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 '^fOtOGICAl 
 
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THE v,Ar 2 1S83 
 
 ruLPiTAND Few 
 
 OR 
 
 Preacher and People. 
 
 T. C. BLAKE, D.D. 
 
 " Make full proof of thy ministry. " — 2 Tim. iv. 5. 
 " The people had a mind to ivork." — Neh. iv. 6. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn. : 
 B3 CEDAR STREET. 
 
 1882. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, 
 
 By T. C. BLAKE, 
 in the Office of tlie Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 Printed for the Anthor by the 
 
 CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
 NASHVILLE, TEXN. 
 
TO 
 
 The Ministry and Membership of the Church 
 
 OF OUR Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 
 "OF whom the whole family in 
 
 heaven and earth is named," 
 
 this little volume is 3I0ST 
 
 respectfully and 
 
 affectionately 
 
 dedicated 
 
 by 
 
 THE AUTHOE. 
 
PREFA^CE. 
 
 The author feels, and has so felt for many years, that 
 there is a place in religious literature for a small work 
 setting forth, as briefly as possible, the requisite qualifi- 
 cations and the mutual relations and obligations of the 
 ministry and laity. Not one of the denominations of 
 Christendom, so far as the writer is aware, has ever pub- 
 lished a work covering the ground designed to be occu- 
 pied by this little book; and feeling, as he does, that 
 such a work is one of the great wants of the age, the 
 author is encouraged to make the effort to meet the ne- 
 cessity. 
 
 As will be seen on a previous page, this unpretending 
 little volume is dedicated to the ministry and member- 
 ship of "the Church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ;" thereby embracing all Christendom. This is 
 done, not to conceal from the reader the predilections of 
 the author for his own denomination — the Cumheiiand 
 Presbyterian Church — but because there is nothing in this 
 book of a sectarian charaQter — nothing to prevent so 
 comprehensive a dedication. And, because of this fact, 
 the author trusts and believes that hundreds and thou- 
 sands outside of his Christian fold will read this book 
 with interest and profit. 
 
 In presuming to counsel his brethren, more especially 
 those in the ministry, no one not in a like situation can 
 even imagine the embarrassment which the author feels. 
 He is reluctant (and no one but himself knows how 
 
 (^■) 
 
VI I'REFACE. 
 
 much so) to assume to give advice to his brethren con- 
 cerning a profession, in the discharge of the duties of 
 which he is compelled to acknowledge and deplore per- 
 sonal shortcomings and inefficiency. So far as he is con- 
 cerned, the author acknowledges himself to be "less 
 than the least" of his brethren in ministerial fidelity; 
 and instead of censuring he would prefer to kneel with 
 the most inefficient of them at the Master's feet, and 
 there, with them, confess unfaithfulness, and ask to be 
 forgiven for the derelictions of the past. He is fully 
 aware that his proper position, both in experience and 
 efficiency, is greatly below many who are thus con- 
 strained to listen to him ; and it would be a matter of 
 the most painful regret if he were understood to claim 
 any pretensions to a standard of zeal and efficiency 
 above the most humble of his brethren. The author 
 has not attempted in these pages to describe what he is, 
 but what he ought to be ; nor has he overlooked that 
 scriptural admonition, "Thou that teachest another, 
 teachest thou not thyself?" 
 
 As to the success of this important undertaking, an 
 impartial public must decide. Should this little volume, 
 however, add to the usefulness and efficiency of the 
 ministry and laity of the Church of our common Lord 
 and INIaster, then the highest purpose and ambition of 
 the author, in this particular, will most certainly have 
 been accomplished. 
 
 T. C. BLAKE. 
 
 Naskville, Tenn., 1S82. 
 
EXPLANATORY NOTE. 
 
 In preparing this little volume, I have 
 availed myself of all the "helps" within my 
 reach — have not only freely used the ideas of 
 others, hut often their very words. The work 
 is intended for all evangelical Christians; and, 
 whenever it was thought hest to do so, I have 
 not hesitated to appropriate any material 
 which, in my judgment, would add to the 
 interest and usefulness of the hook. In hrief, 
 it is the result not only of my own hest 
 thoughts on the points discussed, hut likewise 
 of the hest gleanings which I have heen able 
 to obtain from others on these several topics. 
 The only apology offered for writing it is 
 an honest conviction that such a book as I 
 have attempted to make is greatly needed. 
 And, now that the task is completed, the 
 work is sent forth with the sincere desire and 
 prayer that its usefulness may he commensu- 
 rate with the field which it is designed to 
 
 occupv. 
 
 T. C. B. 
 (vii) 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
 
 PART I.— THE MINISTRY. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I. The qualifications and duties which are es- 
 sential TO A SUCCESSFUL MINISTER OF THE 
 GOSPEL 12 
 
 1. He must be a converted man — a man of 
 
 deep, undoubted piety 13 
 
 2. He must have a Divine call to the work 21 
 
 3. He must be a student — must qualify himself 
 
 intellectually for his great work 34 
 
 4. He must have a kind and fraternal spirit — 
 
 must have no jealousy or ill-will toward 
 his brethren in the ministry 45 
 
 5. He must possess dignity of character — must 
 
 be a Christian gentleman 55 
 
 6. He must be a man of fervent, persevering 
 
 prayer ; 62 
 
 7. He must be a man of earnestness and zeal 69 
 
 8. He should be a man of great firmness — a 
 
 man of decision of character 75 
 
 9. He must visit his flock — must "mix and 
 
 mingle" with his people 83 
 
 10. 'He should be a man of great prudence 95 
 
 11. He must indoctrinate his people 102 
 
 (ix) 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 12. He must preach the gospel— nothing but 
 the gospel 100 
 
 13. He must be consecrated to his work 120 ' 
 
 PART II.— THE MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 11. The qualifications and duties which are es- 
 sential TO AN EFFICIENT CHURCH-MEMBERSIIIP... 132 
 
 1. Regeneration, or the "new-birth" 132 
 
 2. They must have the gospel — the means of 
 
 grace 139 
 
 3. They must attend the sanctuary 146 
 
 4. They must be circumspect in their walk — 
 
 must be consistent Christians 154 
 
 5. They must live in peace and unity 164 
 
 6. They must read the literature of the Church — 
 
 must be well-informed as to doctrines, 
 polity, etc 172 
 
 7. They must scrupulously guard the good name 
 
 and reputation of their minister 181 
 
 8. They must be liberal in their contributions to 
 
 the cause of religion 189 
 
 9. They must be earnest and zealous in their 
 
 lives 203 
 
 10. They must pray for their minister, and must 
 
 co-operate with him in Church-work 211 
 
 11. They must cultivate household piety— family 
 
 religion 218 
 
 12. They must engage in Sabbath-school work — 
 
 must labor for the conversion of the young.. 225 
 
 13. They must support their minister pecuniarily 
 
 — must enable those who "preach the gos- 
 pel to live of the gospel" 234 
 
 14. They must disseminate the religion whii;h 
 
 they profess— must have a missionary spirit. 261 
 
THE Pli LP IT-THE PREACHER 
 
THE 
 
 PULPIT AND PEW 
 
 Preacher and People. 
 
 PART I.-THE MINISTRY. 
 
 Man is a religions being. He ivill worship. It is 
 just as natural for him to do so as it is for him to 
 seek water to slake his thirst, or bread to satisfy 
 his hunger. Whence this disposition to worship 
 originates, can, we believe, be accounted for in 
 one way only — God created him with that desire. 
 It is not meant by this assertion that man has a 
 natural desire to worship the true God, but 
 that he will worship something. The history of 
 the entire human race, so far as we know, con- 
 firms the position assumed; for no nation or tribe, 
 however degraded and ignorant, has ever been 
 found which had not a religion of some kind. 
 That this is a fact no intelligent man will contro- 
 vert or deny. The great infidel Hume said: 
 
 (11) 
 
12 PULl'IT AND PEW 
 
 ''Look out for a people entirely void of religion; 
 and if you find them at all, be assured that they 
 are but a few degrees removed from the brutes." 
 But neither Mr. Hume nor any one else ever 
 found a people without a religion. 
 
 In connection with the foregoing, another as- 
 sertion may be made which is equally general 
 and equally true: no nation or tribe has ever 
 been found which had not its religious teachers. 
 Every altar that has ever been erected has had 
 its priest — a man who, as it were, stood between 
 the object worshij^ed and the people worshiping. 
 The truth is, no religion, not even the Christian^ 
 has ever been successfully and extensively propa- 
 gated without such a class of men. Many, if not 
 most, of the false religions have called to their 
 aid the sword, the faggot, and the dungeon ; but 
 these instruments of terror and of death simply 
 overaAved the people and held them in subjection 
 until the teachers of their religions could, by 
 their " incantations," inculcate their dogmas. 
 
 Having made these preliminary remarks, we 
 are now prepared to consider the following propo- 
 sition : 
 
 I — THE QUALIFICATIONS AND DUTIES WHICH ARE 
 ESSENTIAL TO A SUCCESSFUL MINISTER OF THE 
 GOSPEL. 
 
 The great duty of the Christian ministry is to 
 preach. It is made so by the terms of the Com 
 mission itself: " Go ye into all the world, and 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 13 
 
 preach the gospel to every creature." But, as the 
 sacred poet has well said, 
 
 "'Tis not a cause of small import 
 The pastor's care demands." 
 
 To be a successful minister, therefore, there are 
 certain qualifications which he must possess, and 
 certain duties which he must perform. 
 
 1. He must he a converted man — a man of deep, 
 undoubted piety. 
 
 The Bible justly insists that a minister should 
 be holy — in a peculiar sense a man of God — a 
 man taught of Grod — a man consecrated to God. 
 (See Titus i. 8 ; ii. 7 ; 2 Cor. vi. 4-6 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12.) 
 Indeed, the work which he is called upon to per- 
 form would clearly indicate the same thing. His 
 is a ministry of reconciliation ; hence, he must be 
 a friend of the parties which are at variance — 
 God and man. A mere external reformation is 
 not sufiicient. The change demanded is a moral, 
 universal, spiritual change ; a change of the prin- 
 ciples, of the mind, of the heart, of the conduct, 
 and of the life, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 Without this " new birth " his ministrations 
 would be as " a sounding brass or a tinkling 
 cymbal." Yea, he would be in the predicament 
 of a blind man endeavoring to discourse upon the 
 beauties of light, or of a deaf man laboring to 
 make others understand the symphonies and 
 harmonies of music. 
 
14 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Indeed, all religions, fixlse as well as true, have 
 required their sacred office to be tilled with the 
 best of human beings. " The first man," says the 
 Veda, or sacred book of the Brahmins, "after 
 his creation, said to God, ' There will be on earth 
 a variety of occupations, and every man will not 
 be fit for all ; how, then, are men to be distin- 
 guished?' God answered him saying, 'They who 
 are the purest are always to be Brahmins, or min- 
 isters of religion; let the rest be what they will.' " 
 "He who exhorts men to repentance," says the 
 Sadda, or sacred book of the Magi, "should be 
 without sin. He should be of a kind temper, 
 with a soul susce]3tible of friendship ; and his 
 heart and his tongue should always agree. He is 
 to keep himself from all debauchery, from all in- 
 justice, and from all sin of every kind. He 
 should be a pattern of goodness and justice to 
 the people of God." In the Greek and Eoman 
 religions, in like manner, the last and great in- 
 junction given to all who were initiated into the 
 sacred mysteries, was, " Watch and abstain from 
 all evil." The speech which an ancient tragic 
 poet puts in the mouth of one of these teachers 
 should cause many a minister of the gospel of 
 Jesus Christ to blush. " Since," says he, " I be- 
 came a priest of Idean Jupiter, I have kept all 
 my garments pure and spotless ; and I hold my- 
 self above the ordinary converse and conduct of 
 men." " First be trimmed thyself, and then adorn 
 thy brother," say the Rabbins. "The hand," 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 15 
 
 said Grregory, of Nazianziim, " that purposes to 
 make another clean must not itself be filthy." 
 He also said, " The minister of the gospel must 
 first be pure, and then purify others ; be taught 
 himself, then teacli others; become light, and 
 then enlighten others ; draw near to G-od himself, 
 and then induce others to approach him." 
 
 The world, however, is full of counterfeits ; 
 and, unfortunately for the cause of our holy re- 
 ligion, the Christian pulpit is not free from them. 
 Simj)ly because a man may be a minister, is by 
 no means positive evidence that he is a converted 
 man; for, in every age of the Church, ungodly 
 men have not only as2>ired to but actually en- 
 tered the sacred ofiice. The deepest wounds, too, 
 which the religion of the Bible has ever received, 
 or ever can receive, have been, and are, those in- 
 flicted by unconverted ministers. How sadly, for 
 instance, did the Jewish Church suffer when such 
 characters as Hophni and Phinehas officiated at 
 the altar! It w^as an unconverted minister that 
 betrayed the Lord of Clory, and from that period 
 down to the present, as ecclesiastical history 
 proves, the Church has been compelled to mourn 
 the fact that some of the "vilest of men have oc- 
 casionally been found in the sacred profession." 
 In addition to the appalling fact just announced, 
 it is likewise true that even sincere men — men who 
 thought that they were converted — have entered 
 the ministry, and have essayed to j)reach a salva- 
 tion of which they were, at the time, experiment- 
 
16 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 ally ignorant. As proof of this, read the Life of 
 Wesley, of Chalmers, of McGready, and of scores 
 of others, who had the candor and courage to 
 confess the fact; but who, by a godly repentance, 
 became deeply pious, and arose to the position of 
 <' sons of thunder " in the ministry. 
 
 With these facts before us, it could not be con- 
 sidered either extravagant or unkind to assert 
 that there are now hundreds — yea, thousands — 
 in the ministry, among the various denomina- 
 tions of Christendom, who are not converted. 
 Horrible thought ! Yet, with the Bible and eccle- 
 siastical history in our hands, we must believe the 
 fact, however revolting to our hearts. Because 
 of this, the great Baxter, in his "Eeformed 
 Pastor," says : " Take heed to yourselves lest you 
 should be void of that saving grace of God which 
 you oifer to others, and be strangers to the effect- 
 ual working of that gospel which you preach; 
 and lest, while you proclaim the necessity of a 
 Saviour to the world, your hearts should neglect 
 him, and you should miss of an interest in him 
 and his saving benefits. Take heed to yourselves, 
 lest you perish while you call upon others to take 
 heed of perishing, and lest you famish yourselves 
 while you prepare their food. Though there be 
 a promise of shining as stars to those that turn 
 many to righteousness (Dan. xii. 3), this is but on 
 supposition that they be first turned to it them- 
 selves. Many a preacher is now in hell that hath 
 an hundred times called upon his hearers to use 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 17 
 
 the utmost care and diligence to escape it. Can 
 any reasonable man imagine that God should save 
 men for offering salvation to others while they 
 refused it themselves; and for telling others 
 those truths which they themselves neglected 
 and abused? Many a tailor goes in rags that 
 maketh costly clothes for others; and many a 
 cook scarce licks his fingers when he hath dressed 
 for others the most costly dishes. Believe it, 
 brethren, God never saved any man for being a 
 preacher, nor because he was an able preacher ; 
 but because he was a justified, sanctified man, 
 and, consequently, faithful in his Master's Avork. 
 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves first, that you 
 be what you persuade others to be, and believe 
 that which you persuade them daily to believe, 
 and have heartily entertained that Christ and 
 Spirit which you offer unto others. He that bade 
 you love your neighbors as yourselves, did imply 
 that you should love yourselves, and not hate and 
 destroy both yourselves and them." 
 
 The foregoing paragraph, with its solemn and 
 weighty admonitions and warnings, should be in- 
 delibly impressed upon the heart of every minis- 
 ter of the gospel. Holiness is an indispensable 
 prerequisite in a preacher's life. Without it his 
 labor, as a spiritual guide, is lost. Like those on 
 whom Moses pronounces a part of his curse, he 
 sows, but shall not reap; he waters without see- 
 ing the increase. His words, like arrows shot 
 from a bow which has no elasticity, fall short of 
 2 
 
18 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the mark. The coldness of his heart freezes the 
 language of his lips; and he cannot possibly 
 kindle in the bosom of others that love to God 
 and zeal for his service which have no existence 
 in his own life. Unhappy the people to whom 
 God may permit such a man to minister ! They 
 can neither be aroused by his sermons nor guided 
 by his example. Unhappy, too — yea, indescrib- 
 ably miserable — the minister who becomes thus 
 the tempter and destroyer of those whom he 
 might be instrumental in saving ! His superior 
 knowledge only serves to ag^^avate his condem- 
 nation. He bears the torch, yet he himself knows 
 not the way. Like the Scribes and Pharisees of 
 old, he neither goes into heaven himself, nor 
 suffers them that are entering to go in. Instead 
 of being a star of Bethlehem to guide and lead 
 his hearers to Jesus, he is a stone of stumbling 
 over which they will plunge into the vortex of 
 despair. Yea, such a minister is a greater curse 
 to his flock than fiimine, pestilence, or sword. 
 
 The great John Stoughton, in his treatise en- 
 titled " The Preacher's Dignity and Duty," thus 
 speaks upon the necessity of ministerial holiness 
 of life: " If Uzzah must die but for touching tlie 
 ark of God, and that to stay it when it was like 
 to fall; if the men of Beth-shemesh for looking 
 into it; if the very beasts that do but come 
 near the holy mount be threatened; then what 
 manner of persons ought they to be who shall be 
 admitted to talk Avith God familiarly, to ^ stand 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 19 
 
 before bim,' as tbe angels do, and ' bebold bis" face 
 continually'; 'to bear tbe ark upon tbeir sboul- 
 ders,' 'to bear bis name before tbe Grentiles*; in a 
 word, to be bis ambassadors?" Tbe melancboly 
 bistory of tbe sons of Eli sbows clearly tbat tbere 
 is scarcely any punisbment adequate to tbe 
 crimes of ungodly ministers. And if Gfod tbus 
 punisbed tbe profaners of tbe blood of bulls and 
 goats, wbat will be do, ratber wbat will be not do? 
 to tbe profaners of tbe blood of bis own Son? 
 
 Tbe proposition is tberefore repeated witb em- 
 pbasis, tbat a minister of tbe gospel must be a 
 man of piety — of deep, undoubted piety. It is 
 not enough tbat be sbould be equal, in tbis 
 respect, to ordinarj^ Cbristians. God and men. 
 and witb good reason, too, require tbat be sbould 
 be a representative, a typical Cbristian. To bim 
 tbe people come to drink as to a spring; bence, 
 tbere sbould be in bim an abounding spiritual 
 fountain. His time and talents are consecrated 
 to religion, and it is pre-eminently bis business to 
 be boly. And to excite bim to tbis boliness of 
 life be must look not to tbe world around bim, 
 but to angels and to G-od. He must look to tbe 
 bigbest precepts of tbe gospel, and be must copj' 
 tbe Higb Priest of iiis profession. He must tbink 
 bow tbe apostles and otber faitbful preacbers 
 lived; and be must tbink, too, bow departed 
 ministers would live if tbey were permitted to 
 return and act tbeir part again in tbe great 
 drama of human life. Let tbe minister, then, 
 
20 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 be an example to his flock and a guide to his 
 people. The preacher and the man must be one. 
 His heart must be a transcript of his sermons, 
 then will he be a chosen vessel to preach Christ 
 to a dying world. It is not reasonable to suppose 
 that he can inspire a love for that holiness of lifie 
 to which he is an utter stranger. If he would 
 ascend to the hill of the Lord, or dwell within 
 his holy place, he must have clean hands and a 
 pure heart. Like the brightness of Goshen 
 amidst the obscurity of Egypt, his life must be 
 "a shining light," to dispel the ignorance and 
 darkness of this sin-cursed earth. In a word, his 
 piety, like the virtue of Caesar's wife, must be 
 above suspicion. Under the Old Dispensation, no 
 person who had any blemish was to offer the 
 oblations to the Lord. (See Lev. xxi. 17-20.) 
 The priest was to have in his robes bells and 
 pomegranates; the one a figure of sound doctrine, 
 and the other of a fruitful life. (See Exod. xxviii. 
 33, 34.) And in the saered ministry the voice of 
 Jacob will do but little good if the hands be the 
 hands of Esau. Mere orthodoxy will not save a 
 minister of the gospel. He may go to perdition 
 with a Confession of Faith or Discipline in each 
 pocket. The forms of religion are only the scaf- 
 folding for erecting the spiritual edifice. The 
 reason given why " much people was added unto 
 the Lord" under the preaching of Barnabas, was 
 that " lie was a good man, and full of the Holy 
 Ghost." (See Acts xi. 24.) The minister of the 
 
 I 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 21 
 
 gospel is unlike all other instructors. The latter 
 simply teach art or science, without reference to 
 moral character. The mechanic may teach his 
 art thoroughly, but he may be grossly immoral. 
 The college professor may be an excellent in- 
 structor, and still be a very bad man But the 
 minister is necessarily blended with the truth 
 which he teaches. In other words, he may ex- 
 plain the doctrines of the Bible intellectually, but 
 he cannot enforce them without a realization of 
 them ujjon his own heart. 
 
