Our success in the ministry
Our success in the ministry
Our success in the ministry will be proportioned to our personal sanctity and devotedness. It has been truly remarked that the minister who has not learned that as his spirituality waned, his real usefulness (not his popularity, for this may long survive the wreck of his usefulness) has declined — has not even begun to learn wherein his strength lies. Who will prove the most successful preacher of the truth? Not the man of giant intellect alone, of brilliant talent, of profound erudition, of popular gifts; these, unassociated with other and higher attainments, will prove but as the armor of Saul to the son of Jesse in the day of battle — cumbrous and useless. But if these intellectual qualifications are combined (though God, in summoning men to his work, often dispenses with them) with the profound teaching of the Spirit, with a spirituality whose attributes are lowliness, prayerfulness, humbleness of mind, vigorous faith, simplicity of purpose, singleness of aim, constraining love, inward unction, persevering industry, and entire devotedness — in such a man we shall find the most successful preacher of the gospel. He shall "turn many to righteousness" here, and in a brighter and holier world, shall "shine … like the stars forever and ever."
But as powerful as is the motive of success, the glory which eminent ministerial piety brings to God — is a motive more powerful still. We are in the Church and in the world — as the messengers of Christ, the witnesses of God. With no office is His glory so intimately connected — as with that which we fill; and by no work is it so widely diffused — as by that which we discharge. The Christian ministry, as it is the holiest, the most divine and influential institution — so it is that with which the highest honor of the divine character and the most exalted dignity of the divine government are most closely allied.
It is fit, then, yes it is imperious, that he who stands forth bearing its commission, clothed with its authority, sustaining its responsibilities, and fulfilling its functions — should maintain a character for heavenly-mindedness, growing sanctity, and devotedness of the purest and most exalted excellence. Oh, to have the thought deeply engraved upon the memory, and ever present to the mind in letters of living light: "I hold in my hands the glory of God in a world that is at enmity against Him — and no angel or archangel has such solemn interests entrusted to his keeping, or trembles beneath such fearful responsibility, as I!"
What a persuasive motive to ministerial holiness! The glory of God! Did ever a holier, higher, or sublimer end — absorb the energies or fix the purposes of a created mind? Let it be ours, my brethren, our one, sole, undeviating aim. Let us sacrifice everything that would divert us from it: fame, applause, reputation, popularity, worldly comfort, the dearest interests of self — if these come in competition with the honor of divine truth and the glory of God, let them go. The wise of this world may esteem us fools; the great may look down upon us with scorn; the formalist may brand us enthusiasts; yet strong in the strength of our God — let this be our firm resolve and this our undeviating practice: "Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death."
Then, when the labors of the vineyard are ended and we ascend to receive our crown — we shall be enabled to say with the Master whom we have served, though in a sense infinitely beneath Him, "I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave me to do."
A ministry formed upon the model which we have humbly endeavored in this work to exhibit, would go far to prove the fallacy of an opinion which many godly minds entertained — namely, that a high order of mental culture is contrary to the existence and growth of eminent and exalted piety. We cherish a close and tender sympathy with the feelings of that portion of the Christian Church, who watch with a kind and vigilant eye the piety of her pastors; and who, with a befitting jealousy, closely investigates the character of every auxiliary brought to strengthen its hands and increase its power. Unsanctified learning in the ministry, has ever proved a bane to the Church and a curse to the world. And that will be a dark day to both — when the door of the Christian ministry expands to admit the scholar — before of the saint ; when a higher value shall be placed upon the acquisitions of human learning — than upon the possession of deep piety; and when brilliant talents and splendid eloquence shall possess stronger power of attraction — than brilliant spirituality and splendid holiness.
And yet, cherishing these views as we do, we see not why true learning and pure Christianity may not go hand in hand; why profound learning and deep piety may not dwell and walk and labor together in the work of the ministry — each nourishing and assisting the other — piety sanctifying and elevating learning, and learning contributing to the strength of piety and opening a wider scope for its exercise and usefulness.
To proscribe the pursuits of literature as necessarily unfavorable to the cultivation of eminent holiness in connection with the Christian ministry — is to set ourselves in opposition to the many and illustrious examples of their beautiful union and reciprocal influence which swell and illumine the pages of the Church's history. The annals of the Reformation are rich in the illustrations they present of this happy combination. Let the honored names of Wycliffe and Luther and Melancthon and Zwingli and Calvin, testify whether the severe pursuits of study were impediments to the higher walks of piety; whether profound learning, followed in its varied and abstruse branches — quenched the soul's thirst for holiness or hindered the cultivation of those habits of meditation and prayer so essential to its attainment. Never has the Christian Church seen men of deeper learning — and never has she cherished men of deeper piety, than those whose honored names grace this page.
