THE GIFT OF THE
Wa ORS4 ^Tt fER M h   A1 S
WORCESTER. M ASS.








THE MINISTRY WE NEED.
BY
S. SWEETSER.
" The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.
PUBLISHED BY THE
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
2I9 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON.
HURD AND HOUGHTON, 13 ASTOR PLACE, N. Y.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by
THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H. 0 HOUGHTON AND COMPANY




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER                                             PAGE
I. THE WORK.......   5
II. CONFIDENCE IN THE TRUTH....    I I
III. THE LOVE OF CHRIST......  I8
IV. GOOD-WILL TO MEN.....              26
V. CHRIST-LIKE COMPASSION.....  30
VI. ENDURING HARDNESS.....    47
VII. FAITH IN CHRIST AND THE PROMISES...  55
VIII. THE PECULIARITY OF THE TIMES...    68
IX. THE INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY OF THE AGE.77
X. OBLIGATIONS...                             85
XI. THE BROAD VIEW......             93
XII. THE PRIVILEGE.......    99
XIII. THE HIGHER CHOICE...... 106
XIV. CONCLUSION.......            113








THE MINISTRY WE NEED.
CHAPTER I.
THE WORK.
HE drift of the world is all away from God.
1. This is no novelty. The present age does
not differ from other ages in this particular.
At one time the worldly forces may be more intense,
and the spirit more ardent. The causes which stimulate activity and enterprise have a tendency to give
greater energy to ungodliness. Success feeds pride
and self-reliance; and the opportunity for luxury and
indulgence enervates the moral character and sensualizes society.
There are reasons for believing that some, if not
all these unfavorable processes, are carried forward
at the present time with more than usual vigor. If
so, it is right to say, that the worldly currents set
away from God with an increased momentum. The
vital question, always is, how shall men be brought
back to God to do his will and enjoy his favor?
If the normal condition of the individual and of




6            The Ministry we need.
society is one in which God is consciously the central
object of affection, and his will the cordial rule of
conduct, wherever this moral state does not exist, it
is of secondary consequence what the outward aspect
of life is.
Civilization is greatly preferable to barbarism; for
there are benefits from  knowledge, from  the arts,
from  judicious laws, from  agreeable conventional
usages, which ameliorate the rougher, and enhance
the more satisfying circumstances of existence. The
way is also prepared for a more hopeful application
of higher principles.
On the other hand, barbarism presents more disgusting vices, more violent exercises of the malign
passions, with fewer redeeming traits, and withal a
discouraging obtuseness of the sensibilities, and a
degradation of the mental faculties. And yet, when
we weigh the facts touching the relations of society
to God, we find a humiliating agreement.  In one
case men know God, but in their works deny Him.
In the other they know not God and establish idols
in his place. The idolatry of heathenism is formal
and visible. The idolatry of Christendom inscribes
no altar with the name of Mammon, institutes no
order of worship, while nevertheless it secures that
profounder devotion in which with heart and soul,
men serve the god of this world.
In its radical significance, then, the problem is one
for the whole race of men estranged from  God,
whether they are polite or rude, whether cultivated
or untutored.




The Work.                    7
If these statements are correct, we cannot resort,
with any measure of hope, to those means by which
the intellect is furnished or the taste refined. Though
ignorance and wickedness are closely allied, taking
away the ignorance does not remove the wickedness.
Though the highest piety depends upon the aid of
knowledge, yet no amount of intellectual training
and furnishing will produce piety. History testifies
convincingly, that vice ripens under the mellower sky
of aesthetic culture, wealth, and intellectual advancement; that the sterner virtues of savage morality
decay in the softer climate; and that the'absolute
decline is sure to hasten to a fatal termination.
The evil cannot be mastered until it is apprehended. If it lies in a moral and spiritual defect; if
its source and its energy consist in the alienation of
the heart from God, and the indisposition of the will
to follow God's counsels, it is clear that no amount of
what is called education, no advancement in science,
no development and use of the material resources of
the world, no refinement of taste, and no courtesies
in social intercourse, can be relied on to produce the
essential reformation. These things have an inestimable value. They constitute an important part of
the world's elevation. Mankind can never reach the
high plane on which they are destined to stand without them. But their value depends upon the relation they bear to the moral and spiritual forces which
are the efficient reforming powers. They are to be
subordinate; to be used as helpers; to come in as




g            The Ministry we need.
the servants of religion. Knowledge is to be urged
forward; science, art, literature, commerce, manufactures, all activities and enterprises of which man is
capable, and to which the realm over which he has
dominion invites, are to receive worthy attention —
but they are to be pursued under the control of a mind
inspired with love to God, and seeking his glory and
human welfare, as its end. Losing sight of this fact
is the fatal mistake of many sincere and ardent
friends of human progress. These things they ought
to do, but not to leave the other undone. They forget the weighter matters of the law.
God has provided adequate means by which the
race may be arrested in its departure, and restored to
the enjoyment of his favor. The end of divine revelation is the enlightenment, redemption, and renovation of mankind.  The world has been slow to see
this, for the world by wisdom has not known, nor
ever can know God. From the beginning, ingenuity,
stimulated as well by pride as by sufferings, has been
seeking out some good way. The countless failures,
whether of visionary conceits or of thoughtful philosophy, have scarcely abated the ardor or the expectation of the search. It is as true to-day, as it
was thousands of years ago, that the world by wisdom
knows not God. Science, with its splendid achievements, adds not an iota to the promise. Civilization
does not solve the problem; for so far as civilization
is moral purification, it is the result of Christianity,
and not an element of progress. To whatever quar



The Work.                   9
ter the eye has been turned for help, disappointment
has been the invariable sequel of unjustified hopes.
So far as the past can furnish wisdom, it declares
to us, that the only recovery of man is found in receiving and obeying the truth, revealed by God for
our salvation. Any independent and candid examination of the possible forces, by which righteousness
and peace can be established, will, with a nearly
absolute certainty, lead to the same conclusion. The
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is to
work deliverance from this moral and spiritual bondage. The gospel of our Lord Jesus is the renovating agency, by which men are to be trained, and
qualified to live worthily, and to reach the ample
blessings of communion with God.  And this is
asserted, in the face of all that is claimed for and may
justly be ascribed to the influence of increasing and
diffused knowledge. It is asserted, notwithstanding
the wide range and number of the sciences, so called,
whether physical, metaphysical, moral, or social; and
notwithstanding the merit due to them, as helpful aids
in the formation of a higher social state.
From all these, and every other method, by reason
of their inherent inefficiency, we turn to the truth, as
unfolded to us by the Spirit of God, made powerful
on the conscience and the heart of man by the same
Spirit, as the only adequate force, and the only trustworthy discipline, by which the individual soul can be
brought back into peaceful relations with God, or the
world become subject to his law.




Io           The Ministry we need.
The ministry instituted by Christ is the foremost
human agency in applying this method. The work
to be done by the ministry, and the weapons to be
used, are not indistinctly marked out in the foregoing
remarks. The aim is to reconcile revolted men to
God; to bring them into loving obedience to his law;
to secure to them the divine blessing in its fullness,
and so in this life to exalt a fallen race to the felicities of righteousness, and to the pleasures which are
at God's right hand, in the life to come.




CHAPTER  II.
CONFIDENCE IN THE TRUTH.
l   N seeking characteristic and essential qualities, needed by those who are to engage in
this work, one of the first which attracts our
attention is the importance of profound convictions
in regard to revealed truth.
When it is remembered that the highest spiritual
living we are capable of is prompted by intelligent
conceptions of God and his requirements, it will be
obvious that to teach and impress the truth of God,
must be the substance of a minister's efforts.
A formal knowledge may be sufficient for formal
instruction. But the terrible energy of sinful propensity is not restrained by knowledge. It has always been known, perhaps it will never be better
known than it has been, that misery is the offspring
of vice. And yet the world has rolled on in its
career of suffering, unchecked by the demonstration
of thousands of years.  Some adequate authority is
needed to give urgency to the fact, that sin is the
forerunner of a fearful doom.  This authority is
found in the declarations of God, as sovereign and
judge. These declarations contain God's purposes,




12          The Ministry we need.
the principles of his government, and the issue of
the world's life. They are of necessity the most
solemn and weighty truths to which our minds can
be given.
As the whole question is one of divine government,
the destiny  of men depends upon the influence
which God's word has upon them. A minister stands
between God and his subjects. He bears to them
the divine message.  He is appointed to utter the
threatenings, and to reiterate the promises of mercy.
The Scriptures make it clear that eternal life and
eternal death are the inevitable issues of preaching.
Ministers " are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in
them that are saved, and in them that perish.   To
the one the savor of death unto death; and to the
other, the savor of life unto life."
How now is it possible to enter upon such duties,
involving such possibilities, and to discharge them
faithfully, unless the minister himself is deeply penetrated with the grand and awful realities, comprised
in the truth. A frivolous mind cannot sympathize
with the momentous alternatives. An easy credence
cannot take in the unmeasured responsibilities. A
wavering belief cannot boldly assert the necessary
admonition, nor present the infinite fullness of grace
in the divine promise. When the intensity of the
grasp of sin is considered, the abandonment of the
will to the rule of passion, and the insensibility of the
depraved heart to spiritual joys, it will be evident,
that an earnestness and tenderness, a patience and




Confidence in the Truth.           13
persistency are needed in pursuing the message of
God, which cannot exist without deep and stirring
convictions. The advantage is on the other side; for
sin has the possession.
In every human view the prospect is a disheartening one. The combined verdict of the world in the
centuries of its history is, that happiness is to be
found out of God; and to find it, the world has
aggregated and expended, with amazing pertinacity,
its ingenuity and its zeal. To confront this solid
phalanx of opposition requires a just confidence in
the resources to be applied. So long as the mind
wavers in doubt of the absolute necessity of the
gospel; so long as it entertains the thought that the
danger is not imminent; so long as it vacillates between the uncompromising claims of God's word
and some other possible method of escape, just so
long will it be an impossibility to press upon men,
with full energy and effectiveness, the demands of
God.
A minister, to do his work in any manner corresponding to its importance, should be absolutely
possessed and penetrated by the truth.  Eternal
realities should fill his mind with their august solemnities. His reason, his understanding, his heart,
should all be enlisted in the service. The vividness
of his own impressions should give vitality to his
words. The glow of his heart should impart zeal to
his utterance. His faith should inspire confidence in
his declarations. Believing with unfaltering firmness,




14           The Ministry we need.
in the word of God, he should speak with unfaltering
distinctness whatever comes to him under the sanction of, Thus saith the Lord.
Such a faith is the very substance of sincerity.
Sincerity is the soul of true earnestness. Earnestness is the moral power to which the heart yields its
readiest obedience. It has proved the triumphant
energy in most of the great revolutions of the world.
It is the recorded distinction of the most successful
preachers from John the Baptist to our day.
Earnestness in error is more convincing than tameness in the truth.  Even a simulated earnestness,
based upon a professed belief, is more efficacious
than a divided heart.  Mr. Froude has justly remarked, that " a mind sufficiently in earnest about
religion, to prefer truth to falsehood, listens only'to
teachers who speak with emphasis and certainty, who
do not think and say, but feel with warmth and passion.  Before a man can persuade others to accept
him as a guide, he must know his own mind, and be
ready with a Yes or No, on the questions with which
his hearers are perplexed."
But, for this unadulterated sincerity, for this glowing and mighty earnestness, this prompt and pronounced utterance, it is essential that the mind of the
preacher should be fully persuaded, that his heart
should suffer no wavering in its convictions of the
truth. To him the word of God should be, yea and
amen.  He should feel, that heaven and earth may
pass away, but God's word cannot pass away.  He




Confidence in the Truth.         IS
should feel, that the doctrines of the word are as
deep laid and as eternal as the throne itself. He
should realize, with a conviction as settled as that
there is but one sun in the heavens, that there is but
one name under heaven given among men, whereby
they must be saved. As an ambassador for Christ,
he must press men to be reconciled through Him with
an assurance as complete as his confidence that the
world exists. So long as the word of God is the
substance of the argument, the very arsenal of the
artillery of a minister, it must be essential to his
might and his efficiency, that he cherish profound
convictions of the truth; that his own soul be fully
under its dominion, and that he speak as one who
knows, and by his faith has seen.
This has been a characteristic of God's ministers always. The prophets were wellnigh terrible in
their absorbing conviction of the majesty and truth
of their messages. The Apostles had a boldness in
uttering all the words of the new life, which no authority of rulers, or anger of the populace could withstand.  They thoroughly believed what they proclaimed; and confessors and reformers have been
men of a like spirit. We can hardly conceive of a
successful enunciation of disagreeable and condemning truth without it. It has been the decisive element in the mental and spiritual tone of all great
moral renovations, and has left its stamp upon the
character and work of the great company of faithful
pastors and teachers in the Church of Christ.




I6          The Ministry we need.
We cannot presume that there ever was a time
which could dispense with this quality; or that such
a time will ever come; most assuredly such is not
the case now. For the truth of God is assailed still,
with unabated pertinacity.  If old issues are abandoned, new ones are started. If some questions concerning the gospel histories are forever settled, and
some teachings of the New Testament are established
beyond controversy, it does not follow, that skepticism
is routed or that unbelief has ceased.
We are to remember that one tendency of our
times is to unsettle established beliefs; to disparage
the importance of doctrine; to diminish the difference between truth and error; to exalt sentiment,
and to proclaim  an era of good feeling, with but
sparing regard to principles, fundamental in the government of God, as well as in the scheme of redemption. We are to remember that there is a pressure
to fix the conclusion, that nothing is to be accepted
which cannot be proved, and so become a matter of
science. There may be no more danger in this than
in the spent or exploded devices and forms of opposition. The point to be noted is, that positive belief
in revelation is rejected on the grounds of science;
and that faith itself is derided as a source of knowledge. The whole of what is called modern thought,
tends to make more imperative in the preachers of
righteousness the necessity of carrying with them
always into the service of God the unfaltering conviction, that his word is the truth, and that God will
not alter the thing that is gone out of his lips.




Confdence in the Truth.            i7
It is the weakest illusion to assume that a high
moral and spiritual life can rest upon feelings and
emotions without the force and sustaining efficacy of
fundamental principles.  These principles are the
ground doctrines of the word of God; and therefore,
a needful equipment for a successful and powerful
ministry is a profound belief of these truths.
2
^1f.'(.




CHAPTER  III.
THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
T should be kept in the foreground that the
gospel is a system by itself, amongst what
_ln  are called religions. Christianity is not the
religion of nature, not Judaism, not even pure theism.
It is not a code of moral regulations; a digest of
wholesome prohibitions and restraints; a compendium  of rewards and punishments.  Although its
morality is the most elevated; its rules of living the
purest and most spiritual; its rewards and punishments the most definite and comprehensive; its distinctive quality, over and above all these, is that it is
a redemption. It includes every worthy suggestion
of natural religion, respecting our duty to God and
to man, the practice of righteousness, the cultivation
of the virtues, and the condemnation of error and
transgression; while it does what no other system can
do, in making provision for the recovery, pardon, and
salvation of men ruined in their guilt. Preeminently
the gospel is not law, but love; while it does not in
the slightest degree derogate from sovereignty, it exalts grace; while it diminishes nothing in the condemnation of sin, it delights in the forgiveness of the




The Love of Christ.                I9
sinner; while it retains the accuracy of retribution,
it glories in the bestowment of a free gift; while it
justifies righteousness wherever it can be found, it
reinstates in the divine favor and the final inheritance
with great joy, every repentant prodigal and every
returning wanderer.
To use such a gospel as an instrument, must differ
widely from giving instruction in the precepts of the
law.  It obviously requires the minister to be in
sympathy with the spirit of the gospel, or more exactly to be in sympathy with Jesus Himself, the proclaimer of glad tidings. The very name Christianity
is not without its significance. It points directly to
Christ, as the person who, in his mission and teachings, stands as the originator of Christianity. If, as
has been intimated, the spirit of the gospel is peculiar,
the distinctive spirit is to be found in Christ. What
Christ is - that is the index of the tone and temper
of his system. If Christianity is specifically LOVE, it
is because Christ in his work is specifically love. It
has been truly said, " Christ is Christianity. Detach
Christianity from Christ and it vanishes before your
eyes into intellectual vapor. Christianity is non-existent apart from Christ: it centres in Christ; it
radiates now as at the first from Christ.  It is not a
mere doctrine bequeathed by Him  to a world with
which He has ceased to have dealings; it perishes
outright when men attempt to abstract it from the
living person of its Founder."
It can then hardly be possible to administer heartily




20           The Ministry we need.
the word of Christ, without feeling and appreciating
his love. There is no other avenue to Christ but this.
He is never comprehended till his love is understood;
and that attainment is never made, until his love has
melted, inflamed, and purified the heart. So that a
prime quality in the character of a minister, must
ever be his lively susceptibility to this love; his spontaneous response to it, and the fervor and zeal with
which he is inspired by it.
For it is a defective and unsatisfactory view of a
minister's work to present it only as didactic, and
ethical; to confine its scope to the inculcation of
sound principles, or the culture of the graces which
adorn character.  No more is it to be looked upon
merely as the rebuke of sin, and the utterance of denunciations against iniquity. Whatever tends to withdraw men from the dominion of transgression, to
promote righteousness, and to perfect the discipline
of a godly life is manifestly within its province.
But when it is remembered that the key-note of the
gospel is a proclamation of pardon to men, too deeply
insensible both to guilt and danger, that the very
mission of Christ was to seek and to save the lost;
that his mighty love concentrated itself on this, that
men under condemnation might not perish; the pith
and substance of the whole work takes another
aspect.  A minister becomes a messenger of mercy.
He is a herald of salvation. He is an ambassador
for Christ.  He beseeches men in Christ's stead.
He pleads with men to be reconciled to God.




