" Cu tad eee es “s vooxe oS So ey 4 . y sears DLT RAGA ETE LOT Ay tek, ke rs Pd hen ‘4 gts! , : > : aS wep sept sa Fy aie S ane Sat were ¥f Bah heehee c Sy ae a r : et “ . babetel sr Sotewe 3 are Folate he -*. ‘. ; . Se iste) ; Los eh : re 3 ys Eee cad Sac ate = rtd a5 : al De e2 ste Siebiterrsintns * Sy ae b pass or : ‘aes 2 rtf, a ade i ey We be bbb A P, os best is a ot eat oo OE a hed - Sees < Serer ‘ F PA aii PRELIMINARY ASSUMPTIONS « « « «) « 15 PUMPAACANIED DISPOSITION © °c) 1 ate )e* ue le) wei he PCs T HE BNERGEIA OF LOVE 005 55) 4 es) Oar 4S PREC ESE POISON OF PEACE 0) 0) Ua shi 4! ei ee OS MEET ORT EM Acar Ue ee Lei) a like shane heh ath iad ni OD VI ST. PAUL’S SCHEME FOR MINISTERIAL CUL- TURE . . . . ad °. . ° . . FEL re ¥ ty Wale i; a ye , ns Se bka! ee é i ye te “AWN Utnets he € tek te Balad hy av APOE eke fenton St YEG: Pos va aL jam Ute % Ph OM ALS ay ‘ gan Ay lh . ‘ ros at Ae oh « | / . ' 4 a ro) Shiv et « prety, _ , > ria. 4 Ys J = é % € ” 7 ty : s ¢ ; . ® ' . , J i ’ i i ii * ¢ ) ‘, ‘ ‘ i ay } a : } é : 4 ¥ " 7 , ivy * . ; 4 ; ; 1 ‘y ' i ( { ae . ey, vA j i> 7 \ ‘ | . . ; 4 i ’ 9 , 4 ay ¢ ‘) +N od ‘ , | 7 er ‘ F ri 4 . . 4 ’ 4 fy : ‘ : 4 iy? 9 . A aif y ‘are ‘ ; 7 ‘ . ; fe a ) i \ ' ty Lp i rs , ate | ’ : Z i. - i iy 'd & j ‘ “4 ‘ J /. eApe < j i] ¢ ce Peas : f s j a as pity } ¢ ; ; ivr . i ¥ pe } Yi ey ee peda) n i hes d re / ¥ Pa my Any AYE! BT eh aiey AD iL ‘ r * a « 4 ‘ f ie¥ * “a 2 ret} ¢ é tv es - Pane as Pao! im r tre oyTe 4 ie j BL 1 ; ¢ Ay a ff ya iz) ’ ad i” BV Ce . Anal aa | + Mena nes 4y' ete SAME PRM EIT BOP e bot ythy > fi Lee Ane ye aes, I: PRELIMINARY ASSUMPTIONS THE MINISTER AND HIS OWN SOUL IT: PRELIMINARY ASSUMPTIONS The old adage that a good shoemaker may be known by his barefooted children depended on the reasoning that a good shoemaker would be so busy making shoes for his many custom- ers he would have no time to make any for his children. There may be something in it. Good craftsmen usually look out for themselves last. Their devotion to the public may not be wholly altruistic, but it deserves and usually receives the reward of success. Still, there may be instances where this as- sumption will not hold. Sometimes good serv- ice to the public is not possible without good service to one’s self first of all. The minister is an outstanding example of this. He serves the public more by example than by precept. In fact the public refuses to accept his service 15 16 The Minister and His Own Soul at all unless his practice conforms to his pre- cept. They will surely say unto him this pro- verb, Physician, heal thyself. Many a good sermon is wasted, not because it goes over peo- ple’s heads, but because it is trampled on daily by the preacher’s walk and conversation. That is to say, the public assumes that the preacher is a good man. While it is not true that every good man is fitted for the ministry no man is fitted for it who is not good. The primary concern, therefore, of ministers as of other men, and, indeed, more than other men, is personal goodness. Ministers like other men have “A never dying soul to save And fit it for the sky.” If their own soul is not right they will be wholly wrong as individuals and as ministers blind leaders of the blind. ‘Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I my- self should be a castaway.” Another assumption, not always remembered by the minister or by his critics, is that the min- ister has the same fight against the world, the flesh and the devil that all good men must wage. Preliminary Assumptions 17 It is true that a minister has a greater incen- tive to goodness, and a larger opportunity of times and occasions than other men, but these very facts make his contest all the more severe. His sense of sin grows keener as his incentive to holiness deepens. His opportunities rebuke his omissions as additional aggravations. He feels the pull of fleshly temptations as much as any man, and, like Saint Paul, he must buffet his body and bring it into subjection. So that more than other men his attainment of vital godliness is a constant and strenuous warfare. But there is a more serious aspect of the sub- ject we are meditating upon. A minister’s own soul is, what every man’s soul is, his vital self, to be saved, cultivated, developed and brought to “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Butitismore. It will not be disputed that both the capacity for and the source of all the power we can legitimately employ as min- isters must come, not from “the election of thy brethren and the imposition of our hands,” as is said in our ordination, but from the precious deposit in our own souls of personal goodness, No amount of work done for others will make us good, and, alas, neglect of our own goodness 18 The Minister and His Own Soul makes us impotent to help others to be good. People may for a time be deceived by a show of goodness, but the insincere preacher is usually found out and despised. ‘Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thy- self ?” And the minister must have reserves of power in his own spiritual life, or he will labor in vain no matter how busily. The sad fact is that ministers sometimes suffer this depletion, not only without being aware of it or of its cause, but while they are pursuing the best in- tentions. Ministers know very well, although it may sound strange to laymen, that there is constant danger in the ministerial life and work to overlook the spiritual needs of the minister himself. Most ministers have realized that times of great spiritual revival among the peo- ple have proved sometimes to be seasons of spir- itual dearth with the minister. Not that the minister has been insincere, but he has simply emptied himself in his great desire to serve his people, and has forgotten that his own spiritual needs were as imperative and as constant as those of his people. Nor is this danger of spiritual depletion lim- Preliminary Assumptions 19 ited to times of excitement. The minister’s daily routine, so comforting, so helpful, so blessed to his people, may be his own spiritual vampire. The surgeon becomes increasingly insensible to suffering in his intentness upon removing it. And that is well for the surgeon and for us. But it is not well for a minister to become dulled in his spiritual sensibilities by ministering so constantly to keep alive the sen- sibilities of others. It is tragic when a minister praying so much for others finds his prayers not moving his own soul, preaching so much to others and bringing no message to his own soul, serving constantly at the altar and failing “to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins.” Beyond this assumption we must go one step further to the admission that if power for serv- ice does not come out of anything exterior to the minister but out of his own soul he ought not to make the mistake of placing his emphasis so as practically to deny this. Power is the out- come of what a man is, not of what he has; cer- tainly that is true of spiritual power. Minis- ters are constantly emphasizing this truth in ex- horting their people not to put their trust in riches, social position, or any other mere pos- 20 The Minister and His Own Soul sessions. But they would seem sometimes to be forgetting this emphasis in their own case. When they begin to feel or to fear that they are not succeeding in their ministry, that they lack power, they are too prone to look for the cause in something outside of themselves. Perhaps it is, they think, because they are not in the right pastorate, or because their church is not well located, or because they do not have a sufficiently modern church equipment, or be- cause their denomination is too small to furnish them a suitable arena. They hunt for a score of “becauses”’ to explain their failure when per- haps, I will not say certainly, for there may be contributing causes that make success more dif- ficult than it need be, but perhaps the real cause of their failure is in themselves; they have small success because they are small men and weak men in the essentials of power. Assuming, therefore, that every minister de- sires most of all to make full proof of his min- istry, and that whatever power a minister has is conditioned on the cultivation of his own soul, I have attempted to outline a few of the many roads that lead to personal goodness which means personal power. The end I have Preliminary Assumptions 21 in these addresses is to search into the recesses of our own souls to see if we have developed the essential elements of power within us by the usual methods of Christian culture. But I must disclaim any idea of being regarded as an ex- pert. I do not imagine that I have made any new discoveries in character. I am not at- tempting any excursions into psycho-analysis. I have not had even a very extended experience in the pastorate, although I have been a preacher fifty years. I have nothing at all to offer, in fact, but the old, old truths familiar to everybody who has lived long enough to know something about himself, and who is humble enough to acknowledge what have been the chief causes of his most frequent failures. Whatever appeal my remarks may make must arise from your conviction of their truth. Yet as even a layman might see some secret of a successful ministry hidden from those much nearer to it, perhaps my experience in the pew for so many years may have enabled me to see some things which pastors may have over- looked, or at least, my view of them may have been from a different angle. It was during a rather prolonged meditation 22 The Minister and His Own Soul upon a passage in Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, iii:12-17, that the theme of these addresses took shape and divided itself among four topics, (1) A Good Disposition, (2) The Energeia of Love, (3) The Poise of Peace, (4) Optimism. To these I have added as complet- ing my idea in the way of supplement or exer- cise in attaining these graces a study of an- other passage from Saint Paul’s second Epistle to the Corinthians, vi:3-13, which I have called, “Saint Paul’s Scheme for Ministerial Culture.” I must say in all frankness that I do not sup- pose that the Apostle had solely or even princi- pally in mind in either of these exhortations the needs of ministers as a class. He addressed them “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae, at Corinth,” and not to a special class of them. If I seem to nar- row the Apostle’s intention in my application of his words, I plead in justification the as- sumptions I have already mentioned to the ef- fect that as a minister is a man before he is a minister, and as power in a minister must pre- sume the possession of a power that every Christian has or may have, we cannot be very far astray in demanding that ministers must at- Preliminary Assumptions 29 tain at least to this degree of Christian power along with all other Christians. The personal qualities I have selected for discussion are not of course exhaustive, but I believe they are fundamental, and they will serve as well as any for example. Their ap- pearance of being commonplace may cause some to underestimate their importance, but on the other hand they are so certainly attainable by us all that some may be persuaded to start in this course who otherwise would not attempt anything. And I am deeply convinced that per- manent success in the ministry is impossible without them. In other words, that every min- ister who would have power in his ministry must have a good disposition, must be a shining example of love in action, must exhibit easily and always the poise that peace provides, must be carried forward and upward on the wings of optimism, and must constantly exercise him- self thereunto through all the varying, trying, painful experiences of the minister’s life. ‘s ris = y tay. res 2s / WAM A: L II: A GOOD DISPOSITION “Be clothed with compassion, kindliness, humility and good temper—forbear and forgive each other in any case of com- plaint; as Christ forgave you, so must you forgive.” The Text CoLOSSIANS iii: 12-17 (As a commentary, or an illumination, it might be called, on the Authorized Version, this is given in the translation of Moffatt.) “As God’s own chosen, then, as consecrated and beloved, be clothed with compassion, kindliness, humility, gentleness, and good temper—forbear and forgive each other in any case of complaint; as Christ forgave you, so must you forgive. And above all you must be loving, for love is the link of the perfect life. Also, let the peace of Christ be supreme in your hearts —that is why you have been called as members of the one Body. And you must be thankful. Let the inspiration of Christ dwell in your midst with all its wealth of wisdom; teach and train one another with the music of psalms, with hymns, and songs of the spiritual life; praise God with thank- ful hearts. Indeed, whatever you say or do, let everything be done in dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving thanks in his name to God the Father.” II: A GOOD DISPOSITION The five qualities named in the verses quoted which I have summed up as constituting a good | disposition, are familiar to all readers of the New Testament, for they constantly occur there. These qualities describe character in its social relations, and they make up what we are accustomed to think of as disposition consid- ered as a man’s relation to his fellow-men. For there is no such thing as disposition without society. If a man dwelt absolutely alone he would have no disposition, strictly speaking. That would be to be disposed towards nothing, to live in a vacuum, or abstractly. Disposition lies in the way a man places himself in social relations. Accordingly there must be carried in mind throughout these meditations the idea that each of these qualities is defined and understood as always modified by an attitude or an action towards other men. It will require only a few words of definition of each of these qualities to justify this remark. 