred trust in the care of these souls, he is false to the pledge\ninvolved in assuming the pastorate, and is guilty of a dishonorable\nact. 3. It is further understood that he will maintain his post amidst\nthe adversity as well as the prosperity of the church, as the shepherd\nto whom Christ has entrusted the care of that flock. Our Lord makes\nfidelity to the flock in danger the test of a good shepherd: \"The good\nshepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling,\nwhose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the\nsheep and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep\"\n(John x. 11, 12). The trials which may meet a church, so far from\njustifying the pastor in leaving it, may be only an additional evidence\nof his duty to remain. He may not abandon, in a time of perplexity and\ndanger, the flock the Lord committed to him.\n\nIII. ORDINATION.\n\nChurch officers, according to New Testament usage, are chosen from\nmembers of the church. No church, therefore, can properly call a\nCouncil to ordain until the person to be ordained is a member of it.\nHence, the first step, after a contract of settlement, is the transfer\nof membership.\n\nWhen the Council is organized the candidate is expected to relate his\nChristian experience and his call to the ministry, and to submit a\nstatement of his views of Christian doctrine, of church organization\nand discipline, and of the ordinances. This statement may be either\nwritten or unwritten. In any case, it should be clear, orderly, and\nfull. The manner of its presentation should be arranged between the\nmoderator and the candidate. It is usually found expedient to make the\nstatement complete, without interruption, and at its close submit to\nsuch questions as the Council may have noted and may propose, the\nmoderator calling up each topic separately and in order, for that\npurpose. The candidate should also be prepared to submit to the\nCouncil, if called for, his license to preach, his certificate of\ngraduation from the seminary, and any other papers that may show his\nstanding and attainments. Those who officiate in the ordination are\nusually nominated in part by the church and candidate and in part by\nthe Council, but all receive their formal appointment from the Council.\nFor the sermon and such parts of the service as require elaborate\npreparation, a previous designation perhaps ought ordinarily to be made\nby the church or the candidate, if the ordination immediately follows\nthe examination. In selecting persons to officiate it is evidently\nappropriate, as well as desirable, that most of those chosen should be\npastors of churches in the vicinity, with whom the person to be\nordained will be most nearly connected in his work.\n\nOrdination constitutes one of the chief epochs in a minister's life. It\nshould, therefore, be preceded and attended with much self-examination\nand prayer, and to be marked as a point of new and higher consecration\nto Christ and His church. The obligations then assumed in the care of\nsouls are the weightiest that can rest on man, and the vows then taken\nare made not only to man, but also to God.\n\n\n\n+SECTION III.+\n\nPUBLIC WORSHIP.\n\nThe interest and value of worship, as conducted in most churches,\ndepend chiefly on the pastor. The service is almost wholly led by him.\nIt is, therefore, of the highest moment not only that the sermon be\nthoroughly studied, but also that his spirit be prepared to lead and\nelevate the souls of the people in acts of devotion; for instruction is\nnot the only object of the service: it is intended to inspire and lead\nsouls in true, spiritual worship, such as will be acceptable to God and\nprofitable to the people. Three things are here specially to be sought.\n\n1. _Unity of thought._ Each occasion of worship should ordinarily have\none leading, pervading, governing thought which shall individualize\nthat occasion and distinguish it from others. By this it is not meant\nthat the subject should always be advertised in the hymns and\nScriptures and prayers that precede the sermon; this might be\nunfortunate, as interfering with the purpose of general worship. But\nall parts of the service should be consistent with the subject of the\ndiscourse, and should flow naturally into it; if possible, nothing\nshould be allowed to enter which may divert from it. The assembly\nshould be dismissed filled with one subject and bearing away one great\nthought. On this account it is usually better to exclude all other\nsubjects, both during and immediately following public worship, and\nwhen a subject out of the usual order is to be presented, such as some\nbenevolent object, to give up the entire service to that and\nconcentrate attention on it.\n\n2. _Sustained interest._ The interest should rise with the progress of\nthe service, and find its highest point at the close; otherwise, the\ngood impressions made in the earlier part are lost in the weariness and\napathy of the later. Failure in sustaining interest to the end may\nresult from several causes: (1.) Imperfect preparation, so that the\nmatter of the service is commonplace and uninteresting. In this age of\nintense mental activity, a want of freshness, vigor, and variety of\nthought is at once felt by the people, and the attention is lost.\n(2.) Defective, monotonous delivery, which often destroys the force of\nthe best thought. For this the only remedy is persistent training,\ntaken, if possible, under a good elocutionist; and where such a defect\nexists, to apply this remedy seems clearly the imperative duty of a man\nwhose success in his work depends on power in public speech.\n(3.) Wearisome protraction of the exercises. Few sermons hold the\ninterest of a congregation beyond half an hour. The effect of the first\nthirty minutes is in most cases destroyed by seeking to force attention\nthrough another fifteen or twenty. (4.) Too great exhaustion of the\nphysical and nervous force of the preacher before the service in\npreparing for it. The pastor should secure thorough rest of body and\nmind before the Lord's Day services, so as to come to them fresh and\nstrong. It is better to leave the sermons unfinished than to fail of\nthis. Preserve at all hazards a high tone of physical vigor and a\nhealthful, elastic nervous organism; otherwise, the speaking will lack\nforce and magnetism, and the most able and elaborate sermon will fall\nflat and powerless. Some of the most successful preachers avoid all\nsevere study on Saturday, making that a day of rest and recreation,\nthat they may come to their Lord's Day work with full nervous and\nphysical vigor.\n\n3. _Religious impression._ This is the chief design of religious\nworship, so far as it is intended to influence men; and however much an\nassembly may be interested in a preacher, the thoughtful and judicious\nalways feel a painful lack if the service has not stirred their deeper\nreligious nature. The pulpit may be able, eloquent, intellectually\nstimulating; but if it does not touch these inner springs of the soul,\nit has fatally failed, and the great object of public worship has not\nbeen secured.\n\n\nI. PULPIT DECORUM.\n\nThe spirit and bearing of a pastor in the pulpit have a marked\ninfluence on the tone of public worship. If he is devout and\nreverential, as conscious of being in the house of God and of bearing a\nmessage from God, his manner will inspire in the congregation a like\nreverence for the sacredness of worship. The whole service will receive\ntone from the spirit of its leader. Here I suggest: 1. A careless\nmanner in the pulpit is to be avoided, either in the posture or\nmovements of the body, or in handling the hymn-book and Bible when\npreparing for service; as also is the opposite fault of a manner\nstudied and artificial, whose stiffness and formality repel sympathy\nand give an icy chill to worship. Against both of these faults a\ndevout, reverential heart thoroughly pervaded by the spirit of worship\nwill be the best safeguard. 2. In the pulpit the pastor should be, and\nshould appear to be, absorbed in his work and his message; any act on\nhis part which creates a doubt of this destroys the value of the\nservice to the people, and is to be carefully avoided. Thus, if, before\nthe opening of the service or during its progress, he is listlessly\ngazing around the congregation as if occupied in mentally commenting on\nthem, or is engaged in conversation with some brother-minister seated\nwith him, the impression is inevitable that the service does not absorb\nhim, and his power with the people is weakened alike in his devotional\nexercises and in his preaching. 3. As far as possible, all arrangements\nshould be previously made, so as to avoid, during the service, any\nnecessity for consultations with officers of the church; and all\nnotices to be given should be required to be handed in to the pastor\nbefore the services begin and should be reduced to the minimum in\nnumber and length. For any diversion of the attention from the service\nitself is ordinarily an evil.\n\nIn all this, however, it is evident that a devout, reverent spirit,\nthoroughly entering into the true idea of worship, is of far higher\nmoment than any formal rules; for such a spirit will instinctively feel\nthe proprieties of the sacred time and place and will perpetually seek\nto realize its own ideal of public service. Cowper has well said:[1]\n\n   \"Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul,\n    Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own,\n    Paul should himself direct me. I would trace\n    His master-strokes and draw from his design.\n    I would express him simple, grave, sincere;\n    In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,\n    And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste,\n    And natural in gesture; much impressed\n    Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,\n    And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds\n    May feel it too; affectionate in look\n    And tender in address, as well becomes\n    A messenger of grace to guilty men.\"\n\n\nII. THE SERVICE OF SONG.\n\nThis is one of the most difficult, as it is one of the most important,\nparts of public worship. Much diversity exists in the method of\nconducting it. Whether the singing should be congregational or\nrestricted to a choir; whether, in the former case, it should be led by\na choir or by a precentor; whether an instrument should be used or only\nhuman voices,--all these questions have been differently answered. My\nown observation is that the method adopted is of far less importance\nthan the spirit with which the method is pursued. An inferior method\ncarefully and enthusiastically pressed will give better results than\nthe best method poorly followed. In singing, as in preaching, the men\nrather than the method determine its effectiveness, and in any church\nsuffering from defective singing I should seek rather to infuse\nenthusiasm and the spirit of musical culture in the singers than to\nchange hastily any method to which they had become accustomed.\n\nHere, then, I suggest: 1. The pastor should feel and should manifest a\nhearty sympathy for the singers and an appreciation of their work; the\nlack of this is a frequent cause of discouragement and disorganization\nin choirs. He should consult with them in regard to the musical\ninterests of the congregation, should recognize their work as an\nimportant service done to Christ and the church, should express, in\npublic and private, his appreciation of whatever is excellent in their\nperformances, and should use his pastoral influence to secure from the\ncongregation the necessary means for such books and instruments as may\nbe important to their success. A good choir, besides contributing the\nresults of long previous training, spend much time each week in\npractice for the service of the Lord's Day, and no true pastor should\nfail, or allow his congregation to fail, in an appropriate expression\nof appreciation of the work thus done. Such a spirit in pastor and\npeople will seldom fail to secure a well-trained and enthusiastic choir\nand will make the service of song a power and a blessing in public\nworship. 2. In the selection of hymns special adaptation to the subject\nof the sermon is important chiefly in the one which follows it; the\nothers, especially the first, while fittingly leading to the sermon,\nshould be adapted to the purposes of general worship. When the singing\nis congregational, regard must be had to the tunes as well as to the\nhymns; for in most congregations the range of tunes in which the people\ncan or will unite is comparatively narrow, and the best hymn will fail\nwith an impracticable tune. The pastor, therefore, should carefully\nnote the tunes which the congregation readily sing, and make his\nselection within this range. A few months' observation, with careful\nnoting of results, will enable him to select wisely. 3. Singing in\npublic worship should be devotional. It is not a musical recreation nor\nan artistic musical display, but an act of worship offered to the Most\nHigh. The language of sacred song is often directly addressed to God in\npraise, thanksgiving, and prayer; it is, therefore, of doubtful\npropriety to call for singing, while a collection is taken up or\nbusiness is transacted, merely to occupy the time. Nor should the\npreacher, during the singing, allow himself to be occupied in\nconversation, or in the study of his sermon; rather he should, if\npossible, himself participate devoutly with the congregation in this\nact or worship, and thus by his example recognize the devotional nature\nof the service.\n\n\nIII. READING OF THE SCRIPTURES.\n\nThe reading of the Bible should form a part of public worship, both\nbecause it is the fitting recognition of Scripture as the Word of God\nand the church thus presents itself as reverently seeking instruction\nfrom Him, and because the omission of this would imply that the words\nof man are of higher moment than the words of God. The Scriptures\nshould have a large and reverent use in the pulpit, as the fountain of\nall instruction and the sole standard of faith and practice.\n\n1. _The selection._ Here several suggestions may be made: (1.) The\npassage should be adapted to the purposes of devotion. Thus, a\nselection from Leviticus giving minute regulations in regard to\nleprosy, or one made from the long genealogical lists of Chronicles,\nhowever instructive to the student of the Mosaic system or Jewish\nhistory, might not be the most helpful to devotion in a Christian\ncongregation. The primary end in any selection is instruction adapted\nto inspire devotion. (2.) The passage should be, in its character and\ntone, in harmony with the subject of the sermon, but it need not be the\npassage from which the text is taken. If the text has an extended\nconnection--and an understanding of this is important to the force of\nthe sermon--then this may be selected, unless, as would rarely be the\ncase, it is unfitted to aid devotion. Often, however, a related passage\npresenting and illustrating the subject of the text may be a wiser\nselection, and sometimes a devotional passage having no special\nreference to the text may be of more interest and value. (3.) Some read\na selection from both Testaments. In such case the passages selected\nshould harmonize in general teaching and tone. This method has the\nadvantage that, while it reverentially recognizes the Old Testament, it\noften strikingly presents the harmony between the Old Testament and the\nNew, and thus shows the essential unity of the Bible as in all parts\nthe utterance of the one Spirit. (4.) The length of the passage\nselected must depend, to some extent, on the subject of it, for it\nshould, at least in some measure, have completeness. The reading\nservice should always occupy such prominence as to show a true\nreverence for God's Word. Any abridgment of it, such as might suggest\nthat the preacher thought his sermon of higher moment, would obviously\nbe unfortunate. The pastor himself, when he knows the ordinary limit\nfor the whole service, can best determine the amount of time to be\noccupied by this part of it, and especially as he marks the extent of\nthe interest of the congregation in it, for no part of worship should\nreach the point of weariness.\n\n2. _The reading._ Effective reading of Scripture in the pulpit is a\ncomparatively rare attainment. Many able preachers fail in this--a\nfailure which probably arises from an undue concentration of interest\non the sermon, and consequent want of care in preparing for this\nservice. This, however, is undoubtedly a mistake. A correct expression\nin reading is the best commentary on Scripture and is often the most\neffective way of developing and enforcing truth. No minister should\nallow himself to fail of power in this. The following remarks may here\nbe of value: (1.) The passage should be carefully studied, so that its\ntrue meaning, not only in its general scope, but also in the connection\nof its separate thoughts, be thoroughly understood. Without this the\nemphasis will often be misplaced and the truth thus be obscured.\n(2.) It should be so studied that its thought shall fully permeate the\nmind of the reader and enlist his sympathy, for only thus will the\nmodulations and tones of his voice give a natural and clear expression\nof the passage. Without this sympathy a practical elocutionist may\nindeed develop the thought, but his emphasis and tones will of\nnecessity be artificial, and he must fail to make the thought a power\nto touch the springs of emotion and conviction in the hearers.\n(3.) True expression in emphasis and tone will often be attained simply\nby attending to the above suggestions; but in some instances, false\nhabits in reading have become so fixed that only thorough elocutionary\ndrill can break them up. In this case the duty of the young minister is\nplain: he should take all possible means to remove such an obstruction\nto his pulpit power.\n\n3. _Comments._ On the question whether the minster should make a\nrunning commentary on the passage while reading, there are several\npoints to be considered: (1.) It is doubtful whether such an\ninterjecting of man's words among the words of God, though elucidating\npossibly here and there an obscure point, does not on the whole mar the\nimpression of the passage as the Word of God, and whether the simple\nreading of the Bible, with just emphasis and expression, is not more\ninstructive and impressive than a reading thus broken up into fragments\nby interjected comments. I confess that this doubt grows on me with\nadded observation and experience, and my impression is that in most\ncases the majesty and power of the Scriptures will be most distinctly\npresented in a careful reading, without commingling the words of man\nwith the words of God. (2.) Besides, such comments require time, and\nthe practice thus tends to an undue protraction of public worship,\nseriously interfering with the Sunday-school when, as in many places,\nit immediately follows the service. (3.) Few men possess the gift for\nsuch an exercise. Spurgeon, indeed, has it in an eminent degree, and\nmakes effective use of it. This is true, perhaps, of some others, but\nmost men fail; and if there is a failure, it is here a most serious\none. My advice, therefore, is that, unless a minister have special\naptitude for it, he should not attempt this form of exposition, but in\nthe public reading of the Scriptures make his best effort to develop\nand impress God's thoughts in the simple, right reading of them.\n\n\nIV. PUBLIC PRAYER.\n\nPublic prayer is the worship of the church presented audibly through\nits representative or leader. The minister gives vocal expression to\nthe devotions of the assembly. But it is more than this. The public\nprayer not only gives a voice to the devotions of the people: it\nstimulates the thoughts and desires of the assembly, and gives\ndirection and form to them, so that their hearts are quickened and\nborne heavenward by the prayer of the leader. It is here the pastor's\nheart touches most directly the hearts of the people, and all the\nspiritual forces of his nature are felt, inspiring, guiding, and\nhelping souls in their approach to God. Power here, therefore, depends,\nnot so much on the observance of any special rules, however judicious,\nas on a soul habitually living in the Spirit, and thus profoundly\nrealizing spiritual verities and sympathizing with the experiences and\nnecessities of men. A few suggestions, however, may be of value, and we\nconsider--\n\n1. THE FORM.--It should ordinarily be unwritten. Liturgical forms are\nto be rejected for several reasons: they have no example in the\nScriptures; they did not come into use until the general corruption of\nworship; they serve to repress and fetter a devotional spirit both in\nthe minister and the people; and they cannot be adapted to the varied,\nspecial exigencies of the congregation. But prayer, though\nextemporaneous in form, is not necessarily unpremeditated. The mind\nshould, if possible, be lifted into the sphere of devotion and filled\nwith the subjects of petition by previous reflection. Too often the\npastor is anxious only for the sermon, and leaves the prayer, both in\nmatter and form, to the moment of utterance; and an ordinary result is\nthe repetition of solemn commonplaces which fail to inspire and lead\nthe devotions of the congregation.\n\n2. THE MATTER.--The best materials for prayer are derived from the\nfollowing sources: (1.) The devotional parts of Scripture, made\nfamiliar by constant study. Bible thoughts in Bible imagery are best,\nbecause so sacredly linked with the experiences of all Christian\nhearts. These never grow old, and they afford endless variety and\nfreshness. The mind should be thoroughly imbued with their spirit and\nstored with their forms of expression. (2.) Secret prayer, constantly\nmaintained, with a deep and rich personal experience. More than any\nother exercise, public prayer is the outflow of the minister's inner\nlife. His holiest experiences, gathered on his knees in secret, here\nfind unpremeditated expression, and elevate and enrich and spiritualize\nthe acts of public devotion. (3.) A full, heartfelt sympathy with the\nlife of the people, in their temptations, their sorrows, their hopes,\nand their dangers. Their pastor's life should touch the life of his\npeople on every side, and his heart beat in perpetual sympathy with\nthem. Only thus can he truly lead them in presenting their hearts'\ndesires before God. The mere recluse whose life is with books and not\nwith men, who deals with ideas and not with experiences, may utter an\nelegant, and even an eloquent, prayer; but he has no power to inspire\nand lead souls, in these acts of public devotion, to come with all\ntheir needs to the Throne of Grace.\n\nIn respect to the matter of prayer, the following cautions are to be\nobserved: Avoid, (1.) Frequent references to self. The minister is the\nmedium of the devotions of the people; whatever, therefore, cannot\nproperly be uttered by the assembly should not, ordinarily, be uttered\nby the pastor. Any intimations in the prayer respecting the pastor's\nhealth or the pressure of his work, intended as an apology for a poor\nsermon or as deprecating an unfavorable criticism of it, indicate an\nunmanly weakness which is unworthy of the pulpit and is quickly felt by\nthe discerning. A petition asking Divine help for the pastor in his\nwork is indeed eminently fitting, for in this the assembly may\nnaturally unite; but when associated with an apologetic purpose,\nlooking only to the ear of the people, such a prayer savors of impiety.\n(2.) Personalities. Cases of deep affliction do indeed occur, which\nmove the sympathy of a whole community, and in which the person or\nfamily specially afflicted may properly be directly alluded to in\nprayer; and this is true, also, of any cases in which special request\nhas been made for the prayers of God's people. But beyond these limits\nit is seldom wise to pass. Compliment or criticism in public prayer is\nespecially to be avoided. The temptation to this is often great when\nanother has preached for you; but plainly the time and place alike make\nit unbefitting thus to publish the pastor's estimate of a\nbrother-minister's character or sermon. (3.) All admonition or\nscolding. This, though it is clothed in the language of prayer to God,\nis, and will be felt to be, intended for the ear of man; and, as in the\npreceding cases, it is an offensive form of hypocrisy. But in this\ncase, there is ordinarily the added element of moral cowardice; for the\nman utters in prayer to God what he would fear, when looking his people\nin the face, to speak directly to them. (4.) A didactic, doctrinal\nmethod in prayer. This is improper alike in that it assumes the tone of\ninstructing God, and in that it is contrary to the nature of prayer.\nFor prayer is not a sermon; it is the outflowing of religious emotion\nand desire toward God. It is, indeed a means of instruction, but it\nteaches through the medium of the emotional rather than the logical\nfaculties. Prayer, therefore, should never take the logical form, but\nshould ever be an expression, not dominantly of the intellect, but of\nthe heart.\n\n3. THE ORDER.--Order in the topics has many advantages. It concentrates\nattention on one subject at a time, thus increasing the interest of\nboth minister and people. It aids the memory, thus avoiding the\nomission of necessary subjects, and leaving the mind unconfused in\nrecalling them. An unarranged, confused prayer, in which the mind\nutters at haphazard whatever may first enter it, must always fail of\nthe true ends of public worship. A natural and common order is this:\ninvocation, adoration, thanksgiving, confession, petition, and\nintercession. Invocation recognizes dependence on the Divine Helper,\nthe Holy Spirit, and implores His presence and aid. In adoration the\ncharacter, perfections, and works of God are celebrated, usually\nemploying largely for this the language and imagery of the Scripture,\nwhich in variety and beauty has here a wealth simply inexhaustible.\nThanksgiving naturally comprehends the whole range of providential\nmercies which attend our earthly life, personal, local, and national,\nand also all those spiritual blessings which spring from the Gospel in\nthe experiences and hopes of the personal life, and in the associations\nand helps and prospects of the church of God. Confession presents alike\nthe individual soul, the church as a body, and the community in the\nattitude of penitence, acknowledging its sins and failures and humbly\nrecognizing the rectitude of the Divine judgment. Petition is prayer\noffered in behalf of our own needs, imploring for the individual soul\nand for the church, not only providential favors, but also Divine\nillumination, penitence for sin, faith in Christ, victory in\ntemptation, support in trial, growth in all the graces of Christian\ncharacter, and success in all the efforts of Christian labor.\nIntercession relates more distinctly to those without us--the families\nrepresented in the congregation, the Sunday-school and its work, the\nafflicted, the unconverted, other Christian congregations in the\nvicinity, the community with its varied interests, the nation and its\nrulers, and the great missionary work in its various departments and\nspheres of effort. Each of these topics furnishes within itself a wide\nrange of subjects for prayer, and the pastor whose soul is in living\nsympathy with his people and his work, if he makes proper preparation,\nmay give to this part of worship an endless variety and make it an\nexercise of immense power. No one order, however, should be invariable,\nfor it leads to sameness of thought and language, and thus has all the\ndisadvantages of a stereotyped form, with none of the advantages of a\nliturgy. The order, with the selection of leading subjects in it,\nshould be a matter of careful premeditation, so that there may be\nvariety in the general plan of the prayer, while yet there is no\nomission of necessary topics and no confusion. Within such a general\nplan of prayer, mentally prearranged, there will still be the amplest\nscope for those impromptu utterances which the heart or the occasion\nmay suggest.\n\n4. THE MANNER.--This is not less important than in preaching, and\nshould be carefully considered, for the danger of false habits here is\neven greater than in the sermon, because in prayer the mind is less\ndisposed to be self-critical. And here: (1.) As to the posture of the\nbody. The Scriptures sanction both standing and kneeling. It should be\nan attitude of reverence. Ordinarily there should be no gesticulation.\nThe eyes should be closed, the countenance natural and serious. The\nspeaker should remember that all eyes before him are not closed, and\nany distortion or mal-expression of his countenance, however innocent\non his part, is sure to be observed and provoke thought and comment.\n(2.) The language should be simple, devout, and scriptural. All\nrhetorical flourishes and attempts at eloquence; all terms of\nendearment and familiarity with God; all accumulation of the Divine\nnames in one expression, or use of frequent interjections, as oh! ah!\netc.; and all vulgarisms and oddities of expression, are to be\ncarefully avoided; they destroy the spirit of worship. The vulgar and\nthoughtless may applaud, but the judicious and prayerful will be\ngrieved; and all such characteristics in prayer weaken the moral power\nof a minister and lessen his usefulness. Reverence, naturalness,\nsimplicity, are essential in public devotion. (3.) The tone of voice\nshould be the natural expression of supplication. The faults especially\nto be avoided here are such as these: a boisterous tone, which, while\nit adds no force to the petition, wearies both minister and hearer; an\narrogant, commanding tone, which is suggestive of irreverence; and a\nwhining, complaining tone. These false tones often originate in an\nunnatural position of the head, which is thrown back, with face turned\nupward; or forward, with face down, and the organs of the voice thus\ninjured. Throat disease among ministers is due very largely to the\nunnatural use of the vocal organs in prayer. Great care should be\nexercised that the position of the head and the tone of the voice be\nperfectly natural.\n\nIt is obvious that in public prayer a spirit imbued with Divine\ninfluences is higher than all rules; it instinctively recognizes the\ntrue proprieties of prayer; and this, therefore, is chiefly to be\nsought. Nor do I forget that the mental and spiritual idiosyncrasies of\nthe man must here, as in preaching, largely influence the manner, and\nmay sometimes justify in one what in another would be offensive. But\nsuccess in this service is so vital to the interest of public worship,\nwhile failure is so frequent, that a pastor should exercise constant\nself-scrutiny, often reviewing his prayers to detect their defects, and\noften timing them so as to know their length. The young pastor,\nespecially, should select some judicious, confidential friend in his\ncongregation who will faithfully point out defects, and should thus, by\na rigid process of self-discipline, secure at the outset of his\nministry right habits of prayer. For then while body and mind are yet\nplastic, the power of a false habit may be broken, and the man may be\nmolded anew; but a few years' persistence will fix the habit beyond\npossible change, and ensure its weakening, perhaps fatal, power through\nlife.\n\n\nV. PREACHING.\n\nChrist is the one great theme of the pulpit; around this all other\nthemes gather as to their center and end. Paul said: \"We preach Christ\ncrucified\" (1 Cor. i. 23). He states the message of the ministry: \"God\nwas in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their\ntrespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of\nreconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God\ndid beseech you by us: we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled\nto God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we\nmight be made the righteousness of God in Him\" (2 Cor. v. 19-21). All\ntrue preaching, therefore, however wide the range of its topics, has a\nreal relation to Christ; and no topic is fit for the pulpit which does\nnot lead to Him. The themes of the preacher are essentially the same in\nall ages, for the human heart, in its depravity and needs, does not\nchange with changing years; and God's remedy, the simple, primitive\nGospel, remains ever the same. The facts, the doctrines, the duties,\nthe promises, the threatenings, of the Bible are the subjects for the\npulpit; none are needed beyond those supplied in God's Word. The\neffective preachers in all ages have adhered to the same great truths;\nthey have differed only in modes of illustrating and applying them. The\nidiosyncrasies of the preacher and the circumstances of his times\nnecessarily modify the form of presentation, but the subject-matter of\nthe ministerial message is unchangeable.\n\n\nSERMONS.\n\nThe Gospel furnishes an exhaustless supply of topics. Every minister\nshould, however, use great care to secure copiousness and variety of\nmatter and illustration. The best means are such as these: 1. The\nconstant, careful study of the Bible itself. Its words are the words of\nGod, living and powerful. \"They are spirit, and they are life\" (John\nvi. 63); and the pastor who makes this Divine book his chief study has\na mind filled, not with the feeble, evanescent thoughts of man, but\nwith the quickening, eternal thoughts of God. The difference is\nworld-wide between a sermon filled with God's thoughts and delivered as\nGod's Word--a Divine message to men--and one which is a philosophical\ndiscourse wrought out of the preacher's own mind, and resting its\nauthority on the mere force of human reasoning; and this difference is\nnot simply in the unspeakably greater power of the former to stir and\nsave the souls of the hearers, but also in the ever-increasing power of\nthe preacher in sermon preparation, arising from the absolute\ninexhaustibleness of the materials for such a sermon. Some able and\nlaborious men early exhaust themselves and fail of richness and power\nin the pulpit because their sermons are spun out of their own brain\nrather than from God's Word. They draw from the finite instead of the\ninfinite fountain, and the waters necessarily fail. 2. A rich personal\nreligious experience. All hearts are essentially alike, and he will\nbest know other hearts who most truly knows his own. The power of a\npastor depends largely on his knowledge of the heart and its\nexperiences under the influences of the Gospel. This is more than a\nknowledge of human nature as delineated in Shakespeare and works of\nfiction, valuable as this is; it is a knowledge of the human soul under\nthe power of sin and of the Holy Spirit, as its experiences are\ndelineated in the Bible and in the religious life and are realized in\nhis own soul. 3. An intimate acquaintance with the religious state of\nthe individuals composing his own congregation in their special\ntendencies, temptations, and experiences. Almost every religious\nconversation will suggest new topics of living interest for sermons.\n4. Habitual reading of the best religious authors, especially works on\ntheology, exegesis, and experimental religion. 5. A careful\npreservation of texts, subjects, trains of thought, and illustrations,\nby noting them down as they occur. These are continually presenting\nthemselves in the social meeting, in pastoral visits, in reading, and\nin reflection. No man can afford to lose these. They should be\npreserved to enrich and make effective the work of the pulpit, and so\npreserved as to be readily utilized; for one may have large\naccumulations of such materials, but if they are not grouped under\nappropriate headings and made easily accessible, they may be\ncomparatively useless, because eluding the search at the moment of need.\n\nThe subjects of the sermon have been divided into the doctrinal, the\nexperimental, and the practical; but, in preaching, the end is usually\nbest attained by blending these, or rather by presenting each truth in\nan experimental and practical manner. This division, however, is\ncorrect, as made according to the dominant, leading idea of the sermon.\n\n1. _Doctrinal sermons._ Much is said in regard to preaching Christ, and\nnot doctrine. But how is it possible to preach Christ apart from\ndoctrine? Christ is not an abstraction, but a living, personal Being.