BX 9195 .D55 1883 Dickson, David, 1754-1820 The elder and his work I 1 1 E ELDER AND HIS WORK BY DAVID TUCKSO Master of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh REPRINTED FROM THE THIRTEENTH THOUSAND OF THE EDINBURGH EDITION PHILADELPHIA PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION No. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET PREFACE. The following tractate is from the pen of one of the best-known and most useful elders of the Free Church of Scotland. It has passed through thirteen editions in Scotland. It is entirely prac- tical in its scope, and abounds in the most admir- able suggestions. In this edition some local ref- erences have been omitted, with the consent of the author. It is believed that it will be found eminently adapted for circulation among elders in our American churches. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Importance of the Eldership 5 II. The Elder's Qualifications 7 III. Duties of Elders 12 IV. The Elder in his District 16 V. Ordinary Visitation 21 VI. Visitation of the Sick 28 VII. Family Worship — The Young — Inquirers — Seryants, etc 33 VIII. Special Means of Doing Good 46 IX. Cases of Discipline 61 X. Members Encouraged to Work 65 XL Intercourse between Church-Members, etc... 71 XII. The Elder's Relation to the Minister, Ses- sion, etc 75 XIII. Incidents — Encouragements and Discourage- ments 83 4 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. CHAPTER I. IMPORTANCE OF THE ELDERSHIP. We need no new machinery in the Christian Church. It is all provided ready to our hand in the Presbyterian system. What we need is motive- power to set it going and keep it going. We need the baptism of the Spirit to fill us elders with love and zeal, that we may labor in our office and that the work of our hands may be established. The eldership, under some form or other, is abso- lutely necessary for a healthy and useful Church. The Wesleyans have adopted it largely in the form of class-leaders. Many Baptist and Congrega- tional churches expect their deacons to do elders7 work. And many intelligent Episcopalians desire to have lay agency formally sanctioned in their churches. That union of order and liberty so dis- tinguishing our clastic Presbyterian system, which is not the result of the experience of ages, but was, as we believe, laid down in the New Testament eighteen hundred years ago, will bear the test of practical trial in every land. 5 b' THE ELDEK AND HIS WORK. So necessary is the eldership for the superintend- ence of a congregation that practical wisdom would demand it even if Scripture did not provide it. In ordinary congregations it is physically impossible for the ministers to do all that is needful, or they must cease to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. It is expected that our ministers shall prepare two sermons or lectures ev- ery week, and that these shall be the result of much study and thought. We do not enter on the ques- tion whether this is reasonable in all circumstances, or for spiritual edification ; we merely take things as they are. And besides the weekly preparation of two discourses the minister is expected to visit his whole flock in succession, especially attending to the sick. Then he has other duties as a public ser- vant of Christ. It is therefore utterly impossible for him, singly and alone, to care for several hun- dred souls as they ought to be cared for. As our object is not a controversial but a prac- tical one, we do not enter on the Scripture argument for the office of the eldership. Should any one wish to study the subject, we may refer him to the work of Dr. Lorimer, embodying the excellent tract on this subject by James Guthrie of Stirling, the honored martyr of the second Reformation ; also to the learned and most useful treatise on the office of ruling elder by Dr. Miller of Princeton, Xew Jersey : to the work of the late Dr. M'Kerrow. the elder's qualifications. 7 which gained the prize offered for the best treatise on the subject by a devoted and liberal elder of the United Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh ; and last, not least, to the eminently practical volume from the pen of Dr. King. CHAPTER II. THE ELDER'S QUALIFICATIONS. Before referring to duties it may be profitable to dwell a little on the qualifications required for the elder's office, as we gather these from the Epis- tles to Timothy and Titus, from Peter's First Epistle and from other passages of Scripture. 1. The office and work being spiritual, it is neces- sary that elders should be spiritual men. It is not necessary that they be men of great gifts or worldly position, of wealth or high education; but it is indispensably necessary that they be men of God, at peace with him, new creatures in Christ Jesus ; engaged in the embassy of reconciliation, they must be themselves reconciled. We must love the Master, and the work for the Master's sake. If we do love it, it will be a happy service because a willing service. And as our souls pros- per our work will prosper ; the joy of the Lord will be our strength. Let us "take herd unto ourselves" as to our real 8 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. state of heart and our motives. Are we living branches of the true Vine, and are we growing? Though the work of the eldership is in itself very honorable and very interesting, yet it will be dull, formal and worthless unless there be a real and growing love to Jesus in our hearts. That is the only oil that will make the lamp burn, and keep it burning. We must be men of prayer if we are to honor the Lord in our office. And we must have the word of Christ dwelling in us richly, studying especially the details of his own ministry on earth and such chapters as the twelfth of Romans and the thirteenth of First Corinthians. 2. We should have a good knowledge of the word, of God, and be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us. Not that we must be theologians, able to grapple learnedly with all heresies or con- troversies ; but we should be well read in our Bibles, and able to do what Aquila and Priscilla did to Apollos. Elders should be men to a certain extent " stablished, strengthened, settled," not " novices," whom the elevation to office in the Church is likely to make heady, fonvard, crotchety, conceited. For very young men and very young Christians other useful though humbler spheres are more suit- able. It is a very great help to an elder to have been for some years previously a Sabbath-school teacher, and thus accustomed to study the truth and to apply it. Such work will also test his intelligence and interest in divine things. If an THE ELDER'S QUALIFICATIONS. 9 elder is to discharge the duty laid upon him in Scripture — to reprove, rebuke and exhort, to be able by sound doctrine to exhort and convince gainsayers — the word of God must be the man of his counsel, his daily companion. Let me not be thought to discourage elders from the study of theology as a systematic science. Any one who has studied the Confession of Faith, as all elders should do, is no mean theologian. And it is a great strength to the Church of Christ that many of her laymen (as they may be called for want of a better word) should be well up in doctrinal contro- versy. Elders who have time and ability for this should give themselves to it. No heresy ever becomes extinct, as some volcanoes are said to do, for they all come out of the old human heart, which is as full of evil as ever. But the old heresies assume new forms well worthy of study and detection ; and the world listens to an exposure of them more readily from laymen than from ministers, even though not half so able or con- clusive. 3. Elders should be men of common sense, know- ing when to speak and when to hold their tongues. Even grace does not give common sense, a little of which would settle many controversies and heresies in the Church of Christ. Men of points and pugna- city are very annoying in a session or congregation, and they may rise to be the terror of presbyteries and other church courts. They may love the truth 10 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. at heart — and we believe they often do — but they love fighting too. For such men the grave and quiet duties of the eldership have little or no charm. A carping, censorious spirit is to be watched and prayed against in all of us: it is often the precursor or companion of backsliding in doctrine or life. An uneasy conscience likes to find faults in others. Hav- ing many different characters and tempers to deal with, we need as elders to be men of a meek and quiet spirit, not going from one extreme to another — men of practical wisdom and sanct'fied common sense, and thus able to judge of matters calmly and not as partisans. 4. We must be consistent in our life and conver- sation; we must be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord ; men of good report, both with them that are without and them that are within the Church ; model members of it; ensamples to the flock in faith, hope and charity, ruling our own children and our own houses well. In these days wolves find it profitable to put on sheep's clothing, for a certain amount of religious profession is a help and not a hindrance to a man's worldly prosperity. The Church and the world are thus in danger of frat- ernizing, and it is always the Church which loses. Let us elders avoid all appearance of evil. Let us be known in business as men whose word is as good as our bond; not mean or shabby in our dealings, not considered hard or money-loving men (which brings greater reproach on the Christian name than THE ELDER'S QUALIFICATIONS. 11 even the cases of flagrant hypocrisy that sometimes occur), but willing to let go the doubtful penny, as becomes God's royal priesthood, whose treasure is in heaven. Let us by our daily life declare plain/// that we seek a country by our being sober, just, holy, temperate. Let us be liberal to Christ's cause according to our ability; attached to our own Church and our own congregation, and at the same time lovers of all good men and good causes, for the man who loves his own family best has usually most room in his heart for those outside of it; given to hospitality and seeking to make our house a home for God's people. The usefulness of an elder will depend in the long run more on his character than on his gifts and knowledge. Quiet Christian consistency will give weight to his words of advice and be a daily lesson to all around. His walk and conversation, his style of living, his companions and friends, his geniality, his amusements, will all have an import- ant influence, not only on his own family, but on the people of his district and congregation. Young people especially notice, and get good or evil from, much that they do not speak about to others. They should learn from us what a Christian is like, not by the frequent use of certain pious expressions, but by the clear, transparent outflow of a life hid with Christ in God. Brc .hren, what manner of persons ought we elders to be in all holy conversation and godliness? 12 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. 5. Last, not least, we should be men of dap sym- pathy— not only having human kindness in our hearts, but that sanctified and consecrated. Having experience of the ups and downs of human life, we should have sympathy with human hearts, ready ever to weep with them that weep and rejoice with them that rejoice. The world is not governed by logic, and to do much good in it, especially as Chris- tian men and elders, the words of truth we speak must come warm from our hearts, or they fall cold and pointless. It was once said to me of another, "He's a good man, but somehow he never reminds me of Jesus/' Much of our usefulness will lie in not only knowing the wants, natural and spiritual, of our people, but in our having that heart-sympa- thy with them which will make us open our hearts to them, and will lead them to open their minds and hearts to us in return. AVe can best learn this by living in fellowship with Him who was dis- pleased with his disciples when they rebuked the mothers for bringing their little children to him, and when they wished the hungry multitude to be sent awav unfed. CHAPTER III. DUTIES OF ELDERS. The following extract from an act of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, passed DUTIES OF ELDERS. 13 in 1846, gives an excellent summary of the duties of elders: " 1. That they sit in session along with the minister, and assist in the administration of discipline and in the spiritual govern- ment of the church. "2. That they take a careful oversight of the people's morals and religious principles, of the attendance upon public ordi- nances and of the state of personal and family religion. " 3. That they visit the sick from time to time in their sev- eral districts. "4. That they superintend the religious instruction of the young, and assist the minister in ascertaining the qualifications of applicants for admission to sealing ordinances. "5. That they superintend and promote the formation of meetings within their districts for prayer, reading of the Script- ures and Christian fellowship among the members of the church." The elder labors under two great disadvantages. In the first place, while he has a general idea of the work to which he has been set apart, there is no prescribed or understood plan laid down for him in the doing of it. Each elder has thus been left to do what seemed right in his own eyes. Any fixed plan it would be impossible to lay down, as every elder, every district and every congregation differs so much from every other. We can therefore easily understand how elders who are timid or inexperi- enced feel a difficulty, and do much less than they might do. Another disadvantage is, that the time when he should visit his district is not naturally suggested. A minister once said to us regretfully, in reference tn his week-day duties, " No bell rings me to my 14 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. ■ work." The remark applies still more to an elder. No bell, not even the Sabbath-bell, rings him to his work ; he can do it at any time. There is no day or hour that naturally reminds him of his duty, a disadvantage under which a deacon or Sabbath- school teacher does not labor. No wonder that with some of us the any time becomes the no time, and especially if we have never so engaged in the work as to have known the blessedness and enjoy- ment of it. We do not suggest that our churches should lay down rules, either as to details of the work elders should do or the time when they should do it. There are many reasonable objections to this. We would rather seek, by bringing under the notice of elders the various plans by which elders of different churches and congregations seek to discharge their duty, to furnish hints as to how we may in our several spheres use the office to which we have been ordained for the good of the souls committed to our care. The time required for the efficient discharge of the elder's duties is not great, especially where the office of the deacon is established. On the aver- age, and generally speaking, two hours a week might be enough, perhaps even less. Most Chris- tian men should be able and willing thus to give one-fiftieth part of their week-day waking hours to this work, and we are sure that neither their family nor their business would be lo DUTIES OF ELDERS. 