ee Se Oe pega ae ne as RSS SSS Ss nS iia Sie SSS Ss eS SS = = eo SN REN x Ves ae ee ~ SSS ~ COCEe. Whe oe eee wy Ce We CEM Oe ets ae “bed oA, es Ag yee Tem Wat aS) ~ ety Dan yt ee Wea ar ae THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY - Witce : Rapa et eS Sl =. a. | Pla 4 15 3% < ey ' a THE MINISTER. | AND HIS MINISTRY pas By JOHN MAHAN ENGLISH, D.D. Professor Emeritus of Homiletics and Pastoral Duties in The Newton Theological Institution Author of ** For Pulpit and Platform ”’ PHILADELPHIA THE JUDSON PRESS BOSTON CHICAGO LOS ANGELES KANSAS CITY SEATTLE TORONTO leoppcients aed by . . aD Nive AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION soc ETY =< ge , Lah Published May, 1024. ' , « « { io 7 ca ft ’ 2 os ' +4 m 4 * , 2 } ba ' F t, 4 * ’ ’ . 5 a2 ; 4 = ' Sa any v4 = j . ~ ot i t ¢ $ ‘ ys 2 ’ ; PRINTED INTUL(SecAg 1) te 4 : r. , .) iy , en , ; i 2 ‘ 4 a! 1 fs 1.) ; ri 4 ann ; ne Aa ‘ Loa s + a TO THE ALUMNI OF THE NEWTON THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED PREFACE Tue Alumni of The Newton Theological Insti- tution contributed a fund of ten thousand dollars to establish a lectureship in the Homiletic Depart- ment, and requested that it bear the title “ The John Mahan English Lectureship,” the object of which is to bring to the Institution experienced pastors and other specialists in Christian work to reside with the students for an appropriate period, and hold conferences with them concern- ing their future labors. The Alumni thought it fitting that I should deliver the initial lectures on the Foundation. Numerous requests have been made that the lectures be published. They con- stitute the present work. In the delivery of the lectures, owing to the limitation of time the full contents of the second and third lectures could not be given. They appear in this volume. The Christian minister, although he contends with strong competition in securing the attention and the interest of the public, has an ever-wid- PREFACE ening sphere of service in furthering the largest human welfare. But his ministry must be of a high order if he is to achieve his vital and diffi- cult task, since efficiency in every realm of en- deavor is growingly demanded. It is the pur- pose of this volume to set forth the qualities of his preaching, the scope of his leadership, and his equipment that are essential to his greatest suc- cess. Every Christian minister should keenly feel the opportunity and the responsibility that are his in extending the kingdom of truth, of righteousness, and of love. The author indulges the hope that this book may contribute a mea- sure of helpfulness to the ministers who may con- sult its pages, particularly to students for the ministry in theological schools and to the younger ministers. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Peel HEMMINISTERVAS PREACHER (3) oc Vu I Il) THE MINISTER AS LEADER........... 27 Ill. THE MINISTER’s EQUIPMENT......... 83 THE MINISTER AS PREACHER i me as ied — CN 4 ' ( i : Hd bins SF eee i “ae Mis Ra i el ie une THE MINISTER AS PREACHER wo of the outstanding functions of the pastoral ministry are preaching and leadership. If either is neglected, both suffer. The modern ministry is under obligation equally to emphasize them, else the bringing in of God’s kingdom is greatly hindered. ) In the present chapter the preaching of the minister is to be considered. Strong preaching is to a ministry what iron is to the blood. If the pulpit is weak, leadership lacks vigor and tone. Successful leadership of a church is the complement of a virile pulpit, af- fording practical working expression of its teaching, and so furnishing Christian truth the opportunity of coming to its normal fruition in building character and in furthering service. It is ground for deep gratitude and strong en- couragement on the part of the Christian preacher that the book which furnishes him his message is also the book that supplies the temper, the qualities, the methods, and the objects of preach- ing. These are expressed in certain homiletic terms, the study of some of the chief of which will set forth what is required of the minister as an effective present-day preacher. [3] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY I. The first term to be considered is euaggelizo, which means “ to bring good news, to announce glad-tidings.”’ It occurs fifty-three times, and the corresponding noun, euaggelion, seventy- five times. It corresponds in meaning with the Old Testament word, “to announce good tid- ings,” which is first used in a secular sense. When one reported to David Saul’s death, he is said to have brought good tidings. (2 Sam. 4: 10.) The four lepers who discovered the flight of the Syrians under their king, Ben-hadad, said, “This day is a day of good tidings” (axkKings | Zc) Oy) In Isaiah the associations of the word are spiritual. ‘‘ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth” (Isa. 52:7). The idea of good tidings in the spiritual sense was carried over from Judaism into Christianity by Jesus himself in his address in the synagogue in Nazareth, when he declared the nature and the scope of his ministry by quoting Isaiah 61: 1, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good-tidings ”’ (Luke 4: 18). In response to the multitudes in Capernaum, who besought him to remain there, he said, “I must preach the good-tidings of the [4] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent”? (Luke 4: 43). To John the Baptist, who in prison was disheartened con- cerning Jesus as the Messiah, and sent his dis- ciples to inquire, “ Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?”’ Jesus answered by stat- ing the credentials of his Messiahship, including among them as chief, “the poor have good-tid- ings preached to them” (Matt. 11:5). In Jesus’ conception of his ministry the term em- phasized the content of his preaching. It was sometimes linked with the idea of heralding, as in Luke 8: 1, “ He went about through cities and villages heralding, and bringing the good- tidings of the kingdom of God.” Godet, in his comment on the passage, says that good-tidings “adds the idea of a proclamation of grace as the prevailing character of his teaching.” After Pentecost the term was used to signify the fulness of the gospel as God’s saving agency. In this meaning it frequently occurs in the Acts, and is there peculiarly applicable to the minis- try of Paul. Philip in his ministry in Samaria, Peter and John in their preaching on their way to Jerusalem from their mission in Samaria, Paul in his address in Antioch of Pisidia, and in his letter to the church in Rome, expressing his yearning to reach the capital of the world that [5] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY he might discharge his indebtedness to “ Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the fool- ish,” emphasized as central in their preaching the bringing of good-tidings. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul broadly characterized his min- istry thus, ‘“ Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach good-tidings”” (1 Cor. I : 17). As the bringer of good-tidings the preacher and his ministry are to be marked by two out- standing qualities, else he is entirely unfitted for his holy task. First, joyfulness. “ The gospel is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.”’ It contains and manifests the glory, the splendor of the moral and spiritual excellence of the perfect and bliss- ful God. God’s salvation fairly rings with the joy of his fatherly heart. The reason for the unalloyed and profound happiness of a true child of God is that the blissful heart of the eternal Father is in him. In this sense he is a partaker of the divine nature. How, then, can such a gospel as this find anything like adequate com- munication through God’s ambassador unless his own soul is overflowing with the fulness of the divine joy, unless his spirit, his manner, his speech declare that he is a partaker of the good cheer of the saving divine grace that has been committed to his trust? How can a man with [6] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER pessimism in his heart and a doleful note on his tongue convey to sinful men the gospel of the glory of the blessed God? It is a fair question whether the preaching of the present day does not owe a part of its in- efficiency to the fact that the ministry has be- come so used to the message it presents that it fails to react upon it with that superabounding joy which so evidently marked the preaching of the first disciples of Jesus, and so largely ac- counted for its magnificent triumphs? Preach- ing the gospel now as ever achieves victory not so much from what is said as by the way in which it is said, by the cheerful, optimistic tone of the minister of it. Here was largely the source of the amazing fruitfulness of such preachers as Peter, Paul, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Spurgeon, Moody. The evangelical ministry of today should do a great deal of heart- searching as to whether or not the fine flavor of the divine gladness has grown stale in the ex- perience and on the lips of the men who have been set apart of God for its saving utterance. Jesus exquisitely enjoyed his message. This was one element in his speaking with authority, and in the dominant cheerful temper of his character. Are modern ministers the true disciples of their Lord in this? [7] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY Secondly, hopefulness. The man who is di- vinely commissioned to herald the glad tidings of salvation is strangely recreant to his high cail- ing, and to the confidence that God reposes in him, if he is not constantly expecting his message to be favorably received by those who hear it from his lips. It is an almost universal law of life that we get what we are aiming for. The happening of the unexpected is exceptional. As a rule, the man who is looking for success achieves it, and the man who is fearing defeat suffers it. Success in any calling hinges less upon sheer intellectual ability and exact learning than upon the way a man is built, upon his dominant mood. When a preacher of the good tidings has that spirit of superabounding triumph of which Paul speaks, “In all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us,” even though his intellectual and vocational outfit may not be of the best, indeed, though it is inferior, his ministry is bound to be heard from. Perhaps as much preaching power runs to waste through a lack of expectation of success as through any other single cause. It is a sin as well as certain failure to attempt to preach the glad tidings in the fear that men will reject it. It is a contra- diction in terms. Joseph Parker, Charles H. Spurgeon, Henry Ward Beecher, Phillips Brooks, [8] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER to name none of the living successful preachers, had no other expectation than that success would crown their ministries, and it was largely that which brought it. 2. A second word of significance for preach- ing is kérusso, which occurs sixty times, kérugma, eight times, kérux, three times. In the New Testament it means “ to announce publicly,” “to herald,’ “always,” as Thayer says, “ with a suggestion of formality, gravity, and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed.” “John the Baptist heralded in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3: 1). “Jesus went about all Galilee, heralding the gos- pel of the kingdom” (Matt. 4: 23). “ Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and heralded unto them the Christ” (Acts 8:5). Paul in his imprisonment in Rome, “ gladly welcomed all that went in to him, heralding the kingdom of God” (Acts 28 : 30, 31). The word kérusso emphasizes the publicity and the universality with which the gospel is to be preached. Jesus commanded the twelve apostles, “ What ye hear in the ear, herald upon the house- fons (CaAtiietO*: 27). 3. A third homiletic term calling for consid- eration is kataggello, which means “to bring Le THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY down a message, to bring it home to one, to pub- lish, to proclaim.” It is used seventeen times. In the Authorized Version it has a variety of translations; in the Revised Version it is almost uniformly, fifteen times out of seventeen, trans- lated “to proclaim.” The gospel is viewed as a message entrusted by God to the preacher as a messenger. It is not his own, but another’s. The term is found mainly in the Acts. When Bar- nabas and Saul, on the first missionary journey, arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. (Acts 13: 5.) In his address in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul declared, “‘ Be it known to you, therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins” (Acts 13: 38). To the Athenians Paul said, “‘ What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I proclaim unto you’’ (Acts 17: 23). To the Colossians he wrote, “Whom we proclaim unto you” (Col. Leesan! This aspect of Christian preaching should yield in the preacher the quality of faithfulness. He is the proclaimer of a message that Almighty God has vouchsafed to him. He is to be faithful as to the content of his message. He is neither to add to it nor subtract from it. He is con- scientiously to guard the sacred deposit of sav- [10] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER ing truth that is entrusted to his keeping. As Chrysostom says: ‘Take not aught from the deposit : it is not thine; thou wast entrusted with others’ goods: deteriorate them not.’’ There may be qualities of his message that are not so agree- able to the preacher as are others. Beyond what he may be wholly conscious of he may wrest the truth, giving it a tinge not native to it. He may be tempted to adulterate the pure truth of God because of its apparent severity, or its supposed unacceptableness to his hearers. The Christian minister is under the most binding moral obliga- tion to preach the truth as he understands it, after the most conscientious and painstaking search to discover its exact meaning. In an age like ours this requires the finest sort of Christian conscience and courage. Faithfulness is called for also in the commumi- cation of the message. The minister is to be con- stantly about his Master’s business. He is never to consult his own selfish convenience or ease. He is sincerely to use every opportunity to com- municate the truth. He is to “ be urgent in sea- son, out of season,” or as it has been phrased, “unseasonably in season.’ In voluntarily ac- cepting a commission from God, the preacher has cordially and solemnly consented to press home the truth with all the powers of his soul upon [11] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY all whom he meets as suitable occasion offers or as he can make occasion suitable. 4. A fourth term is martureo, to bear testi- mony to the truth as a witness. ‘ Primarily,” says Cremer, “to attest anything one knows.”’ It occurs seventy-eight times, martus, thirty-four times. A witness may arrive at his knowledge in a variety of ways. He may be an eye-witness, or an ear-witness, as was the case with the apostles concerning the truth spoken and the deeds wrought by Jesus. It may emphasize the knowl- edge of, the truth by personal experience of it. This is its central idea today. The witness de- clares the message out of his own soul. The term is used repeatedly of the preaching of John the Baptist, and of that of Jesus himself, par- ticularly in the Gospel of John, and frequently in the Acts. “ John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the spirit descending as a dove out of heaven: and it abode upon him.” “ And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1 : 32, 34). Jesus said to Nicodemus, “ We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen, and ye receive not our witness’? (John 3 : 11). The idea and the fact of witnessing fittingly lend themselves to the genius of the gospel. [12] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER The two terms message and witness are at the bottom of Phillips Brooks’ fine definition or de- scription of Christian preaching, “‘ truth through personality.” Since what he says about them furnishes so true insight into his own wonderful power as a preacher, is vitally in point touching the practical value for current preaching of the study of the homiletic words of the New Testa- ment, and so exactly expresses my own view, I quote his words at some length: * There are two aspects of the minister’s work which we are constantly meeting in the New Testament. They are really embodied in the two words, one of which is “ mes- sage,’ and the other is “witness.” ‘“ This is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you,” says St. John in his first Epistle. ‘‘ We are witnesses of these things,” says St. Peter before the council at Jerusalem. In these two words together, I think, we have the fun- damental conception of the matter of all Christian preach- ing. It is to be a message given to us for transmission, but yet a message which we cannot transmit until it has entered into our own experience, and we can give our own testimony of its spiritual power. The minister who keeps the word “message” always written before him, as he prepares his sermon in his study, or utters it from the pulpit, is saved from the tendency to wanton and wild speculation, and from the mere passion of originality. He who never forgets that word “ witness,” is saved from the unreality of repeating by rote mere forms of statement which he has learned as orthodox, but never realized as true. If you and I can always carry this double con- 1“ Vale Lectures on Preaching,” pages 14, 15, 17. [13] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY sciousness, that we are messengers, and that we are wit- nesses, we shall have in our preaching all the authority and independence of assured truth, and yet all the appeal and convincingness of personal belief. It will not be we that speak, but the spirit of our Father that speaketh in us, and yet our sonship shall give the Father’s voice its utterance and interpretation to his other children. I think that nothing is more needed to correct the peculiar vices of preaching which belong to our time than a new preva- lence among preachers of this first conception of the truth which they have to tell as a message. I am sure that one great source of the weakness of the pulpit is the feeling among the people that these men who stand up before them every Sunday have been making up trains of thought, and thinking how they should treat their subject, as the phrase runs. There is the first ground of the vicious habit that our congregations have of talking about the preacher more than they think about the truth. I think that it would give to our preaching just the quality which it appears to me to most lack now. That quality is breadth. In the light of these noble words of his own, come with double force the words of his biog- rapher, Professor Allen, concerning Phillips Brooks’ method of preparing his sermons: ” He first opened his soul to the influence of the truth which was to constitute his message, devising the most forcible method in order to make it appeal to his own heart, and then under the influence of this conviction he wrote his sermon. He studied its effects upon himself before studying how to reach a congregation. This process kept him natural, sincere, and unaffected, preserving his personality in all that he said, and free from the dangers of conventionalism or artificiality. 