LIBRARY Theological Seminary PRINCETON, N. J. c :^ L ( Barrett, Alfred, 1808-1876. *^ Essay on the pastoral ott2.(^ } as a divine institution in ESSAY THE PASTORAL OFFICE, AS A DIVINE INSTITUTION IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST: CONTAINING A PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS EXERCISED AMONGST THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS. BY ALFRED T3ARRETT. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN MASON, 14, CITY-ROAD AND SOLD AT 66, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1839. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. LONDON: JOHN WILSON, PRINTER, RED-CROSS-STREET. MINISTERS OF THE WESLEYAN CONNEXION, IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, OR WHEREVER THE GREAT HEAD OF THE CHURCH HAS ASSIGNED THEIR SPHERE OF LABOUR, THIS SMALL VOLUME, INTENDED TO REMIND THEM OF THOSE GREAT PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE ORIGINATED AND MAINTAINED THEIR EXISTENCE AS A BODY OF CHRISTIAN PASTORS, AND BY THEM TO PROMOTE THE SPREAD OF VITAL GODLINESS, IS HUMBLY INSCRIBED, BY THEIR UNWORTHY BROTHER IN THE MINISTRY, THE AUTHOR. A 2 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. The subject of the following Essay has occupied, at various intervals, the meditative hours of the Author for some time past, though amid the nu- merous and onerous duties of the Wesleyan ministry. There v^^as no intention originally, on his part, of giving the meditations thus begun their present publicity and form. A call, hov^ever, being made for a w^ork of this kind, he was induced to enter upon the task of preparing the volume, more with a view of improving himself in ministerial principles, than with the hope of attaining success, or of being able to supply a public desideratum ; but as the hand of divine Providence has unexpectedly placed the Essay in its present position, it is offered to the church with unaffected humility. The Author has not the vanity to suppose that he has cast any new light on those subjects which A S VI THE AUTHOR S PREFACE. are connected with the discussion of Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, and Independency : he has, how- ever, as far as the infirmity and obstinacy of human prejudice will allow, endeavoured, irrespectively of them all, to deduce from the Scriptures what he honestly believes to be the mind of the Holy Ghost, in reference to the various points discussed. If he has failed, it has not been for want of sincere atten- tion, but of ability. Should the work prove the means of quickening, in the least degree, the mi- nistry in general, and of diffusing, among the Wesleyan societies and congregations in particular, sound views on the pastoral charge, and its relations, — thus pro- moting the extension, spirituality, and peace of the church universal, — the great and desired end will be gained. A. B. Trowbridge, June2Sth, 1839. THE DONOR'S ORIGINAL ADVERTISEMENT. In conformity with a notice which has already been made public through the medium of "The Watchman" newspaper, the sum of One Hundred Pounds is hereby offered, as a premium for the best original Essay which shall be written on the Scrip- tural Character, Duties, and Claims of the Pastoral Office, with special reference to the manner in which that office is defined and exercised in the Wesley an-Methodist Connexion. In explaining the motive which has led him to make this offer, the Donor begs to state, that his particular object is to obtain such an Essay as may be put with advantage into the hands of young Wesleyan ministers, and will be calculated also to disseminate, through the Wesleyan societies at large, scrip- tural views on the above-named subject. With this view he ventures to suggest, that the Essay should embrace such topics as the following : — the divine institution of the Pastoral Office ; — its perpetual necessity in the church of God ; — the necessity, nature, and evidence of a divine call to the sacred function ; — the persons to whom the formal appointment to the office of right belongs ; — the nature and importance of the Pastoral Office ; — the (Qualifications reqvured in the Christian pastor ; the tone of mind he is called to preserve, and the Christian spirit which he is bound to maintain, both in his public ministrations and general conduct ; — his peculiar responsibility to Christ for the purity, peace, and extension of the church ; and the authority and influence, in spiritual affairs, which he must possess, to enable him faithfully to acquit himself in his responsible office ; — the provisions necessary, or expedient, to prevent an injurious Vlll DONORS ORIGINAL ADVERTISEMENT. or improper exercise of the pastoral authority ; — the claims of the pastor, as such, to the esteem, aftection, and prayers of the people for whom he labours, and to their contributions for his pecuniary support. It is further suggested, that in discussing these topics with regard to the Pastoral Office as exercised among the Wesleyan Methodists, the writer should state the arguments which show the agreement of their system, as to the constitution and regulation of their ministry, with the word of God ; and its consequent adaptation to the glorious pui-poses for which the Christian ministry was at first established. The practical v^ses to be derived from the whole subject, in its various branches, should also be carefully brought out, and applied both to the people and to the ministers of the Wesleyan community. The following are the conditions on which it is proposed that the premium shall be awarded : — 1. Each Essay submitted for the premium shall be fairly written out, in a large and easily legible hand, and forwarded before the 1st of January, 1838, addressed to " The Watchman" Office, Fleet-Street, London. 2. The Essays shall be sent in some other hand-writing than that of their respective authors ; and each Essay shall be accom- panied vsdth a sealed note, inclosing the author's name, to be opened only after the adjudication of the premium. 3. All Essays received previously to the date above-men- tioned shall be finally committed to the judgment of the Rev. Dr. Bunting, the Rev. Edmund Grindrod, and the Rev. John Scott, who shairbe requested to pronounce their decision in the month of June following. 4. The Essay to which the premium may be awarded shall be published, as soon as may be convenient, under the direction of the Donor and Adjudicators of the premium ; and the profits of the first edition shall be applied to the support of the Wes- leyan Theological Institution. In case of any subsequent editions, the copy-right and profits shall belong to the author. THE AWARD OF THE ADJUDICATORS, In " The Watchman," of February 22d, 1837, a premium of One Hundred Pounds was offered by John Fernley, Esq., of Manchester, for the best original Essay on the Scriptural Cha- racter, Duties, and Claims of the Pastoral Office, with a special reference to the manner in which that office is defined and exercised in the Wesleyan-Methodist Connexion ; the Rev. Dr. Bunting and the Rev. Messrs. Grindrod and Scott, being appointed Adjudicators. In consequence of numerous unforeseen official duties, which subsequently devolved upon Dr. Bunting, he was compelled, some time ago, to withdraw from the re- sponsibility which, in this case, had been assigned him. The two remaining adjudicators, deeply regretting this occurrence, and unwilling to decide alone, in an affair so important to all the parties concerned, with the entire approbation of the Donor, requested Dr. Hannah to supply the place of their esteemed friend; and the former, after some hesitation, con- sented to afford his assistance. Having duly examined the Essays, Dr. Hannah joined with Messrs. Grindrod and Scott in the following decision : — " Eight Essays have been received, several of which possess considerable merit . In our unanimous judgment, that of which X AWARD OF THE ADJUDICATORS. the Rev. Alfred Barrett is the author is justly entitled to the prize : to him, therefore, we do accordingly award it. We deem this very excellent production well adapted to pro- mote the valuable design of the Donor, and doubt not that it will be extensively read by the lay-members as well as by the ministers of our Connexion. (Signed,) '* Edmund Grindrod, " John Scott, " John Hannah. " London, Feb. I2th, 1839." CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY OF DIVINE INSTITUTION ....... 1 CHAPTER II. MINISTERS ARE CALLED OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH ..... 26 CHAPTER III. THE CHURCH OF GOD AND ITS GOVERNMENT . 61 CHAPTER IV. THE CHURCH FORM OF METHODISM AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES 103 CHAPTER V. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE, AND ITS RELATIONS 144 CHAPTER VI. PASTORAL AUTHORITY, AND THE GUARDS NECESSARY TO PREVENT THE ABUSE OF IT 186 Xn CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIL Page THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST .... 230 CHAPTER VIII. LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION FOR THE MINISTRY 280 CHAPTER IX. THE CLAIMS OF MINISTERS ON THE CHURCH 316 CHAPTER X. THE FAITHFUL MINISTER'S REWARD IN HEAVEN 351 THE PASTORAL OFFICE. CHAPTER I. THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. "The ministry of things divine is a function which, as God did himself institute, so neither may men undertake the same biit by authority, and power given them in lawful manner. " Religion, without the help of spiritual ministry, is unable to plant itself, the fruits thereof not possible to grow of their own accord." — Hooker. When we retrace the liistory of the world, it is evident that from the very beginning there has been an order of men consecrated to the service of religion. The patriarchs were not- only the chief governors of their respective tribes, but priests also ; for they officiated at sacrifices, and engaged in special and domestic prayer. Such were Abraham and Jacob, and the pensive Job. It was when the individual had really become the head of a family, and the occupier of a domain, that he was by com- B 2 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY moil consent invested %Yith the twofold office; and although the rectoral and rehgious functions were exercised by the same person, yet the temporal rule which he had was of so simple a character, and was so thoroughly blended with the service which in those primitive times was rendered to God, that he was evidently a distinct and sacred man, and was so regarded by his numerous family. Di\dne Pro\ddence seemed to impress this feature upon the very first portions of society, that there should be amongst the people who were busied in the cares of hfe, one or more who should make religion a chief study and emplopnent ; who should offer prayer, and administer instruction in hea- venly and eternal things ; and no tribe could be satisfied, or maintain its order, without this arrange- ment. Even when the pure faith which Enoch, Noah, and Abraham professed, had been forsaken, and the nations of the earth had fallen into idolatry and crime, the original frame-work of society was still preserved; there was still a ritual, though mysterious ; there was still a priesthood, though wicked : the great enemy of man was convinced of the importance of the original design, and there^ fore furnished the fallen and guilty race with his own distorted copy. The priests of the heathen were sometimes priests only, and sometimes kings as well. With them was the learning and intelli- OF DIVINE INSTITUTION, gence of the nations, and, consequently, tlie power also : they maintained, as far as their dark policy could maintain it, the subsistence of society: by enfeebling the people around with ignorance, and by awing them with superstition, they gained a high elevation, and were true servants of their master ; and to this day the ruined temples of Egypt, and the mystic tablets which lie crumbling there, tell us of their wickedness and might. A certain writer, who has lately evinced a great anxiety for the civil and religious liberty of mankind, fixes his eye upon this corruption of the sacerdotal institution; and, following the hue of a guilty and idolatrous priesthood down the history of ancient nations, and through the progress of that deep superstition which has arisen in Christianity, he labours to show that the order itself is an evil one, and engenders evil ; and that men who are separated especially to minister in matters of religion, neces- sarily rise against the liberties of the community, and that society could manage its rehgion far better without them. If this reasoning were to be adopted, what might we not prove ? If Satan has succeeded in deprav- ing the priesthood, it only shows how important an institution it is, if pure ; and how subservient to the purposes of hoHness. None who believe the Bible, will deny that men are spoken of who do serve Satan in the capacity of teachers of religion, and 4 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY that they are called his ministers. Moral power, when under the holy influence of God, is capable of producing the greatest amount of happiness; but when bereft of him, it is only power to bhght and to destroy. The very devils had not existed, if they had not once been blessed angels; and that exalted nature, which once made them to be high and happy in glory, now only makes their hell the deeper. That foul example of priestly influence, which heathenish and superstitious nations have displayed, proves nothing against the wisdom of the original institution; but rather shows that it was an archetype, so fair and so good, that nothing was likely to succeed in the world but something which should bear to it a distant analogy. Aaron, and the Jewish priests, were ordained of God by express and authoritative consecration ; and to show that they were most entirely dedi- cated to the sanctuary, they were not allowed to have any part or inheritance in the lands of their brethren ; they lived of the tilings of the temple, and they were bound to the people by the ties of reverence, regard, and affection. The extreme strictness of the ritual by which they were con- secrated, the symbols of spotless purity which they were required to wear, the blameless con- duct they were required to maintain, tended to show that the eye of God was over the people ; that his ultimate design was their happiness and OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 5 holiness ; and that therefore, in effecting it, he was careful of the character of those who should act as their ministers. It is sufficient to show what was the divine intention respecting the goodness and usefulness of this class of men, without examining into their actual character and history. The Levi- tical orders were appointed to minister in that sacred tabernacle which had been designed by the Holy Ghost, and which had been reared by the inspired Bezaleel and AhoHab, and who, in con- nexion v/ith extraordinary prophets, thus prepared the way for a succession of religious teachers w^ho should be more fully connected with the guidance and operations of the Spirit when the glorious latter house, the Christian church, should be opened. Not that we would be understood to say, that the mi- nisters of Christ are, in the strict and proper sense, to be termed priests, for they have no sacrifices to offer ; but that, as a class of individuals who are set apart to a solemn and spiritual work, they bear a resemblance to the priests of old, which resemblance St. Paul recognises in his argument with the un- grateful Corinthians, (1 Cor. ix. 13,) and shows that the claims and circumstances of the two classes are alike. The office of the ministry in the Christian church is instituted by the authority of Christ. The title Christ, or Anointed, implies a threefold function, as may be shown at length by a refer- ence to the sacred writers. Anointing was used in 6 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY inducting a person into the prophetic, the sacerdo- tal, and also the regal office. Christ was therefore Prophet ; for Isaiah predicts, when introducing him, *' Tlie Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor." (Isai. Ixi. 1.) And that we may have no doubt as to whom he meant, our Lord apphed this declaration to himself, when he said, after reading it in the synagogue, " This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke iv. 21.) And Peter shows, in his sermon, that it was the same Christ as was foretold by Moses, when he said, " A Pro- phet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you ;" (Acts iii. 22 ;) and, in another place, that the unction which Christ received was that of the Holy Ghost : (chap. x. 38 :) thus accomplishing the prediction of Isaiah, and showing that the Preacher or Prophet had resting upon him that very Spirit of which his prediction spake. He was Priest ; for David declares this, " Thou art a Priest for ever." (Psalm ex. 4.) He was also King, according to the testimony of the same inspired man : " I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." (Psahn ii. 6.) Thus Jesus Christ, as Messiah, sustained a threefold relation to the church; and it is in reference to his threefold office that he is called Christ, being its Prophet to teach and reveal the will of God, its Priest to atone and intercede for its members, its King, to govern by mild and holy laws. He was OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. / Head over all things to the church. It is in virtue of his former office, that Christ institutes and appoints a living ministry. The prophetic function consists in revealing, confirming, and perpetuating the doctrines which contain the will of God for the salvation of man. No man had seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son declared him; and because he dwelt in the bosom of the Father, and knew the mind of the Father, he was qualified for the task. In order to make known the di\ane A\'ill unto men, he gave unto liis apostles the words which his Father gave him, (John xvii. 8, 14,) how- ever .deep and enraptured those words might be. This authority to reveal and teach was confirmed by miracles of mercy, and ratified by death: and that it belonged to hiin to promulgate in all ages the doctrines of salvation, is evident from the fact, that it was his Spirit which was in the prophets, (1 Peter i. 11,) which prophets instructed the an- cient church ; and that, when ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto men, (Eph. iv. 8,) and among those gifts were these, " He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," which body is the miiversal church. Notliing, therefore, can be clearer than that Christ, by virtue of his prophetic function, had power and authority to provide for the diffusion of his own 8 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY truth to the end of time ; and this power he ex- ercised by selecting his servants, and appointing them their work. It was after his solemn inaugu- ration and unction, at the river Jordan, that he called the twelve apostles, and sent them forth on their arduous commission; and afterwards seventy- others also. But in neither case was there any pre- fatory reasoning, to show the fitness or expediency of the requirement : his language is that of calm and irresistible authority: "Go your ways; I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves." Nor had they obeyed long, before the miraculous effects which followed their preaching proved that, the comnussion was divine. During our Lord's life on earth, they were under his teaching ; and when he spoke of his church as of a household, the master of which was absent, he showed that they, during that absence, were the responsible servants, and sub- ordinate rulers ; administering meat unto all in due season, until the hour when he, the Lord and Master, should return: and if that hour be the end of all things here, (and that it is, the context abundantly proves,) then was the office of minister or steward to be perpetual. He called their attention to a special promise which he made them, and which should be fulfilled on his going away, — the promise of the Holy Ghost, who should teach them all things, and bring all things to their remembrance, what- soever he had said unto them. Thus he referred OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 9 to an invisible, but a divine and ever-present Teacher, who should be with them when they could have his bodily presence no longer ; and this prepared the way for those further communications which he made after his resurrection. He then announced, " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." (John XX. 21.) Their mission was, then, subordinate to his own, and a part of the same great design. And further, " Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses mito me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts i. 8.) And at the con- clusion of the same discom'se, he issued his final and comprehensive commission : " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things what- soever I command you : and, lo, 1 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. xxviii, 19, 20.) From this mandate it is e\ddent, first, that the ministry was appointed to all places V with equal authority ; for the sphere was " all nations." And, secondly, that it was not a temporary appointment, but a permanent one ; for the solemn engagement was, that he, by his Spirit, should be with them always, and unto the end of the world. The apostles died, like other men, at no great dis- tance from this period; and therefore the promise b5 10 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY contemplated their successors for ever, whoever those successors might be, and in whatever manner they might be ordained. There was a divine vdsdom in the allotment of different orders of ministers according to time and place, and the exigencies of the world around. " He gave some, apostles." To the Gentiles then existing, and even to the contemporary Jews, Christ sent those who had been called by him in person, invested with miraculous powers and plenary inspiration, to lay the foundation of the church, to complete the system of new-covenant doctrine, and to prove, with indubitable evidence, the divine origin of the whole : but as personal and miraculous vocation was not repeated, the apostolic order, as signif3dng persons sent by Christ, became extinct after their death; and we are not, with modern enthusiasts, to look for modern apostles. He also gave " some, prophets." To those dispersed Jews who were to be found everywhere, and who read the ancient Scriptures without fully understanding them, men divinely taught by the Spirit were appointed, who explained the written word, and made the Old Testament light to mingle with the New ; a service this, which was important likewise to the intelhgent Gentiles them- selves. He gave others "pastors and teachers:" they were appointed to those who had already believed the Gospel, and who were united in church-fellowship ; their work was, as their titles import, to superintend OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 11 the household of God, and to communicate continually both instruction and discipline to all its members. Their function, from its very nature, was abiding. Thus the wisdom which provided for the wants of different times and different people was evidently of a superhuman character, and showed the continued and unwearied interposition of the great Head of the church, giving energy and constant life to his own institution. The Jewish hierarchy beheld the rise of these holy men with wrath and scorn, and felt it hard to learn that the Gentile world was appointed to be saved, and should therefore have a vocal ministry; but so it was. How could those dying men around " call on him in whom they had not believed ? and how should they believe in him of whom they had not heard? and how should they hear without a preacher? and how should they preach, except they were sent ? " No doubt, then, can remain, as to the divine institu- tion of the Christian ministry, as far as the apostles, and their contemporary labourers who were ap- pointed by them, are concerned : while they lived they acknowledged their responsibility to Christ, and to his church ; saying, in reference to both parti- culars, " Let a man so account of ns, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God," (1 Cor. iv. 1,) alludmg no doubt to the para- ble of Christ before mentioned : and, previous to their death, with minds inspired by the Holy Ghost, 12 THE CHRISTIAN MimSTRY they gave directions for the perpetuation of their ministry. It is impossible they could in this matter mistake the intention of their Lord; for the Spirit which they received was promised " to guide them into all truth." Accordingly, Timothy is advised, " The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also ;" (2 Tim. ii. 2 ;) and Titus is reminded, " For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee." Tlius was provision made for the superintendence and instruction of the church prospectively. In the solemn charge which St. Paul gave to Timothy, at the close of his second Epistle, he not only shows what is the work of an evangelist, but also, by predicting the approach of error and migodliness in times to come, and by assigning as a reason for ministerial diligence and holiness the prediction that such times would undoubtedly arrive, clearly evinces that the office itself was to be coeval with all time, and should not be abohshed until the chief Shepherd should appear ; especially as it was to be the great means of perfecting the saints, and edifying the body of Christ. That the men appointed to follow in the track of the apostles were to be equally with the apostles " separated unto the Gospel of God," is clear from the exhortation, " Meditate on these things ; give OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 13 thyself wholly to them," (1 Tim. iv. 15,) that is, to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. To Timothy, whom he represents as entering upon a warfare, an ad- monition is given: " No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life." {2 Tim. ii. 4.) If St. Paul ever wrought with his own hands, and ministered to his o\vn necessities, and thus engaged in the affairs of life, it was voluntary, and for an especial purpose, as he himself pleaded. All those things which Timothy had heard from his inspired director, relating to the ministry itself, he was en- joined to commit unto others, who would in that case be instructed that their whole selves were to be engaged in the service of Christ. Ministers were therefore to be perpetuated from that time thence- forth; ministers who were separated from earthly things, and who were to be considered as consecrated to the Gospel and to God. As Christ had predicted that the Holy Ghost should be given to his servants after his ascension, in order to endue them " with power from on high," and that their work should be efficient, it is, finally, of the greatest consequence that we should be satis- fied that this did take place. Accordingly, we read of the disciples at the day of Pentecost, that " they were all filled with the Holy Ghost;" (Acts ii. 4;) that Stephen was " full of faith and of the Holy Ghost ; " (Acts vi. 5 ;) the same was said of Barnabas; (xi. 24;) and, as the consequence of his J 4 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY labours under such an influence, " much people was added unto the Lord." And after the remark- able illapse of the Spirit at Ephesus, there were such results as to warrant this note of admiration, " So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." (Acts xix. 20.) This accompaniment of the heavenly influence was to be the standing test of the true ministry. That good thing which was committed to Timothy, he was exhorted to keep by the Holy Ghost: he was the seal of Christ to their vocation, and the constant pledge of his approval ; and wherever in after-years results like those spoken of in the sacred narration were realized, the official and ministerial character of those who were the acting instruments in these delightful scenes of employment was recognised. Among those who in modern days have denied that it was a prospective plan of Christ and his apostles to have men separated to the work of the Gospel, and supported by the offerings of the people, the members of the Society of Friends, so called, stand most pro- minent. Their main objections have been met and rephed to in the foregoing observations : -and when they would further state that the internal teachings of tlie Spirit render a living guide and pastor un- necessary, we would quote against them the Lord himself; who, after assuring the pensive band around him that the Spirit should testify of him, obsen'es, " Ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 15 with me from the beginning." Their vocal instructions were not to be dispensed with because the Comforter was given: he rather was intended to quahfy them for the work, and to co-operate with the truth which they declared. Although it may be admitted, that the circumstances of the world are now somewhat different, yet the moral aspect of man in his natural state is the same : the need he has of the twofold call of the Spirit and the Bride, arises from his circum- stances as a sinner. Besides, we are positively told, faith cometh by hearing; and how can men hear without a preacher ? as the apostle himself asks. The Spirit was intended to act, as has been shown, in conjunction with the publication of the Gospel, and not independently of it : and if there were men from the beginning who were accounted overseers of the flock of Christ's disciples, we have warrant to say that it was the Holy Ghost himself who made them so; (Acts XX. 28 ;) and tlie authority of his servant Paul to say too, that to supply those men with all needful temporal things, was a matter not of benevolence, but of equity and right. There is yet another class of persons who have adopted opinions similar to those mentioned above, but who place their objections on a different ground. These are they who are, professedly at least, jealous of the liberties of mankind, and who view with extreme suspicion every thing which wears the sem- blance of temporal or spiritual authority, however it 16 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY may be defined and guarded. This is an unhappy state of mind, and renders any one incapable of examining in a serene and humble manner the Scriptures of truth on the subject. Distorted views of the rights of man will never be rectified but by prayerful submission to the decisions of God ; for in them alone the true relations of all creatures are exhibited, and the rights of each, in consistency with the rights of the whole. Persons who are thus devoted to an illusory and unreal freedom assert, that in the present state of Christianity, ministerial powers may be exercised well enough by men in every rank and condition of life, whatever other temporal em- ployment they have, provided their intelhgence be equal to that of the people among whom they live : but the ministerial office, as we explain it, exhibits a distinction of men to whom certain duties and rights belong, and to them exclusively, let what will be the mode of their appointment. It exhibits, so to speak, a little inclosure, separated from the great secular domain, and no one can pass within but those of certain character and conduct : it warns away the unholy at the entrance, like the inscription upon the ancient temple. This is the ground of suspicion, — the recognition and embodying of a peculiar class : and if an appeal to the Bible be useless as to the pro- priety of this, we have not much hope in appealing to reason. So long as the pastors of Christ's church are sanctified men, (and may the day never dawn OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 17 when they shall be otherwise 1) so long the sacred office will be viewed by very many ^vith envious eyes, because it is connected wdth a privilege and honour not open to all : and would that the mis- guided could know, that there is a sorrow belonging to it as real and incommunicable as the distinction itself ! If the ministry, however, be a mono]3oly, so is heaven. It belongs exclusively to the sanctified; and, as far as it is possible, the rule of admission into the latter, must be applied to the case of the former : " There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." (Rev. xxi. 27.) Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rose against Aaron and his sons, because they had a privilege above the rest of the congregation, even though they had no temporal inheritance; but the awful miracle which overthrew and engulfed them in the act of their sin, shows to all ages that God will guard an institution which he himself has esta- blished. Let the ordeal of scrutiny be rigorous when the question is tried, *'Is such an one called of God and of his church?" but when it is settled, and such an one is chosen, let him, without envy or surmising, take his pastoral crook, and act as an under-shepherd in subordination to Christ the Lord of all. Ha-vdng, as we think, established from the Scriptures the divine institution of the office, and its intended perpetuity until the end of time, we may now briefly show that it is suited to the circumstances 18 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY of man, when scripturally enlightened reason itself is judge. 1. It is suited to our state of moral trial. We assume that the world as it is, and including all the unevangeKzed portions of it, needs an effectual, ever- repeated publication of the truth. This no one who holds revealed rehgion mil deny. If, then, there be not a standing human ministry, to proclaim the Gospel where it is not known, and to maintain its doctrines where it is, the lack must be suppHed by constant miraculous interposition. Angels might suddenly unveil themselves among us, and with deep eloquence declare the will of God and the Gospel of Christ ; but unless they were understood invariably and exactly as Bible truth is understood, and unless the whole coincided, the very circumstance of listen- ing to a messenger from heaven, would tend to shake the New-Testament system ; for it would tend to a conflict of evidence. An awful curse is registered against an angel himself if he should preach any other Gospel than that wliich Paul preached. Be- sides, when moral e\idence respecting divine things is presented to the mind, so as to form "a medium for our trial, the constant recurrence of visible signs and wonders would not be according to the character of that government which God exercises over us. We walk by faith, and not by sight; and faith, if victorious, is rewarded : but it cannot be exercised where its object is confused by continued miracles; OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 19 for not only might the Unity of the truth be de- stroyed by its being variously understood, but signs from heaven, and even messengers again and again returning, might be considered and treated as signs and messengers no more. A voice might speak from the temple of God, it is true; but silence is imposed upon it, until it shall be heard to say, ** It is done," (Rev. xvi. 17,) and when every island shall flee away, and the mountains are not found. Until then, a human ministry best agrees with the pro- bationary character of this our earthly state, and not one carried on by unbodied spirits; for if men " hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." (Luke xvi. 31.) 2. It is recommended by having sympathy on its side. In preaching the Gospel, it is necessary to refer to the inward miseries which sin has intro- duced into the human heart. Wlio could do this so well as they who have experienced them ? It is necessary to pierce into the very dej)ths of feeling and passion, and to detect every manifestation of the carnal mind, in order to show how grace can sanctify and save. Who are best fitted for this work of scrutiny and exposure ? Are not men, who themselves undergo the process ? These things in an angel's sermon would be mere idealisms, — things supposed and believed, but not understood ; but in a man's they would be attended by authority 20 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY aiid force, because suggested by deep experience. Who " knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?"* The great High Priest is represented as eminently quahfied for his profession by being touched vdih the feehng of our infirmities : this was the bond of union between him and the sinners he came to save, — his human sjrmpathy, his fellow-feehng ; he could not have been the Priest he was without it. And shall we not admire the same feature in the pastoral institution of Christ ? Men should preach unto men ; for it is the language of heart to heart : and the heart is what is contended for by God on the one hand, and the enemy on the other. 3. It opens new streams of happiness. A true Christian ministry cannot be exercised without suc- cess in some degree; and where there is success, there will be joy in every city. If a sinner is saved, he is made happy ; but the joy is not confined to his own bosom : like the mystic waters of Jeru- salem, it flows two ways, and the instrument is gladdened by it as well as the receiver. No hap- piness is so pure or so deep, as that which arises * The sacerdotal office is executed here upon earth, but is classed with heavenly things, and deservedly so. For neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power, but the Paraclete himself, hath arranged this institution, and counselled men while in the flesh to imitate the ministry of angels.— Chrysostom, De Sacerd. Hohler's Trans. OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 21 from a consciousness of having contributed to the eternal good of a human being. A relation arises between the servant of Christ and his flock, which is more fruitful of exalted affections than any worldly relationship, because it is not only heavenly but endless. Spiritual children are not only the pastor's crown and rejoicing now, but also will be at the coming of the Lord Jesus, and consequently for ever and ever. That must be a vdse and divine plan which makes such pro\dsion for an increase of moral happiness. 4. Because it furnishes an example of the in- fluence of the laws of Christ as Mediator. In secu- lar society law is made to prevent e\dl, and arms itself against the offender with terrible sanctions. But the laws of Christ are suitable to his redeeming character; for, having in them holiness and mildness blended, they promote the welfare of every true member of his kingdom. "Where shall we look for the effect of these laws but in the church ? and how there, except there be those who are appointed to administer them ? Where they are allowed to have the fullest operation, so great is the peace and joy which follow, that the ministry carries on its face the sign of its divine commission. 5. Because it conduces to the welfare of the community. All who admit that men are benefited by Christianity, must admit that they are benefited by the ministry; for ministers are presumed to pos- 2^. THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY sess its spirit and power; and, being placed in a public position, every word they utter, and every thing they do, has an influence upon the world around. The sphere of every one of them is like the surface of a stone-stricken lake : concentric circles are expanding around, and from time to time, to an indefinite distance ; and if each be an eminently good man, they are circles of goodness, which thrill into each other ; the calm of spiritual apathy is dis- turbed; men are called from their undue attention to earthly things, and led to think on things eternal. Nothing tends more to felicitate human society tlian when a considerable portion of Christ's ser- vants are permitted to mingle with the secular part thereof, and to infuse their habits of sacred thought and feeling into all families within their reach. The same reasoning will show how beneficial they are to a nation. Glowing descriptions are fomid in the writings of the prophets, of the peace of those nations among whom the Gospel prevails. The true ministers of the Gospel, then, by their prayers and labour, yield a portion of that peace even before the millennium : just as the first-fruits are beau- tiful and acceptable, though only small compared with the harvest. History has shown, that because of their near connexion with the community, their influence through the public mind has reached the seat of government; and there being legitimately felt and considered, it has returned back again in OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 23 the form of law ; and O, were they all holy men, how might that law be imbued with the spirit which has just been described ! So far have we endeavoured to prove that the pastoral office was instituted by Christ; and that it is eminently suited to the moral wants and exi- gencies of man as he now exists, and as he shall exist to all ages. Whatever is human we know is imperfect ; and, therefore, in the ministry itself we have had many instances of moral frailty. Sufficient sanctifying grace may not have been obtained to subdue every imholy temper in many of the ser- vants of Christ ; and errors of judgment may have often been committed by them; yet, as far as they have acted by their Master's law, they have been as productive of good to the church and the world, as fountains are productive of water. Leaving the apostles in that heaven, into which they doubtless entered after they finished their course, let us look along the ministerial line. There were Ignatius and Polycarp, martyred at the evening of a spotless and laborious life : — Athanasius, who adored his Saviour as God over all, even against the world: — Chrysostom and Basil, whose ministry was full of Christ, and rich in evangelical miction; insomuch that once it was said of the former, it were better the sun should not shine than that he should not preach. There was, after a dark interval, Luther, arising like some stem prophet in ancient times to 24 THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY plead the cause of God against idolatry; who, after he had brought back the truth as it is in Jesus, let fall his mantle on a milder band, Melancthon, Calvin, Zuinglius : — Hooker, whose majestic mind seemed to delight in nothing so much as in con- templating the heavenly world, and the various orders of angels who inhabit it, and whose most ardent endeavour and desire was that the earthly Zion might resemble that divine original: — Baxter, who spent half a century of weakness and pain in mourning over a dying world, and who sent his pathetic call by wTiting to many people who never knew him after the flesh : — Whitefield, lifting up his voice like a trumpet, and declaring to a guilty po- pulace the unsearchable riches of Christ: — Wesley, with calm and resistless energy, bearing evangehcal light into every corner of the land, in spite of per- secution and scorn ; not only tasking his own powers to the uttermost, but arousing the energies of others, so as to put the whole of the then slumbering church in motion, and to make provision, as far as human means could be a provision, for the enlargement of that mighty work which he saw, with- a prophet's eye, was only the beginning of greater things : — Benson, who carried his trembling audience with rapid transition from the mount that burned with fire to the hill of Calvary: — Hall, who exulted in lofty strains at the coming kingdom of Christ: — and, finally, Watson, whose eye, like that of Moses, OF DIVINE INSTITUTION. 25 seemed capable of siirve3dng both the wilderness and Canaan, and who led us in his aspirations from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord: — besides a host of others, whose names are almost forgotten on earth, and whose only record is on high. These were men of different times and of different churches : some exercised their vocation under the smile of the secular magistrate, some under his frown, some under his indifference ; but as the evidence of their call was seen in their ability, holiness, and success, we see that it is the Holy Ghost who draws the line down the course of time, sometimes crossing the institutions of men, and sometimes running parallel with them; and that it is he who shows who are the true ministers of Christ, and the fol- lowers of the apostles and martyrs of the primi- tive age. CHAPTER 11. MINISTERS ARE CALLED OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. " Tell me, shall we still seek the cause of the anger of God while we assign such holy and fearful things to be polluted by sinful and worthless men?" — Chrysostom. Throughout the pages of this Essay, the word of God alone is taken to be a sufficient and para- mount authority. There would have been less need to insist on this, had there not arisen within the bosom of the church of England a band of divines, who, belonging to the school of archbishop Laud, are using all their learning and influence to revive some of the most dangerous doctrines held in com- mon by that prelate and by Romanism. Perceiving that if the Scriptures are taken to be the sole source of doctrinal instruction, this system cannot stand, they loudly assert the necessity of what is called Catholic Tradition: and, despite of the un- doubted great talents of many of this school, it is strangely argued, first, that this catholic tradition is to be used for establishing the " divinity of Scripture," MINISTERS ARE CALLED OF GOD. 21 ■ — a position'utterly untenable, and which, if otherwise, could be very well spared ; and then, that the Scrip- ture as interpreted by tradition, is to be referred to as the final testof truthj — a process which puts Scrip- ture in the back-ground after all. The great re- formers began by exposing this master-dogma of Popery, and directed wearied and harassed men to repose their whole souls upon undoubted and undistorted revelation; and if they found the word tradition in the New Testament, they showed, as bishop Burnet afterwards, that " in the apostles' days, and for some ages after, it is very clear they meant only the conveyance of the faith, and not any unwritten doctrines." And if they referred at all to tradition in the Popish sense, it was only to show that even this, as far as it was worth anything, was decidedly against their opponents. Indeed, the heretics of the primitive age were the first who referred to unwritten tradition, and the orthodox frequently met them on their own ground; so that, in this respect, they and the reformers acted alike. If the exclusive authority of the sacred writings be the question, nothing can bear more directly on the subject than the testimony of the earliest fathers, including Irengeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasius, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, and Chrysostom, all of whose sentiments are merged and included in a remarkable saying of Basil, as quoted by Jeremy Taylor : "^^ It is a manifest fall from the faith, and 28 MINISTERS ARE CALLED the clear vice of pride, either to refuse anything of what the Scripture contains, or to introduce any thing that is not written." But if we had none of these testimonies, the evidence of the sufficiency of Scripture would not at all stand affected. The opinions of men have in all ages vanished away like vapours from the sky, while written revelation has been a steady light, " shining in a dark place." As the navigator on the trackless ocean, for common and minor purposes, may consult his chronometer, but for higher must observe the clear and unchang- ing index of the heavens; and even by this sidereal observation must try the correctness of the chro- nometer itself: so the theologian may occasionally advert to the formulae of men, the symbols and ex- positions of councils; but receiving these as secon- dary information, he must ever, both to test them and guide himself, look to the oracles of God, upon which alone is impressed the stamp of infallibility. It is allowed on all hands that the Scriptures are B£OTrv£v(TTOQj " iusplrcd of God ;" consequently true as God is true : surely, then, they may be allowed to speak for themselves on the subject of their own sufficiency ; and whoever will listen in the spirit of a docile disciple of Christ, to him the controversy will be at an end. For we are told, 2 Tim. iii. 17, that the Scriptures are given in order " that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good word and work;" and how can that make a man OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 29 perfect as a teacher which is not itself perfect as a rule ? And again, the decision of Christ is solemnly recorded against Jewish traditions, when they were brought to distort the written word ; and by what argument is it made to appear, that subsequent tradition rests on a better foundation, or is more authoritative, than Jewish ? And, finally, the whole canon closes with an awful threatening of divine judgments on him who shall have the presumption to add unto the words which that canon contains. Turning aside, therefore, from human systems, we submit all opinions, whether our own or those of others, to the paramount and indefectible authority of the word of God. The apostolic rule, in reference to those who are appointed to the pastoral office, is, that they shall be " faithful men," and able to "teach others." The word " faithful," standing as it does, can only mean trustworthy ; and, perhaps, was used in consequence of the well-established New-Testament simile of a *^ steward," being employed in speaking of a ser- vant of Christ. To be faithful is to discharge all the responsibilities of an important trust. The Lord's message is not to be less serious and im- portant, because in the mouth of his servant : his truth is to be announced, and his purposes sought to be accomplished, with guileless and constant sincerity. This is the broad and general rule which bears upon the subject; but, general as it so MINISTERS ARE CALLED is, no stricter is necessary, or ought to be neces- sary, to deter a man from entering the visible fold of Christ, who is conscious that to carry on the purposes proposed by the Gospel, is not his chief end and aim: such an one could not be called in any sense, true or perverted, a faithful man; and especially when we remember that in the days of St. Paul, faithfulness had to be put so severely to the test, that if it were not stronger than the love of life, it could not for long subsist. In those days this scriptural canon was a stern one; and indeed is so still : for who shall presume to relax the strictness of an inspired law, or give it a looser sense than it had when first enacted? The men contemplated by the apostle, are those who are willing to consider themselves as responsible for carrying on the designs of Christ in the world, not- withstanding they are called to suffer opposition, and pain, and death itself. But this is not all : the New Testament goes into detail; for where Titus is directed in his choice of elders, the rule enjoins that the person chosen shall be avty/cXTyroe, " blameless," as " the steward of God ;" and, after enumerating other moral qualities, requires that he be just, holy, temperate, — the first great distinction including all the less ones. The word aveyKXrjTog is used likewise in reference to a candidate for the office of deacon. (1 Tim. iii. 10.) The two other places in which it occurs are, 1 Cor. i. 8, and Coloss. OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 31 i. 22; in the first of which it is used to signify the result of being confirmed in the truth and pri- vileges of the Gospel, and as a preparative for the day of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and by the use made of it in the second, it is shown to signify that which flows from reconciliation to God through Christ. The blamelessness here specified, then, must be taken to mean that Christian holiness which instrumentally is produced by unfeigned faith in Christ, and immediately by the Holy Ghost, and is a concomitant blessing of justification. If all this cannot be deduced from the word itself, (and we would not strain a meaning,) the sense is fixed by the context, which makes the adjectives " just " and *'holy" to be minor details of the grand characteristic, aveyKXrjTog. Justice, holiness, and temperance, are things not to be found in man's fallen nature, but are rather fruits of that Spirit, who is the author and maintainer, not merely of religious belief, but of religious experience. That a person designed for the ministry must possess Christian holiness, in the strictest sense of the word, is evident from the nature of the work he will have to enter upon, which is, to " feed the flock of God." This figurative expression implies much. If those which are to be fed are souls, then he who feeds them, must himself be able to understand what are the wants, and weaknesses, and miseries of a soul in its unsaved state; and what its joys and aspirings, S2 MINISTERS ARE CALLED when pardoned and regenerate, and what its temp- tations and conflicts throughout a life of trial ; and be able to administer his supplies according to the state of the individual. "Lay hands suddenly on no man," said St. Paul to his son in the Gospel. Timothy himself, although supernaturally endowed, must pause before he ushers into the church a minister, because the man of his choice could be no neutral character, — ^he must prove either a blessing or a curse. A pastor "must be blameless," we would reiterate ; not merely free from reproach in all the relations in which he stands to man, but one who, as far as man can judge of man, is in Christ Jesus; on whom there is no condem- nation imposed on the part of his God ; and who walks not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. God alone can know infallibly who are in Christ; but there are always outward evidences of inward religion, and these are invariably to be required : they are the fruit of the Spirit, which " is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Against those who exhibit this fruit, says the apostle, "there is no law : " in the evangelical sense, they are blameless. Many persons who abound in the holy tempers and evidences of grace just mentioned, may often commit errors of judgment, and in consequence do wrong, and be led into involuntary transgression; but purity of motive being the great test of moral sincerity, sin OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. oS in such a case is not imputed; and even where sin is committed after conversion, and condemna- tion follows, a renewed act of faith in Christ, when accompanied by deep humiliation and desire, is a means of restoration to a consciousness of that par- don which is the ground-work of regeneration, and to the possession of peace, its heavenly companion ; and the believer, in reference to the general character of his state before God, is blameless. But never must it be forgotten that, in all circumstances, it is through the atonement of Christ. We cannot, for a moment, meditate on the apos- tolic rule already mentioned, without perceiving the mind of the Holy Ghost, in reference to the subject to which it refers. A pastor must be blameless : in other words, a steward of God must be a child of God ; exercising that faith in Christ which jus- tifies him freely, and brings to him the Comforter ; who, dwelling and abiding in him, continues to sanc- tify the new nature which he has produced, and to make him holy and unblamable in love. God who searcheth the heart can alone know, as has been just said, who answers this description ; but the outward signs of this state of grace are to be invariably sought after, and the profession of it required from the individual under trial. We are told by our papalizing divines, that the Christian church is now what the Jewish nation was once, — the "beloved of God;" and that all who are c5 34 MINISTERS ARE CALLED admitted into it by baptism as administered by the hands of those who have been episcopally ordained, and who have in a visible line succeeded to the apostles, are in consequence holy, that they are regenerate and in Christ Jesus, members of his church ; and, as such, partaking of the emblems of his broken body and shed blood, they are confirmed as saints and heirs of life eternal. Thus grace is represented as being efficaciously conveyed by means of the sacraments, and the evangelical covenant established to those, and only to those, who receive them under certain circum- stances. Far be it from us to speak lightly of those signs and seals of God's love and merciful intentions towards us which baptism and the Lord's supper are. We devoutly acknowledge the former to be the rite of admission into the Christian church, and emblematic of that effusion of the Holy Ghost which all who believe in Jesus shall receive; and that the other is a memorial of those atoning sufferings which procured all our privileges both of grace and glory; and further still, that they are both covenant pledges on the part of God, that he will be faithful to convey all those blessings, to which they symbolically refer, into the souls of those who are faithful to their part of the covenant according as their circumstances may require. When we then receive those sacraments, we confess to engage in a federal act, which is equivalent to OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 35 signing our names, or any other mode of assent which might be understood as binding. But to become a party to a covenant, and to fulfil its pro- visions, are very different things; for we see that . many have been baptized, as Simon Magus was, who have neither part nor lot in the matter, and who, like him, are declared to be in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity. That infants are members of Christ's true church, is acknowledged, not because of their baptism, but because of the constitution under which they are born, and because they are interested in the free gift which comes upon all men to justification of life ; and therefore, being members of the church, baptism in their case is truly significant of that pacific relation in which they stand to Christ, and of that influence of the Holy Ghost under which they are placed. It is true we cannot tell what is that process by which they are connected with Christ ; and how, in case of their removal from the world, the original stain is washed away : we know what is necessary in the case of adults ; but this case cannot be scrutinized, and it suffices us to know, even from the declaration of Christ himself, that "of such is the kingdom of heaven," — then previously, without doubt, members of the kingdom of grace on earth. But we cannot be too strongly or solemnly impressed with the truth, that PERSONAL FAITH IN Christ, whicli is pre- ceded and accompanied by true repentance, is the S6 MINISTERS ARE CALLED only means of admission into the invisible and true church, the names of whose members are written in heaven. Of this, all adults, except those in a state of idiocy, are capable, under the influence of God; and of all adults it is inexorably required ; and indeed this was the first lessoli taught to the great apostle of the Gentiles, when it was told him by the Lord, that he was sent " to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified," or rather, among the hal- lowed ONES, " through faith which is in me." (Acts xxvi. 18.) Gladly do we admit that the visible church is said to be beloved of God, as the original church of the Romans was ; and that this or similar expressions are often employed in the Scrip- tures; but they refer to the actually sanctified por- tion of the church, which charity would lead us to hope is the greater portion. Baptism, when administered to a believing adult, who is recovered from heathenism, is the active expression of God's promise, and may become, under such circumstances, the actual channel of grace, as well as the rite of consecration to the Trinity ; and when administered to that believer's child, it is a pledge on the part of his heavenly Father, that he will maintain his merciful relations to the child also ; who, although it cannot repent and believe, has OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 37 nevertheless an interceding Saviour, and a praying parent. But how can the rite in either case, by whomsoever administered, ex opere operato, convey grace, as the Popish doctrines teach, or open the gate into Christ's spiritual and invisible fold ? Baptism and the Lord's supper are of a federal character, both solemn and binding : they conduct into a state of church privilege, but not necessarily into a state of salvation. All this is digression ; but, after all, it is subservient to our main purpose, which is to show, that a man cannot be a Christian by ritual consecration, and that he cannot be con- sidered holy because admitted into some section of the visible church, however that church may in a conventional sense be termed " holy," and " beloved," and the " house of God." " In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour." {2 Tim. ii. 20.) " The Lord knoweth them that are his." The apostolic requirement is, then, that a pastor be a Christian, and holy in that sense which we scarcely need to establish. Regeneration in his case flows from faith in Christ; for he that "believeth that Jesus is the Christ," St. John says, "is born of God;" which being born of God, is explanatory of that being born ai^iodev, "from above," without which a man cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. (John iii. 5 — 7.) The same faith it is which first in 38 MINISTERS ARE CALLED order brings the forgiveness of sins : and thus all the benefits of adoption, without a reservation or hin- derance, are bestowed on the believer ; and on him rests the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost, by whose operation is produced his evangelical blamelessness. " The righteousness of the law," saith the apostle, is "fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom. viii. 4.) Having the Bible in our hands, and taking its precepts in their obvious sense, we hold that no man is eligible to be appointed a minister, who does not give evidence that his heart and conduct have been fully brought under the influence of that Gospel which he is to teach : if it be not so, he cannot labour with a ready mind ; and, in conse- quence, cannot answer the demand of the New- Testament canon. If he be brought into ever such an unbroken line of succession from the apostles, it is all in vain: no power on earth can ordain an individual who, upon the principle of St. Paul, has no right to be viewed as a candidate for the pastoral ofiice. The first successor or successors of Timothy who ordained an unholy man, so far from being led by the Spirit into all truth, even in the sense in which the church of Rome argues, are convicted by the written word, of having departed from the guid- ance of that Spirit, unless the Spirit in the word, and the Spirit moving on the understanding, may utter contradictory and opposing language. The OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. o9 first person in the line of ordination who, when he was inducted, could not be called a faithful man, broke the claim of that line, as such, to the authority of Christ and of the Holy Ghost ; and the true ministry was perpetuated only among its own faithful living links, and among others with whom they had no outward or visible communion. In many corrupted churches which are called apostolical, how many breaches have been made ? Let the records of ecclesiastical history reply. A minister is called of God ; and we have been endea- vouring to establish the fact, that he must have undoubted piety, and unequivocal sincerity, before he is a subject of that call : this moral state is a preliminary, not something which must be sought for afterwards. The youthful prophet must be in the temple, waiting with devout and hallowed feelings for the Lord, in order to prepare him for that solemn and decisive vocation, which shall prompt the reply, " Speak ; for thy servant heareth." Having seen that it is the true Christian, and he only, who can be the subject of the Spirit's call to the ministry, we may now inquire in what that call consists ; or how the mind of the Spirit, in reference to any particular person, may be known. The written word shall still be our guide. Accordingly, we find St. Paul stating, " If a man desire the ofiice of a bishop," or pastor, "he desireth a good work." The clear inference here we think is, that the ministerial 40 MINISTERS ARE CALLED work and office is the object of desire; and that this inward desire, on the part of him who is the subject of it, must go before all application to be ordained; and that, if it is the Holy Ghost who makes the overseers who are over the flock, (as stated Acts XX. 28,) then the first step of his operation after their conversion, is to produce and maintain in their minds this desire after the employment, be it of greater or less intensity. This is to be considered the general and ordinary mode of vocation ; for in those few instances, in which a person is summoned by God, and yet he on the other hand will not believe the voice is God's, and labours to avert his mind from the subject, it is either when the sumr mons is sudden and extraordinary, like that in the case of Saul of Tarsus, or when the appointed work is out of the usual course, and perilous, as in the case of Moses and the prophet Jonah. It is not sufficient to say that a dread of the ministry, on account of its sacredness, is a proof that desire for it is not present: the emotions are not at all incon- gruous: the deepest dread may co-exist with the most fervent desire.* * On this and on other subjects connected with our design, we may profitably adduce the opinions of the reformer Calvin ; who, although bewildered by a metaphysical philosophy in his intei-pretation of those scriptures which refer to the extent of redemption, brought to the study of the word of God a discri- minating judgment and a devout mind. On the point before OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 41 As long as we argue with those who believe the Scriptures, it will not be difficult to show that the Holy Ghost may be, and is, the author of special and peculiar desires in the minds of Christians; for to produce them is a part of that working, by which us, referred to in 1 Tim. iii. 1 , he shows that ambition, which in all worldly cases is sinful, is so in a high degree when it has for its object the ministry, — that is, as we understand him, the honours and emoluments of the ministry ; that the apostle in this place speaks of pious desire ; and also that individuals who devote their youth to sacred studies, may give, nay, ought to give, themselves to the pastorate. Yet the whole passage likewise shows, that their undoubted piety is already assumed by him, — by which, no doubt, in their case he understands the divine vocation j and that they are to be called by others as well as by God. " Verum quaeritur an ullo modo episcopatum appetere liceat. Videtur enim absurdum ut quis voto prseveniat Dei vocationem. Atqui Paulus dum temerarium desiderium reprehendit, per- mittere videtur ut curcumspecte et modeste quis appetat. Re- spondeo, si aliis in rebus damnatur ambitio, in episcopatu multd gravius damnandum esse. Atqui apostolus de pio desiderio loquitur, quo student sancti homines quicquid habent doctrinae conferre ad ecclesiae aedificationem : nam si docendi munus ap- petere omnino nefas esset, quorsum se discendo compararent, qui totam adolescentiam in sacrae Scripturae lectione consumunt ? an non Theologicae Scholae Pastorum sunt seminaria? Proinde qui ita sunt instituti, non modo licite possunt, sed etiam debent etiam antequam in munus sunt co-optati voluntaria oblatione se ac suam operam sacrare Deo. Modo tamen non se ingeraht ipsi, ac ne voto quidem suo se designent episcopos ; sed tan- tum parati sint ad munus obeundum, si eorum opera flagi- tetur." The subject of Theological Institutions is noticed in the proper place. 