 2, He must have a Divine call to the work. 
 
 Any man who is a Christian has a right to rec- 
 ommend the grand scheme of redemption — the 
 glorious plan of salvation through Christ. And 
 more, he not only has the right, but it is his duty 
 to do so as long as he lives. Indeed, this question 
 goes beyond men, and even includes the whole of 
 the otlier sex; for whether believers be male or 
 female, they are all bound to exert themselves to 
 their utmost to extend the knowledge of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. But while this is true, it is likewise 
 a fact that the official preaching of the gosj)el — 
 "the teaching and bearing rule in the Church " — 
 is confined, by the authority of God himself, to a 
 certain definite class — to a set of men separated 
 from every secular calling, and entitled to cast 
 themselves for their temporal necessities upon the 
 Church of God. (See Heb. v. 4; 1 Cor. ix. 11; 1 
 Tim. V. 18.) 
 
22 rULPlT AND PEW. 
 
 As proof positive of the necessity of a Divine 
 call to the ministry we present the following brief 
 summary: 
 
 (a) Such a class is necessary to the propagation 
 of religion. 
 
 To say that the Christian religion could not 
 have been propagated without the agency of a 
 class of men devoted to that special service, would, 
 no doubt, be stating the case too strongly; 'but to 
 assert that the Triune Grod has ever adopted that 
 method as the principal one for spreading abroad 
 the religion of the Bible, would be to utter a truth 
 which no intelligent person will call in question. 
 Indeed, such a class of men has, in all ages of the 
 world, been considered a necessity — yea, a want so 
 deeply imbedded in the bosom of man that it was 
 a part and parcel of his very nature. In all his 
 dealings with the human family, too, God has 
 ever recognized this fact. Doubtless he might 
 have instructed as well as converted Paul by a 
 miracle; but it was his pleasure to direct him to 
 a fellow-sinner for the explicit revelation of his 
 will. The angel also might have been an in- 
 structor to Cornelius; but, for the purpose of 
 maintaining the order of the Divine economy, 
 the ministry of the word (Peter) was made the 
 medium of conveying evangelical light to his 
 soul. lie — some are ready to say, perhaps — might 
 have employed the unfallen angels to do this 
 work. But could he have done so in accordance 
 with the high and holy principle of his govern 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 23 
 
 ment? Could he (the question is asked with 
 great reverence) have changed their location from 
 "the bright world of bliss" to this "sin-cursed 
 world" of ours? Or could he, in accordance with 
 justice, require them to associate with the vile 
 and debased? But admitting, for the sake of ar- 
 gument, that this could have been done, would 
 these angels have been the kind of ministry that 
 man needed? They could not have entered into 
 the sj^mpathies of our fallen nature; nor could 
 they have told, by experience, of the joys of par- 
 doned sin, for the simple reason that they were 
 strangers to such a feeling. Moreover, they could 
 not exhibit themselves as an illustration of the 
 power of the grace of God — could not show what 
 grace could do with the vilest sinners. 
 
 If the foregoing be true, the necessity for such 
 a class of men is almost absolute. Such an order 
 of men constitutes one of the essential elements 
 of the social state. Society can no more exist 
 without it than without some form of civil 
 government. Men will not consent to occupy a 
 place in associated communities without the rec- 
 ognized dispensers of religious rites. Conscience 
 demands them for the living and for the dead. 
 Be it but necromancy, or some strange form of 
 ''black-art" conjuration, the mother demands 
 them for her new-born babe, and the child de- 
 mands them at the obsequies of its parent. Hu- 
 man wisdom never erects her temples so high 
 as to be above the tempest. A voice that is 
 
24: PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 oracular must speak to men in the day of their 
 Calamity, even though the oracle be unheeded in 
 the elevation of their pride. A hand that is 
 allied to what is unseen and unearthly is looked 
 for to wipe away the tears from the fiace of sor- 
 row, even though it be unsought amid the sun- 
 shine of joy, In a word, man will not only have 
 a religion, but religious teachers — if not a Mount 
 Zion, an Olympus, a Valhalla, a Mecca — some 
 system of theology or theogony, with temples, 
 priests, and liturgies. 
 
 (b) The sovereignty of God's gov-ernment de- 
 mands such a call. 
 
 Ministers of the gospel are Heaven's ambassa- 
 dors; and every one knows that the very essence 
 ■of the ambassadorial office lies in the appoint- 
 ment which is made by the sovereign represented. 
 An ambassador unsent would not only be power- 
 less, but he would be highly reprehensible. While, 
 therefore, all earthly sovereigns claim the privi- 
 lege of selecting those who are to represent them, 
 is it not reasonable to suppose that the great 
 Sovereign of the universe would reserve the same 
 privilege to himself? Earthly rulers insist upon 
 the exercise of such a prerogative in order that 
 the integrity of their government may be pre- 
 served; but how much more important that the 
 God of heaven (the heavenly Euler) should de- 
 mand the same prerogative? Is not his govern- 
 ment infinitely more important than any, yea, 
 than all, of the governments of earth? If earthly 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 25 
 
 sovereigns, then, cannot, and will not, risk any 
 one who may voluntarily assume the office of am- 
 bassador, how can we for a moment suppose that 
 the i^urest and best Sovereign in the universe 
 would permit such a thing? The Bible teaches 
 us that the great Jehovah is a jealous God, and 
 that justice and judgment are the habitations of 
 his throne; hence he must, and will, have an 
 agency in the selection of those whose conduct is 
 not only to affect the party to whom they may go 
 as ambassadors, but likewise the government 
 which they represent. Men form their opinions 
 of earthly governments from the character of the 
 ambassadors whom they send forth; and does not 
 an All-wise God know that they would do the 
 same thing in reference to his government? The 
 truth is (speaking with reverence) God cannot 
 afford to intrust the interests of his kingdom to 
 self-appointed and self-constituted ambassadors. 
 Such a thing would not only bring his govern- 
 ment into disrepute, but would dethrone the great 
 Euler himself! 
 
 (c) Such a call is indispensable in order that 
 the sacred office may be supplied with efficient 
 men. 
 
 The office of the gospel ministry is one of toil 
 and sacrifice. Of all the professions and occupa- 
 tions of men it is the least lucrative. No class of 
 men on earth, when we take into consideration 
 the intellectual endowments which they possess, 
 and the amcunt-of labor which they perform, re- 
 
26 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 ceivcs sueli meager compensation. To be a suc- 
 cessful preacher a man must turn his back upon 
 all the avenues of wealth, and must be content 
 upon a bare subsistence. The lawyer, the doctor, 
 the merchant, the mechanic, the farmer, the 
 banker, the tradesman may become vastly 
 wealthy by following their respective professions 
 and lines of business; but the minister of the 
 gospel, if he is faithful to his calling, has no such 
 incentive. Many of them, and we weep as we 
 write the sentence, have no home of their own — 
 like their Divine Master, they can say, they " have 
 not where to lay their heads," except it is fur- 
 nished by others — by some kind family of 
 Bethany! Like the camel of the desert, though 
 they bear the precious burden, they feed upon 
 shrubs ! 
 
 These things being true, how, we ask, could 
 competent men — men of intellect, and men of 
 culture — be induced to enter a profession which 
 promises so little, so far as this world is concerned? 
 No one will doubt that the qualifications which 
 are necessary to a successful ministry would in- 
 sure wealth and honor in any of the other pro- 
 fessions and avocations of life. Why, then, will 
 men enter upon a calling which promises nothing, 
 so far as this world is concerned, but arduous toil 
 and a meager support? There is but one answer; 
 '• the love of God constrains them " ; and they feel 
 like the great Apostle of the Gentiles when he 
 said, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel" 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 27 
 
 Remove this "constraint" a,ud this "woe," and 
 how few would enter the ministry! 
 
 (d) The Scriptures clearly teach the doctrine 
 of a Divine call to the ministry. 
 
 Under the Old Dispensation, intrusion into the 
 priestly office was marked as the most dangerous 
 presumption — yea, was most severely punished. 
 (See Num. xviii. 7; 2 Chron. xxvi. 16-20.) The 
 prophets, too, claimed to hold commissions from 
 Jehovah. Isaiah tells us that one of the seraphim 
 touched his lips with a live coal from off the altar, 
 and the voice of the Lord said, " Whom shall I 
 send, and who will go for us?" Then said the 
 prophet, "Here am I; send me." (Isa. vi. 8.) 
 
 Jeremiah thus speaks of his call: "Then the 
 word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before 
 I formed thee in the belly I knew" thee; and before 
 thou earnest forth out of the womb I sanctified 
 thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the 
 nations." (Jer. i. 4, 5.) 
 
 Ezekiel, in speaking of his authority, says : 
 "And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee" 
 unto the house of Israel, and speak my words 
 unto them." (Ezek. iii. 4.) 
 
 The same Divine authority was claimed by 
 Daniel and all the other proj^hets. Not one of 
 them dared to act as God's official messenger un- 
 til he felt that he had been commissioned by the 
 high court of heaven. Not one of them ran be- 
 fore he had been specially visited by the Lord 
 and qualified for his mission. "How shall they 
 
28 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 preach except they be sent?" wei'e words which 
 as yet had not been uttered; but their solemn im- 
 port was well understood. In brief, throughout 
 the Old Testament Scriptures the fact is clearly 
 and forcibly taught that God, in every instance, 
 exercised his sovereignty in the selection of indi- 
 viduals to carry on his purposes of mercy toward 
 a fallen world; whether patriarchs, priests, proph- 
 ets, or judges. Besides, we have the positive 
 declarations of God himself upon this subject. 
 Says he, " I will give you pastors according to 
 mine heart." (Jer. iii. 15.) Again, "I will set 
 up shepherds over tbem which shall feed them." 
 (Jer. xxiii. 4.) Still further, "I have set watch- 
 men upon thy walls, Jerusalem, which shall 
 never hold their j^eace day nor night." (Isa. Ixii. 
 G.) And of those w^hom he had not called, he 
 says, " I have not sent these prophets, yet they 
 ran ; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophe- 
 sied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and 
 had caused my people to hear my words, then 
 "they should have turned them from their evil 
 way, and from the evil of their doings. I sent 
 them not, nor commanded them ; therefore they 
 shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." 
 (Jer. xxiii. 21, 22, 32.) 
 
 Under the New Dispensation, the fact is re- 
 iterated A ith emphasis that no one should dare 
 usurp such unwarranted authority. Christ him- 
 self appeared on earth with a delegated, not with 
 a self-appointed, commission. Prophetically, he 
 
PULPIT AND PEAV. 29 
 
 had already declared his cnll to his great work. 
 (See Isa. xlviii. 16 ; Ixi. 1.) This call, too, was 
 manifested to the world at the commeDcement, as 
 well as during the entire course of his public 
 ministry. (See Matt. iii. 16, 17; John xii. 28-30.) 
 Time and again, too, did he appeal to this call as 
 the proper — yea, as ^the only^ credentials of his 
 mission. (See John viii. 16, 42; v. 43.) He not 
 only called each one of his apostles to the work 
 of the ministry, but he denounced as " thieves 
 and robbers" all who "entered into the fold" 
 without his authority — emphatically declared 
 that he only who "entered in by the door" of his 
 commission "was the shej^herd of the sheep." 
 (See John x. 12.) 
 
 The truth is, the very names given to ministers 
 in the New Testament imply a previous call to 
 the work. Paul says, " Now then we are ambassa- 
 dors for God." But how can there be an ambas- 
 sador without a jjvevious appointment? If it is 
 said that this is restricted to the apostles, we an- 
 swer that the Epistle in which the language occurs 
 is written not in the name of Paul only, but of 
 Timothy also, and hence included other ministry 
 besides the apostleship. Moreover, in the First 
 Epistle to the Corinthians we read: "Let a man 
 80 account of us (the us here meaning Paul and 
 Sosthenes, 1 Cor. i. 1) as of the ministers of 
 Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 
 (1 Cor. iv. 1.) Surely no one will doubt that a 
 steward must hold his office by appointment ; a 
 
30 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 self-constituted one would be a laughing-stock. 
 Ministers are likewise called angels (Eev. ii. 1), 
 and this word, as w^e all know, means messenger; 
 but how can men be Christ's messengers unless 
 by his choice or election. They are also called 
 ^'servants,'' "chosen vessels,'' " shejjherds," "over- 
 seers," etc., which appellations are meaningless 
 when the idea of choice is excluded. But Paul, 
 speaking by the authority and inspiration of God, 
 forever settles this question when he says, "No 
 man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that 
 is called of God, as Avas Aaron." (Ileb. v. 4.) In 
 tlie passage just quoted, Paul, we admit, is speak- 
 ing of the priestly office; but what is true, in this 
 particular, of one is likewise true of the other. 
 
 We will not venture the j^ositive assertion that 
 an uncalled minister never does any good. God 
 7nay now, as he one time did, by way of miracle, 
 bring a man to life by the bones of a dead 
 prophet — may soinetimes honor his own word so 
 far as to make it eftectual for salvation, even 
 when it falls from the lips of an uncalled minister. 
 The message of Elisha, though conveyed by 
 Gehazi, cured the Sja'ian general; and similar 
 results occurred in a few other cases. But such 
 instruments may be compared to those Tyrians 
 who assisted Solomon in building that temple in 
 whose God they had no personal interest, and in 
 whose blessings they had no share. This, how- 
 ever, is not God's ordinary method of dealing 
 with the human race. It is rather his "strange 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 31 
 
 work,'' as one has expressed it; for it is extremely 
 seldom, taking the Bible as our guide, that the 
 labors of uncommissioned men are ever owned 
 by him, or attended with any success. In what 
 other way is it possible to account for the vast 
 difference in the success of ministers, except upon 
 the idea that some are called of God and others are 
 not? Why is it that some who are men of piety 
 and of high culture never seem to have any suc- 
 cess, while others, who are greatly their inferiors 
 in natural endowments and in acquired gifts, have 
 many "stars in their crowns of rejoicing"? 
 There is. to our mind, but one answer: The for- 
 mer have "run without being sent," while the 
 latter are "shepherds of God's own choosing." 
 No man, therefore, can claim the ministry as his 
 right — as his inheritance — because his fathers 
 and his ancestors, for generations past, have 
 served the Church and their God in that capacity. 
 No learning, no morality, no profession,. no zeal, 
 no any thing, can supply the place of a Divine call. 
 We cannot conceive of God's giving a revelation 
 of such vast import without at the same time 
 definitely ordaining the best method of making 
 it known. He would not leave this to loose, un- 
 certain methods. Indeed, if no regular Divine 
 agency had been appointed to publish the message 
 of reconciliation between God and man, we would 
 certainly feel that God is not in earnest in this, or 
 that it is not a true revelation. If there is a mes- 
 sage of peace from the higher government to a 
 
62 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 rebellious race, there must also be a permanent 
 embassy of peace, established in the foreign 
 government of an alienated world. The Lord 
 appoints his workmen; and those who go in 
 obedience to that appointment will be owned and 
 honored of him. But the minister who is not 
 thus sent, though he may be learned, eloquent, 
 and popular, will not be blessed and honored of 
 Heaven. The world may apj^rove him, but in the 
 "great day" he will hear the solemn words, "I 
 never knew you" as one of my ambassadors. 
 Whatever else such a minister ma}^ have, he lacks 
 the Divine call; and without this he cannot have 
 the unction of the Holy One, the power of the 
 Spirit of the Lord of Hosts • 
 
 To some the preaching of the gospel may seem 
 to be a matter of individual choice — may suppose 
 that the ministry of God's word is a trade to be 
 learned, a profession to be chosen, an office to be 
 sought;, but such persQns "do greatly err, not 
 knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." 
 Would it be "a light thing" for a man to repre- 
 sent himself as an ambassador of a king who 
 never commissioned him? Would it be a small 
 matter in business for a man to claim to be the 
 agent and representative of a person who had 
 never given him authority or mentioned his 
 name? Would it be a trivial circumstance for a 
 man to transact business and make treaties in 
 behalf of some mighty potentate who had given 
 him no authority for so doing? Shall it, then, be 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 33 
 
 deemed a small affair for a man to palm himself 
 off as an authorized servant of the Lord Almighty 
 without indorsement or recognition from on 
 high? 
 
 As to the evidences of this call, they can be very 
 briefly given. The subject of it not only feels a 
 deep anxiety for the salvation of sinners ; but he 
 likewise feels that there is a personal responsi- 
 bility in the matter — a work for Mm to do, which 
 no one else can perform. True, his mind and 
 heart may revolt, and in most instances they do, 
 at the very thought of occupying so responsible 
 a position as that of a minister of the gospel. 
 He may, and, perhaps, always does, try to argue 
 himself into the belief that the idea of his enter- 
 ing upon the work of the ministry is perfectly 
 preposterous — can assign a score of reasons why 
 he should not undertake such a thing. Like 
 Moses, he pleads, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, 
 neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken to 
 thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a 
 slow tongue." (Ex. iv. 10.) A thousand times, 
 too, he will say, as did that same man of God, "O 
 my Lord, scud, I pray thee, by the hand of him 
 by whom thou wilt send." (Ex. iv. 13.) Yea, 
 like Jonah, he may even attempt to "flee unto 
 Tarshish from the presence of the Lord"; but, 
 notwithstanding all his efforts to evade the re- 
 sponsibility, there is a "still, small voice" which 
 whispers, "Go and preach the preaching that I 
 bid thee." Indeed, so reluctant is a man who has 
 
34 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 proper conceptions of the awful responsibility of 
 such ti work, and of his own imperfection — yea, 
 nothingness in the sight of God — that he proposes 
 every possible compromise with his Maker — will 
 pi-omise almost any thing and every thing, if God 
 will release him. But no plan, no promise, no 
 any thing which he may concoct for the purj)ose 
 of evading his duty, will give his mind and heart 
 any relief. Like the great Apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles, he feels, "Woe is me if I preach not the 
 gospel." And go where he may, and do what he 
 may, that " w^oe" rests uj^on him until he consents 
 to do the work which God has assigned him. In 
 a word, no one whom God has called to the 
 ministry can be a happy man until be consents 
 to do his duty. Nor need any one w^ho is thus 
 called, fear for one moment that God Avill remove 
 all embarrassments out of the way. He does not 
 demand impossibilities of his creatures; and just 
 as surely as he calls a man to the ministry, just 
 so surely w^ill he enable that man to perform the 
 work assigned him, provided the person called 
 will consent to make the eifort. The blessed 
 Saviour said to his first ministers, and he says the 
 same to each one now, "Lo, I am with you alway, 
 even unto the end of the world." (Matt, xxviii. 
 20.) 
 
 3. He must he a student — must qualify himself in- 
 tellectually for his great work. 
 
 The first ministers of the gospel were divinely 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 35 
 
 • 
 
 inspireilj and, therefore, the necessity did not exist 
 for acquiring knowledge lay diligent application 
 to study. But ever since Christianity has been 
 fully established, the case has been otherwise; for 
 God seldom or never works by miracle when 
 ordinary means will serve. Now, therefore, close, 
 23ersevering study must, to a considerable extent, 
 do for the minister of this day what inspiration 
 did for the apostles and their immediate suc- 
 cessors. 
 
 It was a saying of Demosthenes that " a man 
 should be branded as the pest of society and the 
 enemy of the Commonwealth who durst propose 
 any thing in public which he had not first consid- 
 ered well, and pondered in private." But how 
 much more presumptuous is it for a minister of the 
 gosjDcl, in the great work of salvation, to appear 
 before the Church, before angels, and before God 
 himself, to speak upon the dread mysteries of re- 
 demption, without having secured beforehand the 
 advantages which knowledge, study, and prepara- 
 tion will give him? Like his great Master, the 
 minister is "set for the rise or fall of many in 
 Israel"; but, without proper qualification, he can 
 never meet the high and holy obligations which 
 are upon him. 
 
 Paul's advice to timothy was, ^^ Study to show 
 thyself approved unto God, a workman that need- 
 eth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word 
 of truth." (2 Tim. ii. 15.) l^o one, surely, who 
 has a jiroper conception of the sacred office, can, 
 
36 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 for a moment, doubt tliat the miuistr}^ of the 
 nineteenth century should profit by that advice. 
 Indeed, with the facilities which this age is now 
 offering to the rising ministry for intellectual cult- 
 ure, no probationer, who has proj^er respect for 
 himself and for the cause of his Master, can afford 
 to enter upon the sacred profession without the 
 necessary literary qualifications. Men of piety 
 can do good, even when destitute of the high in- 
 tellectual culture upon which we are insisting; 
 but the history of the Church proves that, as a 
 general thing, they have never been able to lay 
 broad foundations, nor to raise well-proportiOncd 
 and firmly-jointed superstructures. It requires 
 intellectual culture, and a high order of it too, to 
 accomplish such work: as Luther, Calvin, Wesley, 
 McCready, etc., performed. 
 