The Love of Christ.              21
As no one can doubt that the moving principle in
Christ's humiliation and sufferings was love, so no
one can doubt that a sense of this love must be a
conspicuous quality in Christ's ministers. It should
be a constraining power. Therefore the Apostle says,
"The love of Christ constraineth us; because we
thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all
dead; and that He died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
Him which died for them, and rose again."  This
is the law of all discipleship.
Its application and its binding force is evinced in
the earnest words which follow, describing the ministry of reconciliation. Persuasion, entreaty, beseeching, as though God Himself did through his
servants beseech men; these are the exercises by
which reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ is
sought.
To enter thus into the heart of Christ's mission
without sympathy with Him, and without feeling the
kindlings of his love and responding to it, must ever
be a vain attempt. All the refining, exalting, and
stimulating influence of divine love is required to
bring about entire consecration to Christ. In such
consecration alone can the active powers be devoted to his service. Between a minister and Christ,
there should exist a close and peculiar union. How
intimate and tender it is, may be inferred from the
declaration, " Henceforth I call you not servants, for
the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth; but I
have called you friends; for all things that I have




22           The Ministry we need.
heard of my Father I have made known unto you."
Without appropriating so much of this passage as belongs exclusively to the immediate disciples, we may
safely gather the fact, that those in the work of the
Redeemer are admitted to special privileges of friendship and intimacy. It is no mere formality to be
Christ's minister. It is not an office, to be fulfilled
by perfunctory performances. It is not following a
ritual in worshipful observances, or discharging with
a cold conscientiousness a round of religious teachings and duties. All such are sacrifices laid upon
the altar with no flame to send the acceptable incense
heavenward.
There can be no true devotion to God or man
without love. And if the law is emphatically binding upon ministers, to be so constrained by the love
of Christ as to live to Him and not to themselves, it
becomes a question of momentous weight, what is the
import and extent of the implied consecration? Can
it be. anything short of taking the cause of Christ to
be one's own; the interests of Christ, his work, his
end, to be the interest, the work, and the end of his
servants?  Is there not of necessity implied an
identification of the minister with Christ, such that
there shall be but one aim and purpose to them both;
so that no one thus pledged to Christ can in any
other sense pursue his own ends than as Christ's
ends have become his?  This will bring the whole
energy of the man into the work of God.
For everywhere it is observable that, for the high



The Love of Christ.              23
est human efficiency, there must be an inward, vital,
spontaneous movement of the soul towards a chosen
object; some idea, some passion, the longing for
some achievement, must possess it, inspire it, magnetize it, marshal its powers, sustain it under the toil
of striving, during the delay of obstructions, against
the depression of partial defeats? and hold it up to
endure and persevere, till the triumph 1 reached.
Thus, the searcher for truth, the explorer, the inventor of complicated mechanical contrivances, the
patriot burning with zeal for his country's salvation,
the prophet glowing with a divine afflatus, as he sees
afar the coming glory; the reformer as he confronts
the stake, and defies the despotic rage which bars his
progress; these and all others who win great victories in great struggles, are moved by concentrated
desires and purposes, and are held under the league
and conspiracy of the affections and the will, and so
are enabled to combine all their energies upon the
determination  of their noble  endeavor.  So  the
Apostle felt, when he declared, " Woe is unto me, if
I preach not the gospel." A necessity was laid upon
him.  So felt the prophet.  " His word was in mine
heart a burning fire shut up in my bones." He could
not withstand the mighty impulse.
Now  Christ's work being preeminently and distinctively a work of love, to enter into it with all the
heart, demands that Christ's love shall penetrate and
pervade the soul, subjecting to Christ the powers and
passions of the mind, kindling so responsive a grati



24           The Ministry we need.
tude that the utmost service shall be a joyful offering
upon his altar. To have felt the redeeming energy
of this love; to have been inspired by it with a good
hope of mercy; to have received from it strength for
duty and temptation, and to have read in it the
assurance of the final glory, serve, most effectually,
to purge out the leaven of selfishness, and to allay
the fires of an earthly ambition.
There is no loyalty like this, when the soul is bound
to the Master by his all-constraining love. It makes
it possible to do the work of Christ, as one's own
work, and so, to perform it with all the freedom, the
heartiness, the joyousness, and the singleness of desire and purpose with which men pursue the objects
of their personal interest.
This is a condition of the service of the highest
importance. It strips the ministry of the repulsiveness of toil, of the irksomeness of duty and makes it
a delight. It lifts it above mercenary considerations
and private and personal ends, and invests it with the
charm and power of spontaneousness.  It unites the
servant with the Master in the tender associations and
sweet intercourse of friendship, and makes the Lord
and his disciples, fellow workers, and sharers together in the tribulation and triumphs of his kingdom.
This responsive affection, this grateful submission
of everything to Christ, this hearty adoption of his
cause, this self-consecration to all its interests, this
surrender of self to the exposures, struggles, and




The Love of Christ.             25
final exaltation of the gospel, should be held not
only to be a reasonable, but an essential element
in ministerial character.  It will give a distinctive
tone to the ministry, sanctify and elevate the office,
and vindicate for it the appellation of the ministry
of Christ.




CHAPTER IV.
GOOD-WILL TO MEN.
0 say that the ministers of Christ should be
actuated by a principle of good-will to men,
is hardly saying more than that the servant
should adopt the principles of the master. If it is
included in this statement, that the servant should
be as his master, it is sufficiently comprehensive.
There is little danger of exaggerating the quality of
divine love, as it seeks the welfare of the human
family. God so loved the world as to send his Son.
The Son so loved the world as to give Himself freely
to humiliation and suffering for its redemption. The
glory of the cross infinitely transcends its ignominy;
for it shines and blazes with the effulgence of God's
love. The great transaction, elevated above all other
events in the world's history, was conceived in the
heart of God before the world was; and through it
the Infinite Father pours out his heart for his ruined
children. Glory to God, and good-will to men, is the
wonderful harmony of that scene, which will draw to
it the eyes of the universe, and inspire the anthems
of eternity.
The Apostle determined to preach, as his one




Good-will to Men.               27
theme, Christ Jesus, and Him  crucified.  But to
preach Christ crucified, is to proclaim the way of
life, by God's love to lost sinners. The cross is the
energy of love, because it makes practicable the
longings of love. What then is a herald of the cross,
but a messenger of good-will to men?  And who
can so fitly bear glad tidings, as those whose hearts
thrill responsive to the joyous theme?
Among the motives urging to the ministry, this
should be distinct  good-will towards men; a
yearning of heart, to advance welfare and promote
happiness.  Fairly to put this desire within  the
sphere of Christian motives, it should be a zeal,
kindled by the love of Christ, to secure to men the
benefits of the mission of Christ.
To distinguish a Christ-like benevolence from other
generous dispositions, is not an unworthy fastidiousness. The object of the ministry is not merely to do
good, but to accomplish the peculiar and transcendent good aimed at in the gospel of grace. There
are reformations, and ameliorations of evil of value
in their sphere, which fall far short of the blessings
of evangelical righteousness.  There are benefits
worthily labored for, which are not the preparation
for the kingdom of heaven. There is an enthusiasm
for humanity, which may be kindled in a human heart
not touched by the Spirit of God, the fruits of which,
though precious and lovely to the eye, will not adorn
the celestial paradise.
It is not necessary to depreciate the lower forms




28          The Ministry we need.
of benevolence, in order to give just exaltation to the
higher. Ample credit should be allowed to every
kind and generous feeling which seeks to lift burdens; alleviate sorrows; to purify society, and diffuse happiness. Whoever in honesty of good-will
diminishes the sighs and groans of the world, and
adds one ray to the beam of light which irradiates its
darkness, is to be welcomed as a benefactor. But
the minister of Christ stands upon a higher plane
than the highest of human benefactors. He is the
messenger of his mercy, who shed his blood for the
remission of sins; who died, the just for the unjust,
that He might bring them unto God. The scope of
this benevolence ranges far beyond the annoyances
and ills of a brief mortality. It embraces a blessedness excelling all possibilities of earthly comfort. No
conception of the gospel promise is adequate, which
does not include the forgiveness of sin, and by it, the
redemption of the soul from death, the favor of God,
and with it, the crown of glory which fadeth not
away.
When it is said, that a minister should be moved
by a spirit of good-will, it is meant, that just such
love as filled the bosom of the Saviour should inflame him; that just such blessings as Christ purchased by his death, he yearns to convey to men. It
means, that he is so in harmony with Christ in his
heart, that he burns with desire to persuade men to
be reconciled to God, through the blood of the Lamb.
How exalted this benevolence is; how different from




Good-will to Men.               29
the ordinary exercises of good-will; how distinct will
be the efforts to which it impels, how immeasurable
the blessings to which it invites, is readily seen. It
is indeed only saying that in every minister of Christ
the spirit of Christ should be enthroned. Such benevolence will give the true tone and dignity to the
ministry. It will be to it a safe and pure inspiration.
It will inflame the preacher with a zeal according to
knowledge. It will render him forgetful of self in
his regard for others. It will secure him against the
enticements of pride and the flatteries of the world.
The absorbing worth of the end he seeks will exclude the thoughts of his own instrumentality; and
his loyalty to his Master will induce him to lay all
the honors at his feet. For love is truly humble, and
they who most love the Lord and are most absorbed
by the perception and power of his love, are ever the
most willing, and joyful in carrying out his plans.
If there is any thing real in the union of the believer with Christ, it can never be doubted that those
who are especially called to declare his mercy should
be eminently moved by good-will to men; that they
should be fired with the zeal of the Master, who
esteemed not his life dear unto Him, but was straitened until by his death his great purpose was fulfilled.




CHAPTER V.
CHRIST-LIKE COMPASSION.
T may seem  that what is conveyed by the
term  compassion, is properly included in
what has already been said.  There are,
however, reasons for the distinction —a reason of
emphasis, if no other.
A portrait of Jesus, in which his compassion is not
delineated, does not satisfy. His love takes that
form when the sufferings of men arrest his attention.
Distress penetrates his heart; sorrow brings tears to
his eyes; the cry of the suppliant awakens his sympathy, and the forlorn and helpless hear Him saying,
" Be of good cheer, go in peace." His sensitiveness,
his appreciation of human necessities, the yearning
tenderness which poured out the pathetic lamentation
over Jerusalem, indicate the depth and quickness of
his compassions.  Whatever in Christ illustrates his
desire to forgive sin and deliver from the bondage of
death, is the working of the same spirit.  It is a
faithful description of his life and mission, to say,
" He had compassion on them, forgave their sins, and
healed their diseases."
This quality of the Master's work should be closely




Christ-like Compassion.           3I
emulated by the servant. It will bring him into immediate contact with the sufferings which the gospel
is to relieve. Christ came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance,  emphatically lost sinners.
Christ offered Himself to save the lost. He understood the contents of this fearful epithet. His compassions glowed, and his love yearned over souls
under just such a weight of misery. The contumelies
He endured in his earthly career, the incomprehensible struggle of Gethsemane, the awful darkness and
desertion of the cross, give some glimpses, at least,
of his estimate of the woes impending over the guilty.
How else could He have ransomed them at such a
cost? And how could He have met the demands of
the mighty enterprise of love, had not a divine compassion moved Him  in it to lay down his life?
It is difficult to frame any consistent interpretation
of the life and crucifixion of our Lord, without estimating the guilt of sin as so heavy as to entail a
heavy doom of suffering; and therefore counting deliverance from it so great an event as to justify the
priceless ransom. No other view can save the cross
from the satire of being " a grand impertinence," or
exempt the songs of the redeemed in heaven from
the charge of heartless exaggerations.
The record we have of the teachings, the mighty
and the benevolent works of the Saviour, and the
substance of his promises, all imply that sinners in
their sins are sufferers, exposed to a retribution, both
certain and dreadful. It was this condition of the




32          The Ministry we need.
race under the just administration of God, to which
the compassions of Christ responded. Here was a
prospect on which the Son of man could not look
without the deepest emotion.   Nor was it mere
emotion; it stirred that current of active love that
bore Him through the self-denials and pangs which
wrought salvation.
It is a distinct part of the ministerial spirit, to be
in sympathy with Christ in his compassions. The
servant should know the work he has to do, and in
his measure fathom its conditions and its results.
He, like the Lord Himself, is to look upon men as
lost, and, in the fearful conception of the impending
ruin, to be moved for their rescue and yearn for
their salvation. It requires the utmost tenderness to
deal with the ruined who are insensible to their exposures.  Their ignorance and unconcern call for
knowledge and compassion in their deliverers. It
was because the Apostle knew the terrors of the
Lord, that he so earnestly persuaded men to be
reconciled to God.  The judgments of God hanging over the guilty, were the fittest stimulants to that
energy and tenderness which Paul always displayed
in his exhortations and appeals.
No one thing is of higher moment in a minister.
Without it zeal is apt to be an intemperate and unreasonable heat. Instead, the minister should burn
with a fervor justified by his conception of the momentous issue. So long as to him sin is under the
condemnation of God, and retribution in the future




Christ-like Compassion.            33
a revealed fact, so long he has just cause to be in
earnest, to plead, exhort with all long suffering and
doctrine, and to be zealous in importuning men to
accept the mercy of the gospel.
To such a fervor Guizot attributes much of the success of the efforts for the revival of religion in France.
He calls it "the passionate desire to save human
souls."  "A force born and developed in the bosom
of the Christian religion, and in that alone." "The
ardent solicitude for the eternal welfare of human
souls, the never wearying effort to prepare human
souls for eternity, to set them, even during this existence, in intimate relations with God, and to prepare them to undergo his judgments; we have in all
this a fact essentially Christian, one of the sublimest
characterstics of Christianity."
These are pregnant words.  They present a vital
topic for Christian thought. The passion for souls is
distinct from the impulses of humanity. It regards
man, and is moved for him  as immortal, and as a
subject of the divine government.  It seizes upon
the relations of the soul to God, and the preparation
of the soul to meet God's judgment, as facts of the
deepest significance. It expands the happiness of
man into the limitless future, and grounds the security of that happiness upon enjoying God's approbation.
All true Christian compassion contains this element.  It is something more than human instinct.
Its scope is broader than the field of temporal
3




34           The Ministry we need.
wretchedness.  It turns upon a more fundamental
view of man, than that which embraces only his relation to present scenes and events. Its object is
man, in the entireness of his being and possibilities;
man  in his condition of present and impending
wretchedness.
If it degrades the idea of Christ's compassion, to
limit it to a tender feeling for the bodily sufferings,
under which men labor, it equally degrades the same
sentiment in us, if we only sympathize in the brief
pains and sorrows of those whose miseries we witness.  The mystery of the cross is not relieved by
narrowing the force of it to what it may accomplish
in our present short existence. On the contrary, such
a view exposes it to all the disparaging criticism, so
freely indulged in, by those who do not realize the
necessity of a scheme of reconciliation.
Christian. earnestness is justified by the same considerations which justify the death of Christ. If the
cross means that sinners must perish without it, then
Christ's compassion means that his heart is moved
by the peril of sols exposed on account of sin.  If
those who are to do the work of Christ need to be
moved with feelings like his, the substance of their
compassion must be a deep and tender solicitude for
the soul.
Christianity is nowhere more distinct from  humanity than here; and nowhere is the difference between religious enthusiasm and philanthropy more
palpable. The aim of the gospel is, first, to set men




Christ-like Compassion.           35
right with God; and having done that, the mightiest
barrier to happiness is removed.  But the controversy with God is in reference to his law. Sin and
obedience are the great facts. God's disapprobation
follows transgression; and it is reasonable to ask the
question, Can an accountable moral being be happy
under the government of God, while sin remains unforgiven?  If not, then to what purpose are all
ameliorating circumstances and mitigations of evil?
If the displeasure of God rests upon the soul for its
sins, whatever may be the alleviations of the temporal condition, the attainment of blessedness remains
an impossibility.
If the present life is the period in which the pardon of sin is to be secured, then the present life has,
as opportunity, a value as immeasurable as eternity.
The manifestation of Christ in time, then becomes'the highest demonstration of divine love. Then the
compassion of Christ has a depth, a reasonableness,
and-a breadth of comprehension, which will be revealed more and more, throughout the ages of eternity, to every redeemed spirit. We can understand
something of his willingness to suffer. Though we
may not fathom the love which so meekly and majestically exalts the life of the Son of God, we may
catch some glimpses of the heart of compassion,
which bore the load of human woes. Beneath the
lively sympathy He felt for every mortal ill, there was
a deeper tone of love — the love of Christ for the
soul, which is to survive the body, and which is in



36           The Ministry we need.
vested with the capacity to enjoy forever the presence
of God, and to be made partaker of the divine nature.
The revelation of this love is the singular revelation
made in the Incarnation.  To share in this love is
the highest gift of God to man. This love, when
they caught the idea of it, before it was made actual,
filled the heavenly host with amazement. The fruit
of it will be the abounding joy of heaven. Any lower
view than this dims the lustre of the gospel, and
diminishes the glory of the cross. The compassion
of Christ sinks to a feeble sentiment, instead of being
a divine energy, compassing and accomplishing the
exaltation of a ruined race.
When the ministers of Christ assume to carry forward his work, they need the inspiration of this spirit.
The aim of Christianity is nothing less than the aim
of Christ. The preachers of Christianity must thus
expand their view to the same comprehensive limits;
and when they preach, preach to men, under the stirring conviction of their real exposures. Nor is it
enough to admit the speculative fact of their exposure. This fact must exert its influence upon their
hearts. It is the chief fact to excite those melting
and resistless compassions that urge ministers to be
importunate in their expostulations.  Reading the
evil of sin in the cross, and the profound dangers of
men in the life and death of the Redeemer, they will
feel their hearts burning within them; and their desires will be fervent and strong; and they will be impelled to plead with all the force and persistency of
intense concern.