\nIf, then, we preach Him, we must preach His Divinity, His humanity, and\nHis mediatorship between God and man. If we preach what He has done, we\nmust declare His humiliation, His death, and the atonement He has\ntherein made for sin. If we preach Him as He is, we must proclaim His\nenthronement in heaven, His intercession with the Father, and His\nHeadship of the church, with all the laws and ordinances He has\ninstituted for it. And if we preach Him as He shall be, we must affirm\nthe final triumph of His Gospel, His second coming, the resurrection\nand the judgment, and the glory to which He will raise His people with\nHimself. It is not possible to preach Christ apart from doctrine; for\nHis incarnation and vicarious death presuppose the Fall and depravity\nand guilt of men, and the need of regeneration, justification, and\nsanctification; and His resurrection and glorification equally involve\nthe resurrection and glorification of His church. All the doctrines of\nScripture thus center in Christ, and we preach Him only as we preach\nthem. Here, therefore, is the true power of the pulpit. Only as the\nsermon lodges these great truths in the soul is it a living force for\nthe salvation of men. They constitute the sole foundation of genuine\nexperience and practical appeal. A merely hortatory ministry is of\nnecessity a failure, since it lays no basis for experience and\nChristian life in the convictions of the people. In presenting the\ndoctrines the following cautions should be observed: (1.) Beware of\ndoctrinal one-sidedness. Every mind has its special theological\ntendencies; there is thus danger of pushing a single truth, or a class\nof truths, into too great relative prominence. A one-sided and, in its\nwhole impression, a false view of the Gospel may in this way be\npresented. Seek rather to unfold a well-proportioned system of truth,\nwhere every doctrine is not only true in itself, but also stands in its\njust relations, alike of position and prominence, to all other truths.\nFor it is possible, while preaching nothing but the truth, to put a\ntruth in such false relations as to give it practically all the effect\nof error. (2.) Avoid, ordinarily, the controversial form in presenting\nsubjects; its tendency is to put the mind of the hearer in an attitude\nof antagonism. Indeed, a controversial sermon, however well reasoned,\nwill often suggest more doubts than it removes. Doubtless, controversy\nis sometimes necessary, as in defense of some imperiled truth or\nprinciple; but the controversial form, as an ordinary characteristic of\npreaching, is most seriously to be deprecated. (3.) A dry, formal,\nmetaphysical method is also to be carefully avoided; it is entirely\nunadapted to a popular assembly. The sermon is not a theological essay;\nand the preacher, therefore, in dealing with hungry souls, should ever\nremember, as John Newton suggests, the important distinction between\nbones and meat.\n\n2. _Experimental Sermons._ Here it is vitally important to make a clear\ndiscrimination between the genuine and the spurious in religious\nexperience. The welfare and comfort of souls depend much on this, but\nit is one of the most delicate and difficult parts of a pastor's work.\nExperimental preaching is sometimes decried as tending to turn the\nminds of the people inward upon their own hearts, rather than upward\nupon Christ, and as thus creating a habit of morbid introspection and\nweakening the power of Christian hope and Christian life. Undoubtedly,\nthere is a real danger of this where the preaching is predominantly of\nthis character; and a pastor, especially if his own spiritual tendency\nis intensely subjective, must be on his guard lest he present this side\nof truth in undue proportion, and thus hinder instead of helping the\nsouls of his charge. But no minister should fail to preach experimental\nsermons; for nothing is more obvious than the large place experience\nhas in Scripture, and the urgency and frequency of its exhortations to\nself-examination. Self-knowledge is of primary moment, and the pulpit\nshould be helpful to this. The presentation of objective truth, apart\nfrom the subjective, tends to self-deception and ends in Antinomianism.\nThe Bible is wonderfully rich and full in its delineation of character;\nand a careful study of these Divine pictures of life will greatly aid\nin the work of skillful discrimination. The Psalms, the Prophets, the\nGospels, and the Epistles abound in statements defining true and false\nexperience, discriminating between \"the works of the flesh\" and \"the\nfruit of the Spirit.\" Such books also as Edwards on _The Affections,_\nFuller on _The Backslider,_ Doddridge's _Rise and Progress of Religion\nin the Soul,_ and Hodge's _Way of Life_ are of value, often suggesting\nimportant lines of discrimination. Added to these, the study of his own\nheart and an intimate knowledge of the experience and character of his\npeople will prove eminently helpful to the minister in such sermons. On\nthis I suggest: (1.) The spiritual principles by which the true and\nfalse experience may be distinguished should be made clear and\ndistinct. A common fault in such discourses is that they state and\ninsist on certain exercises as characteristic of Christian experience,\nbut do not show why they are so. The hearers are not put in possession\nof the principle which makes such characteristics essential. Or there\nis a denunciation of certain exercises as not Christian without\ndeveloping the principle which demonstrates their spuriousness.\n(2.) Avoid any attempt to make all experiences fit into the same mold.\nReligious experience has endless diversity in form, while yet in all\npersons it has certain well-defined common characteristics. The\nconsciousness and acknowledgment of sin as the one hope of acceptance,\nthe trust of the soul in Christ, the submission of the will in a\ncomplete self-surrender to God, then will appear with greater or less\ndistinctness in all regenerate souls. Thus also, in the experiences of\nthe Christian there is endless variety in form, in special doubts and\nfears, special temptations, special tendencies to sin, special\nmanifestations of self-will, pride, self-righteousness, and\nself-indulgence; and in like manner faith and love, hope and joy, and\nevery Christian exercise have various forms of manifestation in\ndifferent souls. Here, then, the point to be emphasized is that, in\ndiscriminating between the true and the false in religious experience,\nthe thing of vital moment is the _nature_ of the exercise, and not the\nform or manner of its manifestation. (3.) It seems hardly necessary to\nadd that frequent reference to self, as setting up one's own experience\nas a standard, is not only in bad taste, but is also of bad tendency as\ndirecting from the true standard found alone in God's Word.\n\n3. _Practical Sermons._ The symmetry and beauty of Christian character,\nand the consequent power of Christian life, much depend on the wisdom\nand fidelity with which the pulpit presents the duties of religion. The\nNew Testament reveals a sublime system of Christian morals which,\nclearly unfolded and properly pressed, will elevate and ennoble the\nlife of the church. Here the pulpit has one of its widest and noblest\nfields of effort. The education of the Christian conscience is one of\nits primary and most imperative functions; for an orthodox creed and a\nregenerate heart may be very possible where, from lack of moral\ninstruction and culture, the life is sadly defective. The soul is\nindeed regenerated, but the new life is not developed in the conscience\nby the enlightening of the moral judgment and quickening of the moral\nsensibilities. True ideals of Christian living have not been formed,\nand the outward character, instead of being a magnet radiant with the\nbeauty of holiness and attracting men to Christ, is marred by moral\nblemishes which reproach the Gospel and repel men from Christ. The\nwidespread demoralization of late in business life, manifest, too often\neven among Christian men, in the absence of integrity and of fidelity\nto trust, should at least suggest the question whether the pulpit has\nadequately set forth and enforced the morality of the Gospel. I suggest\nthe following hints: (1.) In presenting a duty the grounds of its\nobligation should be clearly unfolded, that the conscience, thus\nenlightened, may be awakened to full power in pressing its discharge.\nNo permanent obedience will be secured until the conscience distinctly\nperceives the ground of obligation or the moral principles on which the\nduty rests; nor does the performance of the duty, apart from this clear\nrecognition of the moral grounds of it, serve to purify and elevate the\ncharacter. It is the enthronement of an ethical principle within the\nconscience, and not the mere blind performance of an outward act, which\nenlarges and ennobles the man. (2.) The motives urged should be\nevangelical, not legal, drawn from the Christian's relations to Christ,\nappealing not to fear only or chiefly, but to love. The moral\nhelplessness of a Christian soul, when acting under the impulsion only\nof legal fear, is vividly portrayed by Paul in the seventh chapter of\nRomans, where with graphic power he depicts his own fruitless strivings\nfor the good when impelled by the law, and the utter defeat and despair\nto which he was reduced. Christ alone is the life, and only faith in\nHim brings victory to any soul in the conflict with sin. His character\nis the great ideal set before a Christian soul, and His love the\nimpulsive force in seeking to realize it: \"The love of Christ\nconstraineth us\" (2 Cor. v. 14). A true Christian life is the outflow\nof grateful, adoring love to Him. Motives drawn from the soul's\nrelations to Him, therefore, alone move the Christian heart and have\npermanent power to impel to God and holiness. (3.) Ministerial fidelity\ndoubtless requires a plain presentation of duties and a fearless\nexposure of sin, but it is seldom wise to employ the style of\ndenunciation. A cheap reputation for boldness and fidelity is sometimes\nthus obtained among the unthinking, but most men know that at this day\ndenunciation from the pulpit requires no moral courage and will be\nlikely to regard it as a sensational bid for popularity. True boldness\nshows itself not so much in the manner as in the matter of the sermon.\nIt consists in exposing clearly and fearlessly popular forms of error\nand wrong, and applying to them, in all plainness and sincerity, the\nprinciples of the Gospel. Here, while real boldness in manner should\nnever be wanting, true persuasiveness in manner should always be\npreserved, thus avoiding needless irritation.\n\nIn the selection of subjects, I suggest: (1.) The subject should be, as\nfar as possible, adapted to the existing state of the people. This\nrequires an intimate, vital relation between the life of the pastor and\nthe actual living of the people, for the isolated recluse will waste\nmuch of his pulpit work on subjects which do not touch the real\nexperiences and life of his hearers. (2.) Every subject should be\nselected with earnest prayer for Divine guidance. God alone knows what\nare the real needs of those who will hear; and a theme thus chosen is\ndelivered with authority as a message from Him, for a sermon is a\ngrowth with the preacher's soul, possessing vitality and power as the\nproduct of the Holy Spirit; and when thus obtained from God by the\ninworking of the Spirit, it becomes to the hearers a Divine message\nsuch as should be borne by \"ambassadors for Christ.\"\n\n\nEXPOSITION.\n\nThis method of preaching has of late years gone into disuse, partly\nbecause success in it is really difficult to attain, and partly\nbecause, the Bible having ceased to be the chief reading of the\nchurches, the popular interest in exposition has decreased; but when\nrightly followed it has advantages, both to minister and people, beyond\nthose of any other form of preaching.\n\nADVANTAGES TO THE PREACHER.--It promotes exegetical study and\nacquaintance with the original Scriptures, the neglect of which is\nfostered by an exclusively topical method. The process is an\never-enriching one, constantly widening the range of biblical and\ntheological knowledge. It ensures against sameness. Instead of growing\nstale, the preacher becomes more rich and varied in his range of\nthought and illustration with every added year. It gives, moreover,\nfamiliarity with the forms of Scripture thought and expression, and\nthus adds simplicity and force in addressing the Christian heart. Above\nall, it brings the preacher's soul into constant, living communion with\nthe spirit of the Bible, and the study becomes in this way a fountain\nof religious life ever flowing into his heart, and out of it into the\nhearts of the people.\n\nADVANTAGES TO THE CONGREGATION.--It is obvious that such a method of\npreaching would serve to remove many of the popular doubts and\ndifficulties with the Bible which are at this day so greatly weakening\nits hold on the masses. It would enable the preacher to put before the\npeople the results of modern historic, arch\u00e6ological, and geographical\ninvestigation which have thrown so great light on the Bible and so\ngreatly confirm its truth. Such treatment of the Scriptures in the\npulpit would also lead to a discriminating use of them, as well as\nfamiliarity with them, among the people It would necessarily develop\nthe principles of interpretation, and thus educate the people in right\nmethods of using the Bible, making it of far higher value to them. And,\nmore than all, it would accustom Christians to rest their faith, not on\nthe mere dogmas of the pulpit and the creed, but on the very words of\nGod, and would furnish a basis of religious confidence which can never\nbe shaken. The modern pulpit, from its neglect of the Bible, is\nsingularly narrow, exhibiting little of the vast wealth and variety of\nDivine truth. It leaves by far the larger part of the Bible a sealed\nbook. Its types, its poetry, its prophecies, its parables, its\npresentations, as in the Epistle to the Romans, of the truths of the\nGospel in their connection as one grand, comprehensive system of\nsalvation--how little of all this wealth of Scripture is presented in\nthe pulpit! The result is, and must necessarily be, the absence of\ndepth and fulness of Christian life in the church and the complaint of\na loss of power in the pulpit.\n\nHINTS ON METHOD.--1. The pastor should select for exposition such parts\nof Scripture as are susceptible of intelligent explanation to a\npromiscuous congregation. The symbolic visions of Ezekiel and of\nRevelation might awaken curiosity, but except under extraordinary\ncircumstances could hardly be profitable for such an exercise.\n2. Divide the selected portion into sections, each sufficient for a\nsermon, and as far as possible let each have a single general topic.\nThis secures unity in the discourse. For example, the first chapter of\nthe Sermon on the Mount might be divided thus:\n\nI. Vs. 1-12. _The beatitudes:_ Happiness, its source not external, but\ninternal; not material, but spiritual.\n\nII. Vs. 13-16. _Relation of the disciples to the world:_ Christians\nGod's medium of saving influence and spiritual knowledge among men.\n\nIII. Vs. 17-20. _Relation of Christ to the Old Testament:_ Christ not\nthe destroyer, but the fulfiller, of the ancient law.\n\nIV. Vs. 21-48. _The law as interpreted by Christ:_ Sin, not in the\novert act only, but also in the secret thought.\n\n1st example (vs. 21-26): The law of murder.\n\n2d example (vs. 27-32): The law of adultery.\n\n3d example (vs. 33-37): The law respecting oaths.\n\n4th example (vs. 38-48): The law of retaliation.\n\nThe first three of the above divisions and the four examples under the\nfourth would each furnish a fitting passage for a sermon with a single\nand well-defined general theme. Much of Scripture is susceptible of\nequally distinct division, so that the preacher will rarely fail of\nunity in his discourse. 3. Develop the general theme by explaining the\nseveral parts of the passage, so as to unfold the special phase of the\ntruth which the Holy Spirit there presents. Take, for example, Rom.\nv. 1-11. Here, in the progress of the apostle's argument, the general\ntheme is: _The effects of justification by faith in the believer._\nThese effects are four: (1.) vs. 1, 2, the perfect adjustment of his\nrelation to God. (2.) vs. 3-5, the transmuting of earthly trial into\nblessing. (3.) vs. 6-10, the absolute certainty of his eternal\nsalvation. (4.) v. 11, a delight in the Divine character as God is\nrevealed through Christ in the atonement. The several points made in\nthe passage itself thus constitute the inspired development and\nillustration of the main theme and indicate the direction and method of\nthe exposition. 4. Having thus developed the theme by an analysis and\nexposition of the passage, deduce the inferences as to doctrine and\nduty, and make a practical application to the heart and conscience. The\ninferential development is often very important, as affording manifold\nand vital applications of truth to character, to Christian experience\nand life, and to the various forms of error and sin. Nowhere is the\nvalue of expository preaching more manifest than in the wide range and\nthe special power of its practical application. 5. Avoid in exposition\nverbal criticism, parade of learning, allusion to commentators, or\nreference to different views of the passage; it impairs the interest\nand weakens the moral effect. The critical apparatus should be\ncarefully used in the study, but it has no place in the pulpit. It is\nmere scaffolding, which should disappear when the structure is\nfinished. In the sermon the work of the study should appear, not in its\nprocesses, but only in its results. The citing of conflicting opinions\non a passage will, as a general fact, only perplex the people. Ground\nyour interpretation on thorough and conscientious study, and then\npresent clearly and strongly the results. A doubting manner awakens\ndoubt; and the pulpit, therefore, while avoiding an offensive\ndogmatism, should be positive in its presentations of God's Word. A\ngood expository sermon costs far more labor than any other, but it is\nalso of far higher value to preacher and hearer. Without thorough\npreparation no one should undertake exposition; for, superficially\ndone, it is sure to fail. But success in this highest form of preaching\nis an achievement worthy of the preacher's highest effort and is of\nunspeakable importance. The mightiest pulpit power of Chrysostom and\nAugustine, of Luther and Calvin, was in their expository sermons.\nChalmers and Andrew Fuller were powerful in exposition; and this form\nof the sermon is still a chief characteristic of the British pulpit, as\nillustrated in many of its most illustrious preachers. Dr. William M.\nTaylor, of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York, gives one sermon each\nLord's Day to exposition, and makes it a blessing and power.\n\n\n+FOOTNOTES:+\n[1] _Task,_ b. ii.\n\n\n\n+SECTION IV.+\n\nSOCIAL DEVOTIONAL MEETINGS.\n\nThe practical success of a pastor greatly depends on the effectiveness\nof the social meetings, yet much tact and constant attention are\nrequired in conducting them. The impressions of the sermon here become\ndeeper and often reach definite results in conversion, while here also\nthe gifts and spiritual power of the church find development. The\npastor who devotes himself only to the pulpit, and makes this\ndepartment incidental, whatever he may become as a preacher, is likely\nto prove a pastoral failure.\n\n\nI. THE PRAYER-MEETINGS.\n\nIn reference to these I offer the following suggestions: 1. The pastor\nhimself should ordinarily conduct them if they are general meetings of\nthe church; no other can so fully understand the condition of those\npresent, or so wisely adapt the exercise to their needs. Besides, the\ninstruction and spirit of the prayer-meeting should be kept in harmony\nwith the teaching of the pulpit, so as to supplement it and develop its\nresults; one mind, therefore, should direct and inspire both. Where the\nmeeting is intended for a special class, as for the young people or for\nthe Sunday-school teachers, it may be proper, if there is a suitable\nleader, for the pastor to be relieved and the care of it to be\nentrusted to another.\n\nCareful preparation of thought, but of especially of spirit should be\nmade for the meeting. No man should trust to the inspiration of the\noccasion either for the thought which shall give the keynote to the\nmeeting or for the quickened spiritual life which, existing in the\nleader, shall touch and quicken the life of the church. 2. Be punctual\nin opening and closing at the appointed time; nothing so effectually\nsecures a prompt attendance, and the neglect of it will prevent many\nfrom coming, especially females, because they cannot know how late may\nbe the hour of dismission. 3. Be brief in your own exercises, showing\nyourself a pattern, and insist on brevity in others, whether in prayer,\nremarks, or singing. Let your opening remarks be suggestive rather than\nexhaustive, so that when you sit down the people, instead of feeling\nthat all has been said, will find the subject opening before them and\nbe inspired to carry out the thought into other phases and\napplications. 4. Avoid uniformity and monotony. To secure natural\nvariety, give each meeting its own keynote, now of thanksgiving and\npraise, now of confession and humiliation, now of Christian hope, and\nagain of some great truth or some practical duty. If it becomes\nevident, as it sometimes will, that you have struck the wrong key and\nthought and feeling are running in another channel, throw yourself\nheartily into that and make the most of it. If a pause occurs, be ready\nwith a passage of Scripture, a hymn or remark, or call on individuals\neither to pray or relate experience, or to state some interesting fact\nyou may know they possess. A pastor in vital relations with the people,\nby his knowledge of the experiences and condition of the individuals\nbefore him, will be able to give perpetual variety to the meetings by\nevoking in various ways their experience and utilizing their power.\n5. In regard to the presentation of special cases for prayer, my\njudgment is that this should be encouraged; since, even apart from the\npower of prayer with God in behalf of such cases and the answer of\nblessing it brings, the special presentation itself serves to give\ndirectness and fervency to supplication and adds freshness and power to\nthe exercise. It is possible, however, to have too much machinery in a\nprayer-meeting, making its movement mechanical and destroying\nspontaneity. Expression of interest in the subject of personal religion\nby rising or other forms may be so often repeated as to be worse than\nuseless and become justly offensive. In calling, therefore, for an\nexpression, great care must be taken not to overdo, and not to do it at\nall unless there is good reason to expect a response. A failure usually\nchills the interest of a meeting. 6. Use all exertions to bring the\ngifts of the church into full exercise; there is always a large amount\nof latent power which it should be the special care of the pastor to\ndevelop and make effective for Christ. This will not be done by\nscolding and complaining, but rather by the diffusion of a spirit, an\natmosphere, in the meeting--an all-pervasive, homelike feeling--which\nwill banish embarrassment and draw them out. The timid and backward may\nalso be helped by an occasional question, the answering of which will\naccustom them to their own voices and induce spontaneous expression.\nSomething also maybe done in private personal words of encouragement.\nAbove all, place distinctly before all minds the fact that in the\nprayer-meeting the main thing, next to prayer, is the interchange of\nChristian experience, and what is required, therefore, from each one\nis, not a homily, an exposition, or an exhortation, but a simple\nstatement of what he has thought and felt amidst the experiences of\nlife; and, as every soul has its own peculiar life, it has an\nexperience of real value as helpful and comforting to other lives.\n7. Make careful arrangements for good spirited singing, but usually not\nmore than two or three verses at a time. To secure this, if you do not\nyourself sing, arrange with one or more good singers to lead whenever a\npause occurs. Indeed, if you are a singer, it is often best not to take\non yourself the responsibility of leading; the care is too much, and by\ndistracting and exhausting your force it may diminish your power in the\ngeneral guidance of the exercises. Do not fail to have good books, with\nhymns and tunes, in sufficient number to give all opportunity to join\nin the singing. 8. Great care should be taken, if the room is not full,\nto have people sit together and near the leader. No meeting will\nordinarily be _social,_ in any proper sense, where a few people are\nscattered in a large room. Attention should also be given to the\nventilation and temperature of the room; otherwise, the meeting may\nfail from purely physical causes, in spite of the best efforts of\npastor and people. Right physical conditions are simply attempts to\nconform to God's physical laws, and are absolutely essential to the\nhighest success in social religious meetings; no pastor, therefore,\nshould deem them unworthy of careful and persistent attention. Finally,\nit should be remembered that it is a _social_ meeting. Divest it of all\nformality, stiffness, or sameness. Make it cheerful, familiar,\nhomelike, as a gathering of God's children in their Father's family. If\nthis is done, old and young will be attracted to it, and will alike\nfeel free to share its services.\n\n\nII. THE COVENANT MEETING.\n\nThis was originally called the covenant meeting because it was intended\nfor the solemn renewal by the members of their vow of consecration to\nChrist and the church, and the church covenant was formally read in it\nwhile the members stood to express their adhesion to it. Of late years,\nhowever, the meeting is less fully attended than formerly, and the\nreading of the covenant is often deferred to the opening services of\nthe Lord's Supper, that the church may be more largely represented in\nthe act. The entire omission of its reading, as is sometimes the case,\nis unfortunate, since many thus enter the church without a full\nunderstanding of the obligations thus assumed, and the church fails of\nthe important stimulus to duty which this solemn reading and renewal of\nthe covenant is adapted to furnish. The following hints may be of\nvalue: 1. In a large church it is not possible, nor is it desirable,\nthat all the members should speak at one meeting: any attempt to secure\nthis will ordinarily result either in a wearisome protraction of the\nservice, or in so abbreviating the communication of each as to render\nthe exercise, as an interchange of experience, of very slight value.\nSome ministers lay special emphasis on the number of speakers they have\nsucceeded in compressing into an hour; but it is evident that if each\nhas not had adequate time to make a true expression of his experience,\nthe usefulness of the exercise is seriously impaired, if not destroyed.\nIt is not the number, but the quality, which gives value to the\nexperiences related in a covenant meeting. As far as possible, however,\narrangements should be made that those not called on at one meeting may\nbe called on at the next, and on every occasion the meeting should be\nthrown open before the close, so as to give any specially-burdened\nheart opportunity for expression. 2. Encourage frankness and brevity.\nIf members indulge in stereotyped expressions and prosy speeches, break\nup the habit by pointing out its evil. Many excellent Christians whose\nexperience, if really presented, would prove rich and valuable have no\ncorrect idea of what should be spoken, and utter mere commonplaces when\nthey might speak words of gold. Suppose that, before calling on them to\nspeak, you address them somewhat in this way: \"Brethren, we have met to\nrenew our covenant with God and with each other. We want, therefore, to\nknow your _heart-history_ since we last met at the Lord's Table--that\nis, so far as it is proper to be known, for some of it belongs between\nyou and God alone and should not be spoken here. But you have had\nexperiences which will help and cheer us. Temptations have come to\nyou--something, it may be, separated you from the consciousness of\nChrist's presence. We want to know how you got back to Him. You have\nhad special mercies in deliverance from disease or accident, in\nprospered fortune, in friends raised up for you. Will you tell how\nthese mercies affected you? You have passed through trial in sickness,\nin disappointments, in the death of loved ones, in losses and\nsufferings. We would know how you felt under trials, and how God helped\nyou to bear them. You have had special seasons of communion with\nChrist, and have received special answers to prayer; you have found\nsome passages of Scripture truth or promise specially opening to you;\nyou have some personal friend or friends for whom you are deeply\ninterested that God may save them. These are the things we want to\nknow--just what your heart has felt of late; and if in this family\ngathering in our Father's house you will tell these, you will help us\nand will bring all hearts into sympathy with you.\" Such suggestions,\noccasionally made, will repress tendencies to stereotyped thought and\nexpression, and will educe those heart-experiences which give life and\npower to the meeting. 3. When there are candidates for baptism,\nencourage them to speak fully and freely, and secure, if possible, that\nthey shall be heard by all. After the experiences have fully come\nbefore the church, the candidates should withdraw while their cases are\nunder consideration, that the investigation of each case may be\nunembarrassed and full opportunity be had for inquiry or objection.\n4. Matters of business and of discipline are, as a rule, to be avoided\nat the covenant meeting. They usually divert attention from the special\nobject of the exercise, and often dissipate the spiritual impression.\n5. Do not protract the service. An hour and a half is usually as long\nas a profitable interest can be maintained. Too often the benefit of\nthe meeting is wholly lost by its tediousness. A prompt beginning and\nan equally prompt ending are essential to sustained life in any\nexercise.\n\n\nIII. THE INQUIRY MEETING.\n\nThe weekly inquiry meeting should constitute a part of the system of\npastoral work. It accustoms minister and people to seek and expect\nimmediate results from preaching and Christian labor; and the value of\nthis to both, as an ever-present inspiration, is incalculable. Under\nevery earnest ministry there are always thoughtful, anxious souls; but\nit requires tact and wisdom to bring them out and come into close,\npersonal contact with them. Few ministers are aware of the extent of\nthis latent conviction among the unconverted under faithful preaching,\nor realize the importance of systematic, effective means for developing\nit. Here I suggest: 1. Let the meeting be held, if not on the Lord's\nDay, as soon after it as practicable, that the impressions made by its\nservices may not have time to wear away. This is a point of great\nmoment. Some pastors hold a meeting for prayer and inquiry immediately\nafter the evening sermon, while the impressions are still vivid and\nfresh. This has sometimes proved very effective, especially as serving\nto develop the conviction and make known the persons under it, so that\nthe pastor and church may afterward devote special labor to them. At\nsuch a meeting, however, little more could ordinarily be done, in\npersonal conversation, than a few earnest words and the noting of the\naddress of inquirers, with the view of following up the cases; and\nthis, therefore, would not supersede the necessity of a meeting where\nmore deliberate conversation could be had. 2. Christians should be\ninstructed and urged to bring thoughtful persons to the inquiry\nmeeting--the parent, his child; the Sunday-school teacher, his pupils;\nthe young convert, his friends--and to regard this as a part of regular\nChristian work. In places where the inquiry meeting is a novelty, its\nfull, effective establishment may require time; but, once thoroughly\nestablished, the inquiry room will seldom lack inquirers. 3. Various\nmethods of conducting the meeting are adopted. One method is to meet\nall the inquirers in one room and converse with them in the presence of\neach other, as in a Methodist class-meeting. To make this successful,\nthe pastor must have ready tact and large resources, or he will repeat\nhimself and the meeting fail from staleness. But it has this advantage:\ninquirers in such a gathering are drawn into a disclosure of their\nanxieties in the presence of others, and this committal of themselves\nto the subject is sometimes of great value in fixing impressions and\nleading to a decision. Another method is to meet them singly, or, if\nspecially related to each other, in groups, and let the conversation be\nprivate. This, when practicable, is generally more satisfactory, as it\ngives opportunity to probe the heart more fully, and to say much you\ncannot so freely say before others. It is often of great value not only\nto pray with an inquirer, but also to induce him to pray with you.\nSometimes, if you have set before him distinctly the way of salvation,\nhe will, in such a season of prayer immediately following, then and\nthere cast himself on Christ and make a full surrender to Him. Perhaps,\nhowever, no one method will be adapted to all circumstances, and the\njudgment of the pastor must be exercised in fixing on one suited to\nhimself and the special exigencies of his position. 4. The pastor\nshould be discriminating and faithful in dealing with inquirers, for\nfailure in this may result in a superficial experience and a false\nhope. In such conversations he should never content himself with a\nmere, vague exhortation to come to Christ; what the inquirer needs is\ndefinite instruction as to what it is to come to Christ. Probe\nthoroughly, so as to be sure that there is a genuine sense of sin, a\nreliance alone on the righteousness of Christ, and an actual submission\nof the will to God. The pastor should prepare himself, therefore, for\nthe exercise with fervent prayer, and gather, and have at ready command\na variety of Scripture passages adapted to different religious\nconditions, and of simple, clear illustrations of the nature of\nrepentance and faith. 5. Let your conversation with an inquirer\nordinarily be confidential, so that he may not feel, when conversing\nwith you, that he is talking to the town; otherwise, you deter many\nfrom coming, and even with those who come you may prevent what is\nimportant to your success--a full disclosure of the heart. As a rule,\nalso, it is not wise to encourage an inquirer to seek conversation with\nmany different persons: the varied advice given confuses him and tends\nto dissipate impressions. Finally, it is obvious that success in this\nexercise will greatly depend on the tact, geniality, and\napproachableness of the pastor himself. If he is cold, stiff, and\nrepellent in manner, it will be difficult for him to secure the\nattendance and confidence of inquiring souls. There may be real and\ndeep religious anxieties, but they remain latent from lack of power in\nthe pastor to develop them.\n\n\nIV. MEETING FOR EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR THE CHURCH.\n\nNo candidate should ordinarily come before the church without a\nprevious examination by the pastor; and notice, therefore, should be\ngiven when and where he will meet persons desiring to unite with the\nchurch.\n\n_Hints._--1. The time should be sufficiently early to give ample\nopportunity for making inquiries respecting an applicant, where the\ncircumstances and character of the individual are not known. In the\ncase of minors, consult the parents or guardians when practicable; it\nis a courtesy due to them, whatever their religious character or\nrelations, and is often desirable in order to a full understanding of\nthe character of the candidate. 2. Let the examination be thorough and\nfaithful. The purity of the church, as well as the welfare of the\ncandidate, demands this. It is far easier to arrest an application at\nthis point than after it comes to the church. The absence of knowledge\neven of the fundamental principles of the Christian religion, on the\npart of many who are hurried into the church, is one of the alarming\nfeatures of our time. Certainly, Christian experience is not a matter\nof mere blind emotion; and we have no ground for supposing its\nexistence apart from distinct convictions respecting God and Christ and\nthe foundation-truths of the Gospel. We are \"born again by the Word of\nGod;\" and there can be no \"repentance toward God and faith toward our\nLord Jesus Christ\" without some definite idea of sin, of repentance, of\nfaith, of God, and of Christ. It is never proper, therefore, to assume\nthe fact of a Christian experience where there is no definite Christian\nknowledge. The duty in such cases is to instruct, not to baptize.\n3. See that the candidate understands not only the general principles\nof Christianity, but also the distinctive doctrines and usages of the\nchurch and the specific obligations assumed in becoming a church\nmember, so that his profession may be made intelligently. For this\npurpose, have your Articles of Faith and Covenant in printed form, and\nplace a copy in the hands of every candidate. This will often prevent\nmisunderstanding and subsequent difficulty; and the intelligence with\nwhich the step is taken will add much to the value of the profession.