42 MINISTERS ARE CALLED he helps human infirmities in prayer. But it is only in connexion with sonship ; " for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." If we have to do with infidels and sceptics, it must suffice at this time to show that our doctrine is not chargeable with absurdity : for every day shows that men by signs and words are able to influence men ; and as this is mind acting upon mind, it indi- cates that God too may immediately so act upon one who is his own creature, as to produce certain desires and a certain purpose, especially if that purpose be a very beneficial and holy one. It is in ways like these that the Spirit operates upon the souls of those who are under his initiatory training: he produces a more than ordinary concern at the misery and danger of unconverted men; he causes a secret but growing love to those devotional acts of which the ministry is full, such as prayer, contemplation, Christian fellowship, and visits to the sick ; he sheds a light upon the written word, causes many a beam to fall upon an especial place, by which some hidden harmony is brought to view; he cherishes that longing in the soul to know the mind of God, which in the breast of the Christian is as restless a principle as is ambition in a worldling, or genius in a poet. These are the elements of that craving which the called one of Christ will feel: sometimes it rises in full strength soon after a remarkable conversion ; and sometimes, in the case of a religious youth, it OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 43 begins early in life, and is coeval in ardour with his growth in grace. In every case it is a craving after the work and influence of the ministry as a means of good, and not after any honours or emoluments which are connected therewith. It is an emotion which is taken to be the same in character, as that which the candidates in Timothy's time were conscious of, who could not possibly choose the ministry for anything but as being the institution of Christ, and a channel of grace unto the world; because, in those days, as far as regards worldly possessions, it was poor as the Son of man, and was the door- way to suffering, and scorn, and death. Every emotion of the mind has its correspondent outward expression ; and, therefore, this will show itself whenever it has existence. A desire for the ministry cannot long be concealed, nor indeed ought it to be; for it must be evinced previous to all theological training. The order of things is not to be reversed : no education can anticipate the call of God, or has a right to presume upon it: if a literary and bib- lical course be deemed necessary afterwards, it be- comes a different question, which shall have atten- tion in its proper place. A man must be a prophet, in order to enter the school of the prophets. If any church-system allows of scholarship, as the preliminary qualification, with the expectation that the Holy Spirit will sanction the man, it 44 MINISTERS ARE CALLED is an expectation that may not be realized; or, even if it is, the order of God is inverted, which alone can give authority to a rule. When the sacred desire arises in the breast, and v^hen it is shown to be genuine, by a pious deportment, then let our aspiring friend be sent to his tutors to be instructed more perfectly; but not, as far as the ministry is his object, until then ; and when it arises, it will soon be confessed.* The next evidence to be adduced is, the con- currence of the church ; which connects with it an acknowledgment of the individual's reputation. On this, St. Paul, our authority, laid stress: " He must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." The reasons for this are many. First : such a requirement is an indispensable check to fanaticism. A madman may deem himself called to a throne; a visionary may consider himself divinely commissioned to burn a cathedral ; and many a one, not wicked but weak, may conceive that he is bound to preach the Gospel.f If it be his sole opinion, and no one in the church or in the * I do not, however, say it is a fearful thing to desire the work, but the power and authority. — Chrysostom on Timothy. f When the blessed Paul says, that " he must have a good report of them which are without," he by no means supersedes a severe and strict investigation, nor does he consider such an investigation to be the leading indication. — Chrysostom. OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 45 world concurs with him, he is convicted of delusion ; for the world has a standard of propriety to judge by ; and the church has the standard of Scripture, against the precepts of which no pretensions to spiritual light are of the importance of a feather. Secondly: it is a check to that zeal which is not according to knowledge, as well as a test of enlightened and scriptural zeal. Many persons, in the first fervour of their Christian love, and in the compassion which they feel for the perishing, are apt to aim at extensive usefulness, and to think that nothing but the ministry will be proper for them as a sphere ; and persons, too, whose habits of mind, and inferior gifts, would make them miser- able in such a yoke. This test is applied to them in mercy : it may prevent their entrance upon a path of difficulties, in which they would, before long, sink ignominiously. Every company of be- lieving people is supposed to be capable of judging of the New-Testament doctrine in reference to ministerial candidates ; and, therefore, the collective wisdom of the church confirms or denies the in- dividual's call, testing it by the view they take of the Scripture standard. There were many holy and happy persons among the converted when the apostles first preached Jesus ; but when they would supply the subordinate office of the church, the deaconship, care was taken to have persons, even from among them, who were of honest report. How 46 MINISTERS ARE CALLED much more care then was needful in reference to the pastoral office ! Whoever is appointed to this last, he must be no " novice ;" Gr., veocpvTov, — (1 Tim. iii. 6 ;) not nev^ly come to the faith, or inexperi- enced : and of whom can the inquiry he made, but of the fathers and brethren with whom he holds communion ? When the summons is unequivocal, the concurrence of the church gives a high and additional satisfaction to the mind of God's ser- vant himself, and is a shield against temptation : indeed, without it his authority is incomplete. In the business of personal religion, a believing penitent, who has affiance in the atonement of Christ, receives an inward witness of his adoption, which to himself is satisfactory : but, in addition to this, there is the testimony of his own spirit; that is, a consciousness that his powers are renewed ; and, indicative of the mighty change, there is the manifold fruit, confirming the persuasion immedi- ately vouchsafed. Very similar to this conjoined evidence, is that by which an individual is attested to be the intended servant of Christ and of his church. The Holy Ghost speaks in person unto him, and his brethren echo back the voice : both in reference to this matter, as well as to individual salvation, " the Spirit and the Bride say, Come." (Rev. xxii. 17.) It is not a sufficient observance of the rule, when two or three individuals only are concerned OP GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 47 in promoting the entrance of the candidate into the church : they may be his personal friends or re- lations, and therefore partial; they may have tem- poral emoluments at their disposal, and may be actuated by a sinister motive of providing a main- tenance for him. The approbation of such persons, however loud and cordial, can never come up to that " good report " which the Scripture, by in- ference and precept, requires ; and no church can, in obedience to Christ, open so wide the door of admission, as to allow any one to enter with a suffrage like this.* The " good report " can only be ascertained from the immediate congregation or society; and is officially made by those expe- rienced and qualified members thereof, who sit in the deliberative assembly. Then it is shown who, and who not, are faithful men. A third particular, which may be mentioned as a mark of the Lord's chosen one, is this, — the con- current arrangements of Providence. He is not * What wonder is it, that worldly men, doing every thing for glory, popular applause, and wealth, thus err; when they who affect to be freed from all these are not better disposed, and, when they contend about heavenly matters, deliberate as if a few acres of land, or some such thing, were the subject; and carelessly take and appoint common men over those things for which the only-begotten Son of God refused not to make him- self of no reputation, and to become man, and to take the form of a servant, and to be spit upon, and scourged, and in the flesh to die a reproachful death? — Chrysostom. Mr. Wesley's united criteria were, gifts, grace, fruit. 48 MINISTERS ARE CALLED merely incited to tlie ministry, but his way is made plain. It is impossible to believe the Bible, and to reject the doctrine of a special Providence. The natural world is governed by grand and uniform laws, we know ; and there is no departure from them, except in the case of miracle : but as man is the subject of God's moral government, infinite intel- ligence may so influence the proximate causes and effects which are around us, as that they shall be subservient to a moral purpose. It is natural that famine should lead to migration; so it was in the case of Jacob and his family ; but it was providential in accomplishing a purpose of God. Thus the very hairs of our head are numbered, — all his saints are in his hand. The illustrations of this doctrine are more or less signal, according to time or circumstances ; but they may be confidently looked for in those steps by which a person is led to the sacred work we speak of: this is a solemn part of his life, and providential interposition may be expected to display itself. Accordingly, if he has been engaged in worldly pursuits^ an unex- pected opportunity occurs of closing them ; if he has been poor and unfriended, he is brought into the notice of the church; if he has family incum- brances, they disappear; and if he be secretly meditating designs in relation to the great under- taking, the hearts of others are secretly inclined OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 49 to project the same plans, and to fall in with them. In these, and many other ways, may the hand of God display itself. Saul departs, bhnd and terror-stricken, to Damascus; hut Ananias is se- cretly prepared to receive him. If every Christian is exhorted, " Acknowledge him in all thy ways, and he will direct thy path," much more is the ministerial candidate; and no man will find more than he, the truth of the text exemplified; for the way he is about to take is an awfully important one, fraught with infinite consequences, not only to himself, but to others : and if that way be made plain, nothing remains but to pursue it at all hazards; for when God calls, obedience or peril must follow. This, then, is the summary of what we would say constitutes a person faithful, eligible to be put into the ministry, and which proves him to be moved by the Holy Ghost thereunto : — 1. An experimental acquaintance with Chris- tianity, which is rendered indubitable by a holy life. 2. Secret incitements to the work, which are pro- duced by the Spirit ; desire, although often mingled with dread. 3. The concurrent voice of the church, including both pastors and people. 4. Those harmonizing openings of Providence D 50 MINISTERS ARE CALLED which, more or less, according to circumstances, may be expected to appear. The actual appointment of approved probationers rests with the ministry entirely. Matthias was appointed by the eleven ; Timothy by the apostles and the presbytery; from which examples, ordi- nation appears to be an act of ministerial office. Those who are about to discharge this important and responsible part of duty, of course appeal to the people for their hearty concurrence; and, if it be obtained, and a good confession is made before many witnesses, by the individual to be appointed, then the formal ordination is their own work. The practice of antiquity was in conformity with this view: for Cyprian, amongst others, intimates, that it was his constant custom, in all ordinations, to consult the people, and, with their common counsel, to weigh the character and merits of every candi- date ; (Epist. xxxiii., ad Clerum et Plebem ,•) re- serving, of course, to himself and colleagues, the formal function. And it is not by one minister only that a junior pastor is ordained, but by the conjunct act of seve- ral. This is deducible from the New Testament, by the simplest and clearest inference : for Timothy, whose case has just been alluded to, was not or- dained by the laying on of St. Paul's hands only, but likewise by those of the presbytery. And it is diffi- cult to conceive how those episcopal churches who OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 51 adopt a different mode, can justify themselves by a reference to the sacred record : for it is not possible to suppose, that St. Paul should delegate to another an authority which he did not assume himself. Firmilian says, in his day, that " in the church seniors preside who have the power, among other things, of ordaining:" and so, at that time, it was the act of several, and not of one. Connexional churches have their own ministers; and Independent, or Congregational, have the as- sembled neighbouring ones; and thus, in serious and prayerful convocation, and in the presence of the people, they require a public avowal of faith and experience from each probationer, and then set the whole of them apart to the Lord, and to the service of his sanctuary. The laying on of hands is a scriptural and impressive circumstance, and ought, therefore, to be observed as well as any other which has apostolic usage for its precedent. The practice is older than Christianity, having been derived from the Jews, who made use of it on several occasions. Hands were laid on the sacri- fices, as if to transfer the guilt of the offerer to the expiatory offering; and subsequently the elders of the synagogues used it, who laid their hands on the head of a person when they prayed to God especially on his behalf. Our Lord observed the same custom, both when he conferred his blessing on children, and when he healed the sick; and so d2 02 MINISTERS ARE CALLED did the apostles likewise, when they inwardly pleaded for the Holy Ghost to rest upon any one. But as no precept was left on record, either by our Lord or his disciples, relative to the observance of this rite, it is evident that it rests upon custom, and not upon divine authority, although it may have arisen originally from a divinely appointed rite by way of imitation. It is no sacramental rite, no opus operatum, conveying either grace or au- thority by its own working, as the church of Rome absurdly teaches ; but as it was performed by those inspired persons who completed the New-Testament canon, and who opened the mysteries which had been hid from ages and generations, it is highly proper that every Christian church should follow their pure and elevated pattern, as the greater num- ber of churches from the beginning have done.* * Calvin regards Timothy as designated to the ministry by prophetic impulse, and then formally ordained by the college of elders, of which, we may ourselves judge by another passage, that St. Paul was the directing authority. The outward act he considers merely a circumstance, as indeed in its Jewish use it always had been, but admits it to be an important and im- pressive one : — " Cseremoniam pro ipso actu ordiimtionis posuit. Itaque sensus est, Timotheum quum prophetatum voce ascitus fuit in ministerium, et deinde solenni ritu ordinatus, simul gratia Spiritus Sancti instructum fuisse adfunctionem suam exequendam. Unde colligimus non inanem fuisse ritum : quia consecrationem quam homines impositione manuum figurabant, Deus Spiritu suo implevit." 1 Tim. iv. 14: "Neglect not the gift," &c. — And again : " Primum impositio manuum ordinationem significat : hoc est, signum pro re ipsa capitur." In loc. cap. v., ver. 22 : OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 5S Thus have we endeavoured briefly to show who are truly and scripturally called to the ministry, and in what formal manner they receive their authority. " Lay hands suddenly on no man." — And again, in 2 Tim. i. 6, he judiciously reconciles the facts, that Timothy was originally introduced into the ministry by Paul, and yet at the same time elected by others ; and he distinguishes, too, between ministerial ordination and church vocation: " Non dubium est quin fuerit communibus ecclesise votis expetitus Timotheus, non autem electus privato unius Pauli arbitrio. Sed non est absurdum ut sibi Paulus electionem privatim ascribat, cujus prsecipuus fuerat auctor. Quanquam hie de ordinatione potius quam de electione agit : hoc est de solenni instituendi ritu." He shows also that the virtue of ordination does not consist in any sacramental efficacy, but rather in the gracious unction at- tendant upon prayer to God: " Hoc constituto quaeritur an per externum signum gratia fuerit data. Ad quam quaestionem re- spondeo, quoties ordinabantur ministri, precibus totius ecclesi» fuisse Deo commendatos ; atque hoc modo impetratam illis fuisse gratiam a Deo, non autem virtute signi fuisse illis datam. Quan- quam signum non frustra nee inutiliter adhibebatur : sed tessera erat minime fallax ejus gratiae quam ex ipsa Dei manu percipie- bant. Neque enim profana quasdam fuit inauguratio ritus ille, ad conciliandam modo in hominum oculis auctoritatem inventa ; sed consecratio coram Deo legitima, quge non perficitur nisi Spiritus Sancti virtute. Praeterea signum pro tota re vel actione accipit Paulus." Charles Wesley's beautiful hymn beginning, "Thou, Jesu, thou my breast inspire," is, perhaps, one of the sublimest and most intensely devotional prayers put into the lips of a ministerial candidate that ever appeared in our language. Dry den's " Veni Creator Spiritus " is solemn and sweet, but devoid of the evan- gelical unction which overflows here. Those who have heard these sacred strains poured forth by a full and large congregation, especially if they are ministers themselves, will never forget the emotions of that hour. 54 MINISTERS ARE CALLED Men are liable to err in themselves, and to be deceived in others; and, therefore, many have been, at different times, appointed ministers who ought not to have been so appointed, and who have either speedily retired, or remained a burden on the people, — "^ fruges consumer e nati'' But among a spiritual and devoted people this will not often be the case. The Holy Ghost, who always glorifies Christ, does not partially attend to the work of raising up a duly qualified ministry: he ever m.akes it appear who are the Almighty's servants, whom he upholds, — his elect, in whom his soul delighteth ; he allures them by his secret voice, and then prepares them for labour by his mighty energy. The unction which he sheds upon them in their after-toil is a proof of his presence and sanction, whoever or wherever they be. Men might be appointed to the sacred office by mere human authority, without having been the subjects of sanctifying grace and divine vocation, and might go to their place in the church, and, like the pillars in some ancient ruined temple, support for awhile the outward and hoary pile; but within is desolation and the moaning of the midnight wind. The Holy Spirit is the glory of the latter house. " A two- fold effusion," as Howe says, " we may expect of the wrath and of the Spirit of God : the former to vindicate himself, the other to reform us. Then will this temple no more be termed forsaken : it OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 55 will be actually and in fact, what in right it is always, Bethel, the house of God, and the gate of heaven. Till then little prosperity is to be hoped for in the Christian church: spiritual prosperity with- out a large communication of the Spirit, it cannot have ; external without it, it cannot bear." As for that theory which would limit ministerial authority to a certain line of men exclusively, who can trace back, as it is asserted, their regular succession from the apostles of our Lord, notching can be more un- worthy in itself, or more dishonourable to the Holy Ghost.* Who ever has shown that there has been * Who have settled the disputes, as to legitimate succession, between Cornelius and Novatian, Liberius and Felix, Damasus and Ursinus, Boniface and Eulatius, Symmachus and Laurentius, Theodore and Paschalis, and numerous others in the church of Rome ? Who has shown who were the undoubted first bishops, or that the very first was ordained by an apostle at all ? Peter did not visit Rome till after Paul's Epistle had been written, it is cer- tain ; and, consequently, not until the church was established. For although Irenaeus (adv. Haeresis iii. 1) and Eusebius (Chron. ad Ann. 2 Claudii) are appealed to by Roman Catholics, to prove that that apostle founded the church, and resided as bishop for twenty-five years, beginning from the second year of Claudius, or A. D. 43, yet, it is evident, those writers refer only to a tradition, which tradition is little heeded by many learned critics of the same church ; and which is refuted, by the fact that Peter, in the sacred history, is said to be imprisoned by Herod Agrippa (Acts xii. 3, 4, and compare ver. 23) in the last year of this king's reign, which year synchronizes with the fourth of Claudius. Of course Peter, after this period, was at Jerusalem, not at Rome ; and it is beyond doubt, he was present at the council of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of Claudius. (Acts xv. 6, &c.) 56 MINISTERS ARE CALLED such an unbroken lineage, as that which is so much vaunted, especially when contending pontiffs have at the same time been disputing each others claim, and raising around them a storm of spiritual thunder? And if it were so, if there were such a chain, does divine influence and unction, imparting authority, confine itself to follow a succession which has so At Paul's visit to Rome, no one appears to liave mentioned or known Peter; if, then, the latter came, lie came after, (as Origen and Dionysiiis testify he did come,) and the church must have heen founded hy some who came back from the feast of Pentecost, and who are probably saluted in Paul's Epistle. They were not apostles. For more copious information, vide SteAvart's Introduction to his Commentary on Romans, pp. 37, 38. The learned and excellent Dr. Clarke, speaking of the unin- terrupted apostolical succession, sarcastically observes, " He who appeals to this for his authority as a Christian minister, had best sit down till he has made it out ; and tliis will be by the next Greek Kalends." Mr. Powell, in his work on "Apostolical Succession," has, with the utmost diligence and learned research, investigated the subject, and established, in summary, the following proposi- tions : — 1st. That there is no positive proof, from the Scriptures, of these claims. 2d. That the general spirit and scope of the Gospel is opposed to them. 3d. That in scriptural evidence they are controverted, as well as by Christian antiquity. 4th. That the church of England, at the Reformation, was against them. 5th. That all the Christian churches in the world, and the greatest divines ©f all ages, have considered that the ministers of Christ are equal in point of order. 6th. That there is no sufficient evidence of a personal succession of valid episcopal ordinations, in the history of any church whatever. And, finally, that the true apostolical succession is the succession of the apostles' faith and holy labours. OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 57 many dismal links ? * Man may indeed so far avail himself of his knowledge as to direct the stream of electric fire, and provide the path in which it shall run; but he cannot so control the illimitable Spirit, nor has the Spirit himself laid down any prescribed track in which he will move. No; " the wind bloweth where it listeth," and vain is the attempt to bind it in fetters : in passing over this desert world, it may move in a gentle breeze, or forceful gust, in a certain path, or by an universal gale ; but it accomplishes the purposes of redeeming mercy, and breathes life and health throughout the sweep. Under its influence many shall arise from spiritual death, as in the vision of the prophet, and shall fill the assemblies of the church and the ranks of the ministry; and the Holy Ghost shall be the universal authority, because he is, when fully obeyed, the universal order, light, and life. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." {2 Cor. iii. 17.) * No one, who looks along the line of either Roman or Anglo- Saxon ecclesiastics, would, on the whole, find reason to be proud of connexion with them ; as will appear from a fragment of Alcuin quoted in Mosheim, (cent. 8, chap. i. 6,) and William of Malmes- bury. (Chap. viii. 6.) Augustine, the founder of the Anglo- Saxon church, appears to have been a spiritual man, and so were the venerable Bede, and Alcuin and Anselm ; but the greater part Avere so sunk in worldliness, that little was gained by a transition from Druidism to a corrupted Christianity, at least till tlie era of Alfred. D 5 58 MINISTERS ARE CALLED If then Moses, with all his learning in the wisdom of the Egyptians, shrank from the task of becoming God's minister, when his call was loud and un- doubted, how much more reason has the most ac- complished individual of the present day to shrink from the very thought of the pastorate, until he is the subject of a scriptural and divine vocation! The forms of church law, in the case of given men, may be complied with; but that fearful passage of the ])rophet may apply, " I sent them not, neither com- manded them, nor spake unto them." (Jer. xiv. 14.) We have heard the cry of warning respecting un- authorized ministers as it is echoed from certain quarters ; nor do we despise such a warning ; for to enter the ministry unauthorized, is an act of pre- sumption, the most awful and guilty that could be committed. But the cry has prompted us more than ever to try the principles on which we rest ; to examine with diligence and prayer the word of God on this momentous subject : and now, being convinced that the teachings of the holy book are such as have been detailed in this chapter, we do echo back the warning with all its eternul weight. If ye who aspire after the pastor's office, or are now placed in it, be devoid of vital holiness, and consequently of love to God and zeal for the salva- tion of souls; whether ye be illiterate and obscure, or whether surrounded by ecclesiastical pomp, and invested with the badges of hoary antiquity, or- OF GOD AND HIS CHURCH. 59 dained by episcopal hands, and fraught with the most elaborate endo\vments ; ye are the intruders who are concerned in this matter! ye are the Nadabs and Abihus of the age, who bring to God's altar strange fire, — if indeed it be fire at all ! On you be the onus of this dread admonition, though we lift it not from ourselves; and even for you would cherish, though quivering with emotion, the utmost prayer and pity: indeed, there is room for nothing else; for we shall soon be judged at the same bar ; the omniscient Judge of which has already said, respecting Gospel ministers, " By their fruits ye shall know them." (Matt. vii. 20.) Servant of the Lord, who hast held on thy way through evil and good report, leave those who frater- nize with Rome to pore over their ''endless genealo-. gies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith;" though it is a wonder that they can do this without trembling, seeing every thing depends upon the continuance of the chain, which haply they may find broken. Leave them to their ill-constructed fable. Thine be tlie richer joy of calHng to mind the repentance, and faith, and par- don, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and concern for the honour of God and salvation of men, of all whicli thou wert the subject: — thine, to trace the inward drawings of the Spirit, and the outward working of God's providential hand, in reference to thy appoint- ment and ordination : — thine, to number up in every 60 MINISTERS ARE CALLED OF GOD. place spiritual children, and to read those epistles written in fair characters, — thy credentials which appear in their holy Hves: — thine, to watch the operation of the same grace within thee still ; and without, the same evidence of the approbation of thy divine Master. EHab may ask thee what thou doest in the army ; but, if strengthened from above, thou wilt live to achieve more than he. Thou wilt fight and conquer, while he is idly vaunting his armour and commission, and wilt lay thy trophies, together with thy sins and unworthiness, at the feet of Christ, the Lord of all. CHAPTER III. THE CHURCH OF GOD AND ITS GOVERNMENT. " Of law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world ; all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feel- ing her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power : both angels, and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy." Hooker. In the present stage of this Essay, it may be well to advert to the meaning of the v^ord church. The Greek word eKK\r](Tta simply means an assembly of people; and is, by consequence, in itself a very general term, and may admit of the following signi- fications, according to the connexion in which it is found : — 1. The company of all those who have been bap- tized in the name of Christ throughout the whole world, and who believe in the doctrines of Christianity. 2. Those who are real believers, and are united to Christ by true faith, and, in consequence, have an inheritance among them which are sanctified: they are said to be the invisible church. 6^ THE CHURCH OF GOD 3. ''A congregation of faithful men, in which the true word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly administered, according to Christ's ordinances in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same." (Artie. Church of England.) 4. A union of several or many such congregations, who are conventionally attached for the purposes of mutual support and direction. These are the most usual meanings of the word; and they are all so needful in their place, that they cannot severally be dispensed with, but the context alone can fix them, except when an especial adjective is employed for the purpose. As the church of Christ, in its largest sense, is, as Mr. Watson observes, " a visible and permanent society, bound to observe certain rites and obey certain rules, the existence of government in it is necessarily supposed. All religious rites suppose order, all order direction and control, and these a DIRECTIVE and controlling power. Again, all laws are nugatory without enforcement, in the present mixed state of society; and all enforce- ment supposes an executive. If baptism be the door of admission into the church, some must jvidge of the fitness of the candidates, and administrators of the rite must be appointed ; if the Lord's supper must be partaken of, the times and mode are to be determined, the qualifications of the communicants judged of, and the administrations placed in suitable AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 63 hands; if worship must be social and pubhc, then again there must be an appointment of times, an order, and an administration ; if the word of God is to be read and preached, then readers and preachers are necessary ; if the continuance of any one in the fellowship of Christians be conditional upon good conduct, so that the purity and credit of the church may be guarded, then the power of enforcing disci- pline must be lodged somewhere. Thus government flows necessarily from the very nature of the institu- tion of the Christian church;" and this government has been provided for by Christ and his apostles, as shall be shown in the course of the following pages. The nature of this government is wholly spiritual. "My kingdom," says our Lord, "is not of this world;" and therefore the laws of the church must partake of that holy and benign character which belongs to the doctrines of the New Testament and to things above. There must be no coercion, no temporal inflictions, either to compel those that are without to enter, or to discipline those who are within: every rule must ajDpeal to the sanctified judgment and aiTections of the Christian people, to the tender relations which subsist between them, and, finally and chiefly, to the comimandments of Christ. Disobedience to these commandments incurs no especial temporal peril; but if extreme and unre- pented of, it entails the loss of grace, and, what 64 THE CHURCH OF GOD is more awful, of eternal life. But the church is assumed to consist in general of the obedient ; and therefore provision must be made, according to the merciful principles of Christianity, to promote that holy walking which is enjoined upon its members, and to admonish, censure, and even, in extreme cases, expel those who persist in a different course. As we are now to show more fully, that this directive control and pastoral care of the church of Christ is committed to his ministers, it is necessary to consider what were the original orders of them, and what form of church polity appeared to be adopted under the sanction of the blessed apostles. Having ascertained this, it will be clear that whatever church approaches the nearest this original pattern, taking times and circumstances into account, it will be most agreeable to the will of God. The apostles were an order supernaturally en- dowed, and immediately commissioned ; and therefore they could ordain no successors. The prophets, too, mentioned in the New Testament, were miraculously gifted, and held a temporary office. The evangehsts, or at least those who were so by eminence, as Timothy and Titus, were never empowered to ordain evangehsts, although they ordained other ministers, and were themselves the assistants of the apostles : that office, too, therefore, as far as it was a special and distinctive one, ceased; although all persons, at the same time, who {evayyeXi^uj) publish the Gospel, AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 65 with proper sanctions, are in the general sense evan- geHsts.* The pastors, therefore, who are included in the same enumeration with the foregoing classes, are to be considered as the permanent ministers of the church, as has been briefly hinted in the first chapter. These pastors are referred to, in various places of the apostohc writings, as consisting of bishops and presbyters, who are to feed the flock : and here the question arises, Are these two distinct orders, or one order with two designations ? The scriptural field of inquiry is not extensive, but clear and 9pen. Wlien St. Paul sent for the presbyters of the church of Ephesus, to meet him at Miletus, he charges them, " Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you £7rf o-KOTToi," — bishops. Presbyters are here called bishops; and the injunction which is given them "to feed the church of God," shows that they are pastors. Again, Paul directs Titus to " ordain presbyters in * Calvin, on 2 Tim. iv. 5, "Do the work of an evangelist," says to this effect : " Opvis facere evangelistse est prasstare quod evangelista dignum est. Caeterum an hoc nomine generaliter significet quosvis evangelii ministros, an vero speciale aliquod fuerit munvis, incertum est. Magis tamen in banc secundam partem inclino -. quia ex quarto capite ad Ephesios haud dubie constat ordinem fuisse inter apostolos et pastores medium: ita ut essent evangelistse apostolis secundi adjutores." It is a wonder that this reference to Ephes. iv. did not lead him to express himself more decidedly ; for it evidently settles the case. 66 THE CHURCH OF GOD every city;" and adds, as a direction, "For a bishop must be blameless." Bishops and deacons are the only official persons addressed in the epistle to the Philippians; and if presbyters were not in- cluded under the term bishops, why is the notice of them omitted? Again, (1 Peter v. 1, 2,) " The presbyters which are among you I exhort, who am also a presbyter, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, tiriaKOTrowTeg, fulfilling the bishopric thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." So far the Scripture is clear, that the terms are used interchangeably, and designate but one order, the pastors before spoken of. The earliest fathers take the same \'iew; for they show that presbyters discharged the same ecclesias- tical functions as bishops, and were therefore, as far as divine right is concerned, of equal authority. They preached, as Origen, who was a presbyter of Alexan- dria; they baptized; (Tertull. De Bapt., p. 602;) they administered the Lord's supper; (Ignat. Epist. ad Smyrn.;) they ruled in the churches ; (Cave's Life of Polycarp, p. 127;) they presided in the deliber- ative assemblies together with the bishop; (Tertull. Apol., c, 39, p. 709;) and lastly, they ordained, after the example of the presbytery in the case of Timothy. (Firmil. apud Cyp., Epist. Ixxv., sect. 6, p. 237.) AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 67 So that there appears to have been not the least distinction, originally, in point of order. The high episcopalians assert, that as St. Paul ordained pres- byters, and during his life exercised authority over them, so he delegated in two instances this same su- perintending power, the one referring to the case of Timothy, the other to that of Titus ; both of whom ever after were authorized to act as episcopi pasto- rum, "bishops of the pastors." But we have akeady seen that St. Paul did not himself ordain in this case of Timothy, without the concurrence and assistance of presbyters ; and therefore, acting in concert with others as he did, that sole power over other pastors which is referred to, was not manifestly claimed. Besides, as Timothy and Titus were special and ex- traordinary ministers, evayyeXto-rat, "evangelists," they are not to be viewed in the light of successors, but of assistants of the apostles, invested with the same powers, which powers they were never commanded or authorized to delegate to others; for, we repeat, they never ordained successors to their own especial office. Archbishop Cranmer, who was himself an Episcopalian, and v/ho has been styled the Father of the English church, seems to have felt the force of the argument drawn from these Scripture facts and pre- cedents, and to have acknowledged how difficult it is to show that bishops jure divino have authority over presbyters. He says, " The bishops and priests were at one time, and were not two things, but 68 THE CHURCH OF GOD both one office at the beginning of Christ's reli- " St. gion. * There was, however, an early distinction between bishops and presbyters, so early even, in some in- stances, as while the apostles were Hving; but this distinction may be accoimted for, without having recourse to the theory of di\dne right. In the churches which were planted by the apostles, several presbyters or elders were ordained, partly to supply the present need, and partly to provide for the in- crease of believers : and, indeed, such a course would be necessary, if we recollect that the first congrega- tions of Christians, at a time when there was no spacious building for them, would have to assemble * The sentiments of our Genevan commentator as to the equality of bisliops and presbyters, and their identity of order, are, as may be expected, sufficiently clear and decisive : — " Nam quum Paulus generaliter comprehendat omnes pastores, ipsi episcopum accipiunt qui ex uno-quoque collegio eligebatur ut fratribus praesset. Meminerimus ergo perinde valere hoc nomen, acsi ministros, vel pastores, vel presbyteros nominasset." (1 Tim. iii. 1.) Here a bishop is a presbyter chosen to preside among his brethren. And again : " Mihi quidam non displicet quod statim ab ecclesis primordiis receptum -fuit, ut singula episcoporum collegia unum aliquem moderatorem habeant : verum nomen officii quod Deus in commune omnibus dederat, in unum solum transferri, reliquis spoliatis et injurium est et absurdum." (Epist. Pauli ad Titum i. 7.) Such was the constitution of the early Christian church in Britain, as exhibited by the venerable Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History, and that too, Mr. Powell states, before the arrival of Augustine. AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 69 in diiFerent houses or rooms, and therefore every assembly would require a presbyter to conduct the worship, and to rule also; for the presbyters, or "elders, that ruled well," were to be "counted worthy of double honour." As there were, therefore, a number of elders to one church, there arose the ccstus pres- hyterorum; which was the chief deliberative council, in which the affairs of the church were managed, and measures were taken for the spread of the Gospel, as was the case in the church of Jerusalem. This meetinof of presbyters, Mr. Watson observes, " would naturally lead to the appointment, whether by seniority or elec- tion, of one to preside over the proceedings of this as- sembly for the sake of order; and to him was given the title of * angel of the church,' and * bishop,' by way of eminence." " The latter title came in time to be used exclusively of the presiding elder, because of that special oversight imposed upon him by his office, and which, as churches were raised up in the neighbourhood of the larger cities, would also natu- rally be extended over them. Independently, however, of his fellow-presbyters he did nothing. The whole of this arrangement shows, that in those particulars in which they were left free by the Scriptures, the primitive Christians adopted that arrangement for the government of the church, which promised to render it the most efficient for the maintenance of truth and piety; but they did not at this early period set up that unscriptural distinction of order between 70 THE CHURCH OF GOD bishops and presbyters which obtained afterwards. Hence Jerome, even in the fourth century, contends against this doctrine, and says, that before there were parties in rehgion, churches were governed communi concilio preshyterorum ; but that afterwards it be- came a universal practice founded upon the expe- rience of its expediency, that one of the presbyters should be chosen by the rest to be the head, and that the care of the church should be committed to him. He therefore exhorts presbyters to remember that they are subject by the custom of the church to him that presides over them; and reminds bishops that they are greater than presbyters, rather by custom than the appointment of the Lord, and that the church ought still to be governed in common. The testimony of antiquity also shows, that after episco- pacy had very greatly advanced its claims, the pres- byters continued to be associated with the bishop in the management of the affairs of the church." Cyprian declares, that he did all things communi consilio, "by the common counsel" of his presbyters. (Epist. xxiv. 55.) The learned and venerable Hooker himself admits the force of the testimony borne by these early wTiters to the consuetudinary character of episcopal authority, as it then existed; and seeing that the government of the flock is not in the Scripture expressly assigned to bishops for ever, he is obliged to own the church may be jus- tified in adopting another form of polity, in case AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 71 the episcopal rulers should become proud, overbear- ing, and immoral ; so that, although he considers the original institution of bishops with superior powers to have taken place in the lifetime of the apostles, and under the especial supervision of the Holy Ghost, yet the admission just mentioned is fatal to their claims as pleaded for jure divino. Jerome and Cyprian, together with other primitive fathers, and Hooker too, appear to have adopted the ques- tionable position, that the ministers of the Christian church are strictly similar to those of the ancient sanctuary and temple. Bishops they compare with Aaronical priests, archbishops with the high priests, presbyters with the Levites. But the comparison will not hold good : there are some general points of resemblance, it is true ; for both classes were ministers of God, and separated from all other concerns, and entitled to the offerings of the people ; and to these points of resemblance St. Paul refers, 1 Cor. ix. 13. But, on the other hand, the same apostle shows, that Aaron and his sons officially were shado\vy persons and types, not of Christian ministers, but of Christ: they followed in hereditary succession, and were instituted by theocratic laws. But Chris- tian ministers are selected and drawn, not according to established rules from the mass of believers, but by the sweet influences of the Holy Ghost. Never is the term ttpEvg^ " priest," applied to Christian ministers in the New Testament. Viewed in detail, 72 THE CHURCH OF GOD then, there is as much difference between the persons compared, as there is between a temporary and worldly institution, and a spiritual one wliich remains of an unchangeable character unto the end of time. The primitive fathers were not infallible, any more than our revered and highly-gifted coun- tryman himself; for even from the days of Ignatius and Polycarp, they give evidence of the fact by their conflicting opinions, and by many superstitions. The philosophic or Judseo-philosophic schools in which many of them were trained, would tend to tinge their understandings with sulhed light; and they would not, without special interposition of God, so clearly apprehend that analogy of faith which is the indispensable touchstone of scriptural interpretation, and which an after-age might more clearly under- stand. When we wish for authority, we cannot depart for a single moment from the written word. When Hooker argues that bishops governed in the church from the beginning, he appears to make no distinction between an episcopacy which recognises bishops as superior to other ministers by church compact, and that which allows them to rule by virtue of superior order and divine right. We have, then, the fullest evidence to prove that they and presbyters were originally men of the same autho- rity and powers ; and that when a distinction arose between them, it was conventional, and for the sake of expediency bishops became superior ^^jure AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 73 humano^' and with the common consent of their fellow-presbyters. The word tinaKo-Koq is an official term, which signifies, from its etymology, one who overlooks; and Trpeaf^vrepoQ is a title of respect, which was given to the teachers in the Jewish synagogue: and* it was from the pattern of the synagogue, and not from that of the temple, that the apostles modelled the primitive church; for not only do we find elders there, but the ** angel," the presiding minister or bishop over the rest. Nothing could be more proper than that the apostles should adopt a mode of church order to which many of their con- verts had been so long accustomed, and which afforded such great facility for the administration of all the ordinances. When a church is composed of but one congre- gation, (and so were many of the primitive churches composed,) the minister is then unquestionably a scriptural bishop ; for it was a primitive principle, EiQ ETTiffKo-n-oQ fxia eKKXtjcTta^ — but only bishop of the flock, episcopus gregis. When many presbyters are ordained to one church, they are, in their collective capacity, bishops of the flock and of the pastors; because they exercise an oversight, not only of the people, but of each other. And if they have a president, he is eminently and distinctively a bishop ; first, probably, a moderator of the assembly, but afterwards recognised by common E 74 THE CHURCH OF GOD consent as a governing power, though still in con- nexion with the presbytery assembled. Such an Episcopacy as recognises bishops and pres- byters of one order, and that the former are only *' primi inter pares," and superior conventionally, ap- pears, then, to come nearest the New-Testament plan, and tlie practice of the primitive Christians. This view is adopted by Archbishop Usher, who pleaded for such an Episcopacy; and for which, if it could have been established, Richard Baxter, the great and good Nonconformist, would have been thankful.* It is found in a variously modified form in connected churches, and indeed in all churches whose ministers, like those, for instance, of theWesleyan connexion, are subject to the discipline of ministerial convocations. Diocesan Episcopacy was the product of a later age ; though it is not necessarily an evil arrangement on that account: on the contrary, in a large association of churches, in a province or country, it may be a good one ; that is, if principles undoubtedly scriptural * He was of His Majesty's mind in his Icon Basilicon, that Presbytery is never so considerable or effectual, as when it is joined to and crowned with Episcopacy. — Parr's Life of Arch- bishop Usher. In this judgment it appears, from a pamphlet published at the time, that Dr. Hammond coincided. Episcopal government, managed in conjunction with presbyters, presbyteries, and synods, is not contrary to the rule of Scripture, or the example of the primitive church, but most agreeable unto both. — Archbishop Leighton. AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 75 are preserved, and the rights of presbyters not violated.* The New Testament only lays down the great laws of the case, and leaves the detailed regula- tions to be determined by time and circumstances ; so that while these laws are observed. Christians are at liberty to adopt that form of church order, which shall best secure the stability, and promote the spread, of reHgion. Next to bishops and presbyters there appears to be a distinct and subordinate order of ministers. * Nature and Providence do not move by leaps, but by insen- sible and soft degrees, which give stability and beauty to the universe. Is not the world composed of disagreements, hot and cold, heavy and light ? and yet we see these oppositions are, by means of middle and conciliating mixtures, wrought into a com- pliance. It is the same case in subject and superior. Higher and lower, betwixt top and bottom, are but as several links in one providential chain, where every individual, by virtue of this mutual dependency, contributes to the peace and benefit of the whole. Some are below me, and this sweetens the tlwught that I am below others : by which libration are prevented those dis- tempers which arise, either from the affectation of more power, or the shame of having none at all. As these degrees of mean and noble are, beyond doubt, of absolute necessity to political concord, so possibly the closer the remove, the better yet as to the point of social expedience ; provided that the distances be such as to avoid confusion, and to preserve distinct offices and powers from interfering. Nor is this gradual method only suited to human interest, as being most accommodate to public quiet, and to defend the sacredness of majesty from popular distempers; but it is the very rule which God imposes upon the whole creation ; making of the same lump one vessel to honour, e2 76 THE CHURCH OF GOD mentioned in the New Testament, htaKovoi, "dea- cons." Their first appointment is related in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. It was when the church had greatly increased, and the charge of the temporal concerns of the poor and of the widows had become oppressive to the apostles, and hindered their more spiritual duties. Accordingly, they appointed Stephen, Philip, Pro- chorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, by imposition of hands and prayer, unto this more secular business ; although, as these chosen men were miraculously gifted, their labours were not confined to serving tables. That the office was intended to be a permanent one, is evident from the fact, that directions are given, in the first Epistle to Timothy, respecting their appointment, and their qualifications laid dowm. They were required " to be grave, not double- tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre:" indispensable virtues these in men who had money in their hands, and social and eventually sacramental ordinances under their care. Macknight considers that they are often comprehended under the term elders: and this is probable, when we re- member that they are not especially enumerated another to dishonour : (Rom. ix. 21 :) subjecting, by the law of his own will, this to that ; that to what is next above it ; both to a further px)wer; all to himself — Author of "Interest Mistaken." AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 77 in those ordinations which the apostles made in the churches they founded, (Acts xiv. 2S,) although they could not have been omitted; for there was equal need of them in all places. It seems evident, that unto deacons were not com- mitted statedly the public ministry of the word, and the administration of sacred rites ; for they, the deacons, were appointed in order that the apostles might more fully attend to these themselves. It is true, the first deacons were eminently holy men, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost; but, divested of the miraculous gifts which, of course, belonged only to that special time, they did not appear to claim either pastoral authority, or exercise pastoral powers. Stephen did wonders and miracles among the people, in addition to his official deeds, but not in the cha- racter of a public teacher : he disputed in the syna- gogue and in the council; but his conduct was purely necessary, and his discourse, though inspired, was apologetic. Philip, another of the primitive deacons, did certainly both preach and baptize: *' for he went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them there ;" and also, having joined the Ethiopian on his journey, he " opened his mouth," " preached unto him Jesus," and after- wards baptized him in the water by which they were passing : but it must be recollected, that Philip was not merely deacon but evangelist, or an assistant of the apostles; and, therefore, all this was done 78 THE CHURCH OF GOD by virtue of his office as an evangelist, and not in consequence of his diaconal ordination. Nor is this a mere invention, adopted to serve a theory ; for, in Acts xxi. 8, there is mention made of Paul and his companions at Cesarea entering the house of "Philip the evangehst," who, we are expressly told, was " one of the seven." No doubt but all sincere believers, at that day, preached Jesus in a certain sense ; that is, conver- sationally among the strangers with whom their lot, for the time, was cast; and the deacons, especially, would so act, with the approval of the apostles : but all we mean is, that they were not specially ap- pointed to this work, nor was it comprehended in the business over which they were set. It w^as theirs to take charge of the widows and of the poor, to be the stewards of the offerings brought from the people, and to serve the church in various acts of economical and temporary arrangement. The office might be held by females ; for Phebe was a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, and Euodias and Syntyche were probably of the church at Phi- lippi : and deaconesses were highly useful then, to those young members who were of their own sex, as well as to the widows ; especially as the customs of society had laid a greater restraint upon the social intercourse of women with men than has been felt since those times. But women were not allowed to teach, but enjoined to keep silence in the AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 79 churches. — And thus briefly does the Scripture speak of deacons. By some writers on church government a third class of ecclesiastical persons has been devised, namely, "lay-elders," with which supposed office that of deacon has been sometimes confounded ; but no soHd foundation can be discovered in Scripture on which to rest this system. Hooker proposes to discuss the question of lay-elders, as forming, to- gether with pastors, a joint jurisdiction, in the sixth book of his Ecclesiastical Polity : but that book is evidently unfinished, and closed by some other and feebler hand; for the argument there against this regimen is not conducted to its issue, — a circumstance which is certainly to be regretted. However, the chief strength of the cause is considered to he in the text quoted above, from 1 Tim. v. 17, " Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those that labour in the word and doctrine." From this it has been argued, that the apostle here recognises certain elders ruling, and yet who did not labour in the word and doctrine, but who were, in the present popular sense of the term, " lajnnen." Now, although it may be granted that in apostohc and primitive times, under the term "elder" might be comprehended occasionally other office-bearers, such as deacons, yet it is evident, in such cases, the lower office was 80 THE CHURCH OF GOD merged in the higher; and still more evident, that the elders or bishops who formed the pastorate, whatever they might be besides, were fully separated from secular society and devoted to the service of the church. The very text in question intimates this. But as Calvin was the first man who interrupted the ecclesiastical regimen of the middle ages, by establishing the platform of Geneva, in which lay- elders are recognised, and from which other churches have since copied their institutions, it will be well to hear his sentiments on the passage. After quoting Chrysostom's opinion, that the honour in question was the double honour of temporal support and reverence, and after stating his own to be, that it signified a double offering or stipend, as compared with that given to widows, who are spoken of in the context, he proceeds : " Praefert tamen eos qui in verbo et doctrina laborant, hoc est, qui docendo verbo sunt intenti. Nam duae istae voces rem imam significant, nempe verbi prasdica- tionem. Sed ne verbi nomine otiosum studium et speculativum (ut vocant) quispiam intelligeret, adjecit doctrinam. Colligere autem hinc licet, duo fuisi^ tunc presbyterorum genera: quia non omnesad docen- dum ordinabantur. Nam aperte verba sonant quos- dam bene et honeste praefuisse: quibus tamen non erant commissae docendi partes. Et sane ex populo dehgebantur graves et probati homines, qui una cum pastoribus communi consilio et auctoritate AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 81 ecclesiae disciplinam administrarent, ac essent quasi censores moribus corrigendis." He finds here two kinds of presbyters or elders, those " who labour in the word and doctrine," and " grave and approved men," who, together in common council and authority, administer the discipline of the church. But if it were certain that these grave and approved men had an equal share in the ad- ministration with the evangelizing presbyters, nothing can be clearer than that they did not at all answer to the modern idea of laymen ; for, on Calvin's own showing, and on the showing of all eminent critics, TifiT) in this passage signifies reward, stipend, or wages : and, therefore, these all, whether they preached, or catechised, or served the church in any other manner of guidance and instruction, were per- sons fully given up to the ministry, and had no temporal concerns of their owti to manage ; for they were actually supported by the church. If then the term cleri, or clergy, be used to signify in ecclesiastical writings the pastors of the church, or those who administer the paternal discipline, and Jerome applies the term to such because the Lord is their t:\ripoQj " lot," the individuals referred to by our reformer, as being implied in the text, are ma- nifestly included under the term. Mr. Nichols says : " The Assembly of Divines at Westminster spent much time concerning lay-elders, and their power of ruling. This they laboured to prove from the ex- e5 H2 THE CHURCH OF GOD pressions in 1 Cor. xii. 28, 'helps, governments,' &c. Dr. Lightfoot opposed this opinion by proving, that the Septuagint employs one of the Greek words there used as the translation of a Hebrew one, which imports not the act, but the ability of gifts fit to govern ; and the other word imports * helps ' to in- terpret the language and sense of those who spake with tongues, as is apparent from the 28th to the oOth verses of the same chapter." And, besides this cri- ticism of Dr. Lightfoot's, the difficulty of making out the case from so general a statement must have been felt by every one. It is not meant here to deny that pastors ought to act in concurrence with other advisers: such an arrangement is both reasonable and scriptural; but those advisers will be found among the deacons, who were never, till a later age than that of the apostles, reckoned amongst those who, in the strict sense, were termed cleri, or pastors. Deacons cannot be reckoned amongst pastoral and evangelizing ministers, without, besides other ano- malies, taking this inconvenience with it, — that females must be included; for Phebe is expressly a deaconess of the church atCenchrea: and y^t females, by apostolic authority, as we have seen, are bidden not to teach, but to keep silence in the church. In the churches of antiquity, the diaconal office did not sustain any material change, though a few particulars, which times and places made necessary, were added. The deacons, as appears from the AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 83 earliest fathers, prepared the bread and wine of the Lord's supper ; in cases of necessity, and in the absence of the pastor or bishop, they baptized ; and, by the permission of the bishop, they occasion- ally preached. From them the presbyters were generally ordained: so that those who were called to teach and rule had to pass through all the gra- dations of office, in order that their progress might depend on character and Christian worth. A number of still subordinate offices were like- wise appointed ; such as those of sub-deacon, reader, and so on ; but as these are amongst the things which the church may appoint or annul at pleasure, they will not be the subjects of especial consider- ation. As far, then, as ministers are concerned, this is the sum of what we are taught from the New Testament, and from apostolic practice : — 1 . That the pastoral care and oversight of Christ's flock is committed to a class of persons who are sometimes called bishops, and sometimes elders ; the former denoting the nature of their office, and the latter being a title of respect, and adopted from the later Jews. 2, That from the earliest times there was one chosen from the several presbyters of the chiu'ch to preside over the rest in their assemblies ; and that 84 THE CHURCH OF GOD he was, by way of eminence, styled the bishop : yet still he was only first among equals ; and his superior powers were only conventional, and not held by divine right. 