Christ-like Compassion.            37
It is reasonable to conclude that the strength of
active compassion will, in some measure, correspond
with the idea entertained of sin. For if the chief
peril is found in the impending consequences of
transgression, we must intelligently apprehend the
transgression before we can be moved by the calamities it threatens.
Precisely at this point does the Scriptural line of
thought diverge from the speculative. The tendency
of human judgment is to measure sin by the evils or
injuries which flow from it, or stand connected with
it. Sin and evil come to be synonymous. The guilt
of a theft is the injury inflicted. The crime'of drunkenness is the swift following wretchedness. Confining, either really or practically, the contents of sin
to these narrow limits, eliminates all the spiritual
quality of it; gradually absolves the criminal of
guilt, and consigns him to the category of unfortunates.  The sense of ill-desert vanishes; the idea of
resisted authority is lost sight of; commiseration is
felt instead of condemnation; and whatever is included in the fearful threatening of God's displeasure
ceases to have force.
It is difficult to conceive of any deep moral earnestness being awakened, to deliver men from  sin
under such views. The ravages of sin have been
always present, and have embittered the lives of all
the generations of men; and yet no thorough, deep
working compassion has ever been elicited; no energetic redemptive scheme has ever been devised.




38           The Ministry we need.
These, and all feeble conceptions of sin, hide its
deadliness and its hideousness by veiling its true
nature.  The malignity of the will that chooses
wrong; the badness of the heart that takes delight
in selfish indulgence; the stain upon the soul by its
contempt of the rule of right; the defilement of the
conscience by resisting God; all these are lost sight
of. The soul's loss of its native purity, its separation
from God, its incapacity for fellowship with goodness,
and for participating in the joys of holiness, fail to be
weighed according to their value. So, also, the penalty of the divine law, considered as an actual determination of the reigning justice of the universe, is
emptied of its contents. But if the soul is understood in its true nature, with all its moral responsibilities; with its vast capacities and possibilities; with
its proper dependence on God, and its accountability
to Him, as the subject of an actual and righteous
government; with a life before it eternal in its duration and development; the idea of sin assumes other
proportions, and the peril of sin-grown to be momentous, apart from the calamitous consequences of
it here, because measured by the more fearful consequences of it hereafter, when the soul will meet the
judgment of God, and reap the fruit of its own
doings-must awaken an anxiety which no feeble
efforts can pacify. The same chord in the Christian
heart will be touched which vibrated in the Saviour's
bosom; and those, who in their own deliverance from
the curse of sin, have experienced the might of a




Christ-like Compassion.          39
Saviour's compassion, will, in like manner, have compassion upon their fellow-men, and burn with an intense desire to bring them to Christ, that they too
may be saved.
No one can read the record of the apostolic ministry without finding ample illustration of these views.
It is certain that the preachers who went everywhere
proclaiming Jesus Christ, were penetrated with a consciousness of the reality of the coming life, and of
the connection between receiving Christ and being
delivered from the wrath to come, and made sure of
blessedness. They preached Jesus and the Resurrection - Jesus who saved his people from their sins,
and gave them a title to the inheritance. This was the
energy of their earnestness. This made Paul willing
to be accursed from Christ for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh. He fixed his thought
upon the judgment. He mastered himself, lest he
should be a castaway. He looked for a building of
God, a house not made with hands.  He believed
and therefore spake, "knowing that He which raised
up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and
shall present us with you. Wherefore we labor, that
whether present or absent, we may be accepted of
Him."
Thoughts confined to a brief earthly existence
would have prompted no such utterances.  The
Apostles looked with a clearer and more just scrutiny
into the present and the future. They viewed, with a
sort of indifference, the good and evil of the present




40          The Ministry we need.
life, so weak and diminutive, compared with the realities to be revealed. They paid no regard to personal
sufferings and losses, if they could win souls. For,
to them it was better to depart and be with Christ.
For themselves, " they pressed towards the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,"
and by every act, and by all available efforts persuaded others to do the same.
These facts give the tone and complexion to their
compassions, and bring them into harmony with the
compassions of Christ.
We are not by reason of the preeminence of this
type of compassion, to disregard the fact, that the
tenderness of our Saviour made Him susceptible to
all human suffering. He was touched with a feeling
of our infirmities. The sensibilities of his human
nature, qualified Him to perform the service of a
Redeemer. He had a heart open to the cry of all
forms of distress.  He was anointed to preach the
gospel to the poor; He was sent to heal the brokenhearted; to preach deliverance to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them
that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of
the Lord. These ministries of mercy are the visible
grace and ornament of his mission. They are not
less appropriate and becoming in his disciples.
All Christ's servants are sent upon similar errands 
and the love which is quickened in them finds expression in every exercise of human kindness. The
elevation of the fallen; the relief of the wretched;




Christ-like Compassion.          41
the bestowment of comfort upon the destitute, are
distinct offices of Christian charity. Even the natural heart feels in some degree the appeal  though
the wail of despair and misery, full often, meets only
a deaf ear. The responses of humanity to suffering
humanity, shed light upon the dismal regions of
misery; afford glimpses of the better side of our
nature - some sparkling fragments of its pristine
beauty, - and intimate, that man can be something
other than the enemy of his fellow.
A true manhood is fellowship with man. But this
fellowship, so utterly broken by the reign of selfishness, is restored only in Christ. Without this divine
regeneration, the energy of human sympathy is entirely inadequate to cope with the malignant influences which fill the world with darkness and woe.
The active and systematic endeavors to ameliorate
the condition of the race; to lift the crushing burdens
under which men groan, and to defend them against
social and natural evils, are almost entirely the outgrowth of Christianity.  No endeavors of philanthropy, in any degree commensurate with the necessities of the case, have ever been developed. Christ
taught the lesson of sympathy. He uttered kind
words; performed kind offices; put Himself upon a
level with those whom He sought to bless; put his
own hand to the work and made the wretched in
every phase of suffering, feel the warmth of his heart.
It is for his ministers to do in like manner, with the
same lowliness, and with warm and sympathetic en



42           The Ministry we need.
deavors.  And this is a power in the ministry, an
indispensable requisite to a symmetrical and successful prosecution of the work. It is the spiritual type
of compassion, united with tenderness of sympathy,
that fits for the manifold, the loving, the delicate, and
the forbidding duties of Christ-like devotion.
A sinner, in the hopelessness and helplessness of
his ruin, by the mere fact of his situation and exposures, becomes an object of interest.  His outward
circumstances do not repel or dishearten. Whether
he is found dwelling amid the comforts and attractions of affluence, or in the abject wretchedness and
squalor of loathsome and vicious poverty; whether
within the area of neighborhood and common country, or separated by the distance and the antagonisms of half-civilized or barbaric tribes; in virtue of
kindred with him, and in virtue of the unlimited offers
of mercy, his necessities spontaneously excite Christian
solicitude. If the commission of Christ includes the
evangelization of the race, as truly as his death provides a way of life for every individual, the execution
of the gracious purpose admits of no restriction to
places or persons. The working of compassion must
be as universal as the call for it.
A sympathy less pervasive is not the sympathy of
Christ. His infinite compassions are for ruined man
in all the countless varieties of his misery. His gospel is grace for the nations.  His hand holds the
pardons ready for sinners of all tribes, races, and
conditions.  His heart bounds with joy over any




Christ-like Compassion.            43
sinner of. any complexion, or any class, when he
turns to seek life  and when the followers of Christ,
go forth to speak in his name, they need the same
breadth of feeling, the same cosmopolitan good-will,
the same lively and unexclusive affections.  What
else will inflame a zeal, satisfied to wait, in patient
earnestness, by the side of an African kraal, for weary
years, before one note of praise to the Redeemer is
heard from  its dark inhabitants? What else will
nerve to the forbidding task, of delivering from the
pollutions of the dens of city heathenism, the almost
brutal victims of vicious habits? What else can
enable one with meek forbearance to withstand the
contumely of profane and worldly pride? What else
can sustain the persistent effort to present the humble way of life in Christ, to those who by much
learning are tempted to trifle with the words of
Christian love? Such self-denials exceed the promptings of philanthropy.  The shriveled affections of
the natural heart, turned in upon itself, are not equal
to the occasion. It requires the new heart given of
God; the new life after Christ, and out of Christ.
In his spirit, none of these things are impracticable.
It is all the more necessary to keep in view such
distinctive truths now that the tendency is so decided
in public speaking, in much written in books and
perodicals, and in the strain of conversation, to confine religion to the relative duties, and to restrict its
fruits to the courtesies and amenities of life. There
are  undisguised endeavors to disparage Christian




44           The Ministry we need.
doctrine, and to exalt the value of all efforts by
which society is relieved of moral and social grievances. The popular religion is not submission to
God, worship of his name, hope in his mercy, and
fidelity to his requirements; but rather a certain
cultivation and moral discipline, which gives security,
peace, and convenience, in every-day relations and
intercourse. It does not embrace the notion of recovery from sin or preparation for future blessedness,
excepting as the latter results from uprightness and
good temper. It does not propose to set man face to
face with God, and establish peace with Him upon
the revealed conditions of mercy.
If this is all that the regeneration of the race, and
final salvation demand, the work is a very simple
one. Enthusiasm  for humanity, and the ordinary
impulses of good feeling, are sufficient.
But is this what Christ meant when He came to
save the lost? Is no more than this implied when
men are warned to flee from the wrath to come? Do
these things constitute the sum  of the blessings,
which the unparalleled love of Christ, bestows upon
his followers? If so, then his ministers have no
occasion to bear upon their hearts the burden of
souls, or to be concerned  about eternal life and
eternal death. But if otherwise, if Christ's compassions moved Him to die, to redeem men from the just
condemnation of sin, the weight of eternal retribution, and to secure them the joy of a heaven of infinite holiness, in the presence of God, then his




Christ-like Compassion.           45
ministers must be something more than moral reformers.  They must strike at a deeper root of evil
than mere surface irregularities, and labor to do
something more than correct annoyances and inconveniences arising from transgressions. They have a
different arithmetic of values to study, and a more
noble end to gain.  And this work cannot be done
as Christ Himself did it, without a measure of the
compassion which prompted Him  to lay down his
life to save souls from death.
If this appears to be an inordinate representation,
and to force one phase of religious truth too much into
the foreground, it should be remembered, that just
now, this characteristic truth, by the drift of thought
and opinion, and the dictation of public sentiment,
is thrust far into the background. The aid of religion
is acceptable for this present life, if it can smooth the
roughnesses that disfigure society; if it can clothe
the rude in the guise of beauty, and silence the uproar of outrageous sin. But the gospel is chiefly the
offer of eternal life. While securing the peace of the
undying soul it cultivates the highest and purest virtues
and maintains the best moral and spiritual discipline.
It treats the life that now is, and the life that is to
come as parts of one whole. It seeks to form such
characters here, as are fit to be transferred to the
world of purity and glory hereafter.  Redemption
aims to rescue men from the power of sin, to excite
in them the purpose and the love of holiness, and
then to exalt them, justified and sanctified, to the




46          The Ministry we need.
absolute enjoyment of peace. Such is the design
which the loving heart of Christ conceived, and
which his life of humiliation accomplished. And
such in spirit and aim is the work of his ministers.




CHAPTER  VI.
ENDURING HARDNESS.
NDURING  hardness may-be taken to express a characteristic, comprehending the
ability and disposition to meet whatever
trial and heavy toil a minister may be subject to.
In the fairest view of it, this calling is noble and
dignified, presenting the most exalted and worthy
aims, and sustained by substantial supports and cheering hopes.  It would be, nevertheless, a childish
weakness, to expect it to be exempt from  severe
conflicts and perplexing straits. To build up righteousness in the face of domineering and time-honored
iniquity, and to make head against a rebellion, strong
in its vast majority, and bold by the completeness
with which it enlists the pride and passions of men,
cannot reasonably be esteemed an easy task.  And
if it is a great work, it demands, in common with all
worthy undertakings, an appreciation and devotion,
with forgetfulness of self and disregard of suffering,
so that neither inherent difficulties, nor incidental
pains, shall damp the ardor, or diminish the energy
of pursuit.
To suppose that the grandest exercise of human




48           The Ministry we need.
power, upon the most exalted plane of action, necessitates no toiling or striving, is to contradict all anticipations of reason, and all results of experience.
The degree of strength and fortitude required in an
enterprise, depends, not alone upon the outward obstructions to it, but as well upon the weight and true
magnitude of the object itself. Great achievements
involve the outlay of great energies.
That the work of redemption has this preeminent
and inherent dignity is evident from the fact that it is
God's chief manifestation of wisdom and love; that
in its interest the course of history is designed and
proceeds, and that in its development the Son of God
is the chief actor. It embraces larger results and
more grand than the visible creation, for that is finite
and will come to an end; whereas, the glory of God
in redemption is infinite, and the reign of blessedness which it sets up, is eternal. When God sent his
Son into the world, in the form of a servant, He invested Him in a peculiar glory. " And the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his
glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." The Son was the appointed
messenger and mediator, the representative of the
Father.  God glorified his Son, in appointing Him
to show forth the glory of his love, and to convey
pardon and eternal life to sinners; to ransom and
save the lost by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross,
and to bring home the countless multitudes of sons
and daughters of the Lord God Almighty, who are to




Enduring Hardness.               49
constitute the society of heaven, by whom God is to
be forever adored, and in whom  the universe will
forever admire the triumphs of grace.
This redemption is but partially conceived of, when
we limit it to the elevation and transcendent felicity
of ransomed souls.  Its brightest lustre is in the
wonderful display it presents of the profound benignity of God, the unfathomable thoughts of love id
mercy towards men, made actual in the incarnation;
and in that highest glory ascribed to God forever,
by all the moral beings who shall have witnessed,
or participated in, the execution of the plan. What
earth-born and earth-completed design can for a moment compare with this in solid grandeur and enduring worth.  However much this redemption may surpass our powers of comprehension, in the mystery of
its origin, or in the vast sweep of its effects, it is, nevertheless, the precise commission of Christ's ministry
to carry it forward towards its consummation. The
treasure of infinite wisdom is committed to earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of
God and not of us.
Christ Himself, with wonderful condescension, associates his disciples in the very spirit and glory of
his mission. " The glory which thou hast given me I
have given them, that they may be one even as we
are one. I in them and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one."  With what significance this
bestowment impresses the ministry and with what
honor it invests it, is obvious. The servants of Christ
4