3“ Life,” Vol. 2, p. 116, [14] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER 5. A fifth term of vital significance to the Christian preacher is diamarturomai. It is found thirteen times, ten of these in the Acts in con- nection with Paul’s ministry. In classic Greek it means “to call God and man to witness, to protest solemnly.” In the New Testament it signifies “‘to testify fully, solemnly to testify.” As Cremer says, “to affirm a truth with em- phasis.” Ellicott remarks concerning the word, “The preposition appears primarily to mark the presence or intervention of some form of wit- ness.” It is used in the communicating of truth in circumstances that are peculiarly critical and urgent, as, for example, in the parable of Dives and Lazarus the word is put into the mouth of Dives: “I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him (Lazarus) to my father’s house; for I have five brethren; that he may tes- tify unto them, lest they also come into this place Ortorment a(luke 16 2°27; 28).) .Godet;\in his comment on this parable, says that the word sig- nifies not only “to declare, but to testify in such a way that the truth pierces through the wrap- pings of a hardened conscience.” Paul used the word three times in his brief address to the Ephe- sian elders in Miletus, when he was under deep stress of conviction and emotion, when his whole personality was profoundly stirred. Vividly re- [15] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY calling his ministry in Ephesus, he characterized it as ‘‘ testifying both to Jews and to Greeks re- pentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” ‘“‘ The Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.” “I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of)God7): (Acts 20°:\21,) 22) 524 aus used of Paul’s preaching in Corinth in an ex- citing and pressing situation: “ When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained, engrossed with the word, testify- ing to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ’ (Acts 18:5): As Meyer expresses it, )* Begwas wholly seized and arrested by the doctrine, so that he applied himself to it with assiduity and utmost earnestness.’’ The term is used also of Paul’s preaching in Rome when a prisoner there —another occasion when his whole soul was aflame. To the great numbers who came to him in his lodging, “ he expounded the matter, testi- fying the kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening ”’ (Acts 28 : 23). In preaching the word connotes, first, a deep conviction of the reality of the truth, [ 16 ] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER secondly, solemnity and earnestness in delivering it, as to those whose condition is serious and criti- cal, as on the occasion of Peter’s sermon at Pen- tecost, “he testified and exhorted them, Save yourselves from this crooked generation’”’ (Acts 2hA0 ): It is this living, searching spirit in preaching that our age calls for. It is the spirit for which Silvester Horne, with moral passion and burning eloquence pleads in his fine book, “ The Romance of Preaching,” which contains the lectures that he delivered in the Yale Divinity School on the Lyman Beecher Foundation. He deplores the lack of seriousness and earnestness in present- day preaching, and boldly declares that if the ministry was deeply persuaded of the glory of the gospel, and should preach it with souls on fire, there would be a repetition of its pristine triumph over the hearts of men, and Christian preaching would once more assume its throne of power. Who can doubt it? When Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott’s son-in-law, heard Doctor Chalmers preach, he declared that his “ blood- earnestness ’’ was the open secret of his wonder- ful power. So has it always been, and so will it always be. 6. A sixth homiletic term is dialegomai. It occurs thirteen times, ten times concerning Paul [17] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY in the Acts. Its etymological meaning is “to pick out, to lay out in thought.” In the New Tes- tament it signifies “to reason, to discuss, to ar- gue.” Much of Jesus’ presentation of truth, particularly to his fiercest enemies, was argumen- tative in form, and the record of it leaves the impression that it was very earnest and forcible. Peter’s address at Pentecost was reasoning based on the content of Old Testament Scripture. In Paul’s preaching it refers principally to his rea- soning with the Jews concerning the death and the resurrection of Jesus, as Thayer says, “ with disputing prominent.” In Thessalonica “ for three Sabbath days in a synagogue of the Jews Paul reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead” (Acts 17: 1-3). While he was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he “ reasoned in the syna- gogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market-place every day with them that met him” (Acts 17: 16, 17). And beyond doubt his stirred feeling thus produced fired his match- less address on Mars Hill with an ardor and in- tensity of passion that must have added greatly to its impressiveness and power. When he reached Corinth from Athens, “‘ he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded [ 18 ] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18: 4). When he came with Priscilla and Aquila to Ephesus, he at first “entered into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God,” and later he reasoned daily “in the school of Tyrannus” (Acts 19: 8, 9). Before Felix and Drusilla, his wife, Paul “ rea- soned of righteousness, and self-control, and the judgment to come” with such power that “ Felix was territied “' (Acts 24 : 24, 25). This word emphasizes the use of argument in establishing and enforcing Christian truth, and the value of order, system in preaching. In our time when the principles of the Christian religion are pretty widely understood, and intrinsically commend themselves to the conscience, the judg- ment, and the entire personality, argumentation in the strict sense is not so much called for. The character of the congregation, however, the en- vironment, and the occasion should control in communicating saving truth in this form. The term does have great value today in the direc- tion of emphasizing orderliness in public Chris- tian discourse, genuine analysis in promoting unity and progress of thought. It is sometimes charged against current preaching by intellectual and thoroughly trained men that it is not con- [19 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY vincing. If this is true, it means that the central topics of discourse are not so arranged as to com- mend them to the logical demand of cultivated minds. Genuine analysis and orderly movement of ideas is one of the latest accomplishments of the preacher. No rhetorical device, no luxuriance of illustration can atone for the absence of well- ordered thought. Analysis alone does not make preaching effective, but it cannot be effective with- out it, especially to hearers of logical temper and thorough mental training. And certainly no min- istry can afford to ignore or neglect them. 7. A seventh word to be considered is didasko, “to teach, to instruct.” It is used ninety-five times, didaskalia, twenty-one times, didaké, thirty times, didaskalos, fifty-eight times, all the forms together, two hundred four times. “In the New Testament,’ remarks Cremer, kérusso is the standing expression for the proclamation of the divine message of salvation, and differs from didaskein in that it means simply the making known the announce- ment, whereas didaskein denotes continuous instruction in the contents and connections of the message. The thing aimed at in the use of didaskein is to beget a determining of the will by the communication of the knowledge spoken of. This word is prominently used in connection with the ministry of Jesus, as indicating his customary [ 20 ] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER method of conveying truth. ‘“ Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and her- alding the gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 4: 23). The Sermon on the Mount is a teach- ing, as is also the farewell discourse in John’s Gospel. (John 14 to 16.) The parables of Jesus, which formed so conspicuous a part of his min- istry, are didactic in quality. The characteristic term applied to him was the term teacher, didas- kalos. His mastership over his disciples was a teaching mastership. “ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me’ (Matt.:11,: 29)...“ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I com- manded you” (Matt. 28: 20). It was to bea chief function of the Holy Spirit, the other helper of the same sort as Jesus himself, who was to take his place that “he should teach you all things” (John 14: 26). “He shall guide you into all the truth”? (John 16: 13). Teaching is the per- manent, the universal, and the fruitful method of the ministry and of the church in bringing in the reign of God. This is the outstanding word to denote the chief function of the pastoral ministry. It is to be a teaching ministry, which signifies that Chris- tian truth, the good news that constitutes the content of the gospel of Christ, is to be imme- diately directed to the understanding of the [21] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY hearer, but always with the will ultimately in view. Genuine Christian teaching from the pul- pit, or elsewhere, is never to be simply and solely the conveying of information from one mind to another mind, but it is always the communicating of knowledge for the spiritual purpose of being transmuted into character through the agency of the volitional energy. It is this aspect of the Christian ministry that is so strongly emphasized today. It is, in the main, a good emphasis so long as the will is the final goal, although the strictly evangelistic function of the ministry and of the church is not to be ignored or obscured. 8. The eighth, and last, word to be considered is parakaleo. It occurs one hundred five times, paraklesis, twenty-nine times, parakletos, five times, in its three forms, one hundred fifty-nine times. It means, etymologically, “to call hither, to call to any one.’’ Inthe New Testament its significance is “‘to admonish, encourage, entreat, beseech, console, comfort, exhort.” As Cremer says: Parakalein is the technical term for a specific kind of Christian teaching, namely, that in which beseeching, ad- monition, and comfort predominate. It appeals to the will, aims at winning, not breaking the will. It was used by Peter in his address at Pentecost in connection with another word, both of which 22 ] THE MINISTER AS PREACHER indicate the tenderness and passion with which he must have spoken. ‘“ With many other words he testified (diemartureto) and exhorted (pare- kalet) them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation’ (Acts 2 : 40). When Paul was on his last journey to Jerusalem, and had reached Czesarea, “ both we, his companions, and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem” (Acts, 21 : 12)... [he term is used to express his intense desire, his passionate long- ing, toward the Church at Rome, just as he had concluded the argument of his epistle, and was beginning to make practical application of it. “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service’ (Rom. 12: 1). Paul employs the word in his tender message to the church in Thessa- lonica, “* Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4: 18), and again in his second letter to the Thessalonians, when he was pouring out his whole heart to them, “‘ Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal com- fort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work anisole, Lhess, 2°:)16, 17)... It-.is the term that, in the farewell address of Jesus, is ap- [ 23 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY plied five times to the Holy Spirit, parakletos, helper, advocate, comforter. One of the most marked and impressive usages of the word is in the passage in Paul’s second letter to the Co- rinthians, in which he applies it to God himseli: ‘“We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to; God ule Cork sian 20). In some respects this word is the most noble and the most significant word in the New Tes- tament concerning Christian preaching. It em- phasizes tenderness, fervor, power of persuasive appeal. ‘As didaskein is intended to reach the will through the intellect, parakalein is intended to reach the will through the emotions. How rich a twofold function of the Christian preacher! It is his high mission and privilege to present to his fellow men truth that is adapted to reach and to sway for righteousness the human personality, through the shining pathway of the intellect and the feelings. It may not be too much to say that a radical defect in current preaching is just that quality which is conveyed in the word parakaleo, a lack of fervid, pointed influencing of the will of the hearer. The more thoughtful preaching is, the greater is the warrant, and the louder is the call for its use. The mischief is that the preach- [ 24 | THE MINISTER AS PREACHER ers who present to the audience the least sub- stance of truth, are in danger of giving it too large a place, and that those whose preaching has the richest content of truth, are in danger of giving it no place at all. Christian comfort, too, which this term carries in its meaning, should receive more recognition in pastoral preaching in this time of stress and strain. Doctor John Watson (lan Maclaren), who for a quarter of a century ministered to an exceptionally intelligent, cultivated, and wealthy congregation, in review- ing his ministry, said that if he had it to go over again, he would greatly increase the element of comfort in his preaching. The foregoing qualities of the New Testament conception of preaching, which accounted for the rapid and wide spread of the gospel when it was first proclaimed, are essentially modern. They are based on fundamental psychological laws. They are as necessary in the ministry of this time as of that. And who can doubt that if they marked the present-day preaching as they marked the apostolic preaching, “‘ the gospel of the glory of the blessed God ” would have vast increase of power? In view of the central place of these qualities in the effective communication of Chris- tian truth, they should be assiduously cultivated by the ministry. [ 25 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY The summary of this study is as follows: 1. The preacher is a messenger bearing a di- ‘vine message. 2. The message is one of good-tidings. 3. The preacher is to proclaim it publicly, widely. 4. The preacher is to proclaim it out of his own experience. 5. The preacher is to proclaim it with solemn emphasis and urgency. 6. The preacher is to proclaim it with pungency and fervid appeal. 7. The preacher is to establish the claims of the message by argument. 8. The preacher is to be a teacher of the truth to the minds, the hearts, and the wills of men. These aspects of his preaching require in him- self: joyfulness, hopefulness, faithfulness, ur- gency, experience, ability to reason, tenderness, fervor, aptness to teach. [ 26 } IT THE MINISTER AS LEADER Re hero Bn u BRN Aid ‘ 107 et sarees | by (bk reas THE MINISTER AS LEADER “AN army is as good as its officers.” A church is as good as its minister. The teaching of the New Testament is clear and emphatic that the pastor of a church is its official leader, and in what that leadership consists. Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians writes: ‘‘ Brothers, we beg you to respect those who are working among you, presiding over you in the Lord and maintaining discipline: hold them in special es- teem and affection for the sake of their work ” (1 Thess. 5 : 12, Moffati’s translation). The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says: “Obey your leaders, submit to them, for they are alive to the interests of your souls, as men who will have to account for their trust. Let their work be a joy to them and not a grief— which would be a loss to yourselves” (Heb. 13: 17, Moffatt’s translation). The churches of our time do not honor the position of the pastoral ministry and recognize its leadership as was done in the New Testament period, and consequently the work of the churches is not so efficient as it should be and could become. There is need of a fresh emphasis [29 | THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY in the consciousness of the churches of the legiti- mate function of the pastoral ministry. The pas- tors themselves need a deepening conviction of the scope and the responsibility of their leader- ship. They should, however, avoid asserting their leadership in a dictatorial spirit, but should exer- cise it rather in a spirit of service for the largest weal of all the members of the church and for the church’s most effective furtherance of the kingdom. What has been said of Jefferson as a political leader, probably the most astute our country has had, may with equal pertinency be said of the pastor as a spiritual leader: The people had not the slightest notion that they were being guided. For Jefferson never used the accent of command, or assumed the bearing of a leader. So Carl Schurz said of Lincoln, “ He directed while appearing to obey,” and so Dawson, his bi- ographer, remarks concerning Bishop Hanning- ton, he possessed skill in making people do just as he wished by rendering it impossible that they could do any other thing to their own satisfaction. What is the specific scope of the leadership of the modern pastoral ministry? When can it be truthfully said that the function of a pastoral ministry is fulfilled? In other words, what con- | 30 | THE MINISTER AS LEADER stitutes pastoral success? Every one who either is, or expects to be, a pastor of a church should squarely confront this question and try to an- swer it. It is to be feared that all too many en- ter and continue in the Christian ministry with indefinite or erroneous views of the main ends to be pursued and achieved in the pastoral relation. A church may have a full treasury, a pastor may have overflowing congregations, his name may be often on admiring lips, conversions may be frequent, and yet he may fundamentally fail in fulfilling the mind of Christ in putting him into the pastorate. The final test of success is the developing of the church into a strong and efficient Christian force. With whatever else done, and this undone, a pas- toral ministry is a failure. There seems to be a notion abroad, which is too often held by minis- ters themselves, that the chief function of a church is to provide the preacher a platform from which he may address and influence the community. This is an erroneous idea. The community is not present to listen to him. Only a small seg- ment of it is there. The minister of a church does not, cannot, directly reach the general pub- lic with his message. He reaches the public in- directly through his church and congregation. “The pastor belongs to the community through [31] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY his church.” Principal Selbie, of Mansfield Col- lege, Oxford, England, said to a gathering of theological students that what would matter in their future lives was the work they did in their own churches, that the work they did outside their churches would amount to very little. The pastor builds his ministry into the church, and the church builds it into the community. When Doctor Talmage was pastor in Brooklyn he preached to a peripatetic audience of vast numbers. But when he ended his ministry there he left behind him no church. Henry Ward Beecher, on the other hand, preached to great crowds and built a church of mighty influence. Lyman Abbott, who was Mr. Beecher’s imme- diate successor, bears this witness, When after Mr. Beecher’s death, I went to Plymouth Church, I found it a working