15 Our object is to gather together and place before the minds of our brethren in the eldership useful methods that have been or might be taken for doing good in their respective districts. Some of them are new, but most of them have been used success- fully by elders in various spheres and various churches. It is one of the evils of our want of co-operation as churches that good plans are em- ployed by one church or by one elder which, if only made known, would at once commend them- selves to others. Of course no one will imagine that all the various plans are applicable to all districts. Dr. Elder of Rothesay remarks (in an admirable address to elders published some years ago, from which I have taken several useful hints) : " The eldership exhibits the greatest possible variety in respect of outward circumstances, of natural and spiritual gifts and of means and capabilities of usefulness. It is one of the many excellencies of our Presby- terian system that it draws its office-bearers out of all classes of its membership, from the noble to the peasant, from the merchant-prince to the humble artisan, from the philosopher down to the lowly cottager who has no learning but that which is of God." Then our districts differ very widely, as do the congregations of which they form parts, whether in town or country, urban or suburban, composed of the upper, middle or working classes. These differences make it essential that prayerful 16 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. wisdom should guide each elder, or at least each church-session, to decide as to what plans of useful- ness are suitable in each case. It is " as we have opportunity" that we are "to do good unto all men," Let us set our ingenuity to work, that we may be able in the best sense to be all things to all men, that we may save some. In any way, and every way consistent with Scripture and good sense, let us aim at this great end. CHAPTER IV. THE ELDER IN HIS DISTRICT. The size of districts is an important matter. If a district be too small, the elder is apt to under- estimate the importance of his work ; if too large, he is apt to think it cannot possibly be overtaken, and thus to do less than he might do. In the allot- ment of districts care should be taken by the session that the residence and qualifications of each elder are suitable to the district assigned to him; the right man should be put in the right place. In large congregations, besides the local district ciders, some of the brethren who have suitable qualifications might be appointed to duties instead of dist7*icts, such as the superintendence of the congregational Sabbath-school or of the district mission, the oversight of servants (a vprv migratory I UK ELDER IN HIS DE8TRIC1 17 class), the care of widows or orphans, of students or young men coming from the country. Too much care cannot be taken that additions to the congregation at each communion and at other times be regularly intimated to the district elders, and also that elders should intimate the removal of members from one district of the congregation to another. We believe that a considerable loss in funds is sustained by the neglect of this, and, what is much more serious, that many persons and families have been allowed thus to drift away from church connection altogether. It is best, at least in large congregations, that all intimations of removal from one district to another be made to the session-clerk, and by him transmitted to the elder of the new district, as well as to the minister. In addition to the communicants' roll, kept alphabetically, it is well that the session-clerk keep a list of members arranged in districts. From this the elders can at any time correct their district lists. In some congregations a list of the mem- bers and adherents in each district is printed annually for the use of the office-bearers and collectors. An elder's district-roll should contain the names of all the members of the families, not only of those who are communicants, but of all the chil- dren. It should show who have communicated at each sacramental season, and the dates of his vis- its to each family. Various elders' visiting-books 2 18 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. have been prepared, but probably each elder will do best by making a plan for himself. He should avoid burdening himself with needless statistics. He will find it useful to know where his people sit in church. If possible, every elder should person- ally know every member of the congregation, which in our smaller congregations it will not be difficult for him to do. If the great ends of our office are, by God's bless- ing, to be attained, it is plain, in the first place, that the, elder must know the people in his district. He must be acquainted with them all, old and young, their history, their occupations, their habits, their ways of thinking. They and their children should be his personal friends, so that they naturally turn to him as to one on whom they can depend as a kind and sympathizing friend and a faithful coun- selor. He must know them as they are at home, at their own fireside. As Dr. Chalmers said, "The way into a man's heart is in at the door of his house." And he must keep up this knowledge by visiting them from time to time. On entering on his work at first, and as new people come into his district, an elder must en- deavor to get into conversation with them individ- ually as to the state of their souls. Is the great question yet settled? Have they said yes or no to the message of peace on earth and goodwill to men? Elders often feel it difficult to get into this THE ELDER IN His DISTRICT. 19 kind of conversation. It should be done, of course, privately, prudently, tenderly ; yet it should be done — not in the spirit of " Stand by, for I am holier than thou," but of one who is greatly concerned about their eternal interests. Let us not be content with mere generalities, for our visits are not those of ceremony or merely of courtesy ; we have a great business in hand — the great business. Such conversation, if in the spirit of our Master, will usually be well received, and is often much blessed. Those who are God's children will feel thankful that they have found one to whom they can open their hearts; and those who have but a name to live — their name on the communion-roll only — may be led to fall in with God's way of sav- ing sinners. Many even in this Christian land live twenty, thirty or forty years before they meet with any one who speaks to them directly and personally about their soul's salvation. How backward and shy, alas ! are we all to do this ! To speak thus with good results our words must be accompanied with prayer and a consistent life. May the Lord baptize us elders with such a spirit of love and power that we shall be able to speak to every one of our people about their soul's salvation, so that none shall ever be able to say, " He visited me often, but he never spoke plainly to me about the state of my soul." Alas ! is there any of us who can say in this matter, " I am pure from the blood of all men"? 20 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. Don't let us take too much for granted. So strange to the natural heart is the idea of salvation by another's righteousness that we believe no one really understands it, even intellectually, till taught by the Spirit. Ignorant of God's righteousness, of the King's highway, we would fain go to heaven by a road that was shut up more than five thou- sand years ago. An old Moderate minister used in preaching to define faith as " a belief in the being and attributes of God ; and if any man," said he, "says it is more, don't believe him, for that would just mean the getting of another to do what every man should do for himself." This was natural religion, the religion of the natural heart. An old woman who was born again at the age of eighty- two once told me that though she had sat for sixty years under most faithful ministers, her mind never really understood God's way of saving sinners till the Spirit taught het " heaven's easy, artless, unen- cumbered plan " — " Believe and live." When Dr. M'Donald of Ferrintosh, the apostle of the North, was minister of the Gaelic church in Edinburgh he used to frequent a bookseller's shop in the South Bridge. To one of the lads in the shop he used sometimes to drop a kind and gracious word about the great salvation. That lad lived to be an old man, and has often told me that he looked on Dr. M'Donald as his spiritual father. But the lesson was blessed in more ways than one. The disciple also learned to give a word in season to ORDINARY VISITATION. 21 others. A youth was one day showing him a pic- ture of a lonely cottage on a moor, and said, " How can any one live there?'' The reply was the be- ginning of a new life. It was this : " John, we can live anywhere if we have Christ in us and Christ with us." Many other instances could be given of a blessing attending personal dealing with individuals about "the great concern." CHAPTER V. ORDINARY VISITATION BY THE ELDER. The frequency of an elder's ordinary visitation must depend on the nature of the district, the time at his disposal and the mode of his visitation. Some visit throughout their districts every three months, but perhaps in most cases a half-yearly visit may be found sufficient. Be it more or less frequent, how- ever, every elder should have a plan, and keep to it. The day and hour selected should, of course, be convenient for the people, when domestic arrange- ments will not be disturbed and the household are likely to be all at home. Some elders send previous intimation of their intention to visit, but the visit will be more easy and natural both to elder and people when paid without previous notice. An elder should visit all the people, rich as well as poor. He is apt to visit most frequently where 22 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. he is most warmly welcomed, but these are not always the families where he may be most useful. Neither should he visit chiefly the poorer members. The richer people are apt to be neglected by the elder. There are many people well-off, as this world goes, who are very lonely, much needing sympathy and Christian kindness, to whom a cheer- ful visitor can carry sunshine and blessing. And a lonely life has its own evils and temptations, re- quiring counsel and direction. A Christian lady once remarked to me long ago, " If I were a poor body I would often get a visit from my elder, but if all were known I need it as much as any one." Visits to the better class are most useful to the elder himself. Visiting only the poorer is easier, but not more useful. While endeavoring to keep to a plan of full and regular visitation an elder must not think that a short visit occasionally is of no use. This would be a great mistake. If we are intimate with our people we can often do much good by a kindly look- in, even though we scarcely sit down in the house. Let us never seem when visiting as if we grudged every moment, as if we were fidgeting to get away — a habit both rude and injurious. When we come into a house we should seek to bring some of heaven's own sunshine into it. The children must not run away and hide themselves, but be the first to welcome us ; for, like their fathers and mothers, they should be all our personal friends. ORDINARY VIM1A1IOX. 23 Our conversation when visiting should be suitable to our office and our object. It cannot be too genial and lively, provided it be as beeometh the gospel of Christ. "The talk of the lips tendeth only to penury," " Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt," "Be kindly-affectioned one to another, with brotherly love/' are some of the texts which may guide us as to our conversation. It should be profitable, yet pleasant, lively and inte- resting— grace seasoned with salt. We should avoid stiffness and formality, still more moroseness or affected solemnity, for we must get at our peo- ple's hearts if we are to do them any good. Cheerfulness beeometh saints, and we would be more cheerful if we walked all the day in the light of His countenance. We would thus present, es- pecially to young people, truth with a winsome face. A good woman who made her living by keeping lodgers told me that the constant cheerfulness of a Christian young man who was a lodger in her house was the first means of awakening her. She saw that there was a fountain of joy in his heart to which she was a stranger. Did you ever observe the power of a pleasant, genial, or even humorous, remark in opening the fissures of the human heart so as to let you drop in some seed of divine truth ? Avoiding foolish talking and jesting, which are never convenient, a vein of humor is a great gift for Christ if ballasted with discretion and humility. Mr. Spurgeon is an example of this, as others have 24 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. been. A healthy mind and soul are seldom with- out a little of it. A friend of mine used often in her early years to meet with Wilberforce. Few men were ever more useful to individuals j and it was by his " parlor preaching/' which consisted, as my friend told me, in his geniality and humor being sanctified to the highest service. In the midst of his public work he never avoided mixing freely with the society around him, knowing that there he had a large sphere of usefulness. The tend- ency in some men to keep themselves aloof from pleasant social intercourse with the circle of kindred and friendship with which God has surrounded them, on the plea that they have no time for it, has no sanction from our Lord's precept and example. They should have time for it, for it is by contact that the leaven spreads till the whole is leavened. The matter of our intercourse is fully as import- ant as the manner of it. While we may talk about congregational matters, let us beware of congrega- tional gossip. " Is it really true that Mr. A. is going to be married to Miss B. ?" is one of the kind of questions that should neither be asked nor answered. AVe should avoid, if possible, all talk about persons, especially neighbors, unless we can speak well of them and to edification. Let the elder forestall all this kind of thing by reference to the last Sabbath sermons, the work of the congregation, or some news in the last Record or other religious period- icals. Even in the events of the dav and their ORDINARY VISITATION. 