50           The Ministry we need.
are thus elected to receive and manifest, in their
measure, the same love of God to men; and in the
spirit of Christ to declare the words of eternal life.
They are called to all the service, the tribulation
and joy of this kingdom of righteousness; and it is
theirs to be the subordinate messengers of heavenly
mercy. They are admitted to fellowship with Christ
in the toil and in the glory; not merely by their own
self-consecration, but by the incorporating act and
electing love of Christ Himself. In fact, a large and
conspicuous portion of all that the advancement of
God's kingdom demands, is laid directly upon Christ's
ministers. They are the soldiers who are to be in
the conflict, and meet the opposition face to face.
They are the laborers who are to toil against obstructions, whatever they may be. They are to bear any
obloquy, reproach, or scorn, that the world may
choose to visit upon them. They are to endure the
coldness and apathy of unbelief, when it turns away
unmoved from the melting love of a dying Saviour.
They are to rise superior, in their heart-earnestness,
to the supercilious pride which stamps the cross of
Christ as foolishness, and derides the offer of mercy
as weakness. Where the name of Christ is cast out
as evil, and the gospel rejected as an imposture, they
are to stand firmly for the glorious hope, inspired by
it themselves, and yet groaning in themselves under
the burden of souls who choose darkness rather
thah light.
So far as thought can take in the issues of Christ's




Enduring Hardness.              51
mission, the fearfulness of rejecting it, the joy of its
acceptance, just so far must every minister of Christ
labor, with a sense of responsibility which, without
the promised aid of the Spirit, would make his life an
oppression and a weariness. The same grace which
is mighty and merciful to save, is also mighty and
merciful to sustain. He that has said, go preach my
gospel, - though He has not said, no tribulation shall
attend you, - has said, "Lo I am with you alway,
even to the end of the world."
There is, inherent in the work, a burden to be
borne and a conflict to be maintained, which imperatively demands willingness to endure, and readiness
to forego ease and personal gratification and selfpleasing. The very essence of the gospel is disinterested benevolence, a desire to do good to others
without regard to self. The fundamental condition
of discipleship is, deny thyself, take up the cross.
If it is an axiom of all worldly endeavor that no
great attainment is reached without great pains and
strifes, it must be still more so of this, that its success
must involve toil and hardship.
To any one united by faith and love to the heart of
Christ, and by tenderness and compassion sharing
the woes and sorrows of humanity, there is no escape
from these burdens. There is a travail of soul common to the master and servant, which cannot be
satisfied, till redemption is completed; and as the
Master was straitened and groaned under the load,
so the servant must gird himself, and take upon him
the yoke, and bear hardness.




52           The Ministr)y we need.
"' Now it behooves thee thus to put off sloth,'
My Master saith, for sitting upon down
Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame,
Withouten which, whoso his life consumes,
Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth
As smoke in air or in the water flames.
And therefore raise thee up, o'ercome the anguish,
With spirit that overcometh every battle,
If with its heavy body it sink not."
If the fading chaplet of a posthumous earthly renown cannot be had without resisting sloth and ease,
and meeting with resolute purpose the anguish of the
battle, it is not to be expected that the incorruptible
crown can be won by light effort.
The great victory of Christ, accomplished when
He cried, " It is finished," was achieved, in a life of
unhonored and unrewarded toil and privation, and
completed, amid the darkness and ignominy of the
crucifixion..How can we take up the work without
also taking up the burden? How can we enter into
the spirit of redemption without a sense of the woes
and pains which afflicted the soul of the Son of
God?  How can we guage the miseries, which Christ
so fully measured, without bearing, in part, the anguish of soul which He suffered?  How  can we
follow the cross-bearer, without partaking of the
enmity and  reproach  visited upon Him?  It is
enough for the servant that he be as his Master;
and if He carried the griefs of a world, and sympathized in the sorrows of a race, and exposed Himself
to the indignities and opposition of men, blinded and




Enduring Hardness.               53
hardened in sin, with a divine patience and endur
ance, with a humility as profound as his nature was
exalted; it cannot be too much to expect his servants
to be of a like mind, and willingly to do as He did.
If burden bearing, self-denials, and strivings are inseparable from the work of converting the world to
God, all shunning these inevitable things is shunning
the cross; seeking to make light work of it is seeking to spare self, at the risk of defeating the very end
proposed. It would at once annihilate the value of
this endurance, if it were the endurance of self-inflicted, or invited suffering. Nothing can be farther
from the true spirit of the office, or of any Christian
service, than self-imposed or conventional inflictions.
There is no virtue in austerities, nor in courted
martyrdom.
There are, besides the great burdens and trials
which of necessity belong to the promotion of God's
kingdom, as the antagonist of all the evil there is
in the world, and to the unwelcome task of reforming
those who are the slaves of passions and appetites,
abundant incidental annoyances and inconveniences.
They have been over-much dwelt upon by a well
meant but unfortunate sentimentalism. They have
had too large a place in the attention of those entering the ministry.  For the cares which invade the
quiet of the parsonage, the irritations growing up
within the bounds of a parish, the sometimes severe
bitings of penury, and the uncomfortable straits into
which ministers are cast, although real, are still com



54           The Ministry we need.
paratively unimportant.  They are of like quality
with vexations and perplexities, which other callings
are exposed to. They should be set aside as of
small concern, when compared to the great work in
hand; just as the naturalist who in his zeal for science pushes his way through morasses and forests,
teeming with pestilent insects and vermin, taking no
heed of the smart of the sting, in the ardor with which
he presses towards his desired object.
To dwell much on these things, when the kingdom
of God demands energy, will not only eat out all true
manhood, but as surely will destroy Christian fortitude and magnanimity.  Under a just sense of the
immense issue, all hinderances will be withstood, and
all obstructions and repulsive circumstances will be
overborne, even as the general, who best knows the
dismal scenes and horrid carnage of the battle-field,
through them all urges his battalions to the victory,
for the prize at stake.
The. ministry has its full share of joy, its full
measure of delights, and as compared with other
professions it receives an ample consideration in the
community.  It would be difficult to find any class of
men happier, or to name any service in itself considered nobler or more ennobling.  All the more,
therefore, should those who enter upon this warfare
be willing, self-sacrificing, patient, and endure hardness, as good soldiers of the Lord Jesus.




CHAPTER  VII.
FAITH IN CHRIST AND THE PROMISES.
HERE must be the sustaining power and
cheering influence of an expectation. This
is essential everywhere. The question is,
what that power and influence shall be? Even our
Lord Himself looked to the recompense of reward;
and He by no means leaves his servants to the
depression and discouragement of unrequited toil.
Hopeless labor sinks to the lowest verge of human
endurance; and on the other hand, every energy, and
the whole force of mind and heart, are cheerfully
given to attain inviting and practicable ends. It is
unjust to regard the ministry as a form of slavery;
for there can be no exercise of human faculties more
consonant with the highest freedom. It is equally
unjust to describe it as unpaid toil; for although in
the world's currency it may fail to show a satisfactory
remuneration, yet even in this life it is enriched by
ample enjoyments, and an income of spiritual good,
more than atoning for incidental evil.
We are not, however, to look even to the best
earthly encouragements as the true motive in this
work. Its range is higher, and its inspiration comes




56           The Ministry we need.
from  a purer source. The sufficient fountain is in
Christ and the promises.  While in many aspects
these coalesce, they have also a distinct influence.
For Christ is a personal inspiration, and imparts
strength to the heart which trusts in Him. Theministry of Christ is a service of love and loyalty. It is
fealty to a master who has won the heart first, and
with it has carried captive the whole man. It is the
outflow and expression, in which love and gratitude
seek to bring honor and offerings to Him who first
loved.  Nothing short of an affection which gives
Christ the first place can produce the essential devotion.  "Lo, we have left all and followed thee;"
which can only be truly said, when Christ and his
kingdom have become supreme.
This is, by no means, an estimation derived from
an intellectual comparison and judgment.   This
elevation is not reached by a supereminent act of
reason, or by a cold mental intuition. It is nothing
more than the common faith of a believer, made
deeper, stronger, more vital and comprehensive by
receiving and resting upon the Saviour, more singly
and exclusively. The richness of Christian experience
is a fuller consciousness of the love of Christ, and a
more childlike and tender response to it. The more
Jesus Christ becomes all in all to the heart - the one
support and joy and hope for the present life and the
life to come - the more freely and delightfully will
every power of soul and body bend to his control, and
we shall live to Him.  "I am crucified with Christ,"




Faith in Christ and the Promises.    57
said the Apostle; "nevertheless I live, yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me and gave Himself for me."
There is great force in the frequent expression of
Paul, as descriptive of the believer's relation to Christ.
He is said to be in Christ. So Christ is said to be in
him.  The believer is said to be Christ's - so Christ
is said to be his. This intercommunion and mutual
property are the terms of a close union and friendship,
which sinks out of sight all contradiction in purpose,
and all inharmonious feeling. It is a melting and
fusing of all the passions and powers of the soul into
one. It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in
me; and then the soul desires to know nothing but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and to proclaim no
other salvation but that by the cross, and to hold up
no other redemption but that by the blood of the
Lamb.  Then the feeble heart craves no support but
Christ strengthening it. Then the pressure of duty
calls for no other helper but Christ working in us.
Then the hour of tribulation demands no other comforter than Christ making his abode with us.
It is this possession of Christ as the soul's life, and
this being possessed by Him which emphatically constitutes a minister of Christ. It is a relation founded
exclusively upon that spiritual regeneration which
attends the casting off all dependence upon self, and
coming in abasement and sorrow to the foot of the
cross, there to realize and receive Jesus as Prince and




58           The Ministry we need.
Saviour. As there is no other door but this into the
heart of Christ, and the present anticipation of the
joys of heaven, so there is no other way into the
ministry of Christ. All short of this must be defective
in the warmth and glow which the sight of Christ
kindles, and must lack that personal inspiration which
is heartier, more fervent and effectual than any conviction. While to the consciousness it is always a
living truth, that Jesus is eternal life;' while the heart
in its intensest gratitude thirsts to honor Christ as its
hope; while the infinite yearnings of the soul are
daily satisfied in Christ, - the bread which cometh
down from heaven, - there will always be motive and
inspiration and earnest persuasion on the part of a
minister. While his faith is firm, his strength will be
firm. The fluctuations of opinion, the conflicts of
schools, the attractions of culture, and the dogmas of
science, cannot touch this bond, which holds him to
the heart of the Infinite One.
Such a personal consciousness in respect to Christ,
and such reliance upon Him, will prove an antidote
against the speculations, which are warily working to
destroy all personality in the divine being, and, in a
narrower sphere, to reduce all religion to the exact
discharge of relative duty.  Duty without devotion
must always be cold. Ambition is passionate. The
love of the world burns to a frenzy. And it is hardly
possible to conceive of a force sufficiently inspiring
to sustain the arduous pressure in the service of
truth against error and sin, excepting one that carries




Faith in Christ and the Promises.    59
with it the indescribable charm and fascination of a
personal affection. The profoundest divine wisdom
is manifested in making the Son of man the captain
of our salvation.
It is the host under this leadership which is to
conquer the world. It is his name, proclaimed by
faith in it, that is to make the soul-sick whole. It is
to the name of Jesus that every knee is to bow. It
is to the love of Jesus that every harp in heaven is
to be strung. It is at the feet of Jesus that every
crown is to be cast. It is into the likeness of Jesus
that every redeemed soul is to be transformed.
Equally true is it that all who are to be the heralds
of salvation, in their work are to be inspired by the
indwelling Christ, and to go forth, not only in his
name to speak his words, but moved and animated
by his Spirit, to do his will. All other motives failing;
all earthly hopes disappointed; all earthly friends
forsaking; earthly goods taken away; even life in
jeopardy; this is still sufficient. " I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me." Of all the
spiritual forces animating men, this of Christ in us,
working both to will and to do, is at once the loftiest
and most penetrated by self-abasing feelings; the
purest and yet the most persistent. Though it may
resemble the intense passion of soldiers for a military hero, the burning enthusiasm of revolutionary
partisans for a trusted chief, the fervor and faith with
which crowds press after daring adventurers, it is a
rarer virtue than these, and holds the heart by a more




60            The Ministry we need.
profound and steadier affection.  For although self
ishness may not in this life ever be purged out entirely, in no way is it so nearly overcome as by the
ascendancy of love to Christ, at once expelling every
evil propensity, and exalting every pure disposition.
With such an inspiration it is more easily understood how the handful of despised disciples laid the
foundation of the Christian Church, amid perils and
hardships, and at the risk of life; how the martyrs
resisted the frowns of despotic hatred, in sight of the
fires; and how, in these later days, ministers and
missionaries have patiently, and  without fainting,
preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified, in spite of
sufferings and losses.
But there is still another element not to be overlooked. While Christ is with his servants, to uphold
and cheer them by his Spirit, he holds out to them
encouragement in the future. There is a recompense
of reward. This, in the main, looks to the final settlement. The laborer is worthy of his hire.
If this be true of all lower worldly toil, much more
is it true of the higher; for God is not a hard master.
If there is some severity, and much burden in the
service, the reward is commensurate.  Even here
fidelity finds alleviating remunerations.  The fruit
gathered year by year; extraordinary spiritual harvests; the growth of purity, meekness, faith, and charity in the church; the visible enlargement of the dominion of righteousness; the increase and greater
skillfulness of Christian activity; the higher tone of




Faith in Christ and the Promises.    6i
morals; the advancing type of civilization; the improved social condition, and the wider acknowledgment of Christian principle in national life; the
consciousness of doing something in all these benign
movements for man, and for the kingdom of God, is
a satisfaction of no ordinary moment. To be allowed
of God to bring one soul to Christ is a priceless
recompense.  To be constituted a leader in the appointed way, of making known the truth; to be
associated with all the godly in diminishing evil and
increasing goodness; to be a builder together with
God on the walls of the temple, the top-stone of
which shall be laid with shoutings of grace unto it;
this brings a revenue of pleasure, in the very days of
the service, such as is looked for in vain in other
avocations. So that the ministers of Christ are well
provided with alleviations and joys by the way.
These serve to mitigate the irksomeness, and smooth
the roughnesses, so much insisted upon as inseparable
from this service.
The fullness of the promise is the joy at the end of
the day. It may be briefly stated as entering into
the joy of the Lord.  This is held out to every
laborer in the vineyard. Not only shall his toil yield
fruit in the blessedness of others, but he himself shall
be made the recipient of the highest exaltation.
For the joy into which the faithful servant is admitted, is the joy of his Lord. It is written that Christ
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.
This soul-travail is that unknown anguish of spirit in




62          The Ministry we need.
which He agonized for the salvation of the world. Its
end is all the glory of the redeemed in the heavenly
kingdom, and all the glory of God in the sight of the
universe, when the vast plan of love and mercy is
fully accomplished. So far as revelation helps our
obscure vision, we are justified in considering the
most ravishing, and the sweetest.of all the pleasures
around the throne of God, to be those exultations
and spontaneous utterances, which express gratitude
and praise for salvation by Christ. This is preeminently the consummation, the fullness of joy, the
mutual satisfaction and united blessedness of the
Redeemer and his saints.
To claim any participation, either in the antecedent work, or in the following glory, would be bold
and guilty presumption, were it not actually the
declared way of the goodness and condescension of
God. Even so God teaches; and even so may those,
who are in themselves utterly unworthy, be permitted
to hope. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee a crown of life." If a cup of cold water
will not lose its reward, God, surely, will not pass by
those, in the retributions of eternity, who have borne
the burden and heat of the day. Every form and
degree of service will be equitably considered. To
fidelity will be meted out its due portion; and those
that turn many to righteousness will shine as the
stars for ever and ever. They will be priests unto
God and the Lamb.
Thus to share with Christ in the final glory of his




Faith in Christ and the Promises.    63
kingdom, is in itself sufficient; it is more than sufficient. No known degree and sharpness of suffering,
which the preachers, defenders, and confessors of the
truth have endured, are of any weight whatever in
the comparison. Surely it is enough to have Christ
the cheerful sustainer and strength, the present joy of
the heart, and to be with Him in his glory when the
end comes.
To know assuredly that Christ accepts the service;
that He owns it as done for Him; that in the heavenly
distribution it will find its acknowledgment; will not
this obliterate every thought of pain, even though it
be the pain of martyrdom, or what is heavier, the
life-long struggle for Christ against a cold, relentless,
and unbelieving world?
If these/things are the true tone'of the encouragement, and the real substance of the recompense of
reward, does it not seem almost a profanation, at least
a puerility, to descend from  them  to weigh and
measure earthly emoluments, and to take the dimensions of popular favor, and gauge the dignity of
social positions? It is not to be denied that, as a
worldly occupation, the ministry is a vocation to be
treated as other avocations are, and to be paid for as
they are. And yet there is this essential difference.
Ordinary engagements have, for their chief end,
something  temporal in  their nature.  They aim
mainly at a present good. They have a fixed commercial value. They are the means and avenues to
worldly wealth, power, or pleasure. But the ministry