27 28 The Minister and His Own Soul “Compassion,” called in the Authorized Ver- sion, “bowels of mercies,” in the Revised Ver- sion, ‘‘a heart of compassion,” and in Ephe- sians, ‘‘tender-hearted,”’ is one of the most beautiful words and one of the most attractive qualities we know. It is a delight to trace the use of this word in the Gospels as applied to Christ. When he would feed the hungry multi- tude in the desert, it was because “he was moved with compassion.” So, often in his heal- ing mercies, it is explained that “he had com- passion on them.” The agonized father who brought his child to Jesus just after his trans- figuration exclaimed in his despair, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us,” nor did he appeal in vain; no one ever appealed in vain to his compassion. Is it not written, “We have not a high priest which can- not be touched with the feeling of our infirmi- ties’? As in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, his compassion is the outstanding characteristic of his earthly ministry. Thus he brought himself close to us, suffered in our suffering, made himself a partner in our distress, a brother in our sor- row, a very perfect, human Christ. A Good Disposition 29 “Kindliness” is like compassion in being a feeling, but it is an active feeling, an impulse to help. It is sometimes translated “goodness,” meaning to do good to others, to be helpful. The word is related to “kin,” suggesting that the feeling is one that grows out of our rela- tionship. We are kind because we are kin. God’s kindness to us, Saint Paul declares, is through Jesus Christ, he is kin to us through his Son. “Humility” and ‘“‘Gentleness” are both of the same general nature in that they describe the method of expressing the feeling rather than the feeling itself. Humility is often mistaken for self-abasement. It is self-abasement in those cases where we have unduly exalted our- selves, but it does not mean that we are to put ourselves always and absolutely below others. Humility comes from a word that means “on the ground.” And when we come down from some imaginary pedestal to which we have been exalted, the preacher from his pulpit, the wealthy from his throne of gold, the aristocrat from his palace, and take our places on the eround with other people, that is humility. So necessary a grace is this in trying to be com- 30 The Minister and His Own Soul passionate and kind that much of what men attempt in these impulses is wasted and scorn- fully rejected because we look at the recipients from too lofty a ‘eight; we fail to bring our benefits down to the ground with them. “Gentleness” is also a method of expressing sympathetic and helpful impulses. The word is usually translated ‘“meekness.” It is regarded with scant enthusiasm for the most part, and — is flouted by many as unmanly. But this is a misapprehension. Jesus described himself as “meek and lowly in heart,” and we dare not think of him as unmanly. Gentleness is really tact. So many benevolent people spoil their generous efforts by lack of tact. They throw their good gifts at people, or they bully people in trying to help them, or they blut.der into the mistake of supposing that their benevolent feel- ing gives them the right to lecture people on their misfortunes. Blessed is the man who knows how to do good tactfully. “Long suffering’ is everywhere in the Bible exhibited as one of the exalted attributes of God and a cardinal virtue in men. It is admi- rably rendered by Moffatt as “good temper,” one of the most accurate and happiest attempts A Good Disposition 21 to capture the original that I have noticed any- where. It comes from a root that means “to boil,” prefixed to which is the word meaning “long’’ or “slow,” and the sum of it is to ex- press restraint, the holding the impulses under control, literally, to come to the boiling point slowly. This is a description of our reaction to the treatment of others. Some of us, alas, most of us, react too quickly; others, and they are fortunate souls, take a long time to come to the boiling point. Their charity suffereth ‘long and is kind. When any of us are most like this we are most like God. It would in- crease greatly our appreciation of this word and quality to go through the Scriptures and dis- cover how many blessings from God we owe to his good temper, and to reflect also with shame how many good things we have failed to bestow on others for the lack of it in us. One can easily understand how essential this virtue is to the man who leads or is constantly in association with movements that antagonize human nature. Success in most instances is for the man who can continue to be compassion- ate and kind in spite of the contradiction of sinners. That quick, enthusiastic temperament 32 The Minister and His Own Soul so characteristic of youth, accomplishes great things in the battle of life without doubt, and, it must be admitted, also much sad wreckage. The final and permanent victories however are usually with the slow boilers, men who can hold themselves well in hand in the most eager con- tests, not easily excited, and never resentful even when excited. These five qualities of mind and heart are not to be regarded as exhausting the definition of a good disposition, yet they cover a fairly wide range, and, so far as our relations to others are concerned, they cover all we are con- cerned with here, namely a good disposition for a minister. For the minister is chiefly con- cerned with human intercourse, and that de- pends for success or failure on these qualities. Speaking generally we may say that if a man has genuine sympathy for men; if, as we fami- liarly say, he likes folks; if he is ready and will- ing to do something, anything in his power, for folks, asking not to be ministered unto but to minister; if he puts himself thoroughly at the disposal of his people by standing on the ground with them, not assuming airs; if he can exhibit such gentleness of behavior, such tact A Good Disposition 33 and refinement in management as to make him a natural leader; and if in all this he can keep a good temper, “not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwise blessing, knowing that he is thereunto called, that he should receive a blessing,” we may say to him in Kipling’s words, “Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it, And what is more, you'll be a man, my son.” The exhortation of the Apostle is to put on ' this disposition, and this is to some a stone of stumbling. They are not willing to accept without protest the idea that they need “doing over,’ and they say rather defiantly, “If you want me you will have to take me as I am.” Congregations will not argue the point; they will accept the option and simply decline to take them at all. But somebody ought to argue with these brethren, for the success of their ministry is at stake. Can a man put on a good disposition when he was not born that way? asks our modern Nicodemus. A good disposition is natural to some people, and they ought to thank God day and night for a goodly heritage, also remem- 34 The Minister and His Own Soul bering that to whom much is given of him will much be required. But a good disposition may also be acquired, and Saint Paul lays it upon God’s own chosen, consecrated and beloved, as an obligation. Are we not taught that when we come under the influence of the Spirit of Christ old things pass away, all things become new? Did not Saint Paul proudly claim, “By the grace of God,” not by nature, “I am what Iam’? If the grace of God can’t change an ugly and hurtful disposition into a helpful and beautiful one how can we magnify the grace of God as omnipotent? Perhaps we cannot put this accomplishment into our courses of study; only the Spirit of God and the actual bludgeon- ings of experience will change some disposi- tions; but if we could find some way to examine candidates on this point we might save time now wasted in doubtful experiments. For I am not saying anything you do not know when I name a good disposition as one of the essential elements of power in the minis- try. We take various precautions now to save the Church from disappointment in the men en- tering the ministry. We examine them care- fully as to preaching ability, pastoral efficiency, A Good Disposition 25 industry, even a man’s family often comes under scrutiny; but we are disposed to treat a man’s disposition in the most casual way, as if it were a squint or some trifling physical defect, unless we detect some flagrant fault. And yet it might result, it frequently does result, that the whole success or failure of a minister turns at last on his disposition. We know how much a man’s disposition has to do with his success in every department of active life; how it seems to make success so - easy for some, smoothing out all the difficulties, reconciling all the antagonisms; and how his disposition makes everything hard for another and perhaps a stronger man; how it neutralizes the finest talents, the most energetic labors and brings the best intentions to naught. How much more is this true in the case of ministers, whose chief and constant problem is to get along with people. And so in spite of fine preaching ability and strong administrative capacity, there are some ministers whom no congregations want or will keep any longer than it takes to find them out; while other min- isters in spite of the most moderate ability in every line win their way to loving popularity, 36 The Minister and His Own Soul and any congregation is glad to get them and sorry to part with them. There is another aspect of the case which will bring the need of a good disposition more im- pressively to our mind. A large part of a min- ister’s trouble and conflict is of a passive sort; that is, his opponents are not for the most part those who assail him, so much as those who will not help him. If the minister would let them alone they would not trouble him, but, be- cause the object of his ministry is to arouse them to an active participation in goodness and sacrifice and unselfish cooperation, he must ex- hort with all long suffering and doctrine, and they object and complain and criticize, and al- ways hold back. What the minister needs in such circumstances is not a sword, but a shield. There is nobody to fight, for these people who will not help look up innocently and say, “I didn’t do anything,’ which is precisely true and precisely the trouble. A minister's power must therefore consist partly in the ability to defend himself in this contest with inertia and indifference. Saint Paul prayed to be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. Every minister has cause to A Good Disposition oie, offer that prayer frequently. When his plans are unreasonably opposed, his motives unrea- sonably questioned, his walk and conversation unreasonably criticized, nothing is so effective in turning the edge of the attack as the sweet reasonableness of a good disposition. It is the shield that quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked. It is like shooting flaming torches into the sea, all that happens is a siss and it is over. They get discouraged in shooting hard words and unreasonable complaints at a man who simply smiles and keeps on his kind way. Just to keep sweet ourselves is the surest way of making other people sweet. It is the best anti- septic of the poison of biting tongues, it dis- arms sermon critics, it neutralizes church quar- rels, it brings people to church and makes the minister a welcome visitor in every home. Why then, it may be asked as a final ques- tion, does not every minister put on this shield of a good disposition? A perfectly frank an- swer would not be entirely creditable to us, I fear, either to our mental acumen or to our religion. It is however a fact, I believe, that many persons afflicted in this way do not know it. They think their disposition is all right. It 38 The Minister and His Own Soul suits them so well that they cannot imagine it would be objectionable to anyone else. The old difficulty of seeing ourselves as others see us. The other strange thing is that such persons feel it to be a reflection upon them to undertake to change their disposition. It is a confession few are courageous enough to make. It is not to be supposed that ministers are blamable in these respects more than other men, but they are liable to a temptation on account of their occupation that other men escape. That temp- tation is to be self-centered. Their position in the community is one of leadership, and mat- ters are referred to them because they are lead- ers in the work of the church. It takes a strong character to resist the feeling of importance that comes from official position. And when the minister is deferred to so constantly it is not surprising that he should come to think that he is the standard to which others should conform. He becomes sensitive, suspicious, ex- acting, egotistic, and nothing would surprise him more than to be told that his disposition needs improvement. Nothing grieves him more than to have to confess that his power is wan- ing; his people still defer to him, but do not A Good Disposition 39 follow him; he still occupies, but he no longer fills the position; his power has gone from him and he has become as other men. Forgive me, brethren, if I seem severe in these reflections. But it is so great a matter, this matter of ministerial power, and our re- sources are so abundant for attaining the high- est power, and the Holy Spirit is so ready to help our infirmities, that I am bold to speak frankly of them. Let us constantly strive and pray, in great matters and small to come to the full measure of the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus, and in the spirit of prayer let us repeat together those familiar words: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted 40 The Minister and His Own Soul Him, and given Him a name which ts above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. Iii: THE ENERGEIA OF LOVE “And above all you must be loving, for love is the link of the perfect life.” ee : ty g é J i. on) oe ' Y lie ny, yy oo arr: Ill: THE ENERGEIA OF LOVE I realize that the title I have chosen for this chapter smacks of pedantry. When one wants to speak of love as one of the principal sources of a minister’s power it would seem simpler and in better literary taste to entitle his chap- ter, “The power of love,” or “Love as energy.” Perhaps my apology is inadequate, but I really had a reason and not merely a whim for the fantastic for framing the title as it is. Love is energy, the highest energy, and I have used the Greek form of the word because energy as used in the New Testament never means mechanical energy, or human energy, but superhuman, divine energy. It comes to us if it comes at all as a gift of God. Even Satan’s energy, superhuman as it is, is declared to be of God in the permissive sense. I have there- fore wished to bring to mind at the beginning of this discussion the idea that this element of power is not something into which we can be educated or trained, but that it is part of that 43 44 The Minister and His Own Soul new creation obtained by us through the Holy Spirit. The other word in the title, love, is peculiar also, although even the Greek word will give us little help in comprehending it, because we must separate it wholly from the common meaning it has among men. It belongs exclu- sively to New Testament literature, and al- ways refers to a sentiment, unheard of before Christ’s time, and produced in the disciples of Jesus by his great example and sacrifice, of love to God and then to men; not as emotion but as expression. I mean that the sentiment born of appetite and passion is so