\n4. It is well, when practicable, and especially when any considerable\nnumber are to be examined, to associate the officers of the church or\nsome experienced brethren with you in this preliminary examination,\nthat the responsibility may not all fall on you. For this, though\ninformal, is ordinarily the decisive examination; the church very\nrarely rejects a candidate understood to be approved by the pastor. In\nsome churches, whenever a name is proposed, a committee is appointed to\nhear the experience of the candidate and make necessary inquiries, and\nthe candidate comes before the church only after their favorable\nreport. This has the disadvantage of making public the name of an\napplicant and thus embarrassing the rejection, should that be\ndesirable; but it has also the advantage of dividing the responsibility\nof the examination and relieving the pastor. If a committee is\nappointed, however, I think it should be a standing one, with the\npastor at its head, and the names of candidates should be presented to\nit before being presented publicly to the church. 5. Beware of an\nambition for mere numbers: a small body of well-instructed, earnest\ndisciples is worth far more to the cause of Christ than a heterogeneous\nmultitude undistinguished in spirit and life from the world. Seek in\nthis, not newspaper publicity and laudation, but the approval of\nChrist, building the temple of God, not with perishable material,\n\"wood, hay, and stubble,\" but with imperishable, \"gold, silver,\nprecious stones,\" which shall endure when the \"fire shall try every\nman's work of what sort it is.\"\n\n\nV. THE OFFICERS' MEETING.\n\nThe officers of the church are the cabinet of the pastor, and the\nresponsibilities and labors of the spiritual watch-care should be\nshared with them. A wise use of these assistants will relieve him of\nmany a burden which otherwise he would needlessly bear and will secure\na much more general and effective supervision of the spiritual\ninterests of the church. For no pastor can accomplish all that needs to\nbe done; and if left to the church generally, very little effective\nwatch-care is exercised. Such consultation with the officers will often\nsave the pastor from mistakes, while the division of labor greatly\nsimplifies and relieves his work. It affords, also, a sphere of real\nusefulness for the deacons, and serves to develop their gifts and\naugment their religious power.\n\n_Hints._--1. Have a regular meeting at convenient intervals--say once a\nmonth or once in two months--and let each officer be invited and made\nto share equally in the counsels and responsibility, thus avoiding\njealousies. Prepare thoroughly the business to be brought before them,\nso that there may be no delay. 2. After the opening season of prayer,\nread carefully the list of church members, and let each member needing\nspecial care be definitely assigned to some one or more of the officers\nto give at once the necessary attention. By this means any member\nrequiring a kindly suggestion or whose position is not understood may\nbe at once quietly reached; and, if in danger, may be saved before the\ncase has gone so far as to be beyond help. If this is faithfully done,\nnearly all public discipline may be avoided and the tone of church-life\nmay be kept high and vigorous. 3. Let the general condition and welfare\nof the church and plans for Christian labor and church extension be\nhere carefully considered; for here methods for advancing Christ's\ncause through the church most naturally originate and may be most\nwisely matured. Great care should be taken, however, that the meeting\ndoes not lose its religious tone and degenerate into a mere clique for\nchurch management. It may be made, by right guidance, a center of\nreligious interest and power in the congregation, while to the pastor\nit secures the hearty confidence and co-operation of the trusted\ncounsellors and leaders of the church.\n\n\nVI. CHURCH MEETINGS FOR BUSINESS.\n\nThese are properly classed among devotional meetings, because the\ntransaction of church business should always be done in a devotional\nspirit and be connected with devotional exercises.\n\n_Hints._--1. The pastor is, _ex officio,_ the presiding officer in all\nmeetings of the church, and should ordinarily preside. Ruling,\npresiding, is a function distinctly assigned in the New Testament to\nthe pastoral office (1 Thess. v. 12; 1 Tim. iii. 4, 5; Heb.\nxiii. 17)--a function which would seem clearly to include that of\npresiding in the assemblies of the body. He should be familiar with the\nestablished rules of order in deliberative bodies; but in applying them\nhe should not make a parade of parliamentary rules nor ordinarily put\nthem in the form of law. An easy, quiet, prompt manner in presiding\nshould be carefully cultivated: it makes great difference in the\neffectiveness and despatch of business and the comfort of the church.\n2. Unanimity is to be earnestly sought; but when it cannot be attained\nit is usual to accept the decision of the majority. The reception of\nmembers, however, should be unanimous--certainly so far as the question\nrelates to Christian character; otherwise, members would enter whom a\npart of the church do not fellowship. Ordinarily, objections to an\napplicant may be avoided by proper care in previous inquiries\nrespecting him; but if made, the case should be deferred, and a\ncommittee appointed to receive and examine the objections. If the\nobjections are evidently made in a wrong spirit, the church should\noverrule them, and the objectors, persisting, should be put under\ndiscipline. It is evident that the careful pastor, foreseeing such a\nresult, would dissuade, if possible, the applicant from presenting\nhimself, and thus avoid discord in the church, unless this course would\ninflict injury on the candidate and cover up wrong in the church.\n3. Secure, if possible, a full attendance of members, and make the\nmeeting thoroughly religious in its tone and spirit. The contempt into\nwhich church disciplinary action sometimes falls is often due to the\nfact that few members are present, and the moral power, therefore, of\nthe church is not behind their action, and that the manner, if not the\nspirit, of their proceedings befits rather the secular character of a\npolitical gathering than the seriousness and dignity of a church of\nChrist. Especially should the reception, the discipline, the exclusion\nof a member, or the election of a deacon or a pastor be an act of\nsolemnity, and, as far as possible, be done by the whole body.\n\n\n\n+SECTION V.+\n\nADMINISTRATION OF THE ORDINANCES.\n\nThe nature of the ordinances, as well as the obligation of them, should\nbe often and carefully explained to the people. This is the more\nnecessary, since in the popular mind superstitious ideas so largely\nenter into the conception of them. In doing this, several different\nmethods have been adopted. Some have a preparatory lecture in the\ncourse of the week preceding the administration: others preach on the\nsubject either on the previous Lord's Day or just before the ordinance;\nand others depend mainly on addresses on the occasion. Whatever be the\nmethod, instruction should be carefully given, that true views of the\nordinances may prevail. For want of this many church members never\nderive much benefit from these sacred institutions, while some,\ndoubtless, are injured by them.\n\nThe principles respecting the ordinances which we, as distinguished\nfrom other denominations, hold as biblical should not be ignored or\nkept in the background. The restoration of these Divine symbols to\ntheir primitive significance and form is a matter of the highest\nmoment, and the pastor who is silent neglects duty. So far as my\nobservation extends, the spiritual success which has attended the\nBaptists has always been connected with their fidelity to the mission\nGod has given in respect to His truth concerning the church and the\nordinances. The most signal manifestations of the Spirit in our\nchurches, whether at home or abroad, have been made where the great\nprinciples Christ has committed to us have been most faithfully\nproclaimed. But in presenting these controverted subjects, statements\nshould always be made with care. Whatever the provocation, we should be\ncareful to maintain a Christian spirit and uniform courtesy; to be just\nand candid to those who differ; and to avoid all imputation of evil\nmotives. Indeed, it is usually better to avoid the controversial form\nin presenting the biblical view of the ordinances, especially at the\ntime of administration; but if controversy is necessary, let it rather\nbe presented in sermons on other occasions. A distinct course of\nsermons on the ordinances, carefully prepared, is sometimes of great\nvalue for the instruction of the church and the diffusion of right\nviews in the community.\n\n\nI. ADMINISTRATION OF BAPTISM.\n\nAs the act is a symbol, the correctness of its form is essential to the\nrepresentation of the truth symbolized. The greatest care, therefore,\nshould be used to bring out distinctly the symbol and fix all thought\non that; any defect in the administration which mars the symbol is to\nbe deprecated. The vital spiritual fact of regeneration, or a death to\nsin and the rising to a new life in Christ, is most vividly set forth\nbefore men by the impressiveness of the symbol when properly rendered.\n\nHere I suggest: 1. Care should be taken that all necessary arrangements\nbe made for the ordinance, in the preparation for the place for the\nbaptism, and the appointment of judicious committees to attend the\ncandidates. This should be done in ample season, so that there be no\nhaste or confusion at the administration. The pastor should be promptly\nprepared for the service, using garments appropriate to baptizing, so\nas to be undisturbed by the water. 2. In administering, be deliberate\nin movement, leading the candidate slowly into the water with the\nsolemnity becoming so holy an ordinance. Special care should be taken\nthat the water be of such depth as to make immersion easy and\neffective. Pronounce the formula reverently, then immerse, taking care\nthat the whole person is covered. Beyond the formula, it is often best\nto say nothing during the administration; the ordinance itself is\nspeaking to the conscience and the heart in a voice more eloquent and\nimpressive than human speech. 3. Above all, as you pray for wisdom and\npower in the right use of _words_ to set forth regeneration by the\nsermon, so ask for wisdom and power in the use of the _symbol_ to set\nforth that vital truth in the ordinance, and that Divine Helper whose\npresence you feel in the pulpit will be equally present with you in the\nbaptismal act.\n\n\nII. ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.\n\nIn some churches it is customary to preach what is termed \"an action\nsermon,\" designed to bring vividly before the mind, just previous to\nthe Supper, the events connected with the sufferings and death of our\nLord; and it often proves a service of great power and value. With us\nthe ordinance is more commonly preceded by a simple address designed to\nfix thought upon the great event symbolized. Whatever the method\nadopted, all subjects should be excluded which may divert the mind from\nthe one great thought of the occasion. The Lord's Table, therefore, is\nnot the place to bring up items of business, or to reprove the church\nfor special derelictions in duty, or even to consider plans for church\nwork. The pastor is often tempted to use it for such purposes, because\nthen the members are more generally together and are alone. But I think\nit is rarely done without loss, for in this sacred service the Lord\ndesigned that the thoughts of every soul should center on Him.\n\nThe necessary acts in their order are these: 1. Take the bread, give\nthanks, break, give to the disciples, pronouncing the words of\ninstitution. 2. Take the cup, pouring the wine, give thanks, give to\nthe disciples, pronouncing the words of institution. The service is\nusually closed with singing, but whether it was originally a part of\nthe Lord's Supper, or only one of the hymns prescribed in the Passover\nservice, we have no means of determining. The question is not\nimportant, but a closing hymn is certainly appropriate, and it is\nbetter to observe the custom. Observe the scriptural order of the acts\ncarefully, for any deviation will divert attention and is always\npainful. In prayer avoid forms of expression that may convey false\nideas of the ordinances. Thus, we sometimes hear: \"Bless so much of\nthis bread,\" or \"so much of this wine,\" \"as may be used,\" as if\nblessing made a change in the elements, and the administrator feared\ntoo much would be changed and the blessed elements might thus be\nwasted. Such phrases, which have come down from the ages of\nsuperstition, are adapted to foster among the people false ideas of the\nordinance. Do not talk much during the administration but leave silent\nmoments in which each heart may commune with itself and with Christ.\nToo much talking is the common fault. When God is speaking through the\nsymbol, let man keep silence. This will be the more obvious if we\nremember that the ordinance consists of two essential parts--the\npresentation of the symbols of Christ's body and blood by the\nadministration, and the act of partaking as the symbol of an inward act\nof faith on the part of the partaker. If the attention, therefore, is\nheld by remarks of the administrator, the value of the ordinance may be\nlost to the participant from lack of opportunity for silent communion\nbetween his soul and Christ. Above all, enter yourself as fully as\npossible into the great idea of the ordinance, and use all means to fix\nthought on that to the exclusion of all else. Rightly administered, the\nLord's Supper is one of the mightiest forces God has given to inspire\nand purify the heart and elevate the life of the church.\n\n\n\n+SECTION VI.+\n\nTHE PASTOR AND THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL.\n\nNo pastor can be permanently successful if not in sympathy with the\nyoung. He must be the pastor of the children, accessible and attractive\nto youth, and must give a cordial recognition and a kindly word as he\nmeets them. As an aid in this, make a register of their names and a\ncareful study of their faces, so as readily to recognize them; and\ncarry with you cards with Scripture mottoes or other little souvenirs\nof a pastor's love and interest to leave with them. The most successful\nministers of the present age are, as a rule, active Sunday-school\nworkers. Of several eminent pastors it was written some years ago: \"The\nvenerable Dr. Tyng, as is well known, attributes his great success\nlargely to his long-continued and unwearied personal attention to his\nSunday-school. He is never absent from his home school. Rev. S. H.\nTyng, Jr., uniformly conducts the closing exercises of his home school,\nand also the Friday-evening meetings of the teachers of all his four\nschools, thus by indirection reaching the twelve hundred children who\nin turn are taught by these teachers. Dr. Howard Crosby takes up the\nlesson on Wednesday evening, and preaches regularly to the children on\nSunday afternoons. Dr. Richard Newton, who has an almost world-wide\nreputation as a children's preacher, takes up the Sunday-school lesson\nat his weekly service, attends his teachers' meeting, and preaches\nregularly to the children of the parish. Dr. John Hall goes each Sunday\nmorning into his home school and believing in 'hand-shaking as a means\nof grace,' takes each teacher and scholar cordially by the hand. He\nlectures each Wednesday evening on the Sunday-school lesson to a\nwell-filled church, the audience having long since outgrown the\nlecture-room. He conducts in person a monthly review in his home\nschool, questioning each class on the lessons of the preceding month.\nHe presides at the monthly or bi-monthly sociable of the teachers of\nhis four schools and conducts on Saturday afternoon a ladies' Bible\nclass which the lecture-room is too small comfortably to hold.\" These\nare, indeed, rare men, but they show the wonderful power that pastors\nmay wield by sympathy with the young, and by wisely-directed Bible\nstudy among them. Indeed, the preparation of a Sunday-school sermon, by\ncompelling simplicity of statement and aptness of illustration, is a\nvaluable discipline for the preparation of ordinary services.\n\n_Hints._--1. In public address or prayer let your appreciation of the\nSunday-school as a sphere of church work and religious power be always\nmanifest. Make it prominent among the subjects of prayer both in the\npulpit and in the prayer-room. Exhort and instruct the church\nrespecting the necessity of securing for it cheerful, attractive rooms\nand an ample apparatus in music, library, papers, maps, etc. The\ninterest and liberality of a congregation in this depend greatly on the\ninterest manifested in the pulpit. 2. Use careful effort to form the\nadult members of the congregation into Bible classes, and thus connect\nthem personally with the school. This can be done to a much larger\nextent than is supposed, and the results are of the highest value. It\nenlarges the biblical knowledge and enriches the experience of the\nadult part of the church. It brings to the school the moral support and\ninfluence of this class. It is a means of holding the young as they\nbecome men and women and preventing their abandonment of the school as\nhaving become too old for it. And it secures a permanent, living\nsympathy between the church and the school, thus avoiding that\nisolation of the school which, in many instances, makes it practically\na separate interest outside of the church rather than within it. 3. The\npastor should let his presence and personal influence be constantly\nfelt in the school; but if he have two sermons on the Lord's Day, he\nshould neither superintend it nor, if possible to avoid, consent to\ntake a class in it. It will exhaust him often before the second sermon,\nand in the end may destroy his nervous power. But he should be often\npresent in the school, talk to it occasionally, and make the personal\nacquaintance of teachers and scholars, moving among them as a friend\nand helper. 4. The pastor should, if possible, meet the teachers weekly\nfor instruction and counsel, carefully studying with them the lesson\nfor the Lord's Day. The teachers' meeting will afford opportunity for\nthe consideration, not of the lesson only, but also of all the\ninterests of the school. As a preparation for this he should make\nhimself familiar with the best methods of Sunday-school work, that he\nmay wisely inspire and direct improvement. Or if it be thought that the\nhelps for the study of the lesson given in papers accessible to the\nteachers are sufficient, the pastor's instruction in the teachers'\nmeeting might take a wider range, embracing courses of lectures on the\nChristian Evidences, the Introduction to the Books of the Bible, the\nScripture Doctrines, Sacred Geography, and kindred subjects. In this\ncase the sphere of the meeting might be enlarged, making it also a\nnormal class, in which the more advanced scholars, as well as the\nteachers, might be prepared for the teacher's work. 5. Great care is to\nbe exercised respecting the books introduced into the library; for,\nwhile much advance has been made in the style and adaptation of books\nfor the young, there are many which are not merely trashy but are\npositively pernicious. The Sunday-school library is an instrument of\ngreat power in forming the tastes, the opinions, and the habits of the\npeople, and it is of the utmost moment that the books be pure in\ndoctrine and healthful in moral and religious tone. 6. The\nSunday-school concert, in which the exercises are prepared chiefly by\nthe school itself, will be of great value if wisely conducted; but care\nis needed to exclude exercises introduced for sensational effect which\nmay not befit the Lord's Day. Indeed, it is all-important that the\nexercise should not be degraded into a mere exhibition, awakening on\nthe part of teachers and scholars only a desire to produce a popular\nsensation and draw the crowd, and on the part of the people a desire to\nbe amused. The devotional spirit should always be dominant. But in\naddition to such exercises, it will be profitable to preach a sermon\nstatedly--once a month, or at least once in three months--expressly to\nthe Sunday-school, adapting the whole service to the young. It brings\nthe pastor and school together publicly and directly and recognizes the\nrelation of the pastor to it as its chief instructor and guide. But in\nthe sermon, as in every Sunday-school address, he should be careful\nthat in attempting to be simple he does not become childish; the former\nis necessary to success, the latter is a common and fatal mistake.\n\nFinally, the hearty co-operation and sympathy, above suggested, of\npastor and people with the school will ordinarily avert all difficulty\non the question of the relation of the Sunday-school to the church; for\nany school, whether home or mission, which finds itself thus enclosed\nwithin the living sympathies of the church will instinctively recognize\nits position as belonging to the church and under its watch-care and\nguidance. Nor will the other evil, so widespread and unfortunate, of\nthe non-attendance of the school on public worship be likely to be\nexperienced; for the scholars, won by the pastor's personal interest in\nthem, will be attracted to him and to his ministrations in the pulpit.\n\n\n\n+SECTION VII.\n\nPASTORAL VISITATION.\n\nThe care of souls is the radical idea of the pastor's office. He is a\nshepherd to whom a flock has been committed to guide, to feed, to\ndefend; and the Divine command enjoins: \"Take heed to _all_ the flock,\nover the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers\" (Acts xx. 28).\nHe is to be the personal religious guide, the confidential Christian\nfriend, of his charge. Our Lord, in His description of the Good\nShepherd, said: \"The sheep hear His voice; and He calleth His own sheep\nby name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own sheep,\nHe goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him; for they know His\nvoice\" (John x. 3, 4). Each member of his flock is a soul entrusted to\nhis care by the Lord; and if true to his trust, he is one of those who\n\"watch for souls as they that must give account.\" Paul, when in\nEphesus, taught not only publicly, but \"from house to house;\" and in\nhis farewell charge to the elders of that city he said: \"Watch, and\nremember that, by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn every\nman night and day with tears\" (Acts xx. 31). Dr. Cuyler, one of the\nbusiest and most effective pastors in Brooklyn, says: \"Young brethren,\naim from the start to be thorough pastors. During the week go to those\nwhom you expect to come to you on the Lord's Day. In the morning of\neach day study books; in the afternoon study door-plates and _human\nnature._ Your people will give you material for your best practical\nsermons. After an effective Sunday work go around among your flock, as\nNapoleon rode over the field after a battle--to see where the shot\nstruck and who were among the wounded.\"\n\nDr. Taylor, of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York, addressing\ntheological students, says: \"You will make a great mistake if you\nundervalue the visitation of your people. The pulpit is your throne, no\ndoubt; but then a throne is stable as it rests on the affections of the\npeople, and to get their affections you must visit them in their\ndwellings. I used to look upon my visitation as a dreadful drudgery,\nbut it has now become my joy, so that whenever I am tempted to despond\nI sally forth to visit my flock; and as I look back upon those early\nyears in which I had no such gladness, I am earnestly desirous to save\nyou from blundering as I did.\"\n\nDr. John Hall, of New York, speaking to a similar audience, said:\n\"Pains should be taken that nothing prevents your making pastoral\nvisits. It is very necessary for you to know the people in their homes,\nand for the people to know you. The little children and the young\npeople should know you. The men should know you. It is only in this way\nthat you can get a distinct idea of the wants of your people, and so be\nenabled to adapt your preaching to them. Do not begrudge the time thus\nspent. In freely conversing with humble people you will get\nside-lights, or particular testimony, that will make you a stronger man\nand a better minister for many a day to come.\"\n\nBishop Simpson, alluding to the timidity often felt by young men in\nregard to pastoral visitation, gives this bit of experience: \"I had\nmuch of this timidity when I entered the ministry. The palms of my\nhands sometimes burned at the very thought of going out to visit. But I\nfelt I must go; the church bade me go; I had promised God I would go;\nand as the soldier in the army walks forward timidly, yet determinedly,\ninto the thickest of the fight, so I went in my Master's name. If I\ncould, I took with me some experienced Christian friend. I spoke to the\npeople kindly; drew out of them their religious condition and\nexperience; found many a wandering one and tried to comfort many a\nsorrowing heart. Such visits made me better, taught me to feel for the\npeople, and to break for them the bread of life with more fitness. In a\nrevival which followed, out of nearly three hundred who came to the\naltar for prayer there were very few with whom I had not previously\nconversed, and I knew how to enter into their sympathies and to point\nthem to the Lamb of God.\"\n\nThe late eminent President Francis Wayland, in closing an earnest plea\nto pastors on this subject, said: \"If, at last, it be said that all\nthis is beneath the dignity of our profession, and that we cannot\nexpect an educated man to spend his time in visiting mechanics in their\nshops and in sitting down with women engaged in their domestic labor to\nconverse with them on the subject of religion, to this objection I have\nno reply to offer. Let the objector present his case in its full force\nto Him who, on His journey to Galilee, 'sat thus on the well' and held\na memorable conversation with a woman of Samaria.\"\n\nPastoral visitation, therefore--this personal care of souls--is an\nessential part of the pastor's work; and no minister meets the\nresponsibilities of the sacred office who neglects direct individual\nreligious contact with his flock. For the performance of this duty,\nhowever, it is obvious no rules of universal application can be given.\nMen differ in their characteristics and modes of working, and each\npastor will ordinarily succeed best with his own method. Churches\ndiffer in their circumstances and modes of life, and a method adapted\nto one field may not be at all feasible in another. The main points\nhere to be kept in view are that the pastor in some way come into\npersonal religious relations with his flock, and that this be done by a\nfixed plan. The suggestions made, therefore, will be of only a general\ncharacter, and will relate to the limits of this duty, the method of\nperforming it, and the advantages of its faithful discharge.\n\n\nI. ITS LIMITS.\n\nIn the pastor's plan of work, how large a place should be given to\npastoral visitation?\n\nThe pulpit, without doubt, has the highest claim. The pastor is there\nsurrounded by his whole flock, and stands forth before the world as\nGod's ambassador, the accredited expositor and defender of the Gospel.\nNo private duty can rise to the dignity and responsibility of this\ngreat public work, and no plea of pastoral exigencies or pastoral\nusefulness can excuse an habitual neglect of thorough preparation for\nthe sacred desk. This is primary and essential.\n\nBut in the pastor's plan he should also aim to secure the visitation of\nevery family and, as far as possible, every person in his congregation.\nIn most churches this could be done at least as often as once a year;\nin some, doubtless, more frequently than this. By employing system,\nlaying out the work carefully, and rigidly devoting fixed seasons for\nits prosecution, a large congregation can be readily visited. Suppose\nthat, in addition to those made in cases of sickness and special\nurgency, six visits in regular course are made every week, even this,\nsmall as the number is, in half a year would reach more than a hundred\nand fifty families--a number above the average of households in our\ncongregations. For this two or three afternoons each week would\nordinarily be ample, and the pastor, by thus placing himself in living\nsympathy with the life of his people, would gain far more than that for\nhis study by the increased facility with which his sermons would be\nprepared and their individual adaptation to the needs of the\ncongregation. Dr. John Hall says: \"I think a minister in good health,\nand doing his work easily and naturally, should visit some on at least\nfive days in the week. I have done that for months together. . . . A\nfew hours a day spent in visiting gives exercise, bodily, intellectual,\nand moral. One studies better for it.\"\n\nThere are, indeed, positions in the ministry in which, from the extent\nof the church and the pressure of outside duties, the pastor can do\nlittle in this department beyond the visitation of the sick and cases\nof special religious perplexity. But these instances are rare and\nexceptional, and in such churches provision ought always to be made to\nsupply the lack of pastoral visitation either by an assistant to the\npastor, devoted to this work, or by delegating it to competent\ncommittees charged with its accomplishment. When the Baptist Tabernacle\nof New York, then worshipping in Mulberry street, numbered over a\nthousand members, widely scattered over that large city, the late\nvenerated Deacon William Colgate organized a plan by which the\ncongregation was divided into convenient districts, each placed under\nthe care of a competent brother, and it long proved a most effective\norganization for church watch-care and visitation.\n\nThere is here a further inquiry: Does the pastor's duty of visitation\nextend beyond the limits of his own congregation? The answer to this\nmust depend on the number of his flock, his special aptitudes, and the\namount of his own strength. The Lord does not require impossibilities.\nBut whoever carefully considers that even in the rural districts of New\nYork more than one-half the population attend no evangelical church, I\nthink, will anxiously ask how this mass of neglecters of the Gospel\nshall be reached; and the pastor who looks down Sunday after Sunday on\na half-filled church may well inquire whether it might not be crowded\nif, instead of waiting for these careless souls to come to him, he\nshould go to them and carry the message of the Gospel, with the\nurgencies of an earnest, prayerful heart, into the bosom of their\nfamilies. Or if this is not possible for him, ought he not to train and\norganize Christian workers in his church to make this aggressive\nmovement on the mass of indifferentism around him? The inspiring and\norganizing of such aggressive Christian labor as faithful visitation\nfrom house to house are among the most important duties of the pastor,\nand no form of Christian activity is more fruitful in blessed results,\nboth in the higher Christian development of the visitors and in the\nawakening and conversion of those who are visited.\n\n\nII. THE METHOD.\n\nHere no single method can be suggested that will be adapted to all\npositions in the ministry, but the following general views may be\nconsidered.\n\nThe pastor's visits should be distinctly understood as designed for\nreligious conversation. There are other occasions for visits of mere\ncourtesy and personal friendship, but here his object is to place\nhimself in religious contact with his people--to learn their\nexperiences, to remove their perplexities, to comfort their sorrows, to\nstimulate their religious activities--and thus, as one entrusted with\nthe care of souls, to help them heavenward. The minister who passes\nfrom house to house conversing only on topics of mere secular interest\nneglects the great business of his life, and in the eye of the Master\nfails in the care of souls committed to his charge.\n\nThe visit should be religious, but it ought to be divested as far as\npossible of stiffness, formality, sameness. A sour visage and a formal\nstyle are not necessary to religious conversation. The pastor comes as\na Christian friend deeply, tenderly interested in the religious welfare\nof the family, and while dealing with their souls in all fidelity, he\nshould use a natural, genial, winning manner such as to put them at\nease and invite their confidence. He is to study character, and to\nemploy his utmost tact and judgment in adapting his words to those\naddressed. Some pastors have a few stereotyped questions and\nexhortations which recur in every visit. A process so stiff and\nunnatural lacks all moral power; it is soon felt to be mere formal\nprofessionalism. No duty is more delicate or tasks more fully the\nminister's resources than the successful management of a pastoral\nvisit, so as to leave a strong religious impression, and yet secure\nfrom old and young a hearty welcome for its repetition.\n\nIn visitation the pastor should overlook none. Domestics and children,\nas well as the heads of the family, should share his attention and be\nmade to feel that he cares for their souls. Nor should any family or\nperson be overlooked or passed by, but the visit should be strictly\nimpartial, made alike to the rich and the poor, the converted and the\nunconverted. For this reason, it is better to have a regular course in\nvisitation. Then all know that there is no favoritism, and in their\nturn, they will alike share the regards of their pastor.\n\nOrdinarily, the visit should be short. Circumstances will necessarily\nto some extent control this, but long visits almost inevitably lead to\nthe introduction of secular topics and weaken or destroy the religious\nimpression. Thoughtless persons will often importune the pastor for a\nhalf-day visit, to be followed by a festal dinner or supper. But let\nhim beware of yielding to such importunities; it is fatal to his work\nin the study, and fatal to the religious force of the visit. No earnest\nminister will waste his time and powers in the gossip of such a visit.\nAs a rule, a brief visit--genial, but to the point--followed, when\npracticable, by a brief prayer specifically bearing the individual\nneeds of the household before the Throne, is the most effective, and it\nleaves time to visit the whole congregation without distracting from\nthorough pulpit preparation.\n\nA pastoral visit should be confidential. No minister has the right to\ninvite disclosures of the religious state of his people in the privacy\nof their families, and then go forth to retail these conversations\nthrough the community. It is the violation of a sacred trust. Many a\npastor has thus destroyed his influence and barred against himself\naccess to the confidence of his people. If he would be trusted as the\nconfidential adviser and friend of his charge, let him be true to the\ntrusts reposed in him in these visits.\n\nAbove all, the pastor must remember the injunction, \"Instant in season,\nout of season.\" He should make the most of opportunities. In the store,\nthe office, and the shop, on the farm, the roadside, and the\ncar--everywhere--he is to seek to lead men to Christ. Wisely, indeed,\nhe will observe the proprieties of time and place, but he should\nneglect no real opportunity of conversing on vital personal religion.\nThe care of souls is his life-work, his solemn charge, and concern for\ntheir salvation ought continually to reveal itself in his conversation.\nEspecially must he seize on opportunities to speak the earnest, kindly\nword to the unconverted. Ordinarily, this is better done when alone\nwith them, as they are then more accessible, and the appeal comes with\ngreater power. The lack of this personal dealing with souls is one of\nthe saddest defects than can mar the life of a minister.\n\n\nIII. THE ADVANTAGES.\n\nThe personal religious growth of the pastor is greatly aided by this\ndirect contact with the souls of his charge. In a minister's life the\ndanger is that he may degenerate into mere professionalism. He may come\nto study God's Word and its great truths, not with personal\napplication, but with respect only to the preparation of his sermons\nand their application to the people. He may lose a vivid consciousness\nof his personal relations to God and read and think and pray with\nreference only to others. Many a pastor actually advancing in general\nknowledge of the Bible and in professional power as to the composition\nand delivery and mental richness of his sermons is, after all, only\nretrograding in his inner personal life as a Christian.