church, with two branches, each well equipped and organized for religious work, and more than three hundred of its members active in some regular form of church work. Evangelism is rightly considered a leading end of a ministry and of a church. Forces must be recruited before they can be drilled. But evan- gelism is not the final aim of a pastoral minis- try. Perhaps the outstanding weakness of the Christian churches today is that they are more eager to gain converts, to multiply numbers, [ 32 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER than they are to train them into a strong, sym- metrical, and efficient body. It is pertinent, then, to inquire wherein specifi- cally consists the development of a church? I. THE BUILDING OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER At the bottom of all, and in some sense includ- ing all, is the building of distinctively Chris- tian character in the entire church. W hat is the Trend of Scripture Teaching Con- cerning Christian Character? An attentive reading of the New Testament impresses one with the fulness of its teaching on Christian character. The sanctification of be- lievers, to use the New Testament phrase, is its central theme. This is true both in view of the amount of space given to its consideration, and of the relation of the other truths to this one. The doctrines of the incarnation, the atonement, the Holy Spirit, regeneration, justification, are all in the interest of this doctrine. They are sim- ply provisions for making men holy, for building character. Even the doctrines of foreordination and election, which have been so hotly argued by theologians, and a stumbling-block to many, are turned to severely practical account. ‘‘ Whom he Pokey THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY foreknew he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son”’ (Rom. 8 : 29). “ Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love, having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself’? (Eph. 1 : 4, 5). Not hard, bare doctrine, but doctrine as the bone, sinew, and nerve of character. Why is doctrinal preaching synonymous with dryness? It is because doc- trines are too often preached unscripturally. They are presented in an abstract, argumentative way, divorced from personality in God, in Christ, in man. When kept in the atmosphere of the Bible, doctrinal preaching is instinct with life, and reality, and power, and it is popularly inter- esting. People like to listen to it and call for it. Indeed, in the best sense, all Christian preaching is doctrinal preaching. The following additional passages bear their witness to what has just been said on the preeminence of character-building in the work of the pastoral ministry. They contain the flower of Christianity. They tell us why we have a gospel. The ground truth in them all is the ground truth in God’s revelation to men, viz., that they may become like him in ethical charac- ter. The passages are: The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew, chapters 5 to 7; Romans 5 : [ 34 | THE MINISTER AS LEADER 1-5; chapter 12; 1 Corinthians 13 : 1-7; Gala- fntisa5 822; 235 te phesians.2 +) 1054/2: 5-325: 6: 10-20; Colossians 3 : 12-17; 1 Timothy 4: It- VOR oat i103 2) Peter 1}: 3-7) For the pastor in his relation to success in character-building no other passage, perhaps, 1s so significant as the one in Ephesians 4 : 8-13: “When he ascended on high, he gave gifts unto men. And he gave to some to be apostles; and ~ some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ; till we all at- tain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowl- edge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.’ Paul’s sublimest epistle, that to the Ephesians, is burdened with this kind of teach- ing. It is worthy to receive far more attention than it does in pastoral preaching. It touches the high-water mark of Christianity as a maker of character. There we have the majestic aim of every Christian pastorate. May we not say with Paul, as he keenly felt the responsibility of his work, with some fresh sense of its meaning, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16). It will be observed that the most of the foregoing passages are from Paul’s letters. [ 35 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY It has puzzled some thoughtful students of the New Testament that Paul, whose oral ministry was so largely evangelistic, as he himself said that he was eager not to build on any other man’s foundation, but to preach where Christ had not been named, should, in his writings, have little or nothing to say of evangelism, but so much to say of edification. It shows that he had a clear, deep insight into the true function of a church, that the church is the chief evangelizing agency. What is the Relation of the Minister to Char- acter-building? It is fourfold: First, he must be intelligent touching the prom- inence given in the Scriptures to this aspect of his work. : Secondly, he must be familiar with the por- trait of the Christian man as limned in the New Testament, which is as follows. The mere nam- ing of the traits of a Christian personality shows how rich it is, and how fruitful is the opportu- nity of the minister in building it. They are given with no careful attempt at classifying them. (1) The three fontal virtues, out of which flow all the other virtues: faith—as belief or conviction, as insight, and as trust; hope—the [ 36 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER expectation of good for time and for eternity; love—love for God and Christ and Christian brethren, and wide-reaching love for all men, friends and enemies, expressed by such terms as phileo, tender affection; philadelphia, brotherly affection for fellow Christians; agapé, wishing and striving for the well-being of mankind, the love that has in it a pronounced ethical and voli- tional strain. Browning says: Love, hope, fear, faith—these make humanity: These are its sign and note and character. (2) The more rugged virtues such as the unique cluster that emphasizes the ethical element in character, righteousness, holiness, godliness, piety, purity, self-sacrifice, self-denial, which means, not denying oneself things that one would like to have, but renouncing one’s selfish, sinful self, “‘ the negative side of the command to love’’; self-control, virtue or manliness, ‘‘a strenuous tone and vigor of mind,” out of which fruit cour- age, stedfastness, heroism. (3) The more gentle virtues (what used to be termed the passive virtues, a designation now not favored by theologians as being a misnomer, since all virtues have in them a positive, active quality; yet the phrase possesses a valuable sug- gestion) : humility, meekness, long-suffering, pa- [ 37 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY tience, forgiveness, cheerfulness, peace, joy, thankfulness, trustfulness toward others, kind- ness, contentment, gentleness, tenderness, sym- pathy. In noting this list of Christian virtues, one is impressed with their number, and variety, with the wealth of the content of Christian character, and the differentiation between distinctively Christian manhood and mere morality. Thirdly, The pastor is to recognize the fact of the lack of rich, well-balanced Christian char- acter in the members of the church. Fourthly, The pastor is to recognize the diffi- culty of building Christian character in believers, and the necessity of continuous, persistent, and well-directed efforts in this direction. These ef- forts consist in the inculcation in the pulpit, in the mid-week meetings, in religious education, in the church school, in young people’s organiza- tions, and in pastoral visiting, of both the more active and the more passive virtues of character as they were embodied in Jesus and as they should appear in every follower of his. If the pastor has made a careful analysis of the contents of Christlike character, and has classified them, if he is intelligent as to the mutual influence of trait upon trait, and is wise in teaching his people con- cerning them, he will find himself a wise master- [ 38 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER builder, and his ministry will bear rich fruit in choicest Christian character. It may have a strange sound in this strenuous age, to insist that emphasis should fall upon the gentler virtues in character-building. Yet this is true. Doctor Bushnell, in his sermon on “ The Efficiency of the Passive Virtues,’ * names the following virtues as belonging “ to the more pas- sive side of character,” meekness, gentleness, forbearance, forgiveness, the endur- ance of wrong without anger or resentment, contentment, quietness, peace, patience, and says of them that they are often the most efficient and operative powers that a true Christian wields, inasmuch as they carry just that kind of influence which other men are least apt and least able to resist. That was certainly true of Jesus. His more passive virtues were the central glory of his char- acter. He largely won his victory in both his life and death through their efficiency. And his con- quest over men ever since has consisted pretty fully in exalting and empowering those traits of character which pagan peoples have despised as weak and servile, and yet to which they have ul- timately yielded in Christ’s conquest over them, 1“ Sermons for the New Life,” p. 399. [ 39 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY since these traits are not weak, but strong. It requires genuine fortitude, courage, heroism to maintain the more passive virtues. This further word of their value may be said, that they offer an excellent opportunity to the great majority of Christians who feel that their lives are narrow and monotonous. They can build in their lowly lot, in the drudgery of their occupations, in the work-shop and in the home, | that kind of character which made Jesus illus- trious and influential, and which adorns every- day life and duties. Jeremy Taylor says, ‘“‘ Half the duty of a Christian in this life consists in the exercisé of passive graces.” Il. Tur DEVELOPING OF THE CORPORATE LIFE OF A CHURCH A church is something more and other than a mere collection of unrelated individuals. It is a sort of spiritual entity of its own. A company of soldiers fighting together is totally different from the same soldiers on isolated picket duty. The company has a life, a force that influences its individual members far more than an indi- vidual member influences the company. So it is with a true church. There is an esprit de corps, a spirit that animates the entire body, [ 40 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER which does not belong to the isolated, individual members. Practical Indications of the Absence of the Corporate Life of the Churches In some churches, especially the smaller ones, individualism reigns. There is an excess of one- man power; one man, influential because of money or from some other cause, practically rules the church. Whatever he says is done. In other churches small cliques, made up of congenial persons, stand apart from the other members. In yet other churches, in which the two fore- going conditions do not exactly exist, there is a lack of fusion of the members into a single col- lective Christian body. There is no real church life. The consequence is there is no heart to work. The church has dropped into a chronic state of discouragement. A constant disintegration of force is going on. A kind of dry rot has fast- ened itself upon the Christian body. The church is steadily losing ground in the community, both in point of numbers and influence. If any new members are gained, a feeling of isolation pos- sesses them. It seems to them that they have joined nothing in particular. Now and then in- dividual Christians may speak to them. But [ 41 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY they do not feel the touch and the thrill of the church as an organic body spreading about them a warm, welcoming, enswathing spiritual at- mosphere. The absence of the corporate life is sometimes manifested by loyalty to the pastor rather than to the church. The people that a pastor brings into a church are built around him, and not into the church. As long as he remains, they remain, — are interested, and to a degree are active in Christian work. But when he goes, if they do not leave the church, they are dissatisfied, find fault, and become inactive. They do not feel that they are a part of a living organism, breath- ing its spirit, and pledged to the enriching of its life. I believe this to be a true description of not a few churches. Now fundamental in a suc- cessful pastoral ministry is the ability to infuse into a church a genuine esprit de corps, to weld together into a union of a Christlike temper the entire Christian body. Perhaps it is the central need today in many churches throughout the country that they shall become possessed by this “animating spirit’? of a collective body until every member owns and feels the truth of the apostle’s statement, “ We who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another’ (Rom. 12 %'5); [42 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER Paul’s Example as a Promoter of the Collective Life of a Church He is an excellent model for the pastor in this vital and difficult work. Although he was not a pastor, but an apostle and an evangelist herald- ing the gospel where Christ had not been named, the idea of church building in the foregoing sense of it was prominent in his mind and exten- sively practised in his ministry. He was, in very truth, what he styled himself, a “ wise master- builder.” His second missionary journey, partly, and his third missionary journey, largely, were given to the task of confirming the churches he had already founded. He established them as churches, endeavoring to make them strong in the unity and inspiration of a collective life. He has left a fine example of this in his dealing with the church in Corinth. How easy would it have been for him to put himself at the head of the most influential party there! But how did he conduct himself? Hear him: “ Now this I say, that every one of you saith: I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” Cr Cor. 13722) 13): And agains “ For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of [ 43 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. For we are laborers together with God. You are God/s busiding (4 Cores: 4-6, 9) ‘ Paul’s Teaching on the Developing of the Cor- porate Life of a Church Paul’s teaching is at one with his example in this matter. He speaks frequently in his letters of edifying, building the church, and always with this ruling conception of compacting it together as a whole into a unity of life that shall fill every part. Dean Howson says’ of Paul’s use of the term “ edify,”’ In Paul edify is always a social word having regard to the mutual improvement of the members of the churches and the growth of the whole body in faith and love. In this sense of the word he writes to those ex- ercising spiritual gifts among the Corinthian Christians, “ Since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound to the edifying of the church” (1 Cor. 14: 12). To the Thes- salonians he writes, “ Edifying one another”’ 2“* Metaphors of St. Paul,’ p. 27. [ 44] THE MINISTER AS LEADER (i) Thess. 5: 11). The entire: Epistle to, the Ephesians is built around this conception con- cerning church building, and it is this that gives it its distinctive glory. “ Another phrase,” says Prof. W. A. Stevens, conveys still more accurately Paul’s conception of the or- ganic aspects of the Christian life, “many, yet members of one body.” Paul perpetually recurs to the figure of the body, the human body, as illustrative of the unity and multiplicity of the spiritual life pervading each commu- nity, and the entire community of believers. The passages in which this metaphor is most prominent are to be found in the twelfth of Romans, the twelfth of First Corinthians, and the fourth of Ephesians. The human body ranks high- est of all in the scale of organisms. Its symmetry of structure, perfection of mechanism, and delicate adjust- ment of functions, are all suggestive of practical truths, which the apostle never wearied of reiterating. The fig- ure is a favorite one with him, and in the variety of its ethical application peculiarly his own. In a spiritual community the whole body pulsates with a common and distributive life. Every part is essential to the whole, and the whole to every part. This then is Paul’s view of developing a strong and efficient church. That pastor who can do this thing is master of the situation. A Christian body thus compacted together, and constrained by a collective spirit to purity of Christian life, and to Christian endeavor, is in very truth the [45 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY work of a wise master-builder. Such a church, large or small, in city or country, will send its influence to the ends of the earth. The pastor who helps build such a church does a noble and enduring work. What are Some of the Marks of the Corporate Life of a Church? A spirit of brotherhood. The first condition of the existence of a Christian church is that Christian love shall weld all together in one com- mon body in the Lord. A spirit of enthusiasm for the collective lite and influence of the church, a sort of pride that the church, as a church, shall be pure, shall be, respected in the community, and shall be a true candle of the Lord, burning and shining in the midst of the surrounding darkness. A spirit of courage, that will make the church heroic and persistent in the cause of the Master, that spirit which lack of immediate success, which opposition, which contumely, have no power to dampen, a spirit that will press right on in the Lord’s work, leaving visible results to him as outside of the power of the church. A spirit of conquest such as Caleb showed when he entered the land of promise, and such as Paul felt and expressed when he declared, [ 46 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8 : 37). What is the Minister’s Function Touching the Corporate Life of the Church? How can he breathe into the whole body of his people such a spirit as this? While it is difficult to give a practically helpful answer to an. inquiry so vital, the following suggestions are offered : First, the minister himself must be a man brotherly, enthusiastic, courageous, expectant, if he would inspire the church with these qualities. They must make themselves felt in his preach- ing, in his conduct of various meetings, in his personal contact with his people, in the organiz- ing and administering of the work of the church. In order to do this his personal hold on Christ as his Lord must be unwavering and strong. He must believe, too, with all his heart that Christ has a mission for that particular church and for him as its pastor and leader. Secondly, he must love the church as a church, and must give himself to furthering the welfare of the entire body. He is to be no man’s man, but every man’s man. He is his Lord’s servant to all, pledged to promote the interests of all as common members of the one holy enterprise. EARaa THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY Thirdly, he must keep before his people the New Testament conception of a Christian church in its unity, its spirit, its work. For the secur- ing of these aims with the largest measure of success, there must be a pastorate of reasonable length. It takes time to compass the best re- sults in every field of endeavor. The Christian pastorate is no exception. The minister who, through the years, is striving to develop the cor- porate self-consciousness of a church, is doing