3. That, besides the pastoral ministers, there was a subordinate order, called deacons expressly: and that their office was prospectively considered to be perpetual and needful ; which was, to take care of the poor, provide the bread and wine for the Lord's supper, engage in private instructions; in cases of necessity, and in the absence of the regular minister, to baptize; and sometimes, imder his appointment, to preach. And now, with regard to the churches themselves, it is of importance to inquire what form they assumed, both previous to, and after the completion of, the canon of Scripture. During the lives of the apostles, they, with the evangehsts, were the supreme pastors of all the churches, and acted according to the authority vested in them by Christ. After their death, many small churches would be found in remote places, and con- siderably distant from each other : each of these would act upon the principle before adverted to, — ** One bishop to one church," — and thus would be- come independent, and be governed by its own laws. Such were, probably, the churches mentioned in the Apocalypse : for Ignatius shows that at Smyrna, AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 85 Philadelphia, and Ephesus, the people could as- semble in one place, and receive the sacrament at one table; and that the bishop, or pastor, could personally know each member of his flock; and that this was likewise the case at Magnesia, Trallium, and other places. This was one form, and con- tinued while the apostles and evangelists had a jurisdiction over the whole, and for some time after ; indeed, where congregations were isolated and re- mote, no other could be adopted. But, in large cities, congregations gradually multiplied out of one original one, each of which congregations required a pastor; and some, Hkewise, arose in the villages around, to each of which there was sent a minister from the body of presbyters, who was called chorepiscopus, or country bishop; but all these were subject to one assembly, at the head of which was the bishop by eminence, the episcojpus gregis et pastorum. Such was the church of Alexandria; and such, eventually, as they increased in numbers, were many of the rest ; and thus the prevailing form of polity became the connexional, many congregations placing themselves under a common inspection, and sub- mitting to a common government. Rome, Antioch, Constantinople, Carthage, Jerusalem, and the afore- mentioned city, were the great centres from which germinant churches proceeded; how soon, alas! to be blighted by error and sin ! This connexional Ob THE CHURCH OF GOD church-form would be in strict accordance with the spirit of the discipline exercised by the apostles and evangelists, who exhorted that the strong should bear with the infirmities of the weak. It would be the imvarying result of Christian zeal ; for when men are anxious to promote the salvation of others, they not only add to the number of their own spi- ritual children, but likewise to the number of devout congregations, who wall all naturally chng to the parent church, as the off-shoots of the banian, although radicated themselves, chng to the parent tree. In this form lay the energy and expansiveness of the Christian ecclesiastical system ; and, before the pohcy of the world was allowed to interfere, the system was effective. The sphere of each pastor was originally called 7rapoi*:ta, "parish," and in the fourth century, ^toto/o-ic, "diocess." Metropolitans or archbishops, and primates, arose in days of out- ward prosperity, and when the church government was made, in a plastic manner, to resemble that of the secular power; and in course of years, the single churches and the religious connexions, which were originally so simple and efiicient, were merged in the provincial allotments and dominant usurpa- tions of the church of Rome. — This may conclude our glance at ecclesiastical forms. In connexion with the present subject, it may AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 87 next be a proper matter for inquiry, To what ends are church order and authority to be made subser- vient ? The answer to this question is not difficult ; for as the whole is instituted by Christ, and forms a part of his redeeming plan, it is in order to pro- mote the simple purity, efficiency, extension, and stability of Christianity in the world ; keeping, at the same time, the fact constantly in mind, that the church is a permanent, though voluntary, society, and exists solely for spiritual purposes, and ad- ministers mild and spiritual laws. The first thing to be observed, towards the securing of these ends, has ever been the preservation of sound doctrine. Our Lord, when on earth, laid down the most solemn warnings against false teachers; and so likewise did his apostles. St. Paul told the Ephesians of men who should arise, even among themselves, " speaking perverse things ;" and also cautioned Timothy against such : he calls them "men of corrupt minds;" and speaks of Hymenaeus and Philetus using words wliich did " eat as a canker." Titus, likewise, was warned of " vain talkers and deceivers," " whose mouths," the apostle does not hesitate to say, *'must be stopped." Here, then, we find St. Paul confiding the power to declare what is sound doctrine, to the future church, that is, to the ministers and people of every evangelical body until the end of time ; which power is implied in the command given to silence the 88 THE CHURCH OF GOD promulgators of false doctrine. This has been called, by systematic writers, the dogmatic power; and although the language sounds somewhat harsh, when put in an English version, and the claim has been carried by the church of Rome to a most monstrous and anti-Christian usurpation, yet it has a meaning which, when properly understood, is founded in truth. The church of Rome brings in her traditions as of equal authority with the holy Scriptures, and directly in the face of that rule which declares the Scripture to be sufficient for doctrine; so that with this unholy adding to the words of the book, all Protestants have nothing to do, but appeal to the sacred canon, and to that only, as the true and infalHble guide. All persons, however, do not interpret the Scrip- tures in the same manner ; and therefore, from the beginning, there have been occasionally assemblies of ministers convened, who have deliberated together respecting the sense in which certain doctrines and precepts are to be understood, and who, when they had agreed, declared the sense, both on behalf of themselves and of the churches united with them. Such assemblies were the council at Jerusalem in the apostles' days, respecting circumcision ; the council at Nice, in the third century, condemning Arianism, and establishing the Godhead and Son- ship of Christ; the council of Constantinople, soon after, which established the doctrine of the Divinity AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 89 and Personality of the Holy Ghost. These councils, and others, have been greatly revered by Protestants, not because they considered them infallible, but because their decisions were founded on the plain and literal sense of Scripture, as the church of England declares in her articles : — " Things ordained by general councils as necessary to salvation, have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared they be taken out of holy Scripture." At the same time, **in the multitude of counsellors there" was " safety." When each church had adopted its system of doctrine, and had declared how it understood the words of the Bible, whether such declaration was made by a reference to councils, or whether by adopting creeds and confessions which flowed from them, all persons might then join that church whose views accorded with its approved standard; and, having actually joined it, they became responsible to the standard, and by it all subsequent heresies were tried. The " potestas ^oy/iart/cr?," therefore, which the schoolmen strained to such a height, when mildly interpreted, means nothing more than a power to declare the sense in which the different doctrines of the Gospel are to be received, and to make such provision that those doctrines so understood shall not be vitiated. Every Christian church has this power : and when the doctrinal code is adopted, the 90 THE CHURCH OF GOD ministers and subordinate teachers are bound to teach in accordance with it; appeahng confidently to the words of inspiration as their authority, and then, with some degree of deference, to the decisions of general councils, as an important, but not infallible, confirmation of the truth. By this power the church may silence, and indeed is required to silence, any one within its pale, who teaches what is understood to be false doctrine: otherwise the unity of the faith could not long exist, nor indeed the church either. And no injury is hereby inflicted on the individual: he knew under what compact he at first became a member; and therefore, if he change his mind, he at least has no right to change the terms of communion in favour of himself, an individual. In order to the promotion of the great ends which have been mentioned, there must be, likewise, an authority which shall form regulations for the con- duct of ministers, ofiicers, and members, and which shall estabHsh every thing relating to the order of worship, the observance of rites, and the management of the spiritual, economical, and financial" ajffairs of the community. This has been called likewise by the schoolmen, "potestas diaraicTiKrj" the disposing power; and although the church of Rome has carried this to an uhscriptural and abominably sinful height, in order to justify its own load of idolatrous observances, yet. AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 91 when properly explained, it is found coeval with every form of Christianity whatever, and rests upon the apostolic direction, " Let every thing be done decently and in order." That there must be an arrang- ing authority, and that the members of the commu- nity, for Christ's sake, and for peace's sake, should obey it, is evident, in the first place, from the fact, that the manner in which many duties and services are to be performed is nowhere pointed out in the letter of Scripture, and therefore it is left to be determined by inference and analogies. The observance of the sabbath is binding ; and the church must show what are, in certain cases, violations of that sacred rest. The sacraments must be administered ; and the church must deter- mine in what mode, as the written word is silent on the subject. It must also, in special cases, interpret the bearing which the laws of Christ, and the spirit of the Gospel, and the general principles of revealed truth, have upon those cases. It must appoint the liturgical forms, when such are used ; set apart days of thanksgiving and prayer ; direct the order of public worship and private meet- ings ; and many other things which times and cir- cumstances can only give rise to, and which cannot possibly be named in this short and imperfect summary. To use a simile of Hooker's, it no more implies imperfection in the New-Testament revelation, that 92 THE CHURCH OF GOD it should leave many things to be regulated by enlightened reason, than it implies any imper- fection in God's work, that when he has by his creative power brought forth man, he should leave him to be clothed and housed by the dictates of wisdom and his own exertions: and especially, we may add, when the Hght of reason in such a case is objectively the light of revelation. But, with the twentieth article of the church of England, we main- tain, at the same time, devoutly, " that it is not lawful for the church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's word written," nor indeed to any thing that is from God's word clearly impHed; for where no special precept is found, the scope and tenor of the sacred page will be abundantly decisive. A devout and humble examination of that scope and tenor will prevent any positive institution which shall be contrary to the simphcity and spirituahty of the Gospel ; and where there is a standard of doctrine, there will generally be a standard of opinion as to what is, or what is not, calculated to promote the interests of rehgion, — what is oifensive to the majesty and glory of God, and what would preserve the humility and promote the devotion of man. As the disposing authority lies with the church, so for its exercise it is responsible to its great Head. If every thing is " set truly in order," " done to edification," and to the glory of God, then the work of holiness is promoted, and the church is God's AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 93 sanctuary; but if the want of spirituality and unction be met by a round of observances and spiritless forms, the glory is gone, and there is as much dilBference between the two cases as there was between the fire that burned on the high priest's altar, and that which Christ sent down from heaven. Such a torpid formality as is here supposed, such a perversion of authority, God will judge. And, thirdly and lastly, in promotion of the great ends before mentioned, there is the judicial power, " potestas diaKpiTiKri,'" a power to inflict or remove censures. This has been magnified by that fallen church of which we have spoken, (and which of course has monopolized it,) so as to exercise a con- trol over the divine mercy, and influence the decisions of Almighty God. Impious and tremendous in the extreme! But nevertheless there is a judicial authority lodged with every true Christian church : it is bound to rebuke the offending members who sin within its pale ; to withdraw, in particular instances, church privileges for a season from the unhappy persons ; and in cases of flagrant transgression, or pro- tracted and impenitent contumacy, to exclude them. In this case the church assumes no greater autho- rity than many a worldly society; but there are much more solemn consequences involved in the act. Exclusion from the church cannot be lawful unless the excluded person has violated the laws of Christ ; and supposing he continues in impenitency, 94 THE CHURCH OF GOD his interest in Christ is likewise forfeited, and he is now in the sterile wilderness of the world. Not that he is a child of wrath because of the church's sentence, but because it declares and echoes the sentence of God. Our Lord taught the mode of conduct which was to be pursued in his kingdom, relative to an offending brother: he was first to be admonished privately; next in the presence of wit- nesses; and if a sinner still, he was lastly to be referred to the church, and made an outcast, con- sidered as a heathen man or a publican, — until repentance, as we learn by inference in another place, should warrant his restoration. The gift of the keys of the kingdom of heaven unto Peter, upon which the Papists have laid such stress, is capable of an interpretation which quite harmo- nizes with the view we take of the judicial sentence, and which view is, in fact, partly grounded upon it. Keys were a symbol of power, and were worn as such, Lightfoot shows, by the Jewish elders, who were wont to open the meaning of the sacred books, and to pronounce decisively on matters connected with their law; and according to their decision the individual was bound or loosed as regarded the consequences. Ac- cordingly, our Lord promised to give unto the apostle Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; saying, that whomsoever he bound on earth should be bound in heaven, and whomsoever he loosed on earth should be loosed in heaven. And in Matthew xviii. 18, a AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 95 similar declaration is made to all the apostles, in which the binding and loosing power committed to them is connected with that censure of the church, to which the offending brother just mentioned is liable. The apostles, therefore, were empowered to open the kingdom of God to the Gentiles, and to declare authoritatively what were the terms on which salvation was to be obtained; to pronounce, as in the case of Simon Magus, upon the state of certain individuals ; and to declare what was obligatory upon men in general. For this they were quahfied by receiving the Holy Ghost, which in this matter preserved them from all error. And accordingly, in the course of their ministry, they made use of their authority, which was, not of themselves to forgive sins, but to declare under what circumstances God forgave them ; and not of them- selves to excommunicate and condemn men, but to show in what cases God did so. When any evangelic communion, therefore, rightly interprets these apos- tolic canons of condemning or acquitting, it is fur- nished from them with an infallible rule of judgment, by which to try the case of all offending members; and, as far as it proceeds on a parallel with that rule, the sentence which is uttered on earth is not only approved but confirmed by Almighty God in heaven, who cannot contradict his own inspirations. When that sentence extends to the expulsion of any one, and no unholy motive or error of judgment inva- 96 THE CHURCH OF GOD lidates it, the oiFender is thereby separated from that special grace of Christ, which is granted to believers in their collected and united state, — is debarred access to that river the streams of which make glad the city of God. By this the church bears its testimony against sin before the world, remembering, with sacred dread, that judgment must begin at the house of God ; and by this it preserves a pure and spiritual community, who shall be the depositaries of Chris- tian holiness, and witnesses for God. The primitive Christians used the utmost severity to the offending and lapsed ; and when they excom- municated them, would not allow of their return until cries, tears, and a reformed conduct had given the utmost proof of deep repentance. They soon carried the exercise of this discipline too far; by reason of which, and by their unguarded method of defining the authority whence it was derived, they laid the foundation for those Papal corruptions which eventually darkened and distorted the fair face of Christianity on earth. Tertullian says of the expelled, " Gladio spirituali necantur, — They are killed with the spiritual sword:" and too often is admission to the peace of the church by him and others made identical with admission into the true kingdom and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and, by parity of reasoning, exclusion from the one, the same thing, actually and unexception- ably, as exclusion from the other. But the sentence of AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 97 which we speak is an empty sound, when not founded on the law of Scripture, or when pronounced over an innocent person. All judgment is given unto the Son, whose final and irrevocable sentence, both in the case of true Christians and undoubted sinners, is only anticipated and declared in his church below. Such is the great end, then, for which believers are called into one society, — the promotion of pure and undefiled religion in the world ; and as Christianity is intended to re-establish that holy order, which sin has so long broken, we may confidently look for a display of it in that institution which contains the living witnesses of its power. Such a union and such arrangements as we have been speaking of, afford scope for the exercise of those graces which Christians are presumed to pos- sess: for it is only in church union that believers can "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ;" that they can "be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;" that they can be subordinate to authority, and, as individuals, mutually tender and forbearing. It is here only that the finest sympathies of the soul are called forth: for in every spiritual and believing community there is such an intercommu- nion of joy and sorrow between the members, that the heart of every one is made much more tender and expansive, than if he occupied a solitary posi- 98 THE CHURCH OF GOD tion. It is only as a flock, too, that they can be the subjects of pastoral care : believers are, in a higher sense than circumcised Israelites, God's people, — " the sheep of his hand :" there is one sacred inclosure which, like the tabernacle of the Israelites, is illumined from above by the semi-bright cloud of the divine presence, but all is wilderness beside : blessings descend on the church which do not and cannot descend on separate individuals in the same manner ; they have been quickened to- gether, — they are raised up together, — they sit to- gether in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, — they have an unction from the Holy One which was never either asked or received by those who are without; and are thus under a course of discipline and training which shall sooner or later terminate in their being admitted into the church of the glorified. The New-Testament code does little more than define the peculiar relations which subsist between ministers and people, and enjoin the duties which mutually flow from those relations. For there is no especial plan of ecclesiastical government recog- nised; nor is it likely that there should. be, when we recollect that the same volume describes the state of man to be broken and perturbed, until nearly the time of the end ; and that therefore all voluntary combinations of men would fluctuate with the troubles of society. The changes which take place in the visible church, however, do never afiect AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 99 the stability of that unseen one which enumerates its members in nearly every j)eople and every land. As long as the world stands we cannot look for outward uniformity; for not only must the adminis- tration of rites and ordinances be made to depend on climate and locality, but the manner in which ministerial functions are exercised will vary accord- ing to the character of the people. In an intelligent and educated community, all church-laws and out- ward regulations must be made to appeal to the enlightened wisdom of the mass ; and formidable guards must be established to prevent the abuse and excess of pastoral power ; and considerable scope must be allowed for the influence of pious laymen to range in. But in many other instances it cannot be so. A man of God, and a member of some Christian community, departs to a distant shore : having been first commissioned by his brethren at home, and commended to the Head of the church in prayer, he lands among rude and idolatrous tribes, and, after a series of preparations, opens his message, — preaches the word with a yearning heart, and wdth the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; the result is, as it ever has been from the beginning, multitudes begin to weep, beheve, and hve, and are baptized in the name of the Trinity. But, that they may have that training which shall make them holy and happy, and preserve them in the faith against temptation and the wiles of Satan, t2 100 THE CHURCH OF GOD it is necessary that they should be formed into church order; and yet what do these sons of the forest know of order in the sense in which we take it ? What do they know of the principles of eccle- siastical government ? Must not the missionary be the directing spirit of their infant religious state, and must not his first directions and appointments be arbitrary? If there be among the converted some who are capable, sooner or later, of assisting liim in his happy toil, must not he single out the individuals, give them their authority, and appoint them their work ? And from his decision, in purely rehgious matters of arrangement, can there be any appeal? Is he not the angel, the bishop, of the church ? And long perhaps must he labour there before the people are prepared intellectually, or by scripturally instructed minds, for that exact form of poHty and order which his brethren observe at home. Both Ehot and Brainerd, in the midst of their labours, acted on Episcopal principles, although bishop was not their title ; and so, in reahty, must every missionary act until the new church begins to foster and raise up its own ministers, and devise a canonical record for its own regulation. All minor details may be innocently adapted to the genius and habits of a people. The elect of God amongst the poetic and imaginative east- erns may act in one way, and the pensive deep- thinking inhabitants of the north in another; the AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 101 converted isles of the sea may eventually have their mode of building, and the polished inhabitants of an imperial city, theirs : and if all use gold, silver, or precious stones for their material, and build on the true foundation, Christ's law and written word, — well ; but if there be a mass of wood, hay, and stubble, however it be garnished, the fire shall consume it, although that which is incorruptible and of God may remain. When God reduced those chaotic masses which are mentioned in the history of the creation to divine order and beauty, and formed the world by the energy of his Spirit, his power first commu- nicated the impulse by which it commenced its majestic movement in the infinite space ; and his presence still directs its deeply eventful journey, and maintains its mutual dependencies until the last day shall come. But in the mean time, there are minor laws in force which are created by time, and place, and people ; which laws are alike tending to the fulfilment of his designs, and to the promotion of the happiness of man, — laws which are not enacted by his word, but recognised and sanctioned by his providence. And in like manner God the Holy Ghost has called into existence a spiritual and indefectible church universal, for the purpose ot" glorifying Christ and fulfilling his redeeming pur- poses ; and is so present with that institution, that the gates of hades shall never prevail against 102 THE CHURCH OF GOD, &C. it, however many of its visible members may pass tlirough into their eternal state, or however many of the hosts of darkness may issue forth to their hopeless battle : yet, at the same time, every section of that church creates for itself a spiritual code on minor matters, which sometimes the necessities of the people, and sometimes the changes of society, suggest. These laws may not be dictated by the Spirit's immediate suggestion, or placed in the inspired record; but if they are agreeable to Christ's all- authoritative commandment, and if their adminis- tration has tended to the increase of believers, and to their knowledge, their purity, and peace, then they have the Spirit's sanction; and the work of man, in a higher sense than the imaginative ever dreamed of, has results which are destined to immortality. God is glorified in the very handy-work of his ser- vants ; for of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. CHAPTER IV. THE METHODIST CHURCH AGREEABLE IN FORM AND REGIMEN TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. " How sedulously have indifference and selfishness employed them- selves to pile up their icy barriers around the different divisions of the church, and to restrain those tides of generous feeling, which were designed to roll through the expanse of the com- mon ocean, to the mere creeks and gulfs which indent its shores !" — Watson, vol. ii., p. 140. As these chapters are intended for the use of the Wesleyan Methodists, it is now time to direct attention to that form of church order which is established among them. Nearly half a century has elapsed since the apostolical Wesley went to his rest, and nearly an entire one has passed over since the societies under his care began to be formed. They are found existing and increasing in the prin- cipal towns in the kingdom, and in foreign lands are multiplying on the numerous mission stations. A religious system, which includes above three hun- dred thousand persons, united in close Christian fellowship, and nearly a thousand effective ministers, must have an influence in the land of no very feeble character ; and an appeal to the history of the past 104 THE METHODIST CHURCH century will show that it has been an influence for good, — it has been arousing, regenerating, and hal- lowing. It is painful, however, to think, that even to this day we have had to defend our position; to build like the ancient Jews, who wrought wdth their hands, and carried a defensive weapon by their side: though this last, we may safely say, has never been used without necessity ; and aggressively, never. The high Churchman, from the beginning, has denounced us schismatical, departing without cause from the national commmiion ; and the high Dis- senter, on the other hand, has scorned our incon- sistency, as he terms it, in taking up separated ground from the Anglican church, and yet not formally professing that establishments per se are wrong. We mourn over the spirit of mutual ex- clusiveness which has stolen over each portion of the Christian fold: and perhaps we ourselves are more imbued with it than we are wont to suppose ; but, if this be the case, it has been breathed upon us. We sigh over the ravages made by the common enemy in the world; but, in order to advance the cause of Christ, and promote the establishment of his kingdom, we are far from thinking that it is our duty to give up a position which was taken in a time of peril, or to be silent, v/hen another part of the host charges us with having ventured un- authorized into the field, and, almost with the wrath AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 105 of an Eliab, bids us, Da\dd-like, back again. Our domain has been wrested not from the church, but the world ; and therefore we abide, until supplanted and succeeded by worthier, or we perish away : to do otherwise, would be to turn against Providence, and prove traitors to Christ. In the first place, and in answer to high-church objections, we plead Not guilty to the charge of schism. Campbell shows that the word o-xtc/ua, al- though literally signifying " a rent," does not, in its scriptural sense, mean an outward separation of persons from a visible community, the members of which communicate and worship in a certain man- ner ; but that it implies, when used by the apostle^^, that torn and agitated state of a Christian society which is produced by the alienation of the affection of certain members from certain other, who are all, nevertheless, inclosed by one pale. It may arise from an improper attachment to peculiar persons and pecu- liar opinions ; and consists in perturbing the church by its constant and flagrant breaches of charity. In this sense the word is inapplicable to us most utterly. When Mr. Wesley, in the bosom of the church, began to revive the doctrine of the apostles and of the Reformation, he did not exhibit any thing of that unholy conduct which the word imports : there was no vaunting of himself, no claim to superior light, no invidious comparison of himself with his brethren, no depreciation of the church order to which he 106 THE METHODIST CHURCH was subjected; — he yearned and laboured for the spirituality of the establishment; and when converts multiplied around him, and one or two ministers beside, he grieved that no one in the clerical ranks would either sanction him or aid to cherish the rising flock, and that they would rather vituperate both, and drive the latter from the Lord's table. What could he do ? He believed his Bible, and considered sinners to be in that awful state which that holy book describes: with his light and con- viction, he could not but attempt to save them. The church either could not or would not furnish pas- toral aid and guardianship for the thousands who were reclaimed from sin ; and therefore he was com- pelled to furnish it himself, by appointing religious teachers from among the best-informed and most spiritual of the converted. But it was no disaffec- tion to his ecclesiastical superiors, or compeers, that led to this: he loved them as a brother, — he ex- horted them to arise and awake: witness his uni- versity sermon, — his Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, — his Circular Letter. And when, O grief of heart ! he saw the sacramental table inaccessible, and the people as sheep without a shepherd, he was moved with compassion, and saw that the time was come when the commands of Almighty God were no longer to be disobeyed, by adhering to the minor details of humanly established order, and that now the fence must be overleaped, as the AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 107 boundary was too strait. He did not, however, sin against the true potestas hiaraKTiKt] of the church, as explained in the last chapter; for the potestas in question implies a power to supply such modes of discipline and instruction as both new converts and established Christians may require: but this power, in reference to the Methodists, was not exercised; in fact, the Lord's supper was virtually denied them. If the church of England, then, had made no provision for a special work of God, was he to make none ? This was the issue of the matter, — souls must perish, or he must go beyond order. The provision that he made was supplementary, and absolutely necessary : he gave nothing but what the church was bound to give; that is, if the church's own doctrine was to be still promulgated, believed, and experienced, the lack of true doc- trine, and of love and zeal on the part of the clergy, had to be supplied by a class of men who providen- tially appeared at the time, and whose labours were abundantly blessed by God. These were the doings of Mr. Wesley, who, with all his people, as long as he could, cleaved to the church ; and if Campbell, just referred to, is right, he was guilty of no schism, he opposed no authority, declared no false doctrine, arose against no brother, formed no party; — they who departed from the word of God, as interpreted by the articles and homilies, and who opposed and insulted the holy man when he appealed to this 108 THE METHODIST CHURCH same text, and the same comment, — they were the true schismatics.* But the sense of the word schism has been some- what altered by ecclesiastical usage : it has been used from far antiquity to signify a causeless sepa- ration from the visible society of the church, and from the jurisdiction of its pastors; and, if it be so understood in the present case, the charge against us assumes a different aspect, but is still one from which we are freed by the following considerations. When Mr. Wesley left behind him in the world his numerous societies, it was evident tliat by far the greater part of them were composed of persons who never had attended, and who never would attend, the services of the church. They had been irreligious. When brought to God, they were taught and in- clined to keep Christ's commandments, of which a highly important one was, that they should com- memorate, by the sacrament, his atoning sufferings • If it be argued that schism consists in v/ithdrawing from a church which derives its ministers by assumed succession from the apostles, such an argument would be fraught with incon- veniences. Paul, in describing the spiritual building of the Christian church, states, that believers "are built upon the foun- dation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone." (Eph. ii. 20.) Either then the true basis of church legitimacy is the doctrine of those who are mentioned in the text ; or else those who monopolize the term " church " to themselves, must exhibit a succession of prophets, as well as apostles, for both are connected with the chief corner-stone. AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 109 and death. This, at the church, they could not do; for either they were actually refused communion, or their numbers were too great for the parish minister to receive. They likewise pined for the pure administration of the word; but from by far the greater proportion of pulpits they could obtain nothing but meager Pelagianism, and hackneyed generalities against enthusiasm, mingled with abusive attacks upon those preachers to whom, under God, they owed their all. Such a state of things could not long continue ; and, especially, as many of the clergy added to their bigotry immorality, the Methodist people could have no confidence in them. In their own preachers they had confidence ; and therefore they called earnestly upon the Con- ference for the administration of the ordinances of Christ. The Conference felt their awful situation : the assembled preachers prayed and wept, and at last yielded, by pressure of circumstances, to the wishes of the people. The separation from the church, long foreseen by Mr. Wesley, took place: the persons who had been called to labour in the Gospel by him, and who had been virtually mi- nisters of the Gospel even so far, now became fully and ostensibly such, and the whole body a distinct church. In Mr. Wesley's ordination of his preachers the church universal acquiesced; an extraordinary field of labour was opened ; the Spirit called, — the church was silent ; the Methodists stepped in, and 110 THE METHODIST CHURCH their pastors, discharging all the duties of the ministry, became true and legitimate successors of the apostles. Thus there was a separation, but not without cause : it was no schism ; it tended rather to pre- vent a thousand schisms. The mother-church did not, and perhaps could not, like the eagle, flutter over her young one, and teach her to venture forth into the stormy element of spiritual warfare : no, we were spurned, and left to try our pinion alone. And if it be argued, that, as there is in the present day, a most visible and delightful improvement in the established church, both as regards the revival of its doctrines and the character of its ministry, we are yet schismatic if we return not to its bosom ; our reply is, that as our people were gathered out of the world by the labours of our ministers, and have been cherished long by our own ordinances and institutions, it is not likely that any other system could secure for them an equal privilege ; which privilege we are bound to afford, as long as we are able, on the same ground as parents are bound to provide for their children. If we were not to provide for our own, we should likewise deny the faith, and be worse than an infidel. We greatly and heartily rejoice in the improve- ment of the Anglican church, although our assertion is not much credited : w^e, too, in our turn, have been the foster-mother of many of its ministers, AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. Ill and our prayers shall be offered for its spirituality. But we must keep our own position ; for we are now a church too ; and so far from being the abettors of schism by retaining that position, we are preventing the desolating consequences of that sin, as scripturally understood: for the moment our ministers abandon their charge, the people are broken into ten thousand fractions, irreparably injured by the shock, and can never unite more. At no period of Methodist his- tory could the result have been otherwise. In answer to the strictures of high Dissent, we can only say, that we cannot allow the assumption that establishments are antiscriptural and incon- sistent in themselves with the supremacy of Christ; consequently, we cannot require either of our cate- chumens or ministerial candidates any protest against them. As nations are collectively responsible unto God, according to the doctrine of the Scriptures, so we think the governments of those nations may, under wisely ordered circumstances, do something to meet their national responsibilities, by providing religious institutions for the people; at the same time that they tolerate and protect the ministers which arise from voluntary churches. Whether those who come to us adopt one view of ecclesias- tical government or another, it is no matter: they acquiesce in our own, and come for higher and holier purposes, than the promotion of the interests or aggrandizement of a party. 112 THE METHODIST CHURCH To the world we offer no apology; we only offer Christ. Nor should we apologize to the church, were not our legitimacy called in question. It shall now be our endeavour to show, that our principles and polity are, as far as can be sincerely learned, conformable to the canons of the New Testament, as explained in the last chapter. We do not engage to show that Methodism was studiously composed and framed a priori^ in order to form a masterpiece of ecclesiastical perfection : for there was no human designing in the case ; the arrangements were suc- cessive, providential, and must be deemed by good men to have been inevitablco Every thing was done by Mr. Wesley at a crisis, with great wisdom, and in the spirit of prayer, but not with premeditation. There was no archetype before his eye: when the fabric arose, it was found to be built according to the divine word ; the proof, therefore, that God directed the work is more decisive. There was a pattern in the mount; but the Almighty did not show it to our founder, as he did to Moses. 1. In the first place, the utmost care is taken to secure, that all who are admitted into the ministry are called of God, keeping in mind the admonition before adverted to, " A bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God ;" and remembering, that if there be overseers of the flock, they must be made so by the Holy Ghost. The way ia which ministers are originated is this : — The societies are divided into AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 113 " classes," consisting of from twelve to thirty persons, as it may happen ; one of whom, who weekly meets and converses with the rest, is called the " leader." When there appears to be in any class a youth of more than ordinary promise, he is first invited by his leader or religious friends to engage in prayer- meetings, with proper restrictions; and afterwards, if his mind should be scripturally enlightened and his piety undoubted, and his convictions of duty coin- cide, he is allowed by the superintendent minister to preach occasionally to the smaller and country congre- gations, according to the directions of a printed plan, and is received into the body of " local preachers." After having been a while thus engaged, if his mind should continue to expand, his heart be still divinely affected, his desire after the ministry increase, and fruit of his labour appear, the superintendent mi- nister proposes him, in a " quarterly meeting" of the principal members of the society, as a candidate for admission into the ministry. Here it is that the people choose their own pastors, or at least have a positive veto in their election, as was the ancient practice. (Vide Euseb., lib. vi.,p.312.) Should he be unanimously approved, he is referred to the yearly meeting of the ministers of the " district" in which he resides, for examination. Here an account, from his own lips, of his conversion to God is required, and of the state of his religious experience : he is examined as to his views of Christian doctrine stated 114 THE METHODIST CHURCH in the New Testament, and explained in the writings of the founder of Methodism. If he be approved here, his name and character are transmitted by document to the " Conference" at its annual sitting; and then, if all be well, he is appointed to a "circuit," which comprises several congregations, and in which he labours with another, or with several other minis- ters in connexion. But many fail before they ar- rive so far : and even here the trial is not ended ; it is only, in the most important sense, beginning. Every candidate must labour for four years on probation ; and every year be subject to a scrutiny at the " district-meeting," respecting character, talents, and improvement. At the fourth and last year of trial he again relates his conversion^ and states his Christian experience, and undergoes a long and strict theological examination, both before the district- meeting and the Conference, in order that the fullest assurance may be obtained that, first, he is a faithful man, and, second, able to teach others also. This being done, he, with his brother candidates, makes a solemn profession, before a large congregation, — a " many vdtnesses," — of his faith in Christ, of his ministerial call, and his resolution to be faithful to it ; and then, with universal sanction, and after having answered the heart-searching questions of the for- mulary of the church of England, is solemnly or- dained by the imposition of hands and prayer. "With all these guards, it is evident, that, as far as one AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 115 human being can judge of another, our ministers are faithful, and called of God. We make no invidious comparisons between ourselves and other churches in this respect ; but only show that there is, on our part_, an honest endeavour to follow, in this all- important point, the example of the apostles, and to obey the commands of Christ. 2. In the next place, we consider, that the subor- dination and disposition of our ministers is likewise according to the New Testament. Every one who is ordained is considered a scrip- tural presbyter; and, therefore, as possessing equal authority with his brethren to perform pastoral functions in the congregations of the people: yet several distinctions obtain, nevertheless, which are partly enjoined and partly conventional. In many circuits there are young ministers stationed toge- ther with elder ones, the eldest or most suitable of whom is distinctively the " superintendent," (which word is a literal version of bishop,) who exercises an oversight of the rest, and directs their labours. To him the younger, and especially the probationers, render obedience in aU matters relating to their sacred work ; and in this they follow a pre- cept which is binding upon all believers, and espe- cially upon those who have the charge of them, as the context will show: "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder." (1 Peter v. 5.) Age has usually connected with it experience and 116 THE METHODIST CHURCH influence ; and these united command respect. The instances are very rare in which a young minister is wiser or holier than his senior colleague : but where such instances do exist, the law of subordi- nation cannot be infringed; for the peace and stability of the church depend upon its observance. As a number of circuits collectively form a " dis- trict," into a number of which again the Connexion is allotted, the district ministers are, in certain re- spects, under the inspection of the one who presides at their annual meeting : he is entrusted with powers beyond the rest, in order to secure the efficient enforcement of discipline, and the regular and constant charge of official duty. The subordi- nation of the rest unto him is purely by compact, and does not arise from any original distinction in ordination : he is an elder who rules ; and, if he follows the apostle's direction, will rule well, as re- gards not only the flock, but the movements of his brethren. Thus in like manner we learn, that there were many, or at least several, elders in the church at Ephesus. When St. Paul came to Miletus, he sent for them; and in that spirit-stirring charge which he delivered on the occasion of their assembling, there was this injunction, " Take heed to yourselves." And by a further perusal of the text, we find it explained and enlarged: " grievous wolves," it was predicted, should enter, " not sparing the flock ; " and even from their own number '' should men arise, speaking AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 117 perverse things," and seeking ^' to draw away dis- ciples after them." Here is an exhortation to the guardianship of their own body; and how could it be exercised unless some one among them ^ere invested with a special power of investigation and discipline? To say it should be given equally unto all, were a contradiction; for the power would then be self- destructive. We find, therefore, in the apocalyptic charge which our Lord afterwards gave to the church of Ephesus, that there actually was a presiding minister who overlooked his brethren ; he is termed the angel of the church; his conduct is mentioned with approbation, as not having borne with them "that are evil," and as having " tried them which say tliey are apostles and are not," — notwithstanding the rebuking and impressive exhortation which fol- lows. Thus the angel was set over his fellow- elders, not because he was greater than they, for there is no scriptural account or inference of his elevation, but because his fellows consented on ac- count of the expediency and even necessity of the appointment : his name was the same as that of the spirits who stand before the throne of God, and who are frequently engaged in ministering unto man, probably to intimate that his solicitude and love should be Hke theirs. In Hke manner did St. James, as bishop, not as apostle, overlook the elders of the church at Jerusalem. A Wesleyan 118 THE METHODIST CHURCH district, therefore, with the " chaii*man " minister at its head, is a fair copy of these ancient and scripturally estabHshed pohties. For if it be said that the angel, as mentioned in the Apocalypse, was the minister of one church only, it must be recollected that his jurisdiction, as appears from early writers, extended to the " chorepiscopi," the pastors of the surroimding and country congregations, as well as to his co-pastors who dwelt with him in the city. The Wesleyan chairman is presiding minister of one church ; and if we include, after the ancient manner, the neighbouring communions of the minor towns and villages, which are around the city where he himself labours, we should then have the Wes- leyan churches of London, of Bristol, of Bath ; for the word t/c/cXj^o-ia, as has been observed before, may mean either one assembly, or a number of assemblies consolidated under one government. Cyprian, in the third century, was bishop of Carthage; but it is evident there were under his direction many others, whose ministry was exercised in different places. We know this partly from the epistles which he wrote, and partly from the numbers which attended the council held at his city, whose names were not con- nected with places which were generally known. Some may think that a Wesleyan circuit presents a more exact resemblance than the district to the ecclesiastical constitutions of Jerusalem, Ephesus, or Carthage, because it generally embraces but one AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 119 town with its surrounding villages ; and that its uperintendent more correctly corresponds with the primitive angel or bishop of the church. The only difference, however, lies between the extent of sphere embraced by each, and in the number of ministers concerned ; and as the circuit has not usually more than two, and never more than five, besides the local preachers, who are engaged in effective labour, the chairman's office seems in detail most like apostolical Episcopacy. Whether or not, both cases exhibit the same scrip- tural principle. Pastors are labouring together in the work of their Lord: they " take heed" to them- selves ; and, in order to do this effectually, one of them, like the Ephesian or Jerusalem " pastor gregis et pastorum," is invested with the oversight or superintendence of the rest : if they need direction and advice, he gives it ; if consolation or encourage- ment, it is his to administer it ; and if charged with immorality or breach of discipline, to biing them to trial, — though subject, at the same time, to the law himself. The chairman, especially at the synodal meeting of the district, (for synodal we may correctly call it,) investigates by inquiry the character and conduct of every member present ; and thus an easy way is open for all to fulfil the great scriptural command- ment which binds to mutual fidelity and watchful care. 120 THE METHODIST CHURCH The annual meeting of the general " Conference " under its '^ president," who is likewise invested, for the year in which he is chosen, with official and superior powers, is likewise another instance of the same kind, and on an ascending scale ; for although we find nothing exactly like it in the Acts of the Apostles, or recorded in their epistles, any more than we find the mention of archbishop there, yet it is based on the spirit and scope of the Gospel. By such an arrangement a religious union arises, and a common disciplinary code. They that are strong are enabled, in a general and comprehensive sense, to bear with the infirmities of the weak : they can " bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." The president is, for the time being, eminently bishop of the general church; chosen by his brethren, his office has no temporal emolument beyond theirs ; and, although a temporary as well as an honourable one, yet it cannot be arrived at but by long-continued fidelity, holiness, and wisdom : he is president only for the year. The ancients in the fourth century had similar assemblies, as to their formal constitution ; but we need not refer to them, as they, and all other matters of expediency, are left open questions by the word of God, and are only guided and restricted by its general tenor. The Wesleyan Conference, again, investigates all characters; hears all final appeals; appoints all ministers, having first ordained them ; receives and AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 121 records the financial arrangements; and in its col- lected state, by pastoral oversight, endeavours to eifect those purposes which were contemplated by the Saviour in forming his kingdom. Being vested with the executive power, it has succoured either the minister who was factiously opposed, or the private member, or the office-bearer, who was tyrannically oppressed ; it has protected the faithful and orthodox minority of a society against an erring and unfaithful majority : whereas, had the society been independent, no resource would have offered, — the alternative would have been, internal schism or actual division. 3. This last particular leads us to refer to the connexional form, especially, of Wesleyan Methodism, as being agreeable to the precepts and spirit of the Gospel. How are Christians exhorted to " walk by the same rule," to "mind the same thing," to " be of the same mind one toward another ;" exhorted, that " there be no schism in the body;" and how the valedictory prayer of Christ pleaded that believers might "all be one !" This uniting plan is a means of affording scope for the observance of these sacred rules on a very extensive and comprehending scale. It is an expedient for binding together, for purposes of strength, all who on principal subjects think and act alike. It produces that uniformity which results from unanimity, not which embraces every minute paticular and mode of worship, but which G 122 THE METHODIST CHURCH recognises every thing important in Christian fel- lowship. The connexional existence of the body is main- tained, in the first place, by the itinerancy of its ministers. The trust-deed, which is enrolled in the Court of Chancery, and which secures the chapels to the Connexion, makes especial provision, —that in no chapel shall the person who is appointed, exercise his ministry for more than three years ; but after the expiration of that, or a shorter term, the Con- ference shall remove him elsewhere. There is, therefore, a constant movement going on, which is fruitful of life and impulse ; and by this means every society is provided with a ministry of various gifts and talents, and its members are prevented from saying, at least for long together, " I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas." The pastors, too, by being cast repeatedly into fresh circumstances, are reminded as often that " here we have no continuing city," and are incited to renewed efforts and zeal. This changing scene is not without its trials, both to the Wesleyan preachers and their friends ; but if those trials be means of bringing them all nearer to God, which result has heretofore been realized, they are rich, nevertheless, in mercy. A movement like this, so universal and constant, tends to weave part to part most intimately : it binds the circuits together like the strong meshes of a net ; and makes those who labour in them to AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 123 be, in some humble degree, followers of those who were constituted by our Lord '' fishers of men." Another connexional feature is the establish- ment of general treasuries, supported by general contribution for defraying casual and local ex- penses. The first is that which relates to the support of ministers, and the contingencies of the Connexion, The ministers stationed in the circuits are supported by the stated and voluntary contributions of the members thereof. But in many the societies are small and depressed in circumstances, and are not able of themselves to furnish a sufficient amount for the purpose : in this case, the defaulters receive aid from the central source ; and thus the weak are aided, as well as kept in existence, until they entirely stand of themselves. Of such importance is the Contingent Fund. This is not the case in esta- blished, or even in congregational, churches : for in the former the endowment is fixed by law : and in the latter the supply, though voluntary, may be so small as to require the pastor to eke out his subsist- ence by means of a temporal calling; for the people stand alone, and receive help from no other people, — no other source. Again: the families of some of our ministers are large ; those of others, less so : therefore, children are provided for separately by a distinct fund, to g2 124 THE METHODIST CHURCH which all the circuits contribute, after the ratio of a fixed number of members to one child ; which ratio is regulated at every Conference, as the number of children to be provided for each year may be more or less. Thus the burden is equalized, and the largest family may be appointed to the poorest station without any serious inconvenience. Each circuit receives from the fund according to the num- ber of children which may then be in the families of the ministers appointed to labour in that circuit. There are likewise other funds, similarly constituted, and managed by their several committees, chiefly laymen ; and all these funds are founded on the Bcriptural and noble principle, that the many shall aid the few, the powerful sustain the helpless, and the general effort provide for the contingent and oft- repeated local call. There is yet a third instance of connexional inter- texture manifested in the provision which is made for the unimpaired preservation of the doctrinal code. It is composed of evangelical Arminianism; a system of scriptural interpretation, which acknowledges all our salvation to be of God's grace, and yet preserves the moral agency of man. The doctrines of this system run through the Sermons of Mr. Wesley, and his Notes on the New Testament ; and therefore the great chapel-deed before mentioned, refers to these standard works as the theological criterion, and makes it binding on every regularly-appointed AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 125 preaclier to teach these doctrines, and no other. The moment he becomes erroneous, he is liable to suspension or expulsion, having broken the compact by which he at first entered the pulpit. The trusts of the chapels are therefore held for this great purpose, that Wesleyan doctrines shall be preached there henceforth and for ever. Inde- pendent churches in this respect are very different : for as each congregation chooses its own minister, he must by necessity adapt his sentiments to the taste or doctrinal views of those who compose it; and thus, in a large collection of instances, we shall have every form of doctrine from Socinianism to high Antinomianism, and each of those instances is liable to fluctuation. But Wesleyan Methodism appeals to one standard; and thus secures to its largely-extended societies of people the same lessons of Christian truth, and, as far as human power can, secures them for ever. Every one who has studied ecclesiastical history must confess that there never was such a system of intercommunion as is here mentioned. To produce it, there must be, it is evident, much local and indi- vidual sacrifice ; but it is a particular sacrifice for a general good, embodying that sublime and expan- sive principle of the apostle Paul, "None of us liveth to himself." To all our ministers and mem- bers, Methodism is a widely-spread home : the trials which they undergo are for the system's sake ; they 126 THE METHODIST CHURCH are a price paid to promote the interests of Christ's kingdom. 4. We instance another point of conformity, as we deem it, with the principle of the New Testa- ment, in the scope of labour which our system affords to that secondary order of teachers w^ho are not pastors, and who, in holy Scripture, are termed deacons. We have seen already, in the appointment of Stephen and his fellows, that unto tliem the care and oversight of the flock of Christ was not committed, nor even the stated ministry of the w^ord ; but that their work v/as of a more private character, and. included the management of financial and social matters, termed in the sacred texts, serving tables, and occasionally public preaching, as well as a general course of engaging in subordinate instruction, and the service of the church. It is evident that everywhere there should be such a class of persons, for the cause assigned by the apostles : it is not reason that those who have the solemn respon- sibilities of the ministry, should leave the word of God, in order to attend to all the minor matters of duty; and therefore the primitive Christians, after the manner of the Jerusalem converts, universally had deacons. The church of England takes a peculiar view of the diaconal office: for in that communion deacons are considered an order of public ministers, yet still not pastors ; for they are not allowed to bap- AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 127 .tize, or to administer the Lord's supper, except in one kind and as assistants ; nor are they allowed to pronounce the liturgical form of absolution over penitent sinners, which act is considered connected with that binding and loosing authority which was committed only to pastors. The Baptist and Inde- pendent brethren make the office somewhat less public : their deacons carry the sacramental cup to the people, having first prepared the elements ; they visit the sick, arrange meetings, and occasionally exhort and preach. As the apostles appointed men to this office, who were full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, it is evident that the piety and spirituality of this order ought to be above that of common believers. Our community may be said to take a comprehensive view of the diaconal office; for with us it includes several offices, all of which are some- what different from each other in detail, but still come under that great distinction which has been adverted to, and which recognises that a deacon is the assistant of his pastor, and a servant of the church. Wesleyan deacons comprehend, — (1.) Leaders, — who are at the head of the smallest divisions of the society, the classes, as has been already said. They meet the members thereof weekly, converse with them respecting their spiritual state ; if penitent, troubled, or tempted, they console them ; if unstable and wavering, warn and exhort them to seriousness ; if happy, rejoice with them ; if ignorant. 1£8 THE METHODIST CHURCH instruct them, and lead them on in holiness : and thus they assist in pastoral oversight.* (2.) Local Preachers, — who, being first properly examined as to their gifts and graces, are each com- missioned to carry occasionally into •sdllages and obscure places the Gospel of Christ. The ministers in a circuit cannot supply, on the sabbath, half the congregations which may be gathered, if those of the country are included; and therefore these zealous and devoted brethren, often after a week of secular toil and care, take extensive journeys into the country, and preach as their various acquirements and their knowledge of divine things may enable them. Some are men of education and talent ; and some have had no advantages of education ; but all are devoted to God, and all understand the connexion and bearing of the vital truths of Christianity : at least the utmost of human scrutiny is employed to secure that they answer this description.f * Some writers on the Wesleyan polity have made our leaders to answer to the elders, and our ministers to the evangelists, of the New Testament. The resemblance, however, fails : for the office of evangelist distinctively was, as we have seen, extraor- dinary, and expired with Timothy and Titus ; and the elders are represented as labouring in the word and doctrine, which our leaders never do. The above arrangement reconciles all facts, as well as doctrines. t These valuable men are properly reckoned amongst the diaconal body, because, from very early antiquity, deacons were wont to preach. Origen indeed preached before he was form- AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 129 (3.) Prayer-Leaders, — who conduct the devotional exercises of private social meetings ; and who assist sometimes on other occasions, by engaging in prayer. (4.) Circuit and Society Stewards, — who receive the contributions of the people, and who disburse them by providing for the ministers and their families. Their department aifords a fine position for seeing how much may be effected by generalizing the effort. In some churches the minister's support comes chiefly from a few and largely-subscribing individuals; a circumstance this which often lays a serious obstacle in the way of his fidelity : but in ours, every mem- ber is a contributor; the burden is so distributed, that no one is oppressed by it. The cost of support- ing the ministry, when viewed apart from missionary, eleemosynary, and seat-rental contributions, does not amount to an average of more than twelve shilhngs per annum, per member. (5.) Poor-Stewards, — who prepare the bread and wine of the Lord's supper, and the simple food used at love-feasts; and who receive the offerings on both occasions, and then apply them to the relief ally appointed to the ministry at all. Baxter, in his Christian Ecclesiastics, allows the lawfulness, and even desirableness, of pious laymen engaging in this work. The good which has been done by the local preachers of Methodism, shall only be fully known at that day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. g5 loO THE METHODIST CHURCH of the sick and poor of the flock, especially of the widows. Thus, exactly following the primitive prac- tice, they assist by serving tables and ministering to the poor.