different from the love exemplified in Jesus that another word was coined to define what springs from a longing to express ourselves in some attitude or act. The love of Jesus and of Saint Paul and of all his disciples, in other words, is love in action. This longing may arise from many sources. It may be a feeling of compassion or brotherhood. It may be the call of a high am- bition to do nobler thing's than we have hitherto attempted. It may be a command from one entitled to our entire devotion. Thus adoration may lead us to love the most adorable of be- The Energeia of Love 45 ings by expressions of adoration in worship. Our humanity may lead us to love men, even our enemies, by expressions of good will and clemency. Such exhibitions are not properly emotions so much as eager expressions of our- selves. One other word must be noticed. Speaking of putting on certain qualities of mind or dis- position, the Apostle completes the figure by saying that above all these love is to be put on as a bond or girdle and thus unite the whole .in orderly array. Moffatt’s version suggests “link” instead of “bond.” In one sense “link” is synonymous with “bond.” But those famil- iar with mechanical devices for applying power will recall another use of this word “link,” viz., the link-power engine, in which the various parts of the machine are coordinated so as to work together in gear and thus multiply the power. I am attracted by this latter notion as a suitable one for the passage. As Jesus came with a new purpose and a new instrument, so he brought a new impulse and a new applica- tion of the impulse to produce results. His salvation motived by his love was to be effec- tuated by a new sort of energy which was to 46 The Minister and His Own Soul be linked up to all other moving forces and be- come the power of God. I think we will be greatly helped in the ex- plication of this idea by studying briefly the incident in the New Testament where Jesus has an interview with Peter after the resurrection. Peter and the other disciples had gone away to their old occupation, despairing of the king- dom which they had thought would come. Jesus appears on the shore of the sea of Galilee, and after he had partaken of a simple meal with them, he asks Peter three times in suc- cession, ‘““Lovest thou me?” Peter assures the Lord of his affection, but persists in choosing a different word than the word Jesus had used for “love.” Jesus uses the new word, the word his own life and death had brought to the world. Peter cannot bring himself to adopt that word. Peter’s word is a personal, worldly, emotional word for affection. The word of Jesus is the new, heavenly, world-embracing word, that swallows up all personal and emo- tional considerations. Peter has the power of personal affection, but he has not yet learned the energy that lies in this new affection ex- pressing itself in action. The Energeia of Love 47 A second and more striking part of this in- cident is that Jesus adopts this particular ques- tion as the test for Peter’s readmission to the number of his disciples, “Lovest thou me.” Peter’s denial was not treachery, it was weak- ness due to his misunderstanding, or lack of understanding, it was his imperfect notion of what true loyalty and service demanded, and it was his failure to surrender himself fully to his chosen position as a disciple. Hence his restoration would depend not upon a more in- telligent apprehension, not upon a reafhrmation of loyalty, not upon a promise of greater cour- age. Or, rather the simple test proposed by Jesus comprehended all these and more in the one supreme and all-inclusive affirmation of love. And by this we are taught that Jesus weighs everything, tests every disciple by this infallible test of love. If a man’s love is right he will understand everything, he will do anything, he will surrender completely. The power that re- deems the individual, that keeps the disciple faithful, that makes the Apostle irresistible is love. Love solves all doubts by illuminating the understanding. Love lightens all labor and 48 The Minister and His Own Soul makes drudgery a delight. Love lifts us to such heights of exalted loyalty that to live is Christ and to die is gain. It is no longer we that live but Christ liveth in us, and this becomes the source and secret of our energy. The old Greek said if he could find a place on which to rest his lever he could move the world. So we ministers of Jesus who know the secret of his love have found the place, we have found the lever, and we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us. Now let us consider a little in detail some of the achievements of love. 1. Love is understanding. Ministers must know many things. Perhaps no men are so severely taxed in this respect. They must know themselves, they must know God, they must know through actual experience the power of his grace and his plan to save the world. But the preeminent business of the minister is to know men. It is his exclusive business to deal with human actions and re-actions, to interpret human motives, to know what appeals will in- fluence and persuade men to action, to sound | out human passions and ambitions; in fine, to have such a complete knowledge of human na- The Energeia of Love AQ ture that he will never be taken by surprise or be at a loss to know what to do in any given case. A heathen poet said, “I am a man, noth- ing concerning men is indifferent to me.” That is the minister’s case exactly. Man is the great material on which his craft is employed. Woe to the craftsman who does not know his mate- rial. There is a way of understanding men through science. The Chemist knows man as a material object. He can tell all the elements of which he is composed, so much lime, so much fat, so much water, so much gas; the physical composition of man is completely analyzed and tabulated in his laboratory. The Physiologist knows man as a physical organ- ism. He can tell all his bones, muscles, nerves, organs, their functions, their diseases, their limitations. His knowledge is indeed of vital importance to us as living beings, for by it we can maintain existence in spite of the con- stant warfare waged against us by disease and decay. The Psychologist knows man also, understanding him in the higher reactions of nerve impulses, of brain functioning, of thoughts and ideas, of all that makes up that 50 The Minister and His Own Soul mysterious entity we call our mentality, Then comes the ethical philosopher to take up the study and carry it on to the understanding of man in his relations to other men, in many re- spects the most difficult and mysterious of all, for it involves the understanding of pleasure, of ambition, of duty, of conscience, of pity, of fairness, of loyalty to self, to his neighbor, to his country, to God. And finally, there is the practical philosopher we call the politician. It is his business also to know men, for by it he obtains his wealth. He must know how to di- rect their opinions, to obtain their votes, to manage men and things. He devotes all his time and efforts to this business and becomes the most skilful, perhaps, of all philosophers. Not always by corrupt practices, although these are not excluded if thought necessary, the poli- tician remains, for a wide and discriminating knowledge of men, our expert, the shining ex- ample to all pastors of diligence and devotion in his calling that might well be studied and copied. But all this will not suffice, there must be another sort of understanding. The minister ought to know Chemistry and Physiology and The Energeia of Love 51 Psychology and Ethics. It wouldn’t do him any harm to have some of the wisdom of the children of politics even. Hardly any branch of learning will come amiss to him. But to understand men for the great purpose of the minister’s profession all these are insufficient. He must have the discernment of love. It will be useful to him, of course, to understand the physical relations and the intellectual relations and the moral relations of men. But to remain on these planes is to abdicate his highest office, which is to understand so as to minister to them in the higher spiritual planes of existence, to know their aspirations, their heavenly impulses, their soul longings, and also as well the be- setments of these, their temptations, their dis- couragements, their failures. The power for this sort of understanding will not come from reading books and studying social questions. No sort of special training will produce it. It is the gift of God, it is love alone that can qualify a minister in these func- tions. Love supplies understanding because it begets interest, and you can’t understand any- thing without interest. Love is unselfish, and you can’t understand people unless you study $2 The Minister and His Own Soul them unselfishly. Love is tactful, gentle, and SO gives access to individuals without shutting them up in silence and rendering them imper- vious to our persuasions. Never was truer philosophy uttered than when Saint Paul said, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels” in the pulpit, on the lecture platform, in social intercourse, “And though I under- stand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and have not love, | am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” 2. Love is service. I do not need to empha- size before this company that when we speak of the work of the ministry we are not speaking figuratively. It is a fundamental conception of the ministry. The work is hard, it is difficult, it is constant, it is complicated. Men who go into the ministry with the hope of finding an easy way to get a living are making the saddest mistake of their lives and degrading their call- ing. ‘No sir,” said Doctor Johnson, “the min- istry is not an easy calling, and I do not envy the man who makes it easy.” The constant intellectual grind for two ser- mons a week, the demand to meet all sorts of The Energeia of Love 53 mental queries and doubts arising in his com- munity, the emotional strain of social and fam- ily and community difficulties, the individual experiences of pain, sorrow and strife always making their call upon his sensibilities, the physical labor involved in pastoral visiting, and other ministerial duties that the whole commu- nity feels free to call for from the minister, all these added to the perplexities, the difficulties and disappointments arising in his own church make the minister’s work a severe strain upon all his powers. And in these modern times when there are so many good causes, and so many secretaries, and so many demands for funds and budgets and special gifts, all look- ing to the pastor as “the key man,” I don’t wonder that ministers sometimes feel that their work is made more strenuous than it need be and that they are imposed on. In this situation a man will get some help from his conscience, his conviction that duty must be done at whatever cost; and from his ambition, his desire to be on the honor roll, his love of praise and his pride in being recognized as the leading preacher in his community. And 54 The Minister and His Own Soul yet a man who relies on these and similar re- wards or inspirations will find the work too hard for human nature to endure. He will toil in faithfulness but there will not be the power in his work that he has the right to expect. What will give him this power? Shake- speare says, “The labor we delight in physics pain.’ Saint Paul comes nearer to the secret when he speaks of “the labor of love,” and re- minds the saints that “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister.” Yes, love is the secret of power in work. It may be that some ministers can’t honestly say they love their work. In that case they must begin with loving God for whom they work, and then learn to love men on whom they work, until by divine grace the Holy Spirit trans- mutes their labor into divine service. It does not make so much difference then what partic- ular task he labors upon, the honor of his Master and the good of his people swallow up all other considerations besides that of doing all things to the glory of God. Love is the powerful alchemy that can make tasks divine. The Energeia of Love 55 “A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine; Who sweeps a house as for thy laws, Makes that and the action fine.” Strindberg wrote a book which he called, “He fell in love with his wife.” I never read it, but if some one will write a book and call it, “He fell in love with his work,” I promise to read it and do all I can to circulate it. There is absolutely no hope in a ministry that is not impelled and supported by love. I dare to say it, understanding well some of the difficulties of the ministry, that the chief hindrance to success in Our ministry is not educational, although we do need the highest type of education; nor men of talent, although these are greatly to be de- sired; nor even faithful and industrious work- ers, although we will never have too many of these. It is the lack of men who really and ar- dently love their work. “Love never faileth,” and the minister who loves his work does not fail. If it is difficult, love makes it easy. If it is unappreciated, love makes the reward for itself. If it breaks a man down, love renews the inward man. If it is discouraging, love “hopeth all things.” 56 The Minister and His Own Soul I, who know so little about automobiles, have learned this, that the engine sometimes gets to knocking when climbing a hill, and that the remedy for that trouble is to have something or other cleaned out, and that the best way to clean it out is to burn out the carbon. Well, brethren, would it not be wise when our spir- itual machinery gets to knocking, when we seem to be losing the “pull,” when everything goes wrong, when the congregation falls off and the budget won’t get raised and the ser- monic wheels drive heavily and when the tout ensemble is making groaning and lamentation day and night, to implore the Holy Spirit to kindle in us the sacred flame of love and burn out the carbon? 