one of the most valuable pieces of Christian work. Il]. THe DEVELOPING OF THE CHURCH IN PERSONAL CHRISTIAN ACTION A vigorous corporate life, a healthy esprit de corps is an essential condition of church activity. That naturally leads to this. So that the pastor who has succeeded in arousing enthusiasm among his people has, to a good degree, solved the prob- lem of utilizing the Christian forces under his direction in practical duties. But after all, this enthusiasm needs guidance. Otherwise it may work blindly, and so not to advantage. There are two kinds of personal activity that a wise and skilful pastoral leadership of our time will stress. [ 48 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER The first is prayer, individual and collective. The church of today is on its feet, and not on its knees. It faces manward rather than God- ward. It is a talking church, and not a praying church. In any ordinary church five men are likely to be found who can talk well, to one man who can pray well. Indeed, many a pastor is afraid to give the bulk of the hour in a midweek meeting to prayer lest the meeting will be dull. And it probably will be. In not a few cases the term prayer-meeting is a misnomer. It is a talk- ing meeting rather. This lack of praying power in the Christian church is probably its radical weakness. To this in no small measure is to be attributed the leanness of the churches and the relatively small number of conversions through their agency. Modern churches are on their feet not only to speak, but to do. Never before in all their history have the churches been so thor- oughly and wisely organized for work as at the present time. Large movements of varied sorts are unprecedented. But these alone can never bring in the kingdom. God’s power as well as man’s must be enlisted. And this comes through prayer. On one occasion Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray. That is a petition that the modern church sorely needs to make. There must be more prayer in the churches— [ 49 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY more private, more public prayer, for the pastor and his work. Dr. Robert F.. Horton, of Lon- don, has made the following request of church- members: Give ten minutes on Saturday night to definite prayer for your minister, that his word may come with power, that souls may be saved, that your church may be quickened. Give yourselves wholly to that prayer for ten minutes; wait upon God, wrestle, believe. Then you will see some- thing remarkable. You will think it a change in your minister; probably it will be a change in you. More prayer for the coming of the kingdom near and far; more prayer for the increase of the Christian ministry. The churches have practi- cally forgotten, not to say, ignored, one of Christ’s greatest commands, “ Pray the Lord of the harvest that he send forth, thrust forth, la- borers into his harvest’”’ (Matt. 9 : 38). More prayer for the indwelling and working of the Holy Spirit in the churches; more prayer for the sense of God, which is the inspiration and ° the guaranty of success in Christian work. The Master has said that “ men ought always to pray, and not to faint’ (Luke 18: 1). And Paul has said, “ Pray without ceasing’ (1 Thess. 5 : 17); “Continue stedfastly (persistently) in prayer ” (Col. 4: 2). Prayer should be the habit, the temper of the church. It is literally true to [ 50] THE MINISTER AS LEADER affirm that, as far as man’s agency goes, prayer is at the bottom of everything in the holiness and the increase of the church. The minister who develops in his people a spirit of prayer, and wisely directs it as to its proper objects cannot fail to have a signal success. It is a chief duty and opportunity awaiting the present-day ministry. The second form of Christian action in which the minister should direct the members of the church is personal effort in behalf of the un- saved—the new evangelism, as it is now termed, although it is as old as Christianity and the Chris- tian church. Activity, as already suggested, would be gen- erally regarded as one of the marked character- istics of churches at the present time. There is a kind of wide-awakeness, a sort of up-and-doing temper among them. It is the day of the lay- man as in no previous time except the first cen- tury or two of organized Christianity. But the activity of the churches is public rather than pri- vate, general rather than personal. It is the day of Christian enterprises of various sorts. In some cases these are vigorously pushed and often with excellent results. Evangelistic and philan- thropic endeavors on a somewhat large scale are engaged in by not a few. But personal, hand-to- [51] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY hand, heart-to-heart work for the Master by the rank and file of church-members is singularly lacking. The number, even in the large churches, that engage in this kind of Christian work is meager enough. Many are willing to give finan- cial support to an evangelistic movement with others to do the personal work, as measuring the extent of their responsibility for the progress of the Lord’s kingdom. It may be fairly questioned if the ability of the churches in personal evan- gelism is in excess of their ability in prayer. The number of members of American churches who have tact in approaching the impenitent with the gospel message, and skill in leading to saving be- lief in Jesus Christ, is wretchedly small. This is to be deplored in view of the fact that the unique usefulness, both direct and indirect, of such per- sonal action is far-reaching. | The hearts of the unbelieving are frequently touched and won by the closeness, the reality, the warmth, the persuasiveness of the personal appeal. We must come to the conclusion that the world is not to be conquered for Jesus Christ by the ordained ministry alone, noble and useful as their labors are. His kingdom in its widest ex- tent and greatest power must come, as it did in the earliest time, by the enthusiastic, persistent endeavor of the members of Christian churches. [ 52] THE MINISTER AS LEADER These, constrained by a consuming, heroic zeal, such as marked the Crusades of the Middle Ages, mistaken and ill-directed as that movement was, and going forth to persuade one by one the mul- titudes of their fellows, would do more than all other kinds of activity combined in bringing man- kind under the speedy sway of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any community that is blessed with a church containing any considerable number of such is thrice blessed. Besides, the reflex influence of personal labor upon those Christians who engage in it, is very great. Indeed, there are some qualities of Chris- tian character, and these among the most essen- tial that cannot thrive without it. The more rugged and telling of these, such as courage and heroism, are especially dependent for their ex- istence and vigor upon personal evangelistic labor. Every wise and efficient pastor will strive, through every agency within his sphere and un- der his control, to stimulate and to direct his church toward such practical, personal action in prayer and effort. Thus he will reach by proxy a multitude of souls. No one can tell the wide- spread fruitage of such a pastorate. It is one of the hardest tasks a pastor has to perform. But he is not to be excused from trying on that ac- [ 53 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY count. He will gradually acquire skill by prac- tise, and will at last be surprised that he can do so much. lV. DEVELOPING THE CHURCH IN ITS RELATION TO THE FAMILY The church and the family are in vital alliance. The church is a social unit, so is the family. In the family church, so called—and most churches are yet family churches—the family attends the services as a family, not as unrelated, isolated individuals. [he larger social unit, the church, is, in a measure, if not in the main, composed of the smaller social units, families, and in a sense distinct and important enough to call for large recognition. Families sit together, worship to- gether, listen together, act together. People go to church from the atmosphere of the family. They go from church to the atmosphere of the family. It is the family at church. It is the church in the family. Thus the family idea is strong in the church. Many persons love to attend a par- ticular church because the family in past genera- tions has done so. With some this is almost a sacred feeling which can be easily and profitably appealed to and it should be recognized and wisely used by the minister. [ 54 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER How May the Family Receive Ministry from the Church? 1. [The family should receive increase of atten- tion in the content of current pastoral preaching, which is an agency of the church. How seldom, it is to be feared, does the pastor in pre- paring his sermons have a clear, strong conscious- ness of the family life that he is to address, as he does of the life of individuals whom he ex- pects to hear him! How seldom, even, is direct reference made to the family as an institution! How slightly does the sermon seem to be colored and toned by the family idea, and how slender is the impression that the discourse is being preached in the family atmosphere! With the pastor the individual, and not the family, is likely to be the unit of the audience. Now in a sense this, from the nature of the case, must be so. For first and last there are in many, in all, congregations, a goodly number of persons that are hardly influenced at all by the family tie to attend the services. They are there as unrelated individuals. Such would be the case, for in- stance, with a church situated in the midst of a student population. Besides, responsibility touch- ing Christian living rests, in final analysis, with the individual. Persons are converted one by [95] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY one, not in groups. Each must make the great decision for himself. Yet in view of the fact that the family idea and the family feeling must be strong even in those who are far from home, and are alone at church, if they are addressed as a constituent of the family unit, they will be likely to be moved to response to the preacher’s message. A pastor of a large, popular church, where a great number attended individually and alone, was wont, if he found his hearers some- what inattentive, vividly and tenderly to describe the family homestead and the life of childhood in it, and invariably attention was restored, and the tender feelings of many moved at the mem- ory of the joys of youth in the old family home. Thus hospitable welcome was given to the mes- sage. Preaching, then, in family churches should give larger place than is usually allowed to sub- jects that directly and vitally concern the family and the home, such as: the mutual relation of the church and the family; the reciprocal rela- tion of the members of the family, and the unique opportunity it offers for the development of some of the finest traits of character, and for the in- terchange of self-denying ministry; family wor- ship; family morals; the family as the unit of the state and, as Dr. S. W. Dike has said, “ the [ 56 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER relation of the virtues and culture of the home to public morality, to industrial welfare, to edu- cational progress, and to good citizenship.” 2. Not only the content of pastoral preaching, but the element of appeal in it may be profitably enlisted in the interests of the family. What may be termed the family motive can and should be addressed for the procuring of suitable action on the part of the different members of the fam- ily group. The head of a family, for instance, should be a Christian because he is the head of a family. For family life and ministry, in their many-sided features, are greatly hindered and crippled if the husband and father is not in a position to fulfil his normal function in develop- ing the Christian character, and in directing the Christian activities of the household. The mother and the children should be Christians in order to help one another in the spiritual life. Appeal can be made also on the ground that the family, as a social unit, cannot be fully service- able to the state if some of its members are not in a position, because non-Christian, to promote the largest weal of a Christian civilization. 3. In the less formal gatherings of the church, in the midweek service of prayer and conference, the family should receive recognition. Indeed, large place should be given to it in the devotional, [ 57] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY the didactic, and the evangelistic use of the meet- ing. So far as possible the attendance should be a family attendance. If the family is well represented in parents and children, and if they sit together, the good influence of the assembly is the more fully and vitally transferred to the home. For a time at least the influence of the service is felt by the household. In the midweek meeting the evangelistic appeal can be legitimately and persuasively directed to the motive of family life in inducing the older and the younger mem- bers to enter upon a Christian career. The same principle applies to the sessions of the Sunday school,.and to the varied gatherings of young people. 4. That branch of ministerial work commonly designated as peculiarly pastoral, the pastor in visiting his people, offers a noble opportunity for developing a healthy, rich family life. He calls upon, not only the individual members of the family as isolated units, but the family as such. He is under the home roof. He is in contact with the family as a social unit. His presence in the home will be felt by those members of the family that are absent. He should, therefore, keep quick and vigorous in his’ consciousness that he is there for calling out the best service of each member of the family, and of the family as a [ 58] THE MINISTER AS LEADER whole. In his conversation, in his prayer, if he offers one, the family should have suitable place. 5. Lhe church in ordering its services should give to the family the opportunity of fulfilling its normal function. The sphere of the one _ should not cross the sphere of the other. Each is a divine institution. Each has its unique min- istry. The church can do what the family cannot do, and the family can do what the church cannot do. They are the two sides of the same shield, the two halves of one sphere. The most thought- ful social students are coming to see this. And there is a growing conviction among them that, in some places at least, and in some family churches, especially those that are highly organ- ized, and are, therefore, rapidly multiplying their services, the church is trenching upon the family, and robbing it of its rightful and obligatory min- istry asa family. Is there not reason for sound- ing in the ears of some churches that command of the decalogue, “Thou shalt not steal’’? It may be seriously questioned if the church is giv- ing the home its fair share of opportunity and responsibility as an institution equally divine with the church, adequately to perform its func- tion. The church services often seem to be held, and the church work organized, on the basis of the individual as the only unit for which it is [ 59] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY concerned and for which it provides. Small re- gard seems to be had for the claims of the fam- ily. We hear the call for the restoration of fam- ily worship and for Christian instruction in the home. Is the church leaving a margin of time for both, or either? As matter of fact the chil- dren of our day receive in the church about all of their religious teaching. The church has largely drawn it from the family, and the fam- ily has permitted it to do so. Is it difficult to see that in the end the interfering with the fam- ily as a school for childhood must work serious and lasting harm? More broadly viewed, the family and the home have a sacred ministry that the church cannot perform—the ripening and en- riching of those qualities of character that are uniquely the product of the family, such as: the mutual affection of parents and children; the re- ciprocal service among the various members of the family: that indefinable, beautiful, fragrant, altruistic spirit which forms the atmosphere, the charm of family life. Like all choicest things, these are growths, slow growths at that, in the most favorable environment. Of all the days of the week the Sabbath Day, the Lord’s Day par excellence, with its hallowed associations and be- nign influences, is most favorable. The church should be swift to remember this and should act [ 60 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER accordingly. There is another consideration that should be borne in mind. Men are pressed and driven by the demands of modern business. Many a father for six days of the week scarcely sees his growing children from year’s end to year’s end. Sunday is the only day that he is privileged to be with them, and every child needs the particular kind of influence that a father wields. The church should so order its services and make its appointments as to give him this opportunity. Professor Coe has said,’ If a choice must be made between living with one’s children and any competing interest, whether the increase of wealth, social engagements, even philanthropic and re- ligious activities, there should be no hesitation in choosing in favor of one’s children. Of course, no hard and fast rule can be laid down for every church. Account must be had of the sort of church concerned, the special work it does, and the kind of community in which it is situated. But the church is not to forget that the family has claims as well as the community. And the church should carefully and conscien- tiously consider them. 6. There is one form of cooperation between the church and the family, happily on the in- crease, that cannot be too warmly commended— 3“ Education in Religion and Morals,” p. 282. [ 61 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY the home department of the Sunday school, es- pecially in sparsely settled districts in which some families live at a distance from the church build- ing. There is a marked double advantage in this service. The church, through its Sunday school, reaches out its hand and heart to the family, and the family has the benefit of studying Bible truth under its own roof and about its own hearthstone. This is a beautiful and useful meeting of the two social units, the church and the family; thus both church and family have each their ministry, and by the union and under the sanction of each. Thus through preaching, in its content and in its appeal, through the midweek meeting, and the young people’s societies, through the pastor’s contact with his people, especially in the family and the home, through the ordering of the pub- lic services of the church and through the agency of the home department of the Sunday school, the pastor of our time should bear prominently in mind the vital tie that exists between the two social forces, the church and the family, and the mutual influence of each upon each, and he should strive to keep their separate and their common agency at the highest pitch of usefulness. When this is achieved, each in its peculiar sphere, and the two in cooperation are doing a work that can- not be overestimated. [ 62 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER V. THE DEVELOPING OF THE CHURCH IN ITS RELATION TO THE SCHOOL The term school is used, in the first instance, of the school in the community in which the church is situated, the grammar school, the high school, the academy; and, in the second in- stance, of the higher institutions of learning, the college, the university, the professional school. The social group, the church, has vital rela- tion to the social group, the school. The school, like the church and the family, is a unique social unit, a central social force. It would be diffi- cult, if not impossible, to name any other three social groups that are in so close alliance at so many points as are these three. The school can- not do its work without the family, for the chil- dren of the family form the constituency of the school. The family makes the school possible. The family is also linked with the church. Neither can dispense with the other. The church, then, becomes related to the school through the family, as will be shown later. The church stands too in a direct relation of its own to the school. The church extends a helping hand to both family and school, perhaps the right hand to the family, and the left hand to the school. [ 63 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY These three social institutions, the church, the family, the school, are the three angles of an equilateral triangle. The school does not need to be created, as do some social groups. It is near at hand, in the very heart of the community, its living force, its central hope. It is the focus-point and the dis- tributing center of some of the best influences for the welfare of the state, the largest social unit. It is composed of youth who are peculiarly susceptible to high ideals, individual and social. The school should, therefore, receive from the church its best ministry. Strands in the Cord that Binds the Church to the School 1. The church owes its service to the school, growing out of the fact, already noted, that many, probably most, of the children of the school are the children of the church, at least in the sense that the church is responsible for their high- est welfare, even though some of them have no direct connection with the church through any of its agencies. This makes the relation of the church to the school of most vital moment, and greatly deepens the responsibility of the church concerning the school. It is possible for the school to undo what the church does. For the [ 64 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER preservation, then, of its influence upon the chil- dren of the school, and indirectly through them upon the family with which it is so peculiarly al- lied, the church has abundant reason for contrib- uting its legitimate and obligatory ministry to the school. 