 But while we insist upon the broad and exten- 
 sive culture whicli the present age demands, yet 
 we would not be understood as taking the posi- 
 tion that each and every minister should have the 
 same amount of learning. In other w^ords. we do 
 not contend, nor do we believe, that there is a 
 Divine warrant — "a thus saith the Lord" — for a 
 definite and specific amount of human learning 
 as an indispensable jirerequisite — ''a sine qua 
 non'' — \,o entering upon the* sacred profession. 
 Indeed, no one, we think, can so say with the 
 Bible in his hands, and with the example of the 
 blessed Saviour before him in selecting the first 
 ministers under the gospel dispensation. True, 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 37 
 
 as we have said, they were divinely inspired; 
 but that inspiration, no doubt, had special refer- 
 ence to theological rather than to scientific truth. 
 
 The history of the Church (we use the word 
 Church in its broadest sense, meaning all ortho- 
 dox Christendom) establishes the fact that some 
 of the most powerful and successful ministers that 
 ever have adorned, or that now adorn, the pulpit, 
 never enjoyed the advantages of a thorough clas- 
 sical and theological training. They entered the 
 ministry "against principalities and powers," as 
 a distinguished writer has aptly said, and fought 
 their way to the highest positions. Language 
 cannot do them the honor which they deserve. 
 Grod bless them and give them successors! The 
 lives of such men demonstrate the fact that a 
 minister may be unable to read the "classics," 
 and be wholly ignorant of the higher branches 
 of mathematics, and still be, in the true sense of 
 the term, an educated man — may know how to 
 thi?ik — may be able to investigate closely and to 
 reason logically — may be a fine English scholar, 
 and a man of general and extensive reading — 
 yea, may be much more efficient as a minister of 
 Jesus Christ than scores of those who bear di- 
 plomas from honored institutions. 
 
 AYhat Christianity needs is a ministry adapted 
 to the culture of the age. Society, like a pyramid, 
 has the largest amount of material at the base. 
 It is also a fact which cannot be denied, that re- 
 ligion, like flame, kindles in an upward direction. 
 
38 rULPlT AND PEW. 
 
 Grades of society must be set on fire like layers 
 of wood — at the bottom. The Jew^s were un2:)hil- 
 osophical when they asked, as a test question, 
 "Have any of the Hirers believed on him?" In- 
 deed, to have attempted the conversion of the 
 Israelitish nation through the reigning family of 
 Herod and his nobles would have been as absurd 
 as to have attempted to warm the waters of the 
 Dead Sea by floating beacons upon its surface/ 
 If man had been called upon to select the minis- 
 try for the Apostolic age, he would have chosen 
 the profoundest scholars, the wisest philosophers, 
 and the most eloquent orators; but Christ, know- 
 ing the fact that religion develops upward, and 
 not downward, w^ent to the humble fishermen of 
 Galilee. Hence, Avhen the infidel Celsus said, 
 "The Apostles were mean and illiterate persons — 
 men of sorry manners and fishermen^'' the great 
 Qrigen retorted, "Then it is evident that their 
 power w^as from heaven, and their religion 
 Divine." 
 
 While, therefore, it is right and proj^er for the 
 Church to demand that the ministry shall be men 
 of high culture, yet w^e must not forget that there 
 is some danger of going to too great an extreme. 
 It would be a calamity if the entire ministry of 
 Christendom were educated out of sympathy with 
 the people. The poor and the illiterate, as well 
 as the rich and educated, must have the gospel; 
 and we all know how difficult it is to induce men 
 of hiu'h culture to confine their ministrations to 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 39 
 
 the "highways and hedges." We know, too, that 
 these same people are "more at home with," and 
 have greater sympathy for, those who are not 
 educated out of sjmpathy with them. Tiie 
 Church needs, and must have, many Pauls, but 
 we must not forget that it needs Peters too. 
 
 Let no one for a moment believe that we, by 
 the position assumed, are inveighing against the 
 'highest possible culture in the pulpit, and are en- 
 couraging the neglect of it in the sacred *office. 
 Nor is it to be understood that we, in any degree, 
 favor intellectual indolence; on the contrary, we 
 boldly affirm that it is a shame and a disgrace for 
 any man to enter the pulpit without "beaten oil." 
 No man can succeed as a minister of the gospel 
 without close, ardent, persevering study, nor is 
 he to consider that he is at all meeting his re- 
 sponsibilities, in this particular," unless he is equal 
 to, if not in advance of, those to whom he minis- 
 ters. He is a teacher, and unless he can comply 
 with what that word implies, he cannot, as Paul 
 did, "magnify his office." No minister can sus- 
 tain himself who is not a student. He must be 
 constantly accumulating fresh and invigorating 
 thought, else he will soon exhaust the stock on 
 hand. The people will not submit to dry and 
 senseless platitudes; nor will they,^xcept under 
 protest, pay for services which they believe have 
 cost neither time nor thought. The truth is, a 
 preacher who will thus degrade his profession 
 and dishonor his Master is a fraud, and deserves 
 
40 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 ecclesiastical indictment, at least, for obtaining 
 money under false pretenses. Services in the 
 pulpit which cost nothing in their preparation, 
 are worth nothing; and the minister of Jesus 
 Christ who attempts to get his living by them is 
 a cheat, and is unworthy of the confidence of his , 
 flock. The sermons, rather the ^^ harangues,'' 
 which such a minister delivers amount to nothing. 
 Like bullets, though they may have heads, they 
 have wo points. Eobert Hall was once asked how 
 many sermons a minister could prepare in a week. 
 His answer was, "This depends upon his habits 
 of thought and study. If they be first-rate in 
 every respect, he might produce one by very hard 
 work. If they be second-rate, he can make two 
 with moderate ease. If they be tenth-rate, he can 
 make any number!" 
 
 The preacher, unlike the barrister or politician, 
 addresses the same audience year after j-ear. 
 Hence, he must keep abreast of the age, if not in 
 front of it. A distinguished writer says, "He 
 (the minister) must circumnavigate the world of 
 thought, but he must see to it that his first merid- 
 ian passes through Calvary, and adjust all to that 
 starting place." The prejudices against God's 
 message are already so numerous that the minis- 
 ter of the go^el should do nothing to justify or 
 increase them; nor must he omit any thing that 
 he can do to overcome them. The mass of the 
 people now have the opportunity of a good edu- 
 cation within their reach, and many have availed, 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 41 
 
 and will continue to avail, themselves of the ad- 
 vantages afforded. All the important questions 
 of the day, theological questions not excepted, 
 are discussed in the literature to which the people 
 have access; and the minister of the gospel, if he 
 would be respected, must be so far abreast of the 
 current of general thought as to be "looked up 
 to" as authority upon all these topics. If he is 
 conspicuously deficient in intelligence, however 
 devoted he may be to his legitimate avocation, he 
 will, necessarily, "suffer loss." There is an inter- 
 course with capable and intelligent men to which 
 the minister of the gospel is called, by virtue of 
 his office, and he must not, he canjiot, afford to 
 shrink from it. It would be an untold calamity 
 for the cause of religion to have the impression 
 go forth that uncultured men only filled the 
 sacred office. On the contrary, nothing enhances 
 the cause of Christianity more than to have its 
 pulpits occupied by men of vigorous intellect, of 
 profound scholarship, and of varied culture — by 
 men who are fitted to rule by weight of character 
 and by force of mind, while they constantly bow 
 in the deepest humiliation before the Cross of 
 Christ. 
 
 There is a certain parable which is often told 
 to children, but it contains a "moral" — a pro- 
 found one, too — by which the sacred ministry may 
 be greatly profited. It is this : A certain king 
 instructed his son in the art of governing men. 
 " The great art of governing," said he, "is to make 
 
42 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the people believe that the king knows more than 
 his siibjeets." " But how," asked his son, " shall 
 he make men believe this?" The king answered, 
 ^^ By knowing more.'' Ah, that is the secret. The 
 only way for a minister of the gospel to be a 
 "leader and guide" to his people is to "know 
 more" than they know. John Wesley said to a 
 minister who had neglected study, "Your talent 
 in preaching does not increase; it is just the 
 same that it was seven years ago. It is lively, 
 but not deep; there is little variety ; there is no 
 compass of thought. Eeading and study only 
 can supply this." 
 
 Other things being equal, the prospects of a 
 minister of the gospel for doing good depend 
 upon the scope of his field — upon the "greatest 
 many" to wdiom he can have access. Now, it re- 
 quires no argument to prove that the most useful 
 and influential class of society is comj)osed of 
 those w^ho desire and apjDreciate a ministry of 
 culture. Such, too, are the persons who mold 
 and control public sentiment in the localities in 
 which they live. Without the sympathy and co- 
 operation of this class a minister can accomplish 
 but little. He cannot, however, hope to have this 
 sympathy and co-operation unless his culture is 
 such as to command respect. 
 
 The intellectual preparation, too, ui)on which 
 we are insisting is the best for the minister even 
 in a pecnni((7^y point of view. The strong 
 Churches — the Churches which are able Ijo pay 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 43 
 
 respectable salaries — almost universally turn 
 their backs upon those ministers who have flxiled 
 to make themselves workmen that " need not to 
 be ashamed." The consequence is, such preachers 
 have no Churches to serve, except those which 
 financially are unable to employ better ones. 
 Who has not seen just such a state of things? 
 How man}' ministers, to-day, are sulfering almost 
 absolute want who might have been very differ- 
 ently situated if they had studied more and read 
 more! But they have brought poverty upon 
 themselves by failing to make better preparation 
 for their work. In native intellect many of them 
 are greatly superior to hundreds and thousands 
 of those who are occupying strong and influential 
 pulpits; but they were unwilling to undergo the 
 labors necessary to qualify them for such posi- 
 tions. Just at the time in Avhich they should 
 have been engaged in study, they "married a 
 wife," or "boug*ht a yoke of oxen," or did some- 
 thing else which blasted their prospects for exten- 
 sive ministerial usefulness. Esau like, at a trying 
 hour, they sold their " birth-right" ; and, like him, 
 they could not, when it was too late, correct the 
 evil, though they may have sought to do so "with 
 tears." 
 
 We do not mean, let it be remembered, by these 
 urgent appeals in behalf of ministerial culture, 
 that all ministers should be graduates from 
 literary and theological institutions; for inas- 
 much as God, no doubt,, of ten calls men late in 
 
44 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 life to the ministry, and men, too, of "many in- 
 cumbrances," such extensive preparation is sim- 
 ply impracticable in such cases. But we do mean, 
 with the facilities which the different denomina- 
 tions of Christendom are now affording their pro- 
 bationers fol" the ministry, that many — yea, the 
 great majority — of these probationers should avail 
 themselves of the liberal and extensive advan- 
 tages thus offered them, almost *' without money 
 and without price." What we urge, and what we 
 insist upon, is that the ministry of this age shall 
 at least be equal, in point of learning, to the most 
 highly cultured of the people among whom they 
 labor. Until this standard is reached, it is im- 
 possible for the ministry to accomplish the good 
 which it otherwise might do. 
 
 The Sacred Scrij^tures, as we interpret them, 
 perfectly accord with the sentiments which we 
 have uttered upon this point. True, they forbid 
 dependence upon mere human- wisdom, yet 
 "knowledge," "study," etc., are not only com- 
 mended but required. "For the priest's lips 
 should keep knowledge'' (Mai. ii. 7.) ^' Study to 
 show thyself approved unto God, a workman that 
 needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the 
 word of truth." (2 Tim. ii. 15.) Christianity, 
 then, is not a religion of the senses or of forms, 
 but of great moral and intellectual truths; and 
 the best^ way for a minister of the gospel to ad- 
 vance it is by "knowledge" and "study." It is a 
 fact, too, which has not escaped the notice of the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 45 
 
 attentive reader of the New Testament, that our 
 blessed Saviour, lowlj as was his home in Naza- 
 reth, was never criticised by his most inveterate 
 enemies for his lack of culture even as a man ; but, 
 on the contrary', his knowledge of "letters" ex- 
 cited the amazement of his hearers. (See John 
 vii. 15.) 
 
 In conclusion upon this topic, we feel authorized 
 to say, and this declaration, too, as we believe, 
 embraces the "sum total" of what the Bible and 
 Church history teach, viz. : No talent is too great, 
 no genius is too brilliant, no attainments are too 
 ample, for the worl^of preaching the gospel; but, 
 thanks he to our Heavenly Father^ an average ca- 
 pacity can be trained into such an instrument as 
 the Holy Ghost will employ for the " v/ork of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," 
 and that, too, without a thorough classical and 
 theological education, when, in the providence of 
 God, surrounding circumstances preclude the 
 practicability of such training. 
 
 4. He must have a kind and fraternal spirit — must 
 have no jealousy or ill-will toward his brethren in the 
 ministry. 
 
 A minister of the gospel is not sent into the 
 world to be a hermit, or a monk. A man who is 
 to deal with the human family almost indiscrim- 
 inately, must love them, and feel at home with 
 them. A minister who has no geniality about 
 him had better be a funeral undertaker, and bury 
 
46 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the dead, for he will never succeed with the living. 
 A j^reacher, as one has said, "to be successful, 
 should have a warm, capacious heart" — a heart 
 like the great harbors which indent our coast, and 
 which contain sea-room for a whole fleet. To 
 such a man the people will go as sailors to a 
 haven, and thej will feel safe when they have 
 anchored under the lee of his friendship. 
 
 When the Queen of Sheba w^ent to test the 
 wisdom of Solomon, the Rabbins tell us that she 
 carried some artificial flowers with her, beautifully 
 wrought and delicately scented, so as to be fac- 
 similes of real ones. The wi'se man directed his 
 servants to open the window, and when the bees 
 came in they flew at once to the natural flowers. 
 Now, people have their instincts as well as bees; 
 and, like them, they know what they^need. It is 
 an old^ but true, saying that there are more flies 
 caught with honey than with vinegar; and there 
 will be more souls led'to heaven by a man who 
 has a kind and genial face than by one who has 
 neither a gentle look nor a winning smile. The 
 fact is, a minister is likely to get what he gives. 
 People's hearts are like whispering galleries to him. 
 If he speaks softly and kindly, just such words 
 return to him; but if he scolds, he is sure to be 
 scolded. Says Christ himself, "For with what 
 judgment ye judge, jq shall be judged; and with 
 what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to 3^ou 
 again." (Matt. vii. 1.) 
 
 Natural temper has much to do with a minister's 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 47 
 
 usefulness. God bestows a great gift upon a 
 preacher when he gives him a sunny face and a 
 genial, loving heart. It is a pleasure just to look 
 at such ministers. We may differ with them on 
 many things as far as the poles are asunder, yet 
 we are none the less drawn toward and fascinated 
 by them. But there are those in the ministry, we 
 are sorry to say, who have not this genial nature. 
 The very expressions of their countenances are 
 forbidding; and their words, when they speak at 
 all, are sarcastic and withering. The}' are carica- 
 tures of religion. They forget that a man is not 
 always good in proportion as he groans and 
 frowns, and that one's Christian stature is not in 
 proportion to the length of his face. There is un- 
 told power for good or evil even in the tone of the 
 voice. Words not only exert an influence upon 
 those who hear them, by 'the manner in which 
 they are uttered, but they reveal the character of 
 those who use them. Socrates once said to a man, 
 " Speak, that 1 may see you." The tones and the 
 very " make-up " of the language reveal charac- 
 ter — yea, show the inner man just as completely 
 as mirrors reveal the objects placed before 
 them. 
 
 Xot only do we find these unholy tem2:)ers in- 
 dulged in by some ministers toward the world, 
 but toward each other. There are ministers — not 
 a great many, thank God — whose ambition is far 
 in advance of their ability. They "love the 
 u2:>permost seats" in the ecclesiastical " syna- 
 
48 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 gogues" to which they belong; and, often, the 
 method which they adopt for obtaining them is 
 b}^ trying to dispLace those w^ho, by almost uni- 
 versal consent, are w^orthy to occupy them. To 
 accomplish their j)urposes they will sometimes 
 condescend to things which would be disreputable 
 to a fifth-rate politician. No suitable opportunity 
 is lost by them to "thrust the dagger/' when by 
 so doing they can reasonably hope to accomplish 
 their ends, provided they see that there is no dan- 
 ger of detection or exposure. Such men, of course, 
 are moral cowards; hence, like all others "whose 
 ways are dark and whose deeds are vile," they do 
 nothing of this kind openly. But, 
 
 "With eye of lynx, and ear of stag, 
 And footfall like the snow," 
 
 they "creep and cringe" in their work of defa- 
 mation. Such men, like Judas Iscariot, "betray 
 Avith a kiss;" and they would, if they could, sell, 
 for less than "thirty pieces of silver," any minis- 
 terial brother whose popularity and position they 
 envy. It is often the case that such characters 
 run "quite a course" before they arc found out; 
 but sooner or later they are, by almost universal 
 consent, consigned to their "proper place" in the 
 denomination to Avhich they belong. A mark as 
 visible as that of Cain is upon them, and it is not 
 a difficult matter to ascertain when one is in the 
 presence of such characters. They know much, 
 and can give the "history" of ever}' minister in 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 49 
 
 the Church who is at all in their "sunshine"; and 
 they lose no good opportunity in doing so if they 
 can get a listening audience. \Yhenever, there- 
 fore, one is in the presence of a preacher who 
 spends the "hours of social converse" in defam- 
 ing his brother or brethren in the ministry, it 
 should be considered an invariable sign that the 
 spirit of a betrayer is present. Why such men 
 should thus do is a mystery. Ey striving to make 
 themselves "the greatest in the kingdom," they 
 are attempting an utter impossibility. The frog 
 in the fable conceived the idea that he ought to 
 be as large as the ox, and in his efforts to "swell 
 himself" up to such dimensions he "burst"! 
 Now, the fatal mistake which the frog made was, 
 he aspired to something for which God never in- 
 tended him. If he had been content to fill the 
 sphere for which he was created, such a terrible 
 calamity would not have befallen him. So with 
 the class of ministers of whom we are speaking. 
 The error which they commit is, they strive for 
 positions for which they were not created, and 
 they ought to know that in so doing there is but 
 one legitimate result — they will "burst"! 
 
 Closely allied to the evil of which we have just 
 been speaking there is another which is more 
 general, and, if possible, more detestable. We 
 allude to the habit which some ministers have 
 formed of trying to secure the fields of labor 
 which others occuj)y. There are various methods 
 resorted to by these " disturbers of the peace of 
 4 
 
50 PgLPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Zion" — these ecclesiastical moles — for the accom- 
 plishment of their purposes. 
 
 One is to "underbid" the present occupant. 
 Such a minister will talk to the membership and 
 "endeavor to create the impression that the salary 
 which they are paying their minister is not only 
 large but oppressive. He then manages to get an 
 opportunity of preaching a few times to that 
 people, taking care to deliver his very best ser- 
 mons; and, before leaving the neighborhood, he 
 makes it known that his services might be secured, 
 and for a very moderate salary, "provided the 
 present incumbent were out of the wa}^," and 
 provided, also, that such an arrangement could be 
 made "agreeable to all parties." As a general 
 thing this is enough to accomplish the work. 
 The severing wedge has been started, and those 
 members who give the least in proi>ortion to their 
 ability, and who always feel it "burdensome" to 
 pay the preacher, never lose an opportunity to 
 strike that wedge — will pound it until it is driven 
 to the head — until the cleavage is complete. 
 
 Another method which is sometimes fallen upon 
 by such a man is to arrange to have himself in- 
 vited to assist, in a "protracted meeting," the 
 minister whose position he covets. When the 
 time arrives for the meeting to begin, such a man 
 will take his "ecclesiastical portfolio," containing 
 about a dozen sermons ("borrowed" ones, too, for 
 such a man has no other kind that are worth 
 much), and he goes to the "field of combat." Be- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 51 
 
 ing before a strange audience — an audience whose 
 ears are itching to hear "something new" — he 
 preaches not only under the excitement of a lis- 
 tening congregation, but with the additional in- 
 centive inspired by the hope of obtaining a larger 
 and more luxuriant ecclesiastical pasture. During 
 the meeting he makes it convenient to visit most 
 of the members, assuring the resident preacher 
 that, as he has his "hands full of other matters," 
 he need not visit with him. Being thus safely 
 ensconced, out of sight and out of hearing of the 
 "preacher in charge," he, after having ingratiated 
 himself into the confidence of those whom he 
 visits, at once begins to apologize for the poor (?) 
 preaching which he is doing, and assures them 
 that he never could preach to a strange congrega- 
 tion half as well as to his own people. Should 
 they intimate to him that his preaching is not 
 only very acceptable but very good, he then, with 
 a significant look, gives them to understand that 
 if they could hear him constantly — Sabbath after 
 Sabbath — they would have a better knowledge of 
 his preaching ability. Having gone thus far, bis 
 next step is to criticise the resident preacher's 
 method of conducting revivals — laments that the 
 meeting is not doing better, and is very sorry 
 that he does not feel at liberty to conduct it ac- 
 cording to his plan. He next inquires in regard 
 to the number and character of pastoral visits 
 Avhich "their" preacher makes — how he conducts 
 his prayer-meeting and his Sabbath-school — the 
 
52 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 singing books he uses — his stylo of preaching, etc., 
 etc.; and, after having condemned every thing, he 
 intimates — just docs do so — that he sometimes thinks 
 of changing his field of labor; though he has but 
 little hope that his people would give him ujd. By 
 the time he has done all this, he has reached the 
 bottom of his "little portfolio"; and he is obliged 
 to leave — has a very sore throat, or has other en- 
 gagements to meet. But he has sowed the seed, 
 and they soon germinate. The congregation be- 
 comes restless, intimates to their preacher that 
 his resignation would be acceptable, and then calls 
 the man who had come to assist (?) their former 
 preacher ! 
 