3. Love means surrender. I have only a few minutes left for this closing remark, but I must ask you to fill up my lack. I think we find here the real meaning of the searching test of Peter on the shore that morn- ing of the incident I have related. Jesus saw in Peter’s failure and in the possible failure of all who were to succeed him one and only one cause. Peter had once said to Jesus, “Lo, we have left all and followed thee; what shall The Energeia of Love 57 we have therefore?” He didn’t realize it at the time, but the last part of his question gave the lie to the first. No man completely surrenders to his work who does not surrender its rewards. It reminds me of making an argument for tith- ing by dwelling on the profit you will get out of it for yourself. Are you a tither in your ministry? If the tenth is your measure how can you talk about surrender? And if you have really surrendered what does it mean that you are dissatisfied with your salary, or your parsonage, or your appointment? And how, I ask in the name of all that is sincere and sacred in the call to the ministry, can we who believe God has called us into the ministry complain about our salary, or even retire from the min- istry on the ground that we can do as much good elsewhere and incidentally get better paid for it? Brethren, we cannot afford to use any re- serves or modifications in this surrender, for we are dealing with God. I don’t mean to sug- gest an odious comparison by the allusion, but was not the sin that Peter pronounced a lie against the Holy Ghost just this, that Ananias kept back part of the price? The ministry de- 58 The Minister and His Own Soul mands surrender. We may accept or refuse the call, but we can’t accept the call and refuse the surrender. This sublime calling confronts the candidate with a grim aspect, and its mean- ing is unmistakable, “I have no terms to pro- pose except immediate and unconditional sur- render.” The making of this surrender is a spiritual crisis. I am not going into any tests of it here. Perhaps it is not allowable for any of us to undertake to test others in this matter. But one thing is certain and cannot be overem- phasized; nothing but love can enable a man to make that surrender in sincerity and truth. Love makes no calculations; love will have no bargains; love will admit no conditions. Love uses only universals in expressing its contract, “beareth all things, believeth al] things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” That is why it never fails, having given all it is ready for all and expects all. Yet—testify against me, brethren, if this is not true—there is no power except in surren- der. Mr. Moody is reported to have said that he started out on his mission of evangelism with just one controlling idea, he was deter- The Energeia of Love 59 mined to let God prove what he could do with a man wholly surrendered to him in thought, word and deed, by making himself that man. There is no other way to give God a chance with us except in surrender. You may find a way to make a noise in the newspaper cymbals; you may get a conference reputation for eff- ciency, for popularity and all that which looks so much like power; but in the silence of your own soul you will know that if you have not love you have not the power that prevails with God and with men. It is a great price to pay, it permits no con- ference with flesh and blood, and it may mean the loss of all things, but it is the only way of power. We must relax our hold on the tran- sient if we would grasp the eternal things; we enter into joy by giving up pleasure; we must abdicate all the pomp and satisfactions of worldly power before we can be made vicars of omnipotence. “And who is sufficient for these things?” Love is sufficient, love alone is sufficient. This is the divine and mysterious energeia of all knowledge, of all service, of all surrender. We call God the Almighty, but what that means we 60 The Minister and His Own Soul know only in terms of limitation. We know there are no limits to his power; we do not know at all the secret of the power. How can we ever understand the power that spake and it was done, that commanded and it stood fast in the creation of the world? What do we know of the power that keeps the stars in their courses, that binds the sweet influence of the Pleiades, that guides the distant suns in their solemn round through the Milky Way, that gathers the life-giving streams in the clouds and sends their refreshing vitality to the thirsty earth, that clothes the valleys with herbage and makes the hills laugh with waving corn. “Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways: and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” No, we know and can know none of these things, but we know the higher energy, nay, the highest. We do know that God is love, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. Love is strong as death.” Love gave the Only Begotten. Love built the altar at Calvary. Love found me. Love sent me. Love is my apology, my power, my salary, my success, my crown of rejoicing. ‘Who shall The Energeia of Love 61 separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or fa- mine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Wherefore, beloved, let us repeat together our creed of creeds: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am be- come as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowl- edge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. lay § re pith Tiws me vt ie 1: thy 5 4 ' lay yi \ ih | | Aa Gtk ie vane Diy fy Sines Ae Diy, ee ee ‘al : MY), Fis ty : ae 4 P ‘if? aay ie ald er ; Weg Wp! Ae ? + 7) me as, be \ } } a7, *; a et p LBs y Wi Py ¥ hae a ie 4 ay } ie f ae {aoe a vee Fah Av bey cy ies ) ne me ih EARS) tee vias ry ALA LOWS a f arial ap a lf a y id rj ‘ bits ponte ; ‘ | - ’ Wiecad 3) i: : ‘ ad! 5 vi Aar ) 9: 7 ‘ { d Vi Y i j ’ sd i vy ’ ‘ : ’ iP. za 4 . iy) dans ; 7 ( 7 ‘ ' 7 Ath. tas j F F j ¢ i f . - ‘ ’ ) 4 rq | a a Se 5.” PF ry P : ‘ ; ie Sie a 1, ‘ ; :< nets i? a , , , fd ke eee a To iA ie are i's on , ‘ f Ait Pf a3 aM i i on ake o pa on , Pe OL POLS E OF PEACE “Also, let the peace of Christ be supreme within your hearts —that is why you have been called as members of the one Body.” ete ce Re RD BEST Bit ii AN TR ont PA NCHA MIRA Ur HAh y H % # 7 ’ 4, J es ] ; J 4 ' » ‘ ‘ i 4 ; yy i? N le fel “ \ s y"\) Y re A he ' i : x i - i e ‘ | j ‘ 4 a ‘ i 4 ' i e ! vs ‘ 4 : / ; ~ y - 7 ‘ * mn ye ' p ee ta ' * 1 p rf p ' ‘ ‘ cs * : f i Lod | an ‘J 7 a a* ~ uy Ps Fe v | eae DV re POISE OR PEACE I would have supposed that of all the things a baseball player had to learn, he would know without teaching how to stand on his feet. But I read the other day that a certain player had greatly improved his batting by being taught _ how to stand at the plate. Likewise it appears that the first instruction given to those trying to learn to play golf is the stance, which among other things means how a player must stand when addressing the ball. Standing on one’s feet, then, appears to be not the simple, natural, untutored matter we assume it to be, but an art to be learned by persistent and intelligent practice. I have long observed the difficulties young people encounter in learning how to stand on their intellectual feet. I used to teach Logic, that is how I came to observe this. And I must confess that I have not been obliged to 0 away from my own self-experience to notice, often with shame and confusion, what happens to a man when he loses what we call self-con- 65 66 The Minister and His Own Soul trol, or is unable to stand securely on his spir- itual feet. “God made man upright,” says the Preacher, “but they have sought out many inventions,” among which are falling down, crawling, stag- gering, and losing their balance generally and often. Losing one’s balance is always attended — with loss of power, and so in considering the secret of ministerial power I have thought we should look into this matter of balance, or, as I have called it in this chapter, poise. Have you ever thought of peace as poise? There is scarcely any word more commonly used in the Bible than “peace.” It has many varieties and grades of meaning. It is the com- mon form of greeting and farewell, uttered as lightly as our “good-bye,” and with as little consciousness of its real meaning. Frequently it is nothing more than a synonym for temporal prosperity, or health, or the attainment of one’s desires. In fact one may say that among Bibli- cal writers it is only on rare occasions of spir- itual exaltation that the deep spiritual signif- icance of the word is realized. But as Jesus took the elements of a simple meal and elevated them to become the solemn The Poise of Peace 67 sacrament of his death, so he raised “peace” from an ordinary farewell to be his bequest, his last legacy of immortal love, “Peace I leave with you.” It is no light passing remark on the lips of Jesus. The whole atmosphere is charged with significance. He is not talking about the peace men think of so much, but “my peace I give unto you.” The very repetition is impres- sive. And to deepen the impression he suggests a contrast, “not as the world giveth,” not the sort of peace the world gives, nor given in the way the world gives, but my own peace, given in my own way, the real, abiding, satisfying peace. If Jesus deals in this solemn, impressive way with peace, it must be that our thoughts about it are inadequate if not often insincere. And as nothing really matters so much to us as to have right ideas about what Jesus regarded as his best gift to us, and which he declared was rest to our souls; and as rest of soul is real power of soul, it becomes our duty to apply ourselves earnestly to the study of peace, hop- ing thereby to gain further insight into this secret of ministerial power in the inner life. 1. I think we should first rid ourselves of 68 The Minister and His Own Soul the idea that we are making a true and com- prehensive notion of peace when we think of it negatively, as if it meant only the absence of strife, the discontinuance of war. On the other hand, peace is really one of the great con- structive forces in the world, and he who called himself the Prince of peace meant to be re- garded by us as the real king of all the real powers in the universe. Peace conquers men and will finally conquer the world, but not by making them static. A dead man fights no more; a dead world is no longer at war with heaven. But this is not a true picture of peace. Just to stop quarreling and fighting and hating is not necessarily to reach rest of soul. Life is nowhere static; as long as there is life there is energy, and as long as there is energy there must be movement, and peace is not to cease moving, any more than rest is to cease work- ing. Peace is poise, poise means weight, but not weight that crushes. It is the word from which we get our idea of balance, placing weights in opposite pans of a balance to coun- tervail one another. And peace is not inac- tion. It is activity so counterbalanced and ad- The Poise of Peace 69 justed that friction is eliminated and rest se- cured by an equality of powers. In human affairs peace is secured not by put- ting all men to sleep, but rather by so adjusting certain elements of human activity that fric- tion is removed and the activity is orderly, co- ordinated and productive. If a wheel is not supported it can keep erect only by motion. And if we do not wish to quell all human ac- tivity we must adjust it and balance it so as to produce peace by its own movement. I would avoid the metaphysical, but you will pardon me if I go a little further with my definition. Three leading ideas, we might say, are present in all human activity. Variations are infinite, but all impulses to activity may be reduced to three: power, right and perfection. That is, we might say that an individual acts because or when he thinks, I can, I may, I must. These three elements of activity vary in amount and intensity in each individual, and sometimes one or two may appear in such small proportions as to be negligible. But when they are all present and in due proportion, a man’s activity will be easy, helpful and beautiful; and it will bring him peace, because he will be do- 70 The Minister and His Own Soul ing what he thinks he is able to do, what he ought to do, and what he will find satisfaction of his ideal in doing. If either of these ele- ments is wanting, if he acts powerfully, but not rightly, he will not have peace. Or, if he acts rightly but fails in power he will fail in attain- ing peace. Or, if he acts powerfully and rightly, yet not in accordance with the beauti- ful ideal which says “must” to a man, he will not find peace. Peace, then, let us say, is the right adjustment of power to produce perfec- tion. This formula is applicable in a measure also to mechanical contrivances. Power in it- self is not enough; power may shatter the machine. Power must be controlled and ad- justed so that it will work, work being or- ganized power. And the work must not be aimless, the product must conform to the maker’s intention, to his ideal, otherwise it is wasted power. Now this is what Jesus promises to do for his disciples. He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth; go ye there- fore.” ‘And ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Yet Jesus will not bestow this power indiscriminately or The Poise of Peace 71 for frivolous purposes. His whole ministry on earth was a lesson to his disciples in the right use of power, not for themselves but accord- ing to the will of their Father in heaven. And finally he set before them the great ideal of their activity, which he called “salvation”; and he declared that when they had used this power for the production of this ideal in a right man- ner the inevitable result would be peace to them- selves. He gives us peace by giving us power to do his will. 2. The worker’s poise. If it is true, then, that peace is not simply an unconnected, cause- less quietude of soul, but the result of the soul in action, it will be helpful to consider the worker in action and note the way he comes to peace. I suppose most of us, in reflecting upon our labors have had more reason to be ashamed of our frequent failures to preserve a proper bal- ance than of any other fault. The hasty words, the ill considered actions, the unjust judgments, have almost always been the result of being off our balance. And no wonder. It is a great achievement to learn how to walk; but to learn how to walk on a tight rope! what an achieve- 72 The Minister and His Own Soul ment that is. But this is precisely what the minister has to learn. The minister is the leading man in his community, and what he says and what he does is always printed in large type. He isthe cynosure of all eyes. His opin- ions are broadcast and no static interferes to blur his mistakes. Naturally the minister comes in for a full share of criticism. If the congregation falls off, if the budget is not paid, if some member leaves the church, if the right officers are not elected, the minister is somehow held to blame. He is advised and cautioned and criticized until he is not sure he agrees with the Apostle who said, ‘There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.” Mr. Lincoln once said to a committee waiting on him to tell him of his many omissions and commissions, “Gentlemen, if you gave your whole fortune to Blondin to carry across Niagara on a rope would you shout directions to him all the time and shake the rope? I am carrying a great treasure across this awful chasm of war. Don’t shake the rope.” Then the minister