2. The rich intellectual quality of Christianity, to which the church gives organization and vis- ible ministry, binds the church to the school by a band of steel. It is one of the commonplaces of the history of the Christian religion that wher- ever a meeting-house is built a schoolhouse is certain to spring up beside it. This is no mere chance. It is inevitable logic. For Christianity as an awakening mental force is the most pro- found and intense mankind has known. It is brimful of germinal, expanding ideas. It is a religion of thought; it provokes thought, it re- quires thought. It makes the school possible, es- sential. The first great schools were Christian schools, even church schools. The modern school of every grade, from the primary school to the university, owes its existence and its efficiency, di- rectly or indirectly, to the intellectual influence inherent in Christianity, and it is the church that gives organization to Christianity, and is the chief channel of its life and power. The school, in its turn, is essential to the church for its largest de- [65 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY ‘velopment and its richest ministry. This is im- pressively and convincingly witnessed in the rise and the growth of the church in non-Christian lands. No sooner does the missionary gain con- verts than their intellectual thirst is aroused, and there is imperative call for the school, and the appearing of the school means the increase of the efficiency of the church in evangelism and in its own strongest upbuilding. Each is in need of the - other. 3. The church is bound to the school, not by the intellectual tie alone or chiefly. There is a still more vital union between them. It is their ethical .alliance. The church makes, fundamen- tally, not for mental knowledge and discipline and power, but for character. So does the school. Its final and finest product is moral manhood and moral womanhood. That this is the true end of education, and that the public school is increas- ingly achieving it, is the testimony of the best educators. This common aim of character- building of both church and school draws these two social forces together in a living union, and gives to the church one of its most fruitful op- portunities. It intertwines their influence. Dr. S. W. Dike has said, “ Truth-telling, sincerity, kindness, tenderness, patience, courage, perse- verance, purity, moral discrimination, manliness,” [ 66 | THE MINISTER AS LEADER ethical qualities all, are the fruit of the best teaching in the public school. He says again, The development of clear-headed and true-hearted boys and girls, who love truth, and hate sham, who have the ability to distinguish things that differ, and the power and the disposition to respond to high motives, doing the right thing at the right moment, and in the right way, this is the aim of the schools of Massachusetts, wherever they are well conducted, from the kindergarten to the university. And the same can be said of all the well-con- ducted schools in all of the States. So is it of the church, its advantage being that it can en- force these high and fine things with even a stronger motive and with a divinely renewing power. Indeed, the tendency, now more marked than ever before, to make character the end and the test of true education, is a gift, more or less direct, of the church to the school, and of itself constitutes a strong tie between them. Both in- tellectually and ethically, then, the church is bound to the school, and is thus placed under gravest obligation, and has given to it the noblest oppor- tunity to promote its highest weal. ! What Constitutes the Scope of the Ministry of the Church to the School? 1. The church in the prosecution of its agency to the school, acts largely through its pastor, the official representative of the church, and in some [ 67 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY sense clothed with its sanction and authority, and expressing its will. Besides, the pastor himself, by virtue of his education, his tastes, and his po- sition, is exceptionally fitted to cowork with the school for its largest efficiency. He and the teachers are natural allies. In a strict sense, the Christian minister stands closer to the public- school teacher than to any other public toiler in the community. They deal with the same ma- terial for the same high ends. He, therefore, for his own sake, and for the sake of the church and the school, should be intelligent concerning the school, its methods, the general character of its work, its ethical temper, its social aim. He should be acquainted with the teachers, cherish and express sympathy with them in their task, and suitably exchange views with them touching it. He should occasionally be found in the school, and, if opportunity offers, speak to the pupils. Thus he can become acquainted with the scope, the quality, the spirit of the teaching. He should interest the parents of his parish in the school, and promote cooperation between the family and the school. At appropriate times he should preach on the school. It has been suggested that he could do this most wisely and helpfully at “the opening or the close of the school year, the approach of Thanksgiving day, Christmas, [ 68 | THE MINISTER AS LEADER and on children’s Sunday.” Is it not too often true that in many, if not in most communities, the pastor is not acquainted with the teachers, and that they are doing their work apart? Is it not a social ministry that the pastor personally and representatively owes to the school to make himself a more intelligent and a stronger moral, not to say spiritual, force with the teachers and the pupils? 2. The church could make itself deeply felt in furthering the weal of the school by occasional social entertainment of the teachers. ‘Thus the church as a church, that is, in its corporate life, would touch the school at its most vital point— its teachers. Such a meeting of the church force and the school force would be helpful in a va- riety of ways. It would tend strongly to pro- mote the mutual interest of church and school in drawing together these two social groups, as scarcely anything else could. It would afford excellent opportunity for the individual mem- bers of the church and congregation to become personally acquainted with the teachers of their children, thus enriching the social life of the teachers and deepening their interest in the chil- dren in the schoolroom. It would greatly cheer and encourage the teachers in the prosecution of their perplexing, monotonous, and wearisome [ 69] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY task to be assured that the church expresses its interest in, and its sympathy with, them. It would furnish the pastor an admirable opportu- nity of making and deepening his own acquain- tance with the teachers, by conversation and a brief address, of enlightening his people on the vital relation between church and school, and in awakening a sympathy between them which would, in every way, be thoroughly wholesome. Apart from, yet pervading like an atmosphere and a fragrance, all particular benefits, there would be engendered that good fellowship and fine feeling which go so far to enrich life and to sweeten and to exalt daily duty. In some. communities it might be wiser and better for churches to combine in offering social entertain- ment to the teachers of their children. 3. There is a wider relation of the pastoral ministry to the school. It is the furtherance of lugher education. The churches must raise up an educated con- stituency, else their influence, their very existence, is doomed. Pastors and churches should be swift to discover the young people among their members who could gain an education in high school, academy, and college, and persuade them to avail themselves of it. Every church needs, for its largest efficiency, a good sprinkling of [ 70 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER well-educated persons among its members. They give tone, insight, and wide and wise outlook to the church. Further, the churches, under the leadership of their pastors, should interest them- selves in general education of the best sort. They should give financial aid to the higher institutions of learning, academies, colleges, universities, and professional schools for the training of ministers. It is, therefore, clearly the duty of the pastoral ministry to develop the churches in the educa- tional sphere. At suitable times the pastor should preach on the subject of education, and in the more familiar gatherings of the church, especially those of the young people, and in his personal contact with his parishioners in their homes and elsewhere, he should earnestly and wisely advo- cate the educational idea. He should also enlist the interest and cooperation of parents whose children could profit from a thorough mental training, and, if necessary, use his influence in providing financial aid for those who need it. By such endeavors an increasing number of young people would make their way to higher institu- tions of learning, and in the end organized Chris- tianity would be greatly strengthened. 4. There is yet another branch of education to which the churches, under a wise pastoral leader- ship, should give special attention, viz., religious bas THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY education. The expression is here used in a two- fold sense: First, the general education of the en- tire congregation in the characteristic truths of the Christian religion, which is to be done chiefly through the agency of the pastor in his preach- ing, in his conduct of the midweek meeting, and in his pastoral contact with his people; secondly, the technical, scientific meaning, viz., the appli- cation of modern psychology and modern peda- gogy in the teaching in the church school, and in young people’s societies, for the purpose of se- curing their loving fealty to Christ as Saviour and Lord, and their growth in Christian charac- ter and service. The pastor can be largely in- fluential in this field. If his church is small, he could engage directly in the work. If his church is large, a director of religious education could be employed, who would have charge of this department. In either case, the pastor should be trained in this sphere, so as to be adequately competent in it. It is a branch of instruction that should have prominence in every theological school. Without it the school is not equipped to meet the demands of our time. The religious education movement, in its wid- est extent, is interesting and suggestive. The conviction is deepening among those especially concerned with the Christian training of youth [72] THE MINISTER AS LEADER that the half-hour given to the study of the Bible in the church once a week is entirely inadequate. It is consequently felt that the teaching of the Bible should be introduced in connection with the public school—the school yielding a period of time each week to the church for the instruction of the pupils in Christian things. The tendency is toward allowing credit for this work in the curriculum of the public school. The plan is be- ing tried out in some places, and seemingly with good results. It is thought by those most com- petent to judge in this matter that the individual churches, or the churches in a combined effort, should erect buildings suitable for imparting Christian instruction to the scholars in the pub- lic schools. This movement is in its initial and tentative stage, and it should receive the best thought and the wisest judgment of pastors and churches. VI. DEVELOPING THE CHURCH IN [Ts DISTINC- TIVELY SOCIAL MINISTRY Outstanding Forms of This Ministry I. One is the guarding and the promoting of the moral welfare of the community. Until the abolishing of the liquor saloon, this work in- cluded the safeguarding of school children by re- [73 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY stricting the location of the saloon in the vicinity of the schoolhouse, and in overseeing the con- duct of the saloon, that it should be orderly, and that liquor should not be sold to minors. Now that prohibition has banished the saloon, the church is relieved of its responsibility in this sphere. Its task is at present concerned particu- larly with safeguarding the recreation and the entertainment of the young, and the social and political morality of the community. This is a function that certainly belongs to the Christian church. As to the sort of organization for ac- complishing it, there might be difference of opin- ion among church-members. It would seem to be wise that the church itself as a whole should not directly act in the matter, but that a men’s organization within the church, the men’s Bible class, or the men’s Brotherhood, should be re- sponsible for and should perform this valuable task. This has been the method of procedure on the part of some of the larger and more influen- tial churches under the leadership of strong and wise pastors, and it has seemed to work well. Every Christian church, or the churches by a combined effort, should function in promoting the moral welfare of the community in which they are placed and in which they have their im- mediate ministry. L744 THE MINISTER AS LEADER 2. The other aspect of the social ministry of the church is in its relation to commerce and to industry. There are those who maintain that the church has nothing to do with social ques- tions, that its work is specifically and exclusively individualistic, and that, if individuals are right- eous, society must become so. ‘There are others at the opposite extreme, who think that the main, if not the sole, business of the church is social, that Christianity, or the kingdom of God, is in the world to establish a social reign, and that when society is righteous individuals will become so. In other words, that the Christian religion works from the mass to the individual, and not vice versa. There is a middle ground that is probably more in harmony with the genius of Christianity, viz., that it seeks the highest wel- fare of both the individual and society. It is clear that the church has no mission in marking out a specific and detailed economic or industrial program. It is not fitted for this. Its members do not possess the adequate training and knowl- edge to pass technical judgment as to the exact scale of wages that would be just, or as to the details of the management of a commercial or industrial enterprise. These belong to the ex- perts. In so far, however, as the matters con- cerned are ethical, and certainly they almost al- [ 75 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY ways are deeply so, the church has a place and a duty. So far as commercial business is con- cerned the church should emphasize the fact that its ultimate aim is not mere money-getting, but social service, the bettering of the community, the promoting of human welfare. It is encourag- ing to note that this conviction is deepening in the commercial world arid that increasing num- bers of leading merchants and manufacturers are endeavoring to carry on their business on this ethical principle. The mission of the church concerning indus- try is the same as that concerning commerce— teaching the idea of service—that industrial re- lations and activities should be such as not to endanger, but to promote the comfort, the happi- ness, and the prosperity of all the people, who make industry possible. What, then, can the church legitimately contribute to the industrial situation? It can and ought to contribute the principle of the Golden Rule, which is so vital a part of Christianity, and which is entrusted to the church for its propagation. If a spirit of good-will, instead of a spirit of selfishness and bitterness and strife, is introduced into the rela- tions between employer and employed, they read- ily come to see that their interests are mutual - and not antagonistic, and any differences that [ 76 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER arise between them are easily compounded. Carroll D. Wright, the eminent expert in the field of industry, when he was United States Commis- sioner of Labor, used to say that the Golden Rule is more potent in settling industrial difficul- ties than all the industrial legislation that has been enacted. Lloyd George is reported to have recently said that The function of the church is not to urge or advocate any specific measure in regard to social reform. Her duty is to create an atmosphere. And the Golden Rule creates the finest atmos- phere among men in all their relations. The church can and should advocate justice in all industrial matters. The Christian religion, which is entrusted to the church for its adminis- tration, is preeminently a religion of righteous- ness. The Old Testament legislation, the Ten Commandments, the teaching of the prophets and of Jesus are ali emphatically in the sphere of social righteousness. The church is, there- fore, under obligation to use its influence in fur- thering justice in the sphere of industry. And when justice is established, rights and duties are equally balanced. No man who wants to be fair with others can insist