* Thus does the office branch out Vvdth us into a number of particulars ; but still its scriptural character is preserved. All churches are found to vary a httle in their views of even an institution apostoHcally founded ; and to do this they are undoubtedly per- mitted by the Great Head himself. In this band of Christian office-bearers, Wesleyan Methodism has numbered many revered and spotless names ; many who have appeared to walk in the steps of those worthies who are spoken of in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. " Honourable women not a few " have unobtrusively but energetically laboured in the Lord, after the example of Euodias and Syntyche, blending all the tenderness of a woman's heart, with that steady fortitude which is * It is rather strange that they who are so fond of appealing to antiquity, in justification of minute forms and ordinances, should maintain such a profound silence in reference to these means of edification, which Methodism and Moravianism have res-tored, — the feasts of charity. (Jude, ver. 12.) " Statis diebus mensas facie- hunt communesj et peracta synaxi post sacramentorum communi- onem inibant convivium, divitibus quidem cibos afferentibus, pau- peribus autem et qui nihil habebant etiam vocatis." (In 1 Cor. xi., Horn, xxvii., Chrysostom.) Also Tertullian, " Coena nostra de nomine rationem sui ostendit. Vocatur enim ayciTrr/, id quod est penes Grfficos dilectio. Quantiscunque sumptibus constet, lucrum estpietatis nomine facere suraptum." (Apol., cap. 39.) AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 131 inspired by deep piety. Leaders have arisen, such as have been beyond all value : standing like Moses at the gate of the camp, they would ever cry, '* Who is on the Lord's side ? let him come unto me ; " and when they had got any to enter the sacred inclosure, and when they had recovered a strayed one, they rejoiced with unspeakable joy. No prayers were too fervent, no anxieties too deep, no labours too great, to save a dying sinner. Had they been in an estabHshment, its canonical law would have fettered, and perhaps utterly confined, their efforts ; but we thank God that our church polity, by his providence, has been so constituted and made elastic, as to afford us the full benefit of the efforts of these holy men, without compromising the regard which is due to the especial pastoral office, as the great guardianship of the church. Besides the benefit resulting from their actual labours, there is that resulting from their par- ticipation in the deliberations of the vestry. Here the wisdom of age and of experience, as well as that acquired by talent, has most ample scope : for " in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." The utmost latitude is allowed for their co-participation with the Conference in the government of the so- cieties, and only stops short of the Hue of co-legisla- tion. One does not necessarily imply the other. The subordinate offices of the church are created by the ministry : let that cease, and the rest will fall. There could be no deacon, that is, speaking Methodistically, 132 THE METHODIST CHURCH no local preacher, leader, or steward, to assist, if there were no minister to be assisted. If it be said the local preacher may take the minister's place, it is in fact admitting that there must be such a place, and granting our proposition. In all these representations of Methodism,, we do not undertake to show, as has been before stated, that the scheme was preconcerted ; for this would not be true. In fact, every successive part of the plan was the creation of Providence, except it be that of the iti- nerancy of ministers : this appears to have been taken rather from a discriminating knowledge of human nature. The lack of spiritually-minded and evan- gelical clergy, led to the appointment of preachers ; the numbers of new converts, to the appointment of leaders ; the financial offerings, to that of stewards ; and so the whole was at last completed, after the parts had been produced, as great men are often produced by the exigencies of the times. And as the success and efficacy of this system has been beyond all precedent, we may say, as Hooker once said in reference to another, that " it was from heaven, was even of God, the Holy Ghost was the author of it." Our general form of ecclesiastical polity is Pres- byterian, combined with Episcopacy, ju7'e humano* * vSimilar to the form ideally contemplated, as far as outward regimen is concerned, by archbishops Leighton and Usher, whose opinions are mentioned. AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 133 The established church of Scotland is not very dis- similar. The same principles are acknowledged, both at home and abroad : the missionaries stand in the same relation to the parent Connexion, that the an- cient chorepiscopus did to the city bishop. The moral argument, leading to the conclusion just referred to by Hooker, is very strong; for it was exigency which led to the appointment of presbyters and deacons in the apostolic churches ; and this will not be doubted. It was a like exigency which laid all the details of Methodism open to the directing hand of the same God of providence and grace, as wrought so mightily in those times of primitive simplicity. Before this chapter is concluded, there is one arrangement of internal Methodism, which has been already glanced at, deserving especial notice : it is that of class-meetings. It will not be denied that the communion of saints is at once a privilege and a duty : a privilege, in that it implies the ineffable consolation of their intercourse with God and with each other ; and a duty, inasmuch as the Scriptures expressly command that actual fellowship, and mutual watchfulness and care, which the word implies; especially as it is used by St. John, when he says, (1 John i. 7,) " We have Koivioviay fier a\\r]Xu)r, fellowship one with another." Accordingly, we find it written, " Not forsaking the assembling yourselves together, as the manner of some is ;" which words are to be interpreted rather 134 THE METHODIST CHURCH of private than of public devotion, referring as they do to times of bitter persecution. And besides, the same duty is enjoined by implication in various in- junctions, particularly those in w^hich we are required to " let the peace of God rule in our hearts, to the which we are called in one body ;" to " let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another;" to " comfort our- selves together, and edify one another." And we may well urge that all this is in strict confonnity with the spirit of vital Christianity, when we learn that under the Jewish dispensation, so far inferior in glory, " they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written be- fore him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when 1 make up my jewels ; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." (Mai. iii. 16, 17.) The profound and accurate bishop Pearson, besides showing that the saints of God have com- miuiion with God, and with holy angels, and with departed believers, includes, in his exposition of that part of the Apostles' Creed which refers to the sub- ject, this view of sensible fellowship : " The saints of God, living in the church of Christ, have com- munion vdth all the saints living in the same church. * If we walk in the light, we have fellowship one AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 13o with another;' (1 John i. 7 ;) we all have benefit of the same ordinances; we are all endued with the graces of the same mutual love and affection, * keep- ing the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ;' (Eph. iv. 3 ;) all engrafted into the same stock, and, as receiving life from the same root, all * holding the same Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.' (Col. ii. 19.) For in the philosophy of the apostle, the nerves are not only the instruments of motion and sensation, but of nutrition also ; so that every member receiveth nourishment by their intervention from the head : and seeing the head of the body is Christ, and all the saints are members of that body, they all partake of the same nourishment, and so have all communion among themselves." Now all this scriptural language is figurative, and descriptive of the effects of inward religion. And how, we ask, is this spiritual communing to be provided for in the church of God ? Unquestionably, by affording and appointing opportunities for devout and serious conversation on personal religious ex- perience. In this way the inquirer may be instructed, the desponding penitent encouraged, the believer reanimated, and the whole, by this sympathetic in- terchange of thought, abundantly united and quick- ened, and made to realize that presence of Christ, which is especially promised to two or three met 136 THE METHODIST CHURCH in his name. It is not enough that believers meet at the table of the Lord : that, we grant, is a sym- bolical acknowledgment of mutual fellowship; but there needs something to actuate it, to make it available for all the purposes of holy walking and of spiritual life. The primitive communicants were enabled to spend more time in mutual and spiritual discourse than we now, on sacramental occasions, could do, even if, in the present state of society, this were allowed, and were reckoned a wise arrange- ment. Moreover, the divine ordinance of the Lord's supper, with all its primary importance, could never be intended to set aside a divine doctrinal command respecting intimate spiritual fellowship in private meetings : for it is in this latter course that they are proved and taught, as the catechumeni were of old, and their sincerity ascertained, before they can have a scriptural warrant to draw near with faith, and receive that sacrament to their comfort. It is, then, with great thankfulness for our privileges, that we recognise in the Wesleyan class-meeting the exact provision which has just been referred to. The leader is the spiritual adviser of the little flock over which he is placed ; he directs, at their weekly meeting, their devotional exercises; and on ascer- taining the state of each member, he administers warning, encouragement, or direction, according as it is needed ; and the members themselves, thus "not forsaking the assembling themselves together," and AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 137 thus " speaking often one to another," are edified by mutual intercourse, faith, and prayer. The ge- neral work of the Spirit is laid down in the Bible ; but here each person present has the joy and pri- vilege of tracing it, in its endless diversity of opera- tion, in particular individuals. The class-meetings have been, and are still, the soul of the body ; and we wonder that other Protestant churches have not something to answer to them. The Moravian church is the only striking exception. As the Wesleyans have gone from strength to strength, they have been refreshed from these sacred pools, filled by heavenly rain, and which have made the valley of Baca a well. Never, therefore, can their purity and efficiency be with too great jea- lousy guarded. It is very likely that the practice of auricular confession is nothing more than a foul and far-gone corruption of some primitive meeting, designed for the edification, in a private manner, of the members of the church. — But to return to the general subject. The form of Methodism in the United States of America is actually Episcopal ; and this arose partly from the wish which Mr. Wesley always cherished, to abide as far as possible by the order of that church in which he had been brought up, and partly from the peculiar state and requirements of the people there. Missionaries had been sent over by 138 THE METHODIST CHURCH Mr. Wesley in 1771, in pity to the thousands who had neither fold nor feeder ; and in after-years others were sent. In 1777 there were forty preach- ers, and a numerous society who communicated with the established church, when and where they could ; but when the States acquired indepen- dence in the struggle which took place, and most of the regular clergy had left the country, the Metho- dists of America could not receive the Lord's supper, or have their children baptized, unless they had ministers appointed of their own. Here again was a crisis. Mr. Wesley applied to the bishop of Lon- don, to ordain a bishop for the Americans, but could not prevail : he therefore appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury, to take the general charge of the societies and their preachers ; and two elders to act under them, preaching the word and administering the ordinances ; and the whole community was formed into a church. Mr. Wesley, though attached to the order of the establishment, nevertheless took the same view of Episcopacy which we have been advocating, and therefore considered that it was not anomalous for him, a presbyter, to ordain a bishop in a primitive sense; for he held the orders to be identical. "I firmly believe," he said, **that 1 am a scriptural eiriaKonog as much as any man in England," or in Europe; "for the uninterrupted succession I know to be a fable, which no man ever did or can prove." In this matter, therefore, there was, again. AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 139 no seliism : no man's right was invaded, no authority was impugned : a pro\adential path opened. Mr. Wesley might have said, as St. Paul, " A great and effectual door is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries ;" (1 Cor. xvi. 9;) so that nothing remained but to enter it as a door of hope. His conduct in this respect would be justified by Hooker himself; whose words, defining the word bishop even as prelatists do, would serve to support many an argument which we have endeavoured to exhibit : — "Another extraordinary kind of vocation is, when the exigence of necessity doth constrain to leave the usual ways of the church, which otherwise we would willingly keep, where the church must needs have some ordained, and neither hath nor possibly can have a bishop to ordain : in case of such necessity, the ordinary institution of God hath given often- times, and may give place. And therefore we are not simply, without exception, to urge a lineal descent from apostles, by a continual succession of bishops in every effectual ordination." (Eccles. Pol., vii., chap. 14.) Since the appointment of Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury, in the manner just mentioned, bishops and elders have ever had the oversight of the Methodist church : they travel much, and their labours are great : they govern in convocation or conference. No form of polity could be devised for the American societies which would answer the ends of the Gospel better: 140 THE METHODIST CHURCH for many of the preachers in that vast country are necessarily both young and inexperienced, and there- fore need the guidance of the wise ; and, labouring far apart, they require frequent inspection and Epis- copal control, to make up for the want of mutual advice and direction. But as there is no distinction of order assumed, and as the subordination which obtains is founded on Christian respect and aifection, we appeal likewise to transatlantic Methodism, as being agreeable to the principles of the New Tes- tament, though differing in detail from Methodism at home, and coming rather short of it in strictness of disciphne. If, however, we show that ours is no premeditated system, but the gradual fabrication of di\dne Pro\d- dence, we would, at the same time, not plead for it as being absolutely perfect: perfection can only be ascribed to Zion above. The removal of its ministers from place to place may be, in some degree, against that particular pas- torship, which consists in visiting from house to house, and in obtaining a personal knowledge of every member of the flock. The early calls which it makes for the services of all who have zeal and piety, may have been connected with too little regard, in some instances, for their knowledge: instances of frailty may have been found in all its ranks ; and where are they not to be found ? But still AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 141 it has been to thousands what the ark was to the Noahic family : it has housed them well from the tempests which were, and are still, breaking over the world; it has borne them over the deep waters; and now they are in glory, — that is, if the word of God, and if a renewed life and a triumphing death, can afford any evidence that they are landed there. It is a Missionary church, crowded with those who are, professedly at least, aggressive and militant members ; whose field is the world. The pious Dissenter looks back upon the history of his fathers, and upon the congregations of his community, as existing in past times, and feels his heart glow, while memory presents to mind those noble-minded men, who . lifted their voice for God, even when amid the smoking ashes of London ; and who went to the beds of the sick and dying, with offers of pardon and peace, when the plague tainted the air ; and he blesses God for being connected, though distantly, with a race who, rather than vio- late their conscience, gave up their worldly all. His feelings are to be revered. The pious Churchman in his sanctuary is reminded of many an event of past history, in which the British clergy were witnesses for God: — the Re- formation, coming like the day-spring from on high : the higher pastors declaring, and then burning for, the truth, when Popery, alias Moloch, bore sway : the learned pouring light upon the Scriptures, 142 THE METHODIST CHURCH and the Scriptures again pouring light upon them, until they became a fear and a terror to the infidel libertines of a voluptuous age, and to the demi-gods of a maddened democracy. And then, for how many ages past, have the arched and awful roofs above him echoed with Christ's true doctrine, and espe- cially wdth that impressive and solemn epiphonema, " Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ !" While the billows of sacred song are swelling over head, and breaking successively as upon the inmost soul, it is not mere sensibility that is awakened : the Holy Ghost is loved and adored for his care of the church, and for raising up its true and de- voted pastors. If the Episcopalian has communed with his God, within the inclosure of the English establishment, he may surely be allowed to vent his affection in figures of speech, and without re- proof from us to call her his dear mother. And may not we be allowed a similar privilege ? Methodism, in a long course of years, may become unfitted for the purposes of Providence, and in that case share the fate of all human systems : but it is healthful and vigorous yet ; and if its spirituality remain, who that loves God or goodness would wish it to die ? The wTiter of these lines reveres it as a pure and efficient form of Christianity : he has hung upon the lips of its ministers, many of whom had drunk both of the fount of learning and the fount of God : he has felt something of that holy influence which AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURES. 143 has rested upon its assemblies, and which has sub- dued and overwhelmed the people before it, which no eloquence of man could produce, and no infidel rationale explain. Amid all the perturbations which have troubled its surface, he has known an under- current of deep piety to be flowing both strong and clear. To that current we have been commended. To say that there is no rock of danger, would be presumption : never to expect darkness or a storm, would be too much like heaven : but if we mider- stand our scriptural chart aright, and if the blessed Spirit blow, the issue at the end of the course will he — God glorified, and everlasting life obtained. CHAPTER V. THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE, AND ITS RELATIONS, *' Ye are the light of the world." — Matt. v. 14. In order to have right conceptions respecting the nature of the Pastoral Oflice, it must be constantly remembered that ministers are in "Christ's stead;" and that therefore their work must be a distant copy of their Redeemer's, and that it must be performed in a spirit which approaches as nearly in likeness to his as it is possible for man's spirit to do. "As thou hast sent me into the world," said Christ, " so have 1 sent them into the world." The Father's message of the Son was one of the deepest compassion: it invested the Son with the spiritual jurisdiction of man, but especially of be- lievers. And the Son's message of the apostles was to carry out the same design. The mind of Christ, in reference to the great work of his ministry, was made manifest on several occasions. " My king- dom," he said, "is not of this world." This was the law of spirituality ; and sufficiently clear on NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 145 this point, that his servants have nothing to do with temporal rule : and the plain inference drawn from this emphatic sentence is, that the pastoral charge includes only the oversight of men in spiritual respects, — it takes cognizance of those interests v/hich arise from the relation they hear to their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctlfier, and which are infinitely weighty, because eternal. That desire of glorifying God, which was so evident in Christ, is the leading principle of the spirit in which the charge is kept, including, at the same time, an anguished longing after a divine influence to save, like that which vented itself in expressions like these : " I came to bring fire on earth ; and what would I, if it were already kindled ?" " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished !" Every delegate is a prototype of his sender ; and therefore those who are in *' Christ's stead " are called to exhibit the reflected image of his per- fections : and though we would not reiterate the unguarded sentiment of Ignatius, that the bishop is to the believer as Christ; yet the bishop has no claim to his office unless it be fulfilled with that spirituality, charity, and zeal, which qualities in our Lord were mediatorial perfections, and eminently distinguished him as the Anointed. The Pastoral Office is a mild and spiritual government, which is to be exercised over regenerate men, and under H 146 THE NATURE OF which they are to be fitted for heaven ; but which, at the same time, qualifies them for an enlightened subordination to those temporal powers which pre- serve the social order of this world: so that it is, in a modified sense, a kingdom within a kingdom. But the unity of design shows, that both govern- ments are of God: the one is gentle and non-com- pulsory, having no secular penalties, and referring ail executive strength to Christ; the other is sup- ported by penal sanctions, which are temporally enforced, but which are less necessary in proportion as men are under the scriptural control of the other. I. The Pastoral Ofiice may be viewed as it stands in relation to the universal church. Every minister who is truly ordained, according to the principles we have advocated, is connected with the whole fold. This is recognised in the communion of the English establishment : a priest, or presbyter, once ordained, may preach or ad- minister the sacraments in any place. The last and most impressive prayer of Christ for his dis- ciples, included the petition that they might all be one; by which " all," those w^ho in all ages believe on him, through the apostles' word, are meant. One they cannot be in uniformity of outward order, as has been said already; for difference of climate and national habits will make modes of worship and the sacramental ritual to differ. Nor can they THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 147 be one as regards internal economy: the isolated colony requires one form; the inhabitants of the kraal another; and the land of crowded cities others still, which differ from either. The unity pleaded for in the Redeemer's prayer, was unity in that love which was to result from one Spirit's influence; it was a oneness founded upon the very principles which made men Christians. Although it was com- mitted to the apostles, under the inspiration of the Spirit, to utter the oracles of New-Testament pro- phecy, yet the Word himself did not remain alto- gether silent as to the future condition of his church. He before had represented multitudes as flocking from the four quarters of the world unto it; and now, without merging those distinctions which had arisen from time and circumstance, and the bounds of their habitation, he beseeches the Father that they may be all one. He himself was the especial, but slighted, Pastor of the most highly favoured portion of the flock, — Jerusalem, where David and the prophets had preached, where the glory of God had brooded, and on account of whose guilt and danger he had shed tears in the midst of a triumph. But not all the recollections of the past, not all the hold which the peculiar people had upon his heart, could prevent his fervent aspirations on behalf of others. " Other sheep," he said, ^' I have, which are not of this fold : them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold, and II 2 148 THE NATURE OF one shepherd." In counteraction of this principle of the Redeemer's, nothing is more possible than that some ministers, from their peculiar circum- stances, may have such a complacency in their own pastoral authority, and ministerial powers, as to regard with comparative indifference every part of the Christian community but their own ; and some- times to go so far even as to monopolize the distinc- tion of *' church" to themselves. O dark quotation from the man of sin, and which is worthy alone of him who was content with no less a seat than that in the temple of God ! Episcopacy is considered the most dignified form of church order; and, by some, its ministers are considered to be invested with higher authority than other pastors are ; that they are, in the present dispensation, what the priests and Levites were in the former ; and that their ecclesiastical dignity is both ancient, and apos- tolically legitimate. It is, perhaps, very difficult, when we remember what is the human heart, for the minister of an Episcopal community to get rid altogether of these ideas of himself: weak efforts, and low piety, are far from being sufficient to banish them, especially if his church be established by law. He will require to aim at that elevated state of feeling, so finely depicted by Dr. Cudworth when he says, '^ No man is truly free but he that hath his will enlarged to the extent of God's own will, by loving whatsoever God loves, and nothing else. Such THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 149 an one doth not fondly hug this or that created good thing, and envassal himself unto it, but he loveth everything that is lovely, beginning at God, and descending down to all his creatures, according to the several degrees of perfection in them. He enjoys a boundless sweetness, according to his bound- less love. He enclaspeth the whole world in his out-stretched arms : his soul is as wide as the whole universe ; as big as yesterday, to-day, and for ever." The minister of Christ no longer acts in the spirit of his Lord than when he manifests solicitude for the church as a whole, and evinces himself related to it. His office is an elevated one: it is Pisgah compared with the plain : it requires a swelhng heart and a far-searching eye. If there be a man who is so intent upon the dignity of his own. order, that he cannot look abroad, and love as far as look, he is reminded by the Bishop of souls himself, that such a position, at least, is not dignified, even if personal authority be ever so valid: for the lesson taught to the disciples was, that angels, in heaven even, rejoice over converted men on earth; and that, con- sequently, the upper church was not cold and heart- less in reference to the interests of the lower. Thus, the higher the dignity the greater the glow of charity, and that sympathetic flame which could kindle intensely upon a spot, and yet run through every part of the spiritual universe. The inhabitants of the heavenly Zion are not unwilhng to recognise 150 THE NATURE OF us; the interest wliicli they take in the Christian community seems to deepen according to the height of their nature ; and yet we, alas ! are imwilling to recognise each other : the clergyman frowns on the Dissenter, and the Dissenter on the clergyman. Often those who lay claim to the highest ministerial rank, are the most exclusive, repelling, and cold. Charity vaunteth not itself, and yet it has a high elevation assigned to it by the apostle ; for he says, it never faileth, having an existence and a sphere when prophecies have ceased, tongues are silenced, and uncertain knowledge has passed away. How much more, then, in the catholic spirit should we act, were every pastor to link himself in soul to the general elect ! Who has not felt himself impressed with that sentence in the TeDeum, " The holy church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee?" And shall we, then, confess no brotherhood with those who join in the acknowledgment? If this be the anthem, shall there be no agreement in the choir ? No wonder that our moral dissonance should often send the philosophic infidel to nature for his harmony, which, according to his apprehension, yields deeper and richer music than the sanctuary. If heaven shall not teach us catholicity, where shall we learn our lesson? Is it a greater stoop for angels to condescend to men, than for human dig- nitaries to stoop to their brethren ? When St. John conversed with his glorious companion, that TPIE PASTORAL OFFICE. 151 holy one was so absorbed in the service of his Maker, he could receive no homage : "See thou do it not," he said; "for I am thy fellow-servant." And ought not this same divine service to swallow up entirely the thoughts of those who engage in the ministry; that they should exact no homage from a fellow-servant, but rather view his efforts in the same cause with deep complacency ? The very thing which makes one minister higher than another, is that which makes one Christian holier and wiser than another ; and besides this there is no rule or measure of comparison, as is manifest from the New Testament: but the higher and holier he is, the more fully will he admit, and act upon the admission, that the pastor's office is a department, not merely in a particular, but in the imiversal church. How often non-conformity is more denounced than open sin ! The non-conformist in the present day is not, perhaps, treated rudely ; but his claim to be a minister, and the member of a church, is met with an apathy and silence, which is far more dis- tressing than even ebullitions of anger. Far different was the conduct and spirit of Bar- nabas. Multitudes, at the persecution which arose at the death of Stephen, fled from Jerusalem, into various parts of Asia Minor : they had received no special ministerial commission ; many were Gentiles and strangers; and yet they preached Christ every- where, especially at Antioch, and multitudes were 152 THE NATURE OF converted by their word. When Barnabas came, he inquired not by what authority their teachers had been commissioned, or what form of order they adopted. One object alone attracted his sight : ''he saw the grace of God ;" that was sufficient ; he needed no other sight to arouse that grateful and holy feeling which began to pervade his breast: he saw the image of Christ in the converted; he recognised them as brethren, and part of the church ; he was glad, and exhorted them that with full purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord: — and no wonder ; "for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." It is this repletion of the Spirit that enlarges the pastor's heart ; not a fulness that excludes sympathetic care for the whole church, but the reverse, — a repletion which is at once fulness and capacity. St. Peter himself seemed at first to be influenced by the spirit of exclusiveness of which we are now complaining : he would fain have confined the Gospel and church privileges unto those of the circumcision, contrary to the intent for whidi he, with the other apostles, had received the keys of the kingdom of heaven. But he was taught to consider that nothing which God had sanctified was common ; and when the Holy Ghost fell upon a company of Gentiles in his presence, and they were justified by faith, he saw that there was no difference, and, baptizing them, he acknowledged that they were brethren in the Lord. THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 153 If the apostle's mistake was rectified by a mira- culous and visionic interposition, for the instruction of an after-age, why, alas ! has it been so oft repeated ? Thousands have been sanctified to God in undoubted conversion, and yet by many, who have represented themselves, in Oxford Tracts and other publications, as Christ's only ministers, they have been treated as common and unclean. He who began his apos- tolic life in preaching to a particular people, ended it by virriting a catholic epistle to strangers, who were scattered abroad, and who were "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, unto obedience, and sprinkhng of the blood of Jesus." But bigotry is not the sin of the Episco- pahan only: it exists in the Presbyterian and Inde- pendent as well : it may be fostered by him whose rehgion is merely tolerated by law, as weU as by him who belongs to a national establishment. It may argue itself into complacency, from the very position which it occupies, as fomiding and main- taining a church without the assistance of the secular power, and standing apart from it. Bigotry, or sectarianism, which is schism, may often plimie itself as having superior piety, purity, and spiritual discernment to that which is seen in others. The bigoted minister will secretly pine over the increase of other communities beyond his own: rather than see the sinner housed in a certain department H 5 154 THE NATURE OF of the ark, he will behold hmi perish in the storm. Beautifully is the catholic spirit displayed in the following passage from the book of God: — **And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders : and it came to pass, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad : and the Spirit rested upon them ; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle : and they prophesied in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said. My Lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake ? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them !" Moses in his day had nearer intercourse with God than any human being ; yet here his enlargem.ent of heart seemed quite coeval with his personal dignity. It was sufficient for him to see that Eldad and Medad spake in the Spirit: he objected not to the fact, that they were in the camp, rather than under his THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 155 own hand and eye: they were approved by God, and therefore by him. From what he had known of spiritual vision, and the strength and joy which it brought, he wished all the Lord's people were prophets, both for the sake of the world, and for the sake of the anointed ones themselves. Prophet as he was, and so great as to be like Him whom the Lord God should raise up, yet he rejoiced when others partook of the same grace wdth that which dwelt in him. He was not impoverished, because they were filled: he knew that God w^ho created the desires of the human heart, could satisfy them ; and that, had he called a whole church, or a world of prophets, and given unto each a soul as large as heaven, his Spirit would fill all still. It is this expansive love which constitutes the goodly fellowship of the prophet^.' "'^ Isaiah seems to view the different divisions of the Christian church as so many waters pent up in their own separate and narrow channel ; but he declares, " Thou shalt see, and flow together." He assumes, that those narrow channels are too true a type of the state of inward feeling ; for the pro- phecy proceeds, " Thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged ; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." It would be curious and instructive for a pastor, of contracted soul, to descant upon the infinite 156 THE NATURE OF fulness and goodness of God, showing how it is illustrated in his moral government. — We should love to hear him preach from, " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them;" for the text makes no mention that the two or three are specified as having any outward badge of opinion ; — and still more should we be anxious to hear what exposition he would give of that deep and pensive feeling which filled the Redeemer's bosom, when he said, " The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few : pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth more labourers into his harvest." Christi- anity in such hands suffers an unlovely distortion, and Christ himself is wounded in the house of his friends. Let the minister of the Gospel think, what are the relations he bears to his own people ; and then see if nature and grace do not both prompt him to complacency wdth those who are placed in similar circumstances. Is the relation paternal ? Does he say of several who are around him, " Ye are my children," and feel for them that intenseness of regard w^hich such a relation supposes? Then let him honour and respect every spiritual father, as one who is initiated into the same blessed mysteries of thought and feeling as himself; for not only is the ministry a brotherhood, but a father- hood. Is the minister's charge pastoral? and is he, the minister, incessantly occupied in feeding and THE PASTORAL OFFICE. l0< tending the flock ? This Scripture simile, so often repeated, is not merely used to show the guardian- ship and fostering care which belongs to the office, but Hkewise to show the concord which subsists between the shepherds themselves. Are they watch- men walking around the walls of Zion, vigilant, and by night as well as day ? There is yet cloud and darkness enough around Zion, to require from her watchmen, not only fidelity, but mutual con- fidence. Night has the influence of softening and sub- duing the spirits of men, especially in seasons of affliction ; insomuch that persons who pass each other in the dark, though stern at other times, will then exchange a word of peaceful import. The mariner hails his brother mariner at sea. If a man then be. repulsive and sullen, he is supposed to be past feeling. Shall the ministers of God, then, commit themselves to a course which is rebuked by the courtesies of life ? Shall each one hear his fellow call amid the howhngs of the pitiless storm, "Watch- man, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night ?" and make him no reply, but stand aloof like an alien ? Shall not, alas ! the troubles of the church unite the hearts of its pastors, and lead each one to feel an interest in the whole ? The besieged Jews could leave their domestic feuds, and fight together against Titus ; and cannot we against Satan? If men of God do not acknowledge themselves 158 THE NATURE OF mutually to be brethren, and consecrated by deep responsibility to one great duty, tlie cause is be- trayed, and the enemy ravages where God ought to reign. No distance of locality interferes with the oneness for which we are pleading; for although they are separated to their different posts of observation, yet the watchmen " shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion, and together shall they lift up the voice and sing;" which prophecy of Isaiah shows that God considers them as one, whether they take that view themselves or not. Montgomery has referred to the rainbow, as a figure of Christ's cause on earth; and to its commingling hue«, as illustrative of the harmonizing, though varied, labours of those who engage in that cause. This is a beau- tiful figure: there are many colours, but it is one bow ; and we may observe, St. John tells us there was a bow over the Redeemer's head in heaven, and composed, no doubt, of as various rays as that which Noah beheld when God withdrew his wrath. Glory itself will not merge all distinctions, but rather preserve them, and blend them into one un- broken manifestation. The unity of heaven is not that of complete individual likeness, but of resem- blance to God, from whose various perfections all holy variety in the creature is derived. The rays differ, but they form one light. Heaven loves to blend every thing that is capable of being blended, THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 159 without producing, at the same time, loss in indi- vidual excellence. The very sea of glass is mingled with fire; the stillness of rest, with the glow of love. But figures are not arguments. Our appeal is to the word of God : and sufiicient has been deduced thence to show, that a minister of Christ is pastor in the universal church ; that he is no more exempt from feeling, and acting upon, his connexion with it, whether he be present or absent from his own do- main, than the patriot is exempt from attachment to his beloved country, while he wanders an exile over the earth. Indeed, it were a matter of grief if the patriotism of this world were not exceeded by the affection we feel for that Jerusalem, which is tlie mother of us all, and which Zuinger celebrated with his dying lips. A pastor, then, whether a diocesan bishop or otherwise, must undoubtedly be the angel of the church, lofty and expansive in his charities. Whe- ther he preach the everlasting Gospel, or instruct and tend in a more private manner the flock, or whatever ecclesiastical station he may occupy, he will never have gone beyond his divine commission, until his soul shall be fuller of longings for the reign of righteousness, than was that of his great Master. All ministers who combine their exertions and in- fluence in promoting missions to the heathen, and who efficiently stand by them when established, are 160 THE NATURE OF those who imbibe the true spirit of their Lord, and of his chief apostle ; who could say of a church which he himself had not planted, and which he had never seen, ** God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers." II. The pastor's office may now be considered as it stands in relation to a special congregation, society, or charge. Although the minister's zeal has a wide circum- ference in which to exercise itself, yet this is the centre, and where energy and holiness are to be brought more fully into action. He may act through the medium of his character, or the power of his letters, at a distance ; but here he mingles with his people, and adds to the force of every quaHfication, by identifying himself with them and their interests. Richard Baxter took for his directory and text, on this subject, the impressive and affecting charge of St. Paul to the Ephesian elders : he would fain have every minister copy the inspired paragraph in letters so large, that they might strike his eye even at a distance, and impress the heart with their weighty import. The sentiments which they express remind us strongly of the last discourses of our Lord, and of his valedictory prayer : they seem to exhibit a beautiful and divine conception, which was made in heaven, but never embodied on earth. But this is a mistake. The holy apostle laid open to view THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 161 Kis own heart; lie appealed to his own course of conduct ; glorified Christ by showing what Christ's grace had done for him ; and, by speaking as a human being, encompassed with sorrows and weakened with infirmities, he showed that he was laying down a rule, not for angels, but for men. The apostle's words are : 1. " Take heed to yourselves." This is the preacher's first lesson. It would seem strange to ask a scientific or literary professor, if he had a thorough acquaintance with the subject on which he proposed to treat ; and yet such is the deceitfulness of the heart, 'that St. Paul's charge can never be often enough reiterated. " Take heed " that no falsa fire is offered in your censer, — the glow of mere sentiment or genius; but the fire of the love of God. Think of Nadab and Abihu. See that before ye speak of salvation, you are saved; that before ye preach holiness, ye are pure ; that before ye teach obedience, ye keep Christ's commandments ; that before ye descant on privilege, ye have obtained the Spirit; and that before ye enjoin duty, you ex- hibit a bright picture of devotedness: otherwise there will be an incongruity between the argument and the illustration, the text and the comment, which will confound the ignorant, and lead to an abandon- ment of the truth into the hands of the infidel. 2. " And to all the flock." To the aggre- gate, and to every individual. To children ; for Christ 162 THE NATURE OF lias declared them members of liis kingdom, and they have been baptized in the name of the Trinity. The covenant of God with them in baptism, was to supply all their need; and as they need nothing more than grace, God casts them upon the church, and especially upon the ministers thereof, to supply the means of their instruction, exhortation, encourage- ment, fellowship. The Gospel identifies the children of pious parents with their parents, as far as pri- vilege is concerned ; and, consequently, they are to be the objects of pastoral solicitude and love, and must be incited to seek for themselves the inward blessings and great salvation of God's covenant. What a field of happy toil is here! Youths, with warm affections and full of promise, are only awaiting a guiding hand ; they are ready to leave the sinful world; but a heavenly messenger must lead the way, and quicken their pace. The children of the poor, too, are full of interest: their nursery is the Sabbath- school, — a vestibule of the church, and where the pas- tor's influence is as legitimately called for and be- stowed, in its due proportion, as in the pulpit ; and in the committees and amongst the teachers of which schools, his wisdom and counsel should ever be em- ployed. Amongst **all the flock" are likewise the aged. Warn them, that the day is far spent, that the night is at hand ; show them, that the last days of life are inexpressibly sacred. There are the weak : show them, that Christ breaks not the bruised reed. THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 163 nor quenches tlie smoking flax, till he has brought forth judgment unto victory. There are the peni- tent: lead them to their atoning Saviour; uphold the trembling hand of their faith ; show them, that to doubt his love is to add sin to sin ; chase their un- belief through every lurking-place in the heart, until it give place to a blessed affiance in his merits, and the desponding mourner becomes a happy be- liever. There are the tempted and suffering: sit down with them in the dust, listen to their plaint, and then show, in various ways, that the man is happy whom God correcteth. There are the pros- perous and happy: ever inculcate that the world is not our home: and say, as Jesus in the garden, " Rise, let us be going." 3. The charge refers to the authority and majesty of the Holy Spirit, the great authorizer: " Over WHICH (flock) THE HoLY GhOST HATPI MADE YOU OVERSEERS," — eiriaKoiroi. If Christ began his evange- lical doctrine with, " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me," his servants should fear and tremble on reflecting, that the declaration, in a limited sense, is true of them. The Spirit is on them, not to inspire with prescience, but to impart light and power. That must be a fearful work, which is set out and appointed by so great and glorious a person. 4. " Feed the church of God." Not merely " enlarge upon the beauty and exuberance of the pasture ;" but supply provision. Food is the support 164 THE NATURE OF of life ; and if life is suffered to ebb away, while the imagination is excited and gratified, some sad hallucination has bewildered both the shepherd and the flock. The truth as it is in Jesus — not as it is in epic poems, or in geological lessons, or astrono- mical lectures — is that which must sanctify and save : truth may be found in those departments,, but not in an authoritative form. Moral phantasms may please for a season; but the world of phantasms passes away, and the dying call loudly for truth. 5. " Which (church) he hath purchased with HIS OWN BLOOD." An allusion, this, to the value of the flock, as argued from the price paid for its ransom. The church was bought, not by the suf- ferings of humanity merely; but, ah ! mystery ii^ effable ! he who suffered is in the first part of the sen- tence called God. " Are souls so dear to Christ, and yet so lightly estimated by us ? Did they cost him his blood, and shall they not cost us our labour ?" 6. A warning against dividers and deceivers : " For 1 KNOW THIS, THAT AFTER MY DEPARTING SHALL GRIEVOUS WOLVES ENTER IN AMONG YOU, NOT SPARING THE FLOCK : ALSO OF YOUR OWN SELVES SHALL MEN ARISE, SPEAKING PERVERSE THINGS, TO DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES AFTER THEM." Tliese WOrds are a standing and oft-fulfilled prophecy. Men are found at different times arising, after a course of un- observed deterioration, both in the ministerial and laic ranks of the church ; and now, like the stormy petrel. THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 165 their joy is to be in troubled waters. The minister's care is to be directed to the sympathetic unity and intercommunion of the flock with each other. Dio- trephes will arise some day, and present a temptation to schism and to change. " Provide, then, for the evil: throw around your charge and yourself the protection of New-Testament law, or the peace of the community is lost." 7. A call to vigilance: " Therefore watch." In the present state of the world, these words sound solemn and admonitory, as when similar were uttered by our Lord in the night of his agony. Watch! ye who tend the spiritual field : there is a spirit of philosophic sleep in the air, which instils a di'eamy and feverish excitation, as some little recompence for the spiritual life which it paralyzes and eventually destroys. 8. A living exemplification : " And remember, that by the space of three years I CEASED NOT TO WARN EVERY ONE NIGHT AND DAY WITH TEARS." Nothing less will avail in winning souls, and in preserving them in faith and holiness. The effect of a public sermon may be powerful, but it will often be transient. When the law of God was first proclaimed, the people quailed with fear and awe ; but when Moses was absent, and in the mount, they danced before a golden calf. Extraordinary ministers, such as Luther, Wesley, and Whitefield, are raised up for extraordinary times, and are sent 166 THE NATURE OF out to evangelize and toil tlirougli large districts; but the usual ministers of the church, who enter into their labours, cannot scrip turally hope for suc- cess, without this warning personally night and day, and this teaching from house to house, which was so conspicuous a feature in the labours of the apostle. Many a sinner may be subdued in private, who was proof against the most powerful and pathetic appeals possible in public. Besides, the private appeal will show more than any thing else can, that the public one was sincere. The man of this world lays down his labours with the day : but he who has the charge of souls, knows no intermission of his care ; it is interwoven with the very substance of his soul, and becomes a part of his existence.* The term of the apostle's continuance at Ephesus was equal, exactly, to the maximum continuance of the Wesleyan minister in his circuit : and at no time, since the formation of the Wesleyan Connexion, has there existed a greater necessity that St. Paul's example should be imitated than now. The public ministry of our body has been powerful ; in many instances it has been unusually talented; and the system of interchange has enabled the principal cir- * Inexpressible offences arise, if the bishop visit not daily the houses of his people, more frequently than a mere idler. For not only the sick, but those in health also, expect to be visited. — Chrysost. De Sacerd., lib. 3. THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 167 cuits to have the labours of the most highly gifted members of the Conference one after another. This has silently excited a taste for novelty and variety ; and a demand for change has been aroused : already it exists to a degree which seriously lessens the amount of pastoral attention in the domestic circles of the various circuits. Charitable institutions, it is true, have multiplied; and great exertions have to be made to meet the financial responsibilities of the church : but why are we to run from east to west, for every sermon that has to be preached in behalf of a Sunday-school, or at the anniversary of the opening of a chapel ? Why this hurrying to and fro, every pastor leaving his own people and going to another ? Alas ! while, on the one hand, this extra-itinerancy deprives the fa- milies of the society of their due share of intercourse with their own minister ; on the other, it is stimu- lating that vitiated taste for excitement, which already is unnatural and feverish beyond degree. It tends to make public talent a commodity, estimated at a certain price ; and men are led insensibly into the practice of giving money unto Christ's cause, not according to the degree in which their principles are actuated by a sense of duty and obligation, but according to the pitch of ardour to which their feelings, by the eloquence of the preacher or speaker, may be raised. Nothing can be lost by making a stand against this system of commotion and ever- 168 THE NATURE OF lasting change ; but mucli may be gained, — the sickly and undue love of variety will subside, and the union between the people and their own pastors become more solid and endearing. If there be a man who will not occupy his stated place in the sanctuary, and give his proper contribution, because the bill of the anniversary does not promise him a sufficient intel- lectual repast, let us leave him to mourn his want of grace, if haply he has spiritual tenderness to do so : the church will not lose by him more than it will gain in other respects, in accession to strength of principle, principle that needs no unhealthy ex- citement ; and in the good which will accrue from every minister using his chief influence in his own place, securing the affections and confidence, and pro- moting the piety, of his own people. There are a few honoured names in Methodism which, by pecu- liar providential designation, appear intended to stand upon the line of general evangelists, or of the mes- sengers of the churches ; but, viewing the body at large, and, indeed, any ecclesiastical body, nothing is found to succeed like the regimen of the holy apostle : for '' the space of three years," or whatever space it may be, warning every one night and day with tears; or, as it is expressed in another place, teaching *' publicly, and from house to house." An eloquent man may sustain the reputation of being an admired lecturer; but if he confines his efforts to the pulpit, while, at the same time, residing THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 169 among his congregation, he will never be deemed in earnest; nor indeed is it possible he should be so in fact. The department of labour referred to by the apostle is an infallible and indispensable test of a preacher's earnestness. The anxious sower of seed will not be content with scattering his grain " beside all waters : " he will visit every section of the field, and will watch the sprouting " blade, and then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear;" and if any thing blights or hinders the growth of the rising plant, his skill and toil are tasked to the utmost to remove the cause of the evil. He who preaches to produce a splendid effect upon his con- gregation, may for a moment succeed, without having had that kindly intercourse with the members thereof of which we speak ; but not he who preaches to glorify God, and edify and save them. The deep and lasting impressions which are made under the sermons of some men, whose gifts are not of the first order, are owing, in a great degree, to that prepared state of heart, on the part of the congre- gation, which is produced by their own visits. The revered friend, and Christian instructer of the family, cannot fail to speak with authority and effect when he becomes the minister of the assembly. St. Paul knew the human heart, and what was likely to lay it open to the accesses of divine grace ; and hence the power and pathos of his whole address, — an address with which the Epistles of Cyprian and 170 THE NATURE OF Jerome, and the most admired" Conciones ad Clerum" of antiquity, will not bear to be compared, even in the most distant manner. It is not, however, so much Paul, as Paul's divine Master, who is our authority on this subject. It is Christ who says, " Feed my sheep," and " Feed my lambs ;" and now the inspired commentator shows how this command is to be obeyed, and causes us to feel that the text and comment are alike divine. It has been objected by some Wesleyan ministers, that their time is so much taken up by the other duties of the ministry, that they have little or none to devote to this. In some cases this plea is undoubtedly valid ; and indeed, upon the whole, no ministers preach so often as they, or have to attend so many public meet- ings, and guide so many movements of Christian duty and enterprise : yet there is a majority of cases, in which even from them the objection cannot be fully admitted. In several provincial towns, four or five, and sometimes more, ministers reside; and in these large town -circuits, it usually happens that the journeys to the villages around are not long, and that each individual returns home the same evening. Here, it is clear, three-fourths of the day is their own, to be allotted to those duties which do not include preaching and devotional ex- ercises ; and surely this allotment will allow a very fair portion to be spent in pastoral visitation. And even in country-circuits, where absence from home THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 171 is frequent, and the journeys longer, tlie societies are so much smaller in proportion, and the duties that devolve on the other minister so heavily, are here so much lighter, that the pastoral work cannot by any means be innocently neglected. To be faithful, how- ever, in this department, will require system, diligence, and promptitude ; and with whom are we to find these, if not with the minister of Christ ? a man who sees in heavenly light the sacredness of time and its solemn relation to eternity. Let the beau- tiful and concise injunction of Mr. Wesley be acted on, and the objection, as far as grounded on the want of time, will cease. "Never be unemployed, never be triflingly employed, never while away time," said that great and holy man ; and likewise set the example of its proper use in his own unparalleled ministry, the results of which are now before the world. All difficulties will fail before a conquering perseverance, joined to deep spirituality of mind. Only let our brethren so arrange their studies, em- ployments, and recreations, as to make every thing refer to their great work, (a thing quite possible,) and there can be no doubt of their exercising a most efficient pastoral care. It is, however, sometimes objected, " But this is the province of the leader." So it undoubtedly is, in certain respects ; but the appointment of leaders was never intended to supersede the pastor's particular oversight of the people, any more than I 2 172 THE NATURE OF it was intended to supersede the ministry of the word. Their work is supplemental ; and it is not to diminish the importance of the office that this position is laid down, but rather to increase it. Besides, is the leader himself to have no pastor ? And are there no cases occurring in the little so- cieties which require the application of a knowledge and spiritual wisdom, which the leader, excellent as he is, may not always possess? Shall the sick be left to pine in their dwellings from week to week, without ever hearing words of peace from those whom the word of God points out as their friend in sorrow, the active agents of the Paraclete, the Comforter? Why does Methodism require the leader to inform the minister of any that are sick, if it did not intend that minister to visit them ? Anxious for the spiritual welfare of the pastorate, as well as of the people, it prompts to the example of Him, and to the attaining His favour, who has said, and shall say again, " I was sick, and in prison, and ye visited me." Shall the anxious and pious parent never have the high gratification of beholding a beloved son or daughter attracting our Christian sympathies, and awakening in our bosoms that affectionate interest in them which their youth and their need of vital religion ought ever to claim ? Christ loved an amiable youth, even when he was worldly-minded ; and shall more hopeful objects be presented us THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 173 while we pass them unheeded by? O, rather than commit ourselves to an indifference so guilty, let us learn, even from the abettors and priests of Popery, who would compass sea and land to gain a proselyte, a lesson of zeal and diligence. Moreover, the objector must recollect, that if he re- signs his pastoral labour to the leader, he must resign the proportionate part of his influence too; for no man can have extensive and lasting influence who has not obtained it by labours or character. The hold which one human being has upon another, is by the bond of the affections; and if the leader be the only friend and guide of the private member, he only will have that master-influence over him which arises from love. Is the objector prepared for this ? Is he willing to be nothing but a public lecturer? If so, alas! how fallen from the apostolic model here exhibited, and how unfit for that very department of his Lord's work which he thinks is alone worthy of his intention! How much more dignified and enviable the position in which we can say, both to the leader and private member, like Paul himself, " Be ye followers of me!" Neither can that objection be received as valid, which would urge, " But the members are met in the quarterly visitation of the classes : " for the case of the sick is not here included at all ; nor that of the weak or wavering, who stay away through fear ; nor, especially, the case of their unawakened relatives. 174 THE NATURE OF But the Wesleyan minister must likewise re- member the sacred obligations into which he has voluntarily entered. Can he forget the earnest and solemn inquiry proposed amid breathless thousands at his ordination ? — *' Will you be ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to. God's word; and to use both pubHc and private admo- nitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole within your district, as need shall require, and occasion shall be given?" together with the distinct answer ? — " I will, the Lord being my helper." Can he be unmindful of the earnest and devout recommendation of the unanimous Conference, formed mth much prayer, embodied in the Minutes of 1820, annually read over at every district-meeting, and vocally or tacitly approved by every member thereof? " Let us, wherever we have access and opportunity, be diligent in pastoral ^dsits to our people, at their own houses, especially to the sick, the careless, and the lukewarm ?" (Sec. 16 of Ans. to Q. xxvi.) And again : '^ Let us pay particular attention to backsHders, and endeavour, in the spirit of meekness, to -restore them that have been overtaken in a fault, and by ])rivate efforts, as well as by our public ministrations, to recover the fallen out of the snare of the devil." (Sec. 22.) Are all these unmeaning words, intended to be read and forgotten ? Only let us be faithful to our voluntary obligations, as well as alive to our ac- THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 175 knowledged duty to Christ the Lord ; and seldom shall we have to mourn over cold and formal congregations, or societies diminished in number. And while the Minutes of 1820 are glanced at, let it not be for- gotten that they continually bind us to the " Chris- tian instruction and government of our own fa- milies ;" to " covet earnestly the best gifts ;" to " encourage public prayer-meetings ;" to " avoid a narrow, bigoted, and sectarian spirit ;" to " establish weekly meetings of the children ;" to " meet the societies for the purpose of addressing them re- specting their peculiar duties, both personal and domestic, as professors of religion and as Method- ists ;" to inspect the labours of the leaders ; to " enforce on all our people a conscientious attend- ance on, the Lord's supper;" to *' earnestly exhort our societies to make the best and most religious use of the rest and leisure of the Lord's day ;" to act in the meetings of the church not as mere chairmen, but as pastors ; and to ask constantly " a more abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit." To these injunctions we may add, that a sermon preached once a week, at an early hour in the morning, before the operations of the day are com- menced, will ever have the happiest effect of pro- moting the union and spirituality of the society. The freshness of the morning air, the buoyancy of the mind, and the stillness of the world, are all favourable to devotion, and to seeking, in com- 176 THE NATURE OF munion with God, for strength against the trials of life. All this is, however, only a detailed exposition of the apostolic charge, and is, therefore, invested wdth all the authority that the great Head of the church can give it. Every duty arises out of that relation in which every minister of Christ stands to his peculiar society or congregation. There must be an ubiquity in his watchful vigilance, as the steward of God, which shall pervade every de- partment of the household. And, as bishop Burnet observes in his Pastoral Care, respecting his own priest, such an one "is not terrified with those words, * Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward ;' he knows his reward shall be full, pressed down, and running over. He is but too happy in those * spiritual children' whom he has * begot in Christ :' he looks after those as the chief part of his care, and as the principal of his flock; and is so far from aspiring, that it is not without some uneasiness that he leaves them, if he is commanded to arise to some higher post in the church." Grief, it seems, will be a concomitant of the course which is here recommended. The more the heart is freed from the malady of sin by sanctifying grace, the more that heart mourns over the malady in others ; but who would be free from that sacred sensibility ? It is rather a beloved aflliction, which is valued in THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 177 proportion to the weight in which it lies upon ns : it is of such a nature as would hardly disturb the happiness of heaven. O, if all the ministers of the land were thoroughly chastened and subdued by this sorrow, — if it were to be cherished until the churches of England be- came one Bochim, — then the scene depicted by Joel would be realized : " The priests, the ministers of the Lord," would " weep between the porch and the altar, and" would "say. Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them : wherefore should they say among the people. Where is their God ? " We want a baptism of tears, and then there would follow a baptism of the Spirit. And now, to conclude the apostle's charge, we have a valediction. 9. *'I COMMEND YOU TO GoD, AND THE WORD OF HIS GRACE, WHICH IS ABLE TO BUILD YOU UP, AND GIVE YOU AN INHERITANCE AMONG THEM WHICH ARE SANCTIFIED." Thus is all labour, with its results, yielded into the hands of God: it is a devout reference to the source of all good. Here men of different theoretic minds, the evangeHc Armi- nian, and the enlightened Calvinist, may join, both planting and watering, according to their ability, but both acknowledging that the increase is of God. Nor in this charge did the apostle forget to name the great doctrines which formed the subject of I 5 178 THE NATURE OF his teaching, — " repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;" nor are we to forget that they are of standing, as well as paramount, importance. A minister, by teaching his people science, may do feebly what the philosopher can do better by foster- ing a literary taste ; he may refine them, by leading them into the paths of physical inquiry ; he may enlarge their mental sight, and strengthen their mental power; but by enjoining repentance and faith, he is instrumental in saving them, — a result compared with which, all knowledge and ethereal visions vanish into nothing. If sin makes a man an unrepenting rebel, a victim for the righteous wrath of God, these things only invest him mth a more mournful interest, and make his eternal death a matter of acuter sorrow and distress. The faithful enunciation of these vital truths, marks the true minister more than any other par- ticular ; and such an one will never for long labour without fruit. These truths have such an immediate reference to every person, and to every stage of Christian experience, that the illustration and ex- pansion of them will be a work which must bind him to his flock as long as life shall last ; and it is from the impression they make that he is enabled to cherish the hope of presenting them before the throne of glory with exceeding joy, when, through the mercy of his Lord, he shall arise to receive his THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 179 own crown. No one, who studies the charge of St. Paul to the presbyters of Ephesus, and especially who reveres and endeavours to obtain the spirit of the apostle, can long remain ignorant as to the true relation in which a minister stands to his people. Every one will see, that after all the poetic images which express this relation are exhausted, there is a particular in it which they none can express ; there is a circumstance, which even the analogies of Scripture fail to portray. He is immortal himself, and the guardian of the immortahty of others. He must raise himself to his work ; for it can never be subordinated, or made less awful than it is. He may be little in his own esteem, and indeed should be; but he must cast himself upon his office, and upon the promises and grace of God. A king is great, because of his relation to his kingdom; the rich man is reckoned great, because of his proprietary relation to his property; and the minister of Christ is great, because he is officially related to eternity and eternal things. There is, in some sense, under his inspection, an accumulation of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, of moral emotions, struggles, agonies, felicities, so great that he can never bear to look upon his position, without first looking to his God, in order to be as fully acquainted with the sustaining power of his Spirit, as with that all- important emplojrment which shall call his utmost powers into full exercise. 180 THE NATURE OF III. The Pastoral Office is now to be con- sidered as it stands in relation to the world at large. Our argument is with those who hold the Scrip- tures as a revelation from God; and if there be any force and beauty in the similes which Christ used, the position in which ministers stand in reference to the world, is fitly illustrated by the city set upon a hill, and by the uncovered burning light, which diffused its beams throughout the house. If the world be dark, they are placed to enlighten it; if it be guilty, they are to bring home the conviction of guilt ; if it contain enemies against God, they are to call it to banish them and yield to Christ, and are to publish the terms of the proposed recon- ciliation, and seek to recover it to the dominion of their Lord, whose right it is to reign till all enemies are put under his feet. " O righteous Father," said the Redeemer, in his farewell prayer, " the world hath not known thee : but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it : that the love wherewith thou lovedst me, may be in them, and I in them." Why did he utter this, but to show that although he left the world, yet he left, at the same time, his representatives behind him? All ministers are included here with the then existing disciples; for THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 181 the prayer is prospective, and looks forward through all time, unto that period, when the redeemed shall be with him, and see his glory. Here we reason from the adaptation of the in- strument, to the obligation of performing the work. They have heard from Christ the Father's name, and through him have tasted, or may taste, the Father's love; and all in order that they may make the world acquainted with both. When we behold a hand, we say. This is for grasping ; a foot, we say. This is for walking ; wings, These are for soaring : when we behold majestic rivers in torrid climes, These, we say, are to refresh and irrigate the earth ; and when in similar places, we behold the clouds gather overhead, we expect, because of their con- formation and arrangement, that they will drop fatness upon the earth. Thus the easiest processes of reasoning lead us to look for a certain effect, where we behold a certain arrangement of causes ; and most legitimately should we do this, when the ministry is under survey. Why are ministers exempt from the care of providing ifor temporal sustenance, and from attending to the concerns of this life, but that they may have scope for the exercise of other care on the world's behalf? If the world supplies their wants, it has a right to their sympathies, whether it knows how to value those sympathies or not. There is many a sick man who slights, and even scorns, his benevolent physician. 