needs helpful co-workers and doesn’t always find them. He pleads, he The Poise of Peace 70 exhorts, he rebukes, and still he is left to move the wheels of progress alone. What he doesn’t preach is not preached, and what he doesn’t do is not done. Added to all this is his sense of his own un- worthiness and inefficiency, which he often knows better than those who volunteer to tell him about it, and the awful issues depending on his leadership. Is it any wonder if he loses his balance, becomes discouraged, exasperated, hopeless? How may the minister in such circumstances maintain peace? I count myself the chief of sinners in this respect, and what I say on such a subject would be an assumption of arrogance except as you would be pleased to remember that I am in this point audience as well as speaker. But still I know, and so do you, no doubt, that there is only one way to maintain peace at such times. The minister must pray of course. He has a right to ask his Master to give him the promised peace. But he has no right to expect peace to come in any other than the natural, the logical way. Let him, then, after prayer remember the formula: peace, the result of the right adjustment of power to 74. The Minister and His Own Soul produce perfection, and let him begin his ad- justment. Let him make sure that he is him- self adjusted to the true source of power. Let him adjust that power to the right sort of work, the work sanctioned and commanded by his Lord. And then let him aspire to the high ideal of a saved man, a saved church, a saved community, and he will find peace, peace that the world neither gives nor takes away. He can contemplate with serenity all the efforts to disturb his peace by evil wishers and igno- rant helpers. He can say with the old pilot on a stormy sea, “O Neptune, you may save me if you will, you may sink me if you can, but whatever happens I will keep my rudder true.” That is peace. How much time, how much labor is lost be- cause of the lack of poise. I don’t wish to speak disrespectfully of my class, but I sometimes think we are a sadly unbalanced class. Minis- ters get discouraged so quickly, get mad so quickly, get tired so quickly. Maybe we can render a reason for it in each case, but even that does not save the waste. We spend time in vain regrets over a poor sermon that would be enough to make a good one. We get so The Poise of Peace 73 worked up in our zeal for a revival that we lose our balance and are not able to manage a revival when it comes. We display so much spleen over a conference disappointment that we are unfitted for the appointment we re- ceived. Getting nothing and losing balance. Don’t we know we can’t even walk until we balance ourselves? Why should we expect to work until we get mental and spiritual balance? And the fault is not in our stars but in our- selves why we are unbalanced. If I am run against and knocked down I am not to blame, unless I am jaywalking. But if my inner bal- ance is lost it is my fault. They tell us those curious semi-circular canals in our ears con- tain a fluid that enables us to balance our- selves physically, and if anything happens to obstruct those canals we are unable to stand upright at all. I know our spiritual balance is within us. We can get power, we can or- ganize our power to do right work, and we can hold fast to our beautiful ideals until we work out perfection. That is poise and poise is peace and peace is our promised heritage who seek to do our Lord’s will. 3. The power in poise. Our Lord’s promise 76 The Minister and His Own Soul of peace to us was, of course a blessing, one of the greatest rewards the worker has to look forward to. In the heaviest tasks and amid the stormiest weather we are privileged to think of a serene future, of a desired haven, of a peace that always comes at last and passes all understanding. But peace is not only that. Peace is not intended only to be reserved as our reward when work is done. It is given while we work, given for power, for effectiveness in producing results, for success. “This man shall be blessed in his doing.” Just as a man can play better ball when he learns how to balance himself at the plate, so a minister can do better work when he learns how to balance himself before his task. I have frequently seen in Court Rooms painted on the wall over the bench a figure of Justice with bandaged eyes and a balance evenly poised in her hand. The power of the Court is in that balance. We sub- mit to it because we believe justice is dispensed impartially, evenly. Perhaps it would not be an unsuitable symbol for the pulpit. Of course a preacher may reduce his ideas to such a dead level that his hearers can’t keep awake. But a great many sermons, I am persuaded, boil The Poise of Peace 77 over and cook nothing. A speaker’s power is sometimes in what he doesn’t say. Proper re- straint both in matter and manner is power. Some preachers are eloquent in their pauses. Some are most impressive when they are most restrained. It is said that John Wesley seldom raised his voice above the conversational tone, or made a gesture, while many in his audience were being prostrated with overwhelming con- viction,. There is a good deal of what I know no better name for than belligerency in the pulpit that misses the mark. It is seldom effective and wastes a good deal of power of a sort. It is usually the indication of a loss of balance. Sometimes it has a less reputable source. The preacher finding it easier to attack somebody or something than to construct some idea of his own resorts to this energetic and indis- criminating pitching in as a substitute for hard work in his study. Sometimes a preacher is moved to attack a doctrine or a movement which he does not thoroughly understand, and thus exposes himself to the mortifying experience of being underrated in the pew by those who know he doesn’t know what he is talking about. 78 The Minister and His Own Soul Sometimes belligerency is mere excitement, “vox et praeterea miul.” All of it seems to me asad mistake. If a preacher is convinced he puts his emphasis most effectively in his thought; if he is not convinced he had better keep silent. Belligerency in the pulpit is quite prevalent just now, to be sure, but for all that it is not force but the contrary; it is an equal lack of poise and of power. “He shall not strive nor cry,” was prophesied of the model preacher. “To contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints’ is an inspired ex- hortation to which we must be faithful, but it has suffered many things from a bad exegesis and a worse application. But the preacher should always 1emember that by custom and courtesy he is the sole speaker, no one can reply to anything he chooses to say, and that in itself puts him under the obligation of the Golden Rule. Nor does his zeal for the true faith warrant the heat, the extravagance and the in- tolerance which so often distinguish this sort of preaching. It does not lead to peace, it seldom convinces anybody, and it indicates loss of balance in the preacher which is generally equivalent to loss of power. The Poise of Peace 79 It does not lead to peace; I wonder what it does lead to. I have often thought if the preacher was to be taken seriously just where and to what lengths he would be ready to carry out his manner. Logically it would land him in strange company sometimes. I came across some doggerel verses not long ago, illustrating the real belligerent contender for the faith, which I laid away among my private instruc- tions in pulpit manner and method. They are not quite in the spirit of this discussion, but I hope you will pardon that for the sake of the good moral attached. They are entitled, ‘“The- ology in Camp” and were written by Clarence Henry Pearson. “T was on the drive in ’sixty, workin’ under Silver Jack— Which the same is now in Jackson & aint soon expected back; There was a chap among us, by the name of Robert Waite, Who was kinder slick and tonguey—I guess a graduate. Bob could gab on any subject, from the Bible down to Hoyle; 80 The Minister and His Own Soul And his words flowed out so easy, just as smooth and slick as oil. He was what they called a skeptic, & he loved to sit & weave Highfalutin words together, sayin’ what he didn’t believe. One day, as we was waitin’ for a flood to clear the ground, We all sat smokin’ niggerhead, & hearin’ Bob expound :— Hell, he said was a humbug, & he proved as clear as day That the Bible was a fable;—we allowed it looked that way. As fer miracles and sech like, ’twas more than he could stan’; And for him they call the Saviour, he was just a common man. “You're a liar,” shouted someone, ‘“& you’ve got to take that back.” Then ev’ rybody started—’twas the voice of Silver Jack! Jack clicked his fists together & he shucked his coat and cried, The Poise of Peace 81 ’Twas by that thar religion my Mother lived & died: And though I haven’t always used the Lord exactly right When I hear a chump abuse him, he must eat his words or fight. Now Bob he warn’t no coward, & he answered bold & free, “Stack your duds & cut your capers, for you'll find no flies on me.” And they fit for forty minutes, & the boys would hoot and cheer, When Jack choked up a tooth or two, & Bob he lost an ear. At last Jack got Bob under, & he slugged him onst or twiced, Till Bob at last admitted the Divinity of Christ. Still Jack kept reasonin’ with him, till the cuss began to yell, And allowed he’d been mistaken in his views concernin’ hell. Thus that controversy ended, & they riz up from the ground, And someone found a bottle & kindly passed it ’round. 82 The Minister and His Own Soul And we drank to Jack’s religion in a quiet sort of way ;— So the spread of infidelity was checked in Camp that day.” It is not so serious a matter as belligerency, but I want to say another word about boister-_ ousness in the pulpit, which I think is an enemy to peace and therefore to power. The boister- ous preacher is seldom convincing. There is a limit to the volume of sound which the human ear will react to. Speakers go beyond that limit at the price of not being understood. I have frequently heard speakers shout themselves hoarse and the people deaf. Not one word in ten could be distinguished. That is not a right adjustment of power to produce a beautiful ideal. It is just noise, and not a joyful noise either. But the upset of mental and spiritual poise is a more serious effect of such preaching. No man talking in that fashion can use his mind effectively. Beecher was once asked what he did when he lost his connections and for the moment became mentally confused in the pulpit. He replied, “I holler like the mischief.” It is not an exceptional case. I suspect that usually The Poise of Peace 83 we do the least thinking when we are making the most noise. But whether that be true or not, it must be a serious disturbance to the preacher’s poise. One other case invites brief attention. There are some preachers who deserve the name of “fussy.” They seem to take for their motto: “T am pastor, and nothing goes on in this pas- torate without me.” They are not content to let anything be done without the touch of their euiding, controlling hand. They must plan and direct the finances of the church, although they have members of large business capacity and experience. They must superintend the Sun- day School, show the women how to run an Aid Society, or a Missionary Society, keep the building in repair, lead the choir, and, take on a hundred other details, so that the members feel that there is not one thing they are allowed to do absolutely by themselves and without in- terference. Of course such a pastor is always off his balance. No man can carry such a heterogeneous load easily and safely. He is bound to stumble walk warily as he may. He becomes the source of confusion instead of peace, and lands himself and his flock into a 84 The Minister and His Own Soul constant series of church quarrels disturbing their peace and his. It must be most difficult for “the peace of Christ to reign supreme in our hearts” under such conditions. Our weapons are not carnal, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Our mission is to make peace, we ourselves are com- manded to be examples of peace, our power is in peace. So we who have to fight in the good fight of faith must not lose our mental poise and confuse the issue we are fighting about. We must not at any cost lose our spiritual poise and hate harder than we fight. We must not lose our professional poise and get in the way of those we are commissioned to give tasks to. We should rather rejoice in having found a more excellent way, the way of our Divine ex- ample, the way of adjusting our power to the production of beautiful ideals. If the idea of a contest gets associated in our minds too closely with our ministry, we must not forget the in- junction of the Apostle: “Let the peace of Christ be the umpire in your hearts,” as the word rendered “‘supreme” suggests. What he would have must be our aim. In a contest under him as umpire we shall arrive at some- The Poise of Peace 85 thing better than victory. In the shining armor of love we will go forth as soldiers of a new freedom, a new tolerance. ‘For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In confidence and quietness shall be your strength.”’ We shall be armored with heavenly weapons, and kept steady with heavenly peace, and be able always to fight as soldiers of the Cross, unimbittered, undiscouraged, and unafraid, Because this is our panoply: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: Not as the world giveth Give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, Neither let 1t be afraid. PE PY ish ee AL CRLE Sed e Pe ae Neri ey a y , » Rone j id, Ch dy vs ag ee | ae i ; h i ‘ | , i 1 we a f f i : ‘ t i i oa Sip py i cop ov ) od Pad : 7 ‘ ay ‘ 4 a i r Ay 4 af , birs . a) | i | y ‘ 1 { y ' é ,/4 | Tete hy a} ie fe 4 ORL of ! i ( , : i, J ry é i's wit bd , *O) ie " V: OPTIMISM “And you must be thankful. Let the inspiration of Christ dwell in your midst with all its wealth of wisdom: teach and train one another with the music of psalms, with hymns, and songs of the spiritual life: praise God with thankful hearts. Indeed, whatever you say or do, let everything be done in dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving thanks in his name to God the Father.” cy V: OPTIMISM I do not know how it has come about, but this word optimism has furnished a great deal of fun for the paragraphers in newspapers, so that hardly any one uses it for any serious pur- pose any more. I suppose most persons regard it as the word of an extremist who does not deserve serious consideration. However it is a good word and expresses one of the finest and most helpful qualities of the human soul. It was first used in philosophy for the very pious purpose of maintaining and expressing the thesis that God having made this world, and being perfectly good and perfectly power- ful, it must be the best of all possible worlds. When it began to be used to denote a philosophy of life it conveyed the same idea, that God hav- ing ordered our life it must be the best pos- sible life for us, or at any rate the wisest philosophy was to make the best of it. Within the limits of this definition it would seem that every believer in God would be an optimist. 