upon his rights be- yond his willingness and his purpose to discharge [77] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY his duties. Moral obligation includes both, and insists upon both. As to the method of the church in furthering a spirit of good-will and of justice in commer- cial and industrial relations aside from the teach- ing of the pulpit, which is the teaching of the church through its representative, and the gen- eral influence of the church in its individual mem- bers and corporate life, its specific agency, as in the moral betterment of the community, is most wisely and influentially crystallized and exercised in the men’s organizations within the church. The Council of the Federated Churches is a val- uable medium for the expression of the mind and purpose of the churches in this sphere and in others, and it is making its influence felt in al strong and wholesome way. VII. DEVELOPING THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT AND MISSIONARY ENDEAVOR The crowning sphere in the developing of the church into a strong and efficient body is the de- veloping of the missionary spirit and of en- deavor for the world-wide spread of the king- dom of God. No pastor, sensitive to the mind of Christ, can justifiably excuse himself from the supreme task. [ 78 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER A church that is not missionary is not a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It lacks his spirit, is opposed to his purpose, and is disobey- ing his command. It is in the world as an or- ganized force to secure the reign of God among all peoples on the face of the earth. Not until all the continents and all the isles of all the seas are filled with the knowledge of the one true God, and are doing his will, can the church cease to be missionary in ideal, in purpose, and in prac- tise. The preaching of the minister; the teach- ing in the Sunday school; missionary study by various groups; the consecration of money through systematic and proportionate giving; securing recruits for missionary service; main- taining a good missionary library ; adequate mis- sionary organization; prayer for the universal coming of the kingdom, are among the chief agencies for nourishing a missionary spirit, and for sending the gospel to the ends of the earth. The church should, therefore, be intelligent concerning the missionary character of the Chris- tian religion, and so of the Bible, present-day missionary achievements in evangelism, in edu- cation, and in social progress among the non- Christian nations, the chief foreign missionary societies, and in missionary biography. This last is one of the most valuable means of devel- [79 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY oping a missionary spirit and activity in a church. It includes the lives, the methods, and the successes of missionaries. Now that historic Christianity is so rich in great men and women, and in noble characters that have won triumphs so many and so signal on different missionary fields, the Sunday school, the various groups for missionary study, and the pulpit should avail themselves of materials from this fertile source. The pastor who acquaints his people with these men and women and their achievements, fur- nishes not only valuable information touching the growth of God’s kingdom in the earth, but ex- alted ideals of Christian manhood and Christian womanhood, and splendid inspirations for Chris- tian service. This aspect of missionary preach- ing could be used often to best purpose as illustrative material in preaching not distinctively missionary. To indicate the wealth of missionary biography it is necessary to name only a few of the outstanding missionaries of the Cross, in- cluding none of the living: Judson, Carey, Duff, Pattison, Saker, Martyn, Moffatt, Mackay, Liv- ingstone, Paton, Hamlin, Griffith John, Crowther: Mackenzie, Hannington. The minister who develops a church into a strong and efficient force, in building Christian character, in producing an enthusiastic corporate [ 80 ] THE MINISTER AS LEADER life, in securing Christian action in prayer and personal evangelism, in setting forth the relation between the church and the family and the church and the school, in furthering the moral better- ment of the community, in presenting a social ministry in the spheres of commerce and industry, in nourishing the missionary spirit and promoting missionary endeavor, is doing the best work that a man can do for his fellow human beings, and he erects for himself a monument nobler and more enduring than a shaft of bronze. III THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT HAvinG considered the twofold function of the pastoral ministry—preaching and leadership— it is pertinent to inquire, What sort of man is requisite for this double task? What constitutes the chief equipment of the pastoral ministry? I. PERSONAL CHARACTER It is taken for granted that a minister is a good man, and that he is conscientiously and heartily devoted to his calling; that it is true of him as Bengel says, Bonum negotium. bonis com- mittendum, “ A good work must be committed to good men”’; that in character and reputation he fulfills Paul’s injunctions: “Take heed to iiveelt eet him! 447 16)" Hxercise thyselt unto godliness” (1 Tim. 4: 7), gumnaze, a strong word denoting earnest, vigorous striving; * Become an example of the believers in word, ° in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4: 12); “He must have good testimony from them that are without” (1 Tim. 3:7). The true pastor is vitally related to God, as well as to men. He knows what it is to seek the divine [85 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY solitude, to abide in the presence of the Almighty, to have communion with God. It is said: The river that is to bring freshness to many a league of plain must have its rise in the solitary cleft of the lonely hills, and draw its waters from the snows that sparkle on their tops; and the minister to be of power must live alone with God. He has power of intercession with God. He knows that all true success in the ministry is, in the last analysis, the gift of God. He must have influence with God, and God must have influence with him, before he can have influence with men. He bestows upon them what God has bestowed upon him, no more, no less. “ Prayer is the most inward, and the most essential duty of the min- istry.” Thus the minister’s character, humanly and divinely approved and divinely enforced, is his chief asset. George Adam Smith has beauti- fully and aptly said: * A prophet is not a voice only. A prophet is a life behind a voice. He who would speak for God must have lived for God. Speech is not the expression of a few thoughts of a man, but the utterance of his whole life. A man blossoms through his lips; and no man is a prophet whose word is not the virtue and the flower of a gracious and a consecrated life. How deeply true it forever is, that a golden voice without a golden man behind it and in it is worse 1“ Tsaiah,”’ Vol. 2, p. 326. [ 86 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT than valueless! Leaden instincts can never be transmuted into golden character, or have golden utterance. The ultimate success of a minister hinges, first of all, upon the people’s confidence in, and respect for, his Christian integrity. They must believe him to be a. genuine man of God before they receive him as their minister in the things of God. Their slightest suspicion that he is unsound in Christian character will vitiate for them his whole ministry. No amount of doc- trinal soundness in him can compensate for a lack of ethical soundness. If the head is not en- forced from the heart, the conscience, and the will, his orthodoxy becomes worse than hetero- doxy, it becomes hypocrisy. Why was it that the influence of such men as Adoniram J. Gordon, Richard S. Storrs, and Theodore L. Cuyler was so exceptionally potent with their churches and congregations? It was not due wholly or chiefly to the superior quality of their preaching, high as it was. Their pulpits could have been occupied by men whose preach- ing would have been satisfactory. But their places among their people would have been va- cant, because through the long terms of their pas- toral service, their people came to know and to feel them as regal Christian men who splendidly commended the gospel in themselves. [ 87 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY II. Love or THE CHURCH It is also taken for granted that a pastor has the love of his church. A minister’s success hinges most of all upon his people’s love for him. They must go further than to have con- fidence in, and respect for, him, based upon his Christian character, essential and invaluable as that is. They must love him. He must win their loyalty and cooperation deeper than the con- science and the judgment. He must have their hearts, else his influence among them as a ser- vant of Christ is seriously and irreparably crip- pled. As Doctor Stalker has said, “ To love and to be loved is the secret of a happy and successful ministry.”’ It is essential to bear in mind the true quality of that love. It is superior to merely nat- ural affection. It is not a love that is evoked by simply lovable qualities. A rogue may, and sometimes does, possess a natural winsomeness that appeals to the heart. John Masefield has truthfully said, “‘ The charm that so often goes with worthlessness, has a power of attracting that is sometimes refused to the noble.” It is superior to merely ethical love, that an ethical teacher could draw from his disciples. It is a love uniquely Christian, such as the apostle crowns in the thirteenth chapter of First Co- [88 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT rinthians. This love of a church for its minister has its ground in the distinctively spiritual affec- tions of the human soul which are fruit of the Holy Spirit. Wauthout these it could not be. The people must love him in the Lord. It has its ground, too, in the nature of his work. He is among them as the ambassador of their common Saviour and Lord. As such he ministers to them a spiritual faith that becomes intertwined with their most tender and sacred experiences, that has its home in their holiest feelings, in their deep- est affections. III. SpeciFic QUALITIES There is a cluster of specific qualities requisite to success in preaching and in leadership. For a man may be a good man and have the love of his church, and yet be a poor pastor. Professor Phelps cites an amusing and suggestive instance of this: ” An intelligent lady writes me as follows of her young pastor who has just been dismissed: “He was a kind of machine. Clay went in on one side, and bricks ready-made came out on the other. Every Sunday he brought us a fresh brick. It was impossible not to love him for his finely disciplined mind, and his handsome face, and his tender, spiritual tone; but his ser- 2“ Theory of Preaching,” p. 414. [ 89 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY mons were—dreadful! Oh! I thought if he would but have a brick one-sided, or too big, or too little, or slack- baked, or burnt, or imprinted with his own fingers, what a joy it would be! There was a relief when the next minister came, and gave us chips and sawdust.” Knowledge of Christianity and Belief in its Power The pastor must have a correct conception of the Christian religion, and an unshaken conh- dence in its power to produce victorious right- eousness, personal and social. He is to possess a clear, working knowledge of the chief ideas, the outstanding truths of Christianity—the truths that center in God, in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, and in.man, which constitute the spiritual forces that renew human nature into Godlikeness, and also of the way in which these forces operate upon personality, or, as it is now termed, the psychology of religion. And he must have a pro- found conviction that there is no human wicked- ness that is beyond the reach and the power of the gospel. To be hesitant here is to put the sword in the hand of the enemy. He must be- lieve with Paul that “ we are more than conquer- ors through him that loved us.’ This is the belt of his armor. It has been central in every suc- cessful ministry throughout generations of pulpit workers from Paul’s day to our own. [ 90] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT Belief in the Worth of Human Personality { The minister is to have a keen, vivid sense of the value of human personality. Every success- ful workman in any sphere of human endeavor rightly estimates the material in which he works as well as the instrument with which he works. Next to his redemptive efficacy, perhaps the great- est contribution that Jesus made to human wel- fare was his insight into the worth of man. ) In every Simon he discovered a possible Peter. While he saw clearly the depth of human sinful- ness, which he never underestimated or excused, he clearly saw also that deeper deep of man’s immortal value. The prodigal son could and did come to himself. He could and did make up his mind to return to his father, and his action im- mediately followed upon his resolve. There was that in him which prodigality could not waste. The Christian minister works among diamonds, and all sorts of precious stones. Man has the power to know and to think, the power to feel, to enjoy, and to suffer, the power to appreciate the beautiful, which sin has never rubbed out of human nature, the power to discriminate between right and wrong, righteousness and sinfulness, with the impulse to cleave to the one, and to ab- hor and desert the other, the power to will, to [91] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY execute, and so to build character, for character is crystallized will. And behind all these powers man has an immortal personality in which they are all set, and from which they receive their chief value, as precious stones are set in gold. With a deep and accurate insight into human na- ture, and into the Christian faith, of which he is a divinely appointed ambassador, the pastor is indeed “a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. Quire )s Knowledge of the Times The Christian minister must know the time in which he is living and working. He is to know its thinking, its interests, its activities, its point of view, its temper—that subtle something im- possible to define, but profoundly felt, which makes an age what it is. While in the deepest meaning all times are alike, since truth and hu- man nature are fundamentally the same the world over and the centuries through, it yet remains significantly true that one time differs from another time, from all other times. There is such a thing as the time-spirit. The minister becomes acquainted with his time by studying it, by living in it, by becoming a part of it, by giv- ing his heart to it. He is to esteem it as, on the [92] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT whole, the best time God has given to his world —a time that offers a supreme opportunity. This is essential to his having a message. For the Christian minister who is out of sympathy with his own generation, and who bemoans the pass- ing of the former days and the coming of the new days, has no heart to receive or to deliver a message. The Christian minister will certainly find that the forces which essentially constitute the present time are varied, complex, tangled. There are so many currents and undercurrents and cross-currents in it that often he may feel baffled and in despair in any attempt to get a deep, true insight into it. Our age is in many ways paradoxical. It is at one and the same time scientific and philosophic, materialistic and spiritual, psychological, social, industrial, com- mercial. This makes the minister’s task unspeak- ably difficult, and yet it challenges him to a golden opportunity for the widest and deepest influence. If he is truly taught of God, he is equal to the difficult situation, and will successfully further the kingdom of divine truth, divine righteousness, divine love. Forceful Personality The Christian minister, if he would achieve suc- cess in our time, must have a reasonably force- [93 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY ful personality—that indefinable quality which gives him influence over others, which induces them to look at things from his point of view, and to do what he wants them to do. Without this subtle and mysterious ability he may be a thoroughly good man, but he is inefficient as a communicator of truth and as a leader of men. It has been extravagantly said that “in preaching the thing of least consequence is the sermon.” It cannot be truthfully said that the thing of least consequence in preaching is the preacher himself. It remains perpetually true that preach- ing is “truth through personality.” And there must be a reasonable amount of personality to enable the truth to get through and to make itself felt. The divine call to the minister never stops with the mind, or the heart, or the conscience, or the will, or all together, it always penetrates into the inner self, into the very core of a man’s being. The Heart of a Peacemaker A pactic disposition is a vital element in the equipment of a successful minister—that dispo- sition which fulfils the apostle’s exhortation, “Let us follow after the things which make for peace” (Rom. 14: 19). It is the opposite of an irritable, domineering, bellicose spirit. In [94 | THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT the Scripture portrait of an efficient pastor this feature is prominent. Paul, in defining to Timo- thy an overseer’s equipment, says he “ must be gentle, not contentious”’ (1 Tim. 3: 3); “‘ The Lord’s servant must not strive, but be gentle to- wardiall’7(2: dum.92 3/24); Not: selfi-willed:”’ is the way he puts it in sending to Titus the list of pastoral qualifications. (Titus 1: 7.) Peter’s appeal to the presbyters reads, “ Neither lording it over the charge allotted to you” (1 Peter eee Why is this irenic quality essential to a pastor? A twofold answer may be given. In the first place, the temper of self-will and self-assertion, natively strong in human nature, is peculiarly liable to manifestation in a position of authority and leadership such as a pastor holds. The exer- cise of power over others is sweet and gratifying. It appeals mightily to self-importance. It re- quires a great deal of divine grace for the pastor successfully to resist this temptation, and to keep himself in that frame of humility which will en- able him candidly to say in the spirit of the apos- tle, “ Myself your bond-servant for Jesus’ sake ”’ (2.Coriaess,): The irenic temper is essential, in the second place, because there is much in the work of a pastor sorely to try his patience. He not infre- [95] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY quently has to do with cross-grained people. He has occasion often to pray, “ From unreasonable men, good Lord, deliver me’ (2 Thess. 