What an affecting
What an affecting
What an affecting, heart-melting scene does the picture of man's sinful nature and practical degeneracy, present to the eye of a faithful and feeling minister of Christ. If his bosom heaves with emotion or his cheek is blanched with paleness or bedewed with tears, or his spirit is depressed with veiled but mournful sadness — it is not that he has turned his back upon the world, relinquishing its honors, its pleasures, and its emoluments — that his walk is lonely, his life sequestered, his path self-denying and often rough — that he endures reproach and contumely and hardship for Christ — along with afflictions, and sufferings, and privations for the Church. Oh, no — this is rather his glory and his joy!
But it is that on every hand the mournful scene presents itself of a race alienated from the life of God — cherishing against Him in their bosoms, the most deadly hatred: some falsifying His character and arraigning His providence, others deriding His power and blaspheming His name — while all are trampling upon His goodness and converting His mercy to the vilest purposes. It is that the incarnate God, the Redeemer and the Friend of sinners — is despised and rejected by men; and His great salvation, so dearly purchased and so freely bestowed — is neglected and scorned as a thing of nothing. And when the light of eternity in its full blaze is let in upon this dark picture of human guilt and woe — when this rebellious, sinful, and accursed race is viewed as accountable at the bar of judgment — toward whose dread decision it is rapidly hastening — for every act of its present probation, when immortality — an immortality that shall run parallel with the very eternity of God — is viewed as the consummation of their misery, the climax of their horror — then it is no marvel that night and day with tears, in season and out of season — he should warn every man and teach every man, becoming all things to all men, if by any means he might save some.
My brethren, in view of such a picture, the astonishment is not that we feel so much — but that we feel no more! That the weight of souls is not more overpowering, their worth more duly estimated, their eternal destiny more vividly realized, and their immediate salvation more ceaselessly sought — that we can behold them fast hastening their footsteps down to the torments of the lost — see them borne along to the quenchless flame and the undying worm — and think that when next we meet them, it may be to feel their glance of bitter sorrow, perhaps of keen reproach, bent upon us from the left hand of the Judge — and then to see them vanish, and vanish forever! And yet, that we can smile upon them in their madness, admire their trifling ambitions, extol their empty achievements, flatter them in their awful delusions, prophesy to them smooth things — and thus help to fold around their souls, the pall of eternal death!
Oh, this is astonishment beyond degree! You thoughtless heirs of immortality, marvel not that we feel even to the extent we do. Were our eyes fountains of tears, and those tears were tears of blood; were every thought embodied and every feeling absorbed and every breath expended and every moment employed in one agonizing, ceaseless effort to pluck you from the yawning abyss of endless woe — where once lost you are lost forever — it would be an expression of sympathy inadequate to an occasion so momentous, or to a catastrophe so appalling!
But what, brethren, are the terms of our commission? Never was an ambassador charged with such tidings! In a sense, it is true, far subordinate to that of our Lord; and yet, allied in mind and in work with Him, every minister of Christ may say, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me — because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn."
Precious words! Glorious, yet solemn, announcements! Here is an epitome of all gospel preaching — this is the model on which every sermon we deliver should be formed — these are the truths every discourse we preach should embody.
We are called by God and anointed of the Spirit, to preach the "good tidings" of God's everlasting love, and pardoning mercy, and merciful grace in Christ Jesus, to the "meek" — the soul sensible of sin, humbled in the dust of self-abasement on its account, and made willing in the day of divine power to part with its legal obedience and accept the righteousness of Christ as its sole justification before God.
He has sent us to "bind up the brokenhearted" — the heart convinced by the Word and wounded by the Spirit — emptied, humbled, and made contrite; mourning over its hidden evil, and laid low in deep contrition and godly sorrow; with a skillful, tender hand are we to bind up that which is bruised, by unfolding the glorious doctrine of the atoning blood of Jesus as the great and only sovereign balm for its deep sorrow; the power of Christ, equal to His willingness, to save to the uttermost the humble sinner that comes to Him — casting out none who, in the spirit and with the petition of the publican, throw themselves at His feet and supplicate His mercy.