64           The Ministry we need.
has a scope ranging beyond time, and involving, as
its distinctive good, the blessedness of the soul in
eternity. It cannot, without profanation, be made
chiefly, or in any marked degree, the avenue to
wealth, reputation, or worldly  honor.   He that
preacheth the gospel should live by the gospel. But
this is incidental. It is the care of the churches to
provide reasonable support, and not the chief design
of the minister to procure compensation. To make
preaching the instrument of acquiring riches is degrading the calling. It is polluting the service of
Christ. Most certainly no one can be a true soldier
of the cross who enters the ministry with the questions uppermost: How much worldly good can I
acquire? how much personal comfort can I secure?
how much consideration can I gain? how can I
make my life pass most easily?  These are the
elements of self-seeking, and these are the rewards
of secular toil and ambition.  Christ pleased not
Himself.  He laid down his life for the sheep; and
He calls his shepherds to imitate Him in caring for
the flock, and not for themselves. " Feed my sheep.
Feed my lambs."  If any are stumbled by the lowliness of the calling; or are afraid of the hardness of
the way; or covetous of greater honor or riches than
Christ offers, they have need of seeking again what
are the first principles of this service; that it is a selfdenying, unworldly service, is its glory and crown. Its
elevation, its honor, is its union with Christ, participation with Him in the tribulation and toil, and also in




Faith in Christ and the Promises.    65
the final triumph. Be it so, that Christ's ministers
are often poor; often overburdened; often in conflict; often in peril, - was it not so with the Master?
Be it so, that Christ's ministers are often despised,
looked down upon, and made to endure the keenness
of neglect, - was it not so with the Master? It is
enough for the disciple that he be as his Master,
and the servant as his Lord. The cause is too great;
the issue too momentous; the blessings in prospect
too  immeasurable;  the  exaltation  following  too
glorious, to allow a check and stay from the transitory inconveniences of time.  Christ Himself is a
present joy, and his joy is present strength for his
servants; and the hereafter, who shall attempt to tell
the wonders of love, the exhaustless flow of pleasures
which are at God's right hand? Will not that vision
be filled which shall behold the King in his glory?
Will not that heart be satisfied that will be forever
joined to the Lord, awaking by divine grace in his
likeness?
These are some of the lineaments and qualities
proper tojthe ministers of the gospel. They do not
embrace everything.  They admit, as a necessity, all
the learning, the discipline, the trained skill, embraced
in the various forms of culture. Religion is an intelligent service. The lips of the priest should keep
knowledge.  The pastors after God's own heart feed
the  people  with  knowledge  and  understanding.
Nevertheless, invaluable and indispensable as all the
helps of education are, without the spiritual basis,
5




66           The Ministry we need.
heart preparation, consecration, and sanctification,
everything else is futile.
This age is distinguished for the fullness and
variety, for the thoroughness, it may be, and the
sufficiency of its courses of instruction. They are
admirable, and give just occasion for lively gratitude.
But they are no substitute for the graces of the Spirit,
and the training of the heart in Christ-like virtues.
Let there be no diminution of the former - for every
attainment is valuable, and  adds its amount to
efficiency and endurance.  Beyond  all these, let
there be, in the fullness of a sustaining consciousness,
Christ in us and we in Christ. This will sanctify
learning, and consecrate intellectual power. Without
this, literature, science, eloquence, are unhallowed
gifts upon the altar. Let a minister live and preach
under the mighty power of the world to come; let
him feel in his inmost heart the force of that eternal
wealth of blessedness laid up for the faithful; let him
be lifted, up by the spirit of the songs of redeeming
love around the throne, the notes of which surprise
us even here; let him rise to the foretaste of that joy
which fills to overflowing the cup of the ransomed;
let him be swayed by the anticipation of beholding
the final triumph of the Son of God, when the kingdom is delivered up to the Father, and God is all and
in all, all enemies being put under his feet; and He
will have a fullness and strength of encouragement, an
inspiration of hope, and a consciousness of fellowship
in the scheme of infinite goodness, powerful enough




Faith in Christ and the Promises.    67
to animate and  sustain  him  in any emergency,
through which, in the service of Christ, he may be
called to pass. This is true power - faith in Christ -
a faith which lives and works by love; faith in the
future, as determined and sure by the love of God in
Christ.  And of it, it may be said, as was said in.
another connection, " A drop of faith is far more noble
than a whole sea of mere science."
Faith and love are the internal forces of a minister's
life; and the objects and sources on which they
depend are Christ and his word of promise. Armed
with these, even in an age so material, amid utterances of skepticism so bold, with the atmosphere full
of the giddy lights of human pride, and surrounded
by the insolent prosperity of self-acquired wealth, the
servants of Christ may be  cheerful, patient, and
hopeful. They will not lose their reward.




CHAPTER  VIII.
THE PECULIARITY OF THE TIMES.
T is often asserted that the times are peculiar,
and demand a peculiar quality of preaching.
There is truth in this. No two periods in the
world's development are alike, any more than youth,
manhood, and old age are alike in our natural life.
There is a growth of the race as well as of the
individual. Forms of thought are laid aside. One
degree of knowledge gives place to another. The
horizon of mental view widens as man rises higher.
Therefore, what once satisfied his tastes and necessities, satisfies them no longer. If this were not so,
there could be no history of the race. Life would
be reduced to a dead level, and the constant recurrence of the same forms of things, and the same tones
of thought, would result in a wearisome monotony.
Nevertheless, it must be remembered  that the
changes are not radical, but superficial and relative.
The fruit-bearing tree is constitutionally the same
organization as the young  sapling.  The  man is
only the boy grown up. The mankind of to-day is
the maturity of the early race. Two things do not
change: human nature and truth.  Therefore, if the




The Peculiarity of the Times.         69
end of preaching is to improve, inspire, and control
the understanding and the will by the force of truth,
the question is simplified. It is how? not what?
The material, truth, is ever the same; but it needs to
be presented with new  settings, and moulded in
different shapes. The iron of the mine is the substantial strength of the artisan's tool. But experience
and skill enable the manufacturer to give it greater
fitness, a finer polish, or a sharper edge. So with
truth: it is ever strength, power -the sword of the
Spirit-while it may be fashioned  more  aptly,
wielded more adroitly, and applied more sagaciously,
as a clearer understanding and more perfect discipline secure its better use.
Human nature does not change.  The range and
force of desires change, the objects and ends of
pursuit are different at different periods, and in
different nations. Beneath the  ambitions of the
antediluvians, the passions of the Greeks, the pride
of the Romans, the rivalries of the present day, and
the struggles for wealth and place which engage the
actors before our eyes, there are similar susceptibilities and powers, the same elements of mind and
heart. The wool, the flax, and  the silk, which
oriental art wove into the clothing of peasants, and
the purple and fine linen of the ancient nobility, were
of like growth with the material of modern fabrics.
The fibre is the same; the texture differs. So the
poets and heroes, the prophets and devout men of
God, whose lives adorned the Jewish history, were




70           The Ministry we need.
men of the same make as ourselves, and their characters were fashioned by just such truth as still sustains spiritual life, vigor, and righteousness.
There is, then, no necessity to seek new material
of truth from which to forge the weapons of spiritual
warfare. It will not aid a minister to assume that
he has different natures to work upon from  those
which were renovated by the preaching of the fathers.
It is erroneous to affirm  that men are not such
as they formerly were. Radically and constitutionally they are just the same. The character which is
to be formed by the preacher is morally and spiritu
ally identical with that which the Apostles sought to
produce. The elements of righteousness have not
changed since the law was given on Sinai. The
character of God, who demands our love and service,
has not changed. Repentance, faith, love, obedience,
are immutable. David, Paul, and Jonathan Edwards
were saints by one spiritual process, and the exercise
of like holy affections.
Misconceptions are common on this subject. It is
too often taken for granted that piety in ancient days
was a different attainment from piety now; that the
principles of a godly life have altered with the change
of circumstances. It is even represented and believed,
that the God of the Old Testament was a different
being from the God of the New, and to be differently
worshipped and served. The terrors of Jehovah are
sometimes depicted in such colors that compassion
seems hardly to be an attribute of such a Deity.




The Peculiarity of the Times.         7I
And yet it was on Mount Sinai, the same mountain
where the thunderings and the lightnings were so
terrible, that God proclaimed himself the' Lord, the
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and
sin."
Such has ever been the divine mind, and the work
of God has always been one, to turn men from sin,
that they might obtain  pardon, and  become the
dutiful and loving children of our heavenly Father.
Sin has not altered its character, and mercy has ever
been extended to those who have confessed and
forsaken their sins. The graces of a holy life, in the
ancient and in the modern church, have been the
sanctified affections of similar hearts, and the persuasion of prophets, apostles, and modern preachers has
been addressed to men of one mould and make.
If then, the truth of God is the same from age to
age, and human nature does not change; and if the
end sought is the regeneration and reconstruction
of humknn nature in its purity, by the truth; the
preeminent object will be to determine how-to adapt
the truth to existing conditions and necessities. This
is the principal point in which the character of the
times bears upon the character of preaching. Preaching is to adopt the style and tone of expression of
the age; to use forms of thought in harmony with
existing methods; to conform  to prevalent ideas
of taste and culture; and to be, in all its dress and




72           The Ministry we need.
habit, a thing of to-day. By no means should the
preacher chill and ex-animate the truth by casting it
in the worn-out moulds of other days. It is as unwise to insist upon composing a sermon after the
pattern of the homilies of Chrysostom, as it would be
to insist upon arraying ourselves in the garments of
the Apostles.  Truth, though in itself immutable,
comes into new relations.  Life, with unchanging
moral elements, is presented under new conditions.
Manners, customs, modes of speech are ever varying.
The substance of a temptation is always the same,
while the art of the tempter is as manifold as the
phases of life. In this lies the difficulty of the
preacher's task.  He must adapt his method to
existing conditions and tastes of society; fit his warning to present temptations; admonish men of sins to
which they are exposed; defend and promote living
interests and issues; and urge such duties, and
according to such rules as are of daily requirement.
John Knox and John Howe were earnest and powerful preachers    great lights in their age. But it
would be a solecism, because an anachronism, to
insist upon doing the urgent work of our times by
reproducing the bold, impassioned utterances of the
one, or the stately, exhaustive discussions of the
other.  As well might statesmen and lawyers read
the speeches of Demosthenes, or the arguments of
Cicero, to gain their causes in the senate chamber or
the court-room. All that is required, in what is so
much talked of, in respect to the peculiarity of the




The Peculiarity of the Times.        73
age, is found in the exercise of good common sense.
The truth is given. The object to be gained is very
plain. Let the most simple and effective measures
be adopted to bring living, appreciable truth into the
warmest contact with living, throbbing hearts. That
is the sum of it. These considerations do not infringe
upon the substance of a minister's work, or in any
wise conflict with its essential spirit. No less fervor
or zeal, no less love and faith, no less self-denial and
devotion, no less patience and endurance, are requisite
in one age than in another. If it were possible to
possess all the prophetic fire and the  apostolic
inspiration, they would not exceed the demands of
the service. If St. Bernard were to arise to preach a
new crusade, although he would be obliged to alter
his mode of address, and work upon the hearts of the
multitude by new excitants, he would find no occasion
to abate a whit of that saintly fervor by which he set
all Europe in a blaze.
The inward heart of God's ministers in all ages
burns with the same fire, and the intensity of their
effort is for an unchanging object. Reformers now
do not need Luther's harness with which to go into
the fight, but they do need an equally absorbing
devotion to Christ and as courageous a faith.  There
is no foundation for the assumption that the work of
God is widely diverse now from what it has been in
other times. It must be in its fundamental qualities,
and in its aims, the same, or else the kingdom of God
is itself different, and the moral principles of God's




74          The Ministry we need.
government are different.  This is not so. "There
are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
There are diversities of operations, but it is the same
God which worketh all in all. One Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all."
How unlike in intellectual gifts and in methods
were Paul and John, and yet what positive harmony
in the tone of their love, in the object of their desire,
and in the victory for which they contended. Whitefield and John Wesley stand in modern times among
the brightest lights in evangelical history. With
intensity and fervor, with self-denial and laboriousness, with earnestness and perseverance beyond all
praise, they urged the necessity of salvation by the
cross of Christ alone. They preached with all boldness the gospel of the'grace of God as the one hope
of life, and yet they were not altogether in agreement
as to the means and methods to be used. One clung
pertinaciously to the Calvinistic form of doctrine,
and the other as tenaciously adhered to the looser
Arminian.  They had no antagonism  of purpose.
It was a difference of understanding in regard to
what the ends of the kingdom of righteousness and
peace required.
To be of like spirit with the holy men of all
ages, to be inflamed with the same love, to be
animated with loyalty to the one Lord, and to strive
to fill up the company who will in the end unite in
ascribing salvation to Him, these are the harmonies




The Peculiarity of the Times.          75
that distinguish all the servants of Christ whenever
and wherever they serve Him.  The contrasts and
disparities are only changes on the outer surface,
differences of administration, and not of substance or
of spirit.
The only question of practical moment is how the
minister shall adapt his method so as to do the work
to which in his day he is called.  He is to look
mainly to the end for which the truth is given. If
by it man is to be elevated to a higher plane of
spiritual life, brought near to God in faith, love, and
service, and prepared for the felicity of the divine
presence, it is a felony to descend from this high and
holy discipline merely to gratify the vicious caprices
of the times, and please the lower sentiments which
chance to crave indulgence. Variety and uniformity
are valuable only just so far as they are means and
instruments for the better security of the great object.
Food has its worth in the supply it furnishes to a
bodily necessity. The way of dressing it, and the
ceremonies in serving it, are incidental, and of little
consequence beyond the part they play in stimulating
the appetite so that the nutriment shall be received.
The displays at a feast are tantalizing and pernicious
if the guests are not nourished. And so the administration of truth, if it does not feed the hungry
soul and bring water to the thirsty, and so strengthen
for the conflict and duty of life, and for the glorious
destiny foreshadowed in revelation, is absurd and
abortive, whatever may be its beauty and polish, the




76           The Ministry we need.
charms with which it is invested, or the art and
eloquence with which it is uttered.
The downright earnestness of a heart glowing with
zeal for God and love to man will scarcely fail to use
truth powerfully, though often its methods may be
defective. The single aim to force an entrance for
the truth through all obstructions to the very citadel,
or to insinuate it by every honest art of persuasion,
will generally succeed. The intense desire and the
strong will are inventive, and they will ordinarily
strike out practicable paths so as to go straight on to
the mark.  Under the inspiration of such a spirit,
the adaptation will be quite sure to be readily
found.




CHAPTER IX.
THE INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY OF THE AGE.
— HE  great mental activity of the age is
reckoned adverse to  the successful and
agreeable pursuit of the preacher's calling.
Whether it be so or not depends upon the light
in which it is viewed, and the attitude which is taken
towards it. The strong tendency of thought towards
particular subjects is liable to amount to pre6ccupation of the mind, and its absolute engrossment to the
exclusion of other things. A competition and rivalry
are excited, enthusiasm is kindled, devotion becomes
ardent, the value of the object and kindred ones is
exaggerated, and other fields of thought are treated
with comparative disregard.
It cannot be denied that just now there is an
extraordinary devotion tow the natural sciences, and to
the determination of useful results in the applications
of science. So rapid and startling is the accumulation of facts, and so bold and aggressive are the
theories advanced, that science, instead of imparting
the most settled and trustworthy knowledge, which is
its true mission, seems to be flooding the world with
corruscations which dazzle where they should illuminate, and fascinate where they ought to instruct.