18^ THE NATURE OF Why do they pursue the most ennobling and delightful studies that can be engaged in, but that they may be prepared to unfold unto others the result of those meditations in which they have indulged ? Why have they granted to them so many means' of grace, so many ordinances of a spiritual nature, but that they might so attain heavenliness of mind and deportment, that their duty might be- come the law and the delight of their nature ? Why have they such opportunity for communion with God, and for conversing with the wise and good of all ages, but that from experience of the sweetness of the streams of divine knowledge, they might stand, like Isaiah, and cry, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ?" St. Paul's doctrine was, " We are ambassadors for Christ;" and therefore did he teach that ministers are everlastingly committed to an opposition of every thing in the world, which rises against the authority of Christ, and prevents his universal reign. Is it a rationalizing spirit which explains away every thing supernatural in religion, and darkens the powers of spiritual perception in the mind, like that which withered the religion of Germany, in the days of De Wette and Bretschneider ? then, by asserting the supremacy of faith, and by revering the obvious and rational interpretations of the word. Is it covetousness, which, like the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar set up, is worshipped by infatuated THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 183 thousands ? Is it the influence of fame, or honour, or dominion ? Is it the call to guilty pleasure by which, and by all of these, the Spirit's voice is drowned ? then, by proclaiming with the apostles Christ's deity, asserting his right to the sceptre of the world, and the sovereignty of every heart, and calling upon all, in his stead, to immediate and happy submission ; showing that although these idols, mammon, reason, pleasure, self, may for a season have their worshippers, yet that they shall be cast down and broken, before the majestic progress of the Son of God. The ambassadors of Christ can acknowledge no other reign than his; they cannot view with calmness any usurper of his throne ; and while there is a pretender left, there can be no termination of their aggressive course. The glory of Christ, and the interests of men are bound together ; for whosoever is an enemy of man, is considered by man's Redeemer as his own personal enemy. The prince of this world, the usurper, then, as long as the ambassadors of Christ are faithful, can meet with nothing but sworn and everlasting opposition : while, on the other hand, the state of the world presents to them a continual call to exertion and fidelity. Mahometanism has erected its standard where the Lord once showed his glory and wrought his miracles. Hindooism has raised its darkly grand temples in the east, each of which is a portal to 184 THE NATURE OF the regions of eternal death. Atheism has denied his name, even where his creative hand has exerted its most glorious might, and where the oracles of nature, the elements of heaven and earth, in life and beauty, are only asking for an interpretation — the Bible, and an interpreter — God's minister. The nations of the civilized world are convulsed from centre to circumference, partly with infidelity, and partly wdth the desperate struggles of the man of sin. The unconverted millions of our fellow-men, even in England, the land of Gospel light, are passing along to hades in rapid procession, over every division of which some invisible demon pre- sides as prince and leader. And, O Lord, shall there be no voice lifted up for thee? — shall mi- nisterial silence connive at the general disaffection ? Who is on the Lord's side ? Are not the pastors of the church, above all men, arranged in aggressive order ? Have they not the deeds in possession which show that the world is their Lord's by most just title ? If there has been given unto them, or if there may be given unto them, the word of truth, the power of God, the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, does not the very qualification show what the service should be, — ^a militant embassage ? Ought they not in person, and by representatives, and by doctrine, to penetrate into every dark and desolate place, like angels of light, until the Lord himself shall give them rest ? THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 185 There are multitudes in the valley of decision, and the strife every moment thickens. Most important, then, is the office of minister: it bears a solemn and everlasting relation to the world around. CHAPTER VI. PASTORAL AUTHORITY, AND THE GUARDS NECESSARY TO PREVENT THE ABUSE OF IT. "Let US pray that ministers may always remember, that whatever authority they have given them, it is for edification, and not for destruction ; and may learn, from the moderation with wliich the apostle used his miraculous powers, in how gentle and candid a manner they should behave themselves in their far inferior stations, never making their pre-eminence in the church the instrument of their own resentment, or of any other sinful or selfish passion ; but every way solicitous to subserve the interest of our great Lord in all, and desirous to keep up their own influence and character, chiefly for his sake." — Doddridge. When Satan and his angels have prosecuted any design for the misery and ruin of man, it has gene- rally been by perverting some great and holy institution of God. They borrowed the divine con- ception because of its grandeur ; and then imbued it with sin, that it might accomplish their purposes, and produce death and woe on a larger scale than could ever have been fabricated in their own original counsels. Accordingly, the institution of the visible church, which, under the Christian covenant was intended to PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 187 be the greatest blessing to the world, which it ever enjoyed, has, in times past, been so perverted as to be a subject for horror and tears. Was it to be a *' house of prayer for all people?" Popery and spiritual despotism have banished for centuries the blessed Spirit, whose habitation it was, and have made it a Bethaven, a house of wickedness, and the terror of the world around. If we were asked for a personification of church- power, as it existed in the middle ages, we should speak of it as a dreadful unseen spirit, whose at- tributes were too high and awful to be understood by men, but whose influence followed them, and whose presence pervaded them like the omnipresence of God ; whose voice within them was louder than that of conscience, and could bid reason be still ; who could invoke into his train terrific shades, the REPHATM of the other world, and could bring under his potent sway the health and strength, the wealth and influence, the thoughts and passions, the bodies and souls, of all on earth ; who shook the thrones of kings, bore the keys of the kingdom of heaven, as well as those of death and hell ; and when aroused into wrath, passed by like the destroyer over Egypt. Like this unearthly form was church power once ; and church ministers were alike his delegates and vassals. These times are past: and so will every time of darkness be past; but until they are, hell will 188 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. imitate heaven. If we mention this subject of spi- ritual despotism on the same page with that which explains true ecclesiastical power, it is only to show that the enemy, in perverting it, formed a high estimate of the importance of the institution. The power which Christian ministers possess ought rather to have an angel for its prosopopoeia: it operates fatherly, gently, and mildly; and has the written word for its directive rule, charity for its secondary law, and, for its primary, the authority of Christ. Ministerial authority, nevertheless, by persons who have had their minds prejudiced by worldly politics, has been smiled at as the mere invention of a super- stitious age. A minister is by them considered as a speaking brother, and nothing else; an individual maintained to preach and to pray for the solace and instruction of believers, and for the awakening of sinners. All acts which are different from these, such as the admission of candidates for membership, and the censure and expulsion of offenders, say they, are passed and performed by the vote of the assembled church. This is the other extreme, both dangerous and unscriptural, as we shall endeavour to show. When political republicanism is introduced into the church of Christ, and when the ministry is merely made the mouth of the assembly, without possessing any pastoral rule of its own, it is assumed that such a system is tested and true ; whereas the past and PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 189 present history of the world shows, that govern- ments of a more monarchical form have been as powerful, mild, and beneficent as any republic. Every government, however, has felt the advantage and necessity of having an ofiicial person to hold the executive power : the mind of the deliberative body is communicated to him; and in criminal con- victions he punishes, mitigates, or pardons, as the case may require. Such social systems as some speak of, can have only an ideal existence. God has established a real difference between men; and therefore a pure democracy could not subsist, except in name, for two days together; for the wisest or most talented of the assembly would soon become the leader, and virtually the monarch, of the whole. If then a man, by reason of superior gifts, and on account of the grace of God given unto him, be accounted worthy of a place in the ministry, may not that influence which he is allowed to possess above others, and which grace has given him, as is just said, be granted to have free scope ? at least so far free that he may use it for the good of his people, in all respects in which it shall not trespass that boundary, where it is limited by the written Scriptures, and by the undoubted rights of others ? But a truce to ethical speculations : no man of God would consent to adopt his views of pastoral authority from secular politics ; and we are not anxious to secure the concurrence 190 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. of the latter, in order to show that Christ's yoke, as imposed by his servants, is easy, and his burden Hght. I. Apart from the public devotional and teaching functions of the minister, his authority appears, from the New Testament, to extend to these particulars. 1. To receive candidates into church fellowship, having first judged of their fitness for that privilege. 2. To remove from the body the disobedient and incorrigible. 3. To infiict censures in cases of less flagrant transgression. 4. To appoint church offi- cers. In all these cases it being understood that the mind of the church is consulted. All this is implied in feeding and taking heed to the flock. These executive functions are lodged with the pastor, who is not the mere messenger who announces the church's decretals, but the official actor. In support of this view, we will briefly touch on every text which may be supposed to have a bearing on the subject, whether directly or collaterally. The first ministerial function spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles, is the appointment of the seven deacons. It is true the apostles " called the multitude of disciples unto them " on this occasion, and desired them to "look out seven men ; " but it was in order that thei/, and not the multitude, might appoint them to the deaconship. The general dis- PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 191 ciples were appealed to for advice, and not for authority ; because v.hen the seven were nominated, they were "set before the apostles," and by them were ordained through the imposition of hands and prayer. Here was an appointment of officers. — After- wards, Philip, as evangelist, received a member into the church by baptism, after he had first instructed him in the faith. Here was the admission of a can- didate into communion. — We next find a council called at Jerusalem, to determine the question re- specting the liability of Gentile converts to observe the ceremonial laws of Moses. In the fifteenth chapter the sacred historian observes, " It pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to An- tioch," respecting this matter ; and that the letters which they carried bore this superscription, *' The apostles, and elders, and brethren, send greeting." Thus the people, in some way, were connected with their ministers; but it is evident, only by way of concurrence, and for the sake of peace and unity. They were not referred to as a separate and independent source of authority; for in the ensuing chapter, Paul and Silas are represented as delivering, to the Asiatic cities, the decrees which were " ordained of the apostles and elders" at Jerusalemj without at all mentioning the church. The whole was a pastoral act, performed by the conjunct wisdom of the ministry: indeed, it must 192 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. necessarily have been so; for if the people could at all judge in this matter, it was because their judgments were illuminated by the apostles, whose doctrine alone could decide how far ancient ob- servances were abolished by the Gospel. The people were invited to concur, but not to decide the question by their suffrage. St. James decided it by his wisdom and moderation. Next in order comes Paul's charge to the Ephe- sian elders, in which they, the elders, are exhorted not only to control the flock, but each other, as has been shown before. Passing to the inspired Epistles, we have these particulars : — 1. An allusion to an instance of gross sin, com- mitted by a member of the Corinthian church. Tlie apostle, after reproving that church for not having mourned over the scandal, declares, " I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I w^ere present, con- cerning him that hath so done this deed." (1 Cor. V. 3.) He did not wait for the decision of the congregation when a positive and deadly sin had been committed. No unclean person could have a place in the kingdom of God : such was the law of Christ ; and no congregational decision could either delay or reverse its execution, so far as the phrase " kingdom of Gcd " has a reference to the outward church. PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 193 2. An assertion of authority against false and unholy pretenders to the ministry : " Though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed;" {2 Cor. X. 8;) which authority is again mentioned in the thirtieth chapter, under the term " power," and as being given for the purpose before stated. S. An argument drawn from paternal rule : " A bishop must be one that ruleth well his o\vn house, ha\dng his children in subjection with all gravity ; for if a man know not how to rule his o^vn house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (1 Tim. iii. 2 — 5.) The argument is from the less to the greater : if domestic government be not by vote of the children, or junior and other members of the household, much more is not that of the church of God. If there be a responsibihty in the lighter case, much more is there in the heavier. 4. As we have before quoted, and for other pur- poses, 1 Tim. V. 17, in which the bishop or elder w^ho "rules well" is enjoined to have "double honour." A minister who is the moderator of an assembly merely, cannot rule at all; and, there- fore, in his case this scripture is written in vain. 5. Titus is left in Crete to " set in order the things that are wanting," and to " ordain elders in every city." (Tit. i. 5.) 6. He is required to " reject a heretic after the 194 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. first and second admonition." A heretical teacher is doubtless implied; and if his heresy be convicted by an appeal to the theological standard of the church, his expulsion becomes a matter of pastoral duty, the offence at the same time being proved to the people. A heretical congregation will, of course, harbour a teacher like themselves : but in an ortho- dox connexion this cannot take place; for such a congregation cannot exist within the church, by reason of the connexional power of discipline. 7. A proper obedience to pastoral authority is enjoined on Christians: "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the word of God." " Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief." (Heb. xiii. 7, 17.) Pure Congregationalism affords no scope for the observance of this apostolic injunction; for whei:e all are governors, none can obey. The doctrinal code of every church explains how it un- derstands every law of Scripture ; and, when under- stood, the minister must enforce it; for even the act of enforcing a law, as well as submitting to it, is obedience to Christ, and camiot be omitted by the pastor without great personal guilt. 8. Peter enjoins unto elders, the bishopric of the flock : " Peed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 195 willingly." (1 Peter v. 2.) He reproves the 7wlo espicopari. Many would shrink from the bishopric in those times of trouble. As regards the mutual responsibility of his fellow-elders, his charge breathes the same spirit as that of Paul, before quoted. 9. Lastly : the bishop, or angel of the church of Ephesus, is commended in that he cannot "bear them which are evil : " a sufficient indication that his dis- ciplinary power has been legitimately and properly exercised ; for the speaker on the occasion was our Lord himself. Proved, then, as we think it is from the New Testament, that the pastoral power resides in the minister, and not in the suffrages of the church, it is not necessary to refer, except by glance, to the pages of antiquity for additional confirmation. Notwithstanding the primitive doctrine of " One bishop and one church," which is allowed on all hands to have been generally followed, there is not, from the beginning, any thing like pure and unmingled Independency ; for not only was the bishop ordained by other bishops, but he had recourse to their counsel in doubtful and difficult cases of discipHne. In judging in his own church, the people, or their representa- tives, sat with him, as we learn from Cyprian, and con- curred in his sentence ; but he was the sole executive. In every thing he did, the minister soHcited the acquiescence of the people : if they did not consent, k2 196 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. the matter was a tri\dal one, and such as he could afford to give up ; or else it was the disputed inter- pretation of a rule, and in that case he could not act upon his own view, but appealed, if the matter was sufficiently important, to the authority of a general council; and tliis, as it convicted the one party or the other of heterodoxy, was generally binding in its decisions. Such was the regimen of the primitive churches. It is objected by some, that the pastoral powers, which are exercised in the course we have traced of the New-Testament history, are in the hands of apostles; and, therefore, cannot be exercised by their successors, who are not so richly endowed. The answer is, that as the apostles were not infallible in every action and movement of their lives, but only in the Gospel revelation which they delivered, they are not to be \dewed as beyond all comparison above other men, except in those particulars in which they were directed by the Holy Spirit. In announcing the wdll of God, and completing the system of new-covenant doctrine, they were great, unerring, unapproachable ; but in other respects they were not unlike the holiest and wdsest of the primitive converts. Had they miraculous powers, and gifts of tongues? so had many of the people besides; so that, as the ministers of particular churches, and their apostolic endowments apart. PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 197 they would bear the same relation to their flocks as those of the present day do to theirs. Besides, it is this infallible code of the apostles itself which lays down the rule of ministerial duty, and shows the extent of ministerial power. Their words are echoed from Christ : and the question is, not whether the apostles were almost infinitely superior to any who ever followed them ; but, what is it they teach ? This question we have just endeavoured to answer by a reference to their epistles. No church can lay upon the man of its choice such incumbrances as shall hinder him from standing fair in the sight of his Lord and Master: he must have as much power as shall enable him to keep his commands, to whom he is as much responsible as he is unto the members of his own charge. Few object to remind him that he will have to give up his account at the last day. Let them, then, not object to furnish him with scope to finish the work which is given him to do, lest the account should have to be transferred from him to them. It is not, besides, reasonable that those who are devoted to spiritual pursuits should have no more authority in the church of God than those whose callings are temporal or commercial. The retirement of the study, the communion with God which is held in prayer, intercourse with the sick and dying, the increase of wisdom which is obtained by reading, — all are circumstances which qualify a man to be a 198 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. spiritual guide, if any such qualification can be obtained in this world, and are calculated to place him much farther from the influence of prejudice and passion, and sinister interests, than if he were a secular man. Such an one, in administering the laws of his Lord, certainly enters upon great re- sponsibilities, and may, with Paul, ask for himself, "Who is sufficient for these things?" But the more awful and important is the office, the more careful the church should be in appointing the individual who shall fill it. Having once elected him pastor, let them make him such, and not the mere chairman of the vestry, or lecturer of the pulpit. Let the thought, that they are nominating not only a preacher, but a spiritual director, in- fluence them in all their attempts to introduce persons into the ministry. The great and good Richard Baxter, whose name has been before mentioned, and who will not at all be suspected of undue attachment to high ecclesi- astical claims, thus expresses himself on the subject of pure Independency; though in quoting this we mean no disrespect to a system which, notwithstand- ing, may have its advantages in other respects: " In the Independent way I disliked the lamentable tendency to divisions and subdivisions, and the nourishing of heresies and sects. But, above all, I disliked, that most of them made the people, by majority of votes, to be church governors in excom- PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 199 munications, &c., which Christ hath made an act of office ; and so they governed their governors and themselves: and their making their minister to be no minister to any but his ov7n flock, and to act to others but as a private man." Baxter saw the evil consequence of taking the executive power out of the hands of him to whom Christ, he considered, had given it, and giving it to the congregation ; and well he might : for if the whole church were as well instructed in the Gospel as he, and as pious, why was he made minister at all, seeing that he could not teach more than they had experienced and known ? The very choosing him, imphed that the people, in the mass, were less pious, and wise, and learned in the Scriptures, than he ; otherwise his ordination is invalidated ; for the scriptural rule is positive, that he shall be "faithful" himself, and "able to teach others also." If any other kind of person be elected, the ill consequences rest upon the electors, who ought to have consulted the Bible before they had asserted their choice : they cannot abrogate a plain and unequivocal dispensation of their Lord, who is Head over all things to the church. For the sake of society around, and the peace and spiritual prosperity of famihes, it would be ill-judged to deprive Christian pastors of those powers which are essential to the discharge of the duties of their office, and give them unto others: ■^00 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. for it were better, in a case of misrule, to bring the despotic individual to trial, than to make any mem- ber of the vestry-meeting, individually, a governor ; for each man would then be a centre of anxiety, perturbation, and storm, wherever he went; and if the circles should be in collision with each other, they would be far worse to reduce to order, than one single orb. The Gospel requires, by its spirit, if not its letter, that ministers shall associate for the purpose of sympathy, mutual help, and the more efficient ac- comphshment of the great end which they have in view. And if they voluntarily bind themselves in a regularly organized union, the authority of the whole is of the same kind wdth that which inheres in the individual ; it only admits of a some- what more enlarged application. Such a union is the Wesleyan Conference : and such a union may devise regulations, w^hich shall tend to the improve- ment of its own members in learning and in piety, and to the increase of purity and happiness in the people; and may, with their concurrence, form a body of connexional law, which shall provide for the removal of local heresies and contumacies, and shall be a standard of appeal for every part of the church. The law in such a case is like that which a father exercises over his family, and is administered more as the active expression of affection, than as a matter of claimed and vested right. The churches PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 201 of England and Scotland have legally defined the powers of their pastors ; so that whoever becomes a member of either of those estabhshments must reconcile himself to the system as he finds it ; but both of them acknowledge the great scriptural principle for which we are contending, although the original and canonical regulations of the com- munion have been guarded by national enactment. The Presbyter ma}^ refuse baptism, or the sacrament, to improper persons, and deprive them of such chui'ch privileges as they possess, without any votes : thus do even established systems show in whose hands the discretionary power is considered to rest. Wesleyan ministers, to whom we especially direct attention, are left, by the apostolic man after whose name they are entitled, in charge of the societies which he raised up. In the exercise of pastoral duty, they admit into special church communion, by ticket, such persons as are in earnest after salvation, and who are recommended by their respective leaders. It is theirs also to censure, suspend, and, in extreme cases, expel, those who have been guilty of open sin ; that is, after the offence has been proved, and the in- dividual found unhumbled. It devolves on them, also, to appoint persons to fill the various offices of the church, after they have been pronounced qualified by the various meetings from which they have been raised. The ancient, and as we think scriptural, usage is observed, — that the people, although they concur with K 5 202 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. their minister, yet do not of themselves assume legislative functions. This is carried throughout : it runs through all the regulations of Conference, and tends to settle the real liberty and genuine privileges of the people, upon a much more solid basis than if every society v^ere a distinct church, and swayed by its own official members ; for, in the latter case, both doctrine, and discipline, and modes of worship, would have nothing to rely upon for steadfastness, but the faithfulness and orthodoxy of those members. If they ever change, the system changes. Although they may be wise and good themselves, they can give no pledge for the future, nor for their successors. And let it not be said that this is a libel upon good men. What has happened in the primitive days, may happen again. It is much more hkely that one society should err, than that those with which Eng- land is covered should. Conference regulations are a digest of the vdsdom of the Connexion, which is expressed through proper chamiels, and are framed with a view to the benefit of the whole, and do not pass without the consent of a decided, and even large, majority : every member is, in fact, a repre- sentative of the people. Thus ministerial power, when legitimately exercised, preserves the Christian and church privileges of a vast Connexion ; preserves them against local aggression or calamity ; provides for their restoration when interrupted; and although an occasional rupture will take place, when persons PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 203 of disappointed ambition arise and produce conten- tion, and sometimes a separation from the body, with violent agitation, — ^yet, like as when there is a storm in the air, the agitation will soon cease, and the sky assume its former serenity. From all that has been said, it is obvious, that if any thing can be gathered from Scripture, and from reason and experience, on the subject, it is this, that ministers have at least a right to such powers as shall qualify them to obey the precepts of the New Testament, to exercise the several functions of admitting persons into the church, of directing and teaching them when they are in, and, if they prove unworthy or unholy, of suspending or remov- ing them; and likewise of appointing persons to fill all the subordinate offices of church disciphne and service. Whatever guards against an improper use of authority are thought necessary to be imposed, it is manifest that all tliis they must do, or they cannot be pastors. II. So far we have spoken of true and scriptural power: but now we advert to the abuse of it; for it may be abused, inasmuch as ministers are but frail and fallible men. Indeed, it would little serve the cause of trutli and righteousness, if we were either to avoid or to veil this particular. The frailties and sins of ministers 204 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. are written in liistory, as well as their deeds of love and zeal. Peter himself was to be blamed on one occasion ; and no wonder that his uninspired succes- sors should often be found wi'ong in judgment, and biassed by some unsanctified feehng of the heart. Ministers are supposed to be chosen from the wisest and best of the people ; but even in the wisest and best, there is something which may corrupt and vitiate, as well as mislead, the man. It is necessary, therefore, that guards should be established, to prevent despotism, from such consi- derations as these: — 1 . A minister may be young, and not sufficiently acquainted mth his own heart, or the hearts of others. " Days should speak, and a multitude of years teach wdsdom." 'Although St. Paul said, in addressing- Timothy, '' Let no man despise thy youth," it only implied that his youth itself was no subject of odium, as long as he was faithfully enforcing apostolic pre- cepts, and labouring under the apostle's eye. Young ministers cannot always be under the eye of their seniors ; and cannot always judge in what case, and how, an apostolic principle ought to be applied : their resources are only immature wisdom and experience, and, very probably, immature piety too. 2. The love of power is very insidious.* It is * Before all stands that most fearful rock of vain-glory, more deceitful than the Sirens, of whom the fabulists tell. This PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 205 often almost unconsciously disguised, and called by another name ; but it is love of power still. The best of men are pleased in percei\dng that they can influence the thoughts and actions of others ; and as far as they are holy, so far their power is a benefit ; but as far as they have error and infirmity, (and who is devoid of both?) so far extended influence does extended harm. It is impossible not to be complacent at the achievements of our own influence ; and this pleasure, if there be not great self-jealousy, will lead to secret attempts to gain power of a higher character than has been realized before. There seems a moral sublimity in it: the higher we as- cend the mountain, the more expanded is the land- scape, and the more we wish to gain the summit of the ascent. There is a temptation in it too, as was intimated by the attempt of Satan upon our Lord, when he showed him from a high spot the kingdoms of the world. If the high place of any kind of rule be our object, the temptation is the^ same, and cannot be withstood but by the grace of Him who confounded the machinations of the wicked one. An intelligent man naturally craves dominion, and often in a way which is inconsistent with his own proper subordination to God; and it is one of the greatest victories of grace to destroy many have been enabled to pass safely ; but it is to me so difficult, that I cannot clear the danger, although no power forces me towards the whirlpool. — Chrysost. De Sacerd., lib. 3. 206 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. whatever is guilty in this ambition, — and guilty it is altogether, when power is desired for its own sake. 3. There is a peculiar exposure to the influence of prejudice. Ministers live very social lives, and have very extensive intercourse with those around them, and sometimes form many friendships. It would be matter of surprise, indeed, if their judgments were not sometimes tinged by the principles and opinions of their friends. It would not be an impossible case for one of them, if unchecked, to make a bad use of his authority, in order to conciliate some friend, to exclude from Christian communion a person whose fault did not require so great a punishment. And, to reverse the case, might it not be possible for him to do the same thing in marking his dislike to those with whose principles he had no sympathy ? Feeling would give such an impression to judgment as would in him, and every mortal man who was irresponsible, render it incapable of attending to the administration of Gospel principles with a serene and righteous spirit. 4. They, in common with all Christians, are liable to declensions in piety. Exalted and spiritual employ- ments are not sufficient to secure continuance and in- crease in grace ; they may become habitual and spirit- less; and if the individual has lost his fellowship with God, he is weak and like other men, and is open to the solicitations of worldly interest, and selfishness, and PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 207 pride. Many a mournful anecdote might be told which would prompt the exclamation, *' Hov/ are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished ! " In a case like this, the complaint has as deep an interest, as when it was uttered over the body of Saul. All these reasons show, that there should be some guarantee for the proper exercise of pastoral power ; and now it remains to evince what that should be; and therefore we may name in order, — First, The vestry, or deliberative assembly. All the way through, we have referred to the fact, that the apostles and primitive pastors con- sulted the church in matters relating to the interests and privileges of the people. And in modern times this principle is well applied, when the members of the diaconal body advise with the pastor in all meetings to which they respectively belong. In their presence should the guilt of every accused person be proved, so that no pastor can perform an act of excommunication covertly. If the unwor- thy person be no longer fit for membership, he may exclude him; but not without appealing to the judgment of all present, and showing full proof that the sin of the unhappy individual required it, as well as a regard for the peace and purity of the church. The meeting must concur in recognising the individual's guilt in such cases ; but it belongs to the minister to exercise the ret of censure or ex- 208 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. cision. This guard is sufficient to prevent any man from acting under the influence of sinister or un- worthy motives; for, in the presence of many, questions innumerable may be and are asked, which lead to a full unveiling of the matter, and prevent either love or hatred, on the part of the minister, from determining it. Besides, as all cases of delin- quency are brought before the deacons of the church, the judgments of those persons will undoubtedly direct the minister himself, as to the infliction which the accused and guilty one must sufier, whether reproof, suspension, or actual expulsion ; especially when we remember, that those deacons, leaders, or representatives of the people, are among the wisest and most spiritual of the lay-members of the church. In all cases is their judgment, even respecting the sentence of an individual, to be sought for ; and if it is ever opposed, it is only when the higher duty of obedience to Christ, and the law of purity and fidelity, leave no other alternative.* This last case can only happen when the vestry consists of but few and inexperienced individuals; or when they are so visibly prejudiced by local interests, or by fear, that they would fain screen the guilty person from punishment or blame. In the presence of the judicious and pious members of a meeting, too, no improper person can be introduced into the * Who can express the giief a bishop feels when obliged to cut off a member of the church? — Chrysost. De Sacerd., lib. 3. PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 209 offices of the church : any nominee, who is un- worthy of the trust, or who is deficient in piety and abihty, may be declared unfit; and there the matter ends. The same may be said of admitting any one to simple membership : if a minister, for selfish purposes, 'designed to receive an improper individual, the vestry may declare him unfit, and then he cannot be received. When we reflect, that a minister's comfort must greatly depend upon the mutual confidence and afifection, which should sub- sist between him and all his diaconal assistants, we shall perceive that the presence of these latter, and the free expression of their judgments, will be an efiectual check against misrule ; and that, in their midst, no man will be able for long to transgress that line of duty which is laid down in the Bible, and to continue practising the usurpations of those who make themselves " lords over God's heritage." It was for want of this co-deliberation that Popery and spiritual thraldom advanced so frightfully. After the time of Cyprian, and before the close of the fourth century, deacons were reckoned among the clergy, contrary to the intent of the apostles, who appointed them to assist the clergy in taking charge of the poor and to serve tables : thus a check against arbitrary power was got rid of, and the people were left without representatives ; that is, without any who would advise, consult, or expostulate with their pastors. When this Hnk of communication 210 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. between the clergy and the flock was severed, the unholy claims of the Papacy rose higher and higher, until it held in terror and bond the kings and great men of the earth.* But let us not dwell on Popery: we are speaking now of churches composed of spi- ritual and believing men, united together by Chris- tian bonds, and seeking each other's good, without dreaming of any form of spiritual ascendancy. Of all this. Popery is hardly the caricature, it is so far and so foully gone from the representation. If the pure ministry impHes elevation in any sense, it is elevation in care, labour, and responsibihty. Second. Another check against the abuse of au- thority is imposed when the ministry is voluntarily supported, and when the income is properly limited. We are not asserting here, that establishments are unscriptural or inexpedient; but simply this, that where other and voluntary churches exist, the stated and positively limited amount of their re- muneration to ministers, is a preventative, on the part of the ministry, of overbearing and despotic conduct. * The deacons, beholding the presbyters thus deserting their functions, boldly usurped their rights and privileges, and the effects of a corrupt ambition were spread through every rank of the sacred order When the honours and privileges of the bishops and presbyters were augmented, the deacons also be- gan to extend their ambitious views, and to despise those lower functions and employments which they had hitherto exercised with such humility and zeal. — Mosheim, 3d Century. PASTORAL AUTHOIIITY. 211 Establishments stand upon their own merits, and the ministers of them receive their privileges and restrictions according to law. Establishments may provide for the good of the people, and, under cer- tain circumstances, prove a blessing; but exception is to be taken against the unholy practice of trading in livings, and thus making a gain, not of the sub- stance, but of the form, of godliness. The profits of godliness are of a widely different character from those which are obtained in such speculations : they are holiness and joy on earth, and glory in heaven. A limited income is a good human security against ministerial deterioration. By limited, we do not mean a scanty and insufficient one, but such an one as no ambition can augment; for here is a guard against covetousness, which of all sins, to the purity and efficiency of the ministry, is most destructive. Paul mourns over Demas, who had left him, having loved this present world: and having, in another place, described the various forms of sin, of which the love of money was the darkest, he calls unto Timothy, in a most passionate voice, " But thou, O man of God, flee these things." The voice of an angel of God, who had suddenly revealed himself for the message, could hardly be more startling. Paul had lost his once-devoted companion, and had seen others pierced through and through with many sorrows, by means of this detested gold. If idolatry was rebellion against God, covetousness was idolatry. 212 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. With the apostle every thing was sacrificed to ministerial usefulness : he could make the lofty as- sertion, " I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel ;" and the wonder to heaven and earth is, that the church should have preserved his sen- timents, and have professed a venerated friendship for his character, and yet, for centuries, have been as far from his self-denying course, as it is possible for one extreme, on this side of the grave, to be from another. What availed it that it was called the church of Christ ? The book that testified of Christ, was hidden as effectually as was the Pen- tateuch in the days of the Judean king; and the pseudo-pastors of the church were serving under the god of this world ; and doubtless, were it not for the love of money and of grandeur, the well-known infidel exclamation would not, amongst some of them, have been so blasphemously uttered, " Quantas divitias nobis peperit haec Christi fabula ! " Wealth is considered now, by common compact of society, to be the principal criterion of differ- ence between men ; but it is not a compact to which a minister of Jesus can be a party. Woe to him if he looks for a single line of his dignity from anything that earth can give ! His honour must be character ; it must be holiness ; or otherwise his shining wealth will, by its gleams, exhibit nothing but the faded and ruined form of a servant of God. Let those who would make the ministry a portal PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 213 to the temple of mammon, look with Spenser into the interior of the temple itself. " Both roofe and floore and walls were all of gold, But overgrowne with dust and old decay, And hid in darkness that none could behold The hew thereof : for vew of cheerful day Did never in that house itself display, But a faint shadow of uncertain light : Such as a lamp wliose life does fade away, Or as the moone, cloathed with clowdy night, Does shew to him that walks in feare and sad affright." Such is the dark locality of the worshippers of lucre. Heaven fades from their eyes, and every moment has less influence upon their motives ; as though the evidences of its existence in their earthly sphere were too dim to be perceived. If the hands of no less an one than Aaron were employed in fashioning a golden calf, it were no wonder that the multitude should become foul idolaters. Balaam might have been a prophet of the Lord, and his lofty imagination have been sanc- tified to the service of his cause ; but he loved the wages of unrighteousness, and fell. Judas was one of the elected twelve, was present at the sad and solemn scene of the last supper, and heard the heavenly discourses of our Lord ; but, for the sake of silver, he arose up and betrayed him. Instances like these show that worldly ambition, and the love of money, establish a communion with 214 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. the great enemy of man, which fearfully endangers the church, and puts the salvation of individuals in jeopardy. "We would, with all humility, register a warning to all concerned in this subject, and reiterate, in their hearing, the affecting charge of Paul to Timothy. There is not, however, much temptation to des- potism, arising from this source, in voluntary churches. The minister receives his support from free offerings, — ^lie cannot increase their amount : to preserve his own influence and happiness, it would be necessary to secure the love and esteem of the offerers, and rather to be an ensample to the flock than a lord over God's heritage. What interests can he have apart from theirs? Here is a check against over- bearing conduct ; and when the human heart is well considered, it will be acknowledged an effective one. Let those defend pluralities who deem them defensible ; but let every true Christian pastor turn away his eyes from beholding such vanity. Let his claims for the things of this life, whether they come from endowed sources or otherwise, be founded on character, and upon the value of personal services ; and then there is a double end promoted, — the fidelity of the man, and the purity of the church. He cannot tyrannize who has to be supported by a free people. A third check against the abuse of authority is estabhshed, when the trial of an unworthy minister PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 215 is at the call of those who have been aggrieved by his conduct, and that it shall speedily follow the commission of the fault. Sin in such an one is especially sinful : he breaks the law of the Lord; violates his compact with the church, which was, that he would be an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity ; and he becomes at once the joy and scorn of the infidel. In cases of gross transgression, no false tenderness should be exer- cised to the accused party : the whole church suffers and groans ; and therefore sin ought to be estimated as God estimates it, by its consequences. Fear- fully does St. Jude describe false or fallen minis- ters: " They are spots in your feasts of charity," like as a blot is visible on white paper ; — " they are clouds without water, carried about of winds ;" no rain falls, no refreshment for the earth; — they are " trees whose fruit withereth, wdthout fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots ;" the success of their labour ceases, their own vitality is gone. In estabhshments there are too many secular in- cumbrances in the way of judging imgodly pastors. The incumbrances cannot be too few ; for to wink at their transgression, is to set up impure examples, and to seal the degradation of the church. In judgment, God begins at his own house ; and so ought we, if our intentions are in unison with his own. 216 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. There is no sucli thing in the Christian system, we have already seen, as conventional holiness. A man cannot be holy in his office, and impure in himself: his personal unrighteousness is public sin, and as such calls for judgment. O let us have provision made for the purity of the ministry ! How would all who are now in England, whether in the established church or others, stand the test of a scriptural ordeal ? If another Council of Triers were to be appointed, and if, instead of having such scrutators as were appointed by Cromwell, they should be Paul, Peter, John, Timothy, Titus, and their contemporaries, how many ejectments would take place ? Alas for us, if every spiritual person in the land were brought before such a bar ! The very circumstance, that it is possible, after every care has been taken, that false men may in- trude into the church, and that men who are good and faithful, at present, may subsequently sin and attempt to tyrannize, ought to lead to a standing pro\dsion, for bringing them before a judicial bar, even if the possibility of tlieir fall were ever so little and remote. Ministers are not exempt from an obligation to be "moved with fear," any more than Noah was. That fear ought to regard the standards of true religious opinion, and the tribunals of the church : it is, in fact, a part of the fear with which they fear before God, in return for the cove- nant which he makes with them of life and peace. PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 217 as in the case of Levi. Not to stand in awe of censure or expulsion, is a proof, not of moral cou- rage, but of a ruined conscience and spiritual death. Servile dread has nothing to do with Christianity; but a dread of sin and disgrace has every thing to do with it: such a feehng is a check against pas- toral misrule ; and where trial will follow delinquency, it must operate. These then are the guards which prevent the im- proper and despotic use of ministerial authority : — the co-deliberation of the deacons or leaders, or by whatever term the members of the diaconal body may be called ; the control exercised by the people over the temporal supplies; and the certain judg- ment which impends over those who have sinned.* And these guards we think abundantly sufficient ; that is, if they cannot absolutely secure the abstract purity and efficiency of the pastorate, they will undoubtedly preserve the true balance of influence which subsists between that and the laity; and pre- * Seldom would formal guards against despotism be needed, if our Lord's divine rule, laid down in Matthew (xviii. 15) were observed : First, tell a pastor of his faults privately, between himself and you alone, before you mention them to two or three witnesses, or the elders of the church. Such a course would counteract or destroy the despotism of any man. It is secret mis- representation, and retailing of slander, which produce exaspera- tion, — popular disaffection on the one part, and self-will on the other. Let a society of a thousand or two thousand members, as well as the smallest one, act thus, and the evil is killed in its germ. L 218 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. served in this relation, they both will rise and fall together. In the Wesleyan Connexion the principles are illustrated, which in this chapter we endeavour to establish. Its ministers have ever3rwhere power to admit new members, to remove immoral and schismatic ones, to sanction or refuse admittance to the Lord's table, and to appoint the various officers of the church ; and in connexional assembly, or Conference, to exercise the general oversight and government of the societies. And, lest this power should be abused, it is accompanied by the following guards : — 1. The leaders'-meeting sits with the pastor; and in case of an accused person, requires proof of the person's guilt ; and when a new leader is proposed to be appointed, assents to his fitness for the office, siiie qua non. The meeting of local preachers sanc- tions every newly proposed preacher ; and judges as to the disciplinary or official faults of any member of that meeting who is accused of such : though, if the individual be immoral and contumacious, he is liable to be judged of in the leaders'-meeting, as a private member of the church would be. 2. The quarterly-meeting has a veto in the appointment of the steward, who holds the local finances and disburses them ; and a veto upon all recommend- ations of candidates for the ministry, as we have PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 219 before seen. 3. The majority of the trustees of any Wesleyan chapel, or the majority of the stewards and leaders of any society, who believe that the minister appointed to them has become heretical, immoral, contumacious, or deficient in ability, shall have authority to summon a local court to try the case; which court shall be composed of the chair- man of the district and the district ministers, to- gether with the chapel trustees, stewards, and leaders of the circuit or society in question. If the charge be proved, the minister so accused is removed from his circuit, and referred to the district-meeting and Conference, to be further dealt with. Before a juris- diction so erected, a guilty person could not possibly escape conviction, without collusion on the part of the local office-bearers. And, still further, the circuit-stewards have a sit- ting afforded them in the district-meeting; and, through the medium of that meeting, as a committee of Con- ference, they have a right to communicate to the Conference the wishes of the various and multiplied societies on connexional subjects ; and thus, while the quarterly-meeting is preserved from being the arena of debate, the mind of the Connexion is represented. If lay-delegates, or lay-elders, were to sit in the Conference, as some who have not closely studied the system have proposed, what bene- ficial end would thereby be secured ? Is it need- ful to have the suffrage of delegates, to determine L 2 ^20 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. whether intemperance, dishonesty, or impurity be sin? or whether such sin should be visited with censure and excision ? Could they judge better than the regular convened members, what stations were fittest for ministers, whose talents and quali- fications are as various as can be imagined ? Can the societies be more than represented ? Not unless they become their own pastors : and this would be transgressing the Scripture line, and very soon would be the destruction of order, efficiency, and peace; and then, immediately after, the destruction of the church itself. Mr. Welch, in his work on the Wesley an Polity, has demonstrated the impossibility of establishing with equity, to say nothing of benefit, the dele- gation plan ; and in his excellent book throughout, with minute and philosophic exactness, has traced the harmonies and collateral bearings of the present system, which, we think, like some great law of nature, grand and simple, is nevertheless capable of ten thousand applications. The Conference is a hierarchy, it may be granted, if men will contend for a term; but it is not an irresponsible one. It did not create its own power, but received it as a legacy from Mr. Wesley, who himself received, without seeking it, from the providence of God : and, indeed, after the Conference had received it at Mr. Wesley's hands, every thing, by the Act of Pacification, was given up to the people, except PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 2^1 the spiritual pastorate of the societies. The juris- diction over the Wesleyan people was first an au- tocracy: this continued during Mr. Wesley's life, from 1738 to 1791 : it was, at his death, left to a ministerial aristocracy, unamenable like the former government. This lasted from 1791 to 1797; and then, to suit the changing circumstances of society, it became, by the measure just mentioned, a limited and amenable government, in which state it con- tinues to this day. It is responsible on every side : it is responsible to the voice of the societies, as expressed by their stewards, and echoed through district-meetings; it is responsible to their official communications by document; it is responsible to the tone of feeling which pervades the body, — to respect and to sympathize with it, — or how could regard for its own members be secured? It is effectually limited in power; for all its funds are virtually yielded to the management of committees, which chiefly consist of lay-gentlemen, whose talents and piety are much better employed thus, than they would have been in spiritual and synodic consult- ations. Such are the committees of the Missionary Society, of the Schools, the Contingent Fund, the Children's and the Auxiliary Fund, the Chapel Fund, and that of the Theological Institution. To attempt a tyrannical act, in the face of men like these, would be as useless as it would be sinful. The Conference has no power over a penny of pro- 2^2 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. perty, save that of the Book-Room ; and although that is the fruit of the literary toil of its own members, yet scrutiny is invited to the fact, whether or not the profits of that establishment are applied to the cause of God. This is an extended application of the check of financial surveillance. That which is left the ministers is the spiritual oversight of the Connexion, as has just been said. And every good and unbiassed man must confess, that if this be their claim, it is confirmed by the will of the deceased founder, the practice of the apostles of our Lord, and the uniform tenor of the word of God. If the provisions against misrule have not all the form of positive enactments, they have more than the force, — it is moral force. It were unseemly to introduce the refinements and subtle distinctions of civil law into the church of God: such a procedure could only be founded on the assumption, that there was no holy and uniting influence in the Connexion. No ; the Wesleyan ministers, and their societies, agree to be guided by Gospel principles, knowing that they all have the same hearts, and are all liable to their several peculiar temptations; and whilst the former are exercising that just authority which the Bible gives them, and which is necessary to their integrity, they are made to feel the force of the opinions and desires of their people, although those opinions and desires may not assume the form of stern and PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 223 unyielding canons. It would be mysterious if it were otherwise. They are placed, though not by their own seeking, in an absolute and immoveable relation to the so- cieties. Whatever changes take place as regards the purity of the body, the equilibrium of power goes along with those changes ; and the improvement, or deterioration, of the ministry is coeval with that of the laity. The Conference may be considered the concen- trated Connexion. Every measure it brings forward has been considered and approved in numerous circles, before it is approved and ratified there. Every great enactment may be considered as the result of the expressed or tacit opinions held by the majority of the Connexion. Some providential opening has led to the discovery of a new want ; which want, year after year, has become more pain- fully felt, and has become the topic of general con- versation: the subject has undulated from circle to circle, gaining accessions of wisdom all the way, until it has reached the ministerial house ; and then has led to a measure which, if not rescinded at the following Conference, was made connexional law. Thus arose the settlement of the sacramental question, which was, in fact, a separation from the church of England ; and thus the establishment of the several funds, the Theological Institution, and the imposition of hands in ordination. 224 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. Let the Wesleyan code be examined with as philo- sophic an eye as ever beamed, and its structure will be found astonishing. The successive waters of friendly strife have subsided, and have left at each subsiding a deposit of clear truth, which now, in the aggregate, exhibits, with many moral veinings, a soHd substra- tum of Christian law. It is thus that one of the highest acts of the Conference, the forbidding uncon- stitutional meetings, is, as Mr. Welch strikingly shows, a high comphment paid to the good sense of the societies: the greater the requisition which is made, the greater is the honour of those of whom it is made. The ministers rely on the people for supplies, and yet they legislate against private debate : they presume that the societies are satisfied with their long-tried system, — the system in whose details they have acquiesced; and, therefore, by such orders as these, with dignified friendship and confidence, they preserve it from destruction. The Conference, we have already allowed, may, formally, be a hierarchy; but it is sui generis^ and is limited and made responsible on every side. The subject, as far as Methodism is concerned, is not exhausted, and scarcely could ever be; but we have now considered the checks which may be properly imposed upon pastors, in order to prevent a tyrannical use of the power with which they are invested. Such checks are necessary because of PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 225 the deceitfulness of the human heart, and because the wisest and best may err, and even fearfully depart from simplicity and righteousness. At the same time, they are only legitimate when they pre- serve the true relation between pastors and people ; not when they destroy it. The persons who are under care, and who are the subjects of this spiritual government, are themselves likevnse subject to pride and love of power, and to spiritual defection. The liability to err is not all on the minister's side : and this shows, that as both parties are falhble and im- perfect, and are both under a higher discipline for eternity, how necessary it is that on all great matters the word of God should interpose ; and that in all minor questions, and in cases of doubtful interpreta- tion, charity, and fine Christian feeling, should settle the point by mutual concession. Pastors are assumed to be intellectually, morally, and religiously superior to their people : if they are not, it i^ their people's fault; for they ought not to have recommended them. But, whether they are superior or not, no greater injury could be inflicted upon the church than to strip them of all authority, and make them like other brethren. On common principles of wisdom, it would be ever desirable, that to them should be confided the quiet and unostentatious discharge of a duty which the many could not discharge without much agitation and debate. Hooker^ on this very subject, says„ l5 226 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. "But we must note, that it is in this case as in a ship : he that sitteth at the stern is quiet, he moveth not, he seemeth in a manner to do little or nothing, in comparison of them that sweat about other toil ; yet that which he doeth is, in value and force, more than all the labours of the residue laid together. The influence of the heavens above worketh in- finitely more to our good, and yet appeareth not half so sensible as the force doth of things below. We consider not what it is which we reap by the authority of our chiefest spiritual governors, nor are likely to enter into any consideration thereof till we want them ; and that is the cause why they are, at our hands, so unthankfully rewarded. Au- thority is a constraining power ; which power were needless if we were all such as we should be, willing to do the things we ought to do without constraint. But because, generally, we are otherwise, we all reap singular benefit by that authority which permitteth no men, though they would, to slack their duty." All this is justly urged, even on the supposition that the spiritual director engages in no active and physical toil, which in these days is never the case. Take, then, his proper authority away, and questions are opened which have been long settled by our Lord and his apostles. The management of the church resembles the stormy politics of the temporal state; the character of father, or shepherd, disappears; the sacraments PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 227 become common things, administered by any man, or at any time or place : whatever may remain of piety, every thing is opposed to its growth and continuance; every one will clamour to be heard, and will feel more concern for what he strangely and ignorantly calls his liberty, than for his soul. Whatever would tend to make the meeting of the church like a house of Parliament, cannot be too carefully excluded; for those who dwell in the sanctuary, are supposed to be under the remedial influence of divine grace, and are capable of a higher and holier freedom than is found to exist in secular society. It is not a freedom which dispenses with obedience ; that would be anarchy : but a freedom in which obedience is nature and pleasurable, and in which rule is accounted a blessing. Christianity operates by gentle but powerful motives ; not by fear, or by clothing its mandates with terror : the Holy Ghost, the life of the whole, moves upon faith- ful ministers, and a faithful people, in mild love : whoever governs, governs as he in heaven, by giving light, and then by goodness making that light con- ducive to acquiescence : whoever obeys, obeys as the angels, who are not coerced by fear, but prompted by affection. At least in every true church this is attempted ; and " There is much need : for not as yet Are we in shelter or repose ; 228 PASTORAL AUTHORITY. The holy house is still beset With leaguer of stern foes ; Wild thoughts within, bad men without, All evil spirits round about Are banded in unblest device To spoil love's earthly paradise." Christian Year, p. 136. An eminent minister, who, in reply to a question which was put to him, as to what was the subject of his present meditations, said, as has been referred to in a former chapter, " I was meditating the nature and number of angels, and their blessed obedience and order, without which peace cannot be in heaven; and O that it might be so on -earth ! " The mind which cannot respond to this wish, has yet to leam what the spirit of the Gospel is ; for whatever is clear in truth, tender in love, binding in authority, or pure in hohness, is all its own. The church ought to be exhibiting some marks of its heavenly destiny; the people active and efficient in their enlightened subordination; and the pastors at once mighty and meek in the exercise of their influence. May it be our lot to hear rehearsed in heaven, over every one of them, the eulogy uttered by the divine Spirit over Levi, through the mouth of Malachi the prophet, and which has glancingly been alluded to : " My covenant was with him PASTORAL AUTHORITY. 