25 lessons we may, in these times of daily newspapers and telegraphs, find ample scope for most profitable conversation. Let us throw out hints that may be useful, such as the importance of reading regularly through the sixty-six books of the Bible, and not trusting to little "text-books." Wre have already referred to the duty of every faithful elder dealing personally with each member of a family. This must be done privately, yet even when the children are present there will be many opportunities for earnest religious conversation. Young anxious inquirers may be there, secretly wishing you to speak of what is near their hearts, though, with the reticence of many people on these subjects, they may never have opened their minds even to their father or mother. I remember once getting a quiet reproof on this point from a Christian mother. After some too desultory con- versation I proposed to read a passage of Scripture. " Oh," said she, " I was wondering if you were going away without that, for I have lately felt very anxious about the souls of my children." How often do our coldness and shyness as to the one thing needful prevent our usefulness! Our visits should be sanctified by the word of God and prayer, though it should not be considered indispensable that at every visit we should conduct a formal exercise. We may read a passage, and if we can add a few remarks on it, so much the better, but they should be homely, practical, interesting and 26 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. brief. It may be enough at times merely to quote a text. In prayer we should avoid a long preface or peroration, or other formalities. The circum- stances of the family and of each member of it, present or absent, should be specially remembered. In visiting we may find some strangers present, people staying with the family or neighbors who have looked in. Let us try to have a word for them. They may have been thrown in our way for that very purpose. A friend once told me of a neighbor who came into a house during his visit, and was arrested by a text that was read. Such simple means does the Lord often use to find his lost pieces of silver. For several years I have adopted a plan in which I have had much comfort and satisfaction. I know that with some of my brethren it would not be practicable, though others might adopt it. The plan I refer to is, spending an hour every Sabbath even- ing with one family in my district. Having ascer- tained at church that it will be convenient for the family to receive me that evening, after my own family exercise I go to the house at eight o'clock. If there are children there, the first thing I do is to catechise them a little, which they and the parents seem to enter into very heartily. Besides the in- struction conveyed to the children, I find thus an opportunity of giving hints to the parents as to the matter and manner of family religious instruction. This being over, I have a short exercise for all, like OKDINARY VISITATION. 27 family worship, praise, reading a short passage of Scripture, with a few remarks for old and young, and prayer, especially remembering any of the family who have left home. The children then leaving us, there is a little time for conversation with the father and mother. Never have I come home from one of these Sabbath-evening visits without feeling thankful that I had been led to begin this plan, and that it was lawful thus to do good on the Sabbath day. It is the best time for the elder, for the rest and privileges of the Sabbath have put his heart in tune for such employment. And it is best for the family ; they are all at home, disengaged, expect- ing us and not likely to be disturbed. How good and pleasant it is thus to go in upon a family at their quiet fireside on a Sabbath evening, the family Bible on the table ready for us, the whole remind- ing us of that family religion which once made Scotland great and good, and which, if continued and renewed, would make her still a joy and blessing to the whole earth ! The family — how much of a nation's happiness and prosperity depends on that institution as a nursery, a school, a society, a sanctuary, a little church, and an emblem of the great family — "the whole family," part of which is in heaven, and part still on earth ! There are other matters we should keep in view in our visitation to families which will be referred to afterward. 28 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. CHAPTER VI. VISITATION OF THE SICK. In every district there are usually some invalids from age, infirmity or protracted disease, and a sick-bed life is not necessarily good for the soul. Deprived of the privileges of God's house, and often very lonely, they require more frequent visits than ordinary families, and have a special claim on an elder's time and sympathy. Often weak and sensitive, they are very susceptible of kindness, and grateful for it. Some may require systematic in- struction in the truth; and even where this is not necessary the elder will find it add greater useful- ness and interest to his successive visits to speak a little on some one important truth ; and he will not find this without fruit. I believe sick-bed con- versions are numerous, and even death-bed con- versions (so far as man can judge) sometimes occur. Apart from all such cases, every elder knows that on the bed of sickness the Lord ripens his people for glory, and to the elder himself it is often a scene of instruction and revival. Richard Cecil said that some of the best lessons he had ever learned were got at the sick-bed of believers ; and many elders can say the same. Besides giving them the varied comfort and direction so abundant in the word of life, he may lend them suitable books. He should also enlist VISITATION OF THE SICK. ^(.» the help of some Christian neighbor, who, if kind, cheerful and experienced in divine things, may be more useful in some respects than he could be. Such, at least, has been my own experience. Nerv- ous weakness tells upon the soul, and visits to invalids by children, for example, who can sing to the weary sufferers some of the sweet songs of Zion, may do more good, even to the body, than medicines from the druggist's shop. An elder told me lately that he usually spent some hours of every New Year's Day in visiting sick friends, taking with him little gifts, which, with kind words, would cheer and revive many to whom a holiday brings no gladness of heart. This is a good hint as to how to make a holiday a happy day even to ourselves, for " it is more blessed to give than to receive." In visiting sick people or invalids we should avoid noise or abruptness. A low, quiet voice is usually soothing and pleasant to them, especially if they are weak and nervous. Don't let us strain them with anything requiring long or continuous attention, and let our change from one subject to another be natural and easy. Such visits should not be of long duration, and it is best for us to leave immediately after engaging in prayer, giving them perhaps one text to keep near their heart. It is a good plan occasionally to have a short service in the sick-room of an invalid, to which a 30 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. few neighbors may be invited. Invalids seem to enjoy this very much ; it reminds them of the joy they once had in going up to the house of God ; and it is social worship when two or three are thus gathered together in the name of Jesus. Cases of urgent and serious illness require, of course, an elder's special attention. "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church." It is to be regretted that the sufferer or his family does not always comply with this in- junction, under the mistaken impression that the elder ought to hear of them, though such a thing is not expected of the doctor of a family. But when the elder does hear of such illness, he should visit at once. A day's, or even an hour's, unneces- sary delay may cause him a long regret. He should see that the minister also is made aware of the case as soon as possible. To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- tion is our privilege and duty, and to carry with us such messages from the word of God as are fitted to bind up the broken heart. In cases of sudden and severe affliction we may be able to do little more than weep with them that weep, giving the afflicted some word from the merciful and faithful High Priest, and perhaps taking hold of the suf- ferer's hand — an act of sympathy which has often a wonderful power to calm and soothe in times of deep distress. VISITATION OF I M E SICK. 31 We know very little about those ministering spirits who are sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation. But may we not be often side by side with them ? for this is our privilege as well as theirs. And it is our part, "being our- selves also in the body," to do what they are not privileged to do — to sit beside a dying believer, to smooth his pillow, to moisten his lips, to remind him of the rod and stall' that are ready for his help in the dark valley, and to direct his dying eye to Jesus. All this is a precious service we cannot render in heaven, but only on earth. Have we realized the honor and privilege given ns by our Lord of ministering to an heir of salva- tion? Would we like to have shown kindness to Jesus himself, who for our sakes became poor? Would we like our roof to have sheltered him, our fire to have warmed him, our food to have fed him? This service of love is still within our reach, for " inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me." " Oh that the Lord would count me meet To wash his dear disciples' feet ; After my lowly Lord to go, And wait upon his saints below; Enjoy the grace to angels given, And serve the royal heirs of heaven !" The elder will seek, along with the minister, that a time of affliction may be a time of blessing to a 32 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. family. It is not necessarily so, nor always so, for trial is not in itself sanctifying. But at such a time the a*ffections are stirred and the mind opened to hear what would not have been listened to at another time. It is often a crisis in a family's history. Let us seek wisdom to win souls at such a time; kindness and sympathy from us then will never be forgotten. It is after the excitement is over that a bereavement is most felt. The empty chair, the quiet home, remind the widow and the orphan of their -loneliness. Let the bereaved ones feel that in this cold and selfish world they have in their elder at least one human friend left. We may look in upon them in the evening occasionally and conduct the family worship, trying in some measure to fulfill the promise, " When' my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." And let us share in family joys as well as sor- rows. I like to be invited to a marriage in my district, for it shows a kinship feeling toward me. If we are intimate with our people, we will often be asked for advice in such matters, and we may help in steering them clear of rocks and quicksands. Let us remember the words, " Only in the Lord" Now-a-days it seems as if people must be richer than they needed to be formerly before they set up house. It is a great pity that this should be so, for marriage is honorable in all, and it is not good for man to be alone, even though the young folks can only afford to begin with a " but and a ben." Need- FAMILY PRAYER. less expense in show and furnishing is not confined to the rich. A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, and such new gifts from the Lord should call out our joyful sympathy. Let us remind our people of the solemnity of the vows they take upon themselves at the baptism of their children, and of the duty of paying these vows. We should try to deepen the impression felt at the dispensa- tion of the ordinance. The Lord makes much use of family affliction in the training of his people, and cases of little children will often occur in an elder's district where the word is fulfilled, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." CHAPTER VII. FAMILY WORSHIP — THE YOUNG — INQUIRERS — SERVANTS, ETC The elder will desire to have family worship established in all the households — so useful for domestic order, parental government and family religion. Young people should be encouraged, when they settle in life, to resolve that wherever they have a house God shall have an altar. He may give hints to those who already have family worship how to make* it more interesting and useful to their young people, warning them against tedious- ness and formality, and suggesting such plans as, 3 34 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. for example, the members of the family reading the verses in turn. And by kindly persuasion he may have an altar to God reared in families that have never yet called upon his name. Extempore prayer, even though it be very short, is better than a read form ; but when the heads of families feel that they cannot even do this forms may be recom- mended. The elder may recommend also remem- bering in family prayer particular subjects at par- ticular times ; such, for example, as on Saturday morning ministers preparing for their Sabbath work, and the conversion of the Jews; on Sabbath morning, missionaries in foreign lands and Sabbath- school teachers and children. Get them to sing praise as well as to read the word and pray. It is sometimes complained that our Presbyterianism is too bald ; don't let us make it unnecessarily so. " Happy is the people that know the joyful sound ;" and it adds more sunshine to family worship when they can all join in singing. "Wherever there is a revival of religion there is a revival of praise. Besides the cheerfulness that praise begets in a family, it may have a good influence on the neighbors; the sound of God's praise from a dwelling is to them as a flag for Christ. When he gave Paul and Silas songs in the night, " the prisoners heard them" Philip Henry said it was a way of exhibiting godliness, like Rahab's scarlet thread, to such as pass by our windows. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 35 Another important duty of the elder is taking an interest in the education of the children. If a family man, he may give useful hints even as to their weekly instruction ; the schools they should attend, and their being kept at school as long as possible; the kind of books they should read; the choosing of good companions, etc. He should urge on parents the importance of making home happy and attractive, so that, their father and mother being the children's most intimate friends, nothing may be kept from them, no bad habits formed, no bad books read in secret. Parents must take great pains with their children ; if they do not take trouble with them when young, they will give them trouble when they are old. In the religious instruction of the children, how- ever, the elder will feel it his duty to take a special interest. At baptism not only did the parents come under responsibility, but the Church did so also. These baptized children are the children of the Church, and as members of the visible Church they must be taught. It was the command of our Lord that the lambs should be fed as well as the sheep. This has been too lightly thought of, and a handle has thus been given to opponents of in- fant baptism. By such means as the inculcating of parental instruction, the institution of classes for the children and young people of each congrega- tion, the Church of Christ must seek to do the duty which she undertook when she received these 36 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. little ones into the fold of the visible Church. She is not at liberty to make over her duty into the hands of parents, any more than parents are to throw over their responsibility on the Church. The elder will see that the children of his district are getting portions of the word of God and the truths of the Shorter Catechism into their mind and heart, and that they, as well as their parents, are regularly at church and understand the sermons. He should inquire as to their being at the congre- gational Sabbath-school, which will depend much for its attendance upon what the minister and elders say about it; and it would be well, therefore, for him to visit it. Little books and tracts will be gladly received by the little ones, and he may give them out texts, psalms or hymns to be repeated to him at his next visit. If there are many children in the district, he may have a meeting of them at his own house occasionally. The young men and women in his district must be cared for too, both those living in families and in lodgings. An elder's influence over them as to their eternal interests, their choice of companions, the formation of habits and acquaintanceships, may be of lasting benefit. To the daughters leaving home as domestic servants, and to sons going forth among strangers, he should give words of warning and encouragement, with perhaps some little book suitable to their circumstances. There is a tide in the affairs of souls — a time of FOR THE YOUNG. 37 impression. This is proved by the great number of conversions which take place between the ages of sixteen and twenty. Let the elder warn such young people against their peculiar temptations, for "Satan hath a friend at court in the heart of youth," and against the seductive influences of popery and ritualism, which spread their nets of music and sentimentality, trying to turn religion into one of the fine arts. Childish they may be, but childish things are often powerful things. Above all, let him, in dependence on the Spirit's grace, seek to win the young to Jesus, that they may fix their choice for ever on him, for then only they are safe. " May you be kept in Jesus !" said a friend of ours to a young convert. — u Yes," he replied ; " Jesus would not have taken me if he had not been able to keep me." A word from a minister has much weight with all classes, for happily with us there is great re- spect for the office as well as for the individual. But a fitting word of counsel from an elder, kindly spoken, when felt to be from the heart, will touch a conscience that even a sermon cannot reach. While his office gives a weight to his words, yet Ids being on the same level somehow helps to send his words in between the joints of the harness even more effectually than those of the minister; and this is true especially in the case of young men and women. The promise is unto us and to our children. 38 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. Even under the Old Testament there was special blessing in the covenant for them, and there is no less under the fuller, richer and wider dispensation of the New. A mother once told me that the first thing that drew her heart to God was the kindliness of his covenant toward the children of believers. No doubt, under both dispensations salvation was and is of grace through actual personal faith in the case of those who reach years of understanding. Yet what precious encouragement there is for be- lieving parents ! And, as a matter of fact, we all know that the great proportion of additions to our churches are from the families of Christian parents. We must all have observed how often the passage from death unto life with such is almost impercep- tible to those around them ; and they usually be- come the steadiest and most intelligent members of the Church. Should not Christian parents be more encouraged, not only to hope and pray, but also confidently to expect, that their children, whom they have dedicated to the Lord in baptism, shall all become his by converting grace? Christian parents in these days may well be anxious about their children. The spirit of the age leads to a peculiar and precocious development of young people, and there is an earlier pressure from the world's tide of pleasure than formerly — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eve and the pride of life. Passing along the street one day, I reproved a boy on seeing his unkindness to a child. FOR THE YOUNG. 39 " Who are you f" said he ; " are you a policeman f" There is now more talk about rights than about duties, and parents too often obey their children, instead of children their parents. Of too many it may be said that they are "disobedient to parents," "heady and high- minded/' Elders must remind parents as well as children that the Fifth Com- mandment has happily not been repealed; that parents must remember Eli, and restrain as well as advise, while they avoid scolding and provoking their children to wrath ; that they must seek, espe- cially by making home the happiest place to their children, to counterwork the enemy of souls, pray- ing earnestly at the same time that they may be led to taste the joys of God's salvation, which will give them higher pleasures than theatres or ball-rooms, and thus escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. In the former days there was usually a certain severity on the part of fathers to their sons, who were led to fear and honor fully more than to love their parents, while in our days there is often too much indulgence and want of respect. Yet fathers should be specially advised to keep hold of their sons' affections by making them, from their earliest years, their most intimate friends and companions. "The bands of love are the cords of a man." A hard, iron rule is both nnscriptural and unwise, and we see many examples of children being ruined by it even in Christian families. 40 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. Elders are often asked for hints as to making the Sabbath interesting and profitable to the young in a family. It is a difficult subject, as all parents know, for our children will never love the Sabbath as the " pearl of days " and as a spiritual privilege till they love the Lord of the Sabbath. Yet let not our children have cause to think it a gloomy day, for gloominess is not godliness, and sunshine is not sin. Let us surround the Sabbath in their minds with as many pleasant associations as possible. Let the restlessness of childhood find vent in variety of occupation, their curiosity in listening to Bible stories, their vivacity in the singing of hymns. It is well worth while for parents to give time and thought to this. The habits and order of a Christian family will form a fence around the members of it when they go into the world. Let them be specially warned to shun bad companions and to avoid temptations as well as overcome them. Joseph "fled, and got him out." A young man, when departing for Lon- don, was advised never to go to a theatre, never to go to races, never to travel on the Sabbath, never to play at cards. He strictly adhered to the advice, and after he became a new man he was often thank- ful for it. These four resolutions formed a valuable fence against temptation, and trained him to say no when sinners enticed him. Our people should all know our dwelling, and feel FOB INQUIRERS. 41 that they are always welcome to come there when they wish to consult us. We may have visits from inquirers, especially young men, whom we can often help very much. It will be well for them to feel that we can talk on other subjects besides religion and know other books besides our Bible. We can often be useful by lending them books; too many of these lie on our library-shelves year after year which might be out at interest. Especially let us welcome any anxious inquirers who may come to us, even though, as of old, secretly. In the minds of sincere and earnest young men there are often difficulties about doctrinal truths. If we see in them a humble and teachable spirit, let us beware of treat- ing or denouncing them as heretics, which is very likely to make them such, and may scare them away from orthodoxy for ever. The Church has been often a loser by conduct like this. Every doubt is not a skeptical doubt ; it is often an honest intellec- tual difficulty. It would be well if some men had had more difficulties; they would be more firmly established than they seem to be, and not be so easily moved away after every will-o'-the-wisp that appears in the religious horizon. The grand system of our noble Confession of Faith is not to be taken on trust. It is only by studying the law and the testimony that we come to appreciate its truth. The more careful and prayerful study we give to it, the more, we believe, will the Confession of Faith' be found in harmony with the word of God. The 42 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. danger to young men is in hasty, superficial study and self-confidence. We cannot take too much pains with a humble-minded and intelligent youth who comes to us with difficulties about doctrinal truths; and such will often go to an elder sooner than to a minister. When he does understand the way of God more perfectly, he will be more useful than a dozen men who have adopted the Confession because their ministers or their fathers did so, and not because it has passed through the crucible of their own minds and souls. In the instruction and examination of young com- mimicants the elder may much assist the minister. How important is this crisis? It can never occur again. Our first communion ! Do Ave not all re- member it ? What an opportunity given for earnest dealing with the soul ! How important, that the profession be genuine, and, next in importance, that those who have set their faces Z ion ward be guided aright, for a minister's and an elder's oversight is specially needed then ! Their care does not cease at the conversion of one of their people. The un- steady walk of many believers may often be traced to their having got a wrong set, as it were, at the be- ginning of their religious life. The necessity for solid spiritual food, much prayer and study of the word may not have been impressed on them, and hence a liking for excitement and novelties, resembling the state of appetite which can live only on dainties and YOUNG COM MT MCA NTS. 43 sweetmeats. An elder can also do much in guiding a young convert, especially as to his daily life — more in some respects than the minister, who can, of course, know little of the conflicts of grace in the workshop or the place of business. The young dis- ciple must learn to stand the tear and wear of con- tact with men of all kinds, and he needs grace to enable him to stand his ground and adorn the doe- trine of God his Saviour. Strange stories have we heard ; how many martyrdoms are gone through in these days of great liberality! The jests of scoffers are hard to bear, " For ridicule will oftentimes prevail, And cut the knot when graver reasons fail." The sneer of a silly maid overcame the strength of him who said, " If I should die with thee, yet I will not deny thee." To live for Christ is to many more difficult than it would be to die for him. Yet those who will live godly in the world shall suffer persecution. Perhaps companionship in one's duties with a mere formalist, one who has no heart-relig- ion, is still more dangerous to a warm young convert. As a support against. such temptations let him think how much good he may do by simply leading a con- sistent Christian life. A friend who well knew infidels and their mode of attack told me that there was one argument an infidel could never meet — viz. the morality taught by Jesus Christ. The young disciple cannot, perhaps, argue well with his mouth, 44 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. but let him by his life manifest the spirit of Jesus, "showing out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom ;" let him show that faith in Jesus makes a man a better servant, a more faithful clerk and a kinder friend. At the admission of young communicants it has been found in some cases useful that, besides the address by the minister, one or two elders should add a few words, referring, perhaps, to their own feelings at their first communion, and setting before the new members of the church the dangers they may be exposed to, with a few words of practical direction and encouragement. The mouth of two or three witnesses may be useful at such a time. " I have growing hopes that every child of mine is a child of God, and every servant of mine is a servant of Christ." So writes one who, as the head of a large family, desired to command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord, It is the duty of every master and mistress to care for the souls of their servants — to give them religious instruction as part of their own family. It is often difficult for an elder to take proper oversight of them. They do not live in their own house, and their time belongs to their master and mistress. Many domestic servants change their places too often, never seeming to take root in any one family. " Why do you wish to leave?" FOR SERVANTS. 