78           The Ministry we need.
The process in this, as in other departments of
thought, is rather revolutionary than constructive, -
preparatory to results rather than formative. On all
sides there is thinking, questioning, investigating,
challenging old opinions, disturbing received theories
and methods, a seeming demand for first principles
and axioms in all the realm of knowledge.
In reference to such a condition, two things are to
be observed. -First, That a state of activity and
agitation is to a resolute mind to be preferred to a
condition of torpor, and an unquestioning submission
to tradition and authority.  No condition is more
hopeless than the lethargy of mind which sleepily
accepts things as they are, happy to be relieved of
the necessity of summoning the moral sense to a
decision upon their rightness or wrongness.  The
apathy and congealed immobility of a people where
worship is a sacred tradition, and the creed a never
to be questioned symbol of the true faith, is as
hostile to all endeavors in promoting religion as the
sullen and stupid inertia of barbarism.  Where the
mental activity of society is limited to the maintenance of a fixed circle of opinions in politics and
education, and to a servile repetition of antiquated
processes in the arts and industries of life, innovations of all sorts are resisted, and the force of
religious truth is neutralized by the hereditary control
of established ideas. Not so where thought is free,
and the mind of the community is roused and on the
alert.  A calm  sea, ruffled by no breeze, not only




The Intellectual Activity of the Age.   79
leaves the sails of commerce hanging listlessly by the
mast, but fills itself with broods of disgusting living
creatures. The wind that raises the waves not only
speeds the mariner on his voyage, but brings health
and purity on its wings.
The motion of the mind involves inquisitiveness,
sensitiveness, and susceptibility. Break up the old
fallows, and the scattered seed will root and grow.
Break up old traditions, and there is room for new
thought.  Something good may be disturbed by the
agitation, but possibly more that is bad - the despotic,
the conventional, the hereditary fallacies. The commotion loosens the hold of evil, because it loosens
everything. The innovation  challenges the good,
because it challenges everything.  In the crucible
prejudices melt off, but truth stands the fire. Conceits
that have deceived vanish in the heat, but principles
come out, like gold from the furnace, all the brighter
for the trial.
In times when the mind of the community is
awakened to inquire and investigate, and is stimulated  to more  and  more various  thinking, its
receptivity, its docility, and its power of assimilation
are in a favorable  condition to be strengthened.
While the mass of disengaged elements is convulsed
and clashing, then is precisely the time to effect new
combinations by such forces as will reassort the
disturbed particles according to their true affinities.
Truth needs but to assert itself wisely and firmly at
such periods to secure a hearing.  It needs to be




80           The Ministry we need.
uttered, not with human authority, nor with the pride
of exulting science, but with that power inherent
in humility when the reverent mind is itself standing
in awe, and proclaims the eternal Word, in its own
name, and in the name of the Almighty.
Such  periods are seed times.  They stand in
history as formative periods. They are not to be
deprecated or dreaded, but to be used. If any one
asks for an illustration, let him read the history of
New England for the fifteen years preceding the
Declaration of Independence, and he will see how
the convulsions of the times led to discussions and
deep searchings after political principles and the
foundations of civil rights, from which sprung the first
of great republics.  He will see that against the
warm currents of affection, and the cherished loyalty
towards the institutions of Old England, the force of
reason and the tide of argument carried the people
away from their moorings, and brought them happily
and unitedly to settle under new and better auspices.
Few, if any, parallels can be adduced presenting a
more general and profound thoughtfulness, on topics
of public welfare, both moral and civil, than this;
and the excitements which provoked conflicts of
opinion were really the occasions which made the
great political enfranchisement possible. So that it
is not to be at all concluded that an age like this,
when the public mind is all astir, and the fervor of
thought seems almost to reach a self-impelled frenzy,




The Intellectual Activity of the Age.   8I
is a season unfavorable to the demands and the
determinations of truth. The aspect may be, at the
first glance, forbidding. A closer inspection renders
it inviting.  Secondly, It is palpable that religious
truth in the midst of apparently adverse excitement is
receiving, and must receive, more than  ordinary
attention.  Every discussion  of the  day  touches
somewhere upon that circle which incloses religious
ideas. Whatever the intention or desire may be,
religion cannot be kept out of public discussion. It
forces itself upon the attention everywhere. Those
who assume the boldest hostility to it are unceasingly
mingling it in their conversations and their writings.
Speculations, assertions, inquiries, and denials abound
in all the current literature. Pamphlets, magazines,
and the daily press reflect the tone and temper of
the times, and constantly contain references to the
great questions properly belonging to the domain of
theology.  The necessity has gone by which once
compelled religious men to call public attention to
these topics.  They are now either for disputation,
for criticism, for condemnation, for comparison, or for
inculcation among the most common themes.  The
leading minds - the so-called " foremost thinkers "are by a sort of necessity drawn into this sphere of
thought, and think they must; and they do not fail
to give utterance to  their thoughts; not indeed
because this is peculiarly a believing age; not indeed
because it is devout and reverential, but rather that
6




82           The Ministry we need.
it is a time when the authority of the past, the
influence of great names, and even credence in the
Word of God, are sensibly shaken.
This unsettling of foundations, and discrediting of
trusted opinions, is itself a cause of restlessness.
The mind has its laws' as well as matter. There is
an equilibrium in the one as well as in the other,
depending on fixed conditions. Disturb the mental
condition and rest is destroyed; and by the inherent
instincts of our nature there must be an effort to
regain the repose.  Whatever may be the infidelity
and cold irreligiousness of the world, there is that in
the soul of man which yearns after something which
can only be satisfied by the knowledge of God.
Give the soul liberty from the oppression of false
restraints, and it will as surely struggle towards this
summit as water, when free to obey its law, will rise
to the height of the fountain.
There are dangers connected with such revolutions,
but there is a promise in them as well. When society
swings loose from the authority of revered opinions,
it is uncertain where it may settle, and also uncertain
what trustworthy bulwarks may be leveled in the
movement.  But this is true: that so far as the mind
has been  released  from  servile  or superstitious
reliance upon authority, upon tradition, upon the
unintelligent conformity to mere dogmas, it is in a
more healthful state for the reception of knowledge
and belief of the truth, which frames the life in godli



The Intellectual Activity of the Age.   83
ness. Manifold mischiefs may indeed be brewing in
this fermentation of the public mind; but at all
events there is wakefulness, inquiry, impressibility.
Any earnest thinker and warm-hearted advocate can
get a hearing.  All ears are open; all eyes are
straining. There are wonders in the heavens above,
and in the earth beneath, and in the waters that are
under the earth.  In the whirl and displacement,
effects may be severed from their causes; and on the
other side, those things may be joined which have no
part together. In such emergencies, history warrants
the belief that the readjustment will come if the
masters of truth are faithful to their calling.
There is nothing so indestructible as truth.  It
may be buried, it may be obscured, it may be
restricted and hindered, but in all great upheavals the
perishable is lost, and the truth survives. No violent
onset has ever yet been made upon religion which
did not result in some signal advantage to it and to a
firmer establishment of its power. No reformations
have been complete, or have proceeded through any
long periods, because of the easily wasting strength
of the friends of truth, and the facility with which
they suffer her simplicity to be incumbered by selfish
accretions. For a little while the hosts fight heroically, but shortly they turn aside to quarrel over
a division of spoils.
From  such views as these, if they are correct, it
will be seen that there is no occasion for discourage



84          The Ministry we need.
ment in the current thought and in the mental
activity of the times. On the whole, no one could
ask for more favorable conditions under which to
advocate and press the claims of religion; therefore
this state of things involves some necessities and
privileges worthy of consideration.




CHAPTER X.
OBLIGATIONS.
HAT, then, are the obligations which now
particularly devolve upon the ministry in
view of the peculiarities here adverted to?
Unquestionably one apprehension is, and that not
altogether a groundless one, that the ministry will
succumb to the popular dictation, and suffer its true
spirit to be restrained injuriously by the prevailing
spirit. This is at least conceivable, for there are few
human hearts unsusceptible to the impressions of
flattery, to the seductions of favor, or to the more
self-originated yearnings of ambition. The desire to
go with wind and tide is no exclusive passion of the
ministry; nevertheless, it must be acknowledged
among the hurtful influences to which ministers are
exposed.
Against such deflecting and neutralizing forces the
utmost resistance should be interposed. The humble
but firm  and determined purpose of the ministry
should be not to follow after the spirit of the age, not
vainly to contend against currents which have a
necessary and irresistible set, but in the higher spirit
of truth, and of Christ who came to bear witness to




86           The Ministry we need.
the truth, to turn the mental activity and thoughtfulness of the times towards the  solid  principles
established  of God for human welfare and the
advancement of the race.  "The most powerful and
living preachers and writers have ever been those
who, full of the spirit of their own age, have felt
a calling and a yearning to bring that spirit into
subjection, and to set, it at one with the spirit of
Christ."
This felicitous result is gained, not so much by
conflict, as by control. There is no occasion for
timid apprehension.  The foundations are not overthrown, neither will they be undermined. Courage
is needed, but not of the boastful sort. Loud
declamations, hasty assertions, intemperate denials,
arrogance, and empty conceits are a vain reliance.
To asperse the characters and motives of those who
seem to be disparaging revelation, and endeavoring
to substitute some form of philosophy, some absolute
science, some dreary scheme of moral freedom in its
place; to charge with insincerity or with malice such
as claim to be searching into the reason and foundation of things, can never be wise or helpful. While
it is unpardonable to be ignorant of what is doing,
and of the direction in which the tide is setting, the
ministry and the church ought, of right, to stand
composedly upon the firm  ground which revelation
furnishes, to stand there with watchfulness and confidence, observing with discriminating and impartial
eye the tendencies and necessities of society, and




Obligations.               87
studying with a prayerful spirit to know how to apply
God's truth, so that it shall be the guide and salvation of the multitude. To hold themselves aloof in
solemn awe, or in the ill-concealed assumption of a
superior goodness; to utter rebukes and denunciations with oracular complacency, is poor philanthropy,
and worse piety.
No minister should temporize or utter the truth as
if ashamed of it, because it is scoffed at or questioned.
It is God's power, and just as much man's necessity.
Controversy is not the requisite. If conflict comes,
it should be the unavoidable conflict to which God's
truth is always exposed, from the pride of opinion, or
the superficial misconstructions of those who do not
discern its glory. That glory is largely in its spirit
and its fruits.
It has been recently said, by an admirer of Voltaire,
that he never contended against the religion of the
Sermon on the Mount. Whether this be so or not,
it cannot be questioned, that very much of the
embittered virulence of the attacks upon Christianity
has been generated by the arrogance of ecclesiastics,
and the usurped authority of those who have chosen
to command rather than to teach, and have forgotten
to draw by the inspirations of deeds of loving kindness and tender mercy.
The qualifications of the ministry, presented in the
foregoing pages, are eminently appropriate in this
particular exigency. To move men aright who are
already excited, they must be moved considerately.




88           The Ministry we need.
What power is there in the service of the truth more
effective than the humility which realizes how lofty
and holy truth is, and how majestic and august the
God of truth is?  What might like the might of
meekness, which, with deep self-distrust, is conscious,
of its common inheritance of frailty, and, at the same
time, rests with profound confidence on the help
which God offers?  Neither humility nor meekness
are inconsistent with knowledge, with earnestness,
with activity, and persistent effort. They are rather
the very ground-work and essence of all that is best,
and most effective in knowledge and effort, since
they, more than anything else, eradicate that hurtful
self-reliance which springs from pride, and which
always disparages the inherent might of truth.
The servant of the Lord must not strive; the
Master did not; but into the minds blinded by
bigoted instructions, and sore from the burden of
grievous exactions, He quietly, and with a majestic
calmness of spirit, unceasingly instilled the precepts
of a heavenly wisdom, and the cheering light of a
wonderful grace. The common people gladly received
the counsels and promises, which, though they fell to
them as gently as the dew from heaven, were in fact
the repositories of a power, which, in its normal
development, was to raise them  from  under thein
oppressions, and in due time to encircle the earth
with peace and joy. And why should not the servants
of Christ, in the humble confidence that is ever the
might of his own word, go on, casting the heavenly




Obligations.                89
wisdom into the currents of thought, there to exert
its purifying and elevating influence? Why should
not faith in the truth, as Christ's instrument, inspire
every minister with that calm patience, which is an
unyielding firmness, derived from a source which the
world knows not of? If Christ is what He declares
Himself to be to his followers; if his word is that
eternal and incorruptible truth against which not
even the powers of darkness shall prevail; if it has
in it the charm  before which error shall vanish, and
the clear light which will finally irradiate all intellects
and warm all hearts, why should not believers, without fearing, or apologizing, or time-serving, use this
instrument of their final victory? Why should they
not, with the confidence of hope, utter their message;
with all persistency, vigor, and clearness, declare
God's Word even where unbelief, or skepticism, or
worldly dogmatism, or hardened indifference seem to
bid it defiance, or, in advance of a hearing, pronounce it foolishness?
Truth is not less likely to prevail because of the
excited condition of the public mind on all questions
relating to man and his destiny. Paul did not refrain
from disclosing the strange doctrine of the living and
true God on Mars Hill, because of the intense speculative tendency of those Greek sages, who were on
the tiptoe for novelties, and ever alive with questionings and quibbles.  He was not daunted, but rather
inspired, by the presence of a philosophy so inquisitive and subtle; and braving, in the elevated assur



9o          The Ministry we need.
ance of a truer and nobler belief, the searching looks
and the cynical contempt of the proud assembly, told
them of the God who made heaven and earth, whom
they ignorantly worshipped. May not the Creator
and the Redeemer now be introduced to the thought
of unbelievers; and while the search is going on for
a maker of the world, or a method by which the fact
of the world may be accounted for without a maker,
may not the learned and the unlearned be taught
concerning Him whom they are seeking in darkness?
Those who began the regeneration of society at
Jerusalem, where there were no idols, advanced from
thence to the centres of intellect, the emporiums of
commerce, the seats of the arts, and to the very
strongholds of the deceiving systems, which were
blinding men irk perdition. Their way was the very
obvious and simple one, of putting the truth of God
into the minds of men, antagonistic as it was to all
their cherished opinions, and leaving that truth to
work its mighty results under the influence of reason
and of conscience, the force of pressing necessities,
and the power of the Spirit of God.
It may be asked, what is there to hinder now?
Why should not those who hold the truth of God,
and who rest with sustaining confidence upon Christ,
as the inspiring energy of his own word, by all
means present that word to the attention of men,
however violent their opposition, however crowded
or preoccupied their thoughts may be? Is not that
word as a fire?  Is it not penetrating? Is it not




Obligations.                9I
persuasive? Is it not such an illuminator as to make
differences clear, and to separate the precious from the
vile?  Does it not discern the thoughts and intents
of the heart? Has it not reason on its side? Does
it not touch the conscience? Does it not offer
soothing alleviations to the weary heart, and entice,
by the spirit of peace and joy which it breathes, the
perplexed and the heavy laden to come and rest?
With such munitions and towers of strength as
Christ's ministers possess, they, of all men, have no
occasion to be faint-hearted. Why tremble before
the giants? Are they not fabulous? And if real, are
they not vanquished by a smooth pebble from the
brook?
There should be no shrinking from Christ's work
for any of the hinderances with which the age is
thought to be incumbered. With all the more ardor
should the champions enter the lists. The field is
attractive, by everywhere present signs of life. It is
of all days the very day in which to put on the
harness, and, with cheerful hope, to go forth in the
name of the Lord. His work must not be done
deceitfully. A trembling heart, a timid utterance, a
shame-faced bearing, are unfit for the occasion. It
needs rather the settled  convictions, the heartsustaining faith, the all-inspiring love of souls, the
uplifting fellowship with Christ, the prophetic assurance of the ultimate triumph, all of which enter
into that calm and patient working, which is power.
Neither the ministry nor the church can be true to




92          The Ministry we need.
Christ if they avoid the issue. If they meet it as in
the eye of the Master, feeling the power of his spirit,
reaching forward to the glorious disclosures of the
hereafter, they cannot but rejoice if they are accounted
worthy to take part in the great conflict. Christendom is now only a name; it is to be an inheritance.
The new Jerusalem is to come down from God out
of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and a redeemed race is to glorify the Lord of
the whole earth in all the abodes of men. Nature
and art, science and skill, the best products of the
intellect, the purest creations of imagination, the
wealth of industry and the power of labor, are yet to
be the ministers of God, and to be amongst men the
voices of his love. This false array against God,
this perversion of the tokens and gifts of his wisdom,
and of the signs of his goodness, will come to an end,
and that, too, by the subduing and elevating spirit
of the gospel, proclaimed in the name of God. To
doubt and hesitate in discharging the duties of the
great commission, is only to retard the coming of the
promised triumph.