\n\nBut the direct contact with individual souls in pastoral visitation\nbrings religion before him less as a theory, more as a living, personal\nreality. He deals here with religion in the concrete rather than the\nabstract. He is the witness of its actual power to comfort in sorrow,\nto strengthen in temptation, to guide in perplexity, to triumph in\ndanger, and his own soul thus enters into a more full realization of it\nas a living fact. How often when seeking to guide another to Christ\ndoes he himself find new access to Him, or when administering\nconsolation to a dejected, afflicted spirit do new courage and hope\nspring up in his own heart! It develops within him broader, purer\nsympathies and makes him a truer, nobler Christian.\n\nVisitation also affords the best means of studying the people in their\nactual life, their characters, opinions, temptations, afflictions and\nsins. The successful preacher must be a student of men, especially a\nstudent of his own congregation. Many a recluse pastor wastes the\ngreater part of his force because his preaching lacks adaptation and\npracticalness. His sermon, it may be, is faultless in its rhetoric and\nlogic and learning and orthodoxy, but it fails to move the people,\nbecause it does not come within the range of their experiences. It\nremoves none of their perplexities; it touches none of their special\nsins; it discusses no questions vital in their life; it is not\nIthuriel's spear, to touch and expose the masked tempter charming and\ndeluding their ears. The preacher is not in sympathy with the actual\nlife of the congregation, and the sermon, however abstractly true and\nbeautiful, does not move and bless them. It is with the actual life the\nminister has to deal; and the study of it in all its manifold phases,\nas developed under the power of sin and grace, is essential to the\nhighest power in the pulpit. An old Divine used to say: \"The preacher\nhas three books to study--the Bible, himself, and the people.\"\n\nNor should I omit to say here that pastoral visitation is a mentally\nenriching process. In the study of life and experience, as a pastor\nmeets them in passing from house to house, he is ever gaining new\ninsight into character. In these conversations, new vistas of truth\nopen before him, and from these visits he comes back to his study with\nnew texts and subjects for sermons and new illustrations of experience\nand doctrine.\n\nThese pastoral visits, moreover, establish personal religious relations\nbetween the minister and the congregation, and thus greatly add to\ntheir interest in his sermons. They alter the standpoint of the hearer\nin reference to the preacher. The man with whom you have wisely and\ntenderly conversed on vital, personal religion cannot turn a cold,\ncritical ear toward you on the Lord's Day; nor does he--what is equally\nfatal to spiritual benefit--listen as a mere admirer of your pulpit\nperformances. He has a deeper feeling. He turns to you, not merely his\ncritical and intellectual, but his religious, nature, and the words you\nspeak, as the utterances of one sincerely seeking his eternal welfare,\ncome to him with a religious power. This is, without doubt, the secret\nof many a successful pastorate, even where there has not been the aid\nof brilliant pulpit eloquence. The pastor has established personal\nreligious relations with his hearers, and to them even his least\nelaborate sermons are clothed with sacred power. Brilliant sermonizing\nmay secure popularity, but only this personal religious contact between\npastor and people secures confidence; and a pastor's real power in\nproducing spiritual, eternal results is dependent on the religious\nconfidence of the people in him.\n\nThese visits also enable him to meet many whom the pulpit could never\nreach. In every community there are the aged, requiring the supports of\nreligion in their declining life; the sick and sorrowing, craving the\nwords of Christian consolation and hope; and the careless, needing the\nkindly invitation and warning. The pastor is God's commissioned\nmessenger to such, and in these personal interviews he may adapt\ninstruction, encouragement, comfort, and admonition to each.\n\nFinally, pastoral visitation is a chief means of blessing and cementing\nthe pastoral relation. Of late years pastorates have become of short\nduration. Hardly is a minister settled and fairly at work before the\nquestion of a change begins to be agitated. May not the decline of\npastoral visitation, so faithfully done by many of our fathers in the\nministry, be in part an explanation of this? The pastor's personal\nreligious life is not brought into contact with his people; as the\nresult, their religious confidence is not won, and his ministry is not\nin sympathy with their needs. The only bond between them is the pulpit;\nand when the novelty of his voice and manner and modes of thought has\npassed away, they are tired of him and seek a change.\n\nBesides, when the pastor is not faithful to the souls of his people in\nprivate, they instinctively feel that he is not sincere--at least, not\nthoroughly in earnest--in his public preaching. On the Lord's Day he\ncomes before them proclaiming the most solemn truths and pressing these\ntruths with the strongest urgency, but in the week, he meets them and\nhas no words of kindly invitation and warning. He solemnly warns the\nimpenitent from the pulpit of their imminent peril of everlasting\nburnings but meets them in their homes or on the street, perhaps year\nafter year, without one word expressive of his interest for their\neternal welfare. Such inconsistency makes religious confidence\nimpossible, and there is no adequate bond to bind pastor and people\ntogether.\n\nBut the relation of pastor and people, as God ordained it, is most\nsacred and enduring. Charged with the care of souls, he is to move\namong his flock as their spiritual guide and friend. The confessional,\nterrible as its power for evil is, was after all in its origin only a\nperversion of the pastoral institution, based on a real and universal\nneed--the longing of troubled souls for guidance, help in getting back\nto God. This need the pastor must meet as the confidential counsellor\nand helper of the individual members of his flock; and if true to this\nsacred trust, his resources of power are ever increasing, and new bonds\nof sympathy hold him more firmly year by year in the hearts of his\nchurch.\n\n\nIV. VISITATION OF THE SICK.\n\nThis is one of the most responsible and difficult duties of the pastor,\nfor it often devolves on him the spiritual guidance of souls on the\nverge of eternity, when what is said must be said at once and words\nfitly spoken are of supreme moment. I have, therefore, reserved this\nsubject for special suggestions.\n\n1. The people should be instructed to notify the pastor when cases of\nsickness occur, for he is often blamed for neglect in visiting the sick\nwhen in fact he did not know of the sickness. He should make public\nrequest, therefore, that notice be sent to him of such cases, with the\nfullest assurance of readiness on his part to respond to such a call at\nall hours and in all places. Of course, in cases of known sickness\namong his own people, a pastor will not wait to be invited, but will\ncall as an understood part of his pastoral duty.\n\n2. It is always prudent to visit the sick in a rested rather than\nwearied state of body, and with a full rather than an empty stomach;\nthe liability to contract disease is thereby lessened. In contagious\ndiseases a medical adviser should be consulted as to the best means of\navoiding danger, and disinfectants should be carefully used after the\nvisit to avoid endangering others. Whether in such cases it is duty to\nvisit no rule can be given; the decision must be left to the\nconvictions of the pastor and the relations and circumstances of each.\nThe words of Van Oosterzee, in his _Practical Theology,_ deserve here,\nhowever, careful consideration: \"The negative answer, favored by the\ntheory and practice of some, finds an apparent justification in the\nnatural desire for self-preservation and in the teacher's relation to\nhis own family. In opposition to this, however, stands the\nconsideration that even the Christian is bound to lay down his life for\nthe brethren, how much more the shepherd of the sheep! and that, in\nthis sphere also, loss of life in the service of the Lord is the way to\nthe preservation of life. Without doubt, fulfilment of duty in this\ncase may cost a painful sacrifice. . . . Nevertheless, the Lord and his\ncongregation have unquestionably the right to demand that duty take\nprecedence of everything; as accordingly Luther, in 1527, during the\nprevalence of the plague, remained with Pomeranus and two deacons at\nWittenberg, and in this way answers the question formally raised by him\nin his tractate, 'Whether we may flee before death?' When, in 1574, the\nquestion here put was expressly deliberated at the Synod of Dort, the\nanswer was given, 'that they should go, being called, and even\nuncalled, inasmuch as they know that there will be need of them.' With\nwhat right shall the physician of souls withdraw from a task from which\neven the unbelieving medical man does not too greatly shrink? . . . The\nrisk incurred on that occasion finds its abundant compensation in the\ngratitude of the flock, the approval of our own conscience, and the\never-renewed experience that the Lord supports His servants in this\nschool of exercise also, and not seldom manifestly preserves them. Of\ncourse, belief in His power and faithfulness can release no one from\nthe duty of taking those measures of precaution prescribed under such\ncircumstances by experience and science.\" The question is sometimes one\nof the most difficult in a pastor's life, and without doubt there is\nmuch danger that he may take counsel of timidity rather than of that\nfaith which becomes a servant of God.\n\n3. Careful preparation should be made for such visits by previous study\nand prayer. In this he is to seek a spiritual frame of mind, to select\nand familiarize Scripture passages adapted to the different spiritual\nconditions and needs of the sick, to elaborate fitting trains of\nthought, and to acquire brief, simple, and apt illustrations of the way\nof salvation, thus fitting himself for the different phases of\nspiritual condition in the sick. I hardly need add that at the basis,\nas underlying all preparation, there must be a sound judgment and a\nheart in genuine sympathy with the afflicted, so that the pastor comes\ninto the sick-chamber as a wise and sympathizing friend and is felt as\nsuch.\n\n4. In manner it is important to be self-possessed and natural,\nsympathetic and cheerful, putting the sick at ease and inspiring\nconfidence. The voice should be tender and subdued, but not falsely\nkeyed and whining. The visit, except in unusual circumstances, should\nbe brief. A neglect of these things will destroy the advantage of the\ninterview, and in some cases will exclude the pastor from the sick.\n\n5. In regard to conversation with the sick, no fixed rules can be\ngiven, since the cases present phases so varied; the good sense and\ntact of the pastor will suggest the best method in each case. Plainly,\nthe matter of first moment is a clear, thorough, and accurate\nunderstanding of the spiritual condition of the patient, for without\nthis the pastor's words may be misdirected, or may even be wholly\nmisleading. He may administer consolation where the heart is in\nrebellion against God and needs rather kindly warning, or he may\nencourage hope where the heart is self-deceived, and God has spoken\nonly condemnation. An interview alone, if it can be arranged, will\nsometimes secure from the sick a more full disclosure of the heart, and\nwill enable the pastor to speak with greater directness and freedom. If\nthe sick person is a Christian, the question then becomes, Is he at\npeace, submissively, restfully trusting all in God's hand? If not,\nascertain what is preventing this, and if possible, help the soul back\nto God. If he is not a Christian, seek to know what prevents him from\nbecoming one, and lead him if possible to Christ. But use a careful\ndiscrimination, distinguishing clearly between the true and false in\nreligious experience, and avoid mere loose exhortations to come to\nChrist, which leave unexplained what Christ is, and what He has done,\nand what it is to come to Him. In all cases, whether to saint or\nsinner, Christ is to be presented in His fulness of grace and power as\nthe one Hope and the one Helper for the humble, penitent soul, and the\nthought of the sick is to be lifted and turned to Him as a living,\npresent Savior and an almighty Friend.\n\n6. Prayer, when practicable, should always be offered in the sick-room.\nIn severe illness it is sometimes advisable to do nothing more than\noffer prayer, and in such a case, where the sufferer may be near\neternity, how fitting and weighty ought to be these words of petition!\nHow tender, earnest, direct, should be the prayer, bearing the case\nwith all its priceless interests into the presence of God! Vinet\nstrikingly says: \"Expect much from prayer--I mean not only from its\npower with God, but from its immediate effects on the sick. We may say\neverything in prayer; under the form of prayer we may make everything\nacceptable; with it we may make hearts the most firmly closed open\nthemselves to us. There is a true _charm_ in prayer; and this charm has\nalso its effect on us, whom it renders more confident, more gentle,\nmore patient, and whom it puts into affecting fellowship with the sick\nman, whoever he may be, by making God present to us both.\"\n\nThese seasons of affliction furnish a pastor the surest access to the\nhomes and hearts of his flock; and rightly improved they greatly add,\nnot only to his pastoral usefulness, but also to his personal hold on\nthe affection and confidence of the families of his charge. Neglect of\nthe sick and sorrowing on the part of a pastor, or a heartless,\nperfunctory manner in performing his duties to them, violates the most\nsacred obligations, and is justly felt alike by the religious and the\nirreligious as a reproach to him: it must in the end destroy the power\nof his work in the pulpit. He should use great care, therefore, to keep\nhimself informed as to the sick and afflicted, to visit them promptly\nand frequently, and to come to their homes, in the spirit of his\nMaster, with the tender, earnest sympathy of a Christian friend, and\nwith the rich resources for Christian help and consolation with which\nhe is entrusted by God as a minister of the Gospel.\n\n\n\n+SECTION VIII.+\n\nREVIVALS OF RELIGION.\n\nThe history of Christianity is a history of revivals by which the work\nof redemption has been advanced among men; there is all reason to\nsuppose that it will be so to the end. Men dream of the Gospel\nadvancing with even, steady pace to its triumph, without the\nvicissitudes of decline and revival but the thought finds ground\nneither in the Bible nor in church history. The great revivals in the\npast have been epochs in which the Christian world has risen to clearer\napprehensions of Divine truth and a higher elevation of Christian life.\nThey have constituted the Divine process by which the Gospel has burst\nthrough the errors and sins of men and has found a more complete\ndevelopment in the consciousness and life of the churches of Christ.\n\nNo careful student of church history will undervalue revivals of\nreligion. By it no means follows that a pastor is to seek success only,\nor chiefly, in these special manifestations of spiritual power. For a\nrevival ordinarily supposes a previous declension, which it was the\ndesign of the ministry to prevent; for they are given \"for the\nperfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ\" (Eph.\niv. 12). Fidelity and wisdom in the pastor may keep the spiritual\nforces in a church so inspired and organized that its life will not\ndecline, but develop and strengthen, and its condition consequently be\none of continual growth and progress. Such is the fact in Mr.\nSpurgeon's church. As one mingles in its assemblies and observes its\nmanifold and thoroughly organized activities, the preaching and\ndevotion, the spirit and life, resemble what is seen in a powerful\nrevival of religion. The Holy Spirit is continually present, and there\nis no cessation in the work of conversion. Toward this ideal a true\npastor will be always working; and where it is attained a revival will\nmean, not a recovery from declension, but an acceleration in spiritual\nadvancement and a mightier display of the Spirit's power in the\nconversion of men.\n\nBut in the ordinary manifestations of Christian life religious\ndeclension is often a marked and painful fact, and the pastor should\nseek the best methods for promoting a revival.\n\nHere it is of primary moment to remember that a genuine revival is the\nresult of the presence of the Holy Spirit: without Him there may be\nexcitement, but there can be no spiritual movement. It is \"not by\nmight, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord\" (Zech. iv. 6). A\ndeep sense of this is essential, and all thought and feeling should be\nturned to the invocation of His presence; but the Spirit works through\nhuman agencies and according to the laws of the human mind. The use of\nappropriate means, therefore, is also essential.\n\nHere I suggest: 1. Christian life in the people will seldom rise above\nthe spiritual level of the pastor; it is, therefore, of primary moment\nthat the minister's own soul be \"in the Spirit\"--humble, fervent, and\nbelieving. Noise and zeal and declamation and management can be no\nsubstitute for the Holy Spirit in the soul. 2. As a revival of life in\nthe church is ordinarily the condition of an awakening among the\nunconverted, the preaching at first should be specially adapted to\nsearch the experience and life of Christians, and lead to increase in\npersonal holiness and personal activity. The church is \"the light of\nthe world\" (Matt. v. 14), and the power of the Gospel on the world\ndepends on the clearness with which this light shines. 3. Seek to\npromote faithful personal conversation on the part of Christians with\ntheir unconverted kindred and friends. It is sometimes useful to\norganize committees to visit religiously from house to house in the\ncongregation. It is obvious, however, that great care should be taken\nboth as to the _personnel_ of such committees and as to the method of\ntheir work. 4. Meetings should be multiplied as the interest manifested\nwill justify. Continuous meetings concentrate attention on the subject\nof religion, fix impressions which otherwise might be evanescent, and\nlead to religious decision. The block may seem unaffected by a single\nblow, but a succession of blows on the same point cleaves it. 5. The\nmode of conducting special meetings must be determined by the existing\nindications of the Spirit and providence of God. If gifts abound in the\nchurch, it is often better not to have additional preaching, but to\ncontinue social meetings, taking care to give variety, in their tone\nand form. If preaching is necessary, the question whether an evangelist\nis to be sought, or help obtained from neighboring pastors, or the\npastor himself should preach, must be determined by the circumstances.\nAll these methods have proved useful. If assistance is sought, care\nshould be used to secure a man of right spirit and practical wisdom.\n\nThe question may arise: Ought a series of meetings to be commenced when\nthere is no special religious interest apparent? I reply: It seems to\nme that certainly equal reasons exist for the appointment of continuous\nmeetings to awaken interest in the subject of religion, as for the\nappointment of such meetings to awaken interest in temperance,\npolitics, or science. The same mental law is invoked in all such\ncases--viz., that _continuous_ attention to a subject causes the mind\nto become interested and absorbed in it and rouses the will to act\nrespecting it. Now, as the Holy Spirit works in the soul, not contrary\nto the constitution God has given to the mind, but in accordance with\nit, the interest thus awakened by continuous attention to the religion\nof Christ would seem to furnish the natural conditions for the Spirit's\nwork. And as the Gospel of Christ is the most important subject to\nwhich the attention of men can be called, there would seem to be the\nhighest reason for the application of this mental law by appointing\ncontinuous meetings in order to fix men's attention upon it.\n\nIn protracted meetings, however, there are sometimes serious evils,\nwhich a pastor should carefully avoid. Of these I mention: 1. A mere\nman-made excitement, in which the effort is rather to inflame the\nreligious feelings than to enlighten and strengthen religious\nconviction. Such an appeal to the emotional, apart from the rational,\nnature results ordinarily in a disastrous reaction in the direction of\nindifferentism and skepticism. Many a field has been burnt over by\nthese _pseudo_-revivals, and they constitute the most difficult fields\nfor Christian labor, because religion has thereby been put under\ncontempt. 2. A protracted meeting entered on for secondary ends, as to\npay off a church debt or to strengthen the position of an unpopular\npastor. Where a revival is sought without dominant regard to the glory\nof God and the salvation of souls, the effort is a failure. 3. A\ntendency to dependence upon protracted meetings to the disparagement of\nthe ordinary means of grace. Great care is needed to guard against\nthis, as it is destructive to the tone and effectiveness of\nchurch-life. The pastor, in prayer and sermon, should be careful to\nkeep prominent before the people, not the revival as the great hope of\nChristian life and progress, but the right us of the usual, constant\nmeans of grace. Some ministers habitually speak as if the work of God\nin conversion and sanctification were restricted to seasons of\nrevivals, and the effect is pernicious. To avoid this false reliance on\nspecial services, it is well not to appoint them at any stated\nintervals, or to push them in any way into special prominence. 4. In\nthe reaction which occurs after the extreme nervous tension of a\nprotracted meeting, guard against relapse in the converts. In the life\nof a plant the period of greatest peril is when it is transferred from\nthe hot-bed to the ground, for, missing the warmth and protection of\nthe bed, and exposed to the cold and storms of the open field, it will\ninevitably droop and wither and die, unless carefully tended. The most\ndifficult and arduous work of a pastor is after a revival in the care\nand instruction of converts, when the unusual stimulus to Christian\nactivity is withdrawn; and it is just here that the evils exist which\nare commonly charged on revivals and evangelists, but which in reality\nresult from remissness in the pastor and church. The converts should be\nintroduced at once into the Sunday-school or Bible class, and should be\nmade personally acquainted, as far as possible, with the members of the\nchurch. Where the number of converts is large, the pastor might\nprivately request some judicious experienced members to give them\nspecial attention, quietly handing to each a list of those thus\nspecially commended to his or her friendly notice and care. A place and\na work for each of the converts should also be sought; this is very\nimportant to their comfort and development.\n\n\n\n+SECTION IX.+\n\nCULTIVATION OF SOCIAL LIFE IN THE CHURCH.\n\nThe development of a true Christian life in the church depends much on\nthe social influences which, like an atmosphere, pervade and envelop\nit. These, therefore, the pastor should seek to inspire and control. As\nfar as possible, the membership should find their society within the\nchurch--not in a spirit of clannish exclusiveness, but on the principle\nthat the higher bond of spiritual affinity, which binds them as a\nchurch to one another and to Christ, involves, as a natural\nconsequence, the lower bond of social affinity, so that the church is\nthe natural sphere of the soul's activities, social as well as\nspiritual. To make the social life of the church strong, healthful,\nenriching, such as render it a magnet to attract other souls, is of\nprimary moment in a pastor's work. I suggest two ways in which this may\nbe done.\n\n1. Personal effort to promote mutual acquaintance in the congregation\nby introducing strangers, and by securing for them those attentions\nwhich will naturally draw them to the church as a home. See that they\nmeet a cordial welcome at the public meeting, and also socially by the\ncalling of members at their homes, and by extending to them social\ncourtesies and kindnesses. A watchful pastor may do much to secure this\nby personal suggestion.\n\n2. Social gatherings in the church, in which the people shall have\nopportunity for acquaintance and for the exercise of the social\nfeelings. These differ in plan. (1.) They are sometimes purely social,\nin which the object is conversation, music, and such forms of\nrecreation as may be innocent and healthful. The tact of the pastor\nwill here be required to give the right tone and spirit to the\ngathering, to promote general acquaintance and sociability, and to\nguard against doubtful forms of amusement. (2.) They sometimes add to\nthe social the literary element, and a part of the time is occupied\nwith readings, recitations, essays, poems, and the discussion of\nsubjects in history, biography, general literature, and science. These,\nwhen carefully managed, are often of great value in advancing the\ngeneral culture and intelligence, and in calling out, especially in the\nyoung, talents which would otherwise be undeveloped. The successful\nworking of such an organization of course presupposes broad\nintelligence in the pastor and not a little careful thought and labor.\n(3.) Sometimes the object is not only social and literary, but also\nmissionary, and the exercises consist in part of reports on missionary\nwork, home and foreign, correspondence with missionaries, and essays on\nthe lives of eminent missionary characters and topics relating to the\nmissionary enterprise. The organization might also engage in different\nforms of actual mission work, such as mission Sunday-schools, religious\nmeetings at destitute points, and personal labor, young men among young\nmen, young women among young women, to bring them to church and\notherwise help them in entering and prosecuting a Christian life.\n\nThe social element is so mighty a force that no pastor can afford to\nignore it; nor should he imagine that it will take care of itself, for,\nleft unguided, it will almost certainly take a false direction and\ndestroy much of his work. His true position is as its inspiring leader,\nthus linking its power to those forces which shall ensure his success.\n\n_Hints._--1. The pastor, I think, should ordinarily hold no official\nposition in these organizations, but should stand related to them\nsimply as pastor, and as thus the general head of all church\norganization; and he should be felt not so much (if at all) in the\nassertion of his authority as in the way of quiet suggestion and\ninspiration. 2. In all social life there will necessarily be different\nsocial centers, caused by naturally differing social affinities, and it\nis unwise to attempt to break this up. But care should be taken that\nthese social centers do not take on the exclusiveness of cliques with\nparty spirit and jealousies, and that the aristocratic element does not\ndevelop itself to the discomfort or exclusion of the poorer classes.\nThese tendencies, always present, should be carefully held in check.\n3. Every house of worship should have a church parlor, or some room\nwhich can readily be converted into one. This should be furnished\nattractively, and supplied with musical instruments, pictures, and\nother means of culture. If a reading-room and library can also be\nconnected, it adds much value in the increase of intelligence among the\npeople. A church will readily furnish funds for this purpose if\nproperly instructed; for parents, aside from the advantage they\npersonally derive from such an arrangement, will feel the advantage to\ntheir families of a church social life so strong and attractive as to\ndraw and hold the children to the associations of the church in\npreference to the associations of the world.\n\n\n\n+SECTION X.+\n\nTHE PASTOR AS AN ORGANIZER.\n\nOne chief function of a pastor is to develop and utilize the spiritual,\nmental, and social forces of the church. There is in every congregation\nmuch latent force, which needs to be developed, alike for the growth\nand usefulness of those who possess it and for the results it might\nsecure for the church and the world. The minister is, in this respect,\na general to whom troops are entrusted; his work is to train and\norganize and lead. The troops are to fight: he is to inspire and direct\nthe battle. Some hardworking pastors take on themselves burdens which\nit were far better to lay on the people--better for the pastor, in\nleaving him free for other work, and better for the members, in calling\nout their gifts. Indeed, one of the strongest bonds which bind a church\ntogether is the consciousness of being mutual workers, each having a\npost of duty and a share of responsibility. No member should be left in\na purely receptive attitude--a mere attendant and listener--but each\nshould have a place and a work assigned him. That church attains the\ntruest and highest growth in which every member is a worker under the\nstimulus of a consciousness of responsibility and of a useful sphere of\nactivity. Much of the imperfection of church-life is due either to the\nfact that this latent force is undeveloped, or, if developed, is\nmisdirected. Here I suggest:\n\n1. A pastor should carefully study his people with the view of\nascertaining and utilizing their special aptitudes and gifts. The\nprayer-room, the Sunday-school, the teachers' meeting, and the pastoral\nvisit all afford constant opportunities for this. One may show aptitude\nfor teaching and may be entrusted with a Sunday-school class. Another\nhas the weight of character and the tact of leadership which fit him\nfor conducting a neighborhood prayer-meeting. Another has the solid\njudgment and clear discernment of character which will make him useful\non a committee of discipline or finance. Another, though possibly not\nmarked in exhortation or prayer, may have social qualities such as\nadmirably qualify him for managing the details and arrangements of the\nsocial gatherings of the congregation. A pastor who will constantly act\non the motto, _A place and a work for every member,_ and will press\nthis motto on those who conduct the different departments of work in\nhis church, will soon find himself at the head of an active, living,\nand ordinarily happy people while yet he is not personally overburdened\nwith the details of church-work. In some instances of eminent pastoral\nsuccess, the chief secret has been in this power of developing and\nutilizing the gifts of the church.\n\n2. The organization of associations within the congregation for\ndifferent departments of work is another means of developing and\nutilizing the spiritual forces in the church. I have spoken in another\nplace of literary and missionary organizations, but I may here add that\nan association for Christian work composed of young men in a church,\nand a similar one for young ladies, may often prove of great value--the\none to act among young men, to attract and hold them to the church; the\nother for like service among young women. To such associations might be\nentrusted also mission Sunday-schools and distinct spheres of\nmissionary effort. In a large congregation it is often desirable to\norganize committees for the care of the sick and the poor, and the\nvisitation of strangers needing to be invited and welcomed to the\ncongregation, and of erring and sinning ones needing to be won back to\nholiness and the church of God. In most places it is useful to have\ncommittees for the general visitation of the field occupied by the\nchurch, each committee being entrusted with a distinct district in it\nand made responsible for its cultivation. In neighborhoods remote from\nthe church much good is often secured in local prayer-meetings placed\nunder the supervision of some judicious person. A thoughtful pastor,\nthoroughly supervising his field, will find constant work, and manifold\nforms of it, in which he can utilize either individuals or\norganizations in his church; and in doing this there is a double\nblessing--that which comes to the workers, in making them larger and\nhappier Christians, and that which comes to those for whom they labor.\nTwo things, however, are here to be observed: (1.) Organizations should\nnot be so multiplied as to conflict with the general meetings of the\nchurch or with each other. Each should subordinate its arrangements to\nthose of the church, and each should have its own separate,\ndistinctly-marked sphere. (2.) They should be kept under the pastor's\nsupervision and subject to his guidance. It will be readily seen that\nthis supposes care and tact on the part of the minister.\n\n3. It is important that in this development of the forces in a church\nthe pastor should mark those cases among the young in which special\npromise of intellectual ability appears and should inspire and direct\nthem toward a higher education. Intellect is a gift of God: it is\ncriminal to leave it undeveloped. Be thoroughly alive to this fact and\nimpress it on the people. You will see young men and young women in\nyour congregation who might, with adequate intellectual culture, occupy\npositions of power in life, and carrying into those positions a\nChristian character as well as a cultivated intellect might exert a\nwide and beneficent influence for Christ in the world. It seems to me\none of the highest duties of a pastor to foster in such minds a desire\nand purpose for an education, and to facilitate in every possible way\nthe attainment of that end. He should perpetually stimulate the people\nto a larger and higher intelligence, and never be satisfied unless\nnumbers of the youth of his church are in higher institutions of\nlearning. A failure to develop his people intellectually is a discredit\nto any minister.\n\n4. Another important end to be secured is the development of\nministerial gifts. The prayer-meeting, the Sunday-school, and the\ngeneral work of the church will commonly, but not always, make these\nmanifest. Sometimes a very diffident young man may possess them, but\nonly encouragement will develop them. A pastor should be on the watch\nand should take occasion to call out the latent power. A few kindly\nwords of encouragement have often developed a man of ultimately wide\nusefulness. Besides this class, there is much talent in the church that\ncould be utilized in lay-preaching, where men of good speaking and\nspiritual knowledge, without relinquishing business pursuits, might be\nemployed at destitute points to proclaim the Gospel. A pastor's care is\nneeded in seeking out and setting at work these gifts for\nlay-preaching, and thus multiplying the agencies for evangelization\naround him.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XI.+\n\nFUNERAL SERVICES.\n\nFuneral services bring the pastor into most tender and influential\nrelations to the families of his congregation, but they are also among\nthe most perplexing and difficult parts of his work. Warm sympathy must\nhere be combined with wise discretion, or he may destroy at the funeral\nthe effect of his most faithful teaching in the pulpit. Here I suggest:\n\n1. Ordinarily, it is better to avoid a formal sermon at funerals. It\nunnecessarily protracts the service, often to the serious discomfort of\nthe people, while it overtasks the minister both in the preparation\nrequired and in the performance of the duty. In case of the death of\nsome person occupying public station or official position in the church\na sermon may be proper, but even then, it is usually better to deliver\nit on the following Sunday in the church. Sometimes also, in districts\nremote from the place of worship, where the people seldom hear\npreaching, there may be an advantage in a full sermon. But commonly a\nservice at the house, brief, simple, tender, will secure the best\nresults. This usually consists of the reading of a selection of\nScriptures, an address, and a prayer. Singing is added, if desired by\nthe bereaved family and singers are available.\n\n2. Eulogies of the dead should be very sparingly indulged and should in\nno case be made a prominent feature. For much eulogy, even of\nconfessedly good qualities in the deceased, will almost always provoke\nremembrance of any opposite qualities he may have had, and will thus\nfail of its object. Besides, if eulogy forms a marked feature in a\nminister's funeral addresses, the omission of it, when ministering at\nthe funeral of one whom he cannot conscientiously eulogize, will be\nembarrassing to him, and will often give offense to the friends. An\nanalysis of the character of the deceased at such a time is a very\ndelicate and difficult task, and it should not be undertaken except in\nthose comparatively rare cases where the character has been so\nconspicuous for its high qualities that the moral judgment of the\ncommunity instinctively recognizes it as a fitting model. Great care\nshould be exercised, also, in regard to expressing, in the address or\nprayer, an opinion as to the spiritual character and destiny of the\ndeceased. A minister, in the fervid sympathy evoked by the occasion, is\nsometimes betrayed into forms of expression such as only Omniscience\nmay rightfully use. It is, indeed, his right, at the interment of one\nwhose Christian character has been well attested, to assume that God's\npromises have been fulfilled, and to speak gratefully and joyfully of\nthe blessedness of the pious dead; but in so doing he should speak\nrather with the confidence of hope than with the assumption of an\nabsolute knowledge of the secrets of the heart.