45 is often a question asked by a mistress of a ser- vant who proposes to give up lier place. — "I have been very happy here, and you have been very kind to me; but I just think I have been long enough in one place," is the not unusual reply. Servants are a large and important class, on which the comfort of households largely depends. Elders arc too apt to take for granted the difficulty of visiting them. We have known many cases where careful provision was made by mistresses for the elder's visit to their servants, while no doubt in other cases there is difficulty in getting access to them. If the elder is blessed with a good and prudent wife, she may assist him much in this as in other departments of his work. She may call on the servants, and invite them to come to his house at a time convenient for both. If there are many servants in his district, he may have a meet- ing for them all, either on a week-day or Sabbath evening, when he can speak to them as Paul told Titus to do, cautioning them against temptations, exhorting them to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and showing how they may do it. Classes for female servants may do much good, provided the place of meeting is not far distant from their homes and there is communication between the teacher and the mistresses, so as to ensure the ac- tual attendance of the servants. A very safe and useful plan is for a lady to form a class for the servants in a particular street, square or locality. 46 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. Christian servants may, like the Syrian maid, be a blessing to their employers, to their fellow-ser- vants and to the children of the family. Through them salvation has often come to a house. We know of at least two eminently useful Christians in our day who ascribe their first serious im- pressions to domestics — one to the early lessons of his nurse, the other to the words of a laun- dry-maid in the family. CHAPTER VIII. SPECIAL MEANS OF DOING GOOD. District prayer-meetings * have often been found a means of grace. It is best to have them weekly ; fortnightly or monthly meetings have seldom been found to thrive well. Where there is a weekly congregational prayer-meeting, district ones, unless at a distance from the church, are not usually well attended. They may be for one district alone, or two districts may be combined, the two elders taking part in them, with the help of the deacons and some of the people. In some, reading of the word is accompanied with a short exposition ; in others, along with the reading of the word there * It will be noted that all through this work the author takes it for granted that the congregation is divided into districts, and a special district assigned to the special oversight of one elder. DISTBICT PRAYER-MEETINGS. 47 is given interesting missionary intelligence or ex- tracts fitted to be useful. Praise, heartily sung in suitable psalms or hymns, is both pleasant and profitable. Cases of distress in the district should be specially remembered, the names of the afflicted being mentioned as in a family. The meetings should rarely exceed one hour in length. As regards the place, private houses are found to be not so convenient as a school -room, the session- house or the hall which should be attached to every church. The minister should be invited to visit these meetings occasionally. Where there can be no regular district meetings, the elder may hold one occasionally — before each communion, for example. Some elders have the gift of conducting such meetings in an edifying and interesting way — others have not; we can only* use what gifts we have. However desirable, therefore, these meet- ings should not in all cases be considered as part of the duty lying on an elder in the same sense as regular visitation is. If circumstances admit of it, an elder will find it pleasant and profitable to have occasionally his peo- ple at a tea-meeting in his house. It makes them better acquainted with each other, and the time may be spent very usefully. In a country village of which we know there has been a prayer-meeting conducted now for more than a hundred years. That place has been blessed three or four times with a revival of religion — shall we 48 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. not say in answer to these prayers? This interest- ing fact was also told us, that when the tide of blessing was about to come in the numbers began unaccountably to increase till the place was too strait for them ; even outside the door there were many earnest attenders. The people knew that the tide was far out when the number fell to five or six. Then they began to pray again for a turn- ing of the tide, and a spring-tide came. Alas ! in many of our congregations the tide is far out, if we are to judge by attendance at prayer- meetings, which are a kind of gauge of spiritual life; yet let those who attend them continue to pray on. "We would urge also the importance of keeping open such wells of salvation as prayer-meetings and weekly sermons, even though few may come to them. They are places to which thirsting and anxious ones repair, and we are not always to judge of their usefulness by the numbers that come. In every way let an elder seek to stir up his peo- ple to pray — private prayer especially, but social also. Prayer is the most practical and powerful thing in the world, for it moves the Hand that moves the universe. He should encourage as much as possible the for- mation and lively continuance of fellowship meetings. These are not so common now as formerly, for re- ligion has got in our times into more public devel- opments— whether for more personal edification or not is doubtful. Five or six members of the con- SPECIAL WORKS. I(.' gregation, who are neighbors, may be encouraged to meet together. There may be meetings for men, and others for women — the former in the evening, the latter in the middle of the day — once a week, for an hour or even less. The mothers in the district might be encouraged to meet for prayer for their children. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it." As John Banyan says — "Saints' fellowship, if it lie managed well, Will keep us alive, and that in spite of hell." Many years ago one of my people, a poor bed-rid woman (an old servant of Dr. Andrew Thomson of St. George's), used to spend the time of each church service in praying for the Spirit's blessing on the word being preached to our congregation. It was a means of grace to sit by that bedside. One day when I called 1 learned that that morning she had been suddenly called up to be with Jesus. To her it was far better, but as a few devout men carried her to her lowly tomb at Warriston they thought she was one who could ill be spared ; she had lived so as to be missed. Your district of fifteen or twenty families is a little world, or rather a church in miniature. There are all ages — the little children, the young men, the fathers. And there are all varieties of temper and disposition and of spiritual state — the careless, those at ease in Zion, the anxious, the new-born 4 50 THE ELDEK AND HIS WORK. believer, the fretful, the desponding, the lively, the peaceful, the rejoicing, the steady, the excitable, those who have left their first love, and those who are pressing toward the mark. There are Peters and Thomases, Marys and Marthas, Pliables and Stand-fasts, Little Faiths and Great Hearts; and among them all there is a constant change going on. Your one specific for all cases is, "Looking unto Jesus." For saints and sinners he is the one thing needful. For ourselves and for our people the balm of Gilead and the living Physician are our all-in- all. Looking to him, we are lightened, we are hum- bled, we are sanctified, changed into his image from glory to glory, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keeping our hearts and minds. An elder must be instant in season and out of sea- son, watching for opportunities of doing good among his people. We have referred to times of affliction, when his visits will be warmly welcomed. But if he is absent from home at the time he may send a letter to the afflicted. This suggestion occurs to me from my having found that some such letters of a former generation had been carefully preserved and made useful to children and grandchildren long after writer and receiver had gone to the better country. Even though we are not from home we may find it useful, in peculiar circumstances, to write letters to some of our people. They are more lasting than any words of counsel casually given. The New Year, as already remarked, is a time USE OF BOOKS. 51 when we should especially remember our people. For the last twenty years I have been in the prac- tice of sending at that time to each member or family a little packet containing one or two care- fully selected tracts, which I considered likely to be most profitable to the individual case. It is a very small New Year's gift, to be sure, but it is a token of remembrance, and has been always kindly received. Little books may be substituted for tracts; and something also may be sent to the children. At that season there is always a supply of useful and interesting publications. The poorer members should be considered at that time, and to them our packet may be accompanied with more substantial gifts if the elder has it easily in his power to give them. For the aged poor I have found a little good tea by far the most accept- able gift of the kind. With reference to books which we may give to our people or others, whether old or young, I will venture to offer a few hints. They need not be large or expensive, but they must be readable. No sermon can do any good unless it is heard, for faith cometh by hearing ; so books can only do good if read, and to be read they must be readable and in- teresting, not dry or prosy. Narratives and biog- raphies are usually the best to give away, unless where there is such spiritual appetite and intelli- gence as will appreciate and profit by books of a deeper kind. Books and tracts in very small type 52 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. should be avoided; visibility is indispensable. Nar- ratives are always to be preferred, and if illustrated, so much the better both for old and young. Chil- dren like stories and pictures, and we are all but grown-up children. As a rule, we should not give away books that have not been read by ourselves or by others on whose judgment we can rely. If, however, I had hastily to select books or tracts for this purpose, I would take as tests of their being interesting and readable that they were narrative, illustrated, in good type, with short paragraphs, and with many proper names. When we give a book to any one we should put on it the name of the giver and receiver, adding a short text written out. Lastly, and most important of all, let us follow every book we give with prayer, that the blessing of God may go with it. When our people leave us for another part of the country or for a distant place, we should not be satisfied merely with their taking with them cer- tificates of church-membership, but we should try, for some time at least, to keep up a link of con- nection with them by an occasional letter, news- paper or book. We find them value these very much when far away, and not least any printed congregational lists or reports. It is a great help to a young man in a distant place to know that at least one old friend is still interested in him. LOOKING AFTER 5TOUNG MEN. 53 When our members or adherents remove to a dis- tance, let us try to get some one in the place to which they have gone to give them a welcome there. If we have no friend there, we may recommend them to the kindness of the minister of the place, or to the young men's associations which exist in most of our leading towns. Letters of introduction are good, but unfortunately they are not always delivered; we should, in addition to giving these, write direct, if passible, to some one in the place. A youth in a foreign land once explained how he was brought to the Saviour by saying, " My Sabbath-school teacher at home never forgot me." Let elders, as far as they can, do likewise. In large towns there is a constant influx of young men from the rural districts and smaller towns. Many of these are the most active and intelligent of their class. I often sympathize with ministers who have thus to part with the most promising fruits of their ministry just when beginning to be useful. These classes of youths should be cared for on the^ir arrival. Our larger congregations should make provision for this. Scarcely a winter passes without hearing of sad cases where youths, from the want of some one to care for them, have been sucked into the whirlpool of city