CHAPTER  XI.
THE BROAD VIEW.
WIDER field than civilized society claims
attention.   Hitherto the gospel, as a converting and regenerating power, has been
restricted to very narrow territorial limits. By retarded steps it has been working its way upward to
a more commanding position, and by a slow process, like the hidden leaven, it has been permeating
and purifying larger masses of mankind. Within the
area of its recognized possession and its partial dominion, nearly all its spiritual forces are expended.
So that, by a sort of conventional limitation, the ministry means the company of pastors and teachers who
carry on the work of the Lord, where churches are
established, or at most, in parts adjacent. Treatises
defining clerical duties and qualifications, in the main,
describe what appertains to this class of men.
There is a broader view. The field is the world.
The earth is to be filled with the knowledge of God.
The good tidings of great joy are to all people. All
nations are to be evangelized. A portion of the heralds are denominated ministers; another portion missionaries. The distinction is convenient, but super



94           The Ministry we need.
ficial. In quality, in temper, in aim, in heart, they
should all be one.
In this view, instead of the spirit of the times, the
truer consideration is, the state of the world. If all
around among Christianized peoples, there is a condition of affairs and an attitude of mind inviting attention, and inspiring the most hopeful anticipations,
what shall be said of the nations upon whose vast
borders the gospel has hardly made an indentation,
and over whose teeming millions night, relieved by
scarcely the twinkle of a star, reigns unbroken? The
commission covers this region of dense darkness.
Mercy is prepared for these lost tribes, these benighted wanderers.  Christendom  is not mankind,
but a fragment. The human family is divided, but
the huge majority are aliens in a strange land, where
they hear not the Father's voice, and no sweet invitations of love call them to his open arms.
But the Son has come, and his word still resounds
through all the camps of Israel. "Go ye, therefore,
and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost."  To confine the work of the
ministry to the narrow section now evangelized, is
restricting the great commission, and contracting the
breadth of the blessing. All the land is to be possessed; and the command to go forward was never
emphasized so deeply by concurrent circumstances
as now.
Within the memory of those living, nearly all the




The Broad View.                95
pagan world was closely barred against the gospel.
How greatly changed the aspect I One nation after
another has become accessible. The most inveterate
heathenism has yielded. The fierceness of perpetual war, and the thirst for human blood, have given
place to the purity and brotherhood inculcated by
Christianity.  Degrading  superstitions have been
exploded, and the vast systems of false religion,
hoary with length of years, and supreme by immemorial usage, are everywhere showing signs of decay.
The heralds may now publish salvation by Christ in
any nation.
In these encouraging changes the spirit of the
age has been cooperating with the gospel; perhaps,
more correctly, has been the pioneer, opening paths
by which Christianity may enter those empires which
were hermetically sealed against foreign intrusion.
It is impossible to keep the thoughts away from the
two great semi-civilized nations, whose relations to
the rest of the world have been so remarkably modified.  Every reader is familiar with  the almost
incredible revolution going on in Japan, and with
the auspicious omens constantly coming into view in
respect to China.  Breaking away from  a government strengthened by centuries of despotic rule;
discarding a religion in which generation after generation have lived and died; allowing an intercourse
so long forbidden by the severest restrictions; inviting instruction from other nations, in literature, art,
science, and even religion; proposing, of their own




96          The Ministry we need.
motion, a reconstruction of society upon foreign
models, and pushing forward on all these lines of
progress with energy, with a remarkable degree of
wisdom and forecast, and with a commendable willingness to meet all needful costs, the Japanese present to the contemplation of the world a picture,
unlike anything which the past has recorded.
But these things throw over the problem a charm,
a rare fascination; lights and shadow flit across the
scene, and transform it almost into fairy land; and
yet, to sober thought, the future is uncertain. Who
will pretend to divine it? Who will assume to say
how the materials of the demolished fabric will
assume new forms? Who dares prophecy what the
reconstruction will be, after the dismemberment has
been completed? what the allegiance will be, after
the total enfranchisement of a whole heathen nation?
It hardly admits a doubt that there must ensue a
conflict of interests, of passions, and of ideas. Possibly chaos and night may return, and the dawning
of the true day follow another epoch of darkness.
Certain it is, that already the insatiable greed of gain
has showed its covetous propensities. Already has
avarice made victims of those whom the feelings of
humanity should have protected and helped. It can
hardly but be conjectured that all the nations, like
birds of prey scenting a carcass, will hover around,
and each one clamor and contend for the best terms
for itself.
Meantime, what is the Church to do? What are




The Broad View.                97
the yearnings of the Christian heart? What are the
purposes of men consecrated as soldiers of the cross?
What does the spirit of Christ in all his people
prompt to? May it not be asked, with some potency
of solicitude, does not this state of things call for a
ministry equipped in the best furnishing, cherishing
the profoundest and most -self-denying views of their
calling; men as it were transfigured into the image
of Christ, and rising up with an apostolic devotion,
and saying, Lord send us!
All other considerations aside, the true hope of
Japan and of China, and of other heathen nations
as well, must be in the principles of the gospel. A
reconstruction in some form  is inevitable.  Shall
materialism be supreme?  Shall the controlling force
be avarice?  Shall the powers and capacities, which
discipline will enlarge and strengthen, be devoted
only to the uses of this world? Shall Japan have a
civilization without God, and pass from the terrible
reign of superstition to the colder reign of atheism?
If not, then the life-giving, elevating, hope-inspiring,
transforming words of the Lord Jesus, must be
allowed to do their part in forming the future.
Can it be doubted that the truth of God ought to
be a factor in the result? Should there be a moment's
hesitation whether it is the duty of Christians to give
to these awakened minds the truth as it is in Jesus?
The world will equip a host of missionaries -to teach
letters, and art, and sciences, and to aid in introducing all the humanizing and productive operations of
modern civilization.




98            The Ministry we need.
There is another and a weighty consideration. Japan
and China must not be excluded from the problem
of the age. India with its myriads, hapless Africa,
and the islands of the ocean must be regarded. The
foremost thinkers are tasking themselves with determining whether the universe is under the government
of God, or under the reign of impersonal forces and
inherent laws. Admit that this is the problem; if it
is, the problem comprehends the necessities and the
condition of the race. It is not whether God shall
be worshipped in Britain or in New England, but
shall God be known and honored by all the souls He
has created in his own image, and redeemed by the
blood of his Son? If Christianity is anything more
than a fable, this is its mission. If its ministers are
anything more than masters of empty ceremonies,
this is their work. If the reign of Christ transcends
in benignity all other conceptions of good, then the
highest service to which the human intellect and
heart can be devoted, is the extension and establishment of the kingdom  of righteousness, and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. A ministry for this age
which comprehends its vocation, is a ministry fitted
for this broad enterprise, and ready for the Master's
work wherever the call is heard. Mankind is the
object of its regard and its hope.




CHAPTER  XII.
THE PRIVILEGE.
NOTHER  inquiry forces itself upon the
mind. Whence are to come the men who
will go forward in the benign enterprise of
converting the world to Christ?  Neither our imagination, nor our thought, is able to comprehend the
fullness of the proposition. Only He whose infinite
love submitted to infinite self-denials, that He might
renew into the image of the Father the lost race, and
lift it to the enjoyment of unspeakable and unfading
glories through eternity, can measure it. Wellnigh
does the momentous truth paralyze us, as it flashes
upon the mind, that the vast result hinges upon
human efforts. Man is God's angel of mercy to his
fellow; man is the minister of infinite good to the
wretched.  Humanity regenerate, and transfused
with the love of the Son of Man, is the agency
whereby humanity is to be lifted up to share the
benediction and the presence of God the Father.
It may with propriety be asked who is sufficient
for these things?  No answer could be given, did
not the divine condescension write the all-sufficing
response, My grace is sufficient for thee. The under



IOO          The Ministry we need.
taking would be as preposterous, as it has often been
declared to be, by those who take counsel only of
flesh and sense. But when, to the fact that man in
his feebleness is ordained to this work, it is added,
that he goes forth in the might of the divine Spirit
to accomplish God's chosen purpose, the great mountain becomes a plain. The eyes of the lonely and
timid servant are opened, and he is surrounded with
chariots and horses of fire. The presence of Christ
with his ministers dissipates fear, and gives strength
for every emergency.
To assume the weighty responsibility of the ministry is not arrogance, if it be done under the leadings
of that faith and love which are the inspiration of
Christ's disciples. If the heart is penetrated and
possessed by the Spirit of Christ, it will pass with
spontaneous eagerness into his work. In proportion
to the vigor of love and gratitude there will be a
yearning to advance the glory of the Redeemer. Not
always will this inward force determine those who
feel it to be ministers or missionaries. The range of
Christian service is wide, and its forms are manifold.
There is enough in any walk of life, and with any
type of fitness, to engage the energies of all who will
enter the vineyard.  It is the same spirit working
within both to will and to do, and doing the will of
God must ever be not merely the law, but the life
of discipleship.
If every service to a right heart is an offering of
love and a joy, it may safely be said,-that the specific




The Privilege.              IOI
work of the ministry is a high privilege. As such it
should be contemplated.  Not must I, but may I,
enter this service. If there is fitness in respect to
physical and mental qualities; the adaptations of
make and temperament; the requisite culture and
intellectual discipline; if there are spiritual longings,
promptings of heart, yearnings of soul, for usefulness; if there is a hungering and thirsting to do the
will of God, and to advance the interests of his kingdom, which is the normal condition of living discipleship, the question of the ministry is reduced very
much to one of circumstances and possibilities.
The desire and aim being single and sincere, it
must be decided whether the work of the ministry
can, under existing circumstances, be wisely, and
hopefully undertaken; whether it presents a more
promising prospect of usefulness than other methods;
whether it is more congenial, and takes hold more
powerfully upon the affections; whether it commands,
with a somewhat irresistible persuasion, the assent
of the heart, and moves with an inspiration by it to
achieve a work for the glory of God and the best
welfare of men. In fine, do all these qualities and
antecedents concur with a solemn conviction, and
a joyful sense, that in his Providence, and by the
grace of his Spirit, God is saying, This is the way;
walk ye in it.
He that desireth the office of a bishop desireth a
good work. Whoever stands ready to go and preach
the gospel wherever God may send him, is enlisted in
a noble undertaking.




I02         The Ministry we need.
From suggestions which have been already made,
and from  a multitude of others which will readily
occur, the demand for ministers at the present day is
strong and urgent. Human enterprises are pressed
with unaccustomed energy. The race for wealth and
honors is run with accelerated velocity. Fortunes
are accumulated with magical skill. Gratifications
wait upon every passion, and every fancy is fed to
satiety. Devotion to learning progresses in harmony
with the increase of lower accumulations. Academies
and colleges are crowded with young men eager to
equip themselves for the strife. The more promising
business avenues are thronged with excited competitors. The lucrative and honorable professions
invite the studious and the intellectual to rarer conflicts, where discipline and culture win envied laurels.
The duty to carry forward the civilizing processes
of the age, to develop the world's resources, and
multiply its means and capacities, should not be
undervalued. The command to replenish the earth
and subdue it, was given of old, and has not been
repealed.
But is there not a progress higher in its nature,
and a more noble elevation to be attained, than such
uses of faculty and power indicate? When the subject comes home to the Christian heart, and is
weighed with seriousness under the light which comes
to us in the revelations of God, is there not a more
commanding claim presented to us, in the necessities
and prospective benefits of the kingdom of Christ?




The Privilege.               103
It would be an ungenerous, as well as an unjust
judgment, to conclude, that the highest examples of
piety, and the spiritual zeal which is inventive and
fruitful in the service of religion, are found only in
the ranks of the ministry. It can hardly be so; nor
should it be.  The vitality and efficiency of the
Church is exhibited in the earnestness and energy of
a multitude of Christians single-eyed, self-forgetful,
consecrated, who are giving the clearest illustrations
of godliness by living for Christ, while they discharge with manly fidelity every social and civil duty.
Such men constitute the strength of the Church.
They are the salt of the earth. They diffuse purity
into  the very midst of corruption, and maintain
integrity in the face of the duplicity and sharp practice
of the market.  They demonstrate unselfishness by
their high and generous aims; show what love to
man is by the exercise of it; and prove what religion
can do in producing true uprightness, trustworthiness,
godliness, and superiority to the questionable principles of the world without going out of the world.
Conspicuous are the instances in which the finest
demonstration of the Spirit, and aim of the gospel,
and devotion to the true welfare of society are found,
in men and women, who abide in the calling in which
they are called, or who elect their vocation under
the force of the social circumstances in which they
are placed.
When it is said that the disciples of Christ are
commissioned to spread the gospel over the globe, all




I04          Tihe Ministry we need.
disciples are included; and all, within their sphere,
and according  to their capacity, are responsible.
Much of the burden must rest upon those who have
also to bear the burden of secular avocations. The
world and Christ are brought face to face in this age.
The conflict is more open -friends and foes are
more sharply defined.  The division  goes down
through all ranks in society. The speculations of
the study and the laboratory reappear in the workshop; and boldness of aggression, laxity of opinion,
and license of practice, must be openly met by the
well-established integrity and clear faith of those,
whose religion shapes, not their carefully settled
opinions only, but their daily conduct. Hence it is,
that in Christian lands a wide field is opened for
earnest service on the part of all believers.  Not
only men of business of every description can be at
work for God, but all the professions are avenues
and  stand-points eminently adapted to successful
religious effort. While our colleges are providing
highly educated minds for important posts of honor
and influence, it is of incalculable moment, that
those who occupy these positions should be consistent
and effective Christian men. In securing the rapid
advances of truth, all the working force, available
from these sources, should be drawn into the service.
Every disciple should be an enlisted soldier. There
is something to be done over against every man's
house, which will tell upon the final result.
Giving, then, all the weight to these considerations




The Privilege.             Io5
which they deserve, it still is true that the movement
for the world's redemption must have its appointed
leaders. The church cannot dispense with its ministers; missionaries must be sent to the heathen.
" How, then, shall they call on Him in whom they have
not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of
whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear
without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?"  And then, as if the Apostle's
mind caught a new glow of inspiration as he thought
of the blessedness of the mission, he adds, "How
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel
of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! "
This is the motto emblazoned on every banner which
is carried forth by the servants of the Lord. The
service of Christ calls for standard-bearers.  And
why should not the call be answered with alacrity?
why not with joy and hope? why not with gratitude?
why should not the opportunity be seized as a choice
favor?




CHAPTER  XIII.
THE HIGHER CHOICE.
HERE are many open ways to usefulness
and honor, and in them there are noble opportunities of making our life-work illustrious and beneficent. To institute a just.comparison
between these and the ministry, so as to exhibit
clearly to the inquiring mind the grounds on which
the latter claims the highest regard, is by no means
easy.  The standards of estimation are different.
While sound motives incline to one or the other, and
the results justify the decision, it is possible there
may still be underlying values, inappreciable in a
worldly view, which, in a truly Christian judgment,
will give to the ministry the controlling choice. For
in this service there is a more far-reaching, more
enduring, and less selfish aim than any other. The
scope of any secular calling is narrow when compared
with it. The aims of statesmen are shut up to the
defense and establishment of the rights, the interests,
and the glory of their nation. No one has ever arisen
whose thought embraced mankind.  But one Washington has illuminated the rolls of history, and left a
name signally unselfish, an almost spotless renown




The Higher Choice.             107
amongst men of all nations, and to be perpetuated to
all time. But even he was limited in the range of
his effort to his native land; to the beneficence of
her institutions, and the establishment of her freedom.
Authors and philosophers there have been, whose
penetrating  and  acute  minds have shot out far
beyond the vision of their own age, and have been
willing to wait for posterity to test their discoveries,
and admire their genius. But these have been few,
and in the widest sweep of their discursive thought,
and in their highest flights, they were bounded by
the narrow horizon of time, and sought, at best, only
that transient good which alleviates the ills, or enlarges
the possibilities of a temporal existence. And, besides, in almost all cases the amelioration embraces
only that which is external and visible, the formal
and the relative in human life. Whereas, the distinctive purpose of Christ's servants is to advance the
renovation of the spirit in man; to adjust his relations
to God and eternity; to subject his whole being to
principles as unchangeable as the Divine Nature, and
to elevate him to a happiness as lasting as his existence.
This process, in its bearings upon the temporal
condition, has a profound' worth. It is really the
elevating and ennobling process.  Whoever does
Christ's work is toiling directly to restore to man
both his manhood and his brotherhood. What other
force excepting the spirit of Christ in the human
heart, can combine in actual unity and fellowship, the




108         The Ministry we need.
hostile and hating, who, in all times, have been preying upon one another?  To what region can we
look and see the harmony of family ties and mutual
interests?  Is not selfishness in man everywhere
the motive for exclusiveness?  Do not cliques and
clans, feuds and factions, petty tyrannies and huge
despotisms, mean frauds and unscrupulous encroachments, alike rend and divide civilized and uncivilized
communities? Where is the power to fuse into harmony these clashing elements? Certainly the power
of government cannot do it. For governments are
themselves based upon exclusiveness, and  every
nation is struggling to secure for itself the widest
power and the greatest renown. Certainly knowledge
cannot do it. For the evil is not a fruit of ignorance,
and knowledge only informs the understanding.
The cultivated nations have not been less selfish than
the rude.  A painted savage who starts on the warpath, his heart burning with hate, and his eye flashing with the fires of revenge, and returns to his
village with hands reeking in blood, and his spirit
exulting over the smouldering ruing of the wigwams
of his enemies, excites indignation, disgust, or sadness.
The Franco-Prussian war commands admiration, it
may be, not only because there is a charm in valor,
but from the exhibition it affords of strength of combination, power of discipline, promptitude in action,
fertility of resources, and the irresistible might of
mind, in armies of intelligent, thoroughly drilled, and
enthusiastic soldiers, under the highest attainable