\n\n3. The subject-matter of the address will often be suggested by the\nspecial circumstances connected with the deceased or the occasion.\nApart from these, many general lines of thought will suggest themselves\nto the thoughtful pastor. Of these the following may serve as hints:\nThe fulness of power in the Gospel to prepare for death, in its\nrenewing, justifying, and sanctifying grace; The blessedness of the\nChristian beyond death, as admitted into the immediate presence of\nChrist and into the purity and associations of that holy place where He\ndwelleth; The glorious resurrection of the dead as the completing act\nof redeeming power and the ultimate goal of the Christian course; The\ncertainty of the Christian's hope, as based on the promises of an\nunchanging God, contrasted with the uncertainty of all earthly\nexpectations. Or special phases of truth and sources of consolation may\nbe presented in the informal development of some passage of Scripture.\nThus: The sympathy of Christ with the sorrowing, as seen at the grave\nof Lazarus and on other occasions; The certainty that affliction is not\naccidental but is ordered in the infinite love and wisdom of God; The\ncompassion and tenderness of God, as seen in that He doth not afflict\nwillingly; The high and blessed results He intends in affliction; The\nbrevity of earthly sorrow and the eternity of heavenly joy. Subjects\nadapted to such occasions will continually suggest themselves to a\npastor who is in living, personal sympathy with his congregation; and\nit is wise to note them down as they occur and carefully preserve them.\nAt the funeral of an unconverted person the selection of a subject is\nsometimes difficult; for here the minister, while he must needs be a\n\"son of consolation\" to the bereaved, is also under obligation to be\nfaithful to the Gospel and to the souls of men. He may not suggest,\neven by implication, a hope respecting the deceased which neither his\nsober judgment nor the truths he preaches allow him to feel; nor may he\npursue a line of remark adapted to weaken a conviction of the solemn\ntruth that a personal acceptance of Christ and a humble following of\nHim in this life are absolutely essential to salvation; for in so doing\nhe would be inconsistent and untruthful. It is equally evident, also,\nthat in such a service, where he stands as a minister of consolation,\nit is not his duty to aggravate the sorrow of the bereaved by specially\nemphasizing the fearful doom of the unbeliever. Perhaps the general\ncourse of thought for such occasions would be found in topics which\nrelate to the brevity and uncertainty of life; the way of salvation in\nthe Gospel; the rectitude and tenderness of God's providence; the\nrefuge for the afflicted in the sympathy and salvation of\nChrist--topics which, while necessitating no allusion to the spiritual\ncharacter and state of the deceased, yet afford ample scope for\npresenting the nature and urgencies of the Gospel and the true sources\nof consolation for the bereaved. Whatever the topic, the spirit and\nmanner should be dictated and pervaded by a genuine sympathy for the\nsorrowing, and a hearty appreciation of whatever was excellent in the\ncharacter and life of the deceased. Though not a Christian, he may have\nbeen a valuable citizen, a just and generous man, a true and unselfish\nfriend, a good husband and father. If any personal remarks are made,\nsuch characteristics may properly be recognized on such an occasion as\nhonoring his memory and rendering his death a loss to the world.\n\n4. The service at the grave should ordinarily be brief, as the people\nare standing, and the circumstances of the place render an extended\nservice undesirable. Some pastors use here some one of the printed\nmanuals of burial services, others read from Scripture, or repeat from\nmemory, a selection of passages relating to death, the grave, and the\nresurrection, and others make a brief address. Whatever the method\nadopted, the service should be carefully prepared, and should vary in\nits form, in order to secure in this, as in all services, variety and\nadaptation to the occasion. The service is closed by the apostolic\nbenediction, prefaced sometimes by a few words of prayer.\n\n5. It is desirable to visit the family in which death has occurred\nbefore the funeral services, both to express your sympathy in the\naffliction and to learn any facts respecting the deceased and the\narrangements for the funeral that may be necessary for you to know. The\npastor should here have the character of an adviser and friend. In all\narrangements for the funeral it is better, in general, to conform to\nthe customs of the community; but so far as he may use influence in\nregard to these, it should be in favor of inexpensive simplicity and\nagainst ostentatious display. Costliness and display at funerals\nconstitute in many communities an evil of such serious proportions and\nconsequences that the ministry should decidedly set their face against\nit; for, established as an inexorable custom, it often augments and\nperpetuates the sorrow of a death in the family by creating debt and\npecuniary embarrassment which remain for years to come. It is also\nimportant to visit the family soon after the funeral to administer\nfurther consolation, and to follow up any good impressions which\naffliction has made. This is often one of the pastor's best\nopportunities, as the heart is then tender and susceptible to religious\ninfluences. It is in these dark hours of adversity that the Gospel is\nfelt in its saving, consoling, helping power in the soul, and the\npastor here should work with Providence, carefully improving the\nopportunity.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XII.+\n\nCULTIVATION OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.\n\nThe importance of a deep, all-pervading missionary spirit in the church\ncan hardly be overrated. Its value is not to be estimated only in the\nwork done and the money raised for the spread of the Gospel, but also\nin the enlarged and enriched life of the church itself, and the higher\nand nobler type of Christian character it thus presents to the world. A\npastor who fails in this is failing at once to make his church a power\nfor Christ in the world, and to secure within it the fulness of life\nwhich Christ intended it should possess.\n\nTo develop and foster a missionary spirit in the church requires, as a\nfirst necessity, the presence of such a spirit in the pastor himself.\nWithout this no method, however excellent, will be likely to succeed;\nbut with it the spirit of missions will not appear merely on special\nmissionary occasions, but will pervade all his public utterances in the\npulpit and the prayer-room. It will diffuse itself as an atmosphere of\nlife through the whole congregation, and, inbreathed, it will impart\nvitality and power to the whole body. But, added to this general\ninfluence, a fixed method of labor for this is desirable, and in regard\nto this I make the following suggestions:\n\n1. A regular system of contribution for benevolent objects, taken\neither by subscription paper or by public collection or in boxes\nconveniently placed for receiving the funds. It is the custom of many\nchurches to divide the year into four or six periods, devoting two or\nthree months, as the case may be, to each of the benevolent objects;\nand this has often proved successful. Whatever plan is adopted, it\nshould secure regularity of contribution, and should reach the whole\ncongregation, old and young, rich and poor; otherwise, only the few\nwill contribute, and the blessing connected with self-denying giving\nwill be lost by the mass of the people.\n\n2. A missionary sermon at least as often as the recurrence of these\nperiods. In these sermons the great principles of benevolence should be\ndeveloped and enforced, and the leading facts in the different\ndepartments of Christian work spread before the people. It is not\nnecessary or desirable to preach a \"begging sermon\" with sensational\nincitements to give. In fact, our Lord's great principle, \"It is more\nblessed to give than to receive\" (Acts xx. 35), suggests that giving\nshould be presented, not as a duty chiefly, but rather as an exalted\nprivilege whose reward is in itself. Properly prepared, \"the missionary\nsermon\" may be made a most attractive feature in the pastor's public\nwork; and if steadily kept in view and materials carefully preserved\nfor it as they occur in his reading and reflection, the preparation\nwill not be difficult. A special note-book, preserving thoughts and\nillustrations for missionary sermons, will rapidly fill up with a\npastor who reads with method and care.\n\n3. The monthly missionary concert of prayer. This is of vital\nimportance, because here the missionary spirit of the church finds\ndevotional expression. The pastor makes a serious mistake who fails to\nmaintain this or allows it to be regarded as of minor moment. No\nmeeting is capable of being made more effective for his home work than\nthe monthly concert, properly conducted. In regard to this I offer the\nfollowing hints: (1.) It is not necessary to restrict the sphere of the\nmeeting to foreign missions, but there are important advantages in\nallowing it to embrace all departments of evangelization, home and\nforeign, through the different branches of work--in the pulpit, the\nschool, and the press. Thus one evening might be devoted to the\ncondition of the freedmen at the South and the work in progress among\nthem, educational and missionary; another to the work of home missions\non the frontiers of civilization at the West, developing the leading\nfacts respecting the vast immigration into those new regions, the needs\nof Christian workers there, and the kind of work there to be performed;\nand another to the Karens or Assamese or Chinese, or other division of\nthe foreign work. The meeting would thus be highly educative by the\nwhole range of its information, and would promote a broad intelligence\nin the membership, while the breadth of the field would afford an\nunfailing variety of vital subjects to interest and hold the people.\n(2.) In opening, the pastor might present a brief survey of the whole\nfield, selecting only events of special interest and incidents adapted\nto impress them. This might be followed by one or more papers or\nstatements, from selected members of the church or congregation, on the\nspecial field chosen for the evening, or on some prominent laborer in\nit, the time of the speaker or reader being carefully limited. This\nwould leave ample time for prayer, which is the main purpose of the\nmeeting, and for such spontaneous utterances as might be made by the\nassembly.\n\nThe hints above suggested are necessarily imperfect and general, for\nevery church has its peculiarities, and the pastor must often adapt his\nmethods to theirs. But the object to be attained, the missionary\ndevelopment of the church, is of the highest moment, and he should\nstudy methods with the fixed purpose of reaching, in some way, that end.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XIII.+\n\nTHE PULPIT AND THE PRESS.\n\nIn the olden time the Bible formed the chief reading of Christian\ncongregations, and the pulpit occupied the place of power in popular\ninstruction. This is now changed. The newspaper, the magazine, the\npopular novel, the multitudinous products of the press, crowd the Bible\nfrom its former place even in religious families, and the platform and\nthe press rival the pulpit as vital educative forces in guiding and\ncontrolling popular thought. It is useless to declaim against this; it\nis one of the great facts of providence connected with our age and\nlife; but the wise pastor will carefully consider what he can do to\ncontrol this inevitably potent force of the press, and make it a help\ninstead of a hindrance to his work; for with proper supervision this\nvast power may be made a most beneficent auxiliary to the pulpit. Here\nI suggest:\n\n1. The pastor should aim to secure in every family a good religious\nnewspaper. This is a matter of primary moment, for such a paper is an\never-present force, educating religious thought and feeling and\nenriching and elevating practical life. Most pastors would be startled,\non making the inquiry, to find how few families in their congregation\ntake a religious paper, and how many are taking only trashy and often\nmorally poisonous publications, the habitual reading of which must\nutterly neutralize the instruction and influence of the pulpit. The\nmagazine and newspaper are the habitual reading of the family circle;\nand the pastor who fails to exercise watchful care in regard to the\ncharacter of this reading will often find it one of the most\ndestructive forces at work among his people.\n\n2. The intelligent and thoughtful minister, in his public and private\nwork, will often call the attention of his people to good books, and\nuse his influence to introduce them. His people, pressed under secular\ncare and toil, are most of them not in a position to judge of the value\nand tendency of the literature offered to them; and they rightfully\nlook to him, as an intelligent and studious man, to guide their\njudgment in the selection of reading. The Sunday-school library also\nshould be carefully selected under his eye and secured a wide\ncirculation. In a large congregation it may sometimes be of advantage\nto have a reading-room and a circulating library, placed under the care\nof some association; and over this also the pastor's watchful\nsupervision will be required. He should also provide himself with\ntracts--brief, simple, pungent, clearly setting forth sin, redemption,\nrepentance, faith, and Christian duties--such as may awaken the\ncareless, guide the inquirer, and press to duty the hesitant Christian.\nThese little winged evangels are most valuable auxiliaries in his\npastoral work and should be kept for judicious circulation in the\ninquiry meeting, in pastoral visitation, and in seasons of revival. As\nissued by our Publication Society, they are now of such wide variety\nand high value, and of such slight cost, that no pastor should allow\nhimself to neglect a means so important to his success.[1]\n\n3. The subject of reading and books should also be presented in the\npulpit that the great importance of care in this may be felt, and the\npurity of the homes of the people be guarded against a pernicious\ninfluence of a poisoned literature. Many a Christian parent has never\nbeen aroused to the real peril in which he is placing his family by the\nreading he thoughtlessly admits to the home circle.\n\n4. A pastor should also seek to inspire and elevate the public\nsentiment of the community where he is located in regard to schools,\nlyceums, libraries, and public lectures, so as to secure pure and\nChristian influences at these important fountains of public opinion and\ncharacter. As an educated man and a Christian minister, this duty\nnaturally devolves on him; and his influence, rightly and quietly used,\nmay often determine the question whether the schools shall be under\nChristian or non-Christian instruction, or whether the lecture-course\nshall be filled by men who revere God's Word or by those who hate and\ntraduce it. No minister ought to be indifferent to the public sentiment\naround him; for it is the intellectual and moral atmosphere in which\nhis people live, and which must needs tend either to poison or to\npurify their souls.\n\n\n+FOOTNOTES:+\n[1] It would be well were every church to see that the pastor is\n    furnished with a sufficient supply of such publications. Some\n    churches are accustomed to make regular provision for this\n    object. They believe that the soldier should not be expected to\n    purchase his own ammunition.--EDITOR.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XIV.+\n\nRELATIONS TO OTHER DENOMINATIONS.\n\nThe pastor's position and work bring him into contact with other\nministers and churches in the community, and his comfort and usefulness\nwill to some extent depend on the esteem and confidence with which he\nis regarded by evangelical Christians outside of his own church. He\nwill find many of the noblest Christian men and women in churches\ndiffering in name from his own, and he should seek to maintain with\nthem the most frank and cordial relations. This is especially important\nas regards the pastors, since, when relations of mutual affection and\nconfidence exist, the ministry in any community can be eminently\nhelpful to each other, and by combining their counsels and influence\ncan often greatly advance the religious interests of the whole people.\nI suggest, therefore:\n\n1. Do not isolate yourself, standing aloof from the general Christian\ncommunity, but seek the acquaintance of all good men. Show a friendly,\ncordial spirit and a readiness for all offices of kindness, alike in\nthe relations of social life and on those public occasions when all\nChristians gather for united counsel and worship. In such a course you\nwill find the love and sympathy of the Christian community attracted to\nyou, greatly augmenting your comfort and influence, and giving added\npower to your public work.\n\n2. Such friendly relations among Christians of differing views involve\nof necessity a full recognition of their common Christian character and\na hearty accord, each to the other, of sincerity and purity of motive\nin their church position. This a just self-respect requires you to\ninsist on for yourself, and this, in the spirit of genuine charity, you\nshould freely accord to others; such a position is consistent with the\nmost full and free expression of your denominational sentiments and the\nmost earnest defense of them. It simply requires that amidst the\ndifferent opinions of Christian men there should be a charitable\njudgment of each other's character, and a careful abstinence from\nlanguage that might reflect on the motives of those who differ. It is,\nI think, the common fact that the genuine respect and confidence of any\nChristian community are most fully secured by that pastor who, while\nalways decided and earnest in the expression and defense of his\ndenominational convictions, is also always careful, in the spirit of\ntrue charity, to recognize the sincerity and integrity of those whose\nconvictions may be opposed.\n\n3. An occasional exchange of pulpits by the evangelical ministers in\nthe community has many advantages. It is a public recognition of the\nsubstantial unity of Protestant Christendom. It gives to the minister a\nwider audience than if always limited to his own congregation, thus\nenlarging his acquaintance and tending to secure for him the interest\nand confidence of the whole people. It is sometimes a relief, enabling\nhim to make use of former pulpit preparations when specially pressed by\nthe exigencies of pastoral work. In such an exchange it is obvious that\ncourtesy and comity require that the minister should conform to the\nusages of worship observed in the congregation where he is thus\nofficiating, and that the subject presented should belong to the Gospel\nas held in common by evangelical Christians, and not to matters\ncontroverted among them. In this, as in all relations with other\npastors and churches, the minister should observe with scrupulous\ndelicacy the requirements of courtesy and honor.\n\n4. Union meetings are sometimes held by churches of different\ndenominations for the promotion of a revival of religion, during the\nprogress of which each church is expected to waive its distinctive\npeculiarities and all unitedly press on men the claims of the common\nGospel. Such a union of effort has undoubtedly proved useful among\nfeeble churches and in neighborhood meetings remote from large centers\nof population; for there, from the paucity of numbers and gifts, all\nthe Christian forces must needs be concentrated in order to maintain\nthe interest. In such meetings every consideration of honor requires\nthat the subjects presented should be restricted to those common truths\nof the Gospel in which all are united; a departure from this is always\nto be deplored. Among strong churches, however, where gifts abound, the\nutility of such a union is more doubtful; indeed, it is questionable\nwhether there are not positive disadvantages. For, (1.) The members of\nthe participating churches in such a meeting are placed under unusual\ncircumstances which often serve to repress rather than develop their\nactivity, and thus the labor falls on only a few more prominently\ngifted persons; whereas, a meeting in which the responsibility rested\non only one church would have drawn into active work the mass of its\nmembers, and secured to it the blessing which such general activity\nbrings. (2.) According to the Baptist faith, the ordinances of the\nGospel vividly set forth Divine truth before men, and in the experience\nof our churches their administration is commonly attended by the\nconvicting power of the Holy Spirit in the consciences of those who\nwitness them. But in a union meeting these cannot be administered, or\neven alluded to, without impropriety, and this element of power is\nlost. (3.) It is not unfrequent, at the close of such meetings, that\nthe efforts of such churches to secure members from the converts result\nin friction and unkind feeling--an evil sometimes more than\ncounterbalancing the good done in the temporary union. While,\ntherefore, it is not denied that union meetings have sometimes been\nuseful, as a general thing they are not desirable. A church will\nordinarily develop more effectively its own gifts and its own spiritual\npower by working alone and in accordance with its own principles and\nmethods. It allows its light to shine most fully and clearly only when\nit steadily teaches and defends whatever of truth it has learned by the\nteachings of the Word of God. At the same time, its relations to the\nother churches in the community will, in the long run, be far less\nlikely to be embarrassed and embittered.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XV.+\n\nCHANGE OF FIELD.\n\nInstability in the pastoral office is the common fact and every pastor,\nsooner or later, meets the question, Shall I change my field? One cause\nof this is to be found, doubtless, in the restless spirit of the age,\nwhich is impatient with the old and ever clamoring for the new. This is\nspecially the case in our country and is one of the natural results of\nrapid growth and a widely-diffused spirt of enterprise.\n\n\nI. EVILS OF CHANGE.\n\nThe evils of a change of field are many and serious and only the most\nimperative reasons will justify a pastor in making it. For, 1. It\ninvolves a serious loss in the pastor's working capital, for the\nconfidence and love of a congregation, which a true minister acquires,\nconstitute a chief element in his power. These, however unlike mere\npopularity, are only slowly acquired; but, once secured, they add\nimmensely to the value of his public and private work. But this\nadvantage is all relinquished on leaving the field, and must be again\nslowly acquired at another post. A pastor's power also to benefit a\npeople by a wise adaptation of his work to their character and needs\nmust depend largely on his knowledge of them; but in making a change\nthis is lost, and can be regained only by similar study of a new\ncongregation. 2. Few ministers widen their range of original\ninvestigation after their first pastorate. At the first post they are\ncompelled to push out into new lines of thought, but in a new field the\ntemptation to use old subjects, if not old sermons, often proves\nirresistible, and their life-thinking is likely to move round in the\nsame narrow range. Pastoral change often thus checks intellectual and\ntheological growth. 3. This restless expectation of change also\ndiscourages broad, comprehensive plans for the instruction and\ndevelopment of the church, and tempts the minister to aim exclusively\nat immediate results. Hence, his sermons are largely sentimental or\nsensational, confined within a limited range of topics, and the\ndevelopment of church-life is correspondingly dwarfed. 4. The marked\ndecline in public respect for the ministry is probably in part a result\nof this feverish restlessness, which weakens confidence in them as men\nof high, unselfish purpose, and compels a community to regard the\nminister no longer as a permanent force in its life, but rather as a\ntransient sensation.\n\n\nII. INADEQUATE CAUSES OF CHANGE.\n\nMany causes operate to unsettle a pastor which ought not to produce\nthat result; indeed, some of them, if rightly interpreted, would have\nserved rather to strengthen than to dissolve the pastoral relation.\nThus, 1. Mental depression. A sedentary, studious life often induces\nabnormal nervous conditions, and the hypochondriac misinterprets the\nfeelings of the people and underestimates the results of his ministry.\nA change is in consequence resolved on, which subsequent developments\nshow to have been wholly unnecessary. 2. The loss of popularity. This\nis often due to real defects in the character and work of the pastor,\nand its true remedy is not a change of field, but a correction of his\nfaults. Imperfect preparation has, perhaps, made his sermons\ncommonplace and his pulpit a failure. Or he has failed to cultivate\nexecutive, pastoral, and social power, and, as a result, the church is\nnot in effective working condition, and no bonds of personal sympathy\nand affection bind pastor to people. Or there are imperfections in his\nspirit and life, and these forbid confidence and respect on the part of\nthe congregation. In all such cases a loss of popularity does not\nindicate so much a change of field as a change in the spirit, plan, and\nwork of the pastor, for these defects would in any field soon lead to\nthe same result. 3. Difficulties in the church. Such trials enter more\nor less into every minister's lot, but they may be no indication of\nduty to change. The trial may be sent as a discipline, designed to\ndevelop, through faith and patience, a nobler character and higher\npower in the pastor. Change in this case is only a cowardly running\naway from duty, and consequent failure to gain an intended blessing.\nMany a disruption of the pastoral tie, it may be feared, is thus only a\nshrinking from trial and intended discipline and results only in loss\nto pastor and people. 4. Ambitious seeking for distinguished position.\nThere is an unhallowed ambition which, unsatisfied with advancement\nthrough natural growth, is ever restlessly seeking, by newspaper\nnotoriety, sensational sermons, and influential friends, to secure\nprominent places in the ministry. A vacant pulpit in a conspicuous\nchurch is usually beset by many such ambitious aspirants for place and\nnotoriety. It is hardly necessary to suggest that such a spirit is at\nthe farthest possible remove from the genuine spirit of the Christian\npastor; and in the end it reacts disastrously on the reputation of him\nwho indulges it, for self-seeking and pretense are sure, sooner or\nlater, to be exposed.\n\n\nIII. VALID REASONS FOR CHANGE.\n\nA change of field is doubtless sometimes the duty of a pastor, and the\nprovidence and Spirit of God, which guided him in forming the pastoral\nrelation, will make equally plain the obligation to dissolve it. Some\nof the reasons which may require a change are the following: 1. Growth\nin pulpit and pastoral power beyond the scope of the field. A young man\nhas settled, perhaps, in a circumscribed field. Fidelity in study and\nlabor has developed him, so that his capacity plainly fits him for a\nwider sphere. If this is made evident by the judgment of his brethren\nand the providence of God, he is required by duty, alike to his own\nlife-usefulness and to the cause of Christ, to enter the wider field\nopened before him. 2. The necessities of health in himself or family.\nThe severity of the draft made in this age on the intellect and nerves\nof the minister may sometimes compel change so as to obtain relief by\nthe more free use of previous pulpit preparations. This, though\nunfortunate for the intellectual growth of the minister, is still to be\nchosen rather than broken health. Or the climate may prove unfavorable,\nand on this account a change be demanded. 3. Inadequate salary. The\npecuniary support may be insufficient for the growing needs of the\npastor, and a new post with larger salary may be opened to him. Here,\nhowever, great care must be taken in scrutinizing motives, for a\nwealthy church and a large salary have glittering attraction and appeal\nstrongly to mere selfishness. The need of a larger income must be real,\nnot fancied. 4. Permanent discomfort and embarrassment in his work. A\nminister, even after the most conscientious discharge of his duties,\nwill sometimes find controlling influences in the church arrayed\nagainst him, or his cherished plans of church work defeated by\ncounter-counsels; so that the pastor and permanent and influential\nmembers of the church are in relations wholly incompatible with comfort\nor efficiency. Now, if these relations cannot be altered, it would seem\nclearly his duty to leave, and to enter a field where his relations\nwill be congenial and his labors unobstructed.\n\nFinally, I suggest: A pastor must expect trials in any church, and\ncommonly, in a change of place, he will only find a change in the form\nof trial. It is a serious question whether in most instances of change\na simple faith in God, a patient forbearance, and a persistence in\nfaithful work would not have avoided the necessity and added much to\nthe strength of the pastor in the higher development of all the forces\nof his intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature, and in the\nenlargement of his influence as a minister of Christ. Certainly, the\nunrest so widely seen now in the ministry argues a great wrong\nsomewhere, either in pastors or in churches, and is serving to\ndeteriorate the character and weaken the influence of both.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XVI.+\n\nMINISTERS NOT IN THE PASTORAL OFFICE.\n\nAll ministers are not called to the pastorate; and it is sometimes the\nduty of those who were once called to that position to leave it and\nenter a different department of ministerial work. In the ministry which\nthe ascended Christ gives His church, besides pastors, there are\n\"evangelists\" and \"teachers\"--terms designating important classes of\nministers permanently existing in the kingdom of God. A brief\ncharacterization of these, and of the functions with which they are\ncharged, may properly be presented here.\n\n\nFIRST, EVANGELISTS.\n\nOf this class, Philip, Barnabas, Apollos, Timothy, and Titus are\nexamples in Scripture--men having no permanent, local charge, but\ncommissioned to preach and administer the ordinances of the Gospel\nwherever the Spirit and providence of God might call. These men were\nengaged, for the most part, in work analogous to that of our foreign\nand home missionaries--preaching the Gospel where it was not already\npreached, organizing churches, and supervising them in their incipiency\nwhile yet feeble and struggling. It is probable, also, that at times\ntheir work resembled that of those men called, in a narrower sense,\nevangelists--men engaged in assisting pastors and churches in special\nservices for the promotion of revivals of religion. Possibly, Barnabas,\nwhen sent by the church at Jerusalem to labor in the great awakening at\nAntioch, may be conceived as acting in such a capacity, as also Timothy\nwhen left in Ephesus by Paul to hold in check certain heretical\ntendencies in that city (Acts xi. 22-24; 1 Tim. i. 3, 4). Evangelists,\ntherefore, may be considered under the following classifications:\n\nI. FOREIGN MISSIONARIES.--In considering the question of duty to enter\nthe foreign field, the first inquiry necessarily relates to\nqualification, since without this no mere desire or emotion in regard\nto the work can have any weight. As among the more obvious requisites\nfor the missionary work the following may be mentioned: 1. _A sound\nbody._ Most of our mission-fields are in the East, in an enervating\nclimate, and under conditions such as severely test the vigor of the\nphysical constitution. No person already enfeebled by disease or\nseriously predisposed to disease should venture into the foreign field,\nas the probabilities would all be against his ability to labor there.\nOn this point, it is obvious, skilled medical advice should be sought.\n2. _Common sense._ The practical administration of the affairs of the\nmission, temporal as well as spiritual--its building, its finances, its\nbusiness contracts and relations, the whole management--usually falls\nupon the missionary, and requires large practical tact and sagacity. In\na new field he has no reliable advisers and must depend on his own\njudgment in deciding on all the temporal concerns of the mission. In\nthe older fields, while some of the business cares may be devolved on\nnative helpers, he must still move among the native churches as a\npractical and influential adviser, guiding their affairs, settling\ntheir difficulties, and correcting their mistakes. An unpractical,\nvisionary mind, however scholarly and brilliant, is obviously unfitted\nfor such a position. 3. _Facility in learning to speak in a foreign\ntongue._ A foreign language, and most of all an Oriental language, is\ndifficult to acquire, especially so as to use it readily and fluently\nin common speech. Some men of good abilities have here failed in the\nforeign field, and, though useful perhaps in other departments, have\nnever been effective in preaching. There should be, at least, an\nordinary aptitude for language sufficient to ensure that with\npersevering effort the man will be able to master and use the\nvernacular of the people. 4. _Power as a preacher._ Preaching, among\nthe heathen as elsewhere, is the grand means of evangelization, and the\nconditions of power in it are everywhere essentially the same. The\nmissionary must be \"apt to teach,\" with a ready command of his\nfaculties for argument and illustration, and a mastery of the art of\nputting things. In the conversational method of preaching in heathen\nlands, he is often obliged to meet in popular argument acute and\nprofound reasoners, when his defeat before the people might prove a\nserious check to the Gospel. 5. _Faith, energy, and perseverance._ At\nthese outposts of Christianity a timid, wavering spirit, faint-hearted\nand irresolute, will be sure to fail. Courage, determination, energy,\nalone will achieve permanent results. Carey and Judson waited years\nwith unfaltering confidence for the first convert, and without\nsubstantially the same elements of character no man will succeed in\npioneer work.\n\nIn deciding on the qualifications of a young man, however, it is to be\nremembered that he is as yet, in many respects, undeveloped, and\nqualities now present only in the germ and tendency will often in the\nactual work reveal themselves in marked power. Abroad, as at home,\ncircumstances and emergencies develop the man. No young man, therefore,\nmay hastily dismiss the question of a personal call to the foreign\nfield on the ground of disqualification. Rather, he should carefully\nstudy his own character, and seek counsel of those best fitted to judge\nhis capabilities, that in deciding a question of such moment he may act\ndeliberately, with a full and impartial view of all the considerations,\nand with a clear conscience, always recognizing the danger that\nunconsciously to ourselves our selfishness is likely to magnify the\nreasons adverse to a missionary life and underestimate the force of\nthose in favor of it.\n\nThe nature of the missionary work and the manner of its prosecution I\nshall not here consider: these will be found very fully presented in\nthe work of the late lamented Rev. M. J. Knowlton, D.D., _The Foreign\nMissionary,_ and in that of Rev. Dr. Rufus Anderson, entitled, _Foreign\nMissions, their Relations and Claims._ The position of a missionary is\nin some respects one of great delicacy, and requires on his part the\nmost careful circumspection. Here may be mentioned: 1. His relation to\nthe Missionary Board at home. Charged with the administration of the\nfunds entrusted to them by the churches, the Board must of necessity\nexercise a certain measure of supervision and guidance in the conduct\nof the foreign work. The exact line of demarcation between the\nauthority of the Board and the independence of the missionary in\ndirecting movements is not always easy to discover, and without a\nspirit of gentleness, forbearance, and concession the most serious\ncomplications may arise. In the expenditures of the mission, also, the\nkeeping and rendering of an exact account are of the utmost moment, so\nas to avoid even the suspicion of wastefulness or malappropriation. The\nrule of Paul is here, as in all financial trusts, the only safe one:\n\"Being careful of this, that no one should blame us in this abundance\nwhich is administered by us; for we provide for what is honorable, not\nonly in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men\" (2 Cor.