 We have no disposition to attempt an extended 
 comment upon such conduct as has been described. 
 The truth is, some sins are so detestable to God 
 and man, that it is difficult to find words to por- 
 tray them. Those of which we have just been 
 speaking certainl}^ belong to that class. How 
 unlike the spirit of Christ is such a disposition! 
 Of all men on earth, ministers of the gospel, es- 
 pecially those of the same Christian household, 
 should be the most tender, and the most careful 
 of each other's good name and reputation. They 
 are not only fellow-laborers, but fellow-heirs to 
 the same ecclesiastical inheritance. How wicked, 
 therefore, to attempt to blast the usefulness of, or 
 to wrong, in any manner, a brother minister! 
 ^^To his own Master he standeth orfalleth." 
 
 A]\ true ministers are divinely called to the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 53 
 
 eaiiic work — the same in evciy essential feature. 
 Their hopes and fears, their trials and triumphs, 
 are one. Why, then, should they hinder each 
 other's work? Their sympathy for each other 
 should be holy, deep, and abiding. They should 
 rejoice in each other's success, and lament each 
 other's defeat. In their treatment one of another 
 there should ever be felt and exhibited the truest 
 kindness, the most generous concern, and the 
 purest affection. No envy of a brother minister's 
 talent, acquirements, or popularity should be for 
 a moment indulged in. Never, witliout a most 
 urgent reason, should they utter a disparaging 
 word of each other. The gibe, the innuendo, the 
 belittling word, should never be heard. J^he 
 world should see that gospel ministers, at least, 
 " dwell together in unity." Such a heavenly 
 spectacle would go far toward convincing the 
 world of the divinity of Christianity. Then let 
 all words of misrepresentation and detraction, 
 and all undermining acts, forever cease. How 
 will such things aj)j)ear in the judgment da}^? 
 How do they now grieve the Holy Spirit, work 
 the defeat of the gospel, and ruin immortal souls! 
 True, as has been said, there are not many such 
 ministers; but surely one such is too many. And 
 should any one think that the language which 
 has been used is too strong, let the apolog}^ be 
 that the evil under consideration is so offensive 
 that it needs correction; and, in the opinion of 
 the author, the best way to do so is by exposing 
 
54 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the Bin in its native deformit3^ All the denomi- 
 nations of Christendom have suffered more or less 
 by such characters ; and they feel an interest in 
 having the evil made as odious to all good people 
 as it is abhorrent to God himself. If, then, any 
 minister who reads these pages feels that he has 
 not been as careful in regard to the reputation or 
 personal interests of his brethren as he should 
 have been, let him resolve that, from this time 
 forth, he will reform. It ma^^ be too late to re- 
 pair the mischief which has alread}^ been done, but 
 it is not too late to prevent the mischief which 
 can he done. An envious, jealous spirit is a hate- 
 ful thing anywhere; but it is especially out of 
 place in the sacred ministry. 
 
 As a sort of scholium [something added to what 
 has gone before], as mathematicians would say, 
 we might refer to those bitter personal animosities 
 and dislikes which sometimes occur between min- 
 isters belonging to the same Presbytery, Confer- 
 ence, Association, etc. These often do great 
 harm, and every effort should be made by the 
 mutual friends of the parties to "nip them in the 
 bud"; because, when permitted to exist for even 
 a short time, they do untold mischief Unless 
 corrected at the outset, they become "putrefying 
 sores," which are with difficulty "bound up," or 
 "mollified with ointment." A distinguished law- 
 yer, who was a devoted Christian, once said, "I 
 would rather undertake to reconcile two irre- 
 ligious men, who are at variance, than to try to 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 55 
 
 adjust a difficult}' between two ministers of the 
 gospel." The best way, therefore, is not to have 
 these troubles. Nothing rejoices Satan more than 
 to have these feuds exist; and nothing, scarcely, 
 has a greater influence in postponing the day pre- 
 dicted by the prophet when the "watchmen shall 
 see eye to eye." Paul says, " If ye bite and devour 
 one another, take heed that ye be not consumed 
 one of another." (Gal. v. 15.) 
 
 Let no one, however, misinterpret the meaning 
 intended to be conve^^ed by what has been said. 
 As a class, ministers of the gospel are the purest 
 and best men on earth; and though there maybe 
 some, yea, quite a number, who are not what they 
 should be — are not "ensamples to the flock," yet 
 they constitute the exceptions — are, so to speak, 
 the excrescences which are formed from the 
 wounds made by Satan upon the grand old minis- 
 terial tree, on the boughs of which, in all ages of 
 the world, have ever been found the richest 
 clusters of that fruit "which is for the healing of 
 the nations." 
 
 5. He must possess dignity of character — must be 
 a Christian gentleman. 
 
 In insisting that a minister should be a gentle- 
 man in his intercourse with the world, we do not 
 wish to be understood as believing or saying that 
 he is to be a man of that punctilious adjustment 
 of dress, bows, smiles, etc., inculcated and enforced 
 by Lord Chesterfield — far from it; for, as one has, 
 
56 PULl'iT AND PEW. 
 
 perhai>s, correctly said, "Chesterfield inculcates 
 the morals of a libertine and the manners of a 
 dancing master." Nor do we at all have reference 
 to those artificial manners which display constant 
 effort and constraint — those manners which are 
 formed on strictly worldly principles, and which 
 qualify the possessor for a display in what is 
 termed "fashionable life"; but to those, and those 
 only, Avhich intellectual culture and Christian 
 purity demand, and which, wiicre those graces 
 reign, they will ever be found substantial!}^ to 
 produce. By the ministerial dignity, upon which 
 we are insisting, we mean that happy mixture of 
 gravity and elevation in human deportment, 
 which indicate a mind habitually thoughtful, 
 serious, and set on high things — an air and man- 
 ner opposed to unguarded levity, to all "slang 
 phrases," and to disgusting buffoonery. The 
 dignity, too, of which we speak, also requires its 
 possessor to avoid those gatherings in which lan- 
 guage is used and scenes are exhibited which 
 should not even be countenanced by a minister 
 of the gospel. When a preacher permits himself 
 to be found at such places, though he may take no 
 part in them, he necessarily compromises his 
 Christian character, and brings reproach upon 
 the cause of his Master. This dignity, too, pre- 
 cludes the idea of loud, boisterous laughter — an 
 unmistakable mark of low breeding, It also pre- 
 cludes the idea of the relation of coarse, vulgar 
 anecdotes. It pains us greatly to say that this is 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 57 
 
 ever done; but those who have mixed and mingled 
 with the ministry know that it sometimes occurs. 
 Not many, however, we are glad to say, are will- 
 ing to put themselves on a level, in this particular, 
 w^ith the coarse, obscene, vile wretches who fre- 
 quent drinking saloons and gambling dens. 
 
 The great Dr. Miller, of Princeton College, lays 
 it down as a rule that no minister should ever re- 
 late an anecdote to even a company of his own 
 profession, which he would not relate in a parlor 
 of delicate, refined ladies. Uj^on this point, too, 
 the Sacred Scriptures are outspoken and emj^hatic. 
 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of 
 your mouth." (Eph. iv. 29.) "Neither filthiness, 
 nor foolish jesting, which are not convenient" 
 [proper]. (Eph. v. 4.) " But now ye also put off 
 all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy 
 communication out of your mouth." (Col. iii. 8.) 
 
 If, then, any preacher, old or young, has, in the 
 2)ast, so far forgotten himself and the dignity of 
 his office as to have indulged in such ungentle- 
 manly, unministerial, and "filthy communica- 
 tions," let him at once get upon his knees, ask for 
 forgiveness, and resolve, by the help of God, never 
 to do such a thing again ! Such anecdotes degrade 
 a minister in his own estimation, and in the esti- 
 mation of all decent people to whom he relates 
 them. Is there a solitary example in the Bible to 
 justify it? Did Christ, the greatest and holiest of 
 all preachers, ever utter a word that even bordered 
 on impurity ? It shocks one's feelings to even ask 
 
58 rULPlT AND TKW. 
 
 the question. Of course, he was not an ascetic; 
 for, as a man, he was gentle, social, companion- 
 able. He mingled freely with the rich and poor, 
 with Jew and Gentile; yet, to him life was real 
 and earnest, and the part which he acted was no 
 comedy. We read of his prayers and tears, but 
 Ave have no record of his boisterous mirth and 
 hilarity. This is not only true of the Teacher, 
 but of the Book which he dictated for our guide. 
 We may search the New Testament from begin- 
 ning to end, and we will fail to find, in all its vast 
 sweep of argument and exhortation, one single 
 witticism, one single indelicate allusion or expres- 
 sion. Such things come not from Christ nor the 
 Bible, but from sinks of pollution and iniquity. 
 Now, is not Christ the minister's example in the 
 pulpit as well as out of it? 
 
 The same is true of the prophets and apostles. 
 Which of them ever committed such improprieties 
 as those which we are condemning? Did Isaiah, 
 did Jeremiah, did Paul, or Peter, or John ? Never, 
 no 7iever. They felt that their commission was a 
 serious commission, and that the Bible is a serious 
 book. They knew that God is serious, that heaven 
 is serious, that hell is serious; and how could 
 they afford to put themselves uj^on a level with 
 the vilest of the earth? 
 
 Julian, the inveterate enemy of the Christian re- 
 ligion, thougiit that he could supplant the true by 
 the false, if he could induce his pagan priests to 
 be exemplary in their ''walk and conversation." 
 
PULriT AND PEW. 59 
 
 Hence, he issued tlie decree that " they should 
 banish from them all low jests and libertine con- 
 versations; that they should neither hear, nor 
 read, nor think, nor utter any thing licentious or 
 indecent." 
 
 Dr. John Hall, in speaking of the gravity which 
 belongs to the ministry, says : " Did you ever see 
 a pilot take a ship through a perilous passage? 
 He is grave. I have seen the surgeon's knife 
 drawn round the limb where an error of an inch 
 would have been a terrible mistake. He was 
 grave. I have heard a conscientious judge weigh 
 and set oiit in the utmost fullness the evidence in 
 a murder case, as earnestl}^ bent on putting every 
 thing fairly as if his own life depended on the 
 issue. Any levit}^ here Avould be out of place; 
 and on the same principle, by the average of man- 
 kind, gravity will be looked for in those who deal 
 with matters of life and death, and speak for God. 
 That ministers, like other people, have laughing 
 muscles in the face is prima facie evidence that 
 they are at liberty to laugh sometimes; but they 
 have a great manj^ muscles that have no special 
 relation to preaching." 
 
 Closely allied to the evil of which we have just 
 spoken, there is another which, though not quite 
 80 pernicious, is, nevertheless, to be strictly 
 avoided, and heartily despised. We have refer- 
 ence to the habit which some preachers have 
 formed of extravagant speaking — of telling things 
 which really arc untrue. AYe once visited a 
 
60 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 country chnrcb, and in conversation with an 
 official member, asked, among other questions, who 
 Avas his minister. He gave the name of the 
 j)reacher; and in answer to the question, How is 
 he succeeding in his work ? he said : "He is a very 
 fair preacher; but it takes much of my time in 
 endeavoring to 'explain' or 'mollify' the extrava- 
 gant and unreasonable thingi^ which he relates 
 every time he comes to fill an appointment." He 
 then added, "We are getting very tired of him, 
 for he is doing no good." Of course, such a min- 
 ister can have but little influence for good 
 wherever he is known ; for the plain, common 
 sense of the people, as w^ell as the Bible itself, 
 condemns and discountenances such a man. 
 
 There are also some preachers who have con- 
 tracted a similar habit in their pulpit efforts. 
 These men, be it said to their discredit and to the 
 disparagement of our holy religion, have such act- 
 ive imaginations that they can repeat conversa- 
 tions which never occurred, and relate incidents 
 which never transpired! These men, too, are al- 
 ways the "heroes" of all the events which they 
 narrate, and the "victors" of every rencounter 
 that occurs. To hear them talk, one would think 
 that there are very few distinguished men in 
 Christendom with whom they were not either 
 personally acquainted, or from whom they had 
 not received a number of letters. To a great ex- 
 tent the sermons of such men are heavily inter- 
 larded with these "incidents," "conversations," 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 61 
 
 etc., which scarcely no one believes ever had "a 
 habitation and a name " ! It is by no means cred- 
 itable to the sacred profession that it contains even 
 a small number of such men. An unreasonable 
 narrative — a manufactured incident — is reprehen- 
 sible anywhere; but in the jyulpit it is disgusting — 
 yea, grossly wicked. A minister should be the 
 highest exponent of truth; and it is just as 
 sinful — yea, more so — to tell an untruth in the 
 pulpit as in the court-house. Not many, we are 
 glad to say, have contracted a habit so disrepu- 
 table; and no good man, we feel certain, prays that 
 those few shall have successors. 
 
 The ministerial dignity and gentlemanly de- 
 portment upon which we are insisting also have 
 reference to dress. Some ministers, we feel sorry 
 to say, are not as careful in this particular as they 
 should be. The truth is, they seem to delight in 
 being odd — out of style, sloven. A preacher's 
 dress, whether he lives in the country, in the 
 town, or in the city, should be plain, whole, neat, 
 and clean. We do not mean that he should make 
 his apparel an object o? primary im2:)ortance; but 
 Ave do mean that he cannot afford to neglect it. 
 A minister is a public man — must necessarily live 
 in public — and he should dress, whenever he goes 
 into society, just about as he would on the Sab- 
 bath. He cannot afford to be slovenly and filthy 
 in his person — cannot afford to go into company 
 with frail and soiled garments. No decent and 
 cleanly household cares to entertain such a man ; 
 
62 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 and such a cbaractcr ought to be ashamed to im- 
 pose himself upon well-bred people, either in the 
 pulpit or in the family. Indeed, a minister's use- 
 fulness, to a very great extent, depends upon his 
 social habits — upon his ability to associate with 
 good society-. Eemember, we do not say that a 
 minister's clothes should be of the finest texture; 
 but we do say that they should be whole, neat, 
 and clean, and that his deportment should be that 
 of a quiet, high-toned, Christian gentleman. A 
 minister has no more right to be rude, slovenly, 
 or ill-bred, than any other gentleman. He may 
 be ignorant of some of the conventionalities of 
 society; but he will be respected, nevertheless, if 
 he is a man of o;entle and refined feelino;. In a 
 word, no preacher can aff'ord to take liberties in 
 regard to his deportment, his conversation, or his 
 dress, simply because he is a preacher. 
 
 6. He must he a man of fervent, jperseverii^ 
 prayer. 
 
 Prayer is the sacred duty of every Christian. It 
 is essential to the very existence of religion. The 
 sun cannot shine, and give no light; a fountain 
 cannot spring up, and send forth no stream; nor 
 can religion exist in the heart, and not produce a 
 disposition to pray. 
 
 But while the foregoing remarks are applicable 
 to all Chi'istians, they are, so to speak, pre-emi- 
 nently so in reference to ministers of the gospel. 
 Luther said, "Prayer, meditation, and temptation 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 63 
 
 make a minister," No one, wlio has ever realized 
 the weight of ministerial responsibilit}^, and who 
 has been led to feel that his " sufficiency is of God," 
 can for a single moment hesitate to admit the im- 
 portance of one of the very first of these qualifi- 
 cations. To a very great extent the Christian 
 ministry is a work of faith; and that it may be a 
 work of faith it must be a work of prayer. 
 
 It was once a custom among heathen nations, 
 and perhaps it still exists among some of them, 
 to make their rulers, who were also their priests, 
 answer with their lives if their people were visited 
 with unfruitful seasons, or with other terrible 
 calamities. They supposed that, if they had been 
 men of prayer, and as intimate with the gods as 
 they should have been, those disasters might have 
 been averted. When we reflect that their gods 
 did not have in their hands the issues of events, 
 nor any power over the seasons, we are at once 
 prepared to pronounce the custom a ridiculous 
 and cruel one. But in respect to ministers of the 
 gospel, the case is so very different that, though 
 the practice may not be defensible, under the ad- 
 ministration of any religion whatever, the senti- 
 ment, it must be confessed, is much less absurd ; 
 for it simply shows how natural it is for men to 
 look up to their priests as their intercessors with 
 Heaven. 
 
 If the prayers of a minister of the law, as in 
 the case of Elijah, had the power to open or to 
 shut the heavens, to procure drought or rain, 
 
64 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Bcarce or plentiful seasons, why may wc not sup- 
 pose that the prayers of a minister of the gospel 
 might be even more prevalent with God? Hence, 
 the assertion of a distinguished modern theologian 
 that "a prayerless minister is chargeable with all 
 the crimes which the prayers of a faithful pastor 
 might prevent, and with all the evils which they 
 might remove^'' is by no means as extravagant as 
 one might at first think. 
 
 The best and holiest men in the sacred office 
 have ever made prayer the most important part 
 of pulpit preparation. The biographer of Mc- 
 Cheyne says of him, "Anxious to give his people 
 on the Sabbath what had cost him somew^hat, he 
 never, except for an urgent reason, went before 
 them without much previous meditation and 
 prayer. Being asked his view of diligent prepa- 
 ration for the pulpit, he referred to Exodus xxvii. 
 20. ^Beaten oil — beaten oil for the lamps of the 
 sanctuary.' And yet his prayerfulness was greater 
 still. Indeed, he could not neglect fellowship 
 with God before entering the congregation. He 
 needed to be bathed in the love of God. With 
 him the commencement of all labor consisted in 
 the preparation of his own soul. The walls of 
 his chamber were the witnesses of his prayerful- 
 ness and of his tears, as well as of his cries." 
 
 The secret of Luther's power lay in the same 
 direction. Theodorus said of him : " I overheard 
 him in prayer; but great God, with w^hat life and 
 spirit did he pray! Itwasv.ith so much rever- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 65 
 
 ence as if he were speaking to God, yet with so 
 much confidence as if he were speaking to his 
 friend." And Luther himself used to say, in 
 some of his busiest seasons, "I have so much to 
 do, that I cannot get on without three hours a-day 
 of praying."' John Welsh sometimes spent seven 
 or eight hours a-day in the closet. His wife, on 
 one occasion, found him lying on the ground 
 weeping and agonizing; and, on asking him the 
 cause, he replied, "I have three thousand souls to 
 take care of, and I do not know how many of 
 them are prospering." Doddridge said, "So it is, 
 though it may seem a, riddle, that when I pray 
 and meditate most, I work most." And Bishop 
 Sanderson, speaking of prayer and study going 
 hand in hand, says, " Omit either, and the other 
 is lost labor. Prayer without study is presump- 
 tion; and study without prayer is atheism." It 
 is said of AUeine, "He poured out his very heart 
 in prayer and preaching. His supplications and 
 Ms exhortations were so aifectionate, so full of 
 holy zeal, life, and vigor, that they quite over- 
 came his hearers." Yinet says, "Prayer is neces- 
 sary to keep us [ministers] at the proper point of 
 vision, which is always escaping from us, to heal 
 the wounds of self-love and of feeling, to renew 
 our courage, to anticipate the always threatened 
 invasion of indolence, of levity, of dilatoriness, 
 and spiritual and ecclesiastical pride, of pulpit 
 vanity, of professional jealousy. Prayer resem- 
 bles the air of certain isles of the ocean, the 
 5 
 
G6 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 purity of which will allow no life to vermin. 
 AVith this atmosphere we should compass ourselves 
 about as the diver surrounds himself with a bell 
 before he descends into the sea." 
 
 Bi>t, much as has been said and written upon 
 this subject, no one has ever solved the true dy- 
 namics of prayer so far as the ministry is con- 
 cerned. It is the life and soul of the sacred office. 
 Says Spurgeon, "xlmong all the formative in- 
 fluences which go to make up a man honored of 
 God in the ministry, I knoAV of none more 
 mighty than his own familiarit}^ with the mercy- 
 seat. All that a college^, course can do for a 
 student is rough and external compared with the 
 spiritual and delicate refinement obtained by 
 communion with God. While the unformed min- 
 ister is revolving upon the wheel of preparation, 
 prayer is the tool of the great Potter by which 
 he molds the vessel. All our libraries and studies 
 are mere emptiness compared with our closets. 
 We grow, we wax mighty, we prevail in private 
 prayer." 
 
 Uj^on the necessity and importance of this duty 
 the Sacred Scriptures are outspoken and explicit. 
 The blessed Saviour himself spent much of his 
 time in secret prayer. "To him," as one has 
 properl}' said, " every place was an altar, where 
 he poured out the yearnings of his soul to the 
 Father." The patriarchs and prophets were all 
 men of prayer. So with the disciples. By direct 
 command, the}' were to tarry in the cit}' of Jeru- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 67 
 
 salem until they were endued with power from on 
 high. (See Luke xxiv. 49.) And while they were 
 praying together, on the day of Pentecost, the 
 Holy Spirit came upon them, and they thereby 
 received a special preparation for their work. 
 