dissipation, and have had to be sent home with empty purse, broken character and ruined health. There are many shipwrecks at sea, but, alas ! there are many 54 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. shipwrecks on shore too. Our young men are often very friendless and lonely, and the change from home family-life to living in lodgings is depressing enough, and to young men of very social dispositions is often dangerous. Ministers cannot be expected to undertake this work. It should be considered the business of one or two elders in each congregation to welcome any young men who come about the church, introducing them to the Bible-class, the young men's society and similar good influences, besides inviting them occasionally to their own houses if circumstances admit. Cases often occur, too, where, from want of attention to regular and sufficient diet and other indispensables to good health, earnest students sow the seeds of premature death or lifelong debility. Elders and elders' wives may take a kindly interest in such cases. A few words of timely counsel may save a useful life. Through their efforts the anxieties of many a father and mother would be relieved and their prayers answered. Elders of districts which contain many persons in humble life will find great benefit from having, besides the aid of the deacon, the help and co-opera- tion of a female visitor. Many ladies who could not undertake ordinary district-visiting among the poor could discharge this duty. A woman's eye and heart and her knowledge of details enable her to suggest modes of giving help which would never occur to a man. This applies especially to cases of AMONG THE POOR. 00 sickness and poverty. A large amount of labor is expended on the poor outside the Church — often on the vicious and improvident poor. We do not regret this, but the poor members of our ehurches should share more largely than we think they do in that affectionate and long-suffering persistency which is shown by Christian women in caring for individuals. Christ's own poor have been given over by him to the care of his Church, and in this respect his disciples should try to set their feet in the footprints of Him who has left them an en- sample. Many of his poor have a sore struggle against poverty — as they often themselves express it, "they have a sair fecht" to get through — and through much care and anxiety many of them do enter the kingdom. Cases occur of great delicacy and difficulty, and in dealing with them the elder must take care to give no occasion for his good being evil spoken of. He will find it useful in dealing with women, either old or young, to have the advice and help of his wife or some other Christian woman of sense and experience. Elders of the Church should be men ready for every good work — ready to distribute, willing to communicate. To every cry for help, whether for the bodies or the souls of men, we should instinct- ively be disposed to say yes, rather than no. It will help Christ's cause in the world if we can lend 56 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. a helping hand to the many charities which exist among us, Christ was the real Founder of them all. Their very names remind us of him, who was the first friend of the destitute sick, the orphan, the blind, the incurables and the deaf and dumb. Such charities can be best managed by those who are in sympathy with their Founder. While each one cannot take an active interest in every good work — for concentration of personal effort is necessary — yet we can help, as far as our means allow, with our subscriptions as well as our sympathy and prayers. AYe rejoice to think that the practical management of the various charities, as any one may see from their reports, is largely in the hands of the elders of the various churches. Let it continue to be so, for they will thus show the world that none will feel or care much for either its sins or sorrows but those who have learned from Jesus to do so. Elders should also be ready to take their share in municipal and other public work. Such duties are often irksome, yet of immense usefulness, and the best men in each community should be called to them. Those elders who have gifts for evangelistic work should be willing to engage in it, for people listen with peculiar interest and attention to an unprofes- sional witness for Christ. This makes even a few stammering words from a layman sometimes weighty USING OUR HOLIDAYS. 57 and useful. I was standing one evening beside my old friend Robert Flockhart, the good old soldier who preached at the west corner of St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, every night for forty years, A scoffer came up and listened for a few moments, when lie indignantly exclaimed to me, " Men like that do more harm than ministers, for nobody can say he is paid for his preaching." While we do not labor in word or doctrine, we should be ready, ac- cording to our ability, to speak for Him of whose love we have tasted. Now that most of our elders have been Sabbath-school teachers, we should have a large number of them able and willing to take part in evangelistic meetings either in mission-halls or at open-air services. To be able to give short addresses and to lead in singing praise is well worth some time spent in self-training. If our minis- ters had a large staff of well-educated and earnest elders at their disposal, they would be encouraged to use churches and mission-rooms much more fre- quently than at present for week-day and special services. Holidays are now a universal institution for old as well as young, and every summer many city elders spend a month or six weeks in the country. Let us try to mala; these visits to the country not only pleasant and health-giving, but to some extent useful and profitable. We have known of a church built and a congregation gathered through the two 58 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. months' sojourn of an earnest elder. We do not ex- pect often to find such a result from a holiday, for holidays should be holidays and not be devoted to hard work, especially in the case of men who work with their brains all the rest of the year. Fresh air, fresh scenery and quiet are what they require, both for their bodies and their brains. Yet a Christian elder will try to do good wherever he goes. It will be no trouble to him, for it is his life, his joy, to be ever about his Father's business. Coming as a stranger into a country town or village, there are many little ways in which he can help on the cause of Christ, and encourage those who have little of the excitement and sympathy which help those of lis who live in large towns; for how much do we owe to the impulse of others ! He should, for example, regularly attend the church in the place, if there is one, connected with his own denomination. It is discouraging to a minister in the country to find visitors whom he reasonably expects to wait on his ministry wander- ing away to another. Besides regular Sabbath at- tendance on the minister of our own Church, let our sympathies and influence be used to strengthen his hands. Many a faithful minister is laboring on in a quiet sphere from year to year in faith, yet under many difficulties and discouragements. The educated Christian people in his congregation, to whom he can speak his whole heart, may be but few in number, and by sympathy and encourage- IX THE COUNTRY. 59 meat we may be able to cheer him in his work and send him on his way rejoicing. We say from experience that any service which an elder, while in the country, may he able to render will be very cordially welcomed ; such, for example, as taking part in the weekly prayer-meeting, assist- ing in the Sabbath-school, the Bible-class or the teachers' meeting. lie will often receive as well as give. He will often get practical hints from country ministers and country congregations that never oc- curred to him before, and which he can make use of when he returns home. At the same time, he will find that any hints he can give from his town experience, either as to the temporal or spiritual matters connected with congregational work, will be gladly received, and acted upon if suited to the circumstances of the locality or congregation. There are two kinds of work we have always felt peculiar pleasure in. One of these is the visiting of sick people. Sometimes ministers feel debarred by a feeling of delicacy from visiting sick people con- nected with other churches than their own. But a Christian visitor may go where he likes, and he is always welcomed. Often a blessing follows a word spoken in Christ's name when a stranger brings it. When packing our baggage for the country let us not forget a large bundle of good tracts — narrative ones, if possible, and if with a woodcut at the begin- ning so much the better. Little colored tracts for children must also be included, and a good supply 60_ THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. of the pretty Sabbath-school papers; and let there be great plenty of these, for we may have unexpected- ly a run upon our bank and be left tractless. AYe happened one day to be passing along the road when a large country school was dispersing, and we could not supply the eager demand of the youngsters for tracts. It may happen that in the place of our temporary sojourn the different ministers and people do not work very cordially together. A visitor, if he is a man of good sense and a lover of all good men, can do much to smooth away differences. All the more that he is a stranger is he able to be a mediator and reconciler. And he can best do this, not by probing into old sores and trying to settle old disagreements, but with genial Christian kindliness leading brethren who have been for a time estranged to engage to- gether in some good work. It is not so much by discussing the nature and duty of Christian union that we can do good in such cases, as by drawing out into exercise the brotherly love which, though it may lie deep down, certainly does exist in every sanctified heart. " The sweetest surprisals of eternity," wrote Dr. James Hamilton, "will be resurrections of the works of time. When the disciple has forgotten the labor of love he will be reminded of it in the rich reward. To find the marvelous results which have accrued from feeble means, to find the prosperous fruit al- ready growing on the shores of eternity from seeds CASES OF DISCIPLINE. 61 which you scattered on the stream of time, will aug- ment the exceeding weight of glory." CHAPTER IX. CASKS OF DISCIPLINE. Dealing with cases of discipline is the most pain- ful— indeed, the only painful — duty an elder lias to discharge. Offences, however, will come, and melancholy and saddening they often are, for fleshly lusts still war against the soul. Alas! all churches have cause to lie low before God on this account. k> Bui I keep under my body, and bring it into sub- jection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself may be a castaway;" " Where- fore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," are words of warning much needed by ourselves, and that come anew with a solemn em- phasis in cases coming before a church-session. For the right discharge of the duty of discipline the elder requires the spirit both of faithfulness and of tenderness. These are fully illustrated in our Lord's dealings with offenders, which we should often study. I low faithful was he, and yet how tender! Oh that we could deal with erring brethren in the spirit of Jesus Christ ! The first and great end of discipline, as laid down in Scripture, is the restoration and salvation of the 62 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. offender. The second is the maintaining of the purity of the Church and freeing it from scandal. The first object must ever be kept prominent. With all respect for our forefathers, it has often occurred to me that they were too apt to overlook this. I have looked over a good many old session records, and they suggested too much the idea of the elder as a kind of ecclesiastical patrol, turning his bull's- eye upon the spots and blemishes in church-mem- bers. Our criminal code was then written without and within with blood ; and in days when a boy could be executed for stealing five shillings, with- out even a remonstrance from the Christian heart of the country, it is not wonderful that our church discipline was tinged with severity. No doubt records and minutes are cold and formal things ; they don't give us a photograph of the meetings of session ; they don't record the faltering voice or the tearful eye with which the detailed reports were re- ceived and the discipline exercised. As some of them read, they don't seem to breathe the spirit of the Christian dispensation. This mistake as to the chief end of discipline has not been long extinct. It is not yet forty years since an aged acquaintance of mine, in delicate health at the time, chose on a wet Sabbath afternoon to go to a church at her door instead of her own at a distance. For this offence she was taken under discipline and was cut off from church-fellowship. An elder should be very cautious how he listens CASES OF DISCIPLINE. 