89 90 The Minister and His Own Soul There is nothing extravagant in such a philoso- phy, there is nothing derogatory to the sanest intellect in such a belief, there is certainly noth- ing funny init. Of all men the minister might reasonably be expected to be an optimist. He ought to be the most hopeful of men, the man least discouraged by any present conditions and most serene about those to come. If any man has reason for being optimistic, he more. He believes that he has omnipotent power behind him in what he is trying to do. He believes that he has been sent on a mission of unspeak- able importance to the human race, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ which he has been com- missioned to preach is of God and will ulti- mately prevail against all opposition, and is now prevailing everywhere, when it is given a chance, over sin and ignorance and sorrow. He believes that he has the only remedy for all the spiritual ills of mankind, that he is priv- ileged to offer this remedy to all men without discrimination and without price, and he has testimony every day that this remedy is healing men and nations and bringing in peace and hap- piness and healing to the world. He believes that when he does all he can to succeed in his Optimism Ql mission, his lack of power or of efficiency makes no difference; when he does all he can to find the truth and preach the truth, his ignorance and misconception and prejudice make no dif- ference; when he gives all he can, which is all he has, his lack of wealth or talent or position makes no difference. He will succeed anyhow, his cause will triumph anyhow, the Gospel will be true even if he is a liar, the kingdom will come although he dies, and Christ will be proven to be the power of God unto salvation although his messenger be weak and unworthy and of stammering lips. Not an optimist, but the optimist, the preacher of Jesus should be; cheerfullest worker on earth; no union rules about hours, no disputes over wages, no lay-offs on account of lack of orders, no dissatisfaction with the Firm, no strikes, no black list; what an optimist the preacher should be! And yet I heard a man say the other day that he had stopped attending church because the preacher was so depressing. It made him feel as if he was attending a funeral, the face of the preacher looked like it, the voice of the preacher sounded like it, and the whole service was gloom, thick, unbroken gloom. What was the 92 The Minister and His Own Soul matter with that preacher? I knew the critic pretty well, he was no capable critic of sermons, he did not know half as much as the preacher, I felt sure; and yet I could not dispute his assertion that he knew enough to know when he felt depressed. Why does not the preaching of the glorious Gospel of the Son of God make every hearer feel glad? And why does not every preacher, direct successor of the angelic host over the Bethlehem plain announcing glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, why does not every preacher always feel glad to preach, and look glad? And why did not that particular preacher impress that ordinary, unscholarly critic, just slipping in to hear a sermon for his dead mother’s sake and in sub- mission to a habit of his childhood, that he was glad to preach a Gospel of gladness that will make everybody in the whole world glad? I don’t know, but he didn’t. And why are thousands of preachers libelling this Gospel of glad tidings by sour looks and discouraging words as if they were prophets of doom, lawyers of the law, scolders, whiners, pessimists? Why do they doit? They get no power out of it. They get no success out of it, Optimism 93 congregations get smaller all the time. They get no satisfaction out of it, unless it be the satisfaction of an abnormal nature. They don’t have to do it, not all the time, certainly, for the voice that commanded them to cry aloud and spare not also commanded, “Comfort ye my people.” If they do it because they like it, why do they like it? I don’t know but they do. The Apostle thinks every Christian should be. an optimist, and of all Christians the preacher should set the example. The Apostle makes a great deal of this quality in the pas- sage we are meditating upon. The paragraph we are now considering is the longest text we have had from the whole passage. He says it is a duty, “you must be thankful,” and he out- lines a scheme for its cultivation and expression that will form a habit so that everything we say or do will be beautified with thankfulness and praise. The word “thankful” in this verse comes from the very ancient custom of giving thanks at the beginning of meals, which even the heathen very generally practice. That was the first thing Jesus did in instituting the Lord’s Supper, and so it was frequently spoken of as 94. The Minister and His Own Soul the Eucharist, that being the Greek word for giving thanks. And so Saint Paul says we ought to make our whole life a Eucharist, “whatever you say or do, let it be done giving thanks to God.” What a beautiful and signifi- cant derivation, that this spirit of thankfulness should come from that memorable act of our Lord. What a beautiful and significant habit, to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in all our ac- tions and in all our words! Is it not worth while for all ministers to know more about this blessing? 1. As to its rank among other duties and requirements of the minister some would give thankfulness a rather lowly place. They would say the minister must be holy of course, he must be humble and lowly in heart, of an unselfish and a sacrificing spirit, a skilled student of the Word, a faithful pastor and teacher. No one failing in these requirements would be regarded as qualified for the ministry. But when it is added, and he must be thankful, there is not the same sense of importance, the requirements seem to have dropped to a lower level. Weare apt to think that if a man is lacking in this quality it is only one of several instances Optimism 05 wherein all of us come short of perfection, which of course is to be expected. Now I am not thinking of making any com- parison among the qualities which go to make up a good minister. That would be a most invidious task and profitless. But on the other hand I cannot think we should depreciate a quality which the Apostle emphasizes in the way he does in this and in many other passages. . I would have no difficulty in filling a page with references from his writings encouraging and even commanding us to be thankful, to praise, to rejoice, to be glad in the Lord. Surely this Apostle who was “in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more fre- quent, in deaths oft’ could speak with the au- thority of experience, if any man could, about “finishing his course with joy.” With all his labors and all his hardships, no apostle had more to say about joy and gladness. “Joy” is found sixty-two times in the New Testament, and Saint Paul uses it twenty-eight of those times. “Thankful” is found sixty-nine times, and Saint Paul uses it forty-eight of those times. It was not just a passing remark of his, therefore, when he places in this list of 96 The Minister and His Own Soul Christian duties, “you must be thankful.” And a higher authority puts this quality of cheer- fulness as the antidote to the hard experiences Christians were sure to meet in the service of the Master. “In the world ye shall have tribu- lation, but be of good cheer.” ‘So far from being unimportant we should rather regard thankfulness as the blessed lubricant making hardship endurable and all the machinery of service work smoothly and successfully. 2. Another erroneous notion about thank- fulness must be mentioned. Some persons seem to have the idea that thankfulness is a natural endowment which those who possess it may rejoice in, but about which those who do not happen to have it need not trouble themselves. This is quite wrong. It is true that some per- sons are of a hopeful temperament and are therefore more easily thankful than others, but it must not be forgotten that thankfulness can be cultivated and that a gloomy countenance and an ungracious manner of speech are often mere habit. Indeed the verb in this verse sug- gests this idea and might be translated, “you must become thankful.” Thankfulness is a state of mind. To be thankful is to be in a Optimism 07 certain state of mind with regard to things, and to be depressed or discouraged is to be in a certain other state of mind. They who dwell much on themselves, who are self-centered as we say, who are always thinking more of their rights than of their duties, absorbed in their enjoyments more than in their employments, are dissatisfied because their mind is misdi- rected. They who dwell on what others have and they might have but do not, and how much more they could do if they had more, might turn their peevishness into thankfulness by turning their mind upon how much they have and how unworthy they are to have more. Now it is possible for us to cease thinking of certain things and to think of others; to cease regarding certain aspects of things as impor- tant, neglecting all other aspects, and to make a wider and a wiser comparison of things. Be- coming thus converted mentally, our whole in- tellectual point of view being changed, it will follow that our emotional state will be likewise converted from dissatisfaction to contentment, we will cease to complain and become thankful. The Pollyana spirit is just now unfashionable, I know, and subject to a good deal of scorn 98 The Minister and His Own Soul from newspaper satirists, but it is nevertheless psychologically correct, and religiously much more becoming than its opposite. 3, I think Saint Paul is recognizing this psy- chology when he adds the words about the method, or at least one method, for cultivating thankfulness: “teach and train one another with the music of psalms, with hymns, and songs of the spiritual life.” After getting the thankful state of mind we must learn the vocabulary of thankfulness. It happens sometimes that we reverse the process and become thankful by using the vocabulary, but neither is complete without the other. And what a vocabulary of praise is given us in the Psalms! Every object in creation, every event in human life, every experience of the human soul is traversed with praise. Thank- fulness is sung in every key and to every meas- ure, the book closing with a ringing cataract of praise, six short verses and thirteen hallelujahs bespangling the emotional sky like a Niagara spray of sparkling thanksgivings. If the min- ister made it the rule of his life to read a psalm every morning his prayers would take on a dif- ferent complexion. And if he would add to Optimism 99 this routine, as John Wesley did, the singing of a hymn, his morning devotions would give a radiance to the day of labor and perplexity that no one could fail to notice. And then, after inducing the thankful mind and acquiring the thankful vocabulary, comes the expression of thankfulness in speech, in countenance and in act. Let the minister read his psalms aloud, let him sing his hymns aloud, let him accustom his ear to the sound of thank- fulness. Yes, singing. A good heart has more to do with singing than a good voice. I insist that everybody can sing well enough to fill the requirements of praise. And let him train his countenance to express gladness. That’s what mirrors are for. If some men would get better acquainted with their counte- nances they would get as tired of them as be- holders do and transform them into the like- ness of one who has had a great joy. Finally, let him practice a cheerful behavior, stop find- ing fault with the universe, stop pitying him- self, act as though this was a good world and a good time, the world and the time of a good God to whom be glory forever and ever. Now I realize that this is not a program as : 100 The Minister and His Own Soul easy to execute as it is to outline. The min- ister who has to be so much in the public eye has an enormous difficulty added to his task in being thrust out of privacy just when his own heart may be burdened with a personal sorrow or trouble. Neither do I mean that he must always be feigning a cheerfulness he does not feel and become at last insincere. I cannot bear the professional glad-hander. But this thankfulness may be put on if first we put in, as the Apostle suggests, “the inspiration of Christ with all its wealth of wisdom.” The Apostle is not asking us to do the impossible, the insincere thing, nor expecting us to achieve the superhuman thing with our merely human powers. He is offering us an all-sufficient help to transform our inner nature and produce in the barren soil of human nature the fragrance and loveliness of the Christ nature. “The inspiration of Christ.” There is the powerful alchemy of this spiritual transforma- tion. Before Christ came the prospect was dreary enough. The world was old and grown weary. Men’s hearts fainted in them because of the long-delayed promise of his coming, and the national, social and religious outlook was Optimism 101 depressing. The prophetic voice had been long stilled, and no fulfillment was apparently at hand. There seemed to be nothing to inspire cheerfulness, But a new day was ushered in with a burst of song that was caught up by human tongues and has ever since been characteristic of this re- ligion. “Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath visited and redeemed his people” was the exult- ant invitation to all the weary, all the hopeless peoples of the world. The inspiration of Christ is the inspiration of joy and the supporter of joy. Almost the last word of Jesus was his promise to be with us always. In view of what is thus offered us and what may be accom- plished by the humblest individual, do we not, my brethren, prove ourselves unfaithful and ungrateful if we go on with our old limitations and imperfections and fail to produce the blessed intention of this promise, cheerfulness, good courage and thankfulness? Will we dare to walk with Him, as He promised we might through all the days, and show ourselves peev- ish, discontented, gloomy? Can we be worthy companions of Him who endured the cross, de- 102 The Minister and His Own Soul spising the shame, if we constantly faint and complain, see no brightness, know no joy, ex- perience no delight, expect no triumph? If we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us can we not through him also be thankful? 