 As it has been, as it is now, and will ever be, 
 prayer is the most powerful lever which the mes- 
 senger of God can employ, The closet is the best 
 place to receive i:)reparation for ministerial duties. 
 Commentators are important assistants to the 
 proper understanding of the Bible; but the Au- 
 thor of that Book is infinitely better. How won- 
 derfully were the "books opened" to Daniel when 
 he was engaged in earnest supplication, and to 
 David when he "inquired of the Lord"! What 
 grand truths were unfolded to Peter when he 
 was at prayer "uj)on the housetop"! The same 
 is true now. It is said that Dr. Doddridge, when 
 other helps failed to satisfy his mind' in regard to 
 the import of certain passages of Scripture, "used 
 to consult a poor old woman living near him, and 
 that he generally acquiesced in her conclusions." 
 This he did because he had confidence that this 
 noble old Christian obtained her interpretations 
 from the Holy Spirit, in answer to prayer. 
 
 In conclusion upon this point, the assertion is 
 made (and without the fear of contradiction, too) 
 that, in all the ages of the past, those ministers 
 who have accomplished the greatest results — who 
 have instrumentally saved the largest number of 
 sinners, who have most deepened the faith of the 
 
68 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 age, and who have clone most for the advance- 
 ment of Christ's kingdom in the world — have been 
 those who, in a marked degree, were men of 
 prayer — men "filled with the Holy Ghost." In 
 confirmation of this, the following historical fact 
 is related: At the open grave of John Evangelist 
 Gossner, it was said of him, "He prayed up the 
 walls of hospitals; he prayed mission stations 
 into being, and missionaries into faith; he prayed 
 open the hearts of the rich, and gold from the 
 most distant lands.'' "As for his sennons, the 
 power of his words," says a distinguished writer, 
 "was evidently in the prayer which winged them 
 with a resistless force to the hearts of his hearers; 
 for prayer was the breath of his life." "Here I 
 sit," he would say, "in my little room. I cannot 
 go here and there to arrange and order every 
 thing; and if I could, who knows if it would be 
 well done?*But the Lord is there, who knows 
 and can do every thing, and I give it all over to 
 him, and bog him to direct it all, and order it 
 after his holy will; and then my heart is light 
 and joyful, and I believe and trust him that he 
 will carry it nobly out." 
 
 Many other incidents, of like prayer and like 
 faith, might be mentioned, but it is unnecessary 
 to do so. Suffice it to say, no man can succeed in 
 the gospel ministry without prayer, and a great 
 deal of it. No wonder, therefore, that the apostles, 
 though divinely inspire"!, should say, "We will 
 give ourselves continually to prayer." Would, 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 69 
 
 then, that the Holy Ghost might breathe upon the 
 ministers of this day that "agonizing of soul" 
 which would transform them into a band of 
 wrestling Jacobs! Happy the congregations 
 which have such ministers at their altars! 
 
 7. JBLe must he a man of earnestness and zeal. 
 
 To enlighten the mind, and affect the heart, are 
 the two main objects of the gospel ministry. The 
 first requires ivisdom; the second, fervency. Says 
 the great Baxter, "Nothing is more reprehensible 
 than a dead preacher speaking to dead sinners 
 the living truth of God." It is not expected that 
 all ministers should have great talents, extraor- 
 dinary gifts, and profound scholarship; but it is 
 both expected and required that they should have 
 earnestness and zeal. Without these, no preacher 
 can succeed; and to acquire these indispensable 
 prerequisites, no study, no pains, no_ application 
 should be spared. The minister who docs not put 
 his heart into his sermon will never put his ser- 
 mon into the hearts of the people. Pompous" elo- 
 cution, theatrical display, or affected emotions 
 may please the fancy; but such hypocrisy can 
 never reach the heart and reform the life. A 
 painted fire may glare, but cannot warm. Preach- 
 ing is not the work of the lungs, or the mimicry 
 of gesture; but the spiritual energy of a mind and 
 heart warmed and invigorated by the love of 
 Christ. Says Doddridge, "While I have any rev- 
 erence for Scripture, or any knowledge of human 
 
70 rULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 nature, I will never affect to speak of the glories 
 of Christ, and of the eternal interests of man, as 
 coldly as if I were reading a lecture on mathe- 
 matics, or relating an experiment in natural 
 philosophy." 
 
 The ministry of this day may learn an impor- 
 tant and impressive lesson from the reply of Gar- 
 rick, the world-renowned actor. A preacher once 
 asked him the question, "How is it that you, who 
 deal in nothing but fiction, can so affect your au- 
 dience as to throw them into tears, while I, who 
 deliver the most awful and interesting truths, can 
 scarcely produce any effect whatever?" The 
 great tragedian answered, "Here lies the secret: 
 You deliver your truths as if they were fictions ; 
 but I deliver my fictions as if they were truths." 
 The fact is, all are orators when they feel what 
 they say; nor can mere words, unaccompanied by 
 feeling, touch and move the heart. When people 
 go to hear the gospel, they want their emotional 
 nature, as well as their understanding addressed. 
 
 The mere multiplying of men calling them- 
 selves ministers of the gospel will avail but little — 
 yea, nothing, without zeal. Such men are but 
 "cumberers of the ground." Cecil asked, " What 
 man on earth is so pernicious a drone as an idle 
 minister?" And Fletcher truly said, " Lukewarm 
 ministers make careless Christians." A distin- 
 guished writer, iu comparing Baxter and Orton, 
 said, "Baxter would have set the world on fire 
 wliile Orton was lighting a match." How true 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 71 
 
 the remark! Yet not true alone of these two 
 men; for they are simply representations of the 
 two classes of preachers that have been in the 
 Church of Christ in every age. The latter class, 
 we are sorry to say, are far the more numerous : 
 the Ortons may be counted by the hundredsj the 
 Baxters by tens. Two lines of his, with which 
 we are all familiar, show what kind of a preacher 
 Baxter was — 
 
 " I'll preach as though I ne'er should preach again, 
 And as a dying man to dying men." 
 
 lie had an earnestness of manner which swept 
 every thing before it like a torrent. Dr. Bates, a 
 contemporary, says of him, "His great mind 
 could not stoop to the affected eloquence of words. 
 He despised flashy oratory. But his expressions 
 were so clear and powerful, so convincing to the 
 understanding, so entering into the soul, so en- 
 gaging the affections, that those were as deaf 
 as an adder who were not charmed by so wise a 
 charmer." With such zeal, with such earnestness, 
 no wonder it became necessary to build five new 
 galleries in his church at Kidderminster, in order 
 to accommodate the vast crowds which attended his 
 ministry. In London, the number which flocked 
 to hear him was so large, that it was sometimes 
 dangerous, and often impossible, to be one of his 
 auditors. 
 
 As Paul forcibly expresses it, "Necessity is laid 
 upon" the minister. His business requires all 
 
72 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 possible exertion. He is sent to enlighten the 
 world, to save it from the curse of sin, to cast 
 down the kingdom of Satan, and to build up the 
 kingdom of Christ. He is sent to feed and guide 
 the Church which God loved, for which Christ 
 died, in which the Spirit resides, and to which 
 angels look with the deepest interest. How, then, 
 can he be lukewarm and indifferent? How ardent 
 was the Saviour in his zeal for his Father's house ! 
 He continually "went about doing good," and 
 enibraced every opportunity in public, in private, 
 in the ship, in the field, at the "feast" — every- 
 where — to save sinners. And when Dr. Mason, on 
 his return from Scotland, was interrogated as to 
 Dr. Chalmers' great success as a preacher, he an- 
 swered, "It is his blood-earnestness.'' 
 
 Preaching is an easy work only to those who 
 make it such, and those who make it such arc 
 loafers, and not laborers, in the Lord's vineyard. 
 Careful preparation, and a soul all alive to the 
 work, constitute the great wants of the pulpit, 
 not only in this age, but in every other age. 
 People cannot but feel that if religion is worth 
 any thing, it is worth every thing; that if it calls 
 for any measure of zeal, it will justify a high de- 
 gree of it. The want of zeal and earnestness in 
 the ministry, in other days, has made legions of 
 infidels; and should not the ministry of the pres- 
 ent century search their own hearts and see how 
 much of the modern infidelity, which is now 
 blighting the world, may be traced to similar in- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 73 
 
 dolence and coldness?" "jRasA preaching," said 
 Rowland Hill, "disgusts; timid -preaching leaves 
 poor souls fast asleep ; bold preaching is the only- 
 preaching that is owned of God." 
 
 Spiritually, the Avorld is dead, and the lifeless 
 services of a lukewarm ministr}^ can never "break 
 the seal" of the sepulcher in which it lies buried. 
 The yawn of the sluggard can never do that 
 which requires the thrilling blast of the trumpet. 
 The rustling of the leaf can never accomplish 
 that which demands the roar of the thunder. It 
 is not merely unsoundness in faith, therefore, nor 
 open inconsistency of life, that hinders ministerial 
 efficiency and ruins immortal souls. A j^reacher 
 may be free from all offenses either in creed or 
 conduct, and yet he may be, in a certain sense, an 
 Achan in the camp, or a Jonah in the ship. In 
 the language of another, "He may be freezing 
 up or blasting life at the very time that he is 
 speaking of the way of life. He may be repel- 
 ling men from the cross Avhen he is in words 
 proclaiming that cross. He may be standing be- 
 tween his flock and the blessing even when he is, 
 in outward form, lifting up his hands to bless 
 them. The same words that, from a warm heart, 
 would drop as the rain, or distill as the dew, fall 
 from his lips as the snow or hail, chilling all 
 spiritual warmth, and blighting all spiritual life." 
 In other words, if a private Christian who is luke- 
 warm is rejected and cast out, like insipid water, 
 which is neither "hot nor cold," what shall be- 
 
74 PU-LPIT AND PEW. 
 
 come of that minister who is a loiterer in God's 
 vineyard? St. Gregor}^ said, "One damnation is 
 not enough for a lifeless shepherd ; but for every 
 soul that dies by his evil example, or pernicious 
 carelessness, he deserves a new death, a new dam- 
 nation." And God says, "But if the watchman 
 see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, 
 and the people be not warned; if the sword 
 come, and take any person from among them, he 
 is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will 
 I require at the Avatch man's hand." (Ezek. 
 xxxiii. 6.) 
 
 Earnestness and zeal, therefore, are not only 
 necessary to ministerial success, but to ministerial 
 fidelity. That was a scathing criticism recently 
 made upon the ministry of this age by a distin- 
 guished Christian lawyer, when he said, "If one 
 of ray students did not exhibit more earnestness 
 to gain a five-dollar suit, in the court of a justice 
 of the peace, than many preachers do in warning 
 a sinner to flee from hell, I would not permit him 
 to remain under my tutorship." 
 
 As a class, the zealous ministers are those who 
 accomplish the greatest amount of good — are 
 those who "turn the world upside down." True, 
 there is some danger of going to extremes in this 
 2:>articular. Zeal needs, and must have, guiding 
 and controlling, else, like the elephants on ancient 
 battle-fields, it may sometimes do injury to its 
 own side. Still, more ministers need a spur than 
 a bridle. Look where we may, we will find that 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 75 
 
 where zealous ministers are located there the 
 cause of Christ is most prosperous. They who 
 are warm AviU warm^others. They who are wide 
 awake will awaken others. They come down 
 upon men like Moses from the Mount. They 
 shine as if they had been in the presence of God. 
 They carry to and fro with them, as they walk up 
 and down through the world, the savor of heaven 
 itself. 
 
 8. He should be a man of great firmness — a man 
 of decision of character. 
 
 By the authority of God, the minister is the 
 shejjherd of his flock. He is their leader; and, to 
 be successful in his work, he must be a bold and 
 fearless man. The great Luther, when he com- 
 menced his theses, said to the Pope, "I stand on 
 this. And standing on this, I am stronger than 
 3'ou. I stand solitary, friendless; but on God's 
 truth. You, with your tiaras, triple-hats, with 
 your treasuries and armories, thunders spiritual 
 and temporal, stand on the devil's lie, and are 
 not strong." And a great writer once said, "An 
 army of stags with a lion at the head, is more 
 powerful than an army of lions with a stag at the 
 head." 
 
 We do not mean that the preacher is to be a 
 tyrant — far from it; for there is nothing more 
 disgusting in the character of a gospel minister 
 than a disposition to "lord it over God's heritage." 
 Nov do we mean that he is to be a scolding, 
 
76 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 abusive preacher; for 8iicli a minister rarely, if 
 ever, does any good. He may use most bitter in- 
 vectives; but they hurt no one else half so badly 
 as they do himself They simply blister his own 
 tongue. The chief effect which such a course has 
 upon others is to cause them to be amazed that a 
 servant of God can consent to permit himself to 
 be the medium through which the spirit of Satan 
 may vex and annoy the body of Christ. There 
 are (it gives us pain to so say) some ministers who 
 appear to think that it is their prerogative to thus 
 t3a\annize over their people. They, it would seem, 
 have conceived the idea that, unless they do so, 
 their authority would not be recognized; but 
 there is scarcely any thing more degrading to the 
 sacred profession, nor is there scarcely any thing 
 with which a membership should be less tolerant. 
 How disgusting to hear sharp, snappish, sarcastic 
 remarks from the pulpit! How cowardly, too, for 
 a man to stigmatize others when he knows that 
 they have no means of reply from the same ros- 
 trum! Such an ill-tempered spirit comes not from 
 Christ, but from the devil ; and no congregation 
 should so far lose its self-respect as to permit it to 
 be exhibited without Christian rebuke. An un- 
 godly spirit in the pulpit will work the ruin of 
 any minister, and it is right that it should do it. 
 But the proposition is repeated, and with em- 
 phasis, too, that a minister must be a man of great 
 firmness — yea, a bold, fearless man. Like Paul 
 he must at all times be ready to say to his flock, 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 77 
 
 "I have not shunned to decUire unto you all the 
 counsel of God." (Acts xx. 27.) Sin, no differ- 
 ence by whom committed, must be rebuked. The 
 pulpit is not the phice for timid, mercenary men. 
 It must be.bold and outspoken. The trumpet of 
 God, though it be only a " ram's horn," must give 
 no uncertain blast, else the walls of Jericho will 
 never fall. The vices and follies of the age must 
 be rebuked; and, that this may be done success- 
 fully, the pulpit must send forth against them 
 arrows that are sharp and j^ungent. In doing this, 
 there may be times when the preacher will feel as 
 did the old prophet on Carmel, in the terrible con- 
 test with the priests of Baal; but the God who 
 then '-answered by lire "and sustained his ambas- 
 sador, Avill do so 7101V, no difference what may be 
 the opposing influences. 
 
 The Scriptures represent the Church under the 
 similitude of an army. The preacher is the com- 
 mander of that division of it which is, in the 
 providence of God, assigned to him; and his suc- 
 cess depends greatly upon the boldness and ad- 
 ministrative ability which he exhibits. True, in 
 this army there are other officials — elders, class- 
 leaders, deacons, etc. — but, the preacher is the 
 ^•ranking" officer. The whole of his membership 
 is under his control; and it is his duty not only 
 to organize his forces, but to put every soldier in 
 his proper j^lace. As in a temporal so in a 
 sx^iritual army, there are some whom it is diffi- 
 cult to manage. Still, it must be done, and the 
 
78 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 minister is the proper one to do it; but it should, 
 by all means, be done in the spirit of Christ, 
 and not in the spirit of Satan. Nathan said to 
 David, •' Thou art the man "; but he did not abuse 
 and vilify him personally. The great;point with 
 the former was to show what a great sin the latter 
 had committed. (See 2 Sam. xii. 4.) 
 
 It is a fact which cannot be denied, that men 
 have more respect for a bold, fearless minister — 
 for a minister who is more afraid of God than of 
 man. Illustrative of this position, we cite the 
 case of Latimer with Henry VIII., King of Eng- 
 land. When the latter had interdicted the free 
 circulation of the Scriptures, the former wrote 
 him a ^'plain-spoken letter," remonstrating with 
 him for what he had done. The grand old 
 preacher feared God more than he feared the 
 king. "Latimer, Latimer," he exclaimed, at the 
 beginning of one of his sermons, ''Thou art going 
 to speak before the high and mighty King Henry 
 YIIL, who is able, if he think fit, to take thy life 
 away. Be careful what thou sayest. But Latimer, 
 Latimer, remember also thou art about to speak 
 before the 'King of kings, and Lord of lords.' 
 Take heed that thou dost not displease him." 
 True, his opposition to ungodly rulers, and to the 
 "Man of Sin," whose pliant tools these rulers 
 were, cost Latimer his life, for he was burned at 
 the stake; but it will require the annals of this 
 world and of the world to come to reveal the 
 good which the fearlessness of Latimer accom- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 79 
 
 plished. x^o wonder, therefore, that he could, as 
 if inspired by prophetic vision, say to Eidley, 
 w^ho was his fellow-martyr, "Be not afraid of the 
 flames, my brother; for we shall this day light 
 such a c^yidle in England as shall never be put 
 out." 
 
 An incident, it is said, occurred in this country 
 a number of years ago which illustrates the same 
 thing. At one period of his life General Andrew 
 Jackson was passionately fond of horse-racing 
 and cock-fighting — would not only attend the 
 •'race ground," and the "pit," but would wager 
 large sums of money. A bold, fearless old minis- 
 ter, wdio had a regular monthly appointment in 
 the vicinity of the Hermitage (Jackson's home), 
 announced that, on a certain Sabbath, he would 
 preach a sermon on the corrupt and demoralizing 
 iiiflucnces of horse-racing and cock-fighting. 
 When the day arrived, a large crowd gathered; 
 and among the number was Gen. Jackson. The 
 officials of the Church, when they saw the distin- 
 guished auditor in the congregation, went to the 
 minister and pleaded with him to abandon his 
 purpose — said to him, Gen. Jackson is not only a 
 great man, but a dangerous man. The man of God, 
 however, said, "I will not change my purpose. 
 Gen. Jackson knew of this appointment; and I 
 take it for granted, by his presence, that he wishes 
 to hear a sermon of the kind w^hich I propose to 
 preach. 8Lill, whether this is so or not, I am not 
 afraid of Gen. Jackson ; but I am afraid of God. 
 
80 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 My commission is from Ileavon, and that commis- 
 sion authorizes me to make war upon all sin, no 
 ditterence by whom committed. Gen. Jackson 
 has no more right to sin against God than has the 
 humblest man in this community — mijy, if any 
 distinction is to be made, he has less right to do 
 so, because of his great name and influence." 
 
 The minister, ''nothing daunted," therefore, 
 preached the sermon; and it is said that it was a 
 severe one, too, against the sins to which refer- 
 ence has been made. It is also said that Gen. 
 Jackson was one of the most respectful and at- 
 tentive listeners in that audience — sat quietly, 
 and heard the whole of the discourse. That 
 afternoon the minister went to the home of one 
 of his humblest members for the purpose of spend- 
 ino- the niij-ht. Next mornina:, lust about the time 
 the preacher was preparing to leave, the family 
 looked out and saw Gen. Jackson riding toward 
 the cabin. The ''man of the house" said to the 
 minister, "Leave as quickly as possible; for the 
 CJeneral, I fear, is coming to seek a dilficulty with 
 you." The preacher re])lied, "I will not leave; 
 jor I am not afraid of Gen. Jackson and the devil, 
 when 1 have God and the Bible on my side." 
 But, instead of seeking a ditliculty with the min- 
 ister. Gen. Jackson raised his hat, took the 
 preacher by the hand, and said, "Sir, I had 
 started to the city [Nashville], and learning that 
 you were here, I came out of ni}^ way to thank 
 you for that sermon on yesterday. You preached 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 81 
 
 tlie trutli, and J trust that it will be of great serv- 
 ice to me in all time to come." 
 
 jSTow, whether that sermon was the cause of the 
 radical reformation which occurred soon after, we 
 will not affirm; but it is a fact of history that the 
 change did take place; and it is also a fact of his- 
 tory that Gen. Jackson became a Christian, and 
 ''died in the faith." No wonder, therefore, that 
 one having such profound respect for the Bible 
 and the ministry, would, years after this incident 
 occurred, when he was President of the United 
 States, refuse to give a minister of the gospel an 
 appointment, saying to the applicant, "Sir, you 
 hold, already, a higher commission than I can 
 give you — a commission from God himself — there- 
 fore, go and fulfill boldly and fearlessly the duties 
 of that commission." 
 