63 to <'\'il reports against a member of the Church, [f he encourages tittle-taMe of this kind, he will hear plenty of it, to his own vexation. But if a report reaches him which has an apparent look of truth about it, or if he has himself seen anything calling for action on his part, he should lose no time in mak- ing inquiry in a private and prudent way. First speak to your brother alone, and deal with him faithfully and kindly. Be straightforward and candid. Avoid roundabout ways of opening the subject, as if you had called about some other busi- ness. Be in no hurry to bring the matter before the session if there is no public scandal, and always con- sult with your minister before doing so. Every effort must be made by you privately, in the spirit of the words, "I now tell you even weeping," and you may gain your brother. I have heard from elders of many cases where a manifest blessing fol- lowed discipline, though these cases never reached the session. When a case comes before the session, as it ought to do if it has caused scandal, two of the brethren are usually appointed to wait on the of- fender. The less formality and publicity, at first at least, the better. The supposed publicity and notoriety of sessional dealing is against the hope of penitence, because irritating to an offender; and there should be no delav, for that may give him a pillow for his conscience, as if he had not got full justice. Avoid coldness, harshness or denunciation in your dealings. These are not likely to do any 64 - THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. good, and do not come well from a fellow-sinner saved by grace who acts as a servant and represent- ative of Jesus. Let us beware of the idea, so apt to creep into our minds in such circumstances, that if we are just faithful enough we have at least deliver- ed our own soul. No ; we only do this when we have prayerfully and humbly done all that we can to bring our erring brother to the feet of Jesus. The experience of ministers and elders has often been expressed to the effect that the ordinance of discipline, rightly conducted, is frequently blessed as a means of grace, and that in cases where the discipline is both of a private and of a public kind. Every elder is himself in danger of backsliding, and so are his people. Watching over this is part of his duty as appointed to feed the flock (literally, to tend them like a shepherd); and it is required of him that he be found faithful in this. Watch the beginnings of evil, like the letting out of water. Your knowledge of each, and your daily intercourse with all classes of men, will make you of quick un- derstanding as to the sin likely to beset each of your little flock. There are abounding temptations, es- pecially among the working classes, in our large towns. There are far too many public-houses : we say, far too many, as an opinion in which all must agree, for we do not here advocate extreme views, although we can well sympathize with them. How much hopeful good do they destroy! how many buds of early promise do they wither! How like BTIMULATING CHUR4 H-MEMBERS. 05 a spider's web they often are in a district ! Every faithful elder and missionary sorrowfully knows that there are far too many " licensed" enemies of his work. We speak, of course, of the system, not of individuals — a system which instinctively seems to ally itself with all evil influences. CHAPTER X. MEMBERS ENCOURAGED TO WORK. We must try to get all the members of the church practically interested in the work of Christ, for " none of us liveth to himself." It was said of a colt, " The Lord hath need of him." Much more may this be said of those who profess to be living members of Christ's body. What each should do will depend on what each can do, for " she hath done ivhat she could " was the Master's word of approval. "As we have opportunity " is the rule laid down for us. What a change would appear on the Church and the world if each professing Chris- tian were doing something — something for Christ — even though it were a very little ! Might not the wilderness soon be turned into a fruitful field? Attention to personal religion, regular reading of the word and prayer is the first duty. This, with the care of a family and conscientious attention to business, will leave to many of our people little time for duties outside. A mother may adorn the 66 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. doctrine more by her care of her husband and chil- dren, and by keeping a tidy and well-ordered house, than if she neglect these and engage in visitation or teaching the poor. Home is her first sphere, and a more useful one she cannot find. It is wonder- ful how much some mothers can do by activity and method with a willing heart. Yet other things must only be done after home-duties. What a field of usefulness is the family ! Richer and brighter sheaves are not to be found in God's harvest than can be gathered in by a praying mother. It is well for the elder to keep this in view, and not to seem to underrate home-duties. The husband or sons should be encouraged in their lawful callings, and an elder is often able to give practical help as well as encouragement in these. Let us engage the hearts of our people in the cause of missions at home and abroad. Alas ! how little do the perishing heathen lie as a burden on our hearts ! How little is given to foreign missions in comparison with what is spent on ourselves at home — our houses, our furniture, our gardens, our recreations ! The missionary cause is the Church's great work, but it is also the work of every in- dividual member of it. It is the duty of an elder very specially to remind his people of this. "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest/' This STIMULATING CHURCH-MEMBERS. 07 is the world's harvest, and all must be busy in harvest-time. Cases have been known where the first impulse given to the young missionary has come from the elder of his district. Our people should feel that this subject is near our hearts. Let us often speak of it to them ; and it might increase their daily interest in it if we gave each family a missionary-box, into which there might be put occasional thank-offerings for family mercies re- ceived. Let me commend to elders, for their own profit and that of their people, Dr. James Hamil- ton's tract on Thankfulness, the sermon he preached to the Wesleyan Missionary Society. It was, we know, his own favorite of all his writings, and one which has been much blessed. Members of the Church who have not many home- duties, and who are anxious to do good, should be invited and encouraged to engage in such work as visiting the poor, teaching in the Sabbath-school, collecting for the various funds of the Church, or distributing tracts, assisting at mothers' meetings, Dorcas meetings, psalmody classes, etc. You may thus be honored to set some to work who will be far more useful than you have ever been. I have found good results to follow from taking young people to see well-conducted Sabbath-schools and other Christian agencies at work. This tends to develop any desire in them for usefulness, and en- ables us t<» give them practical hints that may be of lasting value. When Dr. Nettleton was a young 68 THE ELDER AND HTS WORK. man, he got this advice : "Do all the good you can in the world, and make as little noise about it as possible." This maxim, he says, had ever after- ward great influence upon him. Given to him when his mind was very impressible, it became a rule of his conduct all through his singularly use- ful life. It is usually best when young people begin to work that it be in connection with their own con- gregation. It will be more under the elder's eye, and young and timid people will be encouraged by the sight of well-known faces. They will get acquainted with other working members of the church with whom they may have Christian fellow- ship, and be kept from a good many dangers that beset those who take up work at their own hand. Plymouthists and other sectaries are ever hovering around movements outside the Church, eager to proselytize for their little sects the young and ardent disciples. The more simple and private kinds of work are always the safest, especially for beginners. Train them to work by faith, and not by sight, so that they will have a motive superior to external discouragements. Don't urge any to engage in many things at once. It may distract and over- burden them, and may lead to their giving up such work altogether. And let elders warn young men against neglecting their ordinary business or giving it but a secondary place in their thoughts. An employer once complained to me that he found a STIMULATING CHURCH-MEMBERS. 69 clerk studying his Sabbath-school lesson instead of writing his ledger. This ought not to be; " not slothful in business" must go along with "fervent in spirit." An experienced friend said to me, "If a man is not good at his own business, neither the Church nor the world will be the better for him." Let elders impress on their people that their daily commonplace duties may become a means of grace to them, their daily mercies, trials and anxieties a means of fellowship with Jesus — that he should be linked with every detail of their daily life by their " telling Jesus " everything, casting every burden on the Lord, all their care on him. And let them further remind them that, Avhile they may and should become sowers of the precious seed of the word in the Sabbath-school or elsewhere, they should remember that they have a sphere which none but themselves can occupy, in their own families, in their places of business and among their acquaintances. Let them seek the spiritual good of those with whom they come daily in con- tact. Their lives as well as their lips should be scented with the sweet smell of the Rose of Sharon. As mechanics, clerks, masters, mistresses, servants, teachers, governesses, they should repeat and illus- trate the good lessons of the Sabbath by being living epistles all through the busy week from the Mon- day morning till the Saturday night. The domestic history of the Church of Christ in former days is not abundant. One can understand 70 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. the reasons for this, and also how in our day, when of making books there is no end, the want should be so much greater. Bat to one who has at all gone back on the past it is a very striking circum- stance that the earnest effort which formerly was directed to the conversion of brothers and sisters, of friends and companions, now finds vent in the Sabbath-school, and even in more public means of usefulness. We ought all to remember that the sphere of duty nearest to us must ever be first at- tended to. That must be done, while we should not leave the other undone. As a further reason for elders stirring up their people to good works, it should not be forgotten that Christians derive much spiritual health and blessing from efforts to do good to others. Exercise is in- dispensable for sound health either of body or soul. Elders must all have observed that one who has been brooding over his soul's maladies receives good from the fresh air and exercise got in working for Christ. Many have felt it to be like life from the dead to be drawn away from the morbid feeling of their own spiritual pulse to teaching little chil- dren the simple story of the cross. To be occupied with our little selves is not God's way of making us either healthy or happy. SOCIAL [NTERCOURSK 71 (II A PTE R X I. One greal evil existing in our congregations, especially in large towns, is that many of the mem- bers do not know or take an interest in each other. It is a blessed hope that we shall recognize our friends in heaven, but let us begin by first recogniz- ing them on earth. We have actually heard of peo- ple living in tlic same street and going to the same church for years, and yet passing each other on the street without even a friendly nod of recognition — "because they had never been introduced " ! There is often too much stiffness even among good people. Surely worshiping together twice every Sabbath in the same church, and sitting down together at the same communion-table, is a sufficient introduction. Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh, knowing this tend- ency, used to say to hi> large congregation, after reading the list of young communicants and other additions at each communion, "Now, you will con- sider that I have personally introduced all these to every member of this church." God sets the solitary in families, and there should be a family feeling among the members of a con- gregation. This feeling an elder must endeavoi^ to promote, especially among those in his own district. Let him interest the neighbor-members in each other. They will be found willing to show each other kind- 72 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. ness and sympathy, and thus be helps to him in his work. As a rule, none can or do help in a time of affliction like Christian neighbors. When cholera visited Edinburgh some years ago I found in a house (not of my district or congrega- tion) two children who were strangers to me. On my inquiring where they came from, I got this an- swer from the father of the family : " Weel, sir, they lived next door to us; and one night their father and mother both died of cholera, and what could my wife and I do but take the puir bairns in beside us ? I knew that our ain wee things would never be the poorer for that; and we've found it so." Yes, the good man was right, for it is written, " Blessed is he that considereth the poor ; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." As akin to the subject of members being ac- quainted with each other, I would remark that there is too little kindness and hospitality shown to strangers at our church-doors. All such should be cordially welcomed by office-bearers there, and the members should be willing at any time to give up their seats for the occasion to them. The open church-door should be an echo of, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters " — " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come." We could men- tion striking and painful results of the want of such welcome ; let one suffice. Many years ago now, a youth went into one of our fashionable churches. DUTY TO STRANGERS. 73 He sat down in a pew, but was soon rudely ejected by the rightful owner. He has never entered a church since that day. His pride was sorely wounded, and (in conversation with a friend, who told me) he dated his hatred of religion and the Sabbath to that act of unthinking and unchristian rudeness. Let elders, by precept and example, not be for- getful to entertain strangers at church. A casual visit to a faithful ministry has often become a day never to be forgotten. A young elder is too apt to form hasty opinions about his people. If they have not the same spirit- ual history and conformation as himself, he is apt to imagine they are not Christians at all. Inex- perienced as a keeper of vineyards, he thinks that every plant that does not grow exactly to one pat- tern, and that his own, cannot be a living plant at all. The late Dr. Tweed ie of Edinburgh once said to me, " I am more and more cautious every day of thinking or saying of any man either that he is or is not a true believer/' But a short experience, even of his own district, will teach an elder that there is as much diversity in the kingdom of grace as in the kingdom of nature ; that the Lord brings his people in, brings them up and brings them home in his own way, and that way sovereign and diversified. An elder should ^et all his people to feel a deep interest in their church and congregation, in the ser- vices, meetings, classes, mission- work, etc. It is 74 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. always an unhealthy sign in a church-member not to care much for the church and congregation he belongs to. Let people avoid getting into a grudg- ing, grumbling way about church matters, but rather take a hearty, kindly interest in them. Many things in this world, both civil and ecclesiastical, are not what they should be and might be. But let ns not be among the grumblers. Thankful for what good there is, let us put to our hand and try to make things better. Like Paul in Acts xxviii. 