229 OF LIFE AND PEACE; AND I GAVE THEM TO HIM FOR THE FEAR WHEREWITH HE FEARED ME, AND WAS AFRAID BEFORE MY NAME. ThE LAW OF TRUTH WAS IN HIS MOUTH, AND INIQUITY WAS NOT FOUND IN HIS LIPS: HE WALKED WITH ME IN PEACE AND EQUITY, AND DID TURN MANY AWAY FROM INIQUITY." CHAPTER VII. THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. " We see how these ambassadors have need to be friends, and intimate friends, with their Lord. For if they be much with God in the mount, their returns to men will be with bright- ness in their faces, and the law, both in their hands and in their lives and their doctrine, shall be heavenly." — Leighton's Sermon to the Clergy. If Nadab and Abiliu were consumed for presuming to approach the altar of God with false fire, and if Uzzah was stricken dead for stretching forth his hand to the ark, then the sanctuary was a most fearful and holy place; for the altar and the ark were the symbols which hallowed it, — the one indi- cating propitiation for sin, and the other the pro- vision of the Spirit and the Word. Those who ministered in this abode were dignified men; for the law of consecration was so framed, as to lead to the introduction of such. But the glory of the latter house is greater than that of the former; and therefore the spiritual bearing and demeanour of its ministers ought to exceed that of the Jewish priests, as far as the " ministration of righteousness '^ SPIRIT AND CONDUCT OP A MINISTER. 231 exceeds the " ministration of death, written and engraven in stones." Being stewards of the mysteries of God, every look and word and work should be instinct with the spirit of their charge. The Eleusinian mystagogue, or keeper of the aTropprjTa^ " tilings ineffable," was one who seemed to live in another world from the multitude, in so much higher a key did he think and speak than they ; and if this were an influence of Satan, made seemingly bland that it might the more surely ruin souls, of which there is little doubt, then it were a subject of grief and shame, if those should not be elevated men, who are professedly overshadowed and led by the Spirit, which searcheth all things, even the deep things of God. The rationahst cannot feel the force of our appeal ; for of what mysteries is he the steward ? When, with the awe-struck Moses, we cry, "Hear, O Israel ! Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah," and bow before the Trinity, as much with our souls as actually and formally, we feel the dread importance of our position. But we are told that there is another throne of judgment within us, which declares it impossible that three co-equal persons should exist in an united source : and thus it is assumed, that the reason of man is identical with pure, eternal, and divine reason ; that it has received no hurt, or stain ; and that it can see as far into the possibiHties of existence, and non-existence, and their modes, as its Author. 232 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT God cannot reveal a contradiction ; and wliile we adore, the man of reason denies one part of the doctrine, that he may find no difficulty in the other. There are many things in this world, which cannot be brought to view, without extraordinary and scientific light; a light which is distressing, and almost destructive, to the eye. How much more, then, are things in heaven, and in the mind of God, invi- sible, and as to their mode of existence, mysterious ! and how oppressive additional revelation would be ! Rationalism can see no extremes of glory and mean- ness meeting in Jesus Christ; cannot with all the angels of God worship him, and at the same time see him not know where to lay his head : it can resolve his death to a martyr's courage ; the promise of his Spirit into a poetical prosopopoeia, or an emanation from God; original sin into a theological fiction; faith into mere credence of truth, a "sic- cum lumen ;" and regeneration into a mere transfer from one dispensation to another. Thus, in the system of doctrine, mystery is got rid of, that the understanding may not have to stoop ; but it is only shifted to other objects : the mingled mercies and miseries of man are all unexplained ; and the struggle between conscience and will, the unalleviated sense of guilt, the everlasting craving after a refuge and rest for the soul, notwithstanding a dread of God, can all find no exposition or relief. O let mystery belong, and be referred, to Him OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 23S around whom are " clouds and darkness," as we learn from his own word; and let not me be left to become my own oracle, when I have imposed silence on his own, — let me neither be my own heaven nor my own hell. " Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne." Those, however, who are called to the Christian sanctuary, and to the stewardship of Christ's Gospel, have to do with profound and enraptured truths, — truths which made St. Paul cry, O jSadog ! and yet which are uttered back from every believing heart. They speak of hereditary and of wilful sin, and of the deep and thorough stain with which it imbues every man's soul: they show how grace is coeval with it ; how there is a constitution of mercy established for the whole world, through the atone- ment of Christ our Saviour ; and that every one who believes is interested in its special provisions, is reconciled to God, dealt with as though righteous, is accounted a child, and the fact of his adoption is immediately witnessed to him by the Holy Ghost, who likewise is the strength and life of that new existence which the pardoned sinner now reahzes. The Spirit intercedes for him arevay^oLQ aXaXTjroig, helps his infirmities in prayer, pervades his soul, and hallows and purifies its powers, Hke as a pure stream cleanses a polluted fleece : and hence the process in the soul is called " the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost :" the original stain is removed ; and as believing has opened the foun- 234 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT tain, it may flow from above for ever. They speak of Christ dwelHng in the heart by faith, as the apostle ; and as Ignatius before the emperor spoke of being filled with the fulness of God, of a spiritual temple, of which believers are the component parts, — the Spirit, the inhabitant, — and love, the ever- glowing altar-fire. They speak of a Providence which is awful in its comprehension and sweep; and yet whose little circles are as illustrative of God as the orb which enfolds eternity. They tell of decrees which ensure the final conversion and happiness of the world, and the triumphs of Gospel truth, although fulfilled through the instrumentality and contingencies of men. And tliey pubhsh, not merely the promise of immor- tality, — for that is only a negative blessing, and if it were sorrowful might not be a blessing, — but of eternal life; which imphes far more of happiness than any comment can explain, meaning not only a freedom from death, but the enjoyment of God. In its course from the fountain it is compared to a river, (Rev. xxii. 1,) which makes glad the city of God, "the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High : " and how sweet when its subsidiary streams are conveyed by ordinances in this world ! The Greeks talked of their Helicon ; but he that drinketh of that stream shall thirst again: not so here ; whosoever shall drink of the water that Christ shall give him, shall never thirst, but ** it shall be OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 2S5 in him a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life." These are the mysteries committed to their trust. Plato and Socrates never dreamed of such in all their aspirations ; and yet the poorest and least-gifted of men are admitted to the fellowship of them. They are not hidden from the community, or it would be a matter of condemnation ; the book of God is open to all : but they are given to ministers, who are to defend, to guard, to explain, and to employ them for the salvation of men, and fulfilling the work of Christ. If this be their charge, what manner of persons should they be ? If it be said of Christians in general, how much more ought it to be said of " How far above these earthly things ! How intimately one with God ! A heaven-born race of priests and kings ! " In enumerating the graces which adorn the spirit and conduct of the faithful, we would place first. Lowliness ; or what is more frequently inculcated in the New Testament by the term humility. It is not meanness, nor servility, but that prostration of spirit, which is produced by a sense of the majesty and love of God resting thereon. Such a frame of mind will prevent the ostentatious assumption of authority, and the utterance of proud words ; such 236 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT as, '^ I am your spiritual ruler, and will be obeyed." None but untaught and unsanctified minds can be continually resorting to such a method of preserving the position they occupy in the church of God ; for it argues great ignorance of the human heart. Let the pastoral office with all its responsibihties be taken up as a matter of obedience to Christ ; and what ground for self-complacency is here ? The obligation to administer discipline should be calmly assumed : for the same Bible which gives the minister his commission, is referred to, and believed in, by all who have any part in the Christian inherit- ance. The matter is supposed to be taken for granted ; and therefore reiteration is needless ; and not only needless, but hurtful : it will be considered a sort of substitute for innate dignity, and would only irritate those whom the Bible could not con- vince. Endeavour, in some given instance, to act upon some great scriptural principle, and do as Christ has commanded you. Your conduct is objected to and opposed by some one : tell him you are God's minister, and have a right to his obedience ; and yoti v^dll find that the haughty sentence will drive him, as he cannot deny the Bible, to deny your commis- sion, because of the temper in which you assert it. But continue to act tranquilly, without saying a word about power, and only appealing to your holy book, and you vdll gain that soul. He will thank- fully part from his cloak, which no gust could have OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 237 torn from his back. Lowliness makes a man free from the love of office for its own sake, and helps him to place a proper value on its externals: no self- exalting thing will he say or do because his place is a pulpit, his dress a gown ; for such things have no more to do ^vith the real man than the windows of the church have to do with religion. Lowliness makes the heart accessible : it can enter into the temptations and sorrows of the people ; it can under- stand their cases : and is not this a point worth gain- ing ? Ministers are usually wise ; but "let not the wase m.an glory in his wisdom." Indeed, he who is truly wise will not feel a disposition to glory : desire after the future and unattained will destroy those vain and self-complacent thoughts which others cherish. An income which would raise a common citizen to splendour, would be only sufficient to make a mo- narch pine and mourn ; and in like manner a mental store, which would cause some to vaunt themselves beyond measure, in a truly noble and capacious soul, would only be a cause of grief and shame. No men have better opportunity than ministers of seeing how much remains to be attained, and how far from God we on earth are, and what riches of grace are yet unpossessed ; no men see, or ought to see, farther into the perfection of heaven and things divine, — the illimitable light that shines over head : and therefore no men ought to be more dis- satisfied with every thing that claims to be great 2S8 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT and lofty in this world ; and, notwithstanding their endowments, none have greater necessity for being clothed with humility as with a garment. Official vanity is a source of perpetual disquietude. Whatever has the appearance of disrespect, or what- ever may be construed into a slight, inflicts a secret wound in the vain man's soul. He may, for the sake of peace, impose silence upon his lips, and utter no angry word at the time ; but he retires, as Haman, depressed to his house; the guilty conflict continues; and, ere long, the spirits fail, and the health sinks, — a sufficient indication of the suffering within. Men in public stations are not exempt from mental agony, especially if they are Christians ; but much may be avoided by cherishing lowliness of mind. Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, compares it to walking in a peaceful valley ; and Isaiah calls it a way of holiness, and that no lion is there, and no ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It quahfies a minister to be a fit companion for a child, and yet an instructer of the intelligent and aged ; to listen to the weakest prejudice, and yet establish the pro- foundest truth ; to condescend unto the meanest men, and yet be imperturbed in the presence of the great. The wisest heathen knew nothing of this grace : their TaTreivoQ usually referred to something low or contemptible; and the disposition in which it was scorned was evidently Satan's own. But this is part OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 239 of the " wisdom that is from above, and is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be en- treated." It is first mentioned in our Lord's sermon on the Mount ;. and called forth the first benediction, to show, that amid all the qualities which adorn and sanctify the character, it takes the precedence. ** Blessed are the poor in spirit," did he say ; "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Whatever may be the exact meaning of f5am\eia ruiv ovparuiv, this is no low destiny. It may mean the reign of righte- ousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, within them ; or it may mean the possessions which await them in glory; or it may imply both. To be a member of the kingdom, in any sense, is to be blessed beyond conception ; and to be " poor in spirit" — which is the reverse of being self-com- placent, or confident in mental strength — is to be in a position which shall call forth the deep and holy yearnings which accompany a Saviour's bless- ing : it is derived from learning the lesson of his cross : it is the result of a penitentially broken and contrite state of heart. 2. Dignity. We had this quahfication in view, when we spoke, at the commencement of this chapter, of what was congruous in those who were stewards of divine things; endeavouring to intimate that those who had so sacred an employment should be sacred themselves. No two virtues subsist so well together, or require so little trouble to reconcile, as humility 240 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT and dignity: by the one we show the estimate we form of ourselves ; by the other, the use we make of grace. By the dignity which is now pleaded for, we mean that seriousness of deportment, and that refined outward bearing, which are due to the office, and necessary to the influence and success, of the ministry. It does not consist in making high claims, or even in taking refuge in the undoubted privileges of the order, except there be necessity: this, we have already shown, is contrasted with, and opposed to, humility. This was the conduct of the Jewish Scribes ; they sat " in Moses' seat :" but when our Lord came, "he taught as one having authority, and not" asserting it "as the Scribes." It sat upon his face, and produced conviction by the spirituality and majesty of his teachings. There was no need for him to preface his discourse by asserting it : his preface was himself. And it is by a distant walking in his steps, that his servants exemplify that course of conduct which we think both he and the church requires of them. Ministers are little in themselves; not so in their work: as sinners, they loathe themselves before God's purity, and repent in dust and ashes; but, as having a dispensation of the Gospel committed to them, they are raised by their theme : as men, they have self-hatred; as pastors, self-respect. Let the people of Israel, in a maddening crowd, dance and shout around the idol which their hands OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 241 liave fashioned,' — Moses is never beheld in such scenes : Moses converses w^ith God ; he says, " of their laughter. It is mad : and of their mirth, What doest thou?" It is not for him who is panting to be- hold the divine glory, to have any sympathy with such petty passions ; it is not the finite and tangible which attracts his adoring gaze, it is " the living God;" and while his soul yearns after the Infinite, it seems almost to imitate infinity itself. No wonder that he was accounted king in Jeshurun; no wonder that there was no prophet arose like unto Moses. O, may the joys of our pastoral leaders be such as entranced his amazed spirit ! Theirs, in some distant degree, be that lustre of character which marked him as faithful in all his house ; that moral dignity, of which the beams of glory shining from his face were but the symbol ! Then would the churches glorify God in them. If some will so far forget themselves as to join in the obstreperous laugh, to become the retailers of low and hackneyed witticisms, the centre of a circle which is all satire and glee, and lend themselves to any man or any company, for the sake of fleeting social popularity, can they complain of their loss of solid influence ? What a guerdon have they found ! — the acclamations of trifling men, but mingled with the awful and reproving voice of the Spirit of God. This is indeed selling a birthright for a mess of pot- tage. Samuel the prophet was said to be an " honour- M ■ 242 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT able man," (LXX., ev^o^og,) and when he came to the town of Bethlehem, the elders trembled as he drew near, and said, "Comest thou peaceably?" How thrilling and far-extending was his influence ! It is impossible to contemplate such an one, without instruc- tion and awe. The ministry is a sacred inclosure ; but if any one shall place himself upon a level, with any trifler who is without, does he not break down the fence, and expose his brethren to contempt ? Who then can prevent the incursions of the wild boar of the forest? Assuredly he will advance, and the inclosure, once fruitful, and beauteous in order, will become a desolate common. Popery labours to confer upon its ministers a dignity : it gives them a gorgeous robe, and sur- rounds them with white-robed youths; allows to them alone the wine, the symbol of Christ's precious blood; and, by the help of the " spirit of fear," makes them nearly omniscient, in the confessional and the chapel, and among untaught people. Who would remain unawed with such associations ? Yea, the man of learning and of taste himself, being captivated by the balmy poetry of Popish hymns, and melted by the gushes of dying harmony in which they are sung, will feel his own phantasy aroused, and will mistake his genius for holiness, and under its influence will look upon those men, who have come down, as it is said, in a regular succession from the holy apostle Peter, with veneration, and OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 243 say, from mere imagination, *' The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these ! " But how is this illusion dispelled by the light in which every truly good man walks ! He will compare spiritual things with spiritual ; a spiritual person with a spiritual Bible. Grod has not eyes of flesh, nor seeth he as a man seeth. The worst of men may have a dignity like this : Satan himself (though far be it from us to liken even Papists in general unto him) may put on the garment of an angel of light, although he is worse ruined and damned every hour. The true dignity of a minister of Christ consists in the unction which he receives from above : this, like as when it was poured without measure upon his Lord, raises him in his measure above his fellows. It is the '' unction of the Holy One," the richest gift of the Comforter ; and in other words than these it is difficult to explain it. St. John meant, by using such lan- guage, to intimate that as the sacred chrism in ancient times dignified the individual on whom it was poured, and shed a rich fragrance all around, so the Spirit imparted a heavenly influence to fervent and maturing Christians, which should attend them in every place. He who preaches the word, and tends his charge with this endowment, will need no epistle of commendation; he will be above these earthly things, though at the same time in the midst of them, and not insensible of their presence : no M 2 244 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT vulgar levity, no grovelling amid the toys of the worldly, will spoil the unity of such a charac- ter; his conversation will be in heaven, and his words like the manna that fell on the camp of famishing Israel. And yet we have not told all : he goes forth like Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, of whom there are many things hard to be uttered ; and many are attracted to him, as Elisha to Elijah, on the way to the scene of translation. We say not, that the cheerfulness and suavity of the Christian may not be fully developed in him ; nor do we assert that he is a stranger to the innocent recreations and mirth of private domestic life : — no. Wesley enjoined on his ministers to be ashamed of nothing but sin : and Watson, the late and revered, could lead the devotions and contemplations of an assembly to the very verge of the highest heaven ; yet he who writes these lines has frequently been over the spot where he played with children. Unction in a minister is like a crown to a king, in point of meaning; but it is only seen in its effects. This is his true dignity : the people know that they are with one who is a friend of God ; and may, in a subordinate sense, say of him, what was once said of One higher, " They shall shut their mouths at him," and " that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider." (Isai. lii. 15.) A still small voice shall say, " Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect. OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 245 in whom my soul delighteth ; I have put my Spirit upon him." 3. Moral Courage. " God hath not given us," said Paul, " the spirit of fear, but of powder," «vmjuewt'5 of inward strength; and of this his own conduct affords an illustration.* It was of the dark future, (dark at least as far as the grave bounded it,) and of the utmost enmity of man, that he spake, when he said, " None of these things move me ;" and such an expression did not evince stoicism, for he was incapable of it, but fortitude. It would be, indeed, anomalous for them who de- clare the doctrines of the New Testament, to shrink under the influence of servile fear. They show, accord- ing to their Gospel, how a weak and suffering per- son " may be so strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man," as to be fearless and happy in the most louring aspects of life ; and that, after- wards, he will take up his undaunted position, before the presence of his God, although surrounded by the ruin of all things : a more vivid picture this, than that of Horace's just man, — " Si fractus illabatur orbis, Impavidum ferient ruinge." Can those who show such things, allow the strong * Utitur autem lioc argumento, quod Deus ministros suos gubernet Spiritu potentisa, quae contraria est timiditati. — Calvin in loc. 246 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT man within them to bow himself, and make the gras- hopper a burden ? No : there is no fear in love ; and love is the vital spirit of the Gospel, and at once the fortifier and sanctifier of all believers. Courage is requisite when duty requires ministers to declare an unpalatable truth, to exhibit the de- formity of sin, and then, fixing the eye on the especial sinner, address the voice to him, and say, "Thou art the man." In a public sermon, a man may hide himself in the generalities of his subject, though a public sermon does not comprehend the whole of his work, nor even ought this to be a screen for moral cowardice; but "in season and out of season," the ministers of Christ are as much enjoined to "reprove and rebuke," as "to preach the word." Charge them that are rich in this world not to trust in un- certain riches, and you offend their avarice. Go, like John the Baptist, to some one in the pursuit of a guilty pleasure, and say, "It is not lawful for thee to have her," and you call forth the enmity of his lust. Break in upon the worldly services of the children of folly, and, pointing to the eternal state, cry, "Why stand ye here all the. day idle ? " and no one may thank you for the intrusion. Tell the formal professor, that instead of being " rich and increased in goods," he is " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," and that, if saved at all, he must be saved as a broken-hearted sinner, and his heart will often rise against your doctrine. OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 247 And thus on every hand you will find the battle in array against you. Steadfastly to advance in the line of duty against all this spiritual opposition is not in nature ; nature recoils, and fears to offend and give pain ; but fidelity, a stern grace, urges from behind, and cries, "Be strong, and quit yourselves like men." Sometimes the feelings of the heart may interfere; friendships, affections, and many ties, may plead for one who is going far from God, that he be not re- proved with an alarming voice, or rebuked sharply ; but such emotions are not to prove traitorous : if they do, they are neither correct nor deep. True pastoral courage is like the tendency of a mighty stream, which urges on its current course, notwithstanding the veering of the waves, which ruffle the surface when driven by various winds. Courage is requisite in administering Christ's discipline. In the first formation of churches, there is usually much of that charity which is so nobly eulogized in 1 Cor. xiii., and which is at once the " bond of perfectness," the bond of union, the source of purity, and the spring of vital godliness; and in such a state the strict- ness of Christian order is no hardship ; but, notwith- standing every precaution, persons will sometimes gain admission who are so far worldly as to desire a latitude in trifling ^vith a Christian profession, and with sacred things, which no pure ministry can allow. ^48 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT The world allows the sabbath to be broken, the practice of family worship to be unobserved, the house of God to be neglected, the bodies of men to be enslaved, and all things and all men to be just subjects of debate; and when worldliness can get into the interior of the church, it will agitate for this latitude until spiritual discipline is so far ex- panded, circle after circle, upon the wild and troubled surface, that it becomes at last nothing. Without a firm and resolute course of discipline, we must expect to stand by and see the ancient and divinely estabhshed landmarks removed ; the rules and pre- cepts of the written word explained away by glosses ; and there are times when nothing less than a Luther- like spirit, as far as boldness is concerned, will avail for the prevention of these and similar calamities : and never does it avail more than when the Luther and the Melancthon meet in the same individual, — a minghng of lowHness and undauntedness. St. John, who leaned on Jesus's breast at the last supper, and whose principal theme was the love of God, was no self-willed imperious ruler; and yet, in reference to his management of tke church, was ever the unshrinking advocate of the order which Christ had established: he did not scruple to say, respecting the ambitious and turbulent Diotrephes, " If I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth." Ministerial firmness, when free from pride, is a rare and inestimable quality, and has often OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 249 proved the salvation both of connected churches, and their individual societies. Often has a timid pohcy permitted self-interested and ambitious men to remain in the midst of the faithful for years, corrupting them by their influence, until the general deterioration has become painful and manifest : at length, and perhaps on the eve of a general disrup- tion, some one, in the strength of grace, has dared to do his duty, by bringing the individuals to humihation, or in a proper manner by ridding the church of them ; and thus, casting his care and all consequences on God, has preserved the purity as well as the existence of the body. In the famous siege of Gibraltar, which was de- fended by General Eliott, it happened that a shell, which had been thrown from one of the Spanish float- ing batteries, fell into an apartment in the garrison, in which were placed a quantity of cartridges, and where a number of men were employed in making- more : one of the company, an Englishman, seeing the fearful missile lying, and conscious of the awful consequences of an explosion, paused not a moment, but caught the hissing shell in his arms, and bore it, to the terror of his comrades, into the garrison- yard, and cast it on the ground, where it harmlessly burst, for not a man was killed. This shell is too true a type of many an evil thing which Satan has lodged in the church ; and blessed is he who, at a personal hazard, like the veteran soldier, endeavours 250 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT to remove it to a distance to explode and die. God raises up liis master-minds for his special exigencies; but the spirit of power can never long remain untested in any of his true servants. 4. Love is next to be mentioned. This Christian endowment does not destroy the severer virtues of the character, but rather blends them, together, and hallows the whole. In St. John love was as deep and calm as his own contemplations; in St. Paul it was a fire which burned for ever ; but in both it was co-existent with the sternest fidelity. The love, aya-nrrji spoken of in the New Testament, is not made manifest, as a mere human passion, by floods of tears, or by other external signs of sen- sibility, such as the utterance of tender words and speeches : it lies deep in the heart ; it regards the eternal welfare of its object; it pierces with its searching eye through the mists of sin ; it arouses to action, and by action it is made manifest, although often, when vocal, its words are words of solemn and impressive reproof. A minister, therefore, im- bued Avith love, is most terrible to sin, but most compassionate to the sinner. " It suffereth long, and is kind :" without it, patience is extinct at pro- vocations, and the soul kindles into wrath. " It envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up :" without it, men are uneasy at another's honour, and jealous to defend their own, and seek, by unholy devices, to magnify themselves. '' It doth not be- OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 251 have itself unseemly :" without it, what could be ex- pected but want of courtesy, an austerity and rough- ness of deportment, and a disregard of the feelings of those among whom they mingle ? The prominent virtue shines in the parlour and in the pulpit. It " seeketh not her own :" it is disinterested, triumphs in self-sacrifice. Paul, who spoke so in the tone of authority, yet said to the Corinthian people, " I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." Of this noble anti-selfish love the world knows nothing: it is indeed a Phoenix burned by its own fire. It "is not easily provoked :" Stephen, being filled with it, wears a radiant and angehc countenance in the midst of a band of raging and blood-thirsty bigots, for whom he prayed even when dying under their hands ; the rugged stone could not arouse a moment's anger when this affection reigned within. It " thinketh no evil :" suspicion is lulled to rest, and therefore covert designs and intrigue can find no harbour ; the soul is in the face. " Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but re- joiceth in the truth :" mourns over sin in an enemy, and exults in righteousness when it is found among another people and in another place. It " beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endure th all things ;" and thus it prepares the soul for sustaining its load of trial, for receiving the fulness of God, for cherishing the brightest views 252 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT of man, and for persevering in holiness to the latest hour of life. Well might Paul say, *' Follow after charity." Angelic eloquence, prophetic knowledge, mental insight unlimited, almighty faith, even when joined with the philanthropy of a martyr, he declared were nothing without it. " Above all things put on charity," reiterates the apostle in his epistle to the Colossian church ; and informs Timothy that it is " the end of the commandment out of a pure heart." Does a minister sigh for a happy immor- tality above his companions? this ensures it: it *' never faileth," but survives the fulfilments of all prophecy, the distractions of human tongues, and the imperfect knowledge of the present state ; and consequently escapes from this uncongenial world, and lives and flourishes in heaven. It prompts him during life, equally to hasten to the abode of wretchedness, and to the house of the pros- perous; to warn the impenitent sinner, and to soothe the penitent by references to Calvary ; to check the ebullitions of physical excitement, and to quicken and inflame the cold-hearted : it makes his object to be, a soul to be won, an evil to be averted, a good to be imparted, and God in all things to be glorified through Jesus Christ ; and with such an object in view he can answer the questions. What am I, and for what created ? (ques- tions distracting to the infidel) with promptitude, declaring that '* of him, and through him, and to OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 25S him are all things, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." 5. Wisdom is, too, an important feature in the conduct and bearing of a minister of Christ. Wis- dom, as the late Mr. M'Nicoll once remarked, is a Saxon word, and means the home, or dwelling- place, of knowledge, and is used to imply the right use we make of knowledge. There is many a learned man who is far from being wise. When an architect would proceed to raise a porch, or con- struct an edifice, he has to do with senseless stone, and therefore all means, however rough, are law- ful, which can accompHsh his object : but the wise master-builder in the house of God is a moral being, and must use moral means, for he has to do with souls ; and therefore needs to study, not only what end to secure, but how to secure it. Wisdom in God is an infinite perfection, in which lie hid all the mysteries of spiritual influence, and the modes in which he works with free agents, and the exact manner in which all causes, both physical and moral, are adapted to produce their desired effects: here is something far beyond the reach of man ; yet the wisdom which cometh from above, and which has been mentioned already, is an emanation from it, and brings a special boon unto ministers. If wisdom and knowledge, according to Isaiah, should be the stability of Gospel times, and strength of salvation, then they are especially expected to exemplify it. 254 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT It will lead to order, and to the principle of doing every thing at the best season. It guides as to the promulgation of doctrine, and to the mode of illus- trating it; leaves those topics w^hich would merely interest or entertain an audience, for those which would convict and save them. It turns to the Bible first, and to the book of nature after ; appeals to the text for authority, and then to the visible world for additional and subordinate proof; it gives the highest place to the most important and to experi- mental things, — such as the justification of a sinner in the sight of God, the privileges and duties of those who are in Christ Jesus, the indispensable necessity of practical holiness, — and then subsequently, and with lessened earnestness, attends to the claims of taste and genius, and the ofiers of illustrative science. It shields itself in the infallible decisions of God; never leaves its exalted place to argue in any circle, either infidel or Popish, but rather points, with mingled pity and triumph, to the humbled temples of ancient philosophy, and the ruined altar at Athens *' to the unknown God." It has to do wdth the proper proportioning of doc- trine, and does not allow one to destroy the influence of another. It does not so dwell upon the majesty of God, and the wrath which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men, as to excite despair or recklessness ; nor does it speak of Christ's dying love in such terms as to encourage OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 255 any, but the consciously weary and heavy laden, to approach him. It speaks, in glowing words, of the joys promised to all believers ; but does not at all hide from them, that their obligation to do the will of their Father who is in heaven is not suspended, but rendered more binding, by their faith. He who is qualified with this grace, does not build with untempered mortar, and therefore no stormy wind shall rend and scatter his work: he speaks not to the broken-hearted and tempted with reproof, but with encouragement, and in such a manner as to excite faith and hope ; nor does he blandly and meekly address the vain-confident, but, like one who wishes to save them, in tones of alarm, even at the risk of giving a momentary offence.* Wisdom is requisite in making the best use of circumstances. There are times when men's minds are tender and docile, and may be easily led to what is reasonable and holy, both in the church of God and in the domestic circle : this happens usually after some great mercy, or some great affliction ; it is an oppor- * If a contemner of popularity offer not instruction with grace, and seasoned with salt, he will be despised by the many, and his greatness of mind will be of no avail ; but should he fairly succeed in this matter, and be vanquished by the glitter of praise, he will be injurious both to himself and to others, desiring, through his love of applause, to speak more for the sake of approval from his audience, than for their benefit. — Chrysost. De Sacerd., lib. 5. 256 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT tunity to be improved. There are times when men are otherwise ; and those should be suffered to elapse. Why should the ministers of God be exceeded by military tacticians, in seizing on peculiar circum- stances, and deriving important advantages there- from ? Have they not an equal inspiration ? O, if the leaders of God's host are not to be found wiser, or more deeply intent, than the children of this world, it is their own humiliation, and a cause of grief. In the management of the church of God, " wis- dom is above rubies:" a single act will often preserve its order and purity in times of extreme danger. " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 6. Zeal is next to be enumerated. It was a distinguished feature in the ministry of our Lord; and on a remarkable manifestation of it, the "dis- ciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." In him it was sometimes mingled anger and love, and sometimes pity and love ; but in -either case it aimed at the glory of the Father, the order and sacredness of his church, and the good of men : and if it were a part of that baptism of fire which he received, he bequeathed a portion to his apostles; for, on the day of Pentecost, flaming tongues sat upon them while they were sitting, symbolizing at once their OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 257 own need of purity, and the fervent spirit with which they should now be endowed. With this emblem before him, Cudworth nobly says, " True zeal is a sweet, heavenly, and gentle flame, which maketh us active for God, but always within the sphere of love. It never calls for fire from heaven to consume those which differ a little from us in their apprehensions." And again : '' Our zeal, if it be heavenly, if it be true vestal fire kindled from above, will not delight to tarry here below, burning up straw and stubble, and such combustible things, and sending up nothing but gross and earthly flames to heaven, but it will rise up, and return back, pure as it came down ; and will be ever striving to carry up men's hearts to God along with it. It will be only occupied about the promoting of those things which are unquestionably good; and when it moves in the irascible way, it will quarrel with nothing but sin." Such is the principle; and there are not wanting incentives to bring it into practice. We live in a world which is crowded with unsaved men ; and in a little while they will be out of our reach, unless they are awakened and brought to God. What was said of the rich man will be true of every one of them : "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments.'* The pleasures of sin, the applause of men, the honours of the world, will soon and suddenly be exchanged for a dark abode, an avenging God, 258 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT and everlasting sorrow. When Jonah preached at Nineveh, his proclamation ran, " Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown ;" but there is no licence to assure a sinner that forty moments shall elapse before his overthrow, — so uncertain is life, and so unfathomable is Providence. But is there not here an incentive to ministerial zeal? The echoes from the abyss reach us, — no " tenues voces ;" they call on those whose office it is to warn others, lest they also reach that place of torment. Thousands are approaching the verge, and O for a hand to save ! " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living: God :" but into his hands multitudes around must fall, unless their conversion intervene : should it not, farewell to the Father's love, the Son's grace, the Spirit's fellowship ; the soul is bereft of help, and only becomes the object of wrath ; it bears into that world unknown its vital emotions, and grapples with infinite despair! The unfaithful minister is damned with the rest, only unutterably deeper. Here is a call, we repeat, for the zeal of pity. Sometimes it is called to manifest itself in defence of the truth. Christianity enrols on. its records martyrs and confessors ; men who, rather than sacri- fice the honour of God, and the interests of his church, sacrificed themselves: they shared the fel- lowship of Christ's sufferings, and were made " con- formable to his death;" they believed their Bible, and acted upon the conviction that the " sufferings OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 259 of this present life are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us." And have not we the same Bible? And is the disparity between a moment's sorrow, and the glory to be revealed, any less ? The noble army of martyrs, indeed, teach us a lesson which we, of the present generation, are slow of heart to learn ; that, if we have a zeal for God, it is not, at least, according to that knowledge which is derived from an unclouded view of pure revelation. " Thou Spirit, who the church didst lend Her eagle wings to shelter in the wild, We pray thee, ere the Judge descend With flames like these, all bright and undefiled, Her watch-fires light, To guide aright Our weary souls by earth beguiled." Christian Year. Zeal is concerned for all the institutions of reli- gion, and for the order of God's house. It will not in any minister tolerate improprieties in public worship, but will reprove the literal trifler, and the literal sleeper, in the pews ; will prevent the intro- duction of light and irreverent music, as well as worldly and immoral persons, into the choir; con- stantly abiding by the principle, that every thing connected with the sanctuary ought to be done in the best way possible, and in the spirit of Ahohab 260 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT and Bezaleel, who themselves were filled with the Holy Ghost. He who is richly and truly endowed with zeal will not be reckless of personal health and strength, and consume both in a rash course of violent and unintermitted toil. That would be passion, and nothing else ; passion that blinds itself, as to the end it would gain. But the pastor of enlightened zeal looks forward to the magnitude of his object; measures his efforts by his strength ; and labours, and lives to labour, when his pious but mistaken brother has been compelled to lay down his commission, and retire prematurely to the grave, where no man can work, and at a time, perhaps, when he ought to be in possession of his full vigour. These are the principles which mark the spirit in which these exalted duties should be dis- charged; and they are required to have a uni- form operation, not manifest in fits of excitement, but in calm, constant, and unwearied strength. Because they meet in the same individual they show that they are of God ; some of. them op- posite to each other, yet all harmonious, which is not the case with worldly virtues. They are to be borne into all places, and all departments of em- ployment. Into the pulpit: there lowliness pre- vents affectation and egotism; dignity guards off" all vulgarisms and low conceits, and adopts, in connexion OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 261 with disciplinary culture, a simple, chaste, and impres- sive diction ; courage presents an unshrinking front against sin, and the opposition of sinners; love se- cures that one object be kept in view, whatever tone is adopted, — the everlasting welfare of the people around; wisdom takes care that the right doctrines are dispens- ed to the right persons, and at a time when they shall accomplish the greatest good; and zeal leads every minister to preach as " a dying man to dying men." Nor ought these principles to be less manifest in the administration of the sacraments. In ap- proaching the table, the pastor brings himself, in thought, to the last meeting of the Lord with his disciples before his passion, and remembers, or ought to remember, the mediatorial prayer, which was then uttered in behalf of all his ministers : " Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth:" that is, separate them from all unholy uses. Here again lowliness, dignity, and love ought as much to prevail, and to guide them, as though they had lived and acted with Peter and James and John. There is a great dif- ference between the artificial and idolatrous gestures of archbishop Laud, and the loose carelessness of many of the Puritans, in celebrating the eucharist:* * Many bishops found a secret genius of rusticity and rude- ness, of familiarity and irreverence, strangely prevailing among country preachers and people, so far, that they saw many of them placed much of their religion in affecting a slovenly rude- 262 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT the first is a "will-worship," reprobated solemnly by St. Paul; the other is a neglect of doing every thing " decently and in order." The way to guard the scriptural observance of this sacred institution, ia to bring the graces which we have enumerated, the fruits of regeneration, within the railing. Let low- liness sink before the Lord in penitential grief; dignity warn off the trifler, and abolish the inven- tions of man ; and courage, arising before a scoffing world, declare itself the Lord's; let love glow in every sentence and every look ; let wisdom decide who are proper to communicate ; and zeal earnestly direct attention to that great atonement which is here symbolized. Baptism calls for the same reverent administra- tion. It is a covenant act ; an act in which God is a serious party, and therefore man ought not to be a careless one. It is these principles only which make the work of the ministry practical : many a one may roam over the rich fields of theological science, form splendid conceptions, ness and irreverence in all public and holy duties \ loath to kneel not only at the sacrament, but at any prayers/' or to be un- covered at any duty ; enemies to any man, and prejudiced against all he did, if he showed any ceremonious respect in serving his God. They saw some were grown so spiritual that they forgot they had bodies ; and pretending to approve them- selves to God, only as to the inward man, they cared not for any thing that was regular, exemplary, orderly, comely, or reverent, as to the outward celebration, in the judgment of the church of England. — Gauden's Teax's. OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. ^63 and utter them both in the pulpit and on the platform ; but no man is true to the purpose of his ordination any longer than when, instead of wasting his life in dreams of theory, he is endeavour- ing to seek and to save the lost, and thus acts a subordinate though important part in carrying on the designs of his Lord and Master. 7. Temperance likewise is a grace which is indispensably required to adorn the ministry. And here the word is used in its popular sense, to sig- nify moderation in the use of food and beverage. And this is the more to be insisted on, as one of the crying sins of the present day is luxury in eating and drinking. We have, in the prophet Elijah, an example of noble superiority to those sensual pleasures. Mr. Shrewsbury, in his Sermon on the Translation, says respecting him, " When the brook (Cherith) was di'ied up, and he went to sojourn with the widow at Zarephath, we see he did not desire very costly fare. As she was * gathering of sticks,' he called to her and said, * Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.' And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, ' Bring me a morsel of bread in thine hand.' (1 Kings xvii. 10,11.) And on the plain food which the 'barrel of meal' and the * cruse of oil ' supplied, he subsisted in her house for many days. And a few years after this period, when his ^64 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT wants were miraculously supplied by an angel, as he slept under a juniper-tree in the wilderness, nothing more was brought than * a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water.' (1 Kings xix. 5, 6.) This was enough. The prophet had * learned in whatsoever state he was, therewith to be content.' Being fed with the hidden manna of divine love, he could joyfully forego the luxuries, and even the comforts, of life." Large quantities of food, or various kinds of food elaborately prepared, together with " strong drink," not only injure the health, but are inimical to intent and sacred meditation. No efforts of mind that are worth anything, are put forth under their influence ; and the whole man becomes more literally than ever *'of the earth earthy." Not that we are re- quired to be ascetics, for even Timothy is guarded against this by the apostle Paul ; but that we should, in honour of our adorable Creator, preserve both our minds and bodies in that state of elasticity and vigour, which he has naturally implanted in them ; and should live in the spirit of Him whose meat and drink it was to do the will of .the Father, as well as by our example rebuke the growing voluptuousness of the age. A little diluted wine is generally the strongest restorative or stimulant that any minister need take. The accumulated result of these principles is beautifully portrayed in some points of view in the words of Spenser: — OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 265 " Thenceforth all world's desire will in thee dye, And all earth's glory on which men do gaze Seem dirt and dross, in thy pnre-sighted eye, Compared to that celestial beauty's blaze, Whose glorious beams all fleshly sense doth daze With admiration of their passing light, Blinding the eyes and lumining the spright" But the author feels a fear lest he should have been drawing up articles which are unsuited to mere men. O that all were indeed what the preceding lines have been imperfectly endeavouring to depict! Solomon's prayer would then be an- swered: " Let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy people shout for joy." The archetype, however, is not too fair and good, because not fairer than the Bible makes it; but the resemblance is, alas ! too incomplete. Often have men of God uttered complaints like these : — " O that we could weep and groan for the sins and unfaithfulness of the ministry ! The study of theo- logy has too often, instead of the means, been the end; and preaching, instead of the instrument of the world's conviction, a stepping-stone to personal honour and renown; the coldness of love and zeal has been strangely contrasted with the momentous realities of our subject; unseemly and unstudied trifling with the solemnities of the inspired word of God ; and the tenor of our life, so broken has it been and inconstant, that there have been many N 266 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT hours spent in a way which none ought ever to imitate, if they value their hope of heaven. Heavenly Fa- ther, forgive thy servants their manifold sins ; and let, O let, the mantle of the prophets, and the fiery tongues of the apostles, be on us all ! " Enough has been said to show that the tone of mind which has been described, cannot be attained from any human source, or at any earthly university: it is not the result of study and resolute self- government, but of being born avwdev, from above; the work of the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to raise up and perpetuate a living ministry ; the fruit by which men know them. Every tree which our heavenly Father hath planted, that is, every private Christian, ought to bear similar ; but pastors should be as a tree of life, healing the nations. And this conviction leads us, lastly, to consider, 8. The deep and uninterrupted piety which is indispensable to the efficiency and fidelity of such a stewardship. Christianity is their principal study; but it must be taken up otherwise than as a mere science : it is not only something to be known, but something to be felt ; it furnishes not only a supply for their intellectual wants, but for their yearnings after good. God created man with a heart as well as head ; and the one is as much appealed to as the other in the economy of redemption. In fact, the evidences of Gospel truth which are proposed to the intellect, OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 267 depend for their force upon the state of the heart ; and thus the man of God is represented as " holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience," and only in a pure conscience. The love of sin in Gibbon, Hume, and Voltaire was sufficient to cloud to their apprehensions the clearest light of testi- mony or proof in favour of Christianity ; whereas the least degree of humbled feeling in Rochester was a crisis, a turning-point, which led to the eman- cipation of his miserable and benighted soul. To use the sentiment of Tholuck, " a human being must be known in order to be loved, but the Divinity must be loved in order to be known." It is Christianity which in these last ages of the world has created a thirst for intellectual delights, and it alone can satisfy. No scholar or sage among the ancients ever yearned for rest and joy as we do, because the expanse of immortality, which to them was veiled, is now thrown open before us, and its light either disturbs or animates the soul. In vain do you widen the field of knowledge, if you cannot hallow and fill the heart : unless it can find its God in every place, and can delight in him, it is homeless in the universe. How then shall men teach a religion of the heart, who have not learned it in the school of experience ? Any sculptor might make a Prometheus ; but whence comes the vital flame, if not from heaven ? The tones which reach us from the world are expressive of a misery which is within N 2 268 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT men, whicli they bear about with them; and how are mmisters to reKeve it, unless practically acquainted with the process of cure ? They certainly might, without the experience of religion, take up the words of its sacred theories ; but those words would be mere " cabbala," and without any ideas or emotions answering to them ; and, besides, where would be the love to prompt, the courage to sustain, the zeal to inflame, and the wisdom to guide ? Convinced that inward religion is the very soul of the ministry, let the V, ork of individual self-examination be con- ducted in some such way as this : — " I am called with the apostle Paul to represent the whole world as guilty before God, and to convict the sinner of sin and its consequences, his liability to condemn- ation and the wrath of God. Have I then ever felt the rising of my nature against the holy, just, and good commandment under which I was born ? Have I felt the bitterness of pride and passion, even when strangely clinging to them, and when the light of revealed truth broke in upon me, convincing and arraigning me ? Have I ever experienced that internal strife, that battle between flesh and spirit, carnal nature and aroused conscience ? Have I ever struggled like a chained captive to be free ; and, finding all personal endeavours hopeless, groaned at last, ' O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? ' Has this soul felt the sorrow of having fought against OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 269 God most high, and been made to drink the cup of its own mingling ? Then can it sympathize with the woe-worn and heavy-laden sinner, and be sensi- ble that he speaks the things which he does know. " I am required likewise with the apostle to declare the authoritative doctrines of repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Have I then, whilst bemoaning my want of God, bowed before him, adored the perfections which condemned me, and honoured his righteous law, and, cherish- ing the first tenderness which the Spirit inspired, mourned before him with as much sorrow as 1 could feel ? Have I hated, and almost cursed, the evil heart of unbelief, which could so depart from tlie living God ? striven to find the lowest place in the dust ; and desired to be lower still, if even it were in the opened earth ? Have I evinced the reality of these apprehensions of the evil of sin, by breaking off its practice according to my power, and showing that my loathing of it was not mere sentimentality ? Have I been agonized at the thought of sinking eternally under its load, and pined for salvation as the hart desireth the water-brooks ? Then I can understand the penitent's prayer, and tell what passes in his soul ; see what is godly sorrow ; and what, on the other hand, the complaint of a proud, pre- sumptuous, or wilfully despairing heart. Have I in such circumstances been led to understand what is the diKuioavvr] tov Qeov, the righteousness of God, or God's 270 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT way of justifying? viewed the great atonement, Christ suffering, the just for the unjust ; human, that he might be a victim ; divine, that he might be an infinite one ? Have I been attracted by that great sight ? Has my guilty heart yearned to receive the apphcation of one drop of that vital stream that ran down from his side ; and has that yearning produced . an effort to come nearer still to look and love ? Did I then receive the testimony which the Father gave of his Son ; and assent to Isaiah's declaration, that ' he was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our ini- quities, that the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed ?' Did desire and prayer di'aw me to Jesus thus lifted up ? Partly in hope, and partly in agony, did I endeavour to repose my soul, according to the invitation of the Gospel, upon that all-atoning merit? Did I come away from myself and my fear, and taking only my guilt with me, and laying hold of divine strength for a final effort, throw my all on the uplifted sacri- fice ? That was believing in his name, that was faith in his blood ! it brought me, in that glad moment, the remission of sins that were past through the forbearance of God. O how the dread * Invisible appear'd in sight ! And God was seen by mortal eye,' no longer frowning in wrath, but smiling with a Father's face. And the very holiness which made me OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 271 tremble, seemed now to prompt a shout of joy ; and having but just asked how I might be delivered from my enemy, casting from me the burst shackles of sin, I exclaimed, * I thank God, through our Lord Jesus Christ !' The Comforter, in that hour, witnessed and ratified the act of pardon, (for I never could in my guilt and fear have inferred it,) began to help my infirmities, groan for me in prayer, and to make me a new creature. I know to whom to direct the penitent soul, and am well acquainted with the believer's joy ; for having myself believed, I therefore speak. *' It devolves on me to lead forw^ard the believer in the pursuit of holiness. Am I then acquainted with the means of its attainment ? Have 1 experienced the pains of temptation, and those risings of cor- ruption which are subsequent to pardon ? Do I know the devices of Satan, and the fearful difficulty of making way heavenwards against the stream of earthly tendencies ? And have I felt the power de- scend, by which in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us ? Do I know the meaning of fellowship with God ? Does faith in my Saviour lay this once-guilty soul open to his communications ? and am I enabled to lean on him, even as I wish my own sick child to lean on me? And, notwithstanding my great unfaithfulness, can 1 look up, and hope to have ere long the brighter and better vision of heaven ? ^73 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT " Then indeed I speak not like a theoretic physician^ but one who himself has been ill, and who has passed through all the symptoms intervening between life and death. Let me by a solemn personal scrutiny be led to the discovery of my own state ; and, O fear- ful anomaly, if while 1 and my brethren seek to be the guides of souls, we ourselves should need a leader ! Throughout the whole creation, I shall find nothing to resemble it I Whoever are placed on the vantage ground of the ministry, it is in order that they may survey heavenly things more clearly, and live in a holy familiarity with them, and report to those below the result of their contemplations. They are ' called to be saints ;' are required to be ' elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through s^neti- fication of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus ;' thus being numbered among God's chosen ones, on the foundation of faith and holiness, to take heed that diligence be given to make both calling and election sure, lest both should prove unavailing ; to continue the moral struggle until the final victory shall ensue, and the soul takes its place among those who are * called, and chosen, and faithful.' " But the piety of ministers should exceed that of their people; otherwise they cannot, in any important sense be exemplary to their flocks ; for an example in this case must be continually presenting, even throughout life, something to be imitated : as their OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 273 people's excellency increases, so should their own become in proportion more manifest. It is not, then in the common walks of Christian experience that they should be found, but rather pressing higher; engaged as Moses and Elijah were, on different occasions, at Horeb, the mount of God ; or as the favoured three were, when they listened to the voice from the excellent glory. It is in such circumstances that the soul is hallowed and fortified. Whoever would have the unction of the Holy One, must con- stantly aspire to the presence of the Holy One. How else are they to be the leaders of God's host ? The other host has its leaders ; men who are fitted for their bad eminence by being deeply imbued with the spirit of rebellion against God : and may we not learn from their policy, then, the need of purity of heart, and of a soul most thoroughly sanctified by inward religion ? There is such a state of grace. The apostle besought God that his Thessalonian brethren might enjoy it, and enjoy it too unto the coming of Christ. What was that "land of uprightness" into which David expected to enter under the guidance of the " good Spirit ?" Was not its literal type described by another WTiter as ^' a land of corn and wine," and where "the heavens did drop down dew ?" that the ** fountain of Jacob " was there ? And was not this typical land of Canaan, then, descriptive of the highest church state of believers on earth, as well as n5 g74 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT of their state in heaven ? Do we not here recognise the (TaiDPariafioQ of St. Paul, the sabbath state of believing men in this world, — a rest which he showed was another Canaan ? Well might it be accounted the glorious office of the Spirit to lead us here! — and well does it suit the goodness, the kindness, and benevolence of his nature to be so employed.* * Heb. iv. 9. — This is an argument within a parenthesis, and arises from the rapid conceptions of the apostle, which refuse a less vivid and concentrated form of expression. It is in brief this : There was a call made upon the church to seek a promised rest ; and seeing that that rest was not the sabbath which commemorated creation, nor the rest which Joshua gave the Hebrews in Canaan ; and seeing, further, that no event has happened since which even appears like a fulfilment of the promise, it remains yet to be fulfilled; and the people of God have to look for their rest, which rest can imply no less than the glorification of the body and soul in heaven. Hitherto in this discourse the apostle has used the word KaTaTravfftQ, and which, while his attention was confined to figurative rests, would be highly suitable to his purpose, for it signifies repose or cessation from labour ; but now, having arrived at the ultimate destination of the people of God, he calls it ffa/3/3artff^oe, a Hebrew word with a Greek termination, which is intended to imply a sacred rest, or sabbath state ; a holy, and not inactive, condition of the soul in its final enjoyment of God the supreme good. The apostle was a remarkable writer, and fre- quently would adopt a word on his own authority for the purpose of expressing his meaning with force ; and the treasures of Hebrew learning, which he evidently possessed, would enable him to do this with facility. 2a/3/3art^w is used in the LXX. to express the celebration or observance of a sacred day of rest; and therefore rraftfiaTiafxog is here well put for the endless joy and happy service of the heavenly world. Indeed this mode of speaking would not be unaccordant with Jewish phraseology in OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 275 To bring up an evil report of the land is idle ; for those to whom these lines are addressed have not surveyed it, although they may have over- estimated the force of the opposing foe, and under- estimated the might of the great Leader. The word of inspiration, however, runs, " He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say. Destroy them." Why, then, shall we not go up and possess this inheritance, this sabbatic state, this rest in God ? Supposing the enemy has stretched out his wings, through the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel! yet it is thine, and bought by the blood of thy covenant ! And shall it have no attractions for the ministers of the new covenant ? Will they not pine for it, though apparently far off, and long to " see the King in his beauty," — the privilege of the pure in heart ? How, if they possessed this salva- tion, might they indeed be " the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ!" (2 Cor. viii. 23,) Then would his angels (messengers) be spirits, his ministers a flame of fire ; the Pauls and Peters of the modern church would arise, and be witnesses for Christ in a slumbering world. Holiness must be a positive possession, and not something conven- tional or imputed ; and must be attained in this general ; for in speaking of the earthly festival, in connexion with the heavenly state, they would often say shahath ilaah, the " sahbath above," and shahath tcthaah, the "sabbath below." 