\nviii. 20, 21[1]). 2. His relations to the native pastors and churches\nare also of great delicacy. In the older missions the work of the\nmissionary is largely that of general supervision of the native\nchurches. But in this the missionary may not exercise an arbitrary\npower. He is not a bishop with authoritative episcopal power,\nsubjecting the pastors under control and ignoring the independence of\nthe churches. Rather, his power is moral, and his work is to train the\nchurches and pastors for the independent exercise of their respective\nfunctions. He should, therefore, carefully guard against an arbitrary\nspirit or any methods of procedure which could militate against the\njust independence of pastors and churches. It is a distinguished proof\nof the high character of the noble men who have gone out as\nmissionaries that, while in these and other respects their relations\nare of such delicacy, difficulties between them and the home Board have\nso rarely arisen, and the churches they have trained so fully exemplify\nin their character, organization, and working the simplicity and\nindependence of the churches of the New Testament.\n\nII. HOME MISSIONARIES.--Most of these are pastors of new or feeble\nchurches, and their position differs from that of ordinary pastors only\nin the fact that their support is derived in part from some missionary\norganization, and that they are under consequent obligation to render a\nreport of their work to the body which thus aids in sustaining them.\nSome of them, however, are engaged in purely itinerant ministerial work\nin the waste places of our cities, or in newly-settled or unevangelized\nparts of our country, visiting from house to house, preaching as\nProvidence may give opportunity, organizing Sunday-schools, and forming\nchurches. Few positions demand more force of character, soundness of\njudgment, intellectual ability, indomitable energy, and\nself-sacrificing devotion. Among the men occupied in this work are some\nof the noblest and most devoted servants of Christ. Their duties,\nhowever, being in most respects the same as those of ordinary pastors,\ndo not need here a separate treatment.\n\nIII. REVIVALISTS.--In all ages gifts have been bestowed specially\nadapted to the awakening and conversion of souls. These gifts may not,\nand sometimes do not, fit the man for the pastoral office, but as\nsupplementing a pastor's gifts they are often of high value. The\nrevivalist may not always possess the learning and teaching power of\nthe settled pastor; he might perhaps fail in the qualities essential to\nthe continuous guiding, organizing, and governing of a church; but in\npower to make vivid the truths and impressions already received by the\npeople, to develop hitherto latent conviction, and to press men to a\ndefinite and avowed religious decision, he may be specially gifted.\nSome pastors eminent in teaching and pastoral qualifications lack the\nawakening power, and thus it is often true in the spiritual work that\n\"one soweth and another reapeth.\" In such cases the revivalist comes as\na reaper, with special gifts for ingathering, where the long and\npatient toil of the sower and cultivator has preceded him and has\nalready prepared in the souls of the people the ripening spiritual\nharvest.\n\n1. The relation of the evangelist to the pastor, in special religious\nservices, is always one of great delicacy. The most frank understanding\nand cordial co-operation between them is of the highest moment. Much\ncare, therefore, should be taken not to encroach on the prerogatives of\nthe pastoral office, or to lessen the estimation in which the pastor is\nheld by the people. There is sometimes danger of this. The sermons of\nthe evangelist, limited as they are in number and frequently repeated,\nnot only have the attraction of novelty to the people, but are often\nspiced with a fulness of anecdote and delivered with a freedom and\nforce which the pastor's cannot possess, by reason of the different and\nwider range of subjects which he must discuss and the far heavier and\nmore extended draft made on his resources. The less thoughtful hearers\nwill contrast what seems to them to be the comparative dullness of the\npastor with the freshness and spice of the evangelist, and the pastor\nunjustly suffers. Among the converts also there is often a special\nattraction to him who had been the immediate agent in their conversion,\nwhile the long and patient toil of him who had probably prepared the\nway for that final step is overlooked or disparaged. Plainly, it is the\nduty of the evangelist to recognize and hold in check these tendencies,\nand to strengthen in every possible way the pastor's position in the\nconvictions and affections of the people. He may thus render his work a\npermanent blessing in the churches by making it the means of cementing\nthe relation of pastor and people.\n\n2. A young pastor will naturally defer in the arrangements for the\nmeetings to the judgment and experience of the evangelist, but it is\ndoubtful whether, under any circumstances, an evangelist should seek\nthe control of them, or a pastor should concede it to him. Especially\nshould the pastor maintain the control of those meetings in which\ncandidates for admission to the church are examined; for here the\npastor, apart from the official duty Christ has laid on him in this\nvital matter, has by his acquaintance with the people much better\nqualifications for judging character, and is far less likely to mistake\nthan a stranger. Indeed, the temptation to seek the _\u00e9clat_ of a large\naccession of converts may enter as an unconscious influence in the case\nof both evangelist and pastor, leading to undue haste and neglect of\njust discrimination in the admission of members, and resulting in great\nultimate injury to the church. No point, therefore, needs to be more\ncarefully guarded.\n\n3. The object of the evangelist is the awakening of souls and the\nrevival of religion; his subjects, therefore, are properly adapted in\ntheir nature and in the manner of their presentation to secure that\nresult. The range of topics is thus necessarily limited, and the manner\nis naturally stimulating and exciting. From this comparative narrowness\nin the range of his theme and of his biblical and theological\ninvestigation, there is danger of one-sidedness in his views of truth.\nSeeking as he does, also, immediate results, he is liable to fail in\nperceiving and estimating at their just importance ultimate results in\nthe permanent life and power of the church. Measures have sometimes\nbeen adopted in the midst of a religious excitement which the calm\nafter-thought of the people could not approve, and the result has been\na reaction in the public judgment, condemning the work and seriously\ninjuring the church.\n\n4. Eccentricity in the evangelist, when it is natural as a part of his\nindividuality, may possibly be an element of power, at least as\nawakening curiosity and calling the people to the house of God, but\nwhen assumed and cultivated with a view to popular effect it is always\nunfortunate. Sensational subjects, slang phrases, vulgarisms,\novercolored anecdotes, exaggerated statements, oddities of manner,\nthough for the moment exciting the attention, and possibly the\napplause, of the audience, inevitably in the end react to the\ndisadvantage of the speaker and his cause; the sober after-thought of\neven the irreligious will condemn them in one who is dealing with souls\nin the great concerns of religion.\n\n   \"He that negotiates between God and man,\n    As God's ambassador, the grand concerns\n    Of judgment and of mercy should beware\n    Of lightness in his speech. 'Tis pitiful\n    To court a grin when you should woo a soul;\n    To break a jest when pity would inspire\n    Pathetic exhortation; and t' address\n    The skittish fancy with pathetic tales\n    When sent with God's commission to the heart.\"[2]\n\nThe evangelist, perhaps, is in special danger of seeking the temporary\nadvantage which eccentricity brings, because for the time it gathers\nthe multitude to his preaching; and, leaving soon, he fails to see the\ndisastrous reaction which afterward it is sure to bring.\n\n5. Some of the most eminent evangelists have used substantially the\nsame subjects through their entire career, at each repetition of them\nadding to their clearness and force of argument vividness of\nillustration and effectiveness of appeal. Rev. Jacob Knapp, whose work\nhas perhaps been surpassed in extent and power by no preacher of the\npresent century, adopted this method. The writer was with him in three\nseries of meetings, the first near the opening of his remarkable\ncareer, the last about thirty years after, near its close, and in each\nof these that distinguished revivalist used, for the most part, the\nsame subjects. But the advance in all elements of power was immense,\nespecially in the last repetition of his course. Few persons in the\nvast multitude which gathered daily for six successive weeks to listen\nto this, which proved the closing series of his life, can ever forget\nthe compactness and force of his reasoning, the graphic power of his\nillustration, and the wonderful effectiveness in his application of\ntruth to the conscience and the heart. He had gathered into that series\nof seventy-five or one hundred sermons the richest results of his\nlife-thinking and experience and had made most of them marvels of\npower. This concentration of the whole force of the man on a few\nsermons gives the evangelist great advantage in the pulpit and would\nseem to be the dictate of true wisdom.\n\n6. In his personal religious life the evangelist, while possessing\ngreat helps, has a possible danger on the side of spiritual pride.\nMoving constantly in the midst of revivals, he is liable to forget that\nfor the most part he is simply reaping where other men have sown, and\nthat conversion is but the culminating point in a long series of\ninfluences of which his was only the last; and in the grateful\naffection of revived Christians and of converted souls, which sometimes\nrises to spiritual adulation, he may fail in that genuine humility\nwhich recognizes all spiritual effects as the work of the Holy Spirit,\nand may unconsciously assume an air of spiritual superiority painfully\nin contrast with his obvious weaknesses. Power with God is thus lost,\nand with it, power with men.\n\nThere is no ministerial office of higher responsibility or greater\nusefulness than that of the evangelist. It has been filled by some of\nthe noblest and ablest men in the church of God--men \"full of the Holy\nGhost and of faith,\" whose names are fragrant in the memories of\nmultitudes as heralds of salvation. Ordinarily, only experienced men\nshould enter it; for it requires a purity and strength of character, a\nsoundness of judgment, and a largeness of faith and patience, of\npractical wisdom and knowledge of men, such as extended experience only\nwill give.\n\n\nSECOND, TEACHERS.\n\nThe word \"teachers\" is employed in the New Testament as the designation\nof men in churches whose special work was public religious instruction.\nIt is so used 1 Cor. xii. 28--\"God hath set some in the church, first\nApostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers\"--where the word,\nwhile doubtless including evangelists and pastors, evidently extends to\nall whose official work is Christian teaching. Probably, also, in Eph.\niv. 11--\"He gave some, Apostles, some, prophets, some, evangelists, and\nsome, pastors and teachers\"--the word has like breadth of meaning,\ndesignating men not pastors who publicly taught the Word. There are\nmany endowed with teaching power whose gifts the churches, according to\nNew Testament example, utilize in positions other than the pastoral\noffice. They are called to various departments of work as secretaries\nand agents of missionary and benevolent organizations, as instructors\nin institutions of learning, as authors and editors engaged in creating\nand diffusing a Christian literature, and as laborers in other\npositions in which there is occasion for the exercise of ministerial\nfunctions; and they are, therefore, often ordained to preach and\nadminister ordinances. On this class of ministers, we submit the\nfollowing remarks:\n\n1. Teachers, like evangelists, have no official authority as governing\nofficers in the church. They are members with all the rights and duties\nof membership and differ from others only as empowered to preach and to\nadminister ordinances. They are amenable, as others, to the discipline\nof the church, except that those who have received ordination through\nthe action of a Council should not be divested of the ministerial\noffice except by another Council. They have no right to ignore the\nordinary obligations of church membership in pecuniary support,\nattendance on meetings, and personal devotion to church-work, but\nrather, from their conspicuous position, they are required to be in\nthese things examples and leaders in the church. 2. This class of\nministers in a church always stand in relations to the pastor of\npeculiar delicacy. Though without official authority, their character\nand gifts often give them great influence in the church and in society.\nMuch care, therefore, should be used to avoid any intrusion on the\nprerogatives of the pastor. For example, in marriages and funerals\nwithin the bounds of his own church it is ordinarily proper that the\npastor should officiate; only very unusual circumstances will justify a\nminister in allowing himself to set aside the pastor in such services.\nIn the public and social worship of the church he should beware of\ntaking too prominent a place or of occupying too much time, or of\nobtruding himself into the business and discipline of the church in\nsuch manner as to embarrass the pastor. In all relations in the church\nand in social life he should accord the pastor the just precedence\nwhich belongs to his official position, and his influence should be\nscrupulously used to encourage the pastor's work and strengthen the\npastor's hands. Resident ministers may thus become to the pastor a\nsource, not of discomfort and embarrassment, but of blessing and\nstrength. 3. In the absence of the pressure of obligation which a\npastoral charge brings, the minister is in danger of a secularized\nspirit, which weakens in him the sense of spiritual realities and\nimpairs his power in the public ministration of the Gospel. To prevent\nthis, he should earnestly cultivate in his own soul the ministerial\nspirit and should avoid all social or business entanglements which may\neither militate against his own spiritual life or may weaken his\ninfluence as a minister in the community. The secretary or agent whose\nwork calls him from home has need of special care lest, in the constant\nchanges incident to travel, he loses habits of personal private\ndevotion and of biblical and theological study. It is possible thus to\nretrograde in spiritual character and power, even when pleading the\nholiest of causes. Indeed, in such an itinerant life, the mind, thus in\nconstant contact with the churches and the ministry, may well be on its\nguard lest it allow itself to be filled with the current ministerial\nand church gossip, and yield to the temptation to pass from church to\nchurch bearing this rather than \"the fullness of the blessing of the\nGospel of Christ.\" Few positions afford such large opportunities to\ncarry blessing to pastors and churches as that of the secretary or\nagent of our benevolent societies. In counselling the young or the\nperplexed pastor, in healing divisions in churches and removing\nmisunderstandings between pastors and their people, in inspiring and\nguiding the action of Associations and other public bodies, their\nposition gives them great power, and opens before them a wide field for\nbeneficent influence. Such men were Alfred Bennett, John Peck, and many\nothers in the past--men whose presence was felt as a benediction in the\nchurches, and whose words gave everywhere an impulse to the spiritual\nlife; and such also are many of those who now fill that responsible\noffice.\n\n\nTHIRD, LICENTIATES.\n\nThere are many persons whose gifts qualify them for usefulness in the\noccasional or the stated preaching of the Word, but whose age or\nattainments or needs do not make it expedient to ordain them. To such\nit is usual to give a license, authorizing them to preach either within\nthe bounds of the church, or, more widely, wherever Providence may open\nthe door. This confers no authority to administer ordinances; the only\nministerial function it authorizes is that of preaching and conducting\npublic worship. Here I suggest: 1. It is evident that such a license\nshould be given only with wise discrimination. A man of unsound\njudgment, of defective knowledge of the Scriptures, or of doubtful\nmoral and religious character should never be accredited as a preacher\nof the Gospel, however strong may be his personal impressions of duty\nor attractive his address in the eyes of the multitude. In the end he\nwill be likely to injure rather than aid the cause of religion. The\nwant of caution in hastily or thoughtlessly granting a license has\noften resulted in introducing to the sacred office men whose career has\nbeen calamitous to themselves and to the churches. 2. No man should,\nordinarily, venture to preach without a license or some form of\nauthorization from the church. Every Christian, it is true, is\nrequired, in his sphere, to publish the Gospel; but this surely does\nnot empower him to assume the office of the public ministry. A call\nfrom God in the soul of the man is, it may be admitted, the matter of\nprime moment in a call to preach; but an inward impression of duty to\npreach certainly gives no right to the ministerial function, unless it\nbe confirmed by the church, the Divinely-constituted judge of\nqualification. To enter on the public work of the ministry self-moved\nand self-appointed has no warrant in Scripture or in reason and is an\nact of assumption and disorder which can only result in evil.\n3. Churches and pastors, while using a wise discretion, should\ncarefully seek out and develop ministerial gifts. Much power doubtless\nremains latent which with proper care might be developed and utilized\nin ministerial work. Many a Christian life now left undeveloped, might\nbe greatly enlarged by being thus placed in its true sphere of\nactivity; and many a waste place within the bounds of our churches,\nunder the culture of a licentiate, might be made to glow with spiritual\nlife and beauty. It is surely one of the highest duties of a church to\nrecognize and make effective the gifts Christ has bestowed on it; and\namong these none are of greater moment than the gift of ministerial\npower.\n\n\n+FOOTNOTES:+\n[1] New version.\n\n[2] Cowper _Task,_ book ii.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XVII.+\n\nPASTORAL STUDY.\n\nStudy is an oft-repeated injunction on the Christian ministry:\n\"Meditate upon these things: give thyself wholly to them, that thy\nprofiting may appear to all\" (1 Tim. iv. 15); \"Study to show thyself\napproved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly\ndividing the word of truth\" (2 Tim. ii. 15). The reasons for this are\nobvious. Knowledge is everywhere power. The ministry, from their\nposition, are the natural leaders in religious thought. To command\nrespect, they must be men of mental grasp and activity, and must be in\nadvance of the thinking of those around them. Besides, no other\nprofession is so heavily tasked for brain exertion. The Senate, the\nBar, and the Platform only occasionally demand the highest efforts of\nthe intellect. But the pulpit requires weekly its elaborate sermons.\nThey must have freshness, originality, force, or the pastor loses his\nhold on the people. And this exhaustive drain on his resources\ncontinues steadily year after year. No man can meet such demands\nwithout constant, earnest study. He must be ever growing. His mental\nprocesses must be ceaselessly active, pushing into new realms of\ninvestigation, gathering new materials for thought, increasing his\ndiscipline, and making him a broader, richer, deeper man.\n\nIn the life of a pastor two extremes are to be avoided. On the one\nhand, he is not to be a mere book-worm, secluded in his study, with no\npractical, living contact and sympathy with life around him. Some\nministers of large literary culture have been comparatively useless\nfrom want of living connection between their thinking and the real\nneeds of the busy actual world in which they lived. On the other hand,\na minister may not be a mere desultory man, a gossip from house to\nhouse, occupied with newspapers and magazines, skimming the surface of\npopular thinking in ephemeral books that may attract his fancy, but\nneglecting the severer processes of self-culture essential to mental\ngrowth. Instability in the pastoral office is often a result of this.\nFreshness, originality in thought and expression, is lost, and the\npeople, weary of repetitions and empty platitudes, cease to respect and\nlove the pulpit. The grand object to be sought, then, is to combine the\nstudent and the pastor--a mind growing in knowledge and power by\nhabitual work in the study and growing in executive ability and social\nforce by constant activity in the church and contact with the people.\nTo secure this there must be a system--a system wisely formed and\nsteadily pursued. What shall this system be? In answering this I\npropose to pursue two lines of suggestion--the method of study and the\nsubjects of study.\n\n\nFIRST, THE METHOD.\n\n1. _Be a student everywhere._ The pastor's business is to deal with the\nhuman mind and the actual experiences of men; he should, therefore, go\nthrough the world with his eyes and ears open, thoroughly studying men\nand life around him. In the street, in society, in the social meeting,\nthe mind is to be ceaselessly at work, observing character, studying\nphases of experience and life, and gathering materials for mental work.\nMany of the best trains of thought, most interesting views of\nScripture, and most effective illustrations will be suggested in\nconversations and in the prayer-room. No man can afford to lose these;\nfor, springing as they do from direct contact with the people, such\ntrains of thought are most likely to meet the wants of the congregation\nand deal with the questions most vital to them. The studious pastor who\npreserves these texts and thoughts and illustrations as they occur will\nbe surprised to find how rapidly they accumulate, and how fresh and\nrich they often render his thinking and instruction.\n\n2. _Have a book always on hand._ Every life has its spare moments, and\nmuch may be added in culture and knowledge by a right use of them. Most\nof the current literature of the day, and much in standard biography,\nhistory, science, poetry, and art can be read in this way, if the right\nbook is at hand. A half, or even a quarter, of an hour each day will\naccomplish the reading of a large number of volumes in a year; and if\nthese are well selected, they will greatly add to the minister's\nbreadth and intelligence, while they will refresh rather than exhaust\nhis mind.\n\n3. _Consecrate a specific part of each day to severe systematic work in\nthe privacy of the study._ The habit of general observation and\nreading, before suggested, can be no adequate substitute for this. The\ntime thus appointed for hard study should be sacredly devoted, and no\nordinary occurrence be allowed to interrupt. The advantages of this are\nobvious. (1.) A habit once fixed is an ever-increasing power. The mind\nacts with greater rapidity and force when the habit of study at fixed,\nregularly recurring periods is formed. Instead of spending hours in\nvain attempts to fix attention and concentrate thought on the subject\nin hand, the mind enters at once with full energy into work. The more\nfixed and long continued the habit, the more easy, rapid, and powerful\nthe mental processes. This is one secret of the immense amount of\nbrain-work performed by some men: by fixed habits they instantly\nconcentrate mental force, and work at white heat. (2.) If these hours\nare once fixed, and are fully understood by the people, they will\nordinarily be free from interruption. The congregation will conform to\nthe pastor's plan and will respect his fidelity in preparing for their\ninstruction on the Lord's Day. What part of the day should be selected\nfor the study cannot be determined by any rule; it must depend partly\non the minister's habits, and partly on the necessities of his\nposition. Ordinarily, the morning is best. The liability to\ninterruption is less, and it leaves the afternoons and evenings free\nfor visitation, meetings, and social life.\n\nLet me add, nothing but a high ideal of the ministry and a fixed\npurpose to realize it will enable a pastor to persist in such a course\nof study. He must believe in it as a solemn duty he owes his God, his\npeople and himself, or he will fail. Indolence is often fostered by a\nfalse dependence on genius or on the spur of the occasion to give\neffectiveness and brilliancy to public utterances. Unthoughtful\nhearers, also, will often praise the off-hand, unstudied sermons and\ndiscourage elaborate preparation. Besides this, there are obstacles to\nstudy in the pastor's work. He has cares connected with the sick, the\nafflicted, the erring; executive work in the organization and\ndiscipline of the church; and duties he owes society in the varied\nrelations of life. These are often pressing, and the danger is that\nthey crowd into the hours for study. Many a man circumscribes his own\nintellectual growth and pulpit power, making himself permanently a\nnarrower and weaker man, by allowing these outside cares to destroy his\nprocesses of mental discipline and growth. Here nothing will overcome\nbut a profound conviction that study--persistent, regular, life-long\nstudy--is the solemn, first duty of every man who ventures to stand up\nin the pulpit as an instructor of the people. Let other duties have\ntheir place, but the first, the most imperative duty of him who teaches\nothers is to teach himself.\n\n\nSECOND, THE SUBJECTS.\n\nLet us suppose that the pastor has fixed his hours and made them sacred\nto severe, thorough mental labor; what shall he study? I answer: Not\nhis sermons only. A grave mistake is often made here. The whole time is\ndevoted to sermon preparation, leaving no room for general culture,\nbiblical investigation, or theological studies. As the result, the mind\nbecomes empty and barren. It lacks material for thought. The man is\nperpetually pouring out, but never pouring in, and the vessel becomes\nempty. He faithfully grinds at the mill but puts nothing into the\nhopper. Some conscientious, hardworking thinkers in this way fail as\npreachers. They have no freshness. The mind runs perpetually in the\nsame grooves and moves always in the same narrow circle, whereas, if\nthey were reading, investigating, looking on subjects from new\nstandpoints and receiving the mental impulses which contact with other\nthinkers gives, the mind would be ever growing, ever enriching itself,\nand the sermons would be full of fresh and interesting views of truth.\n\nThree objects are to be sought in the study: general culture, biblical\nand theological investigation, and sermon preparation.\n\n\nI. GENERAL CULTURE.\n\nBy this I mean studies adapted to the development of the whole man. The\npastor is not to be, in the narrow, technical sense, a mere theologian.\nHe should seek to be a man of broad culture, developing his nature on\nevery side and forming a full, symmetrical manhood. To accomplish this\nhis studies must take a wide range, and open to him all those great\nrealms of truth which science, philosophy, poetry, and history reveal.\n\n1. _The sciences._ The pastor should not, indeed, turn aside from his\nsacred work to become a devotee to science. But in this age of\nscientific investigation, when the problems of science are so largely\noccupying public thought and so vitally touching the profoundest\nquestions in religion, and the applications of science are so\nmarvelously transforming our whole civilization and life, surely, at\nsuch a time, the man who stands up weekly to instruct the people,\nassuming to lead public thought, ought not to be ignorant of the\nresults that science has reached, although he may not stop to pursue\nthe processes of scientific inquiry. Astronomy, geology, botany,\nchemistry, each open a new world of truth, pouring light on the\ninterpretation of God's Word and abounding in richest illustrations of\nthe sacred themes of the pulpit. Standard works on these and related\nsciences are within the reach of every pastor, and even one on each of\nthem, carefully read, would greatly enrich and enlarge his thinking.\n\n2. _Philosophy, or the science of the mind._ The preacher undoubtedly\nmistakes when he aspires to the character of a philosopher, and turns\naside from his direct and earnest work for souls to lose himself in\ndialectics or the mazes of metaphysical speculation. But his work as a\nminister is to deal with the human soul--to influence the mind by\nreasoning, by persuasion, by the array of motives; and mind, therefore,\nin its power and the methods of influencing it, may well constitute one\nof his life-studies. It is here he comes in contact with the\nmaster-spirits in the world of thought--minds which have controlled the\nthinking of the ages--Plato and Aristotle, Descartes and Bacon,\nLeibnitz and Locke. In the pressure of a pastor's life all these cannot\nbe read, but a few choice, standard works on mental science, such as\nHamilton, Mansel, McCosh, and Porter, may surely be read and carefully\ndigested.\n\n3. _\u00c6sthetic Culture._ God has not made us mere logical machines, but\nbeings of taste, imagination, sensibility, to be moved by objects of\nbeauty. Much of God's book is in poetry addressed to the imagination,\nand the universe around us is crowded with endless forms of the\nbeautiful. Where a cold, impassive logic fails, truth often comes with\nresistless power through the imagination and the sensibilities. The\ncultivation of this side of our nature is essential to the development\nof a full manhood and is important alike to pastoral and pulpit power.\nFor this, one of the best means is the careful reading of the greater\npoets, the mighty creative minds whose works have stood the test of\nages. Among the last occupations of that magnificent man, the late Dr.\nWayland, was the re-reading of Shakespeare and Milton; and these\nwonderful creations of genius afforded his ripened mind the richest\ninstruction and keenest enjoyment.\n\n4. _History and general literature._ Historical study should, without\ndoubt, find no small place in this general culture. It enlarges the\nwhole range of thought, shedding light on God's vast plan of providence\nand grace, and thus interpreting the Bible; while in all its wide\nextent it is filled with illustrations adapted to enforce the truths of\nthe Gospel. Nor should the higher class of works in fiction be\nexcluded, for they often have great value, both for their delineations\nof character and life and for the culture they give to the imagination.\n\nNow, in respect to this general culture, the points I here emphasize\nare, that it should be systematically and earnestly prosecuted, and\nthat on all the subjects studied only the standard, thoroughly-tested\nauthors should be read. Such a plan of reading, steadily pursued year\nafter year, will make an ever-growing mind, developing symmetrically on\nevery side into a noble, intellectual manhood. It only requires\nconscientious earnestness and persistency. The time wasted by some\nministers in mental dissipation over newspapers and ephemeral\nliterature would suffice to put them into communion with those\nmaster-minds of the ages, and secure the culture and wealth found in\nthese highest realms of thought.\n\n\nII. BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CULTURE.\n\nThe great work of a pastor is instruction in the truths of the Bible;\nand wherever else he may fail, he must at least be a master in the\nGospel. Ignorance on some of the topics already mentioned, though\nunfortunate, may still be tolerated, but in the man who ventures into\nthe pulpit as a public instructor in the Bible, a want of biblical\nknowledge and the utterance of crude, undiscriminating statements of\ntruth can never be excused. No mere rhetorical power or seeming\nearnestness can atone for a want of thorough mastery of the themes of\nthe pulpit. Biblical and theological investigation should, therefore,\nhave a large place in the pastor's plan of study.\n\n1. _Here, first of all, and most important, is the direct study of the\nBible, bringing the mind into living contact with God's Word._ As\nstudents in the Hebrew and Greek, let a part of each day be given to\ncareful, critical study of the Scriptures in the Divine originals as\nthey were indited by the Holy Spirit. No translation, however perfect,\ncan possibly give one the whole impression of the original. A little\ncareful work each day in reading the original Scriptures will soon make\nthe process easy and delightful, and its value is above all price. But,\nwhether in the inspired original or in a version, the Bible should be\ncarefully studied. It is God's own Word, the great instrument of His\npower, \"the sword of the Spirit.\" The Holy Spirit works only through\nDivine truth, and that must ever be the mightiest pulpit which most\nfully and clearly unfolds these living words of God. (1.) As accessory\nto biblical interpretation, I suggest the study of the geography and\nhistory of Bible lands. The power to localize the characters and events\nof Scripture and place them in their historical surroundings is of the\nhighest importance. Thus, in reading the Pentateuch and earlier\nhistorical books, how much more vividly are the events conceived if you\nare familiar with the localities in Egypt, the desert, and Palestine;\nor in reading Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel if you have clear ideas of the\nplace and history of Assyria and Babylon; or in the New Testament if\nyou have studied the condition and localities of the Roman Empire, then\ndominant! For this such works as Smith's _Old and New Testament\nHistory,_ Rawlinson's _Five Ancient Monarchies,_ and Milman's _History\nof the Jews_ or Stanley's _Jewish Church,_ would furnish the historical\ninformation, while a good biblical atlas, kept always open before you,\nwould give the needed maps. Full historical and topographical\ndiscussions will be found in Smith's _Bible Dictionary,_ Robinson's\n_Biblical Researches,_ or Thompson's _Land and the Book._ (2.) The\nBible, I also suggest, should be studied in its unity. The book of God,\nfrom Genesis to Revelation, is one whole, from first to last unfolding,\nby successive steps, one system of truth and method of redemption. It\nis not a mere fortuitous collection of sacred writings, but one grand\nrevelation from God, each part related to every other and essential to\nthe whole. The types and prophecies and symbols of the earlier\nScriptures contain the germs of the later Gospel, and no man will\nthoroughly understand the one Testament without a careful study of the\nother. This interior, vital unity in the several parts of Scripture is\ndeveloped in such works as Fairbairn's _Typology_ and the _Philosophy\nof the Plan of Salvation._ (3.) The books of the Bible should be\nstudied in their chronological and historical connection. Suppose one\nis studying the prophecy of Isaiah: he will ascertain its meaning far\nmore clearly if he have carefully studied the period when Isaiah lived,\nthe reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah as given in Kings and\nChronicles. Or suppose he is reading the Epistles of Paul: their\ninterpretation will be far more clear if he have studied the character\nof Paul and the circumstances under which he wrote as they are\ndeveloped in the Acts and the Epistles, aided by such a work as\nConybeare and Howson's _Life and Epistles of St. Paul._ (4.) The Bible\nshould also be studied analytically. A cursory reading of the\nScriptures does not interpret them; they must be carefully analyzed if\none would penetrate into their full meaning. For example, one is\nreading Romans; he begins, \"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to\nbe an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which He had promised\nbefore by His prophets in holy Scripture, concerning His Son, Jesus\nChrist, our Lord; who was made of the seed of David according to the\nflesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the\nSpirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.