3, let us gather our bundle of sticks when other people are only crying out about the cold. You will often be asked by your people for advice as to their worldly affairs. Tins is natural enough, as, in many cases, the elder is the only disinterested friend a family has who is competent to give advice on such matters. This advice may be quite right to give, though only when particularly asked for; but we should as much as possible avoid being drawn into secular connections and complications with our church-members. Of course we shall beware of direct pecuniary responsibility, such as becoming security for rents or similar obligations. We can do much to draw a kindred together in harmony and love, yet not interfere so as to run the risk of making our good evil spoken of. Our office and our work are both spiritual, and our er- rand to our people is, " We seek not yours, but you." RELATIONS TO PASTOR. 75 CHAPTER XII. ELATIONS TO SESSION, ETC. The elder's relations to the minister are peculiar and very important. Serving the same Master and solemnly ordained as overseers of the same flock, they should labor together affectionately and faith- fully, that the word may have free course and be glorified. It is both our duty and our privilege to hold up our minister's hands in every way — to be intimate with him ; to speak well of him ; and to seek to gather up the fruits of his ministry. Let us ever welcome a call from him for help, relieving him from matters of business or routine, so as to save his time for study or pastoral work. An elder, being accustomed in business to endless daily details, can do better, and more easily and quickly, many things which would be burdensome to a minister, whose work lies so much in continuous thought. I was struck with a remark a minister once made to me, to the effect that while he had several elders who could give him valuable help in conducting prayer-meetings and giving addresses, " he was greatly in want of men who would take trouble about things." Regular attendance at the prayer-meetings is not only good for ourselves, but good also as an example 76 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. to the congregation. Let us be regularly and punctu- ally in our seats in church on Sabbath — as regularly as the minister is in the pulpit, or rather more so, for duty will sometimes call him elsewhere. The late excellent Henry Wight of Edinburgh, when absent from illness and obliged to leave all the work in the hands of his colleague, thus wrote in a letter to his congregation: " Encourage your pastor by waiting diligently on his ministry. It is inconceivable how much this enlivens and cheers a minister, but the neglecting his ministry operates as strongly in the opposite direction." If this is true — as it assuredly is — as to the people, how much more is it true as to elders and other office-bearers ! Some years ago I had the privilege of visiting thirty congregations as a deputy from the General Assembly of the Free Church. What I saw and heard in the course of those visits led me to form a very deep conviction that the revival of religion and its healthy continuance depend much, under God's blessing, on the hearty co-operation of minis- ters and elders. It would be a kind of miracle we have no right to expect if a large harvest were gathered in when there is not loving fellowship in prayer and effort among all those who are engaged in the same field of labor. An elder's advice may often be of use to a minis- ter, he having a kind of experience which a minister cannot have. Our ministers are settled in congre- gations early in life, after spending at least eight BEWARE OF GOSSIP. 77 years in study, often with few opportunities of gaining experience of men and things. The wonder is, not that such young ministers do occasionally make practical mistakes, but that on the whole they act so well and so wisely. It will rarely occur that judicious hints, kindly given by an elder of experi- ence, will not be welcomed by the minister. For example, a minister once told me of the sagacious counsel he got from one of his elders at his entrance on the ministry. Among other things, the elder warned him to beware of giving heed to or sharing in the local gossip of the parish. " When this goes on in your hearing," said the elder, " not only don't join in stories against people — don't even say you disbelieve them, but say nothing at all. Perfect silence on the subject is not only the safest course for you, but is the best rebuke to gossipers, and they will soon cease to trouble you in this way." The advice was sound and judicious. A young minister may learn much from his elders, from their local knoAvledge, as well as from their age and ex- perience in the world ; and they should feel it to be their duty to give him, discreetly and confidentially of course, such advice as they may think likely to be useful as to the kind of instruction most needed by the people, the style of preaching best suited to them, subjects for prayer, plans of visiting, etc. Such hints, being the results of experience, will be valued by the minister. There should, indeed, be in all matters connected with the spiritual interests of 78 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. the flock a constant, confidential and affectionate intercourse between the minister and the elders. Let them welcome and support every proposal he makes in the way of new efforts for doing good — not raising needless objections, but encouraging him in every way possible. In no way can elders help their minister more than by warm-hearted sympathy with him in his work. Every position in life has its own anxieties and cares as to health, means, family upbringing, etc.; but in addition to all these, which other men have, how heavy are the cares and burdens ever lying on the heart of a faithful minister of Christ ! No business or profession has anything like them. No department of human labor ever witnessed so much self-sacrifice. The world was startled in 184-3 at the sight of hundreds of ministers in Scotland sur- rendering their worldly all at the call of a Saviour whom, having not seen, they loved, for when did the love of science or philosophy ever make men do such a thing? But it was not the sacrifice, but the number of men who simultaneously made it, which was the novelty. All through the history of God's true Church there have been instances of self- sacrifice under the cares and burdens of the minis- try, the earnest seeking for the salvation of human souls in many cases wearing out the earthen vessel. John Welsh of Ayr could not sleep a whole night without prayer for the three thousand souls he felt he had to answer for; and every faithful minister SYMPATHY WITH PASTOR. 79 feels the weight of his burden to be indeed too heavy for him. With head- work and heart-work his labor is never over. Surely it becomes a minister's people, and espe- cially his etrferx, to give him their hearty sympathy and earnest prayers. Marvelous power, this power of sympathy! "Could ye not watch with me one hour?'7 " Will ye also go away ?" " He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy." It' the Chief Shepherd's human heart yearned for human sym- pathy, if his holy soul felt comforted by having his disciples beside him, is it wonderful that his ser- vants get strength and joy also from drinking of this brook by the way? I have said so much on this subject because of my deep conviction that we elders fall short in tins duty of sympathizing fully with our ministers in their work. Scotland [and the same may be said of America] owes very much to her ministers ever since the Reformation, and she never had so many able and earnest ministers as in our own day. It is our duty manfully to show our loyalty to them, especially in these days, when so many talk flippantly and ig- norantly of the minister's office and work. In the Memoirs of Thomas Boston of Ettrick he refers to one of his elders, William Biggar, who ac- companied him to the sacrament at Penpont in July, 1709, took ill, and died there. "Among his last 80 THE ELDER AND HIS WORK. words were, ' Farewell, sun, moon, and stars ! fare- well, dear minister! and farewell the Bible V He blessed God that ever he had seen my face. Thus the Lord pulled from me a good man, a comfortable fellow-laborer, and a supporter, or rather the sup- porter, of me in my troubles in this place. He was always a friend to ministers. Though he was a poor man, yet he had always a brow for a good cause, and was a faithful, useful elder; and as he was very ready to reprove sin, so he had a singular dexterity, in the matter of admonition and reproof, to speak a word with a certain sweetness, that it was hard to take his reproofs ill. He was a most kindly, pious, good man. May the blessing of God, whose I am and whom I serve, rest on that family from generation to generation \" While we do not touch on what is properly the business of the church-session, we may urge on our brethren the importance of regular attendance on the meetings of session. If health permit we should attend regularly; we shall otherwise fall back in our knowledge of the business of the congregation and get out of sympathy with the work. It is de- pressing to the minister and to those who do attend to see few elders present, and often it causes delays which are inconvenient, and maybe injurious to the congregation. Meetings of session should not be held too often, nor be so protracted as to lead to family inconvenience. STATED MEETINGS FOB PRAYER. Si Stated meetings for prayer should (» held by the elders in connection with ordinary meetings for business or otherwise. In some congregations the elders meet for prayer, along with the minister, for a short time before worship. In others there is a short meeting after the afternoon service, when elders can report cases of sickness to the minister, and he can confer with them. It tends to stimulate the elder's superintendence of his people when, at the regular meetings of ses- sion, one or two of the elders are asked to give a brief detail of their mode of visiting and of any interesting occurrences in their district. In the course of the year the session will thus hear some- thing of every district and of every elder's work. This will stimulate visitation and make the session feel that the flock is one, and some points in one elder's report may be very useful to his brethren. The minister, "as being also an elder," may some- times give an account of his experience and methods of visiting. Where this plan has been tried it has been found interesting and useful. In some congregations the elders meet by them- selves once a month during the winter at each other's houses, taking tea together and spending the time afterward in prayer and conference. The elder should often be in communication with the deacon of his district, advising with him as to persons requiring assistance, and aiding him as much as possible in his efforts for gathering in sub- 6 82 THE ELDER AND HIS WoEK. scriptions for the various funds. Where there are no deacons the elder will have to include the duties of that office with those of his own. It is to be hoped, however, that before many years elapse the scriptural office of the deacon may exist in connec- tion with all our Presbyterian churches. Associations of elders have lately been formed in various parts of the country. The elders of a few congregations meet together for prayer and mutual encouragement and conference as to their work. It is to be feared that, from carrying too far the spirit of ecclesiastical etiquette, villages or districts have been neglected, a congregation dreading lest they should stir up denominational jealousies if they be- gan to work in a village where there were a few members of other churches. These things ought not to be. It would tend to much good if the elders of the various churches in each district met freely together. It would be good as well as pleasant for brethren thus to dwell and work together, and they could arrange among them for any neighboring districts which had none to care for their souls. ENCOURAGEMENTS. 83 CHAPTER XIII. INCIDENTS — ENCOURAGEMENTS AND DIS- COURAGEMENTS. Every elder who has been many years engaged in the duties of that office can recall incidents which stirred his soul at the time and have left abiding marks on his memory. It may lead to a deeper in- terest in the subject if I recall one or two of those that have come under my own eye. I could men- tion others, but I am restricted to those in which I was personally interested, and where it is impos- sible to awaken any painful feeling among relatives, the billows of death having, as I know, passed over all concerned. One evening I received a message to visit one of my people, a man advanced in life, who had been subject to attacks of bronchitis. On going to his house I found him sitting at his fireside. He held out his hand and said, " Well, I am going home at last. I have been ill before, but I know that this is my last illness. I wish you to help me to set my house in order before I die. I bless God I have not now a Saviour to seek. I have some money in the bank, and I wish you to draw it out and pay the expenses of my grave and of my funeral. I have no debts, but you will pay my landlady for a month's lodging and board; and then you will use what is over to help poor old Christian people."