276 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT life ; as the eloquent author whom we have before quoted says of the Christian : *' Neither can he be willing to put oiF till the hour of death, for a divorce betwixt his soul and sin ; nor easily persuaded, that though sin should rule and reign in him all his life long, yet the last parting groan, that shall divide his body and soul asunder, might have so great an efficacy as in a moment also to separate all sin from his soul." Thus did the great Cud- worth interpret the Scriptures, on the subject of being saved in this life; for in another place, and in his usual style, he observes : *' Salvation itself cannot save us, as long as it is only without us, no more than health can cure us, and make us sound, when it is not within us, but somewhere at a dis- tance from us ; no more than arts and sciences, whilst they lie only in books and papers without us, can make us learned." *' Nothing can be more evident than the fact," say Christ's true servants, **that whoever amongst us are strangers to this de- partment of Christian experience, then there is one mystery of God of which we are not yet stewards, and are in personal respects only as babes in Christ, that is, if we are in him at all." Thus do they endeavour to show the solemn and paramount ne- cessity in their case of vital piety, and that Chris- tianity must not be a collection of notional credenda, but, as Fenelon said of God's Spirit, *' soul of our soul." OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. %77 The Scriptures nowhere more fearfully denounce woes, and God's just judgments, than when the objects of them are unfaithful pastors. The prophet Eze- kiel seems to arise from the shades of Slieol, from visiting Meshech, Tubal, and her multitude, and all the idolatrous dead; and now, terrible as a spirit himself, he utters his warning to slothful watchmen, and brings the blood of every ruined sinner upon their heads ; calls to the shepherds of Israel w^ho feed themselves, and cries, " Should not the shep- herds feed the flocks ?" " The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost ; but with force and cruelty have ye ruled them. And they are scattered." " Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds!" If ever the word " woe" was reiterated again and again from the lips of Christ, it was when he singled out the hypocritical teachers of his own day, who considered themselves holy from their office, but who were the wretched slaves of sin: and these woes have lost none of their emphasis. The good Shepherd has not ceased to care for the sheep, and therefore he has not ceased to judge unworthy under- shepherds. Unless the soul be borne up to its high duty by inward religion, nothing remains but for a hopeless struggle against God, and then a still more hopeless immor- 278 THE SPIRIT AND CONDUCT talitj. In the epistolary parts of the New Tes- tament, the most dread imagery is employed to depict the guilt and doom of false teachers ; and is not every unconverted and unsanctified professor a false teacher, if his vocal doctrine be ever so true ? Such as he "profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and dis- obedient, and to every good work reprobate." The church of Jesus Christ, when compared with the world, is, we know, " fair as the sun ; " but if these maculae were purged away, it would be fairer still, and infidelity would lose one of its loudest jests. A holy ministry is the greatest honour and safeguard of the church. It is a blessing devoutly to be pleaded for, both in private and in public : it was mentioned in the prayer of Solomon, king of Israel, as the last crowning gift of God to be vouchsafed to his people. Holiness, in the minister himself, is the source of the purest joy and the greatest moral might; it brings the best evidence for the truth of our religion, and the best and most powerful motives to disseminate it, and to suffer for it ; because it is a reward which is not only coeval with the work, but which is indefectible and eternal when that work has ceased. It is better than logical light, or phi- losophical acumen, or elaborated learning, or rheto- rical eloquence, or mental power, as considered in themselves; yet, when added to these gifts, it in- OF A MINISTER OF CHRIST. 279 vests them with its own heavenly lustre, and makes them what they would not otherwise be, deprives them of the sorrow they often infuse, and presents to faith a worhl of deeper joy and fairer fonns than genius has ever feigned, or the unsanctified amongst its sons have ever known. CHAPTER VIII. LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION FOR THE MINISTRY. "It is true God may (and sometimes, especially in extraordi- nary times, does) make use of unlettered and low-qualified men ; but then, he inlays their defects by singular supply ; therefore, that is no rule for us in the ordinary vocation." — Leighton's Sermon to the Clergy. Every Christian acknowledges that whatever is yielded or consecrated to God should be of the best possible character, the fairest and most valuable of its kind. In Old-Testament times this principle was joyfully conceded; the sheaf which the high priest waved before the Lord, was the first and most mature corn of the field ; the lamb which was offered was a male of the first year ; or if doves, they were without spot. "When Hannah had obtained from the Lord a child of unusual promise, he was gladly dedicated to the sanctuary : nor was the act a sudden one, and performed without reflection ; it was done calmly and resolvedly, though with deep emotion ; and from year to year the vow of consecration was virtually renewed. It would be strange indeed if this righteous LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION, &C. 281 principle should have less force in Christianity than in ancient Judaism; for in Christianity the love of God is more developed, and therefore all sacrifice for his name's sake appears more reasonable and fitting. There are, however, many persons who seem to think, that the least gifted of their youthful friends is abundantly well qualified for the ministry. If there be in a family youths of aspiring and ardent minds, they are directed to a commercial, literary, or political career ; and if there be another whose half- dormant soul seems to think and act with labour, and who moves along the vernal paths of life heavily, the latter is usually assigned to the church. By this the church is foully insulted, and the ordinance of God desecrated. A single glance at the ministry made St. Paul cry, " Who is suffi- cient for these things ?" and should the parents and Christian friends of youth think that any ordinarily endowed character may meet the requirements of the cause of Christ ? The ignorance of such a suppo- sition is only exceeded by its presumption. Those who are given to God should righteously be of the highest order of mind, and should possess the greatest and best gifts. Nothing is too valuable or good to be presented to him. It is the Holy Spirit who calls and endows the ministers of Christ, we devoutly and gladly own ; but it is usually one part of his plan, in this process of endowment, to gird 282 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION and strengthen the mind in its pursuit of solid learn- ing, and to sanctify such learning when acquired. But some good though weak men have spoken of the Spirit's influence and teaching as though it were to supply the place of mental culture altogether ; and, blinded by this miserable error, have vaunted the inward grace of the illiterate, to the disparage- ment of many who were profoundly learned, even while they were deeply devout. Solomon, the king of Israel, was undoubtedly and profoundly wise ; and, at the period when he wrote his Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, under gracious in- fluences too. His exhortation is, Cry, seek, dig, for wisdom ; which abundantly shows that, in his view, (and he was an inspired writer,) grace was not intended to supersede effort, but to help it. The gifts of the Spirit are manifold. He is the author, not only of holiness, but of mental power ; and often does he make this power subservient to holiness. In the very commencement of Christianity, he mira- culously made the apostles both learned and elo- quent, that they might accomplish his design of glorifying Christ; and although they werfe originally unlearned, yet their case proves that the Spirit does not usually employ illiterate ministers, but rather that, by miracle, or steady illumination, he makes them far otherwise than illiterate. As, then, the foundation-miracles of the Christian system have ceased, we may look for his usual and continued aid FOR THE MINISTRY. 283 in directing and fortifying those minds which, by providential designation, appear destined to the service of God's church : it is the might with which they are strengthened in the inner man. Not a syllable can be extracted from the Scrip- tures but what enjoins a well-endowed ministry. St. Paul's numerous exhortations to Timothy all show the importance which he attached to sanctified eru- dition : " Give attendance to reading, — Meditate on these things, — Give thyself wholly to them;" and thus he entreats him, in the use of those means, and not independent of them, to seek for the Spirit. Christian ministers are, or ought to be, conversant with theology ; for they have to dispense its doc- trines : and theology is the master-science of all others ; standing in relation to the rest, as the sea does to rivers. He who lanches forth here should be impressed with the awfulness of the domain around him, — it is the ocean of God. To pursue learning for its own sake, or as our end, is sowing to the wind, and reaping the whirl- wind ; but to pursue it for Christ's sake, and for the advancement of his cause, is one of the noblest employments out of heaven, and cannot be neglected without great personal guilt, and great injustice to the church. If it be required of a physician, that he should deeply study physical science, in order that he may be entitled to our confidence, if life or health be in danger, much more should it be 284 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION required, that he who has to do with the word of God, and with our everlasting interest, should be a master in every point of view of the subjects under his attention. 1. Learning is requisite in order to a clear state- ment of Christian doctrine. Had there been no error in the church, and were all minds equally unprejudiced, then it would be somewhat less necessary, so explicit and minute are the Scriptures. But truth lies so near to error, and the use of a principle approaches so closely to the abuse of it, that it often requires no small knowledge and wisdom to guard the right and expose the wrong. A doctrine of the Gospel may be taught or preached with fervour by a man of humble ability, and God may bless and succeed the effort, and all may be well as long as the doctrine is uncon- troverted and rightly represented ; but it ought never to deter those who have the power from searching into all its relations and bearings, and unfolding its harmonious connexion with the system of re- demption, and the principles of the government of God. Paul did not exhort his friend to avoid learned questions, but foolish and unlearned ones. The justification of a sinner before God is a solemn and important question, — the master-theme of revealed religion. A minister of devout mind, who has learned it aright, both from precept and ex- perience, may declare it successfully to others, and FOR THE MINISTRY. 285 bring men to God, even if he should have no pe- culiar mental accomplishments, such is the honour which God confers on his own truth ; but the sphere of such a man must necessarily be narrow, for he will not be able either to confound or convince gainsay ers. What profound and absorbing subjects of contemplation may be found in this doctrine! — -justice glorified ; the divine throne upheld ; a con- stitution of mercy raised; faith made a condition of pardon, and moral government thus continued ; the believer cast on God, and thus provided for; holi- ness grafted on love ; and a sphere opened for the work of the witnessing Spirit, who in every believer's heart incessantly cries, Abba, Father. Luther, it cannot be doubted, had piety to walk with God, and this gave him unction and fervour; but had not he, as well as Melancthon and Zuinglius, been deeply versed in all the controversies which, had reference to the " article by which the church stands or falls," the Papal power would not have so quailed as it did at the Reformation. And still it is to be maintained, that justification in the sense of St. Paul is pardon, and not the revelation of a blind and pre-existent love, as Antinomianism would teach ; or as Popery, that it is forgiveness and holi- ness blended ; — that it is by faith alone, and not, as the mystics teach, through attrition and contrition, or rather through the grace of congruity and that of condignity, the first of which is a stepping-stone 286 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION to the second. And justification by faith alone, has, alas ! even in this day, to be defended against a class of papalizing divines, who contend that baptism, ex opere operato, is pardon, full and free ; and that the forgiveness of sins which are committed after, can be obtained only through a long and bitter course of repentance, watered with floods of tears, and is but doubtful at the very best ! In order to clear apprehensions of this subject, the principles of law and government must be understood, and the history of the heresies of the church, in order to see w^here the sins and prejudices of the human mind may lead to the adoption of darkness for light and light for darkness, and where the inclo- sures of truth may, with the greatest plausibility, be broken down. All this implies learning. In stating the doctrine of evil, and its origin, much confusion, both of language and of thought, has often arisen from want of mental discipline. Sin, and its consequences, have often been classed together under the general name of evil ; as though the transgression of the law, and the pain which follows it, were one and the same thing. The fervid discourses of many represent evil as personified into a positive and indi- vidual existence. When glancing at the moral universe, they have asked, as one in Milton, " Whence and wliat art diou, execrable shape?" and have endeavoured in this way to discuss the FOR THE MINISTRY. 287 misery of the world. No learning, how profound soever, could show the mode in which it arose in bosoms originally pure ; but it can show that sin is not a positive and personal existence, but an abstract and accidental one, — a departure from, or opposition to, the law of God ; and that, therefore, it is not to be personified, or confounded with the pain and death which are its wages. If God's holy law be broken, his moral aspect changes with regard to the transgressor ; for he is free, as well as the transgressor himself; and the pain which he righteously inflicts, instead of being an actual evil, becomes a relative good, and is a blessing to the universe. If suffering be called evil, the term is only correct when the healing benefits of the Gospel are disconnected from it; and the sufferer has no pardon, and no intercessor or intercession to interpose between himself and his unreconciled God. In some species of discourse on theological subjects, figurative language is so used as to blind and mislead the hearer ; and nothing but patient thought, and considerable knowledge and acquirements, can reduce this loose and vague system of teaching to a severer, chaster, and more correct mode. 2. In the correct exposition of the holy Scrip- tures, learning is indispensable. In all ancient books critical skill is called into exercise ; and the Bible, being the most ancient, requires the greatest. The correct translation of 288 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION the languages in which it was written, and the expla- nation of all its allusions to manners, circumstances, and opinions, long passed away, are matters of the first importance. The sacred books are, and have been, before us in our own tongue, for long; but many, as in the days of Peter, wrest the Scripture to their own destruction : and who shall prevent or confute them, but those who have some degree of solid learning ? It is to the indefatigable labours of Griesbach, Wetstein, Mill, and Kennicott, that we owe our knowledge of the fact, that we possess the unmutilated writings of the prophets and apostles, — that all the manuscripts of the word of God, being collected, are found to agree, except in unimportant readings, and to teach the same truths under the names of the same writers. Sanctified talent still needs to stand ready to show the folly of Socinian, Arian, and Popish glosses, and to expose the un- candid, and even licentious, manner in which, by one or the other, the Greek text has been trifled with ; and, by the adoption of sober rules of interpretation, to bring out the meaning of the Holy Ghost. *' No scripture is of private interpretation :" that is, no passage is self-interpretative, as bishop Horsely explains it ; but is to be correctly learned by being collated and compared with others, and by being viewed as a single star in a hemisphere of light. From the internal matter of the Scriptures, and from the external arrangements of Providence re- FOR THE MINISTRY. 289 specting them, it is clear that they are intended to be a subject of study to the scholars of all time. S. Learning, too, is often instrumental in forming and refining the taste of the minister. And a sanctified taste is a valuable possession. It opens to the soul a thousand delights ; and suggests a thousand thoughts, which, being expressed, may tend to edify and save others. It makes the sacred record, which is so plain to the wayfaring man, to reveal its veiled and heavenly fulness; not only affording food to the soul, but manna, angels' food. It brings to light the cahn and epic grandeur of Moses ; it revels in the wild subHmity of Isaiah and the Hebrew prophets ; it opens the adoring eye upon the still and moonlight beauty of St. John, and gives the soul to feel a communion with his holy melancholy ; it entrances it with the profound thoughts, the tumultuous and triumphing emotions, of the apostle Paul, which, like billows over billows, roll along until all is ocean ; and, what is better than all, it fixes attention to the discourses of Christ, especially the closing one, and to the scene of the last supper, — a Saviour on the eve of his agony, surrounded by a band of awe-struck disciples, and yet uttering words of life and joy. Learning and genius com- bined in the pulpit, may find abundant scope mthin the circle of the truth as it is in Jesus. The power of analysis and generalization then becomes developed and mighty; and it is as easy to deal with, and o 290 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION dwell amid, great principles, as it is for an inferior mind to deliver single and obvious lessons. Besides, before a person so endowed, heaven and earth, time and eternity, lie opened ; and whatever form of beauty or powder, w^hatever typical glory or shadow may arise, it soon stands arranged, in his eye, as an il- lustration of some chapter of eternal truth : the soul glances from the things of man to the things of God, and raises the humbleness of the one by the power which is drawn from the other, and then again searches into the sublimity of the other by means of the resemblance found in the one. The Canaan of the Jews and the country above, the sabbath on earth and the heavenly rest, the righ- teousness of saints and the garments of the glorified, the light of this world and the purity of that w^hich is to come, are all subjects of reciprocal illustra- tion. It requires, indeed, a Pauline spirit to run up from gradation to climax, in every sphere of theological progression : and yet, if a man gain the high elevation of the apostle himself, achieve the highest labours of mind, and be filled with the fulness of God, he is still within the scope and intentions of *the Gospel revelation. O let no one think himself sufficiently quahfied, even in point of intellectual culture, for preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ ! * * The divines who flourished in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were the most accomplished men, next to the apostles. FOR THE MINISTRY. ^91 It is true, St. Paul declared that he came not with " excellency of speech or of wisdom," when he be- came an apostle to the Gentiles ; but the wisdom which he declined, he explains in the same connected pas- sage as being " man's," or the wisdom of this world. A wisdom he did, however, declare, which was for- merly hidden, — '' the wisdom of God in a mystery;" he declared it among them which were perfect, which were fully instructed in the principles and design of Christianity. That excellency of speech, too, which he despised, was rather a language of artifice and euphony, which the heathens loved, than one which was luminous in expression, and energetic and impressive with thought : the latter he always used ; and yet often does it seem to falter under the weight of the con- ceptions with wliich it is inspired. 4. That kind of knowledge which we would advo- cate is subservient to love, the presiding grace of the Christian, and especially of the ministerial character. Aquinas, and others of his school, make the vision or knowledge of God to be the highest part of man's felicity. It was, doubtless, because those contemplative writers considered that the fa- that ever preached Christ, and yet they all mourned their want of light and of power. Well would it be if there was a greater zeal to imitate Usher, Bedell, Hooker, Chillingworth, Howe, Bates, Baxter, Owen, Cudworth, and a host of others, who made the word of God their delight and their study night and day. 292 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION culties of the soul were so co-equal and inseparable, that the acts of any single faculty might be the means of action to another; and that, in fact, the fruition of one, by immediate and thrilling com- munication, became the fruition of all. Without going so far as, with them, to establish an analogy between the blessed Trinity and the three ' faculties of the soul, — power, intellect, and will, — ^Avhich at best can be but dimly illustrative of the subject, we may allow the truth of the position, that there is in our figurative mode of speaking a kind of inter- communication between those faculties; and, although it is the whole soul which at the same moment acts, or wills, or knows, yet it is knowledge which prompts the will, and will is the spring of action. Thus it is, that knowledge tends to and increases love ; it unveils and enlarges the object of love's complacency; it brings into clearer and clearer sight the divine perfections, and provides for love a wider sphere of action : the knowledge leads continually to a de- light and complacency in them ; and unless the soul be unduly and morbidly affected by its connexion •with the frail flesh, the complacency will increase ^vith the knowledge. Indeed, knowing God, in Scrip- ture phrase, implies not merely the illumination of the understanding, but the action of the affections. And this complacent love, which is so strengthened by knowledge, will have a reflex influence on faith itself. There are many unsanctified persons who FOR THE MINISTRY. 293 can bring cogent reasons for the truth of revealed religion, and religious experience, and eternal life, who are but Kttle impressed by their own arguments, for their earthliness prevails against their belief; but, as Baxter says, *'holy love, when it is the habit of the soul, as it naturally ascendeth, so it easily believeth that God, that glory, to which it doth ascend. The gust and experience of such a soul assure th it, that it was made for communion with God ; and that, even in this life, such communion is obtained in some degree ; and therefore it easily believeth that it is redeemed for it, and that it shall perfectly enjoy it in heaven for ever. Though glory be here but seminally in grace, and this world be but as the womb of that better world for which we hope, yet the life that is in the embryo and seed, is a confirming argument of the perfection which they tend to." Thus to be fortified, is to have the strongest safeguard against a cold philosophy, and against fanatic error and the storms of temptation. The man is a moral Teneriffe, though all around him is wind and storm. 5. Very much depends upon diction.* How often pure and Christian doctrine has been * No observations are offered here respecting manner and gesture: let all affectation be put away, and nature is the best guide. Correct pronunciation is the concomitant of purity of diction. £94 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION clouded by the words and manner in which it has been expressed ! Sometimes hackneyed phrases, in one instance, are used, until the terms of the sentence lose all their force by their frequent and matter- of-course repetition ; and in another, a mass of ver- biage is produced, in which the meaning is so loose and confused, as hardly to be a meaning at all. Pa- tience struggles to bear with this chaotic burden, but too often tires and faints oppressed with the task. O, if every minister of the land did but give a lucid, unencumbered statement of the simplest truths of the Gospel, and zealously apply them, how great and lasting would be the results! And yet it re- quires learning to do this efficiently, and so as to step the mouths of gainsayers. And, hkewise, is it required to gain a clear perception of the meaning of words in general, inasmuch as the issue of arguments often depends upon such meaning. The ofjioovawg of the orthodox was nearly like the ofioLovcTLOQ of tlic Ariaus ; but the doctrine inculcated by each of these terms was different, — the difference was even infinite. Pure and expressive words can only be -.obtained by an insight into the science of language, and an acquaintance, in some degree, with other tongues than our own ; for without such acquaintance, nice shades of difference are entirely lost sight of, and terms are counted synonymous that widely differ in their signification. Chaste and luminous forms FOR THE MINISTRY. 295 of expression are chiefly derived from patient and well-digested thought: they are indicative of the order which is within, just as the index of the chronometer bears witness to the exquisite arrange- ments of the interior mechanism. It is deeply delightful to listen, with a mind under holy influence, to a man whose every word, clear and full of mean- ing, shall be as a separate ray of the light which he casts upon his subject. Many in the audience of such an one have been ready to say, as Adam to the angel in Milton, " While I converse with thee, I seem in heaven ; And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear Than fruits of palm-tree pleasantest to thirst And hunger both, from labour at the hour Of sweet repast; they satiate, and soon fill ; .... But thy words, with grace divine Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety." Such men have been Kstened to ; and, in proportion as learning is in request, their number will be greater. 6. The devotional employments of the ministry are not at all encumbered, but rather assisted, by those acquirements in Hterature which the diligent make. He who prays in public, does not merely engage his own soul in fellowship with God, — he engages others; and their profit in this solemn exercise 296 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION will greatly depend upon the spirituality of liis own sentiments, and the manner in which they are uttered. Deep thought is almost inseparable from deep piety. The spirits that are around God's throne think intensely ; and yet they are represented as flaming fire, to show the ardent character of their afiections. The most highly cultivated mind, if it be sanctified too, (and this we are all the way sup- posing,) will see God the most clearly, and will con- sequently feel the deepest abasement before him, and will voluntarily choose the language of adoration and humility, as well as that of intense desire. Sim- phcity need not be compromised ; nor among the truly great is it ever, — it is as m_uch an attribute of such, as it is an attribute of light. How often, when coarse and vulgar terms have escaped the minister, and when a colloquial as well as vulgar and loose style of expression has been the medium of his addresses to his God, has the heavenly feeling of the congregation subsided, and the hearts of many have become cold, and the spiritual sensibi- lities of others disgusted 1 We rejoice to be informed in the word that the Spirit helps the infirmities of all believers in prayer ; and such help is indispensable ; but still, knowledge and wisdom, on the part of the worshipper, will rather be an allurement than a barrier to that blessed Spirit. The records of the church contain many instances which show that they who had the greatest learning, FOR THE MINISTRY. 297 had often the greatest simplicity. The great and the good abhor affectation, not only because God abhors it, but because it is uncongenial wdth their mental tone and personal bearing. Little minds may seek to fill up the void in their discourses and prayers with light and airy pictures, which please but little, and teach nothing ; but those who rise into . proper ministerial dignity and culture, present the simple and grand realities of eternal truth, and breathe the free aspirations of our nature. And if an accomplished mind tends to raise the value and importance of an individual, then, to repeat a senti- ment with which the chapter began, and on which we would lay stress, such a mind should be sought for as a proper offering for the church to present unto God.* All are not similarly gifted : there is a wide difference between genius and no genius : but any * It is said, to the disgrace of Jeroboam, that he made priests of the lowest of the people. What, in such a case, would his high place avail ? Let those alone stand forth who are immeasura- bly pre-eminent; those who as much excel all others in the virtues of the mind as Saul did the whole nation of the Hebrews in the greatness of the body. — Chrysost. De Sacerd., lib. 2. On 2 Cor. xi. 6. — St. Paul does not say he was unlearned : he was, on the contrary, such a distance from being so, as no man is under heaven. — Ibid., lib. 4. He who has been pronounced to be fit for such a ministry, should not only be thus pure, but intelligent in the extreme, and of great experience ; and not less conversant in the affairs of life than they who are publicly engaged in them. — Ibid., lib. 6. o5 298 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION State of intellectual power may be improved by culture; and because such a power is destined to so sacred a purpose, that culture should be exercised. The stones of the ancient temple were all polished and beautified before they were laid in their place. " Cursed," said the prophet Malachi, whose words we may quote in resuming the idea of sacrifice, " cursed be the deceiver, and he that hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing :" that is, if we understand the prophet aright, Cursed be he that has it in his power to present something which is comparatively fair and good, and yet is satisfied to offer that which is either secondary in value, or utterly worthless. How fearfully does he incur this condemnation who appears before the Lord, and yet with a sacrifice which is no sacrifice, — it costs him nothing ! 7. Unction, as an endowment, and which has been before referred to, is a peculiar gift of the Holy Ghost; the immediate efiTect of which is, to impart to every good minister of Jesus Christ an authority and power, mingled with suavity, which does not fall to the lot of ordinary Christians. That Christian knowledge, in general, is not inimical to this grace, is evident from the apostle John, who shows, (1 Johnii. 20,) that "they who had an unction from the Holy One, knew all things." And that all sanctified knowledge tends rather to augment than FOR THE MINISTRY. 299 diminisli it, is evident from a moment's consideration. Whatever tends to enlarge the soul and clear the faculties, tends, at the same time, to increase our capability of receiving divine influence and enjoying God ; because the communications of the blessed Spirit are diversified according to the kind of mind that receives them. Howe, in his characteristic manner, thus enlarges and illustrates this view : " The divine influences may be diversified termina- tively, according to the subjects in which they are received. Nature is various in this, and that, and the other creature, (speaking of the natura naturata, as, for distinction's sake, it is wont to be called,) and the influences are diversified according to the divers natures in which they terminate, and according to the different purposes which the exigency of those natures doth require should be served and complied with. And so that influence, which originally and in the fountain is one and the same, according as it goes forth, to beget and continue a variety of productions of this or that or another kind, is an influence that gives and that preserves being to things concerning which it can only be said that they are. It is a vital influence to things that live; it is a motive influence to things that move ; it is an intellectual influence . to things that are capable of understanding; it is a holy influence unto what is holy, unto what it hath made holy, and is to continue and keep so ; it is light as it terminates in light, and love as it ter- 300 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION minates in love, and power as it terminates in power, and holy gracious action as it doth terminate in such action." No writer deserves more attentively to be heard on this subject ; for no man than Howe ever had profounder or more reverential views of it ; and we may be assured that his own great and capacious mind had rich experience of the fact, that enlarged faculties brought new acquisitions of strength and joy, and that the more there is of intellectual life and power within us, the more scope there is for the sanctification of the Spirit which, when fully wrought, attaches an un- earthly force and sweetness to all our discourses. The receptacles of feeling and thought, which are possessed by such gifted ones as he, are filled with the divine influx ; and natural power becomes allied to supernatural, and natural light to the illumination of heaven, and natural life and love to the sensibiHty and yearnings of an angel mind. At the same time, unction, though not hindered, but rather promoted, by mental culture, is a gift inseparable from the habit of constant and fervent prayer. It is the eternal tendency of the Spirit to search " all things, even the deep things of God ;" and therefore the learned preacher, who is engaged in the same search, cannot be, and never has been, deemed an unfit object of his blessed operations ; and we only need revive the memory of such names as Walsh, Fletcher, Clarke, Benson, and Watson, FOR THE MINISTRY. 301 to be convinced of the truth of this assertion. He who is truly learned, cannot be content with skim- ming on the surface of things in general, much less on the surface of divine revelation; but will rather, in the spirit of humility and prayer, adventure to find out the whole depth of that truth which the Holy Ghost hath recorded. This is, in fact, preaching the word, which we know, on scriptural authority, is the grand instrument of converting the world and edifying the church ; for '' faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God;" (Rom. x. 17;) and men are regenerated and saved by " the word of truth,*' *' the engrafted word;" (James i. 18, 21;) and it pleases God *' by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (1 Cor. i. 21.) There is something more here than " A few calm words of faith and prayer, A few bright drops of holy dew," (Christian Year, on Holy Baptism,) which the Oxford-Tract writers speak of ; and while the preacher is thus engaged ehciting the mind of God, and fervently applying tlie Scripture to every individual case, there falls an influence, a " baptism of fire," which is not only glorious in its immediate effect, but which is proved divine by the effects which are lasting. Expository preaching, without doubt, requires the greatest amount of knowledge, and the most vigorous exercise of the understanding; and 302 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION this mode has, in all ages, been confessedly fraught with the richest unction. So highly has God honoured those who " preach the word " above those who preach any thing else, whether the religious phan- tasms of their own creating, the doctrines of what is called natural religion, or to eulogize the frame-work of the church. He who has attained to respectable learning is most likely to lean, childlike, upon reve- lation, inasmuch as he beholds, in a far higher degree than others, the unsatisfactory character of the opi- nions of men ; and therefore he appeals to infallible truth, invests himself with its authority, imbibes its impassioned vitality ; and if the providence of God should call such a minister to be a writer, of how great a value are both his acquired attainments, and the sacred pathos which imbues them ! That value is enhanced when the erratic tendencies of the indi- vidual mind are corrected. The mental constitution of Baxter led him to love the metaphysical theology of the schoolmen, as is evident from his '* Catholic Theology," and his " Methodus Theologiae Chris- tiange," — immense works, where the disquisition is chiefly metaphysical. Whoever was a stranger to Baxter's spirit might expect, from this announce- ment, to find the heathen coldness of the Stagyrite diffiised throughout his pages. But no : even here the logician frequently forgets himself, and pours forth his heart in passages of the utmost devotional beauty, — passages which discover the ardent believer in the FOR THE MINISTRY. 803 Lord Jesus Christ: so visibly is the tendency of nature controlled by grace. But in his practical works, when controversy is forgotten, and where his mind, unoccupied with the doctrines and systems of men, is all open to the influence from above, nothing can be more heavenly. The " Saints' everlasting Rest," and the " Dying Thoughts," can never be read by a Christian without emotion ; for there is something in them which mere genius could never elicit, and which no worldly theory could ever account for. There is here and there a touch of metaphysical inquiry, sufficient to establish the identity of the man ; but it is overborne by a strong and steady flow of enraptured thought. An unconverted and moderately gifted man might try to imitate the chaste and nervous style which, in the last production, is such a prominent beauty; he might take all his terms out of Baxter's lexicon, and attempt to frame his sentences in the same mould ; but, after all, it would not be Baxter. There would not be that insight into divine things which gives a lucidness, and that " knowing all things " which imparts a majesty, to every page, and a life to every illustration ; that ceaseless embodying of heavenly truth which extensive knowledge could alone prompt ; and, especially, there would not be that rich and deep- toned spirituality which, as the efflux of a sanctified mind, owed its richness, next to the Holy Ghost, to the deep and elaborated fountain whence it sprung. 304 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION And, as regards language, such minds as Baxter's have a language of their own. " Multae terricohs linguae, coelestibus una." The church of God in this country has had a noble array of builders : Hooker, Chilhngworth, Water- land, Barrow, Pearson, and others. But Baxter, and those who resemble him, are more properly the ministers of the interior, whose pen is like that of David, and whose lips are touched, like those of Isaiah, " vdth hallowed fire." The unction of the writer and of the preacher comes from the same source, and is greatly enhanced by learning ; inso- much that we may, with this view, say as Milton, taking care to connect his words with evangelical truth, " The end, then, of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright; and, out of that knowledge, to love him, to imitate him, to be Hke him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which, being united to the heavenly grace of faith, makes up the highest perfection." 8. Institutions for the education of young mi- nisters, when conducted in the spirit and according to the tenor of Christianity, efiect incalculable good. That kind of education which is received at uni- versities is not now altogether the subject of remark. It may be a great blessing, if connected with the sanctifying influence of vital religion ; but if not, it FOR THE MINISTRY. 305 is of too general and secular a character to become a positive qualification for tlie ministry ; and in those cases in which it is substituted for the wisdom which Cometh from above, it becomes, on that account, a bane to the soul. An institution which proposes of itself to raise preachers or pastors, and one which undertakes to train and more fully quahfy those who are already raised, are two different things. In the first case, the call of God is presumed upon, and often in the face of evidence to the contrary : in the other, the call is ascertained, and the great end of study is kept in view, and the spirit of the ministry runs through the entire system of means. The Theological Institutions of voluntary churches act upon the principle of maturing those who already, by the providence of God, and the vocation of the churches, are set apart for the sacred office : they dare not, and do not, anticipate the divine vocation, and therefore receive only those who, as far as man can judge, are called. We said they effect great good ; — sometimes they have efiected evil ; but the evil has resulted either from mismanagement, or from losing si^ht of the simphcity and spirituality of religion amid its cherished forms. In such instances, a gaudy and inflated rhetoric has supplied the place of the core of the Gospel; and dead for- mality, mingled with much affectation, has been .observed in the students, instead of a keen relish 306 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION for the ordinances of grace, a searching into the sanctuary of light, and a heart glowing with the love of Christ. These evils are removed as far as human wisdom can remove them, by requiring conversion as a con- dition of admittance ; the judges of which conversion are the ministers and deacons of the church: and this guard is doubly strengthened, by securing tutors and governors, whose piety is ardent, and experience deep. The Academy, in such a case, may be a paradise indeed, delightful to the soul as the ancient Grove was to the sense. The sons of the prophets, in old time, had their schools, whose president appears to have been usually an inspired man of God. These sons of the prophets were found at Bethel, Jericho, and Gilgal, but were spoken of first, in 1 Sam. x. 5, as at " the hill of God ; " a spot which, no doubt, from the name it bears, was visited with divine influence, and was viewed complacently by the Almighty. And why may not each of our Christian institutions become another D\n^iSn ^/nJ hill of God ? How full is the promise of the word of truth uttered by the inspired forerunner, " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire ! " And if any men have a right collectively to claim its fulfilment, it is those who, in preparatory institutions, are waiting to be endued with power from on high. In the Wesleyan Connexion this promise has FOR THE MINISTRY. 307 been claimed, and its truth realized, although the Theological Institution is comparatively new. Those who amongst us are proposed for the ministry, usually come from the active concerns of life : if, therefore, the indi\ddual has not had the benefit of a previous education, his admittance here is pro- ductive of a good which throws a shade of higher interest over his whole life. It has been asserted, that the association of young men together, so tends to augment the buoyancy of youth as to impede and even destroy their spirituality. Thus should we speak, if it were true that the academies were left without those spiritual means of grace which the rest of the church enjoy, and if there was a corrupt leaven, or an unfaithful minority, amongst them. This not being the case, they are left to reap a benefit from association, which invariably results, in all circumstances, from the communion of saints. The worldly, by communing together, be- come more worldly ; but saints, through fellowship, are more holy. The sacred flame pervades them with the rapidity and intensity of electric fire. The Wesleyan students are accustomed to attend their class-meetings, and to observe all the devotional and Christian exercises of the body ; to rise early, to preach on the sabbath, not only in chapels, but in rooms and in the open air ; and in every way show, that the most rigorous attention to study may be made to blend with the utmost simplicity, and 308 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION with an ardent desire for the salvation of men. Every thing is still to be hoped for from a pious and spiritual presidency; especially if it shall include tutors as free from affectation, and as holy, as the church would fondly wish its best ministers to be. Then the nursery of the church will continue to send forth hardy and well-trained sons, who will equally serve in aggressive or defensive warfare. The piety of the presidency in a Connexion like ours, where opinion rules, must of course be the fairest sample of that of the body. And O might the Spirit of God, through the colleges and halls of learning in the land, breathe an inspiration of his own, so hallowing the pursuits of literature and physical science, that they all, like vital elements, might become the pabulum of our hopeful youth ! What ministers should we then behold! the Re- phaim of their day ! Gifted in understanding, and sanctified in heart, they would stand in the spirit and power of EHas, as witnesses for their God. And can the church dispense vrith this mental afflu- ence and might? Do we meditate the destruction of heresy, which entrenches itself in antiquity ? Do we array ourselves against the hoary gnosticism of the east, and the sophisticated neology of the west ? Then we must not only have the sword of the Lord, but chosen men to wield it. We entertain no en- thusiastic notions of divine influence: we dispute not but that the power of God might accomplish FOR THE MINISTRY. 309 the conversion of a heathen country without the intervention of any man ; but this is not the plan which is revealed by the word. Power goes hand in hand with wisdom ; and wisdom has something to accomplish in reference to the church, as well a^ to the world; influence, equally supernatural with that which made Israel conquer Jericho, must be sought, to prepare the mind of the student while in his retirement, to nerve his efforts in searching after knowledge, to prompt him to secure bright armour, and to give his spiritual weapons a most keen and piercing edge, and then to follow him to the field and to the victory. Our sense of dependence upon the power of the Highest is not lessened, but rather heightened, by a conviction of personal duty, and by using all legitimate means to gain our object. Divine influ- ence manifests itself nowhere more illustriously than in the missionary institutions of the church. There it unites learning and love, blending them together, or at least conjoining them like the first pairs of disciples. The missionary toils at his gram- mar in the academy, prompted by a warm and throb- bing heart ; and then, when on the field, that heart is saved from sinking and despondency by reason of the acquisitions — the vantage ground — gained by the head: for he has not to consume his present powers in gaining others, in learning languages, mythology, customs, — they are gained already. SIO LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION 9. But if we view the aggressive, or even the defensive, efforts of the church in general, whence, it may be asked, are we to obtain leaders for the Lord's host? Are they to be taken from the half- educated or illiterate, and then, without any training, to be entrusted with a post of responsibility and danger ? Are these the men to stand with unqui- vering lip and undaunted front before the bold sceptic ? Are they the men to contrast the light of truth with the wretched, flickering, fitful gleams of a semi-infidel philosophy ? Are these likely to follow dauntless in the track of Howe, Paley, Watson, Newton, Campbell, and Chalmers, exhibiting the glorious evidences of Christianity in the almost blinded faces of the unhappy bands who deny their Lord? Are these to be looked up to by our aspiring and ardent youth, as their intellectual and spiritual guides, — guides to the Siloan waters for which they thirst ? Alas ! if they ever seem to promise satiety, the disappointed people find that they have come to an Arabian brook, which is dried up : the apparent water turns out to be misty air. " The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. They were confounded, because they had hoped ; they came thither, and were ashamed." (Job ^i. 19, 20.) If we do not mistake the scope and genius of Christi- anity, it will continue to raise the moral and intel- lectual character of man, as long as he exists on the FOR THE MINISTRY. 311 earth. It is raising it now, fulfilling the prediction of Isaiah, who, in reference to the spiritual Zion, declared, " Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation." (Isai. xxxiii. 6.) The tide has set in which bears all things onward; and if the ministry, like a swamped vessel, lag behind, it will be an obstacle rather than a help, especially when the tide of the times goes counter to the gales of the Spirit. Unless ministers know more than their congregations, they will not ex- cite great veneration, or secure much influence. There is something in mental power which often, insensibly to the individual himself, produces other and external power, and awes and impresses those with whom he has to do. All this may be used, and by every good man is used, for the glory of God and the benefit of souls. He it is in whom is realized the ideal of the apostle, a man " approved unto God, a work- man which needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." {2 Tim. ii. 15.) When this great end is kept in view, learning is venerable, and greatly to be desired. Both means and end are nobly depicted by St. Peter: (1 Pet. iv. 11 :) " If any speak, let him speak as the oracles of God ; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability that God giveth : that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." All this ora^ cular teaching and ministering has, then, in view an 31^ LEARNING, A QUALiriCATION exalted object. *' Here we have," says Leighton, " like that of the heavens, a circular motion of all sanctified good ; it comes forth from God through Christ unto Christians; and, moving in them to the mutual good of each other, returns through Christ unto God again, and takes them along with it in whom it was and had its motion." Fervour of soul, even without the endowments we speak of, has its sphere and its successes ; there will always be room for its exercises in some departments of the church ; but the efficient pastor can never be otherwise than has been represented, — that is, well widowed, and sanctified too. Then may he enter, in the spirit of prayer, on such labour as this : — to unfold the treasured fulness of the written word, and from that to assail the heart with sacred jealousy for the truth ; to lay open the material systems of sceptics, whether formed from the ancient materialist doctrines, or the modern editions of them ; to defend the moral government, special providence, and immediate interposition of God ; to draw lessons from the moral scenes of church liistory ; to enter, when needful, into the. fields of sacred criticism, and maintain the claims of honest and candid interpretation ; to make the republic of letters tributary to the kingdom of Christ ; and to evince the truth of an isolated proposition, by pointing out its position in the complete argument, as you would that of a displaced stone from the FOR THE MINISTRY. 313 Urim and Thummim whose lights and perfections are only complete when united. In accordance with sentiments like these, are those of a profound writer, who was a bright example of sanctified learning: "There is, indeed, a i^ev^oTrm^tm, as the philosopher tells us, a bastardly kind of litera- ture, and a ipf uowVu/xoc,- yvuiaiQ, as the apostle instructeth us, a knowledge falsely so called, which deserve not to be pleaded for. " But the noble and generous improvement of our understanding faculty, in the true contemplation of the wisdom, goodness, and other attributes of God, in this great fabric of the universe, cannot easily be disparaged, without a blemish cast upon the Maker of it. " Doubtless, we may as well enjoy that which God hath communicated of himself to the creatures, by this larger faculty of our understanding, as by those narrow and low faculties of our senses ; and yet, nobody counts it to be unlawful to hear a lesson played upon a lute, or to smell a rose. And these varied improvements of our natural understanding may be as well subservient and subordinate to a divine light in our minds, as the natural use of these outward creatures here below, to the life of God in our hearts. Nay, all true knowledge doth of itself naturally tend to God, who is the fountain of it ; and would ever be raising of our souls up upon its wings thither, did not we Kurextiv tv rihiKit^^ detain it p 314 LEARNING, A QUALIFICATION and hold it down in unrighteousness, as the apostle speaketh. All philosophy to a wise man, to a truly sanctified mind, as he in Plutarch speaketh, is but vXrjrriQ deoXoyiUQ, matter for divinity to work upon; religion is the queen of those inward endowments of the soul ; and all pure natural knowledge, all virgin and undefloured arts and sciences are her hand- maids, that * rise up, and call her blessed.'" Howe, whose sentiments we have had occasion to quote, was one of the most learned divines of his day; yet his works, and in particular a single manuscript passage, show that his piety was not on that account the less ardent and pure. We are informed from the memorandum in question, which was written on a blank page of his Bible, that one morning he awoke *' out of a most ravishing and delightful dream," and that a " wonderful and copious stream of celestial rays, from the lofty throne of the divine majesty," seemed to dart into his open and expanded breast. And that on October 223., 1704, he re- ceived something of the same kind, which far sur- passed the most expressive words his thoughts could suggest. " Per quam jucundum cordis emclitionem expertus sum fusis pi^ae gaudio lachrymis, quod amor Dei per corda diffunderetur, mihique speciatim donate in hunc finem Spiritu suo." It was said of Richard Blackerby, an eminent and learned Nonconformist minister, that when he awaked in the night, he was ever in meditation and prayer: he would oft at FOR THE MINISTRY* SI 5 ^midnight make Greek, Latin, or English verses, ■exalting the praises of God, his attributes, the acts of Christ, or the graces of his Spirit, or the like, and give them in the morning to his scholars. Thomas Walsh, one of the first Wesleyan preachers, Vi^as a prodigy of liberal learning; but he died in early life, consumed by the glow of his own zeal. But the book might be filled with instances. Thus is it ever with the true and faithful preacher: the influence of the Holy One falls on him, not as it did on Balaam, to abide but for a moment, on account of his rejecting its sanctifying efficacy,— Balaam who " Watch'dtill knowledge came Upon his soul like flame ; Not of those magic fires at random caught^ But true prophetic light, Flash'd o'er him high and bright, Flash'd once, and died away, and left his darken'd thought." It comes not, we say, thus ; but rather as the light of life, the every-day illumination which is the result of union with Christ. Light and love meet together, like the angeHc forms recumbent over the mercy-seat, — there is enough there to attract the gaze of both, to make them join wings, and stay, and look for ever* p 2 CHAPTER IX. THE RESPECT AND TEMPORAL OFFERINGS WHICH ARE DUE TO MINISTERS. " Love to him is the sum and source of all obedience : when the whole soul and mind is possessed with that, then all is acceptable and sweet that he commands." — Leighton. When the Gentile centurion applied to our Lord on behalf of his sick servant, he mentioned it as an illustration of his influence, that although he himself was "a. man under authority," yet he had soldiers under him, and could " say to one, Go, and he goeth ; and to another. Come, and he cometh ; and to*' his "servant. Do this, and he doeth it ; " evi- dently shov^ring, that although he was amenable to a higher authority, yet he was not thereby prevented from exercising a lawful power of his own : and, in- deed, if all the truth were told, we should find that a principal part of his responsibility lay in obtaining from every man a ready obedience to the commands he might issue. The ministers of Christ are placed in a similar position, — responsible to their Lord, but the teachers and guides of the church. It is very RESPECT DUE TO MINISTERS. 317 difficult, in these days of strife and contention for power, to advocate the doctrine of obedience to pastors, without being laid open to the charge of ecclesiastical arrogance and pride. There is, how- ever, such a precept in the word of God, as that Christians should "obey" their pastors; and another, that they should "highly esteem them in love for their work's sake." These precepts have some mean- ing; and knowing, as in some degree we do, the deceitfulness of the human heart, we would not distort that meaning, so as to favour ultra-clerical assumptions. Scriptural obedience is not an arbitrary law, founded on reasons which are hid in the mind of the lawgiver. It commends itself to the regenerated individual as most reasonable ; and upon such a mind, in its best state, it would impose no constraint : it is the cheerful offering of the pardoned sinner, who owes it to the ministry that he has been brought to God : it is perfect freedom, a branch of the law of hberty ; and if it assumes the form of command- ment, in keeping such commandment there is great delight. Gratitude is its spring; and, of all the affections of the human heart, there is none more energetic in its strength, and more delightful in its exercise. It is one of the thousand instances which show, that the vdll of God, as an object in which to acquiesce, is, in fact, the element of the soul's de- light; — the greater purity the greater pleasure. 318 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS The judges of the land are the servants of the king ; but no one thinks of awarding them less honour because they are under the sovereign. Pastors of the church are called servants, and servants of all : and such, by implication, are those blessed spirits whose abode is above; but when they have showed themselves on earth, they have re- ceived as much homage as man can lawfully give. Notwithstanding the frailties and infirmities of mi- nisters, they are called of the Lord, and as such are entitled to honour. If there be anything sub- lime or holy in the Redeemer's government; if any thing exalting in God's service ; if anything hea- venly in Christian worship ; if any beauty in holi- ness; then such honour is legitimately bestowed, and no people can slight or degrade them, without taking a low and unworthy view of the ordinances of rehgion, and degrading, in fact, themselves. There is too much of a disposition, in the present day, amongst certain classes, to consider them as persons who are mercifully taken from the vexations and cares of secular life ; and, because the community has conferred upon them so great a kindness, it is thought that any state of vassalage may be en- dured by them, and any kind of maintenance re- ceived in return. There is, however, not so much mercy in this matter as many suppose. Chrysos- tom, Basil, and Nazianzen did not consider it any, even at a time when temporal emoluments were DUE TO MINISTERS. 319 greater than in voluntary communities tliey are now. If secular cares are abandoned, others are inherited instead, and such as are more corrosive, often, to the soul, — a heavy, accumulating, everlasting load ; for when once taken up, they are only to be laid down wdth the body in the grave. L The honour which is due to ministers should manifest itself, first, in respectful deference and demeanour. This should be something diiferent from the usual courtesies of life. If the pastor be a man of irre- proachable character, then, whether his extraction be high or low, he cannot be disconnected with his ofSce. He is the man of God, and the impression ought to be made accordingly. It is a bad sign when an individual can play off a low joke with him, or in his presence discuss his most worldly themes, and exhibit his coarsest manners : the mind of such a person is not in a state to receive good from the ministry ; it is darkened with ignorance and pride. He cannot make his pastor altogether such an one as himself, or view him merely as a public- speaking brother, and nothing else, without leaving himself bereft of an instructer, exemplar, and guide, — a friend who is deeply interested in his spiritual welfare. It may suit the purpose of the mere unhiunbled professor, the political rehgionist, to be without either exemplar, instructer, or guide ; indeed, not 320 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS oPxe of these can he endure ; but it will not suit the man who is concerned for his o\vn salvation and that of his family. He who receives his spiritual instructer with marked respect, and who teaches his household to do the same, has opened a way to the profiting of all : there are no unreasonable preju- dices on his part, and no painful suspicions awak- ened in the breast of the other ; respectful conduct produces confidence and affection in return, and, besides this, it affords a comfort and encouragement which no benevolent mind would ever wish to with- hold from those who find in it their chief earthly so- lace. Rudeness, when actual, deliberate, and intended, is almost beneath reproach : the little soul which could commit such a meanness, has far to rise before it can breathe the pure air of Christian feeling. Some of the early bishops were attended by persons who were termed acolyths, doubtless from aVoXovOew, *' to follow." They attended the person of the bishop, and performed certain unimportant offices for him in the church, — offices of mere empty ceremony, such as carrying insignia, opening doors, and conducting him to his place. An honour like this, so toyish and Papistical, is not to be pleaded for ; it is so unworthy the simple dignity of a Christian pastor. Let him have the fixed eyes and death-like silence — or, as Jerome would say, the tears — of his congre- gation when engaged in public, their fervent prayers in private, the respectful and kind recognitions of DUE TO MINISTERS. 321 the social circle, whose feeling gladly takes its tone from him ; and let there be a reasonable and affec- tionate attention to all his well-judged suggestions ; and then pomp and show may be left to those who are consoled by its glitter, when the glow of feehng is no more. But some will ask, " Shall not this respect and de- ference be withheld, if the minister be guilty of im- moral conduct ?" If the inquirers be of the established church, and are not able to have the guilty person re- moved, then it becomes a question whether they should remain under such a minister or not, but no question whether the office itself should be respected or not. Paul magnified his office, (a man who considered himself less than the least of all saints,) even when popular prejudice was excited against him. — If, on the other hand, they who ask should be the mem- bers of a voluntary church, the answer is still ob- vious. The unworthy minister, being elected, or at least proposed, by themselves, should by them be brought to trial; but until he is impeachable at the bar of his brethren, the man of their choice is entitled to their respect: having made their elec- tion, they have entered into the compact which the New Testament supposes to subsist between pastor and people, and therefore it behoves them to keep it. — Does the Wesley an say, " But he who is now my minister is inferior in abilities, and is far from meeting my requirements, or those of my fellow- p 5 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS members, and, according to my judgment, is totally unfitted for the work of his present station : may I not then, in this case, withhold that respect which is so urgently recommended ? " By no means : for although the entrance of this individual into the ministry was not sanctioned by you individually, it was sanctioned by some part of the church with which you are connected; and, therefore, by all of you collectively. If you receive him at a local sacrifice, in consequence of deficient ability, it is what may occasionally be expected : this is the price you pay for a connexional benefit. Sometimes you have better ministers than ever you proposed yourselves : no wonder, then, that sometimes you have one worse. If the ministerial disability be extreme, there is a connexional law to remove the individual; but as long as the constitution makes him pastor, so long there may be found for him a station where he will be useful, and so long he has a right to that deference and respect which is due to the brethren in general. — Hooker himself allows, that of two alternatives, in which either multitudes of souls must go untaught, or otherwise unlearned persons be employed to preach to them, the latter must undoubtedly be chosen. Not that we would argue, that all should be honoured alike: this is both impossible and unscriptural. There are some men whose intellectual and theological attainments, or whose usefulness and holy lives, place them at DUE TO MINISTERS. 