 Let no one misunderstand what is meant by 
 ministerial firmness. AVe do not, of course, mean 
 that the preacher should be impudent and forward; 
 nor do we mean that he should use coarse and 
 uncouth language in rebuking sin. On the con- 
 trary, let him, while he fearlessly condemns that 
 which is wrong, utter those words of rebuke in 
 kindness and not in wrath. Like Paul, let him 
 do so "weeping." (See Phil. iii. 18.) Sin cannot 
 be rectified by sin. There is an old proverb 
 which says, "If a father punishes his son for 
 swearing, and swears himself while he punishes 
 him, he does more harm by his example than he 
 does good by his correction.'' While, therefore, 
 G 
 
82 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the preacher endeavors to set things right, he 
 must see to it that he does not set them wrong by 
 an ungodly spirit. Those tears of Paul not only 
 gave vehemence and force to his remonstrance, 
 but sent that remonstrance to the hearts of those to 
 whom he spake — yea, made it effectual because of 
 the tenderness with which it was uttered. Much, 
 therefore, depends upon the 7nannerin which a min- 
 ister reproves the sins and follies of his flock. There 
 may arise cases when, like his Master, he may oc- 
 casionally denounce "hypocrites" and "genera- 
 tion of vipers"; but, like that same blessed 
 Master, he should administer the most of his rep- 
 rimands in words of kindness and clemency — "O 
 Jerusalem, Jerusalem," etc., etc. 
 
 To many ministers it is a sore trial to confront 
 sins which are indulged in by the prominent 
 members of their Churches; but it should not be 
 so. Sin is sin, no difference by whom committed ; 
 and that minister will be most respected who will 
 show no "favor or affection" in this particular. 
 It is better, infinitely better, to have a small 
 Church, with a membership whose lives "adorn 
 the gospel they profess," than to have a member- 
 ship of five hundred, one half or more of whom 
 are moral lepers who have never bathed in Be- 
 thesda's waters, nor received a touch from the 
 blessed Saviour's band, accomjianied with the 
 words, "I will, be thou clean." True, such firm- 
 ness as we are commending may cost a minister 
 his place; but it would bo hotter for it to cost him 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 83 
 
 his head, as it did John the Baptist, than for him, 
 like Peter, to deny his Lord and -Master. It is 
 not always the most j)leasant part of a physician's 
 work to search into the causes of disease, but it 
 must be done; and it is sometimes indispensably 
 necessary to use both the probe and the knife. 
 
 9. He must visit his flock — must "mix and 
 mingle" with his people. 
 
 It was a pithy saying of an old divine, that a 
 preacher had three books to study — the Bible, 
 himself, and the people One of our most gifted 
 poets, too, has said, that "the proper study of 
 mankind is man." If this latter assertion be true 
 in reference to the duty of mankind in general, 
 how much more so is it in relation to the minister 
 of the gospel? So to sjDeak, human nature is the 
 principal ingredient or staple upon which the 
 l^reacher is to operate; and to do so successfully 
 he must study it thoroughly, not from books 
 alone, but from "original models" — the people. 
 We scarcely need say, this can only be done by 
 "mixing and mingling" with his flock. Indeed, 
 to insure success in his work, a knowledge of the 
 human heart is almost as necessary to a minister 
 as that of the Sacred Scriptures. 
 
 The duty upon which we are insisting was not 
 only sanctioned, but sedulously performed by 
 Christ himself It is said of him that he " came 
 not to be ministered unto, but to minister." He 
 neglected no class or condition of society; and 
 
84 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 we are not astonished, therefore, that the j^^^ojjle 
 heard him ghxdly." What a busy life he led! 
 He traveled over the hills and valleys of Pales- 
 tine on foot. He preached in the -temple and in 
 the synagogues; on the mountain-side and by the 
 sea-shore; to vast crowds and to single individ- 
 uals. Indeed, one of the most powerful discourses 
 he ever delivered was the one preached to the 
 Samaritan woman, as he sat by Jacob's well. 
 
 The ajiostles, likewise, did a vast amount of 
 such work. It is recorded of Paul tiiat he taught 
 "from house to house," and that he "ceased not 
 to warn every one night and day with tears." 
 This great Apostle, together with all the others, 
 seemed to recognize the fact that his public eflforts 
 might be almost a failure, unless they were accom- 
 panied by private admonitions. Not only the 
 apostles, and their successors for several centuries, 
 gave special "heed to the flock," but the Christian 
 ministry of every age has done the same thing. 
 If we read the utterances made by those extraor- 
 dinary men who produced the Eeformation, we 
 w^ill find their sentiments not only freely but em- 
 phatically expressed upon this important subject. 
 We have not the space to insert them, but they 
 are as pronounced as language can make them. 
 
 The necessity for this kind of ministerial labor 
 can be expressed in the following brief summary : 
 
 (a) Pastoral visitation is necessary in order 
 that the minister may know the wants of his 
 people. 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 85 
 
 AVithont such knowledge the best pulpit efforts 
 will fail to have that directness which they should 
 possess, in order that "each may have his por- 
 tion." A physician must know the condition of 
 his j^atients before he can prescribe for them. A 
 teacher must understand fully the advancement 
 of his pupils before he can be profitable to them 
 as an instructor. The same is true in regard to 
 the preacher. New Year calls and visits of cere- 
 mony are good as far as they go; but they do not 
 go far enough. On such occasions people are re- 
 served — are "on their manners"; and, therefore, 
 these are not appropriate times and places for re- 
 ligious conversation and spiritual improvement. 
 Unless the minister visits his people at their own 
 homes, what can he know of their peculiarities 
 and wants? All shades of characters, and all 
 stages of religious development, are compre- 
 hended under one pastoral care; and how is the 
 preacher to know these differences, and to admin- 
 ister properly to them, unless, like his Master, he 
 " searches them out"? In a word, he must pene- 
 trate beneath an outside acquaintance with his 
 people if he would learn of and administer to their 
 real wants. 
 
 (b) It is essential in order that he may gain the 
 good-will and sympathy of his flock. 
 
 Quintilian says, "The first requisite for an 
 orator is to gain the good-will of his audience." 
 For a minister to do this, there is no method equal 
 to that of 2^ersonal acquaintance. This, too, should 
 
86 PLLPIT AND PEW. 
 
 be so thorough that lie can at all times recognize 
 each one of them. The blessed Saviour says, 
 "The good shej^herd calleth his sheep by name." 
 This shows that the minister is not to neglect any 
 that are in the fold. Unfortunately, there is not 
 only "a gulf fixed" between the capitalist and 
 the laborer — between the higher and lower 
 classes — ^but it is an ever- widening and an ever- 
 deepening gulf No man on earth can do as 
 much to change or modify the width and depth 
 of this gulf as the minister of the gospel. The 
 masses are disposed to identify him with the 
 higher class of society. This class, they know, 
 contributes the principal part of the preacher's 
 salary, and has a controlling influence in procur- 
 ing his services. The masses also recognize the 
 fact that the minister's culture, deportment, dress, 
 etc., qualify him for association with the more 
 polished class of society; and, because of these 
 things, they are prone to feel that he is not one of 
 them. With proper care, however, these diffi- 
 culties can all be removed. But the only way to 
 remove them is for the minister to visit them, 
 and prove to them by his words and deeds of 
 kindness that he is their friend. He must walk 
 side by side w^ith them, sit down with them in 
 their humble homes, and partake of their plain 
 but wholesome food. lie must let them feel the 
 throbbings of a brother's heart; must take their 
 hands in his ; and show a willingness to help them 
 bear their burdens and sorrows. The minister 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 87 
 
 who acts tJius will not only follow the teaching 
 and example of Christ; but he will break down 
 those prejudfces which, unfortunately, are too 
 often found existing between what are called the 
 "upper and lower classes "^will have the pleasure 
 of seeing, so far as religion is concerned, that " all 
 are one in Christ Jesus," and that "the rich and 
 poor meet together " in the house of Cod. Indeed, 
 when the minister is seen only in the pulpit on 
 Sabbath, he is still a stranger; but when he visits 
 his peoj^le in their homes, and enters into their 
 joys and sorrows — weeping with those that weep, 
 and rejoicing with those that rejoice — then he is 
 no longer a stranger, but is sincerely trusted and 
 tenderly loved. Every one regards him as his 
 personal friend, because he proves by hie conduct 
 that he seeks the good of all whom he visits. 
 
 (c) This private visiting is necessary in order 
 to see the effects of his public efforts. 
 
 A good general, immediately after every battle, 
 surveys the field to see what has been done — to 
 see who have escaped unhurt; how many have 
 been struck; the character of the wounds; the 
 attention they need, etc. A minister of the 
 gospel should do the same thing — should survey 
 his parish, and promptly administer the reme- 
 dies which are needed. Truth from the pulpit 
 may touch the heart; but unless private conver- 
 sation presses that truth upon the hearer for his 
 prompt action, a wind of tem2:>tation, a breath of 
 worldly influence may counteract and destroy all 
 
88 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the good which was accomj^lished by the sermon. 
 Too many ministers, though they preach witli 
 "the power and demonstration of the truth" on 
 Sabbath, yet, during the coming week, they suffer 
 the birds of the air to devour the seed sown, or 
 the cares of the world to choke it, thereby utterly 
 losing the effects of their pulpit services. 
 
 The farmer does not sow the seed, and then 
 give the field no further attention. If the crop 
 is growing, he takes great delight in looking at 
 it — will see to it that it is properly inclosed and 
 protected — will give all necessary culture by re- 
 moving noxious plants; and loves to think of 
 harvest time. So with the faithful pastor, whose 
 business it is to see to the growth of the spiritual 
 work committed to his culture. 
 
 The Saviour directed Peter to feed the "lambs" 
 as well as the "sheep"; and that command is just 
 as obligatory u2:>on the minister of this day as it 
 was at the time it was issued. The "good Shep- 
 herd," when he was upon earth, exhibited a most 
 tender regard for children; for "he took them in 
 his arms and blessed them, and said, of such is 
 the kingdom of heaven." It is a fact, too, which 
 has not escaj^ed observation, that the most success- 
 ful ministers have been those who gave special 
 attention to the "lambs of the flock." There is a 
 reason for this: the aged are but few in any con- 
 gregation; those in middle life are more numer- 
 ous; but the youth are the most numerous of any 
 class. Indeed, the youth are the power "behind 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 89 
 
 the throne," not only in the State, but in the 
 Church. Often — yea, generally — the nearest way 
 to the hearts of .parents is through their children. 
 The remark of Themistocles is to the point. He 
 said of his little son, "This child is greater than 
 any man in Greece; for the Athenians command 
 the Greeks, I command the Athenians, his mother 
 commands me, and he commands his mother." 
 
 (cZ) It will give to the minister man}" impor- 
 tant thoughts which he can embody into his ser- 
 mons. 
 
 The masses may not be as highl}' cultivated as 
 the preacher; but he will not fail to encounter 
 many bold and vigorous minds — men and women 
 of strong native intellect, who not only think for 
 themselves, but think in original channels. The 
 words which they utter may not always be "good 
 English"; but the thoughts which they advance 
 are gems — yea, unburnished gold. To the minis- 
 ter these unpolished thoughts are what the crude 
 block of marble is to the sculptor. All that is 
 necessary in either case is for the '• master work- 
 man" to put his chisel upon the "rough ashlar," 
 and dress it into shape. The fact is, great origi- 
 nality of thought is often found in the humblest 
 walks of life. The Spirit of God, the best of all 
 commentator^and the wisest of all interpreters 
 of truth, dwells in the hovel as well as the palace. 
 Much, then, may be learned without books. And, 
 as we all know, living teachers are better than 
 dead ones. There is, without doubt, a peculiar 
 
90 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 magic ill the voice of living wisdom. The blessed 
 Bible expresses the thought in a single sentence, 
 when it says, "Iron sharpeneth iron." 
 
 On this point, however, a word of caution may 
 not be out of place. As a general thing, it is the 
 ideas and not the conversations which a minister 
 raaj use. When he attempts to employ the latter 
 there is danger of exaggeration — danger of per- 
 verting the truth. And, as has been stated else- 
 where in this little volume, there is scarcely any 
 thing more injurious to raiinisterial character than 
 for him to acquire the reputation of general want 
 of candor; or of inaccuracy and looseness of 
 statement; or of being a man who is prone to 
 exaggerate. Such a course will, sooner or later, 
 undermine and destroy the rej^utation of any 
 minister. 
 
 (e) Such visiting is of great advantage to the 
 spiritual condition of both 2:>i*eacher and j^eople. 
 
 All of us, perhaps, have read the story of the 
 traveler who, in crossing the Alps, found a man 
 almost buried in the snow. The traveler himself 
 w^as very cold, and the first impulse was to "pass 
 by" the sufferer; but, on the "sober second 
 thought," he resolved, if possible, to relieve him. 
 He, therefore, dismounted, and with all his might 
 he began to rub the cold and almoi^ frozen limbs 
 of the sufferer, at the same time whispering words 
 of encouragement in his ear. The result was, he 
 not only restored the djdng man, but warmed and 
 invigorated his own cold and shivering frame by 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 91 
 
 the friction which he used in saving the perishing 
 man — each benefited the other. 
 
 It is just so in religions life. Christian contact 
 never fails to do good. '^None of us livcth to 
 himself." The prophet IMalachi, in his day, said, 
 " They that feared the Lord spake often one to 
 another.' (Mai. iii. 16.) Infinite, almost, are the 
 sorrows and necessities of the human heart; and 
 in our doubts and troubles how we long for succor 
 and encouragement from each other. There are 
 times when a gentle look, or a kind word will 
 lift a burden from the heart, and put sunshine into 
 the soul for days and weeks — yea, perhaps for life! 
 
 Other arguments of a similar nature might be 
 presented, showing the importance of pastoral 
 visitation; but we prefer to introduce corrobora- 
 tive testimony bearing upon this point. We have 
 space for only a limited amount from the "great 
 cloud of witnesses." Doddridge, in taking charge 
 of a Church said, "I now resolve to take a more 
 particular account of the souls committed to my 
 care; to visit, as soon as possible, the whole con- 
 gregation, to learn more particularly the circum- 
 stances of them, their children and servants; to 
 make as exact a list as I can of those that I have 
 reason to believe are unconverted, awakened, con- 
 verted, fit for communion, or already in it; to 
 visit and talk with my people w^hen I hear any 
 thing in particular relating to their religious 
 state; to be especially careful to visit the sick; to 
 begin immediately with the inspection of those 
 
92 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 under my own roof, that I may with the greater 
 freedom urge other familien to like care. O, my 
 soul, thy account is great!" The biographer of 
 Dr. Chalmers thus speaks of him: "Not satisfied 
 with merely proclaiming the doctrines of the 
 gospel from the pulpit on the Sabbath, not satis- 
 fied even with putting into tliat presentation all 
 the energy of his regal intellect, and the enthu- 
 siasm of his affectionate heart, gathering about 
 the truth all ornaments of scholarship, and im- 
 pressing it by appeals most clear and pointed, as 
 by arguments whose weight and pressure have 
 rarely been surpassed — he labored also to carry 
 it familiarly from house to house throughout the 
 week. He interested himself personally and 
 warmly in the families of his parish. He knew 
 the children and the aged, as well as the active of 
 middle life. He knew the circumstances, charac- 
 teristics, and history of his people. And he was 
 always ready with his word of counsel, his sug- 
 gestive, practical, or doctrinal instruction, his free 
 j)resentation of Christ, and his fitness for the soul. 
 He aimed and desired to have his speech to dis- 
 till as the dew, in tli^ constant day-to-day inter- 
 course of life. He meant to speak to his people 
 through his example as well as through his words; 
 and whenever a case occurred of special difficulty, 
 requiring peculiar tact and skill in its manage- 
 ment, it was affecting to see with what earnestness 
 of thought, with what fervor of ]n'ayer this noble 
 and shining mind devoted itself to the work of 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 93 
 
 enlightening the ignorant, or of cheering^ the 
 downcast, or of impressing and awakening the 
 long impenitent." 
 
 If we would see the effects of faithful pastoral 
 work, we have only to read the Life of Baxter. 
 Says Mr. Ryle, in speaking of this extraordinary 
 man: "Another thing you must know, that Bax- 
 ter was one of the most successful pastors of a 
 parish and congregation that ever lived. When 
 he came to Kidderminster he found it a dark, 
 ignorant, immoral, irreligious place, containing, 
 perhaps, three thousand inhabitants. When he 
 left it at the end of fourteen years he had com- 
 pletely turned the parish upside down 'The 
 place before his coining,' says Dr. Bates, ' was like 
 a piece of dry and barren earth ; but, by the 
 blessing of Heaven upon his labor, the face of 
 paradise appeared there. The bad were changed 
 to good, and the good to better.' The number of 
 his regular communicants averaged six hundred. 
 'Of these,' Baxter tells us, 'there Avere not twelve 
 of whom I had not good hope as to their sincerity.* 
 The Lord's day was thoroughly reverenced and 
 observed. It was said, 'you might have heard an 
 hundred families singing psalms and repeating 
 sermons as you passed through the streets.' 
 When he came there there w\as about one family 
 in a street which worshiped God at home. When 
 he went away there were some streets in which 
 there was not more than one family on a side that 
 did not do it: and this was the case even with 
 
94 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 inns and public-bouses. Even of tbe irreb'gious 
 i'amilies, tbere were very few wbieb bad not some 
 converted relations. 'Some of tbe poor people 
 became so well versed in tbeology tbat tbey un- 
 derstood tbe wbole body of divinity, and were 
 able to judge difficult controversies. Some were 
 so able in prayer tbat few ministers could matcb 
 tliem in ardor, fullness, apt expressions, boly ora- 
 tory, and fervor.' Tbe grand instrument to wbicb 
 Baxter used to attribute tbis astounding success 
 was bis system of bousebold visitation and reg- 
 ular private conference witb bis parisbioners. 
 No doubt tbis did immense good, and tbe more so 
 because it was a new tbing in tbose days. Never- 
 tbeless, tbere is no denying tbe fact tbat tbe most 
 elaborate parocbial macbinery of modern times 
 bas never produced sucb effects as tbose you bave 
 just beard of at Kidderminster. And tbe true 
 account of tbis I believe to be, tbat no parisb bas 
 ever bad sucb a wonderful mainsj^ring in tbe 
 middle of it as Baxter was. Wbile some divines 
 were wrangling over tbe divine rigbt of Episco- 
 pacy and Presbytery, or sjDlitting bairs about 
 reprobation and free-will, Baxter was always 
 visiting from bouse to bouse, and beseecbing men, 
 for Cbrist's sake, to be reconciled to God and flee 
 from tbe wratb to come. Wbile otbers were en- 
 tangling tbemselves in politics, and burying tbeir 
 dead amid tbe potsberds of tbe eartb, Baxter 
 was living a crucified life, and daily preacbing 
 tbe gospel." 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 95 
 
 Id conclusion, then, upon this topic, let every 
 minister who reads these pages resolve that, by 
 Grod's assistance, he will be more faithful in pas- 
 toral visitation. The experience of the Church 
 in all the past ages of its history demonstrates 
 the fact that, other things being equal, that minis- 
 ter accomplishes most who comes into closest 
 personal contact with his people. No amount of 
 organizing, no skill in forming and managing 
 '•committees" is a substitute for this. The min- 
 ister who would be like the Master must do as he 
 did — touch the leper with his own hand; and if 
 he would raise the dead to spiritual life, the tears 
 must be in his own eyes. And, like his great 
 Exemplar, let him be especially kind to the poor — 
 go to the humble families of Bethany as well as 
 to the palaces of the wealthy. As Paul expresses 
 it, " Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all 
 the flock, over the which the Holy Grhost hath 
 made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, 
 which he hath purchased with his own blood." 
 (Acts XX. 28.) 
 • 
 
 10. He should be a man of great prudence. 
 
 Prudence is a most important requisite of the 
 sacred office. AYithout it, learning, eloquence, 
 and even piety itself can accomplish but little. 
 A minister not only comes in contact with all 
 grades of society, but with all shades of public 
 opinion. It is not by pulpit efforts alone that the 
 preacher is to do good. Mankind are better 
 
96 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 jnclo-es of conduct than of sermons — are better 
 versed in the proprieties of life than in the 
 science of theology. Hence, in those emblemat- 
 ical representations which we have in the Sacred 
 Scriptures of ministers of the gospel, we find 
 much to interest and instruct us. With the face 
 of the lion, of the eagle, and of the ox, in those 
 symbolical figures, the face of a man is alwaj^s 
 conjoined. If the face of* a lion denotes that the 
 minister should have boldness and courage; if 
 that of the ox, that he should have patience and 
 fitness for labor; if that of the eagle, that he 
 should have a clear and penetrating insight into 
 the truths of the Bible; so the face of a man de- 
 notes that he should be eminently endowed with 
 prudence and sagacity. 
 
 In the Levitical law, it was required that the 
 sacrifice for the sin of a priest should be no less 
 than was offered for all Israel, which, at that time, 
 consisted of millions of souls. (See Lev. ix. 3-14.) 
 And who knows but God may exact for the sin 
 of a minister a punishment, as he did a sacrifice, 
 equal to what may be inflicted ujion the whole 
 congregation which that minister serves? 
 