3: 2). There are enough of them in the churches. Petty annoyances of various kinds are constantly pre- senting themselves. He has to deal with ignorant and narrow-minded persons, with persons of a variety of tastes and dispositions. There is all about him a plenty of tinder ready to be kindled into a blaze by some stray spark struck out from his inflamed temper. If the secret histories of the unsettling of pastors could be read, in all probability it would be found that, in numerous, if not in a majority of cases, the mischief was done by a hasty word or act by the pastor in a moment of heat to which he was provoked by some annoying circumstance, and for which he was heartily sorry when his temper was cooled, and it was too late to make amends. A Sympathetic Spirit Sympathy is a central quality in a successful pastoral ministry—which means fellow feeling with others in their varied conditions of joy and grief, prosperity and adversity, of hope and dis- couragement, of strength and weakness, and a corresponding ability of manifesting it. Sympa- thy is something other and more than speaking [ 96 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT encouraging and comforting words to aged peo- ple in weakness and sorrow. It is a thoroughly virile quality in a minister. It connotes fellow feeling, putting oneself in the place of others, and keenly appreciating their situation. A cold- blooded, undemonstrative man has no call to, as he has no place in, a present-day pastoral minis- try. He may have large ability, and may be very useful in some occupations in life, but he is disqualified to interpret to his fellow men the precious truth and power of the Christian gospel. Human sympathy was the open secret of the deep and wide-reaching influence of the ministry of Phillips Brooks. When he passed into the un- seen, Boston seemed lonely because a great heart had ceased to beat. Sympathy is necessary in the Christian pas- torate because of, first, the genius of the gospel, which has to do so largely with the hearts of the people, and so, secondly, the character of the pas- toral tie. It is a heart-tie. Thirdly, the prevalence of sorrow and affliction to which, as a pastor, he is called to minister the consolations of the gospel. Every true pastor is a paraclete in the function of encouraging and strengthening by consolation, and the longer he remains in a community the exercise of this func- tion of his ministry greatly increases. He is sur- [97 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY rounded by trouble of every sort, and people look to him as they look to no other for comfort. This phase of his work makes expensive draughts upon his vitality, physical, mental, and spiritual, but it is a price to be paid in the prosecution of his di- vine calling. It takes the very life out of him, but for this he has given his life. A ministry of sympathy he cannot escape, and should not wish to escape, and he must have a sympathy to min- ister and a sympathy in ministering. Fourthly, the work of leading the penitent to Christ. Doctor Bushnell used to say that this feature of a pastor’s work is vicarious in its na- ture. That is, the pastor has to put himself so completely in the place of the inquirer as to take the steps he has to take, to experience what he experiences in receiving the forgiveness of his sins and in being welcomed into the divine recon- ciliation. This calls for sympathy, a fellow feel- ing, delicate and intense. A cold-natured man cannot render so sensitive a service. Jesus and Paul are noble examples for the pastor in this ministry of sympathy. They felt for the people with whom they had to do, had a deep and ten- der compassion for them in the whole range of their varied experiences. It has been said that a warm heart is more attractive than a large brain. Men are influenced through their emotions more easily, and [ 98 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT oftener, than by their logical faculty. A strong character has added power when it shows a loving spirit. The Shepherd Impulse Closely associated with sympathy in the Chris- tian ministry, indeed, a manifestation of it, is what may be termed the shepherd impulse—a deep yearning to bring men into the Christian flock, that feeling which absorbed Jesus, as it is de- clared of him, “‘ When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, not having a shepherd,” or, as Moffatt translates it, “ har- assed and dejected.” It is significant that _ Matthew, who records the incident, immediately adds: “ Then he said to his disciples, The har- vest is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send forth laborers into his harvest.” And suiting the action to the word, he sent forth the twelve into their campaign as recorded in the tenth chapter. It is that impulse which is so beautifully and persuasively described in the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel—“ I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, which do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, so it will be one flock, one shepherd ”’—and [99 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY which comes to so blessed fruition in the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, the great evangelistic chapter, in the parable of the lost sheep-—* Re- joice with me because I found my sheep which was lost’’; whereupon the heavenly world re- sounds with joy—and in the parable of the Lost Son: “‘ When he was still far away his father saw him and felt pity for him, and ran to fall upon his neck and kiss him . . . So they began to make merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” If ever men of all conditions needed shepherding, it is now—the rich, the poor, the high, the low, the learned, the ignorant, who are without God and without hope in the world; when men are lost in the materialistic ends of life, and in the mad pursuit of wealth and pleasure, when class is bitterly arrayed against class, when nation is against nation in bitterness and strife, until civ- ilization itself is seriously threatened with total collapse. The minister who does not yearn over men, and try to reach them with the gospel that is entrusted to him, is singularly unfitted for the task to which he is divinely called. An Attitude of Hope An expectant temper is a prominent essential in a successful ministry. If there is any pecu- [ 100 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT liarly pronounced note ringing through the New Testament it is the note of hope, of victory. Jesus said to Nathanael, “ Thou shalt see greater things than these”? (John 1: 50). That is, there is always something better ahead in Christianity. When Jesus was only a few hours away from the Cross, he was deeply convinced that his in- fluence was to continue among men and gloriously triumph. “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself ”’ (John 12 : 32). And he heartened his disciples by declaring unto them: “ Be of good courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33). What could ever daunt the expectation of Paul? In spite of his sufferings, so numerous, so varied, and so severe, his outlook for the truth, of which he was the minister, was always optimistic, triumphant. In writing to the church in Rome, while making full acknowledgment of the suffering of the sons of God, the disciples of Christ, and never trying to minimize them—‘ For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we were accounted as sheep for slaughter ’’—he exultingly inquired : ‘‘ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”’ (Rom. 8: 31). There is nothing more certain in this world than that what a man is looking for and striving for in the king- dom of God he will reach. An expectant temper [ 101 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY in the minister of the gospel is one of his richest assets, and challenges success. Without it he is disarmed for his high task. Enterprise Closely allied with the expectant temper in the Christian minister is the spirit of enterprise, which means “eagerness to engage in labor which requires boldness, promptness, energy.” The man who is wide-awake, aggressive, in a word, a man of initiative, who is not content merely to keep things as they are, but who longs for new fields to conquer, and is ever planning and striving to advance the interests of the king- dom that have been entrusted to his care—such a man is a host in himself, and is sure to see the fruition of his labors. For the blessing of God is pledged to such as he. A Discreet Mind Discretion is a chief factor in the equipment of a successful pastor, by which is meant that broad, practical wisdom which leads to right speech and right action at the right time and in the right way. Tact in dealing with men is one form of manifestation of a discreet mind, and tact is defined by Webster as “ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by cir- [ 102 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT cumstances.” Discretion stands next to holiness as a pastoral qualification. The secretary of a ministerial education society speaking to an emi- nent and successful preacher concerning the quali- ties of young men with the ministry in view, named them in this order: (1) piety, (2) talents, (3) scholarship, (4) discretion. “Change the order,’ responded the preacher, “put discretion next to piety.” A wise answer, for that is where discretion belongs. All men who achieve the greatest success in life in whatever sphere of en- deavor are eminent for this sort of homely wis- dom. Two of the leading American college presi- dents, Francis Wayland, of Brown University, -and Martin B. Anderson, of the University of Rochester, chiefly owed their remarkable success, not to the possession in exceptional degree of technical scholarship, but to that fine balance and poise of powers which are termed judgment, dis- cretion, sagacity, wisdom. This was the out- standing equipment of Booker T. Washington in his remarkable success in building up the Tus- kegee Institute. Men who hold long pastorates are usually men noted for their practical sagacity. They are excellent advisers with their own people and with others. They see as by intuition the thing to be said or done, or to be unsaid or un- done. “ Discretion of speech is more than elo- [ 103 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY quence,’ says Bacon. This qualification of a Christian minister is especially needed now when the pastoral idea in the widest sense of overseer- ship of the varied interests of a church is so prominent and so necessary. The pastor deals with shrewd men, some of whom are at the head of large mercantile interests. He needs to use these men for the ends of the gospel. This calls for sagacity on his part. The quality of discre- tion is more strictly a native endowment than are some of the other qualifications for pastoral success. But it is reasonable to expect that it may develop as the minister gains experience in pastoral overseership. The Soul of a Gentleman Personal agreeableness is a prime element in the success of a modern minister—that quality which makes people like a man, draws them to him, and makes them wish to be with him; the opposite of a blunt, coarse, repellent manner. James Russell Lowell has said of Dean Stanley, who was a most excellent judge of human nature, ‘“‘T think no man ever lived who was so pleas- ant to so many people.’’ How invaluable a trait this must have been to him as Dean of West- minster Abbey, where he had to do with all sorts of people from all lands. Dr. Theodore Cuyler, [ 104 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT himself a fine example of this precept, says, “Scores of ministers do not seem to remember that they can do but very little good to people who do not like them.” His parishioners used to remark of Constans L. Goodell, one of the most successful pastors this country ever had, the model pastor of his generation, that he was one of the pleasantest of men, and that his re- markable success was due, in no small measure, to this fact. Spurgeon’s brother said of him, “A great deal of my brother’s success was due to his geniality.” A pastor may be agreeable, winsome, to all classes of people with no ap- proach to sycophancy, and with no compromise of the dignity of his Christian manliness. There is no telling how much pastoral success in this modern time depends upon this manner in a min- ister. He is thrown, or ought to be thrown, with all kinds of people. He meets them casually on the street. If he has a cordial, hearty way with him, if he knows how to speak with people, and how to shake hands with them, a walk down the main street of the place in which he lives and labors may do wonders for him as a servant of God. There is now a strong demand for Christian gentlemen in the pastorate of American churches. The men who have pleasant, cultivated manners [ 105 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY in public and in private, in the pulpit, in the prayer-meeting, in the homes of the families of their parishes, in social gatherings, in the store, in the office, in the workshop, on the street, any- where, everywhere, have set before them an open door of wide usefulness. It would be difficult to name a quality, short of one of a vital ethical sort, which more widely commends a minister of the gospel in this time. If a pastor finds that by nature his manner is abrupt, frigid, repelling, he is under most sacred obligation, on the score of his usefulness, to strive to overcome it and assid- uously to cultivate its opposite. Jesus must have had this trait of personal amenity. There must have been something very winsome about him, for he seems to have been very easy of access. All classes and conditions of his countrymen, even the children, sought his society and felt at home with him. As Dean Howson remarks, “We do not read that Paul was as winning to young persons as Jesus was.” Who can tell how much that gracious manner of his furthered his influence in drawing to himself, and in retaining, the inner circle of his disciples, in reaching the multitudes, in healing the sick, in counseling and encouraging the afflicted. Every true minister of Christ will strive to imitate his Master in this respect. [ 106 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT A Persistent Spirit Persistence must be vitally linked with agree- ableness for the greatest success in the pastoral ministry—that steady, patient, determined hold- ing on in Christian work. In some sense it is the crowning pastoral quality, since volitional energy is involved in it, and is essential to it, and the will is the regal endowment of human person- ality. A man may be a pleasant man and a weak man. Personal agreeableness is but the entering of the wedge of pastoral usefulness; persistence drives it home. It is generally agreed among ‘men of business that the two outstanding essen- tials to exceptional success are good judgment and persistence. They equally underlie success in a modern pastorate. The pastor who has the grit to keep right on in his work in spite of, in- deed, because of, adverse and discouraging cir- cumstances, is bound to win in the end. He does not lose heart, the losing of which is the losing of all in the pastorate. Obstacles must give way at last before such as he. The people feel the steady pressure of his will force, and either yield to it, or get out of its way. Such a man is a source of power. He is a host in himself. His ministry is inevitably and continu- ously fruitful. [ 107 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY What is likely sooner or later to be the situa- tion, even in the best churches, that requires the exercise of pastoral persistence? First, scarcely ever does the church as a whole support a pastor in his work as it ought. He must frequently make his way through sheer 1in- difference, if not through positive opposition, on the part of some, at least, if he pushes his labors as widely and as thoroughly as he thinks they ought to be pushed. If he is earnest and aggres- sive in his methods, as he ought to be, as a “ good steward of the manifold grace of God,” there will probably be some, possibly a good many, who do not wish to have their ease disturbed. He must do his work, at first at least, without their cooperation, and he must not be discouraged by it. He must have in himself resource of cour- age and of will, else he will likely be beaten back from his purpose to “make full proof of his ministry.” Secondly, there come seasons of unusual spir- itual declension in churches, and it is difficult to discern why or how they come. The hearts of all, or nearly all, seem cold, dead. So far as the pastor can see there are no fruits of his min- istry, either among the members of the church or the impenitent. Indeed, there come times when the pastor’s own heart is strangely para- [ 108 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT lyzed. There is no spring and gush of holy emo- tion in his task. It is all a sheer, dead lift of bare, hard duty. Such seasons are very discour- aging. Many a pastor gives way before them, and hastily concludes that his usefulness is at an end in that field. He resigns and goes to another pastorate only to find the same condition of things. Grit and grace to keep right on until the frozen hearts are thawed out and the streams of love and activity begin to flow, are probably what the pastor most needs. — Thirdly, a pastorate may present or seem to present exceptionally peculiar difficulties. They loom large and threatening to the pastor. They may appear to be insurmountable. He is inclined to flee from them, when the very thing the Lord would have him do is squarely to confront them, heroically to grapple with them, and overcome them. A noble victory may be just in store for him. One of the chief successes of his pastoral work may be ready to drop into his hand. Let him stay and toil and wait. It will bring out the best there is in him. Sheer persistence holds the key to many a difficult situation. It organ- izes victory out of defeat. Let him be doubly certain, however, that discretion is joined to win- someness and persistence, and the victory is ulti- mately his. [ 109 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY Generalship There isa qualification for success that per- tains especially to the sphere of leadership. It is some ability on the part of the pastor in organ- izing and administering the work of a church. This is strongly demanded now when the local church is so variously related to the interests of the kingdom. In recent times the activities of a church, in number and form, are greatly mul- tiplied. It is not enough that the pastor shall be strong in the pulpit, he must be equally strong out of it. He is wisely and efficiently to use as a spiritual force the church that has been placed ,at his disposal. This involves both or- ganization and administration. For a pastor may have a gift for marking out suitable kinds of church work, but not a corresponding gift for getting the members to undertake and prose- cute them. The two must be reasonably com- ‘bined in the pastor. Henry Clay Trumbull has so exactly expressed my view on this topic that I shall use his words: The extent of our usefulness in this world will in large degree depend on the use we are able to make of other men. Our power to organize other minds and other arms and feet to the execution of important purposes is a fair measure of our capacity for usefulness. Our intuitive selecting and magnetic attracting and ready training and [ 110 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT constant inspiring of others set at work by us, will be able to make an impression more profound and useful on the activities of an age than would even herculean efforts engaged in single-handed. The pastor who tries to do all the work himself, instead of cultivating an aptitude for using others, will not be able to effect as valuable and far- teaching development as he would if he understood and applied the art of getting other people to work alongside and in place of himself. It is probably true that in the pastoral ministry the ability to organize and to administer is not equal to that of preaching. It is, however, an ability that can be developed by practise. The only caution called for is that a pastor shall not, at. any given time in his ministry, organize be- yond his ability to execute. The machinery should not be in excess of the power to run it. IV. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PREACHER There are four qualifications that have to do with the minister as a preacher. 1. The Intention to Communicate The true preacher holds his goods for delivery. He gathers his riches to pass them on to others. This is the opposite of the intention to acquire. The two states of mind are radically unlike. One is the temper of the orator, the other the temper of the student. It has been truthfully said: radial THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY The minister’s true object is not to learn in order that he may know, but to know in order that he may teach. The mere act of acquiring knowledge is in itself a force to disqualify rather than to qualify the acquiring mind for the act of imparting the knowledge acquired. The stu- dent’s habit and the orator’s habit—these are two things entirely different. They are indeed in a relation of some hostility to each other. The student acquires, and the ora- tor imparts. He must study not as a student, but as an orator. Not as one who desires to know, but as one who desires to tell. Now, the constant danger of a studious and thoughtful preacher—and no man is fit for the ministry who is not studious and thoughtful— is that, in making his sermons, he will be turned inward upon himself rather than outward toward the hearers; that he will fall into bondage to the process of discovering and mastering truth purely from his own point of view, and for his own satisfaction, and so will fail to hold it as a precious possession to be passed on to others for their highest spiritual welfare. The student’s temper ever threatens the orator’s temper. The mind is differently geared, so to speak, in the two tempers. The standing problem of a grow- ing preacher is twofold—the adjusting of his mental machinery for the acquiring of truth, and also for the communicating of truth. He is ever to remember that, in the deepest sense, the inlet into his mind and personality is in the service of [112] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT the outlet. The streams that flow into him are to flow out again for the weal of others. It is probably true, that, as a preacher advances in years, in thoughtfulness, and in knowledge, he is in considerable peril of giving the maximum of attention to acquisition and the minimum to communication. The moment this takes place he is beginning to die as a preacher. He is losing his feeling for an audience, and in losing this he is losing all as a teller of truth. The intention to communicate is, in its initial stage, a homiletic volition. It must be attended to. Itis the fruit of culture. The preacher must bethink himself of this and not leave the homi- letic instinct to untutored working, for it may fail him. He needs to cultivate it until it be- comes a sort of second homiletic nature. What the London Atheneum said of Lord Acton, the learned historian, holds a valuable caution to every preacher: “Lord Acton’s search for knowledge became so absorbing a passion that the desire to set it forth had largely decayed.” A maxim influential in the preacher’s conscious- ness should be: I intend to communicate the truth of this sermon to a popular audience for the end either of changing lives into Christian lives, or of lifting lives already Christian to a higher spiritual level. This attitude puts him in [113 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY an oratorical mood. He is in the adequate frame for composing. The product will be that, not of the cloistered student, but of the public speaker— an oration. An indescribably persuasive influ- ence has thus been engendered within him, and goes forth in his preaching. It is the natural history of an intention to com- municate, to become an impulse to communicate. It gradually passes from the will to the feelings. The preacher becomes possessed of a strong emo- tional mood to pass on to others for richest spir- itual ends the good things that are in him. They come to him in transition. As another has said: One may believe in and love the truth as a philosopher or a theologian. The preacher touches truth on its way to men. Thus it was with Peter and Paul. Peter de- clared to the Jewish council, “We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.” And Paul could never think of the sublime contents of the gospel of the Son of God without having his impulse to communicate them to others mightily stirred. At such times his characteristic expression was, “ Whereunto I was appointed a herald and an apostle.” “I long to see you,” he wrote to the church in Rome, “that I may im- part unto you some spiritual gift. I am debtor [114] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish; so, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are in Rome.”’ In the light of the foregoing considerations how forcibly apt is the statement of Phillips Brooks: The preparation for the ministry must be nothing less than the kneading and tempering of a man’s whole nature till it becomes of such a consistency and quality as to be capable of transmission. This is the largeness of the preacher’s culture. 2. Imagination Doctor Bushnell calls the gospel “a gift to the imagination.” In a significant sense this is true. And Henry Ward Beecher has said, “I regard the imagination the most important of the fac- tors that make the preacher.”’ No two preachers have been better examples of their precepts than these two. Both were rarely gifted in imagina- tive energy. Imagination marked every phase of Doctor Bushnell’s varied work. Take imagina- tion from Mr. Beecher’s preaching, and its crown- ing glory fades. At least a fivefold agency of the imagination is indispensable to the understanding and the communicating of Christian truth. First, inasmuch as divine truth has had a his- [115] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY tory, has come out of varying times and circum- stances, and through men of different disposi- tions, gifts, and experiences, the imagination is requisite in enabling the preacher to transfer him- self back into the old historic associations, to re- construct the situation in which the truth was originally given, to see the truth from the point of view of those who spoke or wrote it, to gain true insight into the men through whom the truth came; in a word, to put himself in their places. Without this he cannot adequately grasp and ap- preciate the truth. The preacher’s getting his true message depends largely upon this function of the historic imagination. Secondly, imagination in the preacher is essen- tial to his appreciation of the imaginative element im the Scriptures. How abundant it is! It is here that Bushnell’s phrase, “ The gospel a gift to the imagination,” has peculiar application. The Bible is full of story, of narrative, of poetry, of parable, of illustration. The prophets, who occupy so large a place in the Old Testament, Jesus, whose teachings constitute the Gospels, Paul, whose letters, next to the Gospels, are the chief content of the New Testament, used the language of imagination. Their conceptions were always concrete, and their expression largely fig- urative. The merely logical or philosophic mind, [ 116 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT the unimaginative mind, is in an entirely uncon- genial realm in the Scriptures, and lacks the equipment for understanding most of their ma- terial. The preacher without imagination is like a blind man standing amid the glories of the natu- ral world bathed in, and suffused by, the midday sun. Thirdly, the preacher’s imagination has a deeper function than the appreciating of the fig- urative element of the Scriptures; it is necessary in order to the penetrating into the inner mean- ing of truth. For this grammar, lexicon, and logical reasoning are essential, but not sufficient. They must be accompanied by that mysterious power of the soul which looks and sees, with no consciousness of any logical process—spiritual in- sight which is the imagination, the eye of the mind, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. No man, to whom has been denied the imagina- tive gift, can be either a great interpreter or a ereat preacher of the gospel. One may parse with utmost correctness every sentence of the original languages of the Bible, and yet just miss the inner and vital meaning of a passage. An ounce of insight is worth a pound of scholar- ship. The man who possesses both is one of God’s choicest gifts, one of God’s elect servants. Fourthly, the preacher needs the office of the [117] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY wmagination in order adequately to express the truth picturesquely. A picturesque revelation, which Christianity certainly is, and which the Bible certainly records, requires a picturesque expression. Hearers grasp and welcome truth when the visual power of the mind is addressed. It is built in that way. Dr. John A. Broadus, himself a fine example of his precept, says: * A preacher without imagination may be respected for his sound sense, may be loved for his homely goodness, but he will not move a congregation, he will not be a power in the community. It is a matter on which preachers seldom bestow thoughtful attention, and yet few things are so important to their real success as the possession, the cul- ture, the control of the imagination. Fifthly, the preacher needs imagination im or- der to tdealizge his hearers. This means that he is to do more than to take account of his people merely as they are, to regard them only in their prosaic abilities, occupations, and lives. He is to see them in their possibilities, in what they may become in Christ Jesus, in their minds, feelings, volitions, character, service, how they may, “ be- holding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, be transfigured into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3: 18). A very commonplace ~ nature may blossom into a, singularly beautiful 3 “* Preparation and Delivery of Sermons,” Revised Edition, p. 421. [118 THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT and attractive spiritual life. It is imagination in the preacher that sees this, enables him to appre- ciate it, and to strive for it. It was this sort of imaginative power that so conspicuously and so gloriously marked the ministry of Jesus, that en- abled him to see the “ pearl of great price’ which was hidden in every most ordinary human personality. It is probably not too much to say that Chris- tian ministers are, on the whole, more deficient in imaginative power, in its varied aspects, than in almost anything else. They should strive in every way to enrich it. This they may do by studying the beauties of nature, the fine arts— painting, sculpture, poetry, the discourses of im- aginative preachers such as Beecher, Brooks, Jowett, Morrison, Watkinson, Shannon, the Book from which they chiefly derive the materials for preaching, the finest example of imaginative power in insight and expression; especially by practically exercising imagination in the study of character, and in the conception and the pres- entation of truth. 3. A Reasonable Mastery of the Forces of Persuasion The Christian preacher is a persuader of men. He addresses free human beings who have the [119] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY power of choice. They can accept or reject his message. If skilful in communicating saving truth, he marshals the leading inducements that should influence thoughtful and sincere hearers to accept it, and he uses every legitimate art in his psychological approach to secure their favor- able decision. What are the chief steps or stages in the per- suasive process? The first is the preacher’s clear recognition that the object of the sermon 1s so to present truth as to secure in his hearers action—that is, movement in the ethical sphere of personality either in forming a purpose, or in performing an act, or both. The final test of effective dis- course is not what people think of it, but what they propose to do with it. The second is, that, in striving to achieve his object, the feelings of his hearers are of central value to the preacher. He must move them or nothing worth while is moved. And this for two reasons: First, the prominence of sensibility in the constitution of human nature. Modern psychology is strongly stressing this. It is verifying Mark Hopkins’ statement : Among intellect, sensibility, and will, sensibility is central. It is the source of all feeling. . .. The feelings constitute the fundamental elements of the psychical life. [ 120 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT We are now told, on scientific authority, that the instinctive emotions, and not the will, are the source of power in human personality, that they are the great driving forces of life. The will may open the sluice-gates, but the instinctive emotions constitute the flood which sweeps through the channel. Secondly, because of the prominence of the feel- ings in Christian character. Repentance, faith, hope, love, peace, joy, humility, and the like, are imbedded in the sensibility. The third is, that the preacher is never to arouse the feelings of his hearers apart from or beyond their intellectual assent to the truth presented wm the discourse. George Adam Smith says of Henry Drummond: He sought to win the reason of men for religion. This was always his first aim. He had an ill-will—one might say a horror—at rousing the emotions before he had se- cured the conviction of the intellect. The feelings are always healthfully moved by a suitable idea suitably expressed. Says Vinet: Nothing in the soul is lasting which has not an idea for its internal support. An idea nourishes, renews emotion, which left to itself is dissipated. Nil citius arescit lacryma, “ Nothing dries sooner than tears.” If the judgment of the hearer is not carried, when the feelings are cooled, [121 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY and the inevitable reaction comes after he is freed from the spell of the orator, irrep- arable harm will result. The preacher is to “value no feeling that is not the daughter of truth, and the mother of duty.” Ethical and spiritual action, buttressed by the mind and the judgment, is the issue of all sound preaching. How true it is that nothing so petrifies the heart as to arouse the emotions and then give them nothing to do. President Eliot is reported as saying, “I find it does me no good to get my emotions stirred up unless I can do something about it all.” Indeed, nothing could do greater harm. These are the stages of persuasion in preaching; a volitional object sought, the moving of the feelings toward the attaining of the ob- ject; no movement of the feelings beyond the as- sent of the mind and the judgment. The maxim of Rufus Choate, the great lawyer and orator, touching an effective legislator’s speech, is equally applicable to the preacher’s sermon: “ Truth for the staple, good taste the form, persuasion to act the end.”” Among the masterpieces of persuasive utterance none rank higher than Judah’s plea for Benjamin recorded in Genesis, the forty-fourth chapter. It is worthy of careful study by the Christian preacher, as in Antony’s speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Ceesar. [ 122] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT 4, The Fusion of All His Powers In the invention of materials there is the har- monious cooperation of all his powers. He does not make his quest by the agency of any single power divorced from his composite nature. His whole self, his entire conscious being is in move- ment. As it is impossible to separate form and color and fragrance in the flower, and still pre- serve it, so it is impossible to separate one power, or set of powers, from the others in the preacher without destroying him as a preacher. In the arrangement and the development of truth the effective preacher employs his powers in united action. His reason and his imagination, his emotion and his will blend, else his sermon is not the fruit of a complete man, but of a frac- tion of a man. And as only a part of him has gone into it, in a vital sense it is not his. It is on this account, probably, that really able men have failed in the pulpit. One preacher thinks that he is nothing if not metaphysical. So he strains his speculative understanding, and cramps and smothers his imagination and feeling. Another believes that emotion is the chief desid- eratum in preaching, and he overworks his sensi- bility. Still another is all imagination. Poetic beauty in discourse is the golden fleece for which [ 123 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY he makes his weekly sermonic adventure. If he can only bring that to his hearers, orderly ar- rangement, strength of reasoning, and moving sentiment may well be sacrificed. And so preach- ers are sometimes classified as metaphysical preachers, argumentative preachers, imaginative preachers, emotional preachers. Such parceling out of a preacher’s powers is a serious homiletic error, and it has deprived the ministry of much usefulness. It is wholly incongruous with the truth that he is sent to preach. For as Professor Phelps says: If a metaphysical truth is stated in the Bible, it seems as if it happened to be where it is: perhaps it stands side by side with a gleam of poetry. Pure intellect and pure emo- tion play in and out, often, in the structure of a text, with the artlessness, yet without the incoherence, of dreams. How characteristic this is of the epistles of Paul, notably of that most severely reasoned of them all—the letter to the Romans! In it from be- ginning to end logic and life interpenetrate. As Dean Howson remarks, *‘ The life comes out at every crevice of the reasoning.’”’ It is the prod- uct, not of Paul’s logical understanding alone, but of his entire personality. It is true of him as the author of that epistle as Coleridge said it was of Charles James Fox as an orator, “ His intellect was all feeling, and his feeling was all [ 124 ] THE MINISTER’S EQUIPMENT intellect.” The method of Paul must be the method of the most impressive and successful preacher. The whole man in the spontaneous and enthusiastic fusion of all his powers is at work. Of course, there will be a predominance of one power in one preacher and of another power in another preacher. In one argumenta- tion will overtop imagination and emotion. But whatever blending of these and other powers a preacher naturally has or can acquire by legiti- mate and persistent training, greatly increases his effectiveness. The same psychological truth of the fusion of all the preacher’s powers holds in his delwery of discourse. Ina sense it is more imperatively re- quired here than in any other aspect of his rela- tion to the sermon. His sympathetic, complex nature, physical and psychical, is the living chan- nel through which swells and rushes the stream of his sacred eloquence in its outflow, yes, its over- flow, upon his hearers. The truth that he im- parts is infused with his physical vitality, com- pacted with his logical understanding, colored with his imagination, warmed with his heart, nerved with his will, winged with his consecrated personality. A chief element of Phillips Brooks’ influence as a preacher was “the beautiful com- bination and harmony in which he possessed the [125 ] THE MINISTER AND HIS MINISTRY intellectual, imaginative, and emotive powers.” And this is the open secret of the world’s greatest preaching. Every true minister will make it his aim and purpose to pay the price of efficiency by faithfully cultivating these powers in their co- working in the communication of Christian truth. [ 126 ] Date Due H ey rinceton Theological Seminar ii peer Library