"Liberty to the captive" — we are to proclaim, and the prison of the bound we are to unloose! The soul held captive by sin and Satan, shut up in the prison of the law's curse and condemnation and bound by the chain of a legal righteousness — to such we are to proclaim the "acceptable year of the Lord," the year of reconciliation and of release; of deliverance from the vassalage of Satan, from the tyranny of sin, and from the curse and condemnation of the law. Liberty — sweet word — purchased with the blood and bestowed by the grace of Christ Jesus to all His ransomed people, whom He alone makes free — the liberty that is found beneath the cross, and that springs from free pardon, complete justification, and full adoption into the family of God, evidenced to the soul by the testimony of the indwelling Spirit.
"The day of vengeance of our God" is to mingle its solemn note with the gladsome sound of a free-grace salvation; the wicked are to be warned; the impenitent are to be aroused; the unbelieving are to be expostulated with; and, "knowing the fear of the Lord" — we are to "persuade men" to flee to Jesus and to escape the wrath which is to come.
How important, brethren, that as "stewards of the mysteries of God" we are thoroughly acquainted with those divine records which it is our province to open and expound, that the terms of our commission are frequently and accurately studied — that, through the Spirit's teaching, we have clear and scriptural views of the plan of salvation, and that we preach no questionable gospel to souls whose blood will be required at our hands!
The multiform character of the ministerial work is a prominent feature we must not omit to specify in this sketch of its spiritual character. The Christian ministry does not resolve itself into one work only, but into many. The great design of its institution, as we have shown, is the preaching of the gospel to a dying world. From this, as his chief and most honorable work — no other and inferior work should dissuade or beguile him. No consideration and no employment, however sacred and urgent, should be allowed to lessen his sense of its importance and dignity, or incapacitate him for its proper and efficient discharge. For this, he was chosen and called and ordained; for this, he has been anointed of the Spirit. To cheer and sustain him in this, he has the promised presence of his divine Master; and for the manner in which he has filled this his chief office — he will stand accountable in the judgment. This was the spiritual and lofty view the apostle entertained of his work when he said, "Christ did not send me to baptize — but to preach the gospel."
But there are divisions of labor in the Christian ministry, each department having an important relation, and perhaps serving as a valuable auxiliary, to the chief design of its divine appointment. Upon whom, under God, mainly rests the cause of missions to the heathen? Who is to stand at the bar of the Christian Church and plead the needs of a dying world? Who is to remind that Church of her obligation, and arouse her to the duty of sending the gospel to all the nations of the earth, fanning the flame of missionary zeal and devotedness on her altars night and day? Who is to construct the machinery, and collect the funds, and watch with a sleepless eye every movement of the enterprise — lest languor should enfeeble it at home and failure should attend it abroad? Who but the Christian minister?
On whom, too, rests the solemn responsibility of keeping the Church constantly supplied with an able and a holy ministry? Who are expected to seek out, encourage and foster such talents, gifts, and piety as may exist in the Church, and which, with proper attention and care, may be consecrated to the service of the Lord and molded into the character of the zealous evangelist, or the settled pastor, or the laborious missionary? Thus, on whom does the theological institution, the missionary society, or the gathered church rely for the men they need, but on the settled minister? To whom also but to him does the Bible, the tract, the Sunday-school, and those kindred associations which are the glory of our land — look for their warmest and most successful advocacy, and for the cheering impetus which sustains them with unabated vigor in their career of usefulness?