\" Now analyze or\nextract the propositions here contained. It is affirmed here of Paul,\n1. That he is a servant (_doulos_) of Jesus Christ; 2. That he is a\nDivinely-called Apostle; 3. That as an Apostle he is set apart unto the\nGospel of God. It is said of the Gospel, 1. That it was foreannounced\nby the prophets in Holy Scripture; 2. That its subject-matter is\nconcerning Jesus Christ our Lord. It is declared of Christ, 1. That as\nto His flesh, or human nature, He descended from David; 2. That as to\nHis spirit of holiness, or Divine nature, He was clearly shown to be\nthe Son of God by the fact of His resurrection. Now, the man who will\npatiently, steadily work out such an analysis of God's Word as he\nstudies it will penetrate the heart of it, and its richness will\nastonish him. The great thoughts of God will be laid open to his view\nas they never can be to the careless, superficial reader; and if, with\nsuch biblical work in the study, the pastor devotes a part of the\nLord's Day either to expository preaching or to a lecture in his Bible\nschool, this direct connection of the work of the study with that of\nthe pulpit will add interest and force to both.\n\n2. _In the study of the Christian doctrines it is, first of all,\nimportant to have a system._ This plan of work should be so arranged\nthat in a course of years, taking one subject at a time, the pastor may\nmake a thorough investigation of all the leading topics. As the basis\ntake such a work as Hodge's _Outline of Theology,_ or any good\ncompendium of theology, and, following the order of subjects, work in\neach until its main points have been mastered. For illustration,\nsuppose the subject is the doctrine of inspiration. First work out\ncarefully the questions in your chosen text-book, and read some of the\nbest authors on the subject, as Lee, Woods, Gaussen, and Hodge. All the\npoints involved will thus be brought distinctly before the mind. Then\ncollect the leading passages of Scripture bearing on it and examine\neach critically and patiently and note down your own impressions.\nFollow this by writing a full and careful statement of your own view as\nthe result of the investigation. Or suppose the subject to be that\ngreat central doctrine of the Gospel, the atonement. After working out\nthe questions as presented in your text-book and reading the best\nauthors accessible to you, so as to become master of the vital points,\nthen examine the priesthood and sacrifices of the Old Testament, the\npredictions of the atonement in prophecy, and the passages bearing on\nthis doctrine in the New Testament. Having thus before you the elements\nof a decision, write out fully your own view. Such a process of\ntheological investigation, steadily pressed year after year, and\nconnected as it would be with the reading of the great masters in\ntheology, could not fail to make the pastor a clear, strong religious\nthinker and his pulpit a power in leading religious thought. Let me\nalso urge the study of the history of doctrines in connection with such\na course of theological investigation. Take such a work as Hagenbach's\nor Shedd's _History of Doctrines,_ in which the course of theological\nthinking on each of the great truths of the Bible is traced through the\nages, and the varying phases of the doctrine through successive\nperiods, and the forms in which it has been held by the world's\nprofoundest thinkers are presented. Such a study is wonderfully\nstimulating to thought and affords a broader basis for the formation of\nopinions. If also, in direct connection with this investigation of a\ngreat truth, the pastor should preach on the leading points involved in\nit, he would greatly add to the definiteness of his own views, while\nthe work of the study would thus come into the work of the pulpit,\nenhancing the interest and power of the sermons.\n\n\nIII. SERMON PREPARATION.\n\n_The preparation of sermons should doubtless fill the chief place in\nthese hours of private study._ This subject, however, belongs to the\ndepartment of homiletics, and will be found amply treated in works\nspecially devoted to it, such as Broadus on the _Preparation and\nDelivery of Sermons,_ Shedd's _Homiletic and Pastoral Theology,_ and\nthe several courses of _Yale Lectures on Preaching._ I will, therefore,\non this topic only emphasize the importance of high ideals of\nsermonizing and pulpit preparation.\n\nThe sermon is the embodied result of the pastor's culture and reading,\nthe public expression of his whole spiritual and intellectual manhood,\nand he is bound to show himself \"a workman who needeth not to be\nashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth\" (2 Tim. ii. 15). He\ndishonors Christ and His Gospel if he habitually preaches without\nthorough study.\n\nThe sermon is the message God sends by him to the people. It unfolds\nhigh and holy themes, into which \"angels desire to look,\" and on which\nthe profoundest minds of the ages have dwelt with wonder and awe. It\ndeals with the souls of men and the great interests of eternity.\nSurely, the man who ventures to stand up and speak carelessly and\nthoughtlessly on such themes and amidst such interests has failed to\ngrasp the primary idea of his great office as a Christian pastor.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XVIII.+\n\nPASTORAL RESPONSIBILITY.\n\nThe pastor, in a true and important sense, is entrusted with the care\nof the souls of his congregation; he is, therefore, under obligation to\nuse his utmost power for their conversion and sanctification, \"warning\nevery man and teaching every man,\" that he \"may present every man\nperfect in Christ Jesus\" (Col. i. 28). Paul said to the Ephesian\nelders: \"Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock over the which\nthe Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which\nHe has purchased with His own blood\" (Acts xx. 28); and in exhorting\nthe people on their part to obey the ministry, he urges as a reason,\n\"for they watch for your souls as they that must give account\" (Heb.\nxiii. 17). This responsibility plainly includes: 1. _A personal life\nsuch that it may constitute a fitting example._ The pastor is to be \"an\nexample of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in\nspirit, in faith, in purity\" (1 Tim iv. 12). Thus, Paul ever referred\nto his own life, not as perfect, but as publicly exemplifying the\nChristian character, saying to the Philippians (Phil. iv. 9): \"Those\nthings which ye have both learned and received, and heard, and seen in\nme, do; and the God of peace shall be with you;\" and to the\nThessalonians (1 Thess. ii. 10), \"Ye are witnesses, and God also, how\nholily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that\nbelieve.\" A defective, irregular life in the pastor neutralizes the\nablest efforts in the pulpit and may become a pre-eminent means of the\nruin of souls. 2. _Wise and faithful dealing with the individual souls\nof his charge._ Paul went \"from house to house,\" from soul to soul: he\n\"ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears,\" and he\nproposes this as an example of ministerial fidelity, requiring the\npastor to be \"instant in season, out of season.\" Evidently, he did not\nregard the work of the minister as done when performed only in the\nstudy and the pulpit: it included personal dealing with souls.\n3. _Earnest effort to become an able minister of the New Testament._\nThe most solemn urgencies press on the pastor the duty of seeking the\nhighest possible intellectual and pulpit power. The themes he unfolds\nare the grandest that can engage the thought of man or angel. The end\nto be secured--the salvation of souls--is the most momentous ever\ncommitted to a finite being. God will not hold guiltless the indolent,\nreckless minister who causes the Gospel to be despised and imperils the\nsouls of his people by a careless, unstudied presentation of the\nmessage He has entrusted to him. 4. _The faithful declaration of the\nwhole counsel of God._ He is to show distinctly the threatenings as\nwell as the promises of the Gospel, and the danger as well as the hopes\nset before the soul. No subject is to be avoided because unpopular or\ndistasteful. No personal considerations are to prevent the plain,\ndistinct enunciation of all the words of God. Jehovah says to the\nwatchman: \"If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that\nwicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at\nthine hand\" (Ezek. xxxiii. 8; iii. 17-21).\n\nPastoral responsibility, however, has its limitation. Christ does not\nrequire of His servants impossible labor; but as they have received\ntheir talents, so they are to use them, each \"according to his several\nability.\" If faithful to his trust, the pastor is \"unto God a sweet\nsavor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish\"\n(2 Cor. ii. 15-17), and it is his right to feel he has \"delivered his\nsoul\" and is \"pure from the blood of all men\" (Acts xx. 26, 27). Such\nwas the ministry of Paul, a mere man, aided in this only by such Divine\nhelp as is promised to every other servant of God. It is fidelity, not\nsuccess, which constitutes the limit of responsibility. Success belongs\nto God. Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God gives the increase.\nJeremiah spoke with the earnestness and tenderness of lips inspired,\nbut he was unpopular, and, as men would measure, unsuccessful;\nnevertheless, his name stands high among the ancient worthies, because\nin that degenerate age he was faithful to his trust and work. Besides,\na minister's power is not measured by the immediate, outward result.\nThe powerful revival in which hundreds are gathered into the church\nfinds its occasion, indeed, in the peculiar gifts of some popular\npreacher, but its real causes often lie hid in the quiet, patient toil\nof other men differently gifted. Every man has his special adaptation\nand work--one sows and another reaps--and only in the great harvest at\nthe end of the world will the actual results of each man's work appear.\nHence, Christ says to every servant of His: \"Be thou _faithful_ unto\ndeath, and I will give thee a crown of life\" (Rev. ii. 10). Fidelity,\nthen, is the limit of responsibility; and the earnest pastor, who, with\nheartfelt loyalty to Christ, has to the extent of his ability and\nopportunity faithfully fulfilled his calling, may know assuredly that\nhe has the approval of the Master, and that awaiting him at the end is\nthe sure reward of the faithful.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XIX.\n\nTHE OUTER LIFE OF A PASTOR.\n\nThe Scriptures require in the pastor a model life. He is to be \"an\nexample of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in\nspirit, in faith, in purity\" (1 Tim. iv. 12). As the leader of the\nflock his outward life will be expected to evince a higher moral tone\nand furnish a more marked exemplification of Christian principles than\nthat of the private Christian, because his office constitutes him an\nexample, and the prominence of his position renders defects in him\nespecially conspicuous and hurtful. Hence, Scripture is here explicit\nand emphatic: \"A bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one\nwife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to\nteach: not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but\npatient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own\nhouse, having his children in subjection with all gravity (for if a man\nknow not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the\nchurch of God?): not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall\ninto the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good\nreport of them that are without, lest he fall into reproach and the\nsnare of the devil\" (1 Tim. iii. 2-7).\n\n\nI. BUSINESS RELATIONS.\n\n1. _Make no debts:_ \"Owe no man anything\" (Rom. xiii. 8). In all\npurchases for personal and family purposes the pastor should pay as he\nbuys. It cultivates a just economy and avoids debts, which often prove\na heavy burden on a minister's life and a most serious drawback to his\nusefulness. No man is thoroughly independent in the pulpit who is\nfacing a number of unpaid creditors. Ordinarily, this avoidance of debt\nis entirely feasible, and when understood to be a rule with the pastor\nit has a beneficial influence in promoting promptness in the payment of\nhis salary. The people will respect such a course in their minister. At\nthe very outset of life, then, let him fix it as a principle never to\nrun in debt. A strict adherence to this will sometimes involve\ninconvenience and self-denial, but these are more than compensated in\nthe exemption from the anxieties and humiliations of debt, in the sense\nof independence, in the respect and confidence of the community, and,\nabove all, in the clear conscience which observance of this rule\nsecures. Only the most absolute necessity should ever set aside this\nrule, for the neglect of this is too frequently a cause of failure in\nthe pastoral office.\n\n2. _Use great care and all the proper forms in making business\nengagements._ The pastor is tempted to neglect business forms on the\nsupposition that as a minister he ought to rely on the honor and\nconsideration of those with whom he deals, and as the result, even\nwhere there is no dishonesty, there is often misunderstanding, out of\nwhich grow heartburnings and disputes. All business transactions,\ntherefore, should be conducted in a business way, leaving no room for\nmisapprehensions, and then all engagements should be met with\npromptness and honor. A pastor should be delicately sensitive to his\nreputation in this, for any failure, though it be only an apparent one,\nin fulfilling a business obligation is sure to provoke unfavorable\ncomment and militate against usefulness.\n\n3. _Live within your income._ A pastor may not be reckless in regard to\nthe probable future needs of himself and of those dependent on him.\nSuch a course is justified neither by Scripture nor by Providence. \"The\nLord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the\nGospel\" (1 Cor. ix. 14). A minister, therefore, should find a\nlife-support in his income from his work, and should so use his salary\nthat a part be laid aside for coming days of need. If the salary is\nsmall, he should rigidly cut down expenses that some of it may be\nreserved. Special exigencies in life, will, indeed, sometimes prevent\nthis, but ordinarily it is feasible, and in the case of the head of a\nfamily it is plainly a most sacred duty. The neglect of care to make\nprovision for those dependent on us is not faith, but recklessness.\n\nHere, however, a pastor must beware of covetousness. Instances\nsometimes occur in which this just and necessary regard for future need\ndegenerates into a selfish greed for accumulation which narrows and\nbelittles the minister of Christ. He compromises his dignity and\nindependence by seeking in various ways gifts from his people, and thus\nthe man is sunk in the mendicant, or he degrades his office by\ndescending to petty meannesses, driving close bargains in business and\nshirking his just share in the contributions for church-work and\nbenevolence. Nowhere is the love of money more offensive than in the\nChristian minister.\n\n\nII. POLITICAL RELATIONS.\n\n1. A pastor should always himself exercise the elective franchise and\nshould encourage Christians to do so; in no other way can we have a\nChristian government. On this continent the great experiment is in\nprogress of a government strictly by the people, and in the absence of\nreligion and virtue it must prove a failure. Christian men should not\nneglect their duties as citizens; it imperils the life of the nation\nand the welfare of the Christian cause. The pulpit, therefore, should\npress on the church the duty of seeking the elevation of good men to\nofficial station. 2. As a pastor the minister is bound to refuse all\nparty obligations and all partisan use of pastoral influence; for he is\npastor of the whole church, chosen and supported without reference to\npolitical distinctions among the members. But as an individual he is\nentitled to his political preferences and his just political influence;\nwith this the church has no right to interfere. At the same time, it is\nwise for the pastor to avoid excited political discussions, especially\nin public places, and quietly to exercise his political rights and\nperform the duties of a citizen. 3. When public questions have a\nstrictly moral side, I think the pulpit should not be silent, but\nshould seek, as on moral questions in general, to give direction to\npublic sentiment in favor of honesty, truth, and virtue. Occasional\nsermons, therefore, presenting the obligations of citizens and applying\nthe moral teachings of Christianity to questions on which Christian\ncitizens are called to act, are the duty of the pastor; but the time\nand manner and spirit of such sermons require the exercise of the most\ncareful judgment.\n\n\nIII. SOCIAL CHARACTER AND RELATIONS.\n\nTwo extremes are here to be avoided--the one, in which the pastor lives\na recluse life, isolated from the life of the people and unfelt in\ndirecting the currents of thought and feeling around him; the other, in\nwhich he maintains a loose, familiar intercourse with all society,\nlounging about in public places, a \"hail-fellow-well-met\" with\neverybody. Avoiding these extremes, a pastor should never allow himself\nto be a cipher in social life but should make himself a vital force\ncontrolling and elevating it. The gravity of his character and work,\nhowever, requires him to use special care in regard to deportment and\nassociations. He is, indeed, to be and to act out himself, but, while\ntrue to his own nature as a man, he is so to control it as never to\nforget his character and office as a minister of God. Here I offer the\nfollowing suggestions:\n\n1. The minister should be, always and everywhere, the unaffected\nChristian gentleman, showing all courtesy to all men. It is here some\nfail, and either through a neglect of the courtesies and amenities of\nsocial life render themselves repulsive, or by a stiff and artificial\nmanner of observing them, without geniality and warmth, make themselves\nunapproachable. Men ordinarily and justly regard manners as an index of\ncharacter. Good manners, therefore, cannot be put on from without; they\nspring from a sense of the relations we bear to others and a\ndisposition to act in accordance with them. A kindly, unselfish heart,\na quick, keen sympathy, a sensitive regard for others' rights and\nfeelings; a ready, generous appreciation for the excellences of others,\nand a tender charity for their faults and foibles--in short, a\nwell-developed Christian manhood, with refined sensibilities, noble,\npure, upright, transparent, touching life on every side, and fitted to\nbless whatever it touches,--this is the only real basis of correct\nmanners. The cultivation of such a character, therefore, is the prime\nnecessity, for in this will exist all the instincts of the true\ngentleman from which the gentlemanly manner spontaneously results.\n\n2. In the matter of dress. I do not know that any law of propriety\nrequires the minister to be distinguished either in the cut or the\ncolor of his garments. Many, however, prefer some kind of ministerial\ncostume as a matter of convenience to indicate everywhere their\nvocation, and this is, of course, a subject to be left wholly to\nindividual preference. The principle to be insisted on as important is\nthat the dress be not such as to arrest special attention, as\nsuggesting foppishness and fastidiousness on the one hand, or\ncarelessness and slovenliness on the other. The man, not the dress,\nshould arrest and hold attention.\n\n3. In conversation he should be genial, courteous, affable, avoiding\nthat tone and manner of condescension which carries in it an implied\nsense of superiority, and exhibiting that breadth of intelligence and\nculture which will secure respect for his views in general society.\nSlang phrases, vulgar anecdotes, boisterous discussions, idle gossip,\nand scandal, it is hardly necessary to say, ill become a pastor, and\nwill in the end seriously militate against his usefulness. Coarseness,\nindelicacy, and all that is suggestive of impurity should be\nscrupulously avoided; such words, when uttered by a minister, live and\nfester in the memory, and are destructive of all pastoral influence\nafterward over those who hear them. \"An obscene story, a lewd double\n_entendre,_ a filthy joke, a questionable word or gesture, a sentence\nthat would make a pure woman blush in public or in private, in select\nor in mixed company, is a burning shame and scandal to any minister of\nthe Gospel.\" Nor should his chief distinction in society be that of the\nwit or mimic. Wit and humor, when natural, are often elements of real\npower, as giving sparkle and flavor to speech, but in the pastor their\nplace is subordinate; when they appear as his chief characteristic,\nthey inevitably injure his influence. Attractive social qualities, such\nas enable the pastor to exercise a leading and governing power in\nsociety, are to be most earnestly sought; their effect on pastoral\nusefulness can hardly be overstated.\n\nThe minister, when a guest, enjoying the temporary hospitality of a\nfamily circle, should bring into it the blessing of a genial, sunshiny\nspirit, showing always a thorough appreciation of kindness received and\navoiding all unnecessary trouble to the hosts. If other ministers are\npresent, beware of that ministerial clannishness which centers\nconversation on topics adapted only to ministers or makes it consist of\nministerial criticism, gossip, and scandal adapted to lower the\nestimation in which other ministers are held. In the freedom and\n_abandon_ of ministerial society there is often much temptation to\nthis, but words thus thoughtlessly spoken sometimes do incalculable\ninjury, both by lowering the ministerial character in the eyes of the\nhousehold, and by inflicting an incurable wound on the reputation of\nthose made the subjects of gossip. The injunction of Scripture cannot\nbe too carefully heeded: \"Let your speech be always with grace,\nseasoned with salt\" (Col. iv. 6); for thus the spirit you breathed and\nthe words you spake will remain a benediction with that household and\nmake your memory fragrant there for ever.\n\n4. In his amusements and recreations a pastor should indulge only in\nsuch as are not only in themselves innocent but are not commonly\noffensive to the Christian conscience. The grand principle of\nself-denial enunciated by Paul as the rule of his own life is here,\nundoubtedly, the guiding principle of ministerial duty. He says: \"Give\nnone offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the\nchurch of God: even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine\nown profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved\" (1 Cor.\nx. 32, 33). He relinquished self-gratification, even though innocent,\nrather than put a cause of stumbling before others and hinder their\nsalvation. Recreation is doubtless a necessity--the bow always bent\nloses its spring--but recreation should never be taken in a form which\nmay give offence to Christian souls, or which may set an example such\nas, if followed by others, might work their injury. A pastor's\ninfluence also may be impaired by undue absorption in any form of\nrecreation. There is no wrong, it may be, in using a good horse, in\nplaying a game of ball or croquet, in fishing or hunting, or many other\nforms of recreation; but the pastor who is specially distinguished for\nhis interest in fast horses or for his sporting habits, or as a devotee\nof amusements, violates most seriously the proprieties of his position,\nand sinks in the estimation of all thoughtful people.\n\n5. A minister's associations or special intimacies should not be with\nbad or loose or irreligious men; the taint will necessarily tarnish and\ninjure his own reputation, even if it does not corrupt his character.\nHe is to be \"a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate\" (Tit.\ni. 8). He should show all courtesy and kindness, indeed, to even the\nworst men around him, but his special friendships should not be sought\nthere, nor his habitual associations. Some ministers have here made\nwreck of their influence with the better classes in the community,\nwhile their association with the loose and irreligious class, so far\nfrom winning them to Christ, has only the more hardened them in\nrejecting Him by lowering in their eyes the character of His servant.\n\n6. The pastor's relations with the other sex should not only always be\npure in fact but should also be such as to avoid even the possibility\nof misconstruction. No point needs to be more carefully guarded, for\neven the suspicion or thought of wrong in this, however ill-grounded,\nis commonly fatal to usefulness, and often follows him through the\nremainder of life.\n\n\nIV. PERSONAL HABITS.\n\nThe pastor is expected to be a model Christian gentleman, showing the\nrefinement, delicacy, and culture which the Gospel inculcates and\nproduces, and improper habits, therefore, in him are more prominent and\ninfluential for evil than in other men. Now and then a minister\nexhibits a foolish _bravado_ of public opinion by affecting brusque,\nuncouth, eccentric manners and indulging in questionable habits under\nthe mistaken supposition that, in thus setting at defiance the common\nsentiments of mankind in regard to the proprieties of ministerial life,\nhe is showing moral courage and manhood; nor are there wanting equally\nfoolish people who will applaud this contemptible exhibition of\npersonal vanity. But, apart from such exceptional cases, the\nministerial life is always beset by strong temptations to unbecoming\nhabits. Thus:\n\n1. _Intemperance in eating._ The studious life, as ordinarily pursued,\noften tends to dyspepsia and an unnatural craving for food. The bodily\nand mental vigor is often thus destroyed, while the obvious absence of\nself-restraint degrades the man in the eyes of others. The dullness of\nthe pulpit and the ill-health of ministers are not seldom traceable to\nan overloaded stomach.\n\n2. _The use of tobacco._ The highest medical authorities now agree that\nthis is one of the common causes of nervous prostration and early\nmental decay. The late Prof. Moses Stuart says: \"I do not place the use\nof tobacco in the same scale with that of ardent spirits. It does not\nmake men maniacs or demons. But that it does undermine the health of\nthousands; that it creates a nervous irritability, and thus operates on\nthe temper and moral character of men; that it often creates a thirst\nfor spirituous liquors; that it allures to clubs and grog-shops and\ntaverns, and thus helps to make idlers and spendthrifts; and finally,\nthat it is a very serious and needless expense,--are things which\ncannot be denied by any observing and considerate person. And if all\nthis be true, how can the habitual use of tobacco as a mere luxury be\ndefended by any one who wishes well to his fellow-men or has a proper\nregard to his own usefulness?\" The duty of self-conquest in regard to\nsuch a habit is evident especially in the minister, whose very office\nadds emphasis to his personal example; and the principle involved is\nstrongly set forth by Paul when he says: \"All things are lawful for me,\nbut _I will not be brought under the power of any_\" (1 Cor. vi. 12). He\naccounted it an unworthy and dangerous thing for a Christian to come\nunder bondage to any bodily appetite. But he adds: \"Every man that\nstriveth for the mastery is temperate in all things: now they do it to\nobtain a corruptible crown; but we, an incorruptible. I therefore so\nrun, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:\nbut I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any\nmeans when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away\"\n(1 Cor. ix. 25-27).\n\n3. _The use of stimulants._ The pressure of intellectual work on the\npastor often requires of him the most important public efforts when\nworn and depressed, and thus at times the temptation to stimulate is\nvery strong. The fact of bodily weakness pleads for a stimulant as a\nmedical necessity. Once indulged, stimulation readily passes into a\nhabit, and the importance of the occasion is made an effectual plea for\nit as an alternative to failure. Now, in all such cases, the\nconsciousness of self-indulgence, as it weakens self-respect, must\nneeds also weaken the moral power of the minister. He feels himself\nenslaved and cannot speak with authority. While consciously and\ndeliberately yielding to self-indulgence, how can he preach to others\nthe moral teachings of the Gospel? Such an indulgence, moreover, places\nthe man in fearful peril, for it creates the necessity of repetition,\nand forms an appetite which in many instances has destroyed the man.\nSome of the most brilliant men in the ministry have here made an utter\nand terrible wreck of life.\n\nRight habits are, therefore, of primary moment. A man can respect\nhimself and secure the respect of others only as he exercises habitual\nself-control, holding passion and appetite in thorough subjection;\nwithout this the pastor lacks that consciousness of independence and\nthat true manhood in which alone resides genuine moral power; and his\ndefects, made conspicuous and influential by his sacred office, may be\ndisastrous in their influence on those around him.\n\n\n\n+SECTION XX.+\n\nTHE PASTOR'S INNER LIFE.\n\nAncient asceticism, in demanding for the ministry a hidden life of\ncommunion with God, gave voice not only to one of the profoundest\nintuitions of the Christian consciousness, but also to one of the\nclearest teachings of Scripture. The men who deal with spiritual things\nmust themselves be spiritual. Our age, while rightly rejecting a\nperverted asceticism, is tending to the opposite error. It is intensely\npractical. \"Action!\" is its watchword. This practicalness often becomes\nmere narrowness and shallowness. It overlooks the profounder laws of\nthe Christian life. Spiritual force comes from within, from the hidden\nlife of God in the soul. It depends, not on mere outward activities,\nbut on the Divine energies acting through the human faculties, God\nworking through the man, the Holy Ghost permeating, quickening all the\npowers of the preacher, and speaking by his voice to the souls of the\npeople. The soul's secret power with God thus gives public power with\nmen, and the mightiest influences of the pulpit often flow from a\nhidden spring in the solitude of the closet; for a sermon is not the\nmere utterance of man: there is in it a power more than human. Its\nvital force comes from the Holy Spirit. Jesus said: \"It is not _ye_\nthat speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you\" (Matt.\nx. 20). Its spiritual energy springs from something deeper than logic\nand rhetoric. As Bushnell has well said: \"Preaching is nothing else\nthan the bursting out of life which has first burst in or up from where\nGod is among the soul's foundations.\"\n\nSuch was the teaching of Christ. In His farewell words to His disciples\nHe promised \"another Comforter\"--one who should take His place among\nthem and abide with them for ever. As He had walked with them an\nInstructor, Friend, Helper, so after His departure the Holy Spirit\nshould dwell among them, teaching, inspiring, guiding them, a true and\nliving Divine Presence ever with them and mighty to help. Blessed as\nHis own bodily presence had been, the presence of the Holy Spirit was\nof still higher moment, for He declared that it was better for them\nthat He Himself depart and the Spirit come; for the Spirit, whose\noffice it is to take of Christ and show Him, should reveal the\nChrist-presence within them in accordance with His promise: \"He that\nloveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and _will\nmanifest Myself to him_\" (John xiv. 21); \"I will not leave you\ncomfortless; _I will come to you_\" (John xiv. 18). Without this Divine\nHelper He expressly forbade their entrance on the ministry, and as His\nlast charge before He ascended He said, \"Tarry ye in the city of\nJerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high\" (Luke xxiv. 49).\n\nAt the Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended, and how marvelous was His\npower! Plain as had been the words Jesus spake, the apostles yet\nutterly misconceived the most vital truths; but when the Spirit of\ntruth came, the Gospel, in its grandeur and power, stood clearly\nrevealed before them. The men who before had timidly cowered in the\npresence of danger now rejoiced that they \"were counted worthy to\nsuffer shame\" for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts v. 41). They whose\nselfish ambition had aspired to be \"greatest in the kingdom of heaven\"\nnow forgot their mean rivalries, and were inspired with single-hearted\nconsecration to the Master; and the multitudes who before had despised\nand rejected their words, now convicted \"of sin, of righteousness, and\nof judgment,\" bowed before this unseen, mighty Power, and cried out,\n\"Men and brethren, what must we do?\" (Acts ii. 37).\n\nNow, it is plain that the Holy Spirit, this special \"power from on\nhigh,\" was promised, not to the Apostles only, but to the ministry in\nall ages. In the New Testament period He dwelt, a living, quickening\nDivine presence, in all the servants of Christ, revealing truth,\ninspiring faith, and making their words the power of God unto\nsalvation. They prayed in the Spirit; they spake in the Spirit; they\nlived in the Spirit. The promise of Jesus was fulfilled: \"Lo! I am with\nyou alway\" (Matt. xxviii. 20); for the Christ-presence was continually\nrevealed in them--a revelation of Him, not, indeed, to the eye, but to\nthe soul, and unspeakably more blessed than had been His bodily\npresence when on earth. Not the Apostle only, but every servant of God,\ncould say: \"I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me\" (Gal. ii. 20);\nand in the hour of peril, when all men forsook him, the Christian\nconfessor triumphantly affirmed: \"Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with\nme and strengthened me\" (2 Tim. iv. 17). In every subsequent age the\nindwelling Spirit of God has been the fountain of power in the\nministry; and the mightiest men in the pulpit, renouncing\nself-sufficiency, have confessed, with Paul: \"Our sufficiency is of\nGod, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament\" (2 Cor.\niii. 5, 6). Conscious of need, they have turned their souls upward to\nGod, and this Divine Helper has entered and filled them; and all the\nfaculties and culture of the man, intellectual, moral, and spiritual,\nhave been transfused, elevated, enlarged, by this invisible but mighty\nPower. It has been truly said: \"The virtue of an electric wire is not\nin the wire, but in its connection with the voltaic battery. The power\nof the minister is not in the polish of his style, the pictorialness of\nhis illustrations, the fervor of his manner, the order and arrangement\nof his discourse, but in his living connection with God and his\ncapacity to act as a connecting-link between God and the human soul. It\nis God in the soul which is the secret of true pulpit power.\"\n\nHow, then, shall the pastor maintain an inner life such that he shall\nbe \"endued with power from on high\" and God shall speak through him to\nthe souls of men? In answer this I suggest as a means of chief\nimportance:\n\n\nI. THE HABITUAL PRACTICE OF SECRET PRAYER.--For prayer is the bond\nwhich links the Divine power with the human. It is the channel through\nwhich God pours His life into the soul. It is the uplifted hand of\nman's weakness taking hold on God's strength. It calls down from heaven\nthe sacred fire, which alone may kindle the preacher's sacrifice. It\nhas the most vital relations to the character and work of a pastor.\n\n1. _The relation of secret prayer to the spirit and purpose of the\nministry._\n\nSpecial dangers beset the pastor. The most sacred services, from their\nfrequent recurrence, may come to be performed in a perfunctory spirit,\nand his life may thus degenerate into mere professionalism.\nUnconsciously he comes to meditate, read, and even pray with a view\nonly to others and its effect on others. The sense of his personal\nrelation to God is lost. As a public speaker a desire for popularity\nmay unduly influence his preaching, and conspicuous position tempt his\nambition, obscuring his vision of the great end of his ministry--the\nhonor of Christ and the salvation of souls. The very respect which his\noffice secures may foster spiritual pride and make him insensible to\nhis defection in heart from God. Few men are environed by such subtle\nand powerful seductions to a false life as a Christian minister, and\nagainst these only a vivid consciousness of his high calling is an\nadequate safeguard. He is God's ambassador, receiving his commission\nand his message, not from men, but from the Sovereign of heaven and\nearth. The souls of his congregation are entrusted to him, and the\nwords he is charged to speak are the words of God's saving power. \"In\nthem that are saved\" he is \"a savor of life unto life,\" but \"in them\nthat perish\" \"a savor of death unto death\" (2 Cor. ii. 15, 16). If\nfaithful to his trust, he \"shall shine as the brightness of the\nfirmament\" and \"as the stars for ever and ever\" (Dan. xii. 3); if\nunfaithful, the blood of souls will be found on him in the day of God's\ninquisition. Now, only a distinct realization of these responsibilities\nas an ever-present, living force pervading his spirit will hold the\nminister in his inmost life true to Christ and to his work.