From a list of more recent date of learned and holy men, we select but one as disproving the opinion that a learned ministry, and a holy and useful ministry — cannot be combined. That name, resplendent with intellectual and moral glory, stands pre-eminent in the annals of the American Church — we allude to the name of Jonathan Edwards . Of the character, depth, and fervor of his piety — but one opinion can be entertained. Never was it probably equaled, and never surpassed by any uninspired man. His was as the eagle's flight, soaring ever toward the sun — compared with which ours seems but as the progress of the glow-worm, emitting light but still cleaving to the earth.
A vivid and impressive idea may be formed of his pantings after holiness and of his near approach to its most consummate model, from a single passage extracted from his diary and written amid intellectual toils of the most intense and profound character. It was his solemn desire, his holy resolve, and his constant aim, "on supposition that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any time, who was properly a complete Christian , in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed — to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one who should live in my time."
The grace that could thus resolve — could compass its resolution and did compass it, as far as the limits of an earthly state of sanctification would admit. His intellectual greatness — was only surpassed by his spiritual greatness. His mind was of a massive order; the intellectual faculty in him was of the strongest development, and the subjects on which it was employed were the most erudite. And yet how beautifully and accurately was the reciprocal influence of his mental and spiritual powers balanced. So far were his powers of close thinking from being emasculated by the seraphic ardor of his devotion — his mind never appeared more gigantic or threw off thoughts more brilliant and profound, than when, as we gather from his journal, it was in a frame the best fitted for communion with God. So little did his severe habits of intellectual pursuit impair the vigor of his piety, take off the fine edge of his spiritual affections, or lessen the sense of his own nothingness — that, to use his own affecting words, his heart all the while "panted only after this — to lie low before God, as in the dust — that he might be nothing, and that God might be all, that he himself might become as a little child."
It has been the single aim of these pages to insist upon an eminent degree of enlightened spirituality of mind — as an essential attribute in the efficient discharge of the ministerial functions. But let us not be understood as pleading for eminent holiness, as the only requisite of a powerful and useful ministry. As the basis of a well-formed ministerial character, we cannot insist too strongly upon its indispensable necessity. But to constitute a ministry of strength, of power, and of corresponding success — deep piety must be combined with other qualifications, also important and essential to the completeness of the perfect minister.
The man who combines intellectual gifts, properly and thoroughly trained — a mind ample in its intellectual resources and capable of combating with error and of elucidating truth — with a soul deeply baptized in the Spirit of holiness and a heart enveloped in one heaven-ascending flame of love to Christ and men — will be the best expounder of the truth, and the most successful in winning souls to Christ.
Although there are, doubtless, many mournful examples in the history of the Christian pulpit of unrenewed mind and unsanctified learning intruding itself within its hallowed precincts — yet this supplies no valid argument against the cultivation and improvement of those intellectual faculties bestowed by God, and their holy and entire consecration to His service and glory in the work of the ministry.
The high and solemn responsibility of the ministerial office, supplies the most affecting and persuasive motive for an elevated piety. It has been remarked that the work of the ministry would seem more fitted for the strength and purity of angels — than for weak and sinful men. And yet, here are responsibilities which might crush even an angel's powers and consign him to a fearful doom — but for the sustaining hand of God. What reason, then, have we to exclaim, as we compare our personal inadequacy with the duties and responsibilities of our office, "Who is sufficient for these things?"
We are soon to stand before God in judgment. The record of our ministry will be unrolled, and every circumstance and every movement, and every sermon and every prayer, and every motive and every principle — will be set in the light of His countenance and pass the searching scrutiny of His all-piercing eye. Are we living in near prospect of that tremendous day, and of that solemn event? Are we preaching and laboring as those who are soon to give an account of their stewardship? Are we faithful to the souls of those who hear us — are we faithful to our own souls? Are we free from blood-guiltiness? Are we daily mortifying self in all its forms — self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-applause, self-ease, and self-delight? Are we enduring hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ? Are we coming up from the wilderness, and so shaping our course — as to avoid the world's adulation and friendship on the one hand, and unmoved by its censure and its hatred on the other? Are we meek, humble, patient, and Christ-like? Is the life of God in our souls, in a healthy state? Have we the witness of the Spirit? Is Jesus increasingly glorious in our eyes — and precious to our hearts? Do we lift Him higher and higher? Does His name give fragrance, and His salvation substance, and His glory beauty — to every sermon that we preach? Or, do we only recognize Him at the close, introducing Him but to form a graceful finish, a gospel summary to our discourse? These are questions demanding solemn and close review, in the near prospect of our ministerial account.
The falls of so many ministers are awful and affecting warnings to those who think they stand. The bleak shores of eternity are strewed with the fragments of many a beautiful wreck — men who once stood high in the Church — too high for their own safety, but who made shipwreck of their profession and their faith — and now serve as beacons of warning to those who follow.