The, Higher Choice.            Io9
military leadership. There is grandeur in the spec
tacle; for it illustrates the possibilities of human
energy, when developed and wisely directed.
Will any one venture to affirm that the blood-guilt,
the heart-stain, of the savage is deeper than that of
the imperial duelists? The nations engaged in the
struggle were powers of the first rank. They represent, on the one side or the other, the refinement of
learning and of art, the strength of scientific culture,
well-arranged systems of schools, colleges, and universities, and the humanizing influence of knowledge
upon the habits of society. If one of these nations
is distinguished for the keenest and most profound
thought on all speculative topics, on all theories of
morals and philosophy, the other is not less noted
for the polish of its manners, the elegancies of its
social life, and the attractive ornaments and luxuries
of its renowned metropolis.  How much have all
these results of education and aesthetic discipline
done to subdue selfishness, to tame the ferocity of
hate, to mitigate the sharpness of hostility between
these neighboring peoples?   Are the human sympathies, the instincts of helpfulness, the ties of
brotherhood, more sacred on these high planes of
civilization than in the haunts of the savage?  Is
avarice or ambition any less willing to gratify itself
by shedding blood; or injured pride any more slow
to seek revenge at the cost of human life? No doubt
that these huge conflicts are planned with more
deliberation, with a deeper calculation, and executed




TI          The Ministry we need.
with a greater self-possession; and so, it may be,
with more of what is called dignity. When the impulse and purpose are analyzed, nothing will be found
to justify the verdict of conscience in their favor.
Is there anything besides accepting and obeying
the precepts and spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
will really bring men nearer to each other in confidence and good-will? Is there even a faint prospect
of human brotherhood and helpfulness in any merely
worldly scheme of beneficence? If not, does it not
follow that, essential as other forms of exertion are,
the endeavor to instill into the heart the sentiments
of the gospel, has a quality and a promise transcending every other?
It is true, that often in this service the theatre of
influence is a narrow one, and the results seem very
small. But it is to be remembered, that the entire
work of God is made up of small services, in various
times, in widely separated regions; but that all conspire to fulfill that design, which covers in its span
the life of the race, and ends only in the perfection
of eternity.
In this view some small achievement, reckoned
with its adjuncts, and weighed in its connections,
may assume grand proportions.  The common estimate of greatness is fallacious, for it is scanned
through a deceiving atmosphere. Eternity will rectify many mistakes.  The world may not think it
much to bury one's life out of sight among the degraded inhabitants of a far distant island of the




The Higher Choice.            III
ocean; to give them a written language; put the Bible
into their hands; lay the foundations of the church;
teach them the arts of peace and the law of love, and
so raise the ignorant savage to the dignity of a man,
and the enjoyment of the favor of God. Viewing
such an achievement from beyond the confines of our
mortal vision, may it not, then, assume grander
proportions, and a truer glory? May not the Lord
Himself say, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me"?
Generations to come will not easily allow the
memories of such heroes to fade. The seed which
they have sowed in tears, and with many hard privations, will shake, by and by, like Lebanon, and they
shall be amongst men as the palm  among trees,
crowned with refreshing verdure. How much more
will they be honored of God?
Every true-hearted minister of Christ, whatever be
his position, whether in the midst of brethren who
cooperate with him, or in barbarous climes and
among hostile peoples, is toiling for results of this
high and enduring character. He is a subject in the
one everlasting kingdom. He is a builder upon the
one imperishable foundation.  His work, if never
vindicated in this life, will be approved in the life to
come. Not a nerve is strained; not a pulse beats;
not an impulse is felt  not a sacrifice is made; not a
pain is endured, but it is taken up into that mighty
current of love which is destined to bless the whole




112         The Ministry we need.
earth with peace, and make heaven vocal with hallelujahs. Not one voice raised amid the din of the
world for Immanuel will be lost. Not one laborer,
however unhonored or unknown he may have been
on earth, shall fail of the final exaltation.




CHAPTER XIV.
CONCLUSION.
1   HE future of the race, and the prospects of
the nations most highly civilized, excite in
all active minds an intense interest. Is the
race to make advances? Are polished and cultivated
peoples to enjoy the fruits of a more thorough intellectual and social development?  Are the comforts
and privileges of life to be expanded and held by
surer safeguards? Are the boundaries of organized
society, and the dominion of free and just governments, to be extended over the portions of the world
still under the rule of despotism, or sunk in barbaric
chaos? Are the rights of man to be held in greater
respect, and the obligations of men to one another to
be more faithfully performed? Are the fundamental
principles of morality to become the practical rule
in society, so that integrity, uprightness, truth, and
honor shall be the prevailing ornaments of all conditions and  classes? Are the higher virtues of
fraternity and fellowship, good-will and helpfulness,
to add their grace and glory to humanity?  Is the
true relation between God and  man  ever to be
realized, so that men shall delight in the reverence
8




II4         The Ministry we need.
and worship of their Father in heaven, and be satisfied with the enjoyment of his present and promised
favor? Is the law of God ever to become supreme,
and the reign of peace to be established on earth?
These questions cover a wide range, but they
embrace nothing which does not properly belong to
the possible elevation of the race. They are parts of
no Utopian scheme, but commend themselves to the
calmest and most conservative judgment.
If such results are possible, are they probable?
Do they wait, as the growth of the oak does upon
the slow unconscious steps of development, according to an inherent force following an inflexible
law? or are they the hard-earned productions and
accumulations of thought, feeling, will, purpose,
energy, compelling an accomplishment?  Is man in
any sense the master of his destiny, the architect of
the character, and the controller of the position of the
race? If he is, - and no intelligent person cares to
deny it, - then it becomes a question, What are his
instruments of action? what are the powers at his
command for securing effects?
One thing can hardly admit a doubt, that among
the chief instruments to be used are those which
educate and strengthen the moral principles, and
which establish the moral and spiritual law, as a
practical rule, over the will and affections. The
reason of this has been adverted to in the outset of
these remarks. The true dignity of man is unattainable without a full training of his moral and spiritual




Conclusion.                 1 5
nature. The highest culture, and the deepest knowledge of material things without this, must leave him
debased, and  devoid  of purity  or beauty. The
essential element in the real elevation of the race is
virtue - virtue in its broadest and highest sense.
This is a fruit of the highest truth in its power over
the heart.  This highest truth is God's revealed
truth. This truth, to become a working force, must
be believed. Its potency is developed in us, and
energizes us, just in proportion to our convictions.
It is for this reason that the ministry becomes the
highest office of the human intellect; for it is the
appointed work of the ministry to wield the truth
-this mighty God-ordained  instrument -for the
renovation of man, and his highest and noblest
advancement.
All that has been said thus far is based upon the
fact that the welfare of the soul, and the dominion
of righteousness and peace, depend upon the truth of
God made a living force in the heart; and that this
is accomplished mainly by preaching the word with
the promised blessing of the Spirit.
The appeal in behalf of the ministry, is simply an
appeal to educated, self-denying, benevolent men to
bend their energies into this line of effort. This is
the call of humanity; this is the call of God. It
is according to God's purpose.  He has ordained
that his great design should be accomplished by
human activity. It is the highest conception of the
use of our powers.  It brings man as an actor into




I 6         The Ministry we need.
the divine scheme, not as a blind force, but with the
consciousness of spiritual freedom, and the joy of
a loving heart. The object of this work, in the
language of the Bible, is the kingdom of God -a
kingdom in which God reigns, not as in nature over
impassive elements, but over spiritual beings, whose
obedience is free, and whose loyalty is love. The
divine method has ever been to establish his sceptre
over the hearts of his subjects, and then inspire the
willing with zeal for his glory, and the extension of
his dominion.
The only consecutive history which presents the
progress of mankind, in accordance with a fixed
idea, is what President Edwards denominates "'The
History of Redemption."  It is not the history of
an organization, like an empire having a territorial
existence, and managed by its special officers, vested
with definite powers. It is a spiritual kingdom in
which God is,ruling, and by his truth carrying forward his eternal purposes; and all are its subjects
in any nation or age, who are, in the belief of the
truth, loyal to God.
The plan of God has included human services.
The old lawgiver, and the leaders who followed
him; the company of the prophets and holy men;
the Apostles and the ministers of the word, have
constituted the unbroken line by whom God has been
developing and extending this kingdom. The Spirit
has touched the heart, now of one, and now of
another. The inward fire has kindled the intellect,




Conclusion.                1 7
and brought the power of thought and feeling into
the work. Outward providences have conspired with
these spiritual ministries. The building has been
going up stone by stone. One generation has fulfilled
its task, and passed away; another has followed;
and all have been raising the walls of the eternal
temple, whose foundation is the rock Christ Jesus.
The process is to be continued. Wickedness is
not always to sit in the high places of power and
sway its malign sceptre over the earth. Righteousness is to be exalted, and man is to be redeemed.
The work deserves and will afford scope for the
highest endowments and the best trained energies.
It should have the very best men, men competent in
intellect and competent in heart. There is no occasion to shrink from the service of,the ministry from
an apprehension that it is ignoble. Can any mortal
look down upon a service in which the Son of God
has gone before him? Is there any splendor of
attainment, or any power of mind, too exalted to be
devoted to the ends for which Christ gave his life?
Is it not enough, for any aspiration, to follow such a
leader in so glorious an enterprise? Humility may
tremble at the venture, but it can be nothing short
of pride that spurns the offer. Furthermore, there
are very impressive considerations suggested by the
outward aspects of the work itself. From what has
been attained, and what is reasonably attainable,
appeals are pressed upon us.
The urgency proceeds from the magnitude of the




1 8          The Ministry we need.
enterprise. Its proportions are imposing, whether
we consider. the vastness of its extent or the greatness of its results. The Christianization of the world,
and the salvation of the race, are the narrowest
limits that can be assigned to it. The contents of
this proposition can only be approximately estimated
by weighing the known effects of the gospel. Can
any candid observer fail to see that the degree of
order, security, and welfare exhibited in the cities
of this land, is an undoubted resultant of existing
religious institutions? The majority, it may be, are
not reached by the benign influence. A huge aggregate of depraved mind persistently resists the law of
God, and revels in impious freedom. What holds in
check this terrible power? On what do we rely,
that it shall not roll its desolating wave over the
entire community? One of two things - moral force,
that disarms by changing the intention; or physical
force, which is the law of the strongest. It is clearly
a choice between the gospel and the bayonet. We
can test our estimate of the worth of the gospel as
the palladium of our safety and peace, by asking,
What would be the result, if at once, in the commercial metropolis of the nation, every vestige of a
religious organization should be swept away, the
Bible banished, and the Sabbath abolished? Would
life be endurable?
It is a common belief that the permanence of our
government depends upon the virtue of the people.
But virtue is not a self-growth.  The centuries of




Conchlsion.                  I I9
experiment have failed to prove that it is a plant
indigenous in the soil of the human heart. Thus far,
notwithstanding its restricted limits, righteousness
has been the conservative element.  We owe to it
our strength. But there is now within our borders
a race just emancipated from  a bondage which for
generations has been cheating it of its birthright, and
defrauding it of its opportunities. These millions,
now citizens, are left intellectually ignorant, morally
degraded; the victims of sensuality and superstition.
Does any patriot feel willing to allow them to remain
without the formative influence of knowledge, and
the purifying influence of religion? Does not the
dullest mind see that they would become a fatal
gangrene in the state?
In respect to these views there can be no difference of opinion.  The. preeminence of this nation,
the foundations of its order, its rapid advancement,
its high civilization, rest upon its widely diffused
morality; and its morality is a growth of its religious
institutions.
If now the gospel is a refining and conserving
power here, absolutely essential in our estimation, is
it not a necessity everywhere?  Can the vast tracts
over which the government of Russia spreads, ever
contain a population which can vie with that of the
British Isles in refinement, in purity, in moral worth,
in mental development, in  the  conditions which
adorn society, without the all-pervading and elevating
influence of the gospel in the hearts of its people?




120         The Ministry we need.
Can India reach its possible manhood by any other
means? Can Africa otherwise be emancipated from
its ages of inhumanity and darkness?
If the gospel is the essential transforming agency,
equally the hope of our own country and.the hope of
all nations, we can at least arrive at a comparative
estimate of its importance. We have the means of
knowing something of the grandeur of the enterprise
of building up the kingdom of Christ.
All this may be denominated the secular view.
There are more profound results. The gospel is the
wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salvation.
Here we touch a theme which baffles our comprehension. Feebly, at best, do we realize its depth and
height. All the momentous interests of the soul in
relation to eternity, turn upon the cross of Christ.
He that believeth shall be saved. How shall they
believe if they do not hear?
For the past few years the attention to advanced
education has been rapidly intensified. Wealth, with
a generosity unsurpassed, has been bestowed upon
institutions of learning; funds have been liberally
provided in aid of such as need assistance. Year by
year the number of graduates is swelled. Churches
have increased, and young men have been consecrated to God. Population spreads over the vast
areas opened to industry and enterprise. The call
for teachers and preachers is heard on every breeze.
But if the statements of those whose position for
observation, and whose character entitle them to con



Conclusion.               121
fidence, are to be relied upon, the demand for
ministers continually  outruns the  supply.   The
response is wholly disproportionate to the necessity.
Churches increase faster than the seminaries educate
pastors. If, therefore, with the facilities so ample,
the ranks of the home ministry are not filled, what is
the prospect for the destitute nations who look to
this country for help?  Is not the emergency a
pressing one, and the urgency as profound as the
enterprise is imposing?
Is it intrusive, to urge the inquiry, upon what
principle the decision is made? There are substantial reasons which justify the warmest hearted
Christian disciple in withholding himself from the
ministry: reasons which will stand any scrutiny, and
abide any trial.
But have all those, who seem to be promising
candidates for the pastoral office, weighed the subject
with all the deliberation which its profound importance demands? Have they considered it, standing in
sight of that cross which has filled their own souls
with peace and joy? Have they weighed the question of duty when, touched with Christ's compassions,
they have looked out upon the vast multitudes still
sitting in the region and shadow  of death, and
perishing for lack of the knowledge of a Saviour?
Have they taken into the account the glories of that
day, when all the self-denial and love of Christ will
be rewarded  in the completed salvation of the
redeemed?  And have they anticipated the exalted




122          The Ministry we need.
joys of the faithful servants whom  the Lord will
admit to a share in the triumph? Have they fixed
their idea of the value of the privilege of proclaiming
a Saviour, after looking upon the multitudes who are
venturing their souls for the fragment of this world
which  they may gain, and  the  nothing of this
world which they can hold?  Have they measured
the risk of these infatuated myriads by that searching
utterance of Christ: "What shall it profit a man if
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
At such moments, and in such  positions, the
eternal realities assume more of their inherent greatness and worth. It will seem a noble calling to be
commissioned to plead with men to accept a Saviour.
To stand for Christ against the world, and for man
against all his spiritual enemies, will be looked upon
as a great favor. A  new  charm  will invest the
privilege of leading in the cause of truth against
deceiving and destroying error, and of righteousness
against soul-ruining iniquity. It will be felt a satisfaction, exceeding all other satisfactions, to bear a
part with Christ in lifting a fallen race out of its
miseries, and spreading sunshine and rejoicing over
the realms of darkness and death.
There can be no doubt how such motives will be
viewed, when looked back upon in the light of
eternity. When the scales fall from our eyes, and
the obscuring mists of time are dissolved, the clear
vision will insure a true verdict. It cannot be otherwise. When all the glory of divine love shines forth,




Conclusion.                  I23
and the redeemed are in possession of the inheritance, the consecration  of a life to the kingdom
of God will be acknowledged the one transcendent
service.  That work only  will survive.  The  rest,
however fair to earthly eyes, and precious to earthly
desire, will perish.  "Every  man's work shall be
made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it
shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is."
"Oh what, if we are Christ's,
Is earthly shame or loss?
Bright shall the crown of glory be,
When we have borne the cross.
"Keen was the trial once,
Bitter the cup of woe,
When martyred saints, baptized in blood,
Christ's sufferings shared below.
"Bright is their glory now,
Boundless their joy above,
Where, on the bosom of their God,
They rest in perfect love."
"a^