 Prudence is nearly equivalent to what is oiten 
 alluded to in the New Testament as wisdom — 
 "warning and teaching every man in all wis- 
 dom" — and is a divine grace which, if properly 
 cultivated, always leads to wise speech as well as 
 to discreet action. But it is often the case that 
 ministers perpetrate improprieties which, though 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 97 
 
 apparently insignificant, greatly curtail their use- 
 fulness. Public sentiment, in the main, is quite 
 correct in its opinions in regard to v>hat consti- 
 tutes true ministerial decorum; and the preacher 
 who would dare transcend the boundary line 
 drawn by this public sentiment, does so at his 
 peril. Yet many — yea, too many — venture to 
 cross the "metes and bounds" thus fixed. They 
 may, perhaps, say they defy public sentiment in 
 certain particulars; but that aggravates rather 
 than palliates the offense; nor does it, in the least, 
 change public sentiment. There are many things 
 which "a man of the world" may do, and which 
 even a layman may do, which would not be toler- 
 ated in a minister of the gospel. 
 
 One of the besetting sins to which some minis- 
 ters are addicted is their indiscreet conversation. 
 They seem to think that they are called upon to 
 exj^ress their sentiments upon every subject, and 
 to give their opinions freely in regard to every 
 one. It is not astonishing that such men are so 
 often called upon " to rise and explain," and it is 
 not astonishing either that they are so often per- 
 plexed in their efforts to " set things right." Min- 
 isters of this kind, who are thus almost always em- 
 barrassing themselves, scarcely know what to do, 
 nor by what method they can extricate themselves 
 from the perilous condition in which they are 
 placed. Like an ant on a piece of wood, both 
 ends of which are on fire, they run "to and fro," 
 hoj)ing by some means to be relieved from the 
 7 
 
98 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 dilemma in which their own impnidence has 
 placed them. 
 
 The preacher should remember that there are 
 two sides to almost every question ; and it is a 
 matter of vital importance (if he must take sides 
 at all) that he shall be on the right side. Hence, 
 he should always think, and think soberly and 
 priv^^erfully, before he speaks. AVhat a shame for 
 a minister to allow himself to degenerate into a 
 gossiper, a news-monger — to be the first to circu- 
 late an evil report, and to give currency to un- 
 founded statements — to forsake his Bible and his 
 books, and convert himself into a sort of sewer- 
 pipe, through which things "foul and filthy" are 
 to circulate! Let others, if they must, be the 
 tale-bearers, the news-mongers, the retailers of 
 slander; but let God's ambassadors avoid such 
 things as they would a life of shame and a death 
 of infamy. The truth is, a minister, however in- 
 timate he may be with the families of his charge, 
 should never pry into their private aifairs and 
 secrets There is a littleness and meanness in 
 such a course that will make any preacher con- 
 temptible who will do such a thing. True, he is 
 to "watch over his flock"; but he must always 
 remember that he is not a police officer. He has 
 enough to do to attend to his own affairs, in this 
 particular, without meddling with the private 
 affairs of others. Indeed, a prudent minister 
 does not want to hear the secrets of his neighbors 
 and of his flock. They are a troublesome com- 
 
PUl.PIT AND PEW, 99 
 
 modity to have in one's custody. They are 
 among the ten thousand things of this ungodly 
 world of which it is much more a blessing than a 
 misfortune to be entirely ignorant. Protestantism 
 neither knoios nor tolerates the confessional. 
 
 The ministerial j^i'udence for which we are con- 
 tending has reference, also, to the manner in 
 which a preacher deports himself in his associa- 
 tions with the other sex. If he is a gentleinan he 
 will be as pure and chaste in his feelings and con- 
 duct in female society, in general, as he would bo 
 with his own mother and sisters. Not an im- 
 proper expression should escape his lips; nor 
 should he, under any circumstances, utter a word 
 that would offend a lady of the most delicate sen- 
 sibility. Some, we regret to say, are not as care- 
 ful in this respect as they should be; but pre- 
 sume simpl}" because they are ministers. The 
 credentials of a minister, however, grant no such 
 liberty, and he has no right to cultivate and foster 
 a familiarity in conversation and in deportment 
 which is as disgusting to refined Christian society 
 as it is disreputable to those wlio participate in it. 
 Nothing improper, we grant, may be intended ; 
 but such conduct always injures both parties in 
 public estimation, Let those who indulge in 
 such improper conduct remember that but few 
 ladies, and still fewer ministers, can outlive a tale 
 of slander, although it may be false. Indeed, 
 nothing is more hurtful to the cause of religion 
 than such ministerial lapses. The semi-infidelic 
 
100 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 secular press rejoices at the opportunity of giving 
 publicity to such declensions. The devil and his 
 emissaries not only give circulation to the affair in 
 the locality in which it occurred, but they send 
 the news all over the land, even beyond the seas, 
 on the "lightning's fiery wing." And nowhere 
 v/ill it be repeated without doing mischief to the 
 cause of Christ. The consequence is, the minis- 
 ter's influence for good is blasted for the remain- 
 ing portion of his life; for, go where he may, the 
 news of his downfall has preceded him. The 
 deed is done; and, like the fabled shirt of Nessus, 
 it "sticks" to the unfortunate man as long as he 
 lives ! The only safeguard, in such matters, is to 
 give no ground for suspicion. 
 
 To the unmarried ministers — young men — we 
 feel that these words of caution and admonition, 
 in regard to the other sex, cannot be too strongly 
 stated. Some, there may be, who delight to have 
 quite a number of young ladies fascinated with 
 them at the same time. Such an ambition is 
 basely unworthy of the sacred profession; and 
 the young minister who is dishonorable enough 
 to trifle with a woman's heart is not too pure to 
 destroy her virtue. He, of course, by the laws 
 of God and man, has a perfect right to many; 
 bi't he has no right — Divine or human — to dally 
 with a woman's affections. Indeed, nothing 
 scarcely will blast a young preacher's reputation 
 and usefulness more quickly or more effectually 
 than for him to establish a reputation of indis- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 101 
 
 creetness in this particular. Let no young min- 
 ister, then, feel that it is either expected or desired 
 that he must have a "love scrape" with every 
 respectable young lady Avhoni he may meet! 
 
 How careful and prudent, then, must a minister 
 be in his private life — in his daily associations ! 
 He occupies a position where it is exceedingly 
 difficult to stand, and unspeakably dangerous to 
 fall. Hence, every step of his life and every 
 utterance of his lips should be guarded with the 
 utmost circumspection. Not only in his public 
 teaching but in his private life, he has great need 
 of prudence. His office calls on him to watch 
 over the spiritual interests of his people, to pre- 
 serve or recover them from sin and error, to in- 
 struct the ignorant, excite the negligent, confirm 
 the weak, comfort the afflicted, satisfy the doubt- 
 ing, encourage the desponding, and admonish the 
 disorderly. It calls on him to accommodate him- 
 self to every case, and to every capacity; so that, 
 if possible, he may lead them to heaven. How 
 trying are the ordeals through which he is to 
 pass! His position is similar, in many respects, 
 to that of Moses; and he must not be disappointed 
 if his trials partake of the same nature. 
 
 The blessed Saviour has set a perfect example 
 of ministerial prudence. So careful was he in his 
 intercourse with the world, that he made more 
 converts by his private conversations than by his 
 public teachings, though he preached as never 
 man preached. And those of his ministers who 
 
102 rULPlT AND PEW. 
 
 imitate his example are the ones who accomplish 
 the greatest amount of good. One of the Lord 
 Chancellors of England said to a faithful minister 
 Avhom he was prosecuting and persecuting, "Thou 
 hast done more harm by thy private life and ex- 
 hortations in prison than thou didst by thy 
 preaching before thou wast cast into prison." 
 On the contrary, that was a severe rebuke w^iich 
 a certain minister once received when a sinner 
 said to him, "When I see you in the pulpit I 
 think you ought never to leave it; but when I 
 see you out of it, I think you ought never to 
 enter it again." Of how many preachers may the 
 same thing be said? 
 
 Let, then, the prayer of every minister of the 
 gospel be that of the Psalmist, "Set a watch, 
 Lord, before my mouth ; keep the door of my 
 lips." (Ps. cxli. 3.) 
 
 11. He must indoctrinate his j'^eople. 
 
 All intelligent action is based upon principle. 
 A deed performed, though right in the abstract, is 
 destitute of virtue, so far as the individual is con- 
 cerned, unless it is done with a conscientious con- 
 viction of duty. The basis of duty is knowledge — 
 doctrine. This principle holds good, not only in 
 regard to morals, but also in reference to religion. 
 Zeal which is not "according to knowledge," is 
 not only untrustworthy and unreliable, but 
 severely condemned by the word of God. Indeed, 
 the religion of the Bible is nothing without its 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 103 
 
 truths; for by these alone is it distinguished from 
 those false systems which have blighted and 
 cursed a large portion of the human race. It is 
 also a fact which cannot be controverted, that the 
 convictions of a man constitute the measure of his 
 activity and zeal, in any department of life. The 
 man who has no fixed principles — no "pow s^o" — 
 l^iay attemj)t to use the lever, but he will never 
 ''lift the earth fr^om its poles." 
 
 No one should join' a Church without under- 
 standing its doctrines; and as the ministers of 
 that Church are the recognized expounders of the 
 system of theology taught and believed by that 
 organization, they will be untrue to themselves, 
 to their Church, and to their Cod, unless they set 
 forth and defend the truth as they understand it. 
 Books may formulate Creeds; but the services of 
 the teacher are just as necessary in tlieology as in 
 science. Nor is it at all more unreasonable or ab- 
 surd to suppose that people generally will make 
 scholars of themselves without the aid of an in- 
 structor than it is to imagine that they will be- 
 come theologians without such assistance. 
 
 The tendency of the age, we are free to admit, 
 is to avoid doctrinal preaching; but it is surely a 
 sad mistake. The idea is that such preaching is 
 both objectionable and uninteresting. But this is 
 not true. An intelligent people will never cen- 
 sure a minister for preaching his honest convic- 
 tions, provided he does so in the proper spirit. 
 The mistake that is often made, is the mayiner in 
 
104 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 which it is done. This thought is forcibly ilUis- 
 trated by au infidel who went to hear a minister 
 preach on Future Punishment. At the close of 
 the sermon, some one asked him if he was 
 offended. His answer was, "No indeed; a man 
 who argues so fairly, and yet so forcibly, can 
 never be offensive to an auditor. Though,'' 
 continued the infidel, "he si)okeAyith great plain- 
 ness, yet his whole discourse was delivered with 
 remarkable tenderness; for he strove to take men 
 by the heart instead of by the throat^ Ah, that 
 is the secret: it is the manner of the preacher, and 
 not the message, which gives offense. 
 
 As to the charge that doctrinal preaching is 
 uninteresting to an audience, we simply say, such 
 a sentiment does not accord with facts. Doctrinal 
 preaching planted the Christian religion; doc- 
 trinal preaching produced the day of Pentecost; 
 doctrinal preaching made Felix tremble; doc- 
 trinal preaching ushered in the Reformation. In 
 a word, doctrine — truth — lies at the basis of all 
 intelligent public sentiment; and without it, no 
 theory, no superstructure, physical, moral, or 
 theological, can stand. 
 
 But, lamentable to say, there is a strong ten- 
 dency in this age, on the part of the ministry, to 
 eschew doctrinal preaching. The only reason, 
 perhaps, that can be given for this theological de- 
 moralization and degeneracy is, that it requires a 
 great deal less labor to prepare a hortatory than a 
 doctrinal discourse. In other language, it is easier 
 
PULriT AND PEW.. 105 
 
 to ''speak words" than to frame arguments — 
 easier to rant than to reason. But those who are 
 opj)osed to doctrinal preaching seem to forget 
 that all genuine religion is founded upon knowl 
 edge. It begins and ends with truth. Indeed, 
 according to the Bible, truth is the chief means 
 by which the moral renovation of human nature 
 is to be accomj^lished. Said the blessed Saviour, 
 "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall 
 make you free." And on a most solemn occasion, 
 when interceding for his disciples, he prayed, 
 '' Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is 
 truth " Christianity is eminently distinguished 
 from all other s^^stems of religion, because the 
 affections it requires, and the virtues it inculcates, 
 arise and are matured in connection with correct 
 views of truth. The doctrine of the Scriptures 
 is, that the legitimate tendency of moral and re- 
 ligious truth is to produce virtuous affections and 
 upright conduct, and that the natural tendency 
 of error is the reverse. Hence, our Saviour 
 taught that false teachers are to be distinguished 
 from the true "by their fruits" — that is, by the 
 effects of their doctrines upon their own moral 
 character, and upon that of their followers. The 
 fact is, we can no more have correct religious 
 thinking and acting without theology tha.n we can 
 have correct measurement without mathematics. 
 The victories of Christianity, wherever they have 
 been won, have been achieved by distinct, 
 sharply-cut doctrinal theology; by telling sinners 
 
106 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 of Christ's vicarious sufferings; by teaching thcni 
 justification by faith; by preaching the ruin of 
 the race by Adam's trangression, and redemption 
 tlirough the blood of Christ, etc., etc. This is the 
 only teaching which God has promised to own 
 and bless. Indeed, Christianity without distinct 
 doctrine is a powerless thing. It may be beauti- 
 ful to some minds, but it is childless and barren. 
 When the blessed Saviour appeared on earth, he 
 found the Jews in deep moral degradation, be- 
 cause they had forsaken the doctrines of the 
 Bible, and had substituted in their stead forms 
 and ceremonies — were very familiar with "tradi- 
 tions," and were very exact in tithing "mint and 
 cummin," but were utterly neglectful of "the 
 weightier matters of the law." The surrounding 
 nations were enveloped in the midnight darkness 
 of a degrading polytheism, which the boasted 
 learning of Grecian and Boman philosophers had 
 signally foiled to dispel. But, when Christ and 
 his apostles proclaimed the doctrines of the Bible, 
 what grand transformations took place! So it 
 has been, and so it will be, in every age. No one 
 can point to a village, or town, or city, or district, 
 or country which has ever been evangelized with- 
 out doctrine. In other words, doctrine is the 
 frame-work of all genuine religion — is the skele- 
 ton of truth, to be clothed and rounded out by 
 the loving graces of a holy life. 
 
 We do not contend, nor do we believe, that the 
 same prominence should be given to each and 
 
 J 
 
PULPIT AND PEW, 107 
 
 every doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures. In the 
 human body there are some parts which are vital; 
 there are others which are not so much so. The 
 same is true of the Bible; but it requires all of 
 these parts to make that blessed Book, ^o civil 
 engineer would be so unwise as to attempt to con- 
 struct an impregnable fort w^ithout using strong 
 materials; and the minister (who is a theological 
 builder) must exercise the same sound discretion. 
 Churches thus planted will stand; for they are 
 founded upon the solid rock, and not upon the 
 drifting sand. Members thus indoctrinated, too, 
 are the minister's strong supporters — are to him 
 as Aaron and Hur were to Moses. It is, there- 
 fore, a sad mistake to suppose that doctrinal 
 preaching is not required in this age. Sound 
 doctrine constitutes the base — the bed-rocks — of 
 all theological systems that are worthy of being- 
 propagated or believed. The mightiest discourses 
 that have shaken vast assemblies, and sent sin- 
 ners trembling to the Cross of Christ, have been 
 vitalized by doctrine. The preacher, then, who 
 insists that the promises alone and not the doctrines 
 of the Bible are to be preached in the nineteenth 
 century, has simply reversed the natural and 
 philosophical order of things; for the joromises 
 are founded upon — yea, grow out of — the doc- 
 trines. The latter are the branches of the gospel 
 ti-ee, while the former are the blossoms. 
 
 If, then, the ministers of this age would do good, 
 if they would bring the kingdoms of this world 
 
108 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 into subjection to Christ, they must fight with the 
 old apostolic weapons, the doctrines of Christianity. 
 The religion of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a 
 religion of blind feeling or capricious impulse. 
 It is a religion of truth, and sanctifies by the 
 truth. Indeed, we can scarcely conceive of a 
 gospel discourse which does not contain and en- 
 force a Christian doctrine. Let, then, every minister 
 of Christ receive kindly and obey implicitly the 
 admonition of Paul, "Take heed unto thyself, and 
 unto the <ioc^n/ie; continue in them: for in doing 
 this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that 
 hear thee." (1 Tim. iv. 16.) 
 
 Of course, it is understood that, when we insist 
 uj)on doctrinal i^reaching, we do not have refer- 
 ence to polemical and controversial preaching — 
 to those severe and bitter disputes which some- 
 times occur between brethren of difi'erent denomi- 
 nations. A minister can preach what he believes 
 to be the truth without stopping to tell his au- 
 dience that he is combating the "errors and 
 heresies" of this or that denomination. Such a 
 method, indeed, is generally productive of evil 
 instead of good. To display bitterness in a place 
 that should be radiant with Christian love, or to 
 thrust out, in an ungodly spirit, "the horns of 
 controversy," is not the way to induce others to 
 think as does the preacher. The best way to cor- 
 rect error is to preach the truth, and preach it in 
 such a spirit, too, as will give no ofi'ense — preach 
 as though no one else believed to the contrary. 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 109 
 
 The Saviour and his apostles did so, and surely a 
 minister now is safe when he has such illustrious 
 examples. This is the general rule. Cases may 
 arise, we grant, in which duty demands some 
 modification of this general principle; but the 
 preacher must be certain that they are exceptional 
 and emergent before he will be safe in making 
 such a departure. Hence, we repeat the senti- 
 ment, and with emphasis, too, that the positive 
 and able inculcation of truth is the best defense 
 against error; and that the more com^Dletely im- 
 personal and uncontroversial it is, the less likely 
 is it to arouse those malevolent feelings which 
 never fail to grieve the Holy Spirit. 
 
 We conclude this topic with one brief, emphatic 
 declaration which we would impress upon the 
 hear.t of every minister of the gospel in Christen- 
 dom; and that declaration is this: No doctrine, 
 no Christianity; no doctrine, no evangelization. 
 
 12. He must preach the gospel — nothing but the 
 gospel. 
 
 The blessed Saviour said, " Gro ye into all the 
 world and preach" — not science, not politics — but 
 "the gospel to every creature." The preachers of 
 this day have no other commission than that 
 originally given to the disciples; and they not 
 only disobey Christ, but disgrace the sacred office 
 which they fill, whenever they attempt to enlarge 
 the scope of that command. All political and 
 scientific dissertations from the sacred desk, there- 
 
110 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 fore, are as a "sounding brass and a tinkling 
 cymbal." Nor is there any thing which will so 
 completely emasculate the pulpit of its power, and 
 demoralize the minister and his flock, as "another 
 gospel" than the one which he is commissioned 
 to preach. But, lamentable to say, there is a 
 disposition on the part of many ministers in this 
 age to preach almost every thing else exce2:)t Christ 
 and him crucified. The reason assigned for so 
 doing is that it is an age of progress — an age of 
 scientific thought and investigation — a practical 
 age, and that the people are tired of the "old, old 
 story," and demand something new. Never was 
 there a greater mistake, nor a greater perversion 
 of the truth. The ftict is, the newest thing in this 
 world is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is true the world has made progress in 
 science, literature, and art; but it has never out- 
 grown the necessit}^ for the gospel. It is to-day, 
 as it was in the time of Paul, "the power of God 
 and the wisdqm of Clod "; nor is there any thing in 
 the vast range of human thought that can sup- 
 plant it. The preacher, therefore, who would dare 
 put this gospel in the rear of any tiling, will find 
 himself in the predicament of the disciples when 
 they attempted to row their vessel over the surg- 
 ing waves of Galilee with Christ in the "hinder 
 part of the ship." They found that the only way 
 to save themselves and the vessel was to bring 
 Christ to "the front"; and it is a great pity that 
 all the ministers of this ajxe cannot be induced to 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. Ill 
 
 exercise the same sound discretion. Human natui-e 
 is the same now that it always was — " the heart de- 
 ceitful above all things and desperatel}^ wicked " — 
 and it requires precisely the same remedy to cor- 
 rect the evil now that it did in the patriarchal, 
 prophetic, or apostolic times. "Ye must be 
 born again" is as true to-day as it was when the 
 Saviour addressed ISTicodemus; and the only in- 
 strumentality known to the world as a basis for 
 that new birth is "the Gospel of Christ." It is 
 the "Sword of the Spirit;" and that sword to-day, 
 when properly wielded, is just as keen a blade as 
 when it struck down Saul of Tarsus, or pierced 
 the hearts of the three thousand on the day of 
 Pentecost. When, therefore, it fails to do its 
 work, it is not because it is dull and rusty, but 
 because the hand in which it is placed does not 
 properly wield it. With that sword, unlettered 
 fishermen cut their way through every opposing 
 obstacle; and with that same SAVord Paul and 
 Silas, though strongly manacled, made the Phil- 
 ippian jailor tremble. With it, too, Luther and 
 his coadjutors triumphed over the Pope and the 
 devil, and ushered in the Eeformation. In a 
 word, with it, bright and burnishing, a minister 
 of Jesus Christ is "the strongman armed"; with- 
 out it, he is as powerless as a child. 
 