32S a great distance from others : the works they have done, the posts of danger they have honourably occupied, the sacrifices they have made, and the privations they have undergone, all require that they should have a richer meed of respectful attention than others. Whilst the least of Christ's servants are recognised, the greatest may not improperly have a superior distinction ; provided that care be taken, when such are placed together, that no invidious comparisons be drawn so as to occasion pain. Such deportment should not merely be the ex- pression of Christian courtesy, but should be in every respect sincere. Many persons discuss, in the presence of their children, the failings and infirmities of their minis- ters, who would be shocked and angry if those chil- dren should offer them any slight or manifest rude- ness, and who would reprove such a fault with the utmost severity. This hollow kind of respect abounds amongst the aristocratic and the worldly; but it ought to have no place in the church. " Let your love be without dissimulation." Let not the manifested regard be belied by the private satirical witticism or half- whispered innuendo. If you profess to give your heart, give it indeed, and with as much warmth as you can command. It is most inimical to the interests of the young, to canvass, in their presence, the private characters of their pastors. If their tastes should happen to take disgust at what they discern S24 RESPECT A^'D OFFERINGS or hear, farewell to any rational hope of their receiv- ing good from the ministrations of the persons thus scrutinized: whether their prejudices be well founded or not, the result is the same. A minister's secret faults are judged by God ; his public delinquencies are judged by the church: for in cases where opinion should be expressed, as to those blameable acts which are not exactly impeachable, the way is by private interview, or by vestry conversation. Let him not be convicted in his absence, in the parlour, and by a jury of young people. There is a Gospel rule on this subject; and, when it is acted upon, no other check against pastoral misrule is necessary: a fault is to be mentioned to the offending party, first, in private ; next, if without eifect, in the pre- sence of two or three witnesses ; and, lastly, to the church. Let none fear that this world is bereft of a tribunal, before which he may be arraigned, if his sin be open and palpable ; but, as long as his failings are such as are common to Christians, the exercise of a charitable tenderness towards his character will always be the most dignified and profitable course : the most dignified, — for who is so low as the common detractor? the most profitable, — for to whose words do we so much attend, and whose influence do we so much feel, as theirs whose characters we revere and cherish ? * * Neque enim minim est si multos habeant hostes, quorum officium est, omnium vitia reprehendere, pravis omnium cupidi- DUE TO MINISTERS. 325 II. Respect for ministers further manifests itself by an affectionate attention to their temporal wants. It is needless to refer to the decisions of the word of God on this subject : they are too well known to require minute repetition. St. Paul was not a man to receive support in the light of a gratuity ; he had loftier views of moral right : no wonder, then, that he should reason thus, " Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof ? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?" '^ Say I these things as a man ? or saith not the law the same also ? " Am I arguing on the principles of human justice merely ? or is not the same thing recognised in that divine rule which is indicative of the intentions of the divine mind? It is written in order "that he that plougheth should plough in hope, and that he that thrasheth in hope should be par- taker of his hope." (1 Cor. ix. 10.) He that labours in the Gospel, should do so with a mind undiverted from the great end and object of his labour, with mingled desire and expectation, and unalloyed with secular anxieties ; and, having toiled through every kind of exertion, — from breaking up the fallows, to gathering in and thrashing the ripened harvest, — from preaching Christ to the world, to building up the tatibus adversari, severitate sua cohibere quosciinque errare vi- dent. Quid ergo fiet si promiscue audientur quaecunque de illis sparsffi fuerint calumniae? — Calvin, in 1 Tim. v. 19. 326 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS church, — then to be partaker of those fruits of faith which he has been instrumental in raising. Unless Christ had left his servants to be dependent upon the church for their pecuniary support, he had deprived that church of its fairest and principal opportunity of showing its love for him. The strict righteousness of such a return is most obvious. In this money-loving world, the claims of the en- terprising merchant, or manufacturer, or tradesman, or agriculturer, to his profits, are much more readily recognised than those of the toiling pastor to his salary : whereas, the latter are no less valid than those which refer to trade and commerce ; in fact, they are more legitimately established, — they are founded on individual sacrifice. Let every candid person turn his attention to the subject, and examine if there be not, in the ministry of voluntary churches, a larger infusion of disinterestedness than in any body of men whatever. The more religious is the public mind, the more this is acknowledged; and so natural, said a wise and good man once, is the union of religion with justice, that we may boldly deem there is neither where both are not. .. We are speaking of individual sacrifice as the foundation of claim for pecuniary compensation ; and, 1. Let the expense of physical strength and vital energy be considered. Enlightened medical science has demonstrated that those complaints usually termed nervous, a fearful and DUE TO MINISTERS. 327 multiform train, take their rise from the disordered functions of that vital organ, the stomach. Their im- mediate manifestations are, diminished energy of the brain, consequent diminution of power and muscular strength, excitement on the most trifling occasions, and, what is still worse, a feebleness in the volitions of the mind, a loss of the soul's elasticity, and a suspension or destruction of its power of receiving happiness from either internal or external sources. Who are more subject to these sufferings than mi- nisters ? and who more frequently fall under them ? O what a tale might be unfolded of days and nights, yea, of months and years, spent in the deepest pros- tration! Prudential motives, and a regard for the public good and for the honour of the ministry, have often prevailed to draw a veil over distresses which, nevertheless, have been hard to bear, and from which the worldly and despairing have often rid themselves by suicide. Every thing in a minister's work tends to derange the healthy functions of the vital organs ; the confinement of the study, the habit of close and unceasing thought, the pressing cai'es of public responsibility, the anxiety of fulfilling the wishes and reconciling the minds of many and differently- constituted men, the feverish excitement of preaching to large congregations, breathing at the same time in heated air, — all are circumstances which lessen the vital force by which the digestive organs and the cerebral system are connected, and by which the man 328 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS is kept in beautiful vigour. An overloaded mind communicates by this nervous medium (mysterious enough, it is true) its oppression to the body ; and then the body, like a weakened and frightened companion, alarms and depresses the mind. Nor is all this theoretic speculation. Let us consult the bills of mortality appertaining to the church. Who are they whom paralysis has enfeebled in the meridian of their age, — paralysis, the most humi- liating form of nervous disease ? Its victims are found in sedentary life, but chiefly in the ministry. If the extended age of man be attained, how often does life, when by itself considered, become a burden long before the term arrives ! and the sufferer sur- vives to remember what his powers of usefulness were once, but which, until he is clothed upon with his nobler house, he is conscious are irrecoverably lost ! But, debilitating as is the toil in which our brethren of the ministry have to engage, the incessant demands upon their time make it impossible that sufficient easy exercise and air can be taken to ward off" the evil: at least, this is the case with Wesleyan mi- nisters. If the day be spent in the study, or rooms of the sick, the evening is spent in the chapel or the meeting ; and very frequently the distance which has to be travelled on foot, in order to reach that chapel or meeting, makes the effort a fatiguing one, and not a healthy and invigorating walk. The students in Germany engage in hard gym- DUE TO MINISTERS. 329 nasties, in connexion with academical exercises ; and in America, the young men of the colleges are often trained by manual exercise, as well as by lecture ; and thus their health is preserved, and with it the buoyancy and strength of the soul. Plans like these, or such as are equivalent, cannot, amongst us, be adopted: if there were even time for them, it would be accounted egregious trifling. It was different with the first' race of Wesleyan ministers. Their journeys w^ere frequent, but chiefly undertaken on horseback ; which mode of travelling, above all others, contributes to sound health. Their preaching toils were great, yet undergone without that feverish mental anxiety which belongs so much to the pulpit now; for they had not to furnish a supply for that theological thirst which with us is so insatiable ; and their doctrines, being newly revived, were ever inter- esting to the numerous congregations which they addressed. Those doctrines, with them, had all the charm of freshness; and as there were no arousing calls to deep study and research, no anniversary occasions, no crowded public meetings, no overawing chapels, they had not so much of the misery and wear which follows the incessant requirements which are now made for intellectual effort. The demand for excitement is immense, and cannot long be supplied to the extent required : the bodies and souls of the brethren are secretly breaking down in the endeavour to meet it. If we now see 330 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS a venerable and hale old man, without much loss of physical power, sustaining his years, we shall find that he has spent his youth, and the critical part of his ministerial life, much in the way which has just been described ; the way in which the fathers of the Connexion were nurtured. The next generation will, however, have few of this class to exhibit. Early rising, with attention to exercise and diet, will do much to prolong and sustain the strength; but, after all, ministerial pursuits tend to exhaust it more than other pursuits, and to shorten the period of life. The yeoman and the tradesman may now be viewed togetlier on the other side. The one, by breathing, with inward tranquillity, the fresh air, preserves the vital activity of the functions;- the other, by bustling and motion, urges the blood along in a healthy course, and prevents the germination of incipient disease. This statement is fair, as far as it is general; and the position to be founded on it is this, — that the ofiice of a Christian pastor, when truly and zealously filled, is one of self-denial and suffering, — that the sacrifice is made for the sake of the community, and therefore the community ought to requite him : so far we are but urging a principle of common justice. The medical stu- dent gives up his time to his profession, in order to benefit mankind as regards health, and is richly rewarded by a large income ; and therefore, when the pastor gives up likewise his time and DUE TO MINISTERS. 331 attention to benefit men by attending to their sal- vation, and when he becomes the subject of painful and exhausting struggles for their souls' sake, ought he not too to be rewarded ? We are viewing the minister as he stands in relation to men, whatever covenant and responsibility there may be between him and his God. Man is not clear until he is furnished with a comfortable and competent support: not with riches, for that would injure ; not placed in poverty, for that would depress him ; but maintained so as he may stand between the rich and the poor, having easy access unto both. He cannot increase his comforts like the successful tradesman; and therefore the ratio of contribution should be well considered. If his education has been expensive, the argument is all the stronger. Besides, how often do our brethren make sacrifices of a pecuniary kind ! When they first give themselves to God and his church, what fair prospects are slighted ; what lucrative stations abandoned ; what local honours yielded up ; what social affections lacerated ! The occurrence of this is by no means unfrequent. When the British nation required the West-India planter to give up his supposed pro- prietary right to the slave, there was a loud cry for compensation; and the cry was heard: but when a young man, the hope and stay of some family, aban- dons all worldly emoluments, to which talent would give him a right, when does he ever think of asking 332 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS for compensation ? It would be unworthy of him, if he ever did, it is true ; for his treasure, he asserts, is in heaven : but it would be well for the church to remember, that in him she has received a living sacrifice ; and therefore a poor and parsimonious return would be indicative of a spirit very different from his own. If, on the other hand, his origin is humble, and the church has rather augmented than lessened his comforts by receiving him, it is pre- sumed there was sufficient reason for so doing : and the same reason establishes his claim to undiminished kindness; it remains in full and even increasing force. This is a question of gratitude, as well as justice. Most Christian churches can furnish instances of individuals rising in their worldly circumstances by reason of their connexion with the people and ministers of God. Wesleyan Methodism can furnish thousands. The competence or affluence of such arises, under the blessing of God's providence, from their temperance, industry, and order; these, from their conversion; and their conversion instrumen tally from those who declared unto them the word of God. Are they now happy in the divine favour, after having been brought out of the dungeon of their natural state ? and have they every temporal blessing beside ? and shall they forget those who were the instruments of their rescue ? Their spiritual bene- factors will not be forgotten, when the case comes into other hands ; but now the case lies with the DUE TO MINISTERS. 333 deeply benefited members of the flock: it is pro- bationary at present, it will be finally adjusted then. Nothing, we are sure, but that uneasy spirit which spurns all authority, and frets at seeing a superior, could ever meditate the impoverishing of the minis- try, and reducing it, in point of meaning and authority, to the same grade as any other body of church ofiScers occupy. The theory of equal rights is an anomaly, and is equally inconsistent with atheism or religion. With atheism, — for it would be hard to suppose that tumultuous chance, which acts blindly, should produce beings of equal excellency, and at all times similar in strength and beauty. With religion, — for analogy shows that a wise and holy God would be sure to make men differ from each other, because infinite power and love would have no scope in an unvarying similitude of form. A monotonous uniformity among his creatures has never appeared ; the Bible knows nothing of it ; it is strange both in the kingdoms of nature and grace, — unknown in heaven and on earth. When a few tempted, misguided men have risen against the ministry, and have either brought it down, or have withdrawn themselves from its control, what has been the next step ? They have discovered that the church could not exist unless the power which they have just destroyed were again created, and lodged somewhere ; and therefore they have either 334 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS vaulted into the vacant seat themselves, or made it the bone of contention amongst many ; and, eventually, the most talented, or the most artful, have got possession. Such a state of things is borne as a man would bear a dislocated limb,^-no longer than while redress cannot be had. An attempt to put down the ministry, or to diminish its legitimate powers, is useless t if put down a thousand times, the wants of man would again raise it. Besides, it is reflecting upon the wisdom of God, and altering his plan : it is a Titanic combat : men might as well carry on war against a law of nature. There is as beauti- ful an adaptation in framing the Pastoral Office for man's moral state, as there is in making the air and material system to suit his physical. The experience of six thousand years has shown, that the world can- not do without the ministers of God ; and, as far as Christianity is concerned, every year of its history has proved that the church cannot do without that administration of Gospel law which is committed to them. The church is one family,- — a part of the great family in heaven and earth ; but its members have not equal claims,*^who ever knew it to be so in any domestic circle on earth ? Let the ambitious and the mistaken strive no more : the Bible has not made a mistake. O let benevolence plead for the persons they are labouring to impugn ; and if they have received from them, directly or indirectly, temporal good,— spiritual we could hardly suppose they would DUE TO MINISTERS. 335 receive, — then let gratitude have a voice; let them not sting the bosom that cherished them ; but rather honour, by tokens of respect, and by a proper libera- lity, those who have so reasonable and scriptural a claim to both. It is thankfully conceded, that in our Connexion, when a minister does his duty, and lives in accord- ance with the Christian spirit, respect is not wanting. He is treated and received, in general, as he would fondly wish to be ; and, in some cases, as St. Paul was by the primitive Galatians. If what is true of the whole, would become true of every part, and of every member of the church, then how would its efficiency increase ! The holy apostle just named did not hesitate to tell one individual that he, Philemon, owed to him, as the instrument of his salvation, his very life : he did not say this vauntingly, but simply to establish the righteous claim which he had on Philemon's regard. In language something like this might many ministers of the present day speak ; not glorying in themselves, but rather seeking the spiritual good of their flocks, — which they are in fact doing, while asserting their right to a proper and Christian respect. An esteemed ministry, and a devoted people, present a formidable barrier of strength : and as the battle of the Lord is not yet decided, may the church ever have to recognise these as her children ! 336 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS 2. The case of aged and worn-out ministers is next to be considered. They differ from others in this particular, — they can labour no more ; but this no Christian would ever consider as a reason why they should be honoured no more. The world, it is true, adopts a literal lex talio- nis; renders a compensation for equivalent and present services, but withdraws it when those services can no longer be rendered. The master pays his work- man or servant the stipulated sum, but feels no obligation to continue the payment when the usual work is not at last performed. How much higher should be the principle of the sanctuary ! Yet let us not go too far, and traduce the world. It often happens that the master provides for his aged and enfeebled ser^-ant; and companies of men, whose association together has been entirely for worldly purposes, do often, at personal sacrifices, subscribe to those who have consumed time and strength in their service. The nation, we are certain, remembers its veteran and worn-out seamen, — the noble hospital at Greenwich is witness; England's decayed statesmen, and super- annuated public officers, likewise, all come in for their share of grateful recompence : and so it should be. But should the servants of the Lord return from their hard toil, and, when the shadows of evening gather around them, find only a cheerless home and limited comforts ? No wonder, when this is the case, that their temptations should be so keen and distressing. DUE TO MINISTERS. 337 All their life long they have endeavoured to show that the Gospel enlarges the heart, refines and purifies the moral sensibilities, and especially illu- mines the subject of relative obligation. But do they now find it so ? or does the church listen to their claims with cold attention ? The unthinking and carnal world has never loved them ; but are they to be slighted by their own children, at a time when a slight is harder than ever to be borne ? It is a difiicult lesson for patience and resignation to learn. After having sustained severe toil in actual war- fare, it requires no ordinary measure of grace to enable them, like blind Belisarius, to retire into poverty and oblivion. Have seamen and the military fought in defensive war, and protected the nation from the enemy? They, too, have lifted up their hands in prayer, and have engaged the arm of God in its defence. Have statesmen, by their wisdom, given stability and peace to society ? They, too, by spreading righteousness have been more efficient workers in the same cause. The royal preacher seemed to contemplate in his day a parallel case. " There was," he said, " a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it : now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. . . . Wisdom Q 366 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS is better than strength : nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard." (^Eccles. ix. 14—16.) If there be any truth in the Bible, faithful mi- nisters then have been, amongst others, the saviours of their country; and therefore their title to comfort and solace in the decline of life should be subscribed both by the nation and the church. Hooker writes somewhat strongly on this subject : — ** If there should be no other remedy but that the violence of men in the end must needs bereave them of all succour, further than the inclinations of others shall cast upon them by way of alms, for their relief but from hour to hour ; better they are not than their fathers, who have been contented with as hard a portion at the world's hands ; let the light of the sun and moon, the common benefit of heaven and earth, be taken away from B. B., if the question were, Whether God should lose his glory and the safety of his church be ha- zarded, or they relinquish the right and interest which they have in the things of this world. But since the question in truth is, Whether Levi shall be deprived of the portion of God or no, to the end that Simeon or Reuben may devour it as their spoil ; the comfort of the one in sustaining the injuries which the other would offer, must be that prayer poured out by Moses, the prince of prophets, in most tender compassion to Levi : ' Bless, O Lord, his substance ; accept thou the work of his hands ; smite through DUE TO MINISTERS. 339 the loins of them that rise up against him, and of them which hate him, that they rise no more.' " These sentiments, of course, refer to an established or endowed church. Whatever truth they may have in such an application, they are to be restrained and limited in their reference to a voluntary one. If, with our author, we call the ministry Levi, we would not assume that there is a disposition on the part of Simeon or Reuben to spoil or rob, but only to slight and forget him. The imprecatory passage from Moses, too, must be properly understood : it indi- cates the interest which God takes in his servants in general, but cannot be supposed capable of the same application to Christian ministers which it literally had to those of a semi- temporal, although theocratic, institution ; and if we attend to the style of Hebrew writing, we shall find it to be more of a prophecy than a prayer. It will perhaps be objected, on the part of some, that such are the demands made on the resources of Christians, for the support of missionary and other evangelical societies, that the case of aged ministers cannot be met. The answer to this objection, we fear, could be little more than a rebuke of the love of money. No one will seriously maintain that the finances of the Christian community are inadequate to meet both these calls ; every one is conscious they are adequate to more than both ; so that we are not pleading against Christian policy, nor wishing to q2 340 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS diminish evangelical zeal. As long as Christians have any personal wealth, let them not say of this or that money, "It is corban," and therefore the ministry can have no share in it. God will not accept a penny thrown into his treasury with such like views, except the offerer act by mistake. He himself has cast his servants on the care of his church; and if, besides this, he has required that church to arise and seek the conversion of the world, he has not, as a righteous Father, over-estimated its pecuniary capability. Nor will his people be acting the part of the good servant, if they abandon one part of his work in order, with less of self-denial, to attend to the other. It was one of the first eucharistic efforts of the primitive church to pro\dde for widows, — the spirit of Christianity so soon developed itself. Then there were no worn-out ministers : if there had been, that spirit would have run swifter than the wind, and burned ardent as living flame on their behalf. To leave them to neglect and poverty is, considering their morbid sensibility, almost the same thing as leaving them to die. In the Wesleyan church, the Auxiliary Fund was instituted for the purposes we are advocating. Its existence shows the affectionate spirit of the people ; but it is decidedly insufiicient to meet the increasing claims which are made upon it. The Fund does not fail for want of principle, we confidently beheve : our DUE TO MINISTERS. 341 people love their ministers, and revere them when they retire from publicity; but the subject of their superannuation is not sufficiently made a matter of attention. Our people have such a world of reli- gious excitement and employ around them, that in the bustle of the Connexion this is forgotten. They are, when directed to the subject, ever ready to acknowledge the claims of the aged minister; and to admit, that although his labour has ceased, the results remain, and are accumulating as long as the world stands. If the question, therefore, be treated as one of abstract justice, the church will always find an open and running account, in which she is charged largely as debtor: to balance this, there must be enlightened liberality.* * The provision, as it stands at present, will be allowed by every candid man to be scanty indeed. He who fails after having been actively engaged in the ministry less than 12 years receives £10 per ann. : his widow in case of his death £10 18 . . 15 15 24 . . 20 20 29 . . 25 25 34 . . 30 30 Upwards .42 42 This Fund, however, is almost entirely raised by the subscrip- tions of the preachers themselves : the annual subscription is £6. 65.,— a sum which can be but ill spared from the usual income, even when in full health and strength. The Auxiliary Fund, mentioned above, is exhausted by extraordinary ex- pences. 342 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS The widov/s and children of the deceased are here very properly presented to our attention. A widow who is left behind in the world without property, but whose dependance was solely on her departed companion, is a widow indeed. The conduct of the primitive church has just been glanced at ; and if we extol the Christians of those days for their simplicity and zeal, let us be consistent, and imitate their example. During the life-time of our ministers, the interests of their wives are regarded identical with their own ; and to a very small extent is it kno^\^l, how deeply the societies and congregations of Christians at the present day are indebted to them. Such is the quiet energy and influence of woman, that a word of hers has often revived the drooping courage of her partner, and he has gone to his task with renewed vigour. She has been the spring and soul of his ministerial strength ; and because he has gone to the grave, must she go to oblivion, and need the comforts of life, when for the first time she finds herself desolate? A numerous family may have exhausted resources, which it required the economy -of years to raise ; but demands from this quarter could be met, as long as the mind retained its moral courage : when that fails, the weight is fearful. Often it is found to fail ; and what wonder, when we remember that the widowed sufferer was once an object of respect and attention, and mingled with the best DUE TO MINISTERS. 3i3 and wealthiest of the church ? — such a change of circumstances is keenly felt. As far as earthly things are concerned, many a man of God would have felt more composure on his bed of sickness, if he could have cherished a hope, that the church would at his death relieve his family from depression. He believes that God will be a husband to his widow, and a father to his fatherless children ; but faith can- not prevent nature from desiring to see the instru- mentahty of the case even when reposing on the consolatory declaration, " A judge of the fatherless and widow is God in his holy habitation." III. Finally. Ministers have a claim to the fervent supplications of their people, both in public and in private. Such supplications are found in all liturgies, both of the ancient Jewish, and in ancient and modern Christian, churches; thus showing how universailv our principle is acknowledged. Those who are deeply impressed with the con- viction, that the Spirit is not only in the word, but that his influence must attend its publication, as well as all religious exercises, in order to their being effectual, cannot restrain prayer before God in reference to this subject. The Christian not only acknowledges a beautiful and well- governed universe, but a supervision of individuals in reference unto things temporal : on the other hand, too, he must acknowledge, (for the doctrine is taught by tlie same o44 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS Bible,) that there is not merely a divine direction ex- ercised in raising np ministers, and preserving the cords and stakes of Zion, but that there is in reserve an immeasurable plenitude of grace and holy influ- ence to be poured out from heaven, in answer and according to the prayers of the faithful, upon those who serve at the altar. St. Paul does not appear to have ever asked for any worldly thing either for himself or his colleagues, although he collected for the Jerusalem poor ; yet he could, and did, most importunately plead, " Brethren, pray for us." If the church, without ceasing, made prayer in behalf of Peter, who was imprisoned, shall it be thought a matter of less moment to intercede for those who are surrounded by evil spirits more ruthless than the Jews, under a chief more malicious than Herod? Pastors have all the weaknesses and liabilities of common men, but with a far larger share of their responsibilities ; and if they need anything from their people, — their respect, sympathy, supplies, — they need, more than all, their prayers. We have to do with those who believe in the efficacy of especial intercession, passing by all the heartless and.pseudo- philosophical quibbles of sceptics ; and cannot but think that the Spirit on high is only waiting to be longed after, and sought for, in order to send down, in consistency with the divine plan, his most copious effusions. Our Lord's remark to the disciples seems to have with us a rebuking significancy : " Hitherto DUE TO MINISTERS. 345 ye have asked notliing in my name ;" a conduct this, which but ill deserves the appended merciful direc- tion, " Askj and receive, that your joy may be full." Our Lord saw, in spirit, his church like a field of promise, white unto the harvest, waving with ripen- ing fruit : and, though he knew the need there was of labourers, and saw but few, and was conscious that the energy of the Holy Ghost could call and prepare abundantly more, yet he connected the whole of this operation with the intercession of saints : " Pray ye therefore," said he, " the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth more labourers into his harvest:" not, Rest assured that this will be done, and conse- quently take your ease; but, Pray ye that it may be so : and thus he connected the benefit of the instru- mentality with that of the object. Nor are the labourers themselves less in need of remembrance before God. The private Christian feels a load on his heart, very often, which nothing but prayer can remove. The minister feels the same ; he indeed has many loads, his own and those of others ; and he needs, in consequence, many prayers. Let it not be said, he ought to pray himself: this is acknow- ledged, and is a matter between him and his God. The duty and privilege of the private Christian remains the same. Those who preach and labour themselves for the souls of men know how to sympathize with their brethren, but few others know.* In public the * I know tlie importance of this ministry and the difficulty of q5 346 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS preacher is not like another worshipper : for at times, when he would gladly retire into a pew and receive the manna of the word, he must ascend into the pulpit; and, whether his mind be peaceful or per- turbed, must lead the devotions and meditations of others. He may be labouring under distressing temp- tations, affliction may lie heavy upon his domestic circle, debility may have unstrung his frame, the grashopper may be a burden ; but, amidst all this, he is expected to take his place ; and if he acquit himself not like a man, he is made the subject of censuring remark. When his voice is lifted up amid assembled hundreds, it requires, in the awful impressiveness of that hour, great help from above to keep the soul from trembling to its centre ; and it requires, too, more of gracious unction than of art and effort to arrest the attention of the surrounding audience. When the apostle Paul saw the young man Timothy rising up as a minister of Christ, his noble soul melted into tenderness at the sight. He knew what internal sufferings Timothy must have begun to endure : he contrasted his peaceful private state with the anxiety attendant on his present career : he saw the struggles of his soul; and from what passed in his own breast, he well understood them. With a feeling partly fra- ternal and partly fatherly, he yearns for the youth its duty, whose waves disturb the mind of those devoted to it more than tempests disturb the ocean. — Chrysost. De Sacerd.^ lib. 3. DUE TO MINISTERS. 347 unutterably, and says in his Epistle, "Without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears." He who was never moved by his own unpa- ralleled troubles, was so affected by seeing ministerial responsibilities resting on Timothy's youthful mind, and ministerial tears flowing from his eyes, that lie poured forth his full soul for him in prayer; and then, resuming the undaunted apostle again, he exclaims, as an intrepid and shouting commander would do in battle, " Fight the good fight of faith ; lay hold on eternal life." So did St. Paul blend the most animat- ing encouragement with the most aifectionate and fervent supplication. In the war of the Israelites with Amalek, far more was done by upholding the hands of Moses than by the efforts of the host, — a symbolic action this, to teach the faithful in all ages to uphold the ministry. Hope is in full strength where intercession pre- vails ; and hope is one of the elements of faith, which faith takes hold on God, and obtains from him his promise. Although prayer proceeds from a thirst after God, yet it has a reflective tendency to increase that thirst; by exercise it induces a longing after spiritual good, so great that we are glad to extract it from every thing: but what ought to be so productive as the ministry ? If it is as a well of perennial water, let bands of the pious gather round, like the olden nobles of Israel, and cry, " Spring up, O well !" which 348 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS cry is not only hyinnic, but, under the Gospel dispen- sation, full of the deepest prayer. He who prays daily and feelingly for his pastor, and for the whole of the pastors of Christ's church, cannot go unblest. God cannot clothe his priests with salvation, without making his chosen people joyful. Were this exalted duty and privilege less neglected, the exclamation of the awe-struck patriarch would, on entering the house of God, be oftener drawn from us, *' How dreadful i« this place ! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven !" We have thus argued the just claims which mi- nisters have upon the regards, the property, and prayers of their people, partly from the written word, and partly from the relation in which they stand to mankind. The last of these cannot be too much pleadedfor. The claimants are not the only persons who are benefited. The church assumes its true character as typified by Solomon's temple ; it is the " house of prayer for all people ;" and a brief survey of its sanctified and happy members, anointed with heavenly un<;tion, and urging their way to the glory spoken of in the Scriptures, presents to the mind such a view of the love of God as to force the exclamation, *' Will God in very deed dwell on the earth?" '' Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee ; how much less this house which" is **builded ?" And DUE TO MINISTERS. what were the church, and what were forms of religious ser\ice, without the Holy Ghost, the Para- clete ? " Sacramental symbols may, in a fallen church, stand for a while, instead of the grace which they signify, and of w^hich they might have been the channels ; but, without the Spirit, the bread is but common food, the wine of the cup like other wine, and the water of baptism a mere element. He brings to every faithful mind the Redeemer's words, and applies to every heart the doctrines of that last passion-sermon which he delivered on the night in which he was betrayed. Without the Spirit, words, however eloquent, are but airy types ; and writings, like hieroglyphic scrawls, mysterious and useless; — religious rites, even when connected with the publi- cation of the truth, only as Adam in the dust. Thou Spirit and Comforter! send forth the breath of life and let Thy manifestations increase. Nothing, in the actual recovery of man from ruin, has been eifected without Thee. The unformed world felt Thee move. A guilty race who pe- rished in the days of Noah are reserved to bear witness to Thy strivings with them. Thou wert the good Spirit! The tabernacle of witness was devised by Thee: it portrayed the Gospel church, and heaven too, and was fraught with patterns of heavenly things, indicative of Thy desire to lead men to heaven. The prophets spake by Thee : it was Thy 350 RESPECT AND OFFERINGS DUE, &C. joyful work to testify of Christ; to glorify the evening- time of Simeon, Christ's expectant ; to descend upon the pure incarnated Redeemer dove-like ; and upon the weak and not unsinful disciples, with fire to purify and illumine them. Thou didst then, and dost now, assure the repenting and believing mourner of pardon; dwell in all the saints, and teach them to pray and carry on the work of holiness ; open before them eternal life, and prepare them to enjoy it. When any good is done on earth. Thou doest it ; and without Thee, as well as the Word, there is nothing made that is made. The golden vials are accumulating the prayers of saints. O pour Thyself forth ; and then let the praise of the universal church be like the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, " Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! " CHAPTER X. HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. " Chains of my heart, avavmt, I say ; I will arise, and in the strength of love, Pursue the bright track ere it fade away. My Saviour's pathway to his home above. " Sure, when I reach the point where earth Melts into nothing from the' uncumher'd sight, Heaven will o'ercome the' attraction of my birth. And I shall sink in yonder sea of light." It must be evident to every person of reflection and judgment, that the Pastoral Office involves in it a degree of care and inward suffering which makes it necessary every hour to look up to God for help. The sources of that suffering have been mentioned : it arises partly from physical, partly from mental, and partly from spiritual causes. The frame too often droops into languor, and the soul in conse- quence becomes as powerless as a flaccid bow-string, when the bow is broken. And besides this, there is, even in full health and vigour, a painfully intense 352 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. longing to see fruit : at least, this is the case with every one who cherishes the true spirit of his duty. Baxter despaired of seeing any man truly useful unless his desire for the conversion of sinners amounted almost to misery : that almost misery is then the mi- nister's inheritance. He, however, the word of God assures us, shall reap in joy ; and not only at the last day, but even now, like the high priest, gather his sheaf of first-fruits, and wave it before the Lord, an offering of faith and love. The Gospel is replete with holy influences and power, and gives richer pro- mise of success than the former dispensations gave. " If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." The conversion of sinners, and the edification of believers, are results which ever attend the faithful administration of Gospel truth ; and these are causes of the purest joy : they are the prcemium ante prcemiumy the reward before the reward. The sti- pulation which our Lord made, when he delivered the great ministerial commission, stands good to all his servants, — ^his presence is with them always. And this presence is not to be understood as a glowing hyperbole; for as far as presence implies communion, Christ is more with them than is the air which they breathe, or the earthly friends which they enjoy. The pacific presence of Christ is a circum- stance which alone can ensure the minister's peace, and which can repay him for the sacrifices he must make. On one memorable occasion it was about HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. 353 to be withdrawn from Israel in judgment, when Moses entreats and cries, " If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence ;" for that illustrious pleader knew that all was lost without it, and that with it he could cheerfully sustain the heaviest toil which his relation to the people imposed. This was the promise which calmed his mind : " My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." He, like every one who has since followed him, did not desire the woeful day ; but when such a day arrived, he had strength accordingly, and more than an equivalent for all the woe. Nor is the want of success a circumstance sufficient to extinguish, although it may lessen, the true pastor's happi- ness : for if, like the exalted preacher in Isaiah, he should say, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain ;" he may likewise proceed and say, " Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God." (Isai. xlix. 4.) In fact, he may draw comfort from his very grief. The depression occa- sioned by seeing the impenitency and unbelief of men, indicates a concern for the divine glory, and proves that the soul is regenerate and under divine influence : it becomes almost a standing mark of ministerial sincerity. If the world be perishing around, and the breast unperturbed within ; if the pulpit be gained, and the routine of a pastor's duty be prosecuted as a matter of course, without an 354 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. inward panting to gain the end of all these means; such an apathy is monstrous in itself, and lays the foundation for an argument against the ministry. " Ye," said our Lord to his disciples, " shall he sorrowful, hut your sorrow shall be turned into joy." The great reward of the minister is in reversion, — it is heaven : a reward not of debt, but. of grace. It is the reward of that fearful but conquering moral struggle in which he engages. Grace and power were given him from God, wherewith to struggle ; they were exercised in faith; and now at the close he is crowned for doing well. Doing well in the ministry, as in all other situations, is the consequence of believing in Jesus; and therefore, when a minister enters heaven, we see grace self- existent rewarding the victorious efforts of grace imparted. When God glorifies his servant, it is as when he justified him ; the act is done above law : for the law recognises no debt as due to obedience ; but the whole procedure being carried on through the infinite merit of Christ, who appeased divine justice, it is so consistent with the spirit and intent of the law, and so in harmony with the divine per- fections, that angels and men are left to wonder at it, and adoie. The saint in light received illumina- tion and conviction from Christ when he was a sinner, and pardon from Christ when he was a penitent, and power from Christ when a believer, and unction from Christ when a minister; and HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. 355 therefore, it is immaterial whether you say he was rewarded for his works, or presented with his crown through the merits of Christ. In either case the meaning is the same. It is a reward suited to his sanctified character and condition. A wreath of laurel or amaranth might suffice for the athletic Greek who first gained the goal at the race ; for that empty honour was commensurate with the de- gree of moral sublimity which marked his aims: but nothing is lastingly attractive to the Christian but a cro^vn of life. Grace taught him the vanity of the world ; and therefore he leaves it behind him : it expanded his hope, and formed his aspirations; and the one is realized, and the other are satisfied. Eternal life is the gift of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ ; and what that ^ivrj aiioyiog is, who can explain? St. Paul shows, by implication, that as QavaroQ implies sin and essential misery, of which dereliction and bodily death are minor details ; so <^fa»7 anovioQf on the other hand, implies holiness and bliss, of which spiritual life here, and the beatific vision of God hereafter, are the elements. In fact, in every point of view, eternal life is opposed to that death which is the consequence of trans- gression. It is more than existence, — it is glorified existence; it is more than action, — it is unwearied action; it is not merely the negation of pain, dissolution or death, but the positive possession of the final good, tlie obtaining as much of God as the 356 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. creature can receive. The faithful minister, from the very first, is led to long and languish for this life. First, because the requirements made upon him are heavier and more numerous than his present powers will enable him to meet. Second, because his sacred pursuits place the frivolous enterprises of men, and the world itself, in a strongly-contrasted and some- times intolerable light. Third, because his position in the church ever tends to remind him of Jerusalem above, of which the one on earth is only a type. He stands by the river of the city of God, and pines to see its source. Fourth, because the soul, being regenerated, as naturally desires God and glory, as the eagle does the sky, or the gazelle the hills. When Bucholtzer was near his death, he desired that he might be carried into the midst of his people, that he might preach to them once more, as he had been wont ; and having his desire fulfilled, he began to discourse upon those heart-reviving words, "Who- soever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." (John iii. 16.) It was his last sermon, but his best : the spirit of the preacher was ravished at the prospect of that life which is the final result of believing in Christ, and of which the incipient stages themselves are so full of satisfaction and dehght. His hearers were melted too : the dying pastor was entering, while anticipating his rest. He had been a door-keeper in the house of God ; and now he was about to leave the door for the adytum, — the HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. 357 most holy place. Similar are the expectations of all who have lived and laboured like him. Their *' feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem : whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord." (Psalm cxxii. 2, 4.) It is related of Mr. Wesley, that once, towards the close of his life, after he had concluded the liturgical service, in the forenoon, at his favourite chapel, he ascended the pulpit, and, instead of an- nouncing the hymn, to the surprise of all present, he stood for the space of nearly ten minutes with his eyes closed, and wrapped in deep and absorbing contemplation. He was evidently communing with the realities of the eternal world, and pondering the glorified condition of the departed thousands whom he, as an instrument, had turned to righteousness. He had now begun to taste the fruits of the good land while he was in the wilderness, and to know how the faithful messenger of salvation is saved, indeed, himself. Ours be the profound joys of these dying men, and that keen-eyed and Mosaic view of the heavenly country, which made them so dignified in their departure ! O the glorious temple of my God! Well might Calvin exclaim, " Usquequo, Domine ? — How long. Lord ? " and be like the souls under the altar. And well may the prevailing cry of the Spirit and the Bride be, " Come !" Herbert pours forth his quaint but expressive lay : — " O loose this frame, this knot of man untie, That my free soul may use her wing 358 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. Which is now pinion 'd with mortality, Like an entangled, hamper'd thing ! O show thyself to me, Or take me up to thee !" Heaven is the highest manifestation of God ; but his is only to say that it is a manifestation ever manifesting. The earth is full of hidden beauty, — we know this from exploring it, to even a limited extent. A beam of hght, once thought simple and serene, breaks into various rays ; a rugged stone, when cut and polished, is either translucent or glows with every hue; the cryptogamic vegetable atom rises before the scientific eye a beautiful green world ; the elements are made continually to combine into new forms of splendour and power ; and where shall these unfoldings ter- minate ? Who has seen an end of all perfection ? Ah ! what then will the minister's reward bring to light ? What incipient glory, both visible and moral, will brighten, to become enwrapped in cloud no more ! *' Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty." He who is the Author of all these fair patterns, and who himself is and must be unsymbolized, is now the object of vision. There is a germinant richness in the truths taught by a pastor, which glory vdW fully open to his amazed soul. Heaven realizes an adoring view into the divine law, and a profound submission to it : this is HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. 359 an expansion of repentance. It realizes an eternal and implicit trust in God, on the part of all ranks and orders, which binds them to him, and makes heaven, heaven. It is an expansion of the doctrine of salva- tion by faith ; and the holy use to which all will be for ever consecrated, is the final and enlarged ex- pansion of the doctrine of sanctification by the Holy Ghost. When a man of God enters into his place on the sabbath, and begins to discourse upon some portion of the inspired word, his circumstances are far from being uninteresting. He is in the midst of a mass of human beings : they all listen in deep silence to his voice, and hang upon his lips. He is surrounded with spirit, and is spirit himself. His soul is aroused in its material vehicle, and sees, though faintly, whatever is the object of moral sight, and hears the heavenly harpers, and grasps whatever faith makes tangible ; but, at the same time, how like is he to a traveller who sees from some mountain a distant country, and through vapoury air ! His spiritual eyes are at once bright and feeble, — bright for a mortal, but too feeble to look through immortality: they behold the half-developed forms of things by men unseen, and read the lessons of half-apprehended truth. Such a man, in such an hour, feels a painful and yet welcome struggle within him : he pants as though he were just behind the veil of eternity, and could look througli its interstices. 360 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. It is always glad news to a human soul to be in- formed, tliat beyond the expanse which lies before it, so illimitable and obscure, there is another, not only infinite, but light. The voice in the Apocalypse declares, *' The former things are passed away ;" and the voice from the throne, " Behold, I make all things new." When this is realized, the things of doubt and misapprehension — the shadows — have fled, and eternity is all day. The parting words of the angel to the proj)het Daniel were, " Go thy way until the end be : for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days;" and in them every faithful minister who like Daniel has, in the midst of opposing circumstances, proved his fidelity, may read his joyful doom. " Go thy way." In other words, Persevere in thy wonted duty ; and, whether attended by suc- cess or not, do the work of the great Master : be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine ; urge on the course of honourable labour, seeking, with acts of self-denial, the glory of the Lord, and the salvation of souls. "Go," though every prospect should be gloomy, and every hand should be lifted up against thee ; go, {" for thou shalt rest" at last,) go, approved by God alone. The world below may continue to be troubled ; the church itself may still have its agitations ; calamity may come upon the private circles of society; parties may strive ; the noise HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. 361 of man may still be heard, and Pro\ddence continue its mysterious march ; hut of thy toil there shall be an end ; and, after a while longer, an end of all things earthly. " Thou shalt rest." Not in unconsciousness; not in having the soul asleep, and buried in some ethe- real or sublunary grave. Absent from the body, thou art present with the Lord, entering upon that aajjfjaricrfxoQ, that sabbath-state, which, in a lower sense, has been already referred to : in the highest, it is the soul's final rest ; not mere repose, not ces- sation from service, — it is rest in service, because it is the attainment of that for which the soul was both naturally and supernaturally fitted ; it is not absolute quiet and freedom from action, but the complacency and settled delight which it has in God, who now is no longer hidden and distant, — it is freedom in action. "Thou shalt rest" satisfied at last; no longer crying, " When shall I come and appear before God ?" for before him thou art. " Thou shalt rest" from proba- tionary labours : the scale will no longer tremble in the balance ; the doom of the unfaithful servant will no longer be an object of fear, nor final salvation a matter of doubt ; no more shall the cry be heard, " I fear lest, having preached to others, I myself should become a castaway/' Hardness has to be endured no longer ; for the fight is fought, and the toils of the field are over. No brands have to be plucked from the burning, — the only burning here 362 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. is that of love and joy: no flocks have to be fed, — the Lamb himself shall feed them. " Thou shalt rest :" — not as the .disciples rested, who, on sleeping, were so kindly excused by their Lord ; but as the blessed ones above do, who "rest not, day nor night," from crying, " Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty I" It was the highest delight of the minister in the church below to mingle and commune with the saints; and now that delight is raised far beyond conception higher : trained in the outward sanctuary, he is per- mitted to follow his great sacerdotal Forerunner within the veil, — a privilege for which all his life long he had been earnestly breathing. "And stand in thy lot." Here we are taught that the rewards of the sanctified are various. Ephraim, Manasseh, and Judah enter upon their various posses- sions ; as for Levi, the Lord especially is his inhe- ritance. Every man in his own order, according to his holiness, and the extent and fidelity of his services, Christ, the first-fruits; afterward, they that are Christ's. Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, ministers, if faithful, have a higher lot than ordinary Christians; for they have resisted stronger tempta- tions, had their graces more put to the proof, and in general, for the church's sake, have lived a more painful, self-denying life. Thou shalt " stand in thy. lot:" every holy effort shall enhance it, every day of self-sacrifice, every inward groaning after more ex- tensive usefulness, every moment spent for Christ, HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. S6S either in the mount or multitude, shall enlarge the heavenly possession. With what solemnity does every moment of the minister's time tell upon his eternity! Time, with all its events, does not occupy an atom-point in the abyss ; and yet the bliss which follows him, through all its height and depth, was once, in its incipient state, a little spark. Grace is expanded into glory ! The cloud which arose, little as a human hand, and bright like the shekinah when luminous, has now spread over all the sky," — the rain filleth the pools. The soul of a child, or of a saved malefactor, rejoices in heaven ; but the herald of the cross has a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. All this shall take place "at the end of the days ;" that is, when time shall be no more. Hours and moments shall no longer assist in computing our progress through the stages of immortality : the landmarks of existence are gone ! The glorified minister shall rest when all the agitations, physical and spiritual, which have been produced by the intro- duction of sin into the universe, shall have subsided. There is an eternal calm after the storm. The prophet himself received an intimation of the state of the Lord's faithful servants in these words : " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." In which announcement we have, R 2 364 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. — 1. Their 'distinctive wisdom. Knowledge was not mere speculation : it was directed to its proper and practical end ; it was founded on the true rock, the infallible decisions of God's word. They knew God, and therefore loved and served him : they knew the value of the souls of men, and therefore sought to save them : they " turned many to righteousness." — 2. Their position and bliss. It is taught by figure: the reflected lustre which they shed (for theirs is not original light) is like that of " the firma- ment " and of " the stars." — 3. The order which they maintain, and in which they move, likewise furnishes another point of resemblance. Holiness is order, and the final order the highest. The typical system, which not only included Canaan but the tabernacle, was intended to convey instruction on this subject ; and yet it is a most impressive circumstance, that these patterns of the heavenly things which Moses made, were all laid up in a place of sacred darkness, — the veil hid them from the gaze of careless observers. Glory thus lies beyond the veil ; and " it does not appear what we shall be." " But we know, when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is." The visionic system of revelation, too, has had its own peculiar use ; and most impressive have been its lessons. Before the brightness which announced God's presence, Moses at first trembled, though afterwards, when strengthened, he fervently prayed HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. SG5 he might behold it again. Isaiah in the temple, and accompanied by bending seraphs, quails before this glory, crying, "Woe is me ! " and complains that he is a man of unclean Hps ; so overpowering was the fear which rose within him. vSt. Paul, rapt from the body, or carried in it, passed to the most holy place, and saw, and heard ; but, in returning, his lips were sealed in mute astonishment. St. John beholds his divine Master appear in all his majesty, and falls at his feet as one dead : and, being restored, mighty voices strike his ear ; a great white throne appears, and one seated upon it ; innumerable hosts marshalled rank above rank around, clad in white robes, and immersed in a sea of light; while it is said of them, "The Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever." Such is the glory re- vealed without us, and above us ; but every saint, and especially every minister, expects a glory which is different and superior, — " the glory which shall be revealed in us :" for eig rjfxag is a phrase which cannot be misunderstood. The saints which were of old are bereft of the painfulness of their fear; and now their blessed souls are left open to the influxes of another tide than that which flows through the visual channel, — they receive God. What is this glory which shall be revealed in us ? It is God made communicable, and the triumph of the soul in possessing him; it is that blessed burden, (for St. Paul calls it /3apoc, "a R 3 366 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. weight," 2 Cor. iv. 17,) the impending of the Spirit, and the eternal and internal overflow of his influ- ence ! But let our weak and trembhng heart no longer search after what is inscrutable, but rather wait with patience and hope to possess it. Few and evil are the days of the years of our pilgrimage ; but if we are Christ's, they will soon be lost to view, like the waves which break in the distant ocean. And O, servant of God, is the shore beyond, thy rest ? and this the reward promised thee by the Lord himself, when he bade thee, in anticipation thereof, be exceeding glad ? It will take much to satisfy infinite love ; but now he shall see in thee the travail of his soul, and be satis- fied. Even while in this wilderness, every whisper of the blessed Spirit is like the voice of one crying, " Prepare the way of the Lord ;" expect more glorious things, open the temple of thy sou], for ere long it shall be filled ! Thus was it with Moses : how sweetly he sang himself to rest, the eternal God being his refuge ! Stephen, Paul, and Peter, and the rest of the primitive saints, exulted to follow their Lord. When he went to lay the anchor of their soul within, the veil, he calmed the storm as he passed through ; and therefore they came rejoicing after. Holy souls ! we follow in your track. The self-denying missionary, who is not the least or weakest of Christ's servants, may abundantly encourage himself with these anticipations. We say HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. 367 self-denying missionary; for Lis is often a life of uninterrupted sacrifice. A Christian missionary is the Gospel personified ; or else, like the ark of testi- mony, bearing both hidden manna, and the symbols of law and grace, he bears witness in every land respecting his Saviour and God. In heaven, however, the traveller's rugged journey ends. Mart}^l does not lay his head upon a piece of desert rock, but leans, hke John, upon the Redeemer. Coke had it in his heart to raise a church for God in India, but died in the effort : " Sunk though he be beneath the wat'ry floor, So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed." Missionaries follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth ; to the desert to be tempted, to the deep to be tossed, amid Sadducees to be scorned ; they follow him to the ruler's bar, and to prison and death. Did grace and pardoning mercy lead them through this, and shall it not lead them into his presence ? O let the words of the dying Saviour sink deep into every faithful missionary's heart ! " Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory:" and also a little before, " He thatreapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal." The Wesleyan Connexion has contributed well to furnish ministers for the conversion and instruction of the heathen. They have struggled through every kind 368 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. of toil and privation, and greatly have their labours been blessed. They have penetrated into regions where the worldly speculatist would never go ; and have com- mitted themselves, live or die, to their hallowed toil. Many have gone toreturnno more: their graves are in Sierra-Leone, and South Africa, and the West Indies, and in North America : when they rise . from the dead, a number of churches will be around, of whom they will stand the apostolical fathers. And even as it is, there are bands of converted men who in all those places remember with emotion the pastor who administered unto them the word of the Lord. " They saw the strength in which his soul was strong, They felt the answer to his dying prayer, Amazed they heard his joy-o'erflowing tongue Of heaven and immortality declare ; And he who was their light and hope so long, Meekly they sought to follow ; — from despair Confiding faith sprung up, and death was sent To crown the work in which his life was spent," And as regards home, the ranks of the ministry have been well and honourably filled. Some of the departed have been equal to those of any church, both in erudition and talent, and in piety: taking them all together, they have not been excelled. " Our fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they live for ever? " Fathers and prophets submit to the common lot of man: but great is their reward in HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. S69 heaven. The venerable Joseph SutchfFe, at the close of his Commentary on the Scriptures, very im- pressively remarks, on the subject of these our con- cluding meditations, and in his own person shows what the desires and the glorious hopes of a faithful minister are, — " Having now been favoured with life and health to close this work, what more can I ask or desire on earth, but to follow the blessed who have died in the Lord ? 1 now see the ministry, in which I have laboured for forty years, crowded with younger men, the strength and rising hope of the church ; and all that my heart can sug- gest of blessing, thanksgiving, and prayer is poured out for them. But in the enfeebled efforts of age, when gleanings become scanty in the hand, the heart holds a trembling balance between the church on earth and the church in heaven. I often pause to recollect names which appear new to me here ; but I never forget the names of Wesley, Valton, Crosse, and a cloud of others; some of whom were fathers to me in my early ministry, and others the companions and friends of more mature and manly labours in the vineyard of the Lord. These are still my dearest friends. I recount their names with strong emo- tion. Our love was too holy, too heavenly and divine, to admit of separation. Neither life nor death can dissolve the union. They have crossed the flood before me, and I faintly hear their shouts of victory and songs of triumph. But if they triumph. 370 HEAVEN THE MINISTER'S REWARD. I shall triumph also. Of one heart and one soul, our sorrows and joys are the same ; our hope, our confidence, and our conflicts the same. We laboured often in the same field, and fought under the same standard. It cannot be, but that we shall be crowned together in the day of the Lord." There is much, in the present state of the church, to depress us, and much to excite our hope. The world itself is beginning to frown upon a worldly ministry ; and spiritual persons, so called, are themselves begin- ning to see their utter need of God's Holy Spirit. And when we think upon the perishing millions of our race, fervently must every believer in every place join us in reiterating the prayer which was offered by the devout and inspired king of Israel, "Let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy people shout aloud for joy." THE END. London : — J. Wilson, Printer, Red-Oross-street. 9 Date Due #- 2a ii' V - c ^ tijS