\n\nIt is here prayer has its mightiest reflex power. It gives a vital\nsense of God and of spiritual realities. It lifts the life above the\ncontrol of lower motives to a loftier moral elevation, with a purer\natmosphere and a broader horizon. The whole man is elevated, ennobled,\ntransfused with Divine life, as he holds communion with God. When Moses\nhad been with God in the mount, his face shone with a glory such that\nIsrael could not steadfastly look on it. It was when Jesus was praying\nthat he was transfigured, \"and His face did shine as the sun, and His\nraiment was white as the light\" (Matt. xvii. 2). God imprints His own\nimage on the soul that comes face to face with Him.\n\nThe inner life of a preacher always stands revealed in the pulpit; it\ntransfuses itself through his preaching. No mere declamation, no arts\nof rhetoric, no dramatic simulation of emotion, can conceal the absence\nof spiritual life. Moral earnestness can never be assumed; it is the\nattribute only of a soul profoundly feeling the power and reality of\nDivine truth. The man, therefore, who would speak God's Word with the\npungency and fervor of a Bunyan, a Baxter, a Flavel, or a Payson must,\nlike them, be constant and fervent in prayer. The springs of spiritual\nlife opened in the closet will pour forth never-failing streams of life\nin the pulpit. Luther said: \"Prayer, meditation, and temptation make a\nminister.\" He himself is said to have spent three hours daily in\nprayer, and those mighty words which thrilled the heart of Christendom\nwere the utterances of a soul thus glowing with the flames of devotion.\n\n2. _The relation of secret prayer to the apprehension of spiritual\ntruth._\n\nSpiritual truth is revealed only to the spiritual mind: \"The natural\nman receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; . . . neither can he\nknow them, because they are spiritually discerned\" (1 Cor. ii. 14).\nSpiritual susceptibility is the essential condition of apprehending\nspiritual truth. A soul instinct with Divine life, sensitive to Divine\nimpressions, in sympathy with Divine things--this, and this only, can\nenter in to a realization of those great truths which constitute the\nGospel. Without this the very message the pastor is charged to preach\nhe himself will fail to apprehend. He may, indeed, see the Christian\ndoctrines through the eye of an impassive logic, but such a lifeless\nintellectualism, even when abstractly correct, has no power. The\ntheology of the pulpit is a theology vitalized by prayer and glowing in\nthe heart as a great, living reality. The hearts of men are most surely\nmoved by living truths vividly realized in the speaker's soul. The love\nof God in the incarnation and death of His Son, the guilt and danger of\nthe souls of men, the glories of the saved and the miseries of the\nlost,--these are not matters of cold intellection. To him who lives in\nthe atmosphere of prayer they stand out as vivid realities. Such men,\nlike Paul, \"believe, and therefore speak;\" and in words of burning\nfervor they utter these great truths and press them on the souls of\nmen. Payson, on his death-bed, said: \"Prayer is the first thing, the\nsecond thing, the third thing, necessary for a minister.\" Whitefield\nspent hours of each day on his knees with God's Word open before him,\nand it was from the audience-chamber of heaven he went forth to speak\nthose marvelous words of power which stirred the souls of the\nmultitude. These eternal truths thus passed in him beyond mere\nintellections; they took possession of the whole man, and he could but\nspeak with tender pathos and holy boldness, as he saw light in God's\nlight, and the spiritual world was thus all ablaze with light around\nhim.\n\nJesus Himself, the Chief Pastor, lived a life of ceaseless prayer.\nPressed under the burden of souls, he waked while others slept.\nSometimes He spent the whole night in prayer; at others, \"rising up a\ngreat while before day,\" He sought communion with the Father.\n\n   \"Cold mountains and the midnight air\n    Witnessed the fervor of His prayer.\"\n\nAnd if He, the Sinless One, the God-man, must needs thus pray, if\nprayer was essential even to His inner life and to His power in the\nwork assigned Him, how much great necessity must press on His weak,\nsinful servants! If communion with God filled so large a place in the\nlife of the Chief Pastor, it surely should not have less place in the\nlife of the under-shepherds.\n\n\nII. THE HABITUAL SELF-APPLICATION AND SELF-APPROPRIATION OF DIVINE\nTRUTH.--The habit of viewing truth objectively in its relation to other\ntruths or to other souls, rather than subjectively in its relation to\none's own soul, is one of the greatest dangers of the minister, because\nhis work tends directly to keep uppermost in his thinking the needs of\nothers. He may thus come to conceive vividly and to present strongly\nthe most affecting and stupendous truths of the Gospel without the\nleast thought of their relation to himself and their bearing on his own\nlife and destiny. Nor is he in this necessarily insincere. He has an\nactual and strong conception of the truth and of its pregnancy with\nweal or woe to others, and in pressing it he is true to his present\nconviction; but his conception of it is purely in its relation to\nothers, and secures no application to his own spiritual wants. Now,\nGod's only way, so far as we know, of saving and sanctifying an\nintelligent soul is through the truth; and this not truth conceived in\nthe intellect as a mere object of thought, but truth conceived in the\nheart, entering into the center of a man's being, and acting as a\nlife-force in his deepest moral convictions and affections. \"Born again\nby the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever\" (1 Pet. i. 23),\n\"Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy Word is truth\" (John xvii. 17),\nare passages which indicate an unvarying law of the Gospel. All\nspiritual life comes from the Holy Spirit, acting through Divine truth\nreceived into the soul. To this law God has not made the minister an\nexception. The measure of religious life in him, as in every man, is\ndetermined by the extent of this believing appropriation of Divine\ntruth and its consequent living power in him. He may be, therefore, a\nlearned theologian, holding in his intellectual vision a wide range of\ntruth, while yet, from failure in heart appropriation of it, he is a\ndwarf in vital spiritual development, because Christian life grows not\nfrom mere knowledge, but from truth believingly appropriated.\n\nThe pastor, therefore, should cultivate the habit of applying and\nappropriating to his own soul the truths he preaches. He should\nhabitually look at them in their relation to himself and take them into\nhis own life by a distinct act of faith, which believingly, joyfully,\nappropriates them as belonging to him. Every truth thus received will\nbecome in him an added element of life, deepening and enlarging his\nreligious consciousness and imparting a richer and more blessed\nexperience. Then, from this fountain of life within, thus ever enlarged\nand enriched, he will present in the pulpit, not a dead system of\ndoctrines, but a living Gospel which shall come with fulness of life to\nthe people.\n\n\nIII. AN HABITUAL SELF-SURRENDER AND CONSECRATION TO CHRIST AND HIS\nWORK.--Selfishness, in its more insidious forms, endangers the life of\na pastor. Outwardly, by office, he is consecrated to the service of\nChrist, and for this very reason he is less likely to detect, deep down\nat the springs of his living, the presence and power of a self-love, in\nthe form of pride, envy, self-will, self-indulgence, and ambition,\nwhich may be, after all, the controlling force in his inner life. The\ndanger is here the greater because, its growth having been unperceived,\nthe man is unconscious of its control, and because, with all \"the\ndeceitfulness of sin,\" it lurks stealthily, but all the more\npotentially, within the sacred forms and associations of a consecrated\noffice. Hence the necessity of frequent and rigid self-examination. A\nman must interrogate himself, and with careful introspection seek to\ndetect the real forces that control his life. There should be pauses in\nhis career when he will stand alone in the presence-chamber of the\nOmniscient One, and cry, \"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me,\nand know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and\nlead me in the way everlasting\" (Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24). The best lives\nhave found great value in such special seasons privately set apart for\nfasting, prayer, and self-examination, as the navigator, in the perils\nof his voyage, stops to take observation of the sun and stars and make\ncertain what is his position and whither the winds and currents are\nbearing him. Then, with vision thus clarified, and in full view of his\nreal position, he should make a distinct renewal of self-dedication to\nGod, giving up himself, with all he is and has, unreservedly to Him.\n\nWithout this self-renunciation and self-devotion to Christ, as an\nhabitual fact, the inner life will be without spiritual power. Jesus,\nin His promise of the Holy Spirit and of the Christ-presence, makes\nthis the one, essential condition: \"If ye love Me, keep My\ncommandments, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another\nComforter\" (John xiv. 15, 16). A true consecration of self to Christ,\ntherefore, assures the presence of the Holy Spirit as the revealer of\nChrist within the soul. This was the habitual attitude of the apostle\nPaul. He says: \"The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the\nfaith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me\" (Gal.\nii. 20). Self was nothing, Christ everything; for when confronted with\nperil of death, he said: \"None of these things move me, neither count I\nmy life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy,\nand the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify\nthe Gospel of the grace of God\" (Acts xx. 24). Thus self-dedicated, he\nreceived the promise: The Spirit wrought in him mightily, filling him\nwith Divine life and power. So utter was his self-abnegation, and so\nall-absorbing his love of souls, that, like Moses of old (Ex.\nxxxii. 32), he \"could wish,\" were it right and would it secure their\nsalvation, to be himself \"accursed from Christ\" for them (Rom. ix. 3).\nWith like self-devotion to souls, Rutherford, the eminent Scotch\nminister, while assuring his flock that they \"were the objects of his\ntears, care, fear, and daily prayers,\" said \"My witness is above, that\nyour heaven would be two heavens to me, and the salvation of you all as\ntwo salvations to me.\" A ministry thus self-forgetting is of necessity\na ministry of power; for God Himself works in it, as all history has\nshown.\n\n\nIV. AN HABITUAL LOOKING ABOVE FOR THE REWARD.--\"Godliness\" has \"promise\nof the life that now is\" (1 Tim. iv. 8); and nowhere, perhaps, is that\npromise more fully realized than in the pastorate in the present age.\nIn social relations, in opportunities for culture, in friendships\nformed, in means of influence, in popular estimation, and even in\ntemporal support, few positions in life have higher advantages or more\nagreeable surroundings. But, with all this, life, even in a faithful\nministry, is, on its earthly side, rarely other than a disappointment;\nand the pastor who seeks reward in human applause or in any form of\nearthly hope, not only thereby excludes the Holy Spirit from his life\nbut is also sure to find unrest and failure as the ultimate result. The\nrewards of the faithful pastor are from God and are of special\nmagnitude and blessedness.\n\nThe rewards come, in part, in the present life. A faithful minister\nfinds them alike in a clear conscience and a sense of the approval of\nGod, and in his work itself and the blessed results following it. With\nall its care and toil, the ministry, to the man who knows his call of\nGod to the work and devotes himself to it without reserve, is the\nhappiest work on earth. \"Sorrowful\" he is, \"yet always rejoicing.\"\nHenry Martyn said: \"I do not wish for any heaven on earth besides that\nof preaching the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ to immortal souls. I\nwish for no service but the service of God in laboring for souls on\nearth and to do His will in heaven.\" Dr. Doddridge: \"I esteem the\nministry the most desirable employment on earth, and find that delight\nin it, and those advantages from it, which I think hardly any other\nemployment on earth could give me.\" Rutherford: \"There is nothing out\nof heaven, next to Christ, dearer to me than my ministry.\" Brown: \"Now,\nafter forty years' preaching of Christ, I think I would rather beg my\nbread all the laboring-days of the week for an opportunity of\npublishing the Gospel on the Lord's Day than without such privilege to\nenjoy the richest possessions on earth.\" Such is the testimony of godly\nministers in all ages, even in periods of bitter persecution. The\nconscious presence of Christ; the blessed privilege of declaring to\nguilty men God's rich and free mercy; the delight in the work of saving\nsouls and of ministering comfort and strength and hope to the\nsorrowing, the weak, and the despairing; the joy of communion with\nsaints,--all these enter into the minister's experience, and give to\nhis work even on earth an unspeakably rich reward.\n\nBut the highest reward of the ministry is reserved in heaven. There\nthey will \"shine as the brightness of the firmament\" \"and as the stars\nfor ever and ever\" (Dan. xii. 3). \"He that reapeth receiveth wages, and\ngathereth fruit unto life eternal\" (John iv. 36). Every soul won to\nChrist here will there be an occasion of eternal joy. Paul said: \"What\nis our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even _ye_ in the\npresence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?\" (1 Thess. ii. 19).\nGlorious beyond our thought is the reward set before every faithful\nChristian: he shall receive a \"crown of righteousness\" (2 Tim. iv. 8),\na \"crown of life\" (James i. 12), \"an eternal weight of glory\" (2 Cor.\niv. 17) and shall \"shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of God\" (Matt.\nxiii. 43); and all this intensified shall be the reward of the true\npastor, according as he is faithful to his high calling from God.\n\nLet the pastor, then, seek most of all to be faithful to Christ and His\nwork. Let it be to him \"a very small thing\" that he \"be judged\" \"of\nman's judgment\" (1 Cor. iv. 4) and let him ever cherish as of chief\nmoment a clear conscience, finding his highest comfort in the sweet\nassurance of God's approval. Be it his to have \"respect unto the\nrecompense of the reward,\" and so endure \"as seeing him who is\ninvisible\" (Heb. xi. 26, 27). Thus, will his life approximate that\ngrandest of merely human lives--the life of him who declared, \"As we\nwere allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we\nspeak, not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts\" (1 Thess.\nii. 4), and at the close of which it was said, \"I have fought a good\nfight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth\nthere is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the\nrighteous Judge, shall give me at that day\" (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8).\n\nWhen of old, at the Sea of Galilee, the Lord reinstated Peter after his\nfall, He thrice with solemn emphasis proposed the question, \"Simon, son\nof Jonas, LOVEST thou ME?\" He thus taught for all the ages that\npersonal love to Him is the primal condition for the sacred office.\nWithout this as the central, fontal principle in the soul the pastor's\nlife will fail of spiritual power, but with this as its impulsive force\nhe will be like the faithful minister seen by Bunyan's pilgrim: he \"had\neyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the law of\ntruth was written upon his lips, the world was behind his back; he\nstood as if he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold did hang over his\nhead.\"\n\n\n\n+Transcriber's Notes.+\n\n - Note about paragraph identification: The first new paragraph on a\n   page is \"paragraph one.\" If a paragraph continues from the prior\n   page, it is \"paragraph zero.\"\n - Page 5, preface, second paragraph, apply Reverential\n   Capitalization (RC) to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 7, TOC, Section i., apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n - The break between pages 7 and 8 is in a unit that style indicates\n   should not be broken: \"5.|Preaching.\" The whole unit was moved to\n   the earlier page.\n - Page 8, TOC, section iii., point 5 (2.), change the semi-colon\n   after \"Exposition\" to a colon.\n - Page 11, TOC, Section xx., point 2, apply RC to \"Divine\"; point 3,\n   apply RC to \"His.\"\n - Page 13, Section i., paragraph one, apply RC to \"He,\" \"His\"\n   (twice), \"Divine,\" \"My\" (twice), and \"Apostles.\"\n - Page 14, paragraph zero, point 2, apply RC to \"He,\" \"Apostles,\"\n   \"Himself,\" and \"His.\" Point 3, apply RC to \"Divine,\" \"His,\" and\n   \"Gospel.\" Paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"Gospel.\"\n - The break between pages 14 and 15 is in the word \"consciousness\":\n   con|sciousness. In this and all subsequent cases the whole word\n   was moved to the earlier page.\n - Page 15, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Divine.\" Paragraph one,\n   apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"Word.\"\n - The break between pages 15 and 16 is in the word \"enthusiasm\":\n   en|thusiasm.\n - Page 16, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Point 2, apply RC\n   to \"Gospel\"; change \"wo\" to \"woe\"; apply RC to \"Gospel\"; point 3,\n   apply RC to \"Divine\" (twice).\n - Page 17, point II, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Point II 1, apply RC to\n   \"Christ.\"\n - Page 18, paragraph zero, point 5, apply RC to \"Word\" and \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 19, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine.\" Point III, apply RC to\n   \"Him.\"\n - Page 20, paragraph zero, add comma to \"prayer the.\"  Paragraph one,\n   point 1, apply RC to \"His.\" Point 2, apply RC to \"Divine.\" Point 3,\n   apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"Word.\"\n - Page 21, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Section ii., part\n   I, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"His\" (twice). Point\n   I 1, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - The break between pages 21 and 22 is in the word \"evidently\":\n   evi|dently.\n - Page 22, point 2, change \"centre\" to \"center\"; apply RC to\n   \"Apostles.\"\n - Page 23, in-line note on \"niggardly.\"\n - Page 24, paragraph zero, change \"practising\" to \"practicing.\"\n   Point 5, remove comma from \"weeks, and.\" Point 6, change\n   \"practises\" to \"practices.\"\n - Page 25, point II 1, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 27, paragraph zero, add comma to \"order for.\" Paragraph one,\n   apply RC to \"His.\"\n - The break between pages 27 and 28 is in the word \"service\":\n   ser|vice.\n - Page 28, point 2, add comma to \"activity a.\"\n - Page 29, point 3, add comma to \"failed and.\"\n - Page 30, paragraph one, remove comma from \"place, and.\"\n - Page 32, point 1, remove comma from \"choir, and.\"\n - Page 33, point III, apply RC to \"Word\" and \"Him.\" Point III 1 (1.),\n   add comma to \"Thus a.\"\n - Page 34, paragraph zero, point (4.), apply RC to \"Word.\"\n - Page 35, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"Scripture, and.\" Point\n   (3.), add comma to \"instances false.\"\n - Page 36, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Word.\"\n - The break between pages 37 and 38 is in the word \"expression\":\n   expres|sion.\n - Page 37, paragraph one, change \"exigences\" to \"exigencies.\"\n - Page 38, paragraph one, point (1.), apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n - Page 39, paragraph zero, point (3.), add comma to \"case there.\"\n - Page 40, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Divine,\" \"His,\" \"Gospel,\" and\n   \"Divine\" (twice).\n - Page 41, paragraph one, point 4 (2), apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n - Page 42, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n - Page 43, paragraph zero, change \"moulded\" to \"molded.\" Point V,\n   change \"centre\" to \"center\"; apply RC to \"Himself,\" \"He,\" \"Him\"\n   (thrice), \"Gospel,\" and \"Word.\"\n - Page 44, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Gospel\" Point 1, apply RC to\n   \"Divine,\" \"Word,\" \"Divine,\" and \"Word.\" Point 2, apply RC to\n   \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 45, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"life, and.\" Paragraph\n   two, point 1, apply RC to \"Him,\" \"His,\" \"Divinity,\" and \"His\"\n   (twice).\n - Page 46, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"He,\" \"His\" (twice), \"He,\"\n   \"Him,\" \"He,\" \"His\" (thrice), \"He,\" \"Him,\" \"He,\" \"His,\" \"Gospel,\"\n   \"His,\" \"He,\" \"His,\" \"Himself,\" and \"His.\" Capitalize \"Fall.\" Apply\n   RC to \"His\" (twice). Change \"centre\" to \"center.\" Apply RC to\n   \"Him\" and \"Gospel.\"\n - The break between pages 46 and 47 is in the word \"possible\":\n   possi|ble.\n - Page 47, paragraph zero, point (2.), change \"defence\" to \"defense\"\n   and \"imperilled\" to \"imperiled.\"\n - Page 48, paragaph zero, apply RC to \"Divine\"; change \"skilful\" to\n   \"skillful.\"  Point (2.), change \"mould\" to \"mold.\"\n - Page 49, paragraph zero, add comma to \"also in.\" Point (3.), apply\n   RC to \"Word.\"\n - Page 50, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel\" (twice). Point (2.),\n   apply RC to \"Him\" and \"His.\"\n - The break between pages 50 and 51 is in the word \"adoring\":\n   ador|ing.\n - Page 51, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Him\" (twice). Point (3.),\n   remove comma from \"courage, and.\" Apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Paragraph\n   one, add comma to \"subjects I.\" Point (2.), apply RC to \"Divine,\"\n   \"Him,\" and \"Divine.\"\n - The break between pages 52 and 53 is in the word \"discriminating\":\n   dis|criminating.\n - Page 53, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"Gospel.\"\n   Paragraph one, capitalize \"Sermon on the Mount.\"\n - Page 54, point (4.), apply RC to \"Divine\"; remove comma from\n   \"theme, and.\"\n - Page 55, paragraph zero, point 5, apply RC to \"Word\"; remove comma\n   from \"effort, and.\"\n - Page 61, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"alone, and\"; apply RC\n   to \"Him.\"\n - Page 63, paragaph zero, point 3, apply RC to \"Him.\"\n - The break between pages 63 and 64 is in the word \"perhaps\":\n   per|haps.\n - Page 64, paragraph zero, change \"exigences\" to \"exigencies.\"\n - Page 65, paragraph two, point 2, apply RC to \"Gospel\" and \"Word.\"\n - Page 66, paragraph zero, add comma to \"purpose have.\"\n - The break between pages 66 and 67 is in the word \"stubble\":\n   stub|ble.\n - Page 67, paragraph one, remove comma from \"bear, and.\"\n - Page 68, paragraph zero, point 3, change \"centre\" to \"center.\"\n - Page 70, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 72, paragraph zero, point 3, apply RC to \"Divine.\" Paragraph\n   one, change \"centre\" to \"center\"; apply RC to \"Him.\"\n - Page 73, paragraph zero, capitalize \"Passover.\" Remove comma from\n   \"administration, but.\"\n - Page 74, paragraph one, remove commas from \"school, and,\n   believing.\"\n - The break between pages 74 and 75 is in the word \"well-filled\":\n   well-|filled.\n - Page 75, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"schools, and.\"\n   Paragraph one, point 2, remove comma from \"women, and.\"\n - Page 77, paragraph zero, remove commas from \"trashy, but\" and\n   \"directly, and.\"\n - Page 78, section vii., paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine,\" \"His\"\n   (twice), \"He,\" \"His,\" \"He,\" \"Him,\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 80, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"one, and.\" Paragraph\n   one, apply RC to \"Him\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 81, point I, paragraph two, apply RC to \"Gospel\"; change\n   \"exigences\" to \"exigencies.\"\n - Page 83, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel\" (twice).\n - Page 84, paragraph two, add comma to \"reason it.\"\n - Page 85, paragraph zero, add comma to \"turn they.\" Paragraph one,\n   add comma to \"rule a.\"\n - Page 86, paragraph zero, add comma to \"accessible and.\" Point III,\n   paragraph one, apply RC to \"Word\"; remove comma from \"God, and.\"\n - Page 87, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Him.\" Paragraph one,\n   capitalize \"Divine,\" referring to a churchman. Paragraph two, add\n   comma to \"conversations new.\"\n - Page 89, paragraph two, add comma to \"week he\"; remove comma from\n   \"burnings, but.\"\n - Page 91, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"His\" (twice).\n - The break between pages 91 and 92 is in the word \"circumstances\":\n   circum|stances.\n - Page 92, paragraph one, point 3, remove comma from \"friend, and.\"\n - Page 93, paragraph zero, add comma to \"possible help\"; apply RC to\n   \"He,\" \"Him,\" \"His,\" and \"Him\"; change \"Saviour\" to \"Savior.\"\n - The break between pages 93 and 94 is in the word \"everything\":\n   every|thing.\n - Page 94, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Section viii.,\n   paragraph one, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 95, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Divine\" (twice), and\n   \"Gospel\"; remove comma from \"men, and.\"\n - The break between pages 96 and 97 is in the word \"religious\":\n   re|ligious.\n - Page 96, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Him,\" \"My,\" and \"His.\"\n   Paragraph two, point 2, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 97, paragraph one, remove comma from \"it, and\"; apply RC to\n   \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 98, paragraph one, change \"scepticism\" to \"skepticism.\"\n - Page 101, paragraph two, point 2, change \"centres\" to \"centers\"\n   (twice).\n - Page 103, paragraph one, point 1, remove comma from \"teaching,\n   and\"; add comma to \"success the.\"\n - Page 105, paragraph one, point 3, remove commas from \"appears,\n   and\" and \"fact, and.\" Paragraph two, point 4, remove comma from\n   \"watch, and.\"\n - The break between pages 105 and 106 is in the word\n   \"relinquishing\": relin|quishing.\n - Page 106, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Section xi.,\n   paragraph two, point 1, add comma to \"then it.\"\n - Page 107, paragraph one, point 2, remove comma from \"indulged,\n   and\"; change \"offence\" to \"offense.\"\n - Page 108, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel\" and \"He\"; remove\n   comma from \"accidental, but\"; apply RC to \"He\" (twice) and\n   \"Gospel.\"\n - The break between pages 108 and 109 is in the word \"acceptance\":\n   accept|ance.\n - Page 109, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Him\" and \"Gospel\" (twice).\n   Paragraph one, point 4, add comma to \"standing and.\"\n - Page 110, paragraph one, point 5, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 111, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - The break between pages 111 and 112 is in the word \"contribution\":\n   contribu|tion.\n - Page 112, paragraph two, point 3, remove comma for \"this, or.\"\n - Page 115, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"work, and.\"\n - Page 116, paragraph one, point 4, apply RC to \"Word.\"\n - The break between pages 116 and 117 is in the word \"eminently\":\n   emi|nently.\n - Page 117, paragraph two, point 2, change \"defence\" to \"defense\"\n   (twice).\n - The break between pages 117 and 118 is in the word \"evangelical\":\n   evangel|ical.\n - Page 118, paragraph zero, change \"exigences\" to \"exigencies\";\n   apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Paragraph one, point 4, apply RC to\n   \"Gospel\"; change \"centres\" to \"centers\"; apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 119, paragraph zero, point (2.), apply RC to \"Gospel\" and\n   \"Divine.\" Point (3.), apply RC to \"Word.\"\n - Page 120, paragraph one, remove comma from \"country, and.\"\n - Page 122, paragraph zero, point 3, remove comma from \"discipline,\n   and.\" Point 4, change \"pretence\" to \"pretense.\"\n - Page 123, paragraph one, add comma to \"Finally I.\"\n - Page 124, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"necessity, and\"; add\n   comma to \"certainly the.\" Section XVI, apply RC to \"His.\"\n - Page 125, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel\" (twice).\n - Page 126, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"advisers, and.\" Point\n   4, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 130, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"him, and.\" Paragraph\n   one, point 1, change \"dulness\" to \"dullness.\"\n - Page 133, paragraph zero, remove commas from \"experience, and\" and\n   \"pulpit, and.\" Paragraph one, point 6, add comma to \"it power.\"\n - Page 134, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Apostles\" (twice) and\n   \"Word\"; add comma to \"ministers we.\"\n - Page 135, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"membership, and.\"\n - Page 136, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel\"; add comma to \"this\n   he\"; remove commas from \"spirit, and\" and \"life, or\"; change \"he\n   lose habits\" to \"he loses habits\" and \"fulness\" to \"fullness\";\n   apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 137, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Word.\" Point 1, apply RC to\n   \"Gospel.\" Point 2, apply RC to \"Gospel\" and \"Divinely-constituted.\"\n - Page 138, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"reason, and.\" Section\n   xvii., paragraph one, add comma to \"respect they.\"\n - Page 139, paragraph one, remove comma from \"study, and.\"\n - Page 141, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"plan, and.\"\n - Page 142, paragraph one, remove comma from \"mill, but.\"\n - The break between pages 142 and 143 is in the word \"standpoints\":\n   stand|points.\n - Page 143, paragraph three, point 1, change \"marvellously\" to\n   \"marvelously\"; apply RC to \"Word.\"\n - Page 144, paragraph two, remove comma from \"manhood, and.\"\n - Page 145, paragraph one, point 4, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Paragraph\n   three, apply RC to \"Gospel\"; and add comma to \"Bible a.\"\n - The break between pages 145 and 146 is in the word\n   \"undiscriminating\": undiscriminat|ing.\n - Page 146, paragraph one, point 1, apply RC to \"Word,\" \"Divine,\"\n   \"Word,\" \"His,\" and \"Divine.\"\n - Page 147, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 148, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Apostle,\" \"Gospel,\" \"He\"\n   and \"His\" (twice). Of Paul, point 2, apply RC to \"Divinely-called\"\n   and \"Apostle.\" Of Paul, point 3, apply RC to \"Apostle\" and\n   \"Gospel.\" Apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Of Christ, point 1, apply RC to\n   \"His\" and \"He.\" Of Christ, point 2, apply RC to \"His,\" \"Divine,\"\n   \"He,\" \"His,\" and \"Word.\"\n - Page 149, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"it, and\"; apply RC to\n   \"Gospel\"; remove commas from \"text-book, and\" and \"thought, and.\"\n - The break between pages 149 and 150 is in the word \"formation\":\n   forma|tion.\n - Page 150, paragraph two, apply RC to \"His\" and \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 151, paragraph one, apply RC to \"He\" and \"His.\" Point 1,\n   change \"ch. iv. 9\" to \"Phil. iv. 9\" for concreteness; change\n   \"unblamably\" to \"unblameably\"; remove comma from \"pulpit, and.\"\n - The break between pages 151 and 152 is in the word \"proposes\":\n   pro|poses.\n - Page 152, paragraph zero, add comma to \"evidently he.\" Point 3,\n   apply RC to \"Gospel\" and \"He.\" Point 4, apply RC to \"Gospel\";\n   change \"doest\" to \"dost\" to match KJV quotation. Paragraph one,\n   apply RC to \"His.\"\n - Page 153, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 155, paragraph two, apply RC to \"Gospel\" (twice); change\n   \"exigences\" to \"exigencies.\"\n - Page 156, paragraph two, point 1, remove comma from \"franchise,\n   and.\"\n - Page 157, paragraph one, remove comma from \"life, but.\"\n - Page 159, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Paragraph one,\n   change \"centres\" to \"centers.\"\n - The break between pages 159 and 160 is in the word \"ministerial\":\n   min|isterial.\n - Page 160, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"household, and.\"\n   Paragraph one, point 4, remove comma from \"innocent, but.\"\n - The break between pages 160 and 161 is in the word \"amusements\":\n   amuse|ments.\n - Page 161, paragraph one, point 5, apply RC to \"Him\" and \"His.\"\n   Paragraph two, point 6, remove comma from \"fact, but.\" Paragraph\n   three, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 162, paragraph one, point 1, change \"dulness\" to \"dullness.\"\n - The break between pages 162 and 163 is within a unit (a scripture\n   reference), \"1 Cor. vi.|12.\" The whole unit was moved to the\n   earlier page.\n - Page 163, paragraph one, point 3, apply RC to \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 164, section xx., paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n - The break between pages 164 and 165 is in the word \"bursting\":\n   burst|ing.\n - Page 165, paragraph one, apply RC to \"His\" (twice), \"He,\" \"His,\"\n   \"He,\" \"His,\" \"Divine,\" \"His,\" \"He\" (twice), \"Himself,\" \"Him,\"\n   \"His,\" \"Me,\" \"My,\" \"Myself,\" \"Divine,\" \"He,\" \"His,\" and \"He\"\n   (twice). Paragraph two, change \"marvellous\" to \"marvelous\"; apply\n   RC to \"His\" and \"Gospel.\"\n - Page 166, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Apostles,\" \"He,\" \"Divine,\"\n   \"Him,\" \"His,\" \"Apostle,\" and \"Divine.\"\n - Page 167, paragraph two, point I, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 168, paragraph one, apply RC to \"Divine,\" \"His\" (thrice), and\n   \"Him.\"\n - Page 169, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Divine\" and \"Word.\"\n   Paragraph two, apply RC to \"Divine\" (thrice), \"Gospel,\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 170, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Word\"; change \"marvellous\"\n   to \"marvelous.\" Paragraph one, apply RC to \"Himself\" and \"He\"\n   (twice). Poem, apply RC to \"His.\" Paragraph two, apply RC to \"He,\"\n   \"His\" (twice), \"Him,\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 171, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel\"; change \"centre\" to\n   \"center\"; apply RC to \"Word,\" \"Thy,\" \"Thy Word,\" \"Gospel\" and\n   \"Divine\" (twice).\n - The break between pages 171 and 172 is in the word \"applying\":\n   ap|plying.\n - Page 172, paragraph zero, remove comma from \"himself, and\"; apply\n   RC to \"Gospel.\" Paragraph one, point III, apply RC to \"His.\"\n - Page 173, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Him.\" Paragraph one, apply\n   RC to \"His,\" \"Me,\" \"My,\" \"Himself,\" and \"Gospel\"; add comma to\n   \"self-dedicated he\"; capitalize \"The\" after the colon, because a\n   whole sentence follows the colon; apply RC to \"Divine.\"\n - Page 174, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Himself.\"  Paragraph one,\n   point IV, remove commas from \"life, but\" and \"God, and.\" Paragraph\n   two, apply RC to \"Gospel\" and \"His.\"\n - Page 175, paragraph zero, apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Paragraph one,\n   apply RC to \"His\"; remove comma after \"2 Cor. iv. 17\" reference.\n - Page 176, paragraph one, apply RC to \"His\"; add right double quote\n   after \"small thing\"; remove comma after \"1 Cor. iv. 4\" reference;\n   add comma to \"thus will\"; apply RC to \"Gospel.\" Paragraph two,\n   apply RC to \"He\" and \"Him.\"","title":"The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":54533}