4. My last remark is only for the purpose of trying to bring to some practical effect what I have already said. Thankfulness is a beauti- ful grace, pleasing to God and acceptable to men; and that is reason enough for cultivating it. But it is also a wonderful reservoir of power to the minister. It is true of every worker in a measure that a discontented worker is a poor worker; but a discontented minister is an encumbrance. He is not only gloomy himself but he is a cause of gloom in others. He sees so many difficulties and so clearly that he is defeated before he starts and convinces his people that it is no use to start. He kills the prayer-meeting by scold- ing the few present for the many absent. He never raises the budget because he has per- suaded his people that it is too much for them to undertake. He makes poor sermons because he is convinced beforehand that he will have a Optimism 103 small congregation to preach to. He is never disappointed about anything because every- thing is always fully as bad as he expected. In all his activities power has gone out of him, and while he is pitying himself as a martyr his people are pitying themselves for having to listen to a perpetual grouch. A much better type of minister is he who, while not what might be called cheerful, takes up his task with a grim determination to do his _ duty come what may. He has no joy, he is not enthusiastic, he knows the difficulties confront- ing him, but he is loyal to his Master and to his church and gives what strength he has to his task up to the last minute of his appoint- ment. I think we all feel a degree of admira- tion for a man like this, and yet we know that he is not the highest type, he has not the in- spiration of Christ with all its wealth of wis- dom. For there is no forlorn hope to be led in the cause of Christ. The man who has no strength but the strength that comes from a sense of duty is not enjoying the power that Christ intended all his disciples to have. He is not even running with patience the race set 104 The Minister and His Own Soul before him. He is running in low gear and, as usual, making a lot of noise doing it. Still I am greatly interested in this class of minister. The peevish, discontented minister we need not consider. There is nothing better to say to him than to quote the words of Gideon: ‘Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early.’ But I have sympathy for this duty-power minister, and I want to tell him what I think is the secret of his lack of power and joy. The beginning of all action is an impulse, what we call in our physical organism, nerve force. Nobody understands its secret, but everything else in our body is inert and would remain inert without the impulse from this nerve force. The bones and the muscles may all be in perfect condition but they have no more power of action in themselves than so many sticks and strings. Then this inertia is broken up suddenly and action begins. What did it? All we can say is that we had a thought, and in some mysterious way the thought excited the nerve and the nerve sent an impulse to the muscles and the muscles grasped the bones and the bones started into activity. A man weigh- Optimism 105 ing one hundred and fifty pounds has that much weight to place in overcoming anything weigh- ing less or in resisting anything weighing more. We call that his dead weight. But his dead weight is a very different thing from his energy. Physically a man may be a runt who in a fight is a wild cat. Muscular effort reénforced by nerve impulse enables a man of a hundred and fifty pounds to exert a pressure of three hun- dred, five hundred pounds, because a living man is more than a dead weight, he has a push. Now this gladness, the exhilaration of spirit we call optimism, is something like the physical man’s push added to his dead weight. To all the other concomitants of action, making up his mind, determining his course, calculating his chances, and so forth, comes this optimism adding a push. It is the pitcher winding up, not only getting his muscles free, but liberating nervous energy for his push. It is the runner making his take-off. Now the marvellous thing about Christ as a Master and Leader is his power to liberate in us that spiritual exaltation which enables us to discount difficulties and hardships, to glory in afflictions and indignities we endure for his 106 The Minister and His Own Soul sake, to ignore opponents and enemies, and to count it all joy when he assigns us the hardest task, as though he decorated us. This is some- thing more than a sense of duty, it is more even than what we call enthusiasm, it is opti- mism, it is the indefinable swing of spirit that exalts doing and suffering into glorying in the cross. It is the inspiration of Christ dwelling in us with all its wealth of wisdom. So, dear brother, laboring so hard under your sense of duty, your Lord has a better thing in store for you. He does not intend you to be reckoned solely by your dead weight. He intends you to count for more than your learning, your industry, your loyalty, your faithfulness; you are to count for your inspira- tion. If the inspiration of Christ dwells in you, if you have been energized by the Holy Spirit and raised to the power of a glad, en- thusiastic optimism, ‘“‘one shall chase a thou- sand and two put ten thousand to flight”; your power will be reckoned by your push; your own enthusiasm will kindle that of others, your own power will be multiplied by your companions, you will mount up on wings as eagles, you will run and not be weary, walk and not faint, Optimism 107 “Laugh at impossibilities And cry, it shall be done.” Panting towards the goal with every advance gained, and faith kindled into assurance of victory by every battle won, you will sweep to your task as in a chariot of fire, “from hence- forth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool.” Therefore, Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in H1s sanctuary Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Pratse Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent great- NESS. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the tumbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals; Praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. ate ha Ra Ae tan ’ ‘ aS a A , Jas 1% rat 4 } hi ;i@ feats my 7 eae e f ae eh ye uae Ait ret Ly! * ae bad ny, ane ‘teaes yt 9, ‘es bs fi oie a! 1 ‘ ’ ‘ VI: SAINT PAUL’S SCHEME FOR MINISTERIAL CULTURE The Text 2 CORINTHIANS, Vi: 3-13. Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watch- ings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my chil- dren) be ye also enlarged, VI: SAINT PAUL’S SCHEME FOR MINISTERIAL CULTURE There is a rubric in music which reads, “Largo.” Although it is not easy to translate in a word, we have no difficulty in understand- ing what it means. We do not expect to find it attached to dance music, or to the jingles with which some so-called revival hymns are swung. It belongs to music of the grand style, like the Hallelujah Chorus, or the Trisagion in the Re- demption. It is the large movement of sublime sounds and swelling harmonies. Such a rubric ought to be written at the top of every sermon page. For he who undertakes to speak as the ambassador of Jesus Christ ought always to feel even if he does not always use the grand style. It is related of Michael Angelo that, calling one day at Raphael’s studio he took a crayon and drew a circle about one of Raphael’s un- finished drawings, and wrote underneath the word, “Amplius.”’ An art lecture in one word; II!I 112 The Minister and His Own Soul more scope, larger vision, freer range, and a pencil that can sweep. This too, I think, ought to be on every preacher’s Bible, that with the broad technique, he might also have the ampler inner scope of mental and spiritual vision and be, in both respects, enlarged. Much is being said in these days of the need for a broader culture for ministers of the Gos- pel. They have friends as well as critics who feel that the preparation for this great work has not kept pace with the progress in other callings. They earnestly desire to see enlarge- ment beyond the traditions of the elders who thought the Bible and the Hymn-book a suff- cient library; and beyond the present Theologi- cal Seminary curriculum whose narrow way does not always lead to intellectual life. The culture of the pulpit has long been the target of critics. Lord Morley does not hesitate to declare of the clergy as a class: “They vow almost before they have crossed the threshold of manhood that they will search no more. They virtually swear that they will to the end of their days believe what they believe then, be- fore they have had time to think, or to know the thoughts of others.” However this re- Saint Paul’s Scheme 113 proach may apply to those who subscribe to the thirty-nine articles on entering the ministry of the Church of England, it will certainly fail as applied to American preachers of any de- nomination, so far as changing their beliefs is concerned. We are not subject to that limita- tion in our culture, although it is questionable whether it is more culture or less that makes us so unstable. Yet it is a fact that I think few would question, that our preachers in many in- stances do sentence themselves to perpetual mental sterility by completing their education with graduation. They read henceforth if at all in the most desultory fashion, and content themselves with preaching on Sunday without worrying themselves to make sermons during the week. Many never read except to find ma- terial for sermons, and then confine themselves to popular commentaries and selections of illus- trations. They have a certain tale of bricks to make and they scatter abroad throughout all the land to gather stubble for straw. Such men do not enlarge, and after the first few years of yeasty youth old age comes upon them suddenly and without a remedy or a solace. They know no more than they knew in the be- 114 The Minister and His Own Soul ginning, and they have lost interest in what they know. Stung by the reproach and warned by the example of these idle brethren in the ministry, there are others who exhibit a restlessness and a dissatisfaction which render them unfit for anything but preparation. They spend a large portion of their life in getting ready for their life work. They seem unable to get done with colleges and universities and seminaries; heap- ing up degrees upon degrees, climbing from glory to glory, feverish with a thirst which seems only to stimulate itself by its satisfac- tions, “Insatiate to the spring they fly, They drink and yet are ever—dry.” Do these men need the exhortation to be en- larged? It may seem strange to them, but I feel that the exhortation was written especially for them, and I am trying to fit it to their case. The most distressing narrowness in our min- istry to-day is not among the illiterate or the lazy, but among the ambitious and so-called cultured class. And as the results of preach- ing must rest finally with the ambitious and Saint Paul’s Scheme 115 cultured preachers I feel that if enlargement fails to win its way with these we are doomed to failure in the best results. Nothing must be said or understood that will leave the impression of depreciating the broad- est and profoundest mental culture for the Christian preacher. Yet it will not be amiss to suggest that this is not all. A really broad man must be something more than a cultivated scholar, admirable as that individual is. A really broad man cannot be made by constant and exclusive stimulation of the intellectual nature. Nothing is more likely to prove disas- trous in attempting to enlarge a cylinder than to press too hard on one part. And if it is enlargement and not rupture we are seeking we must keep the pressure equal on all sides. The “all-round” man is a complicated product, not possible from a culture that confines itself to learning things, or to doing things, or even to being something; but by pressing all these: equally in the unity of a great ideal, which issues at last in a perfect man. What else is there then in culture besides mental growth? What is it that appeals to the intellectual disciple and bids him enlarge? 116 The Minister and His Own Soul It is experience. It is what the Scriptures mean by life. It is what Jesus declared he came to give us more abundantly. It is what Saint Paul sets forth in the text and prescribes the curriculum for, and declares that without it the grace of God will be received in vain. I must ask you, therefore, to read with me this sixth chapter of the second epistle of Corin- thians with the view of getting the Apostle’s point of view, and as the foundation of the remarks I have to make on the preacher’s en- largement. We have been careful as the ministers of God, he says, to give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our ministry be not blamed, establishing the true apostolic succession of his ministry, so to speak; but in everything com- mending ourselves in much steadfastness. And he then proceeds to outline the curriculum through which he has passed to a graduation that enables him to say with confidence, “O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.” I cannot but think there is something modern in all this. If we read over this logically arranged course of study it must interest us and thrill us to think that this is no accident that just happened to Saint Paul’s Scheme 117 Saint Paul. This is what gave him his marvel- ous enlargement, that transformed such an one as Saul of Tarsus, the narrow, bigoted, mur- derous ‘‘Pharisee of the Pharisees” into the broad-visioned missionary to the Gentiles and the very chiefest of the Apostles. Such a transformation is a miracle of grace, and not less a miracle of development, but it is a miracle not without cause and it is still possible to hum- ble faith and earnest endeavor where one is willing to pay the price. There must be a great challenge in it for those not steeped in egotism and who aspire for the broadest culture of the sincerest sort. The specification and arrangement of what I have ventured to call “Saint Paul’s Scheme for ministerial culture” will be found to be con- secutive and exhaustive. It embraces three divisions, each subdivided into groups, and all prefaced by a comprehensive quality on which all depends. Each division is homogeneous and leads up to the following, making the whole scheme progressive and culminating, strikingly similar to what one may find in a modern uni- versity catalogue. The preface, or introductory study of the 118 The Minister and His Own Soul course, as we might call it, is as follows: “In everything commending ourselves as ministers of