In addition to these collateral and diversified claims, there devolve upon the settled minister, the peculiar and appropriate duties of the pastoral office, even that which comes upon him daily — the care of his church, involving toils of the most laborious and concerns often of the most painful character. The vineyard entrusted to his care, must be skillfully cultured and vigilantly kept. He must see well to his flock. The hours of wearisome thought and research consumed in the study, the exhausting labors of the pulpit, and even the prayers which ascend in mingled and fragrant incense from the closet and the sanctuary — will fail of much of their intended end and effect, if the footfall of the diligent pastor is not soon heard pressing hard after the sacred, but often fitful and evanescent impression of the Sabbath.
In his pastoral walks, a diversity of character will throng him, each drawing largely upon his resources of thought and feeling, and making deep inroads upon his time.
The weak must be strengthened,
the wavering confirmed,
the ignorant instructed,
the wandering reclaimed,
the dilatory urged forward,
the dejected encouraged,
the inquiring directed,
the sick visited, and
the afflicted sympathized with and consoled.
The ordinances of God's house, and the varied means of grace, must be constantly, vigorously, and spiritually maintained. These include the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper; the convenings of the church for ecclesiastical business, of the people for prayer and praise, of the young for Biblical instruction, and of inquirers for spiritual direction. How great is the work, and how spiritual is the character of the ministerial office. "Who is sufficient for these things?" "But our sufficiency is from God."
There are two offices connected with the fulfillment of our pastoral duties, so important in themselves, and so strongly illustrative of the eminent spirituality of the ministerial character, that I may be permitted to give them, in this connection of my subject, a distinct and an emphatic notice.
The first to which I allude is the visitation of the sick and the afflicted . To discharge this vastly important and responsible office properly, spiritually, and effectively — a high order of pastoral fitness is essential. Nothing presents a more certain and powerful test of ministerial excellence; nothing more quickly and accurately develops and establishes the character of the man, than this. It is not as he stands in the pulpit, surrounded by the transient luster of his own eloquence, officially uttering the language, breathing the spirit, and invested with the attributes, of lowliness, self-abasement, meekness, gentleness, kindness, and charity — that a correct portrait can be sketched of the pastor. From this point, the observation must necessarily be partial, distorted, and imperfect.
The estimate will be either too high or too low, the coloring too faint or too extravagant.
But place the object in its proper light; let the pastor be seen in his appropriate sphere; let him descend from the scene of excited feeling, pass from the midst of an admiring people, and wend his solitary way to the house of mourning, and ascend the darkened chamber of sickness and solitude — then will he be seen as he really is. Then his true spirituality of mind, the native feeling, delicacy, and tenderness of his heart and address — will shine forth in their own beautiful and unveiled reality.
What a scene now presents itself to his view. The door that opens to admit him to the chamber of sorrow and suffering, and which closes upon the world's gaiety and heartlessness — has ushered him, as it were, into another and a different world; and he feels like one standing on the margin of eternity, in communion with a spirit soon to mingle with its dread realities. Listening to the tale of woe, or bending over that pale emaciated sufferer — oh how trifling, contemptible, and hollow does all earthly care, greatness, and glory appear! And with what nearness, solemnity, and vastness do the scenes of an eternal world rise and expand before the mind!
The attendants retire and give place to the Christian minister. And now commences, perhaps, the most difficult and delicate, solemn and responsible, discharge of pastoral duty. If the sick one is a disciple whom Jesus loves — the delightful office will be to set before the dear sufferer's mind, perhaps agitated by doubt or beclouded by disease — what Jesus especially is to His tried and suffering, sick and dying members — what He is in the dignity of His person, in the efficacy of His atoning blood, in the perfection of His justifying righteousness, in the fullness of His sanctifying grace, in the tenderness of His heart, the sympathy of His nature, the exceeding greatness and preciousness of His promises, and what His present intercession is within the veil — what God is as a Father, tender, loving, compassionate, and faithful; what the covenant of grace is in all its rich, ample, and free supply; what the Holy Spirit is as the Comforter, testifying of Jesus as an all-sufficient Savior, and bearing His witness to the soul's pardon, acceptance, and adoption.