God, with much patience,” or steadfastness. This word steadfastness is the key to the whole course. The long and difficult process to achieve the great result of the broadest culture for ministers is not to be undertaken without a persistent, determined course in steadfastness. It takes time; it takes patience; it takes a con- stant remembrance of our Lord’s words, “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” After this preface we have three groups of words, three in each, which mark out the first division of this course in experience: I. In afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 2. In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, 3. In labors, in watchings, in fastings. The first of these trinities outlines the nat- ural and necessary sphere in which Saint Paul’s life moved as a minister of Christ. The second outlines experiences unnecessary, and, except for a perverse generation, unnatural, due to the active hostility of those the Apostle was trying to serve as a preacher of the cross. The third Saint Paul’s Scheme 119 outlines his experience in the actual perform- ance of his work; not necessary, nor inflicted by others, but voluntarily assumed by him as the legitimate program for the conscientious dis- charge of his duty as he saw it. As to the first of these experiences, the life of Saint Paul, on its human side, was the life, of a poor man, a life of many privations, of continually straitened resources, of distress- ing needs. The three words describing it are suggestive. “Afflictions,”’ “necessities,” ‘“dis- tresses,’ are incident to those who must eat bread in the sweat of their face, the hard way of life for the poor of this world, both good and bad. And so it must continue to some extent with every preacher of the cross, for “not many rich, not many noble are called.” The apostle- ship that originated among humble fishermen and found its constituency among people for the most part of the same class, will have its successors mainly among the poor of earth, subject to the afflictions, necessities and dis- tresses of poverty. The Gospel that was des- tined to capture Caesar’s household, and ultimately Caesar himself, was first to win its way among those whom the world despised, and 120 The Minister and His Own Soul both preacher and Gospel were for a long time to be shut out from all that men call prosperity; to endure, what one of these words intimates, a state of siege. The man who has had no expe- rience of poverty will have difficulty, therefore, in reconciling himself to a ministerial career, and in entering into sympathy with the largest section of his people. A preacher who is poor is so far from being a poor preacher that he is. often the best we have, and more effective be- cause of his poverty. The only reward the world had to offer those who first bore to them the imperishable riches was “stripes, imprisonments, tumults.” It might have been, it should have been far other- wise, but the Master set this forth in plain words, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Saint Paul makes no quarrel with this. He accepts it as one of the conditions of his min- istry, inevitable as gravity. He draws up no indictment of his age, makes no complaint of ingratitude. He simply records his experience. To be sure times have greatly changed in this respect. Ministers for the most part are not only not molested, but receive great respect and not unfrequently adequate reward for their Saint Paul’s Scheme 121 service. But the faithful preacher has yet much to endure of opposition of a kind which is harder to endure than physical mistreatment, A minister could bear “beating with rods” with more equanimity than he can bear the indif- ference and inertia of his hearers. To be unto those who listen to his message only ‘as a lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument” is worse than “stripes, imprisonments and tumults.” Yet this is also experience. To shirk it, to be afraid of it, is to miss a fine part of the disci- pline through which we come to perfection. The third of these trinities outlines Saint Paul’s experience in the actual performance of his task; “labors, watchings, fastings.” These were not necessary in the order of nature, nor inflicted upon him by others, but voluntarily assumed. There is a way, and many find it, to do a disagreeable duty or a hard task so as to make light demand upon the nervous forces, to do just enough to escape the censure for not doing anything. But Saint Paul matched his task with his effort. He took his task seriously and made it the business of his life to be found equal to it and faithful in it. To enter the 122 The Minister and His Own Soul ministry in order to find an easy life is as ab- surd if not as sordid, as to enter it in order to get rich. If your will is to be rich or to be at ease in Zion then avoid the ministry, for it will be a life-long failure and drown you at last in perdition. All these particulars go to make up a course in experience. The student’s first lesson is to learn his environment, and the minister’s en- vironment is one of straightened resources, of active or passive hostility and of hard work. The man who has not learned these may enter the ministry, and he may find some satisfac- tion in it, but whatever his salary and whatever his popularity he will be a failure, an interloper. His ministry will be narrow, his preaching empty of the richest content, and his life void in the sight of God and of men. 2. The second division of this course contains two groups of words, four in each group, de- scribing a new phase of experience. 1. In pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffer- ing, in kindness. 2. In the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God. These experiences differ from those just de- Saint Paul’s Scheme 123 scribed in a way that can be best defined by calling them subjective. Of course all experi- ence is subjective in one sense. But there are experiences originating in circumstances out- side of the subject of them, produced by what happens to him; and there are experiences pro- duced by what takes place in the subject, and these are what may be properly called subjec- tive experiences. One we may call experiences of environment and the other experiences of equipment. The first of these groups of equipment expe- riences describe the natural, human qualities of mind and heart which enter so largely into the success of the preacher of the cross. They are not so much attainments as gifts, and they are gifts of the heart more than of the mind. “Pureness” is sincerity, single-heartedness. “Knowledge” is insight, wisdom of the heart. “Long-suffering” is good temper, and “Kind- ness” is tact, both embraced under the general idea of forbearance, the first being exercised toward things and the second toward persons. What a school of the heart was this to Saint Paul! This great scholar, great statesman, prince among men and things, “from his shoul- 124 The Minister and His Own Soul ders and upward higher than any of the people” passed through this heart school until he ex- ulted to call himself the “bond slave of Jesus Christ.” Working with men, opposing, fickle, ungrateful men, and yet always keeping his heart steady to a single purpose, always wise to judge and to discriminate times and things, al- ways patient to wait for untoward events to shape themselves and for unreasonable men to adapt themselves to the steady drift of the eter- nal purpose which he had discerned in Christ Jesus. This is what experience did for him and what it will do for any of us in our measure, Then we are suddenly brought face to face with another group of words describing expe- rience with the supernatural. The preacher of the cross is not to be limited to the resources of his own natural qualities, even when these are refined and heightened by divine grace. He is to be reenforced by direct communication of spiritual power from on high, to be made the instrument of supernatural activities. In this process his own spirit is to be made holy, his love purged of all hypocrisy, his word to be informed with absolute truth, and his power to be merged into the power of God. What a ° Saint Paul’s Scheme 1D barren, hopeless ministry would ours be if the supernatural were eliminated, if we did not believe in a Holy Spirit, in a Divine love, in a Word of truth, in a Power of God! How foolish do rationalistic speculations become in a minister who does not seem to realize that the more he succeeds in this attempt the more he exposes his own office to the contempt of men. His ministry must be more than natural or it is nothing. But with a Divine spirit, a Divine love, a Divine truth and a Divine power, noth- ing can resist him. He becomes “‘God’s chosen vessel” to bear his name to all nations. With this Divine spirit he can bring to life those that are dead in trespasses and sin. With this Divine love he can charm away hate, envy and all uncharitableness. With this Divine word he can subdue stubborn wills and convince gain- sayers. And with this Divine power he can do all things through Christ which strength- eneth him. Infinite resources for infinite results in infinite measure are at the command of every preacher as they were at the command of Saint Paul. 3. The third division of this curriculum pre- sents another phase of experience. The experi- 126 The Minister and His Own Soul ence of environment and the experience of equipment are now to be followed by what we may call the experience of action. If the expe- rience of environment has been gained by sub- jecting himself as a passive victim to privations . and stripes and imprisonment; if the experience of equipment has been gained by subjecting himself as a passive recipient to the renewing power of divine grace and the overcoming power of supernatural enduement; his experi- ence has not yet completed itself, still he must be enlarged. And so he passes on next to the experience of an active agent, a doer. The change, in Greek, in the form of the preposition suggests this difference of attitude. Instead of existing “in” certain conditions, cir- cumstances, and so forth, he now takes hold of ' and accomplishes “by” this or that instrument. Instead of being acted upon he himself is the actor and he makes events and circumstances serve him. Another suggestion is that the armor spoken of is for the right hand and for the left hand, indicating that he has armor for attack as well as for defense. It will not confuse the description to find only one word Saint Paul’s Scheme 127 used to describe this armor, the word “right- eousness,” for righteousness means both doing right and being right. There is no mightier weapon and no surer defense than to do right and to be right, inside and outside, to friends and to foes, yesterday, to-day and forever, as a preacher andas aman. It will make any man irresistible in attack and invulnerable in de- fense. It will be interesting also to note another rendering of “righteousness.” Moffatt renders it “integrity.” It is not important exegetically, but it does finely suggest a kind of rightness most important to ministers. You remember from your arithmetic days the distinction be- tween an integer and a fraction. “Integer’’ is what integrity comes from. Saint Paul is striving to be a whole man, not a fractional part of aman. I do not know any profession where whole men are demanded to-day more insis- tently than in the ministry. So many preach- ers are inefficient because they are not integers. They are a little of this and not much of that. They look all right on one side, but, like Ephraim, they area cake not turned. They are not complete in anything, mere fractions. 128 The Minister and His Own Soul And, finally note this array of descriptive words describing the result of his action, as if it were a sort of final test or examination. On one hand is the description of the man which might be called his reputation, what men think or say he is. On the other the description of what by God’s grace he really is, his character. It is his real task to accomplish a character like that, and it is by such a character that his real work is accomplished. This is his real culture. It is not to be found in books, neither will seminaries teach it. It is to be developed in the school of experience, and there alone. I would not go about to make things hard just for the sake of hardness. Hardness has no essential virtue. But it cannot be said too emphatically that if you evade the experience you will miss the character. And when I see men doing so much thinking and planning and even praying to be kept out of the hard places, I know the development of character is sure to be slow and uncertain. If the best physical and the best intellectual development come only as the result of struggle, how can we expect spiritual development on any other terms? Saint Paul’s Scheme 129 “Sure I must fight if I would reign.” “Are they ministers of Christ?” Saint Paul exclaims to those who would impugn his apos- tleship. “I am more,” uper ego. “I am mad to talk like this,” he says; but no, Paul, it is the absolute truth, you are uper, you are more, if only because you have taken the larger course in experience. “In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more fre- quent, in deaths more often.” What will you have, brethren? Will you be the uper minister at this price? All our instruction is to the same effect. “We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom.” The minister who would live easily and go softly and rid himself of trouble and have no enemies and expect and plan for things to be made pleasant for him, is an anachronism, born in the wrong time and prenticed to the wrong Master. He ought either to get out of his present job or out of his present self. If he would overcome the world he must overcome first his flabby, ease-loving, shrinking self. Only thus and then will he be ready for his 130 The Minister and His Own Soul life work, cultured to the broadest possibilities, “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.” After that, instead of fawning upon poor human favor, or truckling to poor human dis- favor, he may boldly grasp in his right hand the sword of active endeavor, determined to do something in the world, something worth a man’s while; and in his left hand he will hold the shield of character, determined to be some- thing in the world, something that God will count worth while; and to the fickle, whimsical, superficial god men call reputation he dares to say, “Do your worst. Make me or break me as you can, by glory or dishonor, by evil re- port or good report, as dying or living, do your worst, O reputation, god of things as they are, yet so will I be enlarged. I will graduate from the great university of experience. 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