 Then, let it not be said that a preacher in this 
 age must, in order to meet its demands, preach 
 science, politics — "another gospel." ^N'othing 
 coi\ld inveigle the Saviour into politics, though 
 
112 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 eveiy possible effort was made to do so. All that 
 they could extort from him, in this particular, 
 was, "My kingdom is not of this world." And 
 so thoroughly imbued was he with the greatness 
 and grandeur of his mission that he never once 
 said a word about science, as we use the term. 
 His sermons and j^arables were marvels of won- 
 der; but he never preached a single "scientific 
 discourse" — never preached on chemistry, astron- 
 omy, anatomy, natural laws, protoplasms, and 
 evolution. Paul, too, though he had as much 
 learning as any man then living, scorned the 
 thought of preaching in the "enticing words of 
 man's w^isdom." Why is it, then, that so manj^ 
 preachers of the present time will disregard the 
 example of Christ and his inspired apostles? 
 Why leave the inexhaustible store-house of the 
 Bible, where "there is j^lenty and to spare," and 
 feed upon the dry "husks" which scientists and 
 infidels place before them? Have these preachers 
 exhausted the gospel, that they must go elsewhere 
 for material? If so, they are greatly in advance 
 of Paul, for he found it to be unfathomable. 
 Hear him as he exclaims, "O the depth of the 
 riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
 God!" 
 
 Kemember, we are not inveighi ng against scien ce, 
 etc., in the abstract. On the contrary, we say let 
 the minister possess all the information and learn- 
 ing possible — yea, let him go to the most profound 
 depths of human wisdom; and the more "the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 113 
 
 better. But we do sa}', and we say it with em- 
 phasis, too, that '■Hhe gospel of Christ,'' and not 
 ^Uinother gospel,'' is to be his theme in the pulpit, 
 Human learning is to his mind simply what food 
 is to the soldier — is to give him the ability to 
 wield that sword. But, be it remembered, it is 
 as separate and distinct from that sword as the 
 physical strength of the soldier is from the 
 weapon which he is to employ. The truth is, all 
 who have the proper appreciation of what true 
 gospel-preaching is, greatly prefer to hear a plain, 
 scriptural, soul-stirring sermon to any and all 
 other themes that can be presented from the pul- 
 pit. They go to the sanctuary to be told their 
 duty — to be made better men and better women — 
 to Avorship (xod, and not to be worried about "op- 
 positions of science." The kind of preaching 
 which we are condemning may please the intellect; 
 but preaching which feeds the head and starves 
 the heart is a solemn farce. The pulpit is not the 
 place for the review of books, for dissertations on 
 science, politics, etc.; but for the preaching of 
 *' Jesus and the resurrection," and that which 
 pertains to the salvation of the soul. If the min- 
 ister must exhibit his knowledge of scientific sub- 
 jects, let him use the press; but for his own sake, 
 and for the sake of the cause which he represents, 
 let him not annoy the people with them from the 
 pulpit. Besides, it is a fact which should not be 
 overlooked, that the class of men against whom 
 he is inveighing when he is preaching upon science, 
 8 
 
114 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 evolution, etc., rarely, if ever, go to cliurch; be 
 is, therefore, preaching to an absent congregation! 
 
 A minister, by such a course, imagines, no 
 doubt, that he has a broader field; for he can then, 
 as he thinks, "switch off" from the old road-bed 
 of the gospel to the "side-tracks" of "popular 
 themes." He should not forget, however, that 
 such side-tracks of our holy religion are like 
 many of those on our railroads — they go from, 
 but do not return to, the main thoroughfare; and 
 the only way to get into proper position to ad- 
 vance is to "reverse the engine" and "back." A 
 preacher need not "rack his brain" for novelties — 
 for outside issues. The freshest, newest, most 
 rousing, most thrilling thing in this world is the 
 stor}' of the cross. His material, therefore, is 
 furnished him by infinite wisdom; and all that 
 he has to do is to go to that inexhaustible mine 
 for his supplies. In that mine the old ])rophets 
 "searched diligently," and the holy angels have 
 desired "to look into" the same. So with the in- 
 spired apostles; but no created intellect was ever 
 able to measure " the breadth, and length, and 
 depth, and height" of that grand store-house of 
 truth. Instead, therefore, of needing new themes, 
 the minister of to-day will find an exhaustless 
 variety in God's treasure-house; and he will find, 
 also, that time is too short for the most gigantic 
 intellect to unfold and display the mysteries of re- 
 demption. 
 
 There are but two ways of harmoniz.ing the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 115 
 
 gospel imd a fallen race. One is to conform men's 
 beliefs, affections, and lives to the gospel ; and the 
 other is to conform the gospel to the lives of men. 
 The former is the conversion of men to Christian- 
 ity; the latter is the perversion of Christianity to 
 men. Ministers who preach "another gospel" 
 are guilty of this perversion. The effect of such 
 preaching, whether so intended or not, is to so 
 lower the standard of discipleship t!iat the 
 worldly may not find it a very arduous or bur- 
 densome thing to make an outward profession of 
 Christianity. But such preaching is simply a 
 compromise with sin and Satan. It is bridging 
 the trenches, tearing down the fortifications, and 
 inviting the enemy to enter. It is raising the 
 flag of truce, spiking the heavy artillery, and con- 
 verting the "warfare" of Jesus Christ into a 
 spectacular show of sham battles or dress-parades. 
 It is placing the "sword of the Spirit" in the 
 scabbard, and cutting off "the right arm" of the 
 minister's power. It is building on the sand in- 
 stead of upon the solid rock. It is setting up 
 landmarks of snow instead of the imperishable 
 granite. 
 
 The true minister needs no other themes than 
 those which the Bible furnishes; and it is an un- 
 pardonable folly to attempt, by " another gospel," 
 to cure the cancer of the human soul. "The 
 gospel of Christ" teaches either truth or false- 
 hood. If that gospel be a "cunningly devised 
 fixble," then let the preacher "close the book," and 
 
116 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 surrender the pulpit. But it is not a flible; and 
 however great may be the strides of civilization, 
 of discovery, of invention, of human learning, 
 yet none of these, nor all of them, can supersede 
 the Book of books. Steam-ships and railway-cars 
 differ greatly from the conveyances which they 
 have displaced, but the passengers who travel in 
 them have undergone no corresponding change. 
 The human heart is still corrupt, and "the carnal 
 mind is enmity against Grod, not subject to his 
 law, neither indeed can be"; except by the 
 remedy prepared by God himself. A sermon, 
 then, which is not based upon the gospel, is a 
 mockery and a sham; and the minister who de- 
 livers such a discourse and calls it a sermon, is 
 an impostor. Christ commissions his ministers 
 to "go into all the world' and preach the gospel 
 to every creature"; and if they preach any thing 
 else, then, as honest men, they ought to surrender 
 the commission to the hand from which it was 
 received. And, whether so meant or not, they do 
 surrender that commission whenever they go out- 
 side of that Book for the themes of their dis- 
 courses. Everything else is "another gospel" — 
 yea, the napkin in which they wrap the sacred 
 treasure which they bury. 
 
 A preacher is the ambassador of God ; and he 
 cannot be a faithful oile if he delivers any other 
 message than that which his commission author- 
 izes. Why, then, will he forsake the "munition 
 of rocks," and take refuge behind the drifting 
 
PULPIT AND PEVv'. 117 
 
 sand? Why will he leave the "green pastures" 
 of God's word, and go to the Saharan deserts of 
 this world? Among all the grand discoveries of 
 man nothing has ever been found as a substitute 
 for the gospel. When the blessed Saviour ex- 
 pired on the Cross, he said, "/^ is finished.''' 
 Hence, we do not need a newly-incarnated God 
 for every age, together with a new crucifixion 
 and atonement. If not, then the one satisfaction 
 for sin made by Christ was and is made for every 
 age; -and the one gospel which Paul, in his day, 
 said was "the power of God unto salvation to 
 every one that believeth,"must be the same in all 
 generations. If, therefore, ministers would heal 
 the maladies of the soul, they must use the remedy 
 ordained of God — the gospel. Moral essays, 
 scientific discussions, etc., etc., delivered with a 
 great "flourish of trumpets," in beautifully 
 rounded sentences, and in good Johnsonian 
 English, may i)ass for sermons "so called," but 
 they will never force the sinner to cry out, 
 "What must I do to be saved?" Like blank car- 
 tridges, they may make a noise, but they do no 
 execution. But is there not much of this kind of 
 preaching in this "our day" — preaching which is 
 nothing except bald platitudes, timid statements, 
 and elaborately concocted milk and water — - 
 preaching which, instead of "dividing the joints 
 and marrow," is nothing but a leaden sword, 
 without point or edge? 
 
 The spiritual man, like the physical, cannot be 
 
118 rULPlT AND PEW. 
 
 developed and strengthened without the riglit 
 kind of food. Syllabubs and sweetmeats, though 
 pleasant to the taste, will not make bone and 
 sinew; bread, pure and unadulterated, is indis- 
 pensable — bread just as God has made it. The 
 same is true in referenee to man's spiritual nature. 
 It needs bread, plain, uncontaminated, life-sus- 
 taining bread; and the gospel tells just where 
 that bread can be obtained — indeed, is that bread 
 itself. (See John vi. 35.) And, no doubt, the 
 principal reason why there are so many spiritual 
 dyspeptics in the Church is, that many preachers 
 have so sugar-coated that bread as to make it per- 
 nicious to health. In other words, when longing, 
 hungering, famishing souls asked their minister 
 for bread, he gave them a stone; and when they 
 asked for a fish, he gave them a serpent. (See 
 Luke xi. 11.) 
 
 Dr. Hodge says: "This [the Bible] is sharper 
 than any two-edged sword. It is the wis- 
 dom of Grod and the power of God. It has a 
 self-evidencing light. It commends itself to 
 reason and conscience. It has the power not 
 only of truth, but of Divine truth. In opposition 
 to all error, to all false philosophy, to all the 
 sophistries of vice, to all the suggestions Of the 
 devil, the sole, simple, and efficient answer is the 
 Word of God. This puts to flight all the powers 
 of darkness. The Christian finds this to be true 
 in his individual experience. It is also the ex- 
 perience of the Church collectively. All her 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 119 
 
 triumphs over sin and error have been effected 
 by the Word of God. So long as she uses this, 
 iHid relies on it alone, she goes on conquering; 
 but when any thing else — be it reason, science, 
 tradition, or the commandments of men — is al- 
 loAved to take its place, or to share its office, then 
 the Church or the Christian is at the mercy of 
 the adversary." John Brown, of Haddington, 
 declared: "So far as I ever observed God's deal- 
 ings with my soul, the flights of preachers some- 
 times entertained me; but it was Scripture ex- 
 pressions which did penetrate my heart, and that 
 in a way peculiar to themselves." Said Carnock : 
 "No man is renewed by phrases and fancies; 
 these are only as the oil to make the nails of the 
 sanctuary drive in the easier. Words there must 
 be to make things intelligible; but the seminal 
 virtue lies not in the husk and skin, but in the 
 kernel. The rest dies, but the substance of the 
 seed lives and brings forth fruit. The word does 
 not work as it is elegant, but as it is Divine — as 
 it is a word of truth. Illustrations are but the 
 ornament of the temple; the glory of it is in the 
 ark and mercy-seat. It is not the engraving upon 
 the sword that cuts, but the edge ; nor the key, as 
 it is gilt, that opens, but as fitted to the wards. 
 It is the juice of the meat, and not the garnish- 
 ing of the dish, that nourishes." 
 
 Let, then, this "partly human and partly 
 divine" preaching cease. The gospel which such 
 preaching neglects will stand through all the 
 
120 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 vicissitudes of time. Christ says, "Heaven and 
 earth shall pass away, but my words [my gospel, 
 my teachings] shall not pass away." (Matt. 
 xxiv. 35.) Hence, the preacher must not leave it 
 to pursue the ever-changing phantoms of human 
 philoso^^hy and speculation. Paul says, "The 
 wisdom of this world is foolishness with God"; 
 and "the foolishness of God is wiser than men." 
 He also says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of 
 Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation 
 to every one that believeth." (See 1 Cor. iii. 19; 
 i. 25 Eom. i. 16.) And of him it is said: "And 
 Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and 
 three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the 
 Scriptures." This single passage, even if we had 
 nothing more, forever settles the matter of duty 
 with all true ministers. They are responsible for 
 preaching the gospel, and not for the effects of 
 that gospel. If they fail to do so, then they are 
 guilty of a great sin, and God will hold them ac- 
 countable for that omission of duty not only here 
 but at the judgment. 
 
 13. Se must be consecrated to his worJc. 
 
 Of all the professions, that of the sacred minis- 
 try is the most laborious and the most important. 
 The aim of every other avocation, to a great ex- 
 tent, pertains to temporal good ; but this, to eternal 
 felicity. The importance of every other office, 
 tlierefore, falls as far short of this as three-score 
 and ten years fall short of eternity. 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 121 
 
 The idolatrous priests of heathen nations, 
 whose religions are a chaos of fiibles; devote their 
 whole time, energies, and talents to their special 
 work. Their religion is their business, their 
 study, and their pleasure. And shall those who 
 are set apart for the service of a religion as far 
 above theirs as heaven is above earth, do less 
 than those "blind leaders of the blind"? 
 
 Jesus Christ, "the minister's pattern," fur- 
 nished a striking illustration of the consecration 
 which the sacred office demands. His whole soul 
 was in it, and he subordinated earthly relation- 
 ship, personal convenience, and even present 
 necessity, to the great work in which he was en- 
 gaged. No time was wasted upon trifles; nor was 
 there ever an opportunity for doing good Igst. 
 Even the common courtesies of life were im- 
 proved as occasions of the most important in- 
 struction. The idea of relinquishing his work, or 
 of subordinating it to any thing else, never once 
 entered his mind. Through the most fiery trials, 
 he persevered to the end; and compressed, with- 
 in the space of three years, the most success- 
 ful niinisterial life recorded in the annals of 
 time. 
 
 Paul, in one paragraph, condenses, in the small- 
 est compass, the consecration which is demanded 
 of the minister. "Neglect not the gift that is in 
 thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with 
 the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 
 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly 
 
122 rULPlT AND PEW. 
 
 to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 
 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; 
 continue in them: for in doing this tliou shalt 
 both save thyself, and them that hear thee." (1 
 Tim. iv. 14-16.) According to Paul's idea, there- 
 fore, a minister is to be a laborer^ and not a loiterer, 
 in the vineyard of the Lord; not doing his work 
 with a reluctant heart, but "giving himself 
 wholly'' to it. 
 
 The great Cecil used to say, that the devil did 
 not care how ministers are emploj^ed, so that it is 
 not in their proper work. Bat the minister has 
 only one "proper work." He is the constituted 
 representative of Christ — is his ambassador; and 
 he is to teach as Christ would teach. The blessed 
 Savjour said, "No man can serve two masters," 
 and this truth is especially applicable to the min- 
 ister of the gospel. He may leave his great work, 
 and engage in purely secular things; but, sooner 
 or later, they will prove to be broken cisterns 
 that hold no water. Try it when he ma}'', he will 
 find the atmosphere of trade and traffic more 
 poisonous to the soul than the malaria of the 
 Dismal Swamp is to the body. In it he may live; 
 but it is to him a most unsatisfactory life. His 
 heart throbs with an unhealthy action ; for, amid 
 the "noise and bustle of the world," he is rest- 
 less — yea, miserable; and could we know his in- 
 ternal conflicts, and mark his struggles, we would 
 need nothing more to convince us that he treads 
 a rugged, painful, and embarrassed path. The 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 123 
 
 influence, too, of such i\ preacher has a most 
 damaging effect. He either succeeds- in his 
 secuhir affairs, or he does not. If he does, it is at 
 the expense of ministerial efficiency; if he fails, 
 he is still seriously injured — injured pecuniarily 
 and spiritually. Besides, his life has a most 
 blighting influence not only upon the uncon- 
 verted, but upon professing Christians^— shows to 
 them that he loves money better than souls! In- 
 deed, of all the men engaged in the sacred pro- 
 fession, only they succeed who give their whole 
 time to the work. A profession which required 
 all the ability of a Paul, is certainly enough for 
 any one. Simply because God calls a man to the 
 ministry, we are not to infer that that man is 
 more than human in mental or physical capabili- 
 ties — that he can succeed in two or more lines of 
 business, when it requires all the energies of or- 
 dinary men to succeed in one. The idea, there- 
 fore, that a man can be an efficient and successful 
 preacher, and a good lawj^er, physician, mer- 
 chant, or school-teacher, is utterly preposterous; 
 nor does such an idea reflect much credit upon 
 the intelligence of him who entertains it. If 
 Jesus drove the traffickers out of the temple, how 
 can he permit such a man to enter the pulpit f 
 He may permit it (for he acts sometimes in the way 
 of judgment as well as mercy), but permit it with 
 impunity he Vsall not. Besides, it has not escaped 
 the observation of thoughtful men that, when 
 ministers do succeed in making money, they are 
 
124 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 less liberal in the benevolent use of it than even 
 men of the world. And this is reasonable and 
 natural; for, when men disregard their higher 
 obligations for the purpose of making money, it 
 is not to be expected that they will be liberal in 
 the use of it. The minister, therefore, Avho 
 preaches against the w^orld, and yet lives for it — 
 w^lio discourses from the text, " The love of money 
 is the root of all evil," and yet makes money his 
 idol — mocks both God and man ! 
 
 The point which we wish to emphasize under 
 this caption is that the minister must be a man 
 of one work. Indeed, singleness of aim is indis- 
 pensable to success in any avocation of life. The 
 many-sided man, almost without exception, is a 
 failure. The human mind, like a burning glass, 
 is powerful only as it focalizes. No man has ever 
 yet made a name and reputation who was not 
 possessed by some master j^assion. Energy, like 
 gunpowder, to be effective, needs concentration. 
 Those who have sent their names ringing down 
 through the ages have been men of one work. In 
 ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the true 
 secret of failure, in all worldly matters, is mental 
 dissipation — the squandering of the energies 
 upon a distracting variety of objects, instead of 
 concentrating them upon one. Great statesmen, 
 great generals, great jurists, great physicians, 
 great teachers, great authors, great painters, great 
 merchants — in brief, great any thing — can be 
 made only of those who, like one of the grandest 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 125 
 
 men that this world .has ever produced, can say, 
 "This owe thing I do." AYith a few rare excep- 
 tions, the men w^hose names are historic, in all 
 secular avocations, have been those who spent 
 their life-force on some one thing. 
 
 The sacred ministry constitutes no exception 
 to the statements just made in reference to secular 
 callings. The j^riestly office of the Old Dispensa- 
 tion was filled by men who were set apart for tUat 
 special service; nor were they expected or per- 
 mitted to engage in any other avocation. The 
 blessed Saviour, too, inculcated the same senti- 
 ment when he called men to the apostolic office; 
 for it is a matter of record tliat they "left all and 
 followed him" — abandoned their secular business, 
 no difference what kind nor how lucrative it may 
 have been. But if the Scriptures were silent 
 upon this point, reason would dictate the same 
 thing. The work of a religious teacher is not 
 only paramount to all others, but it is the most 
 difficult, the most arduous, the most constant of 
 all the avocations of men. No wonder, therefore, 
 that even heathen nations demand that their re- 
 ligious instructors "shall abstain from all worldly 
 things "; for they very well know that in order that 
 these men may be as profitable to them, in that 
 relation, as they should be, their whole time, 
 talent, and energy must be given to that special 
 work. Now, if such consecration is deemed to 
 be a matter of vital importance in reference to 
 the teachers of false religions, how much more so 
 
126 PULPIT ANT) PEW. 
 
 iji it in reference to a religion revealed by God 
 himself? 
 
 Ko minister, no difference Avbat bis talents and 
 learning may be, can reacb tbe highest degree of 
 usefulness in his j^rofession who dissipates bis 
 energies over too many fields. He who makes 
 tbe ministry a secondary thing may be a sound 
 and even a learned preacher; but be never can 
 b« a powerful one. There is, it is true, a sort of 
 pulpit fire which is rhetorical — proceeds from no 
 warmth within, and diffuses no warmth without; 
 but that preaching which awakens the spiritually 
 dead — which makes the sinner cry out, '-Jesus, 
 thou son of David, have mercy on me" — can be 
 done only by. the minister whose soul is bathed 
 in the love of God — by him who gives himself 
 '• continually " to the work. Look where we may, 
 we will find that the ministers of Christendom 
 who have accomplished the grandest results — 
 whom all preachers should most desire to imitate — 
 have been those who have been true to their pro- 
 fession, and who have lived for nothing else. It 
 was so with Paul, with Luther, with Knox, with 
 TTesley, with Hall, with Edwards, with McGready, 
 with Ewing — in a word — with all those grand 
 men who have "turned the world upside down " — 
 who have '• lengthened the cords, and strengthened 
 the stakes" of our common Zion. 
 
 Let, then, the preacher give his whole time and 
 talents to his work. Let his prayer be that of the 
 sacred poet: 
 
Pri.PIT AM) PEW. 127 
 
 "My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord, 
 Into thj'^ blessed hands receive; 
 And let me live to preach thy word; 
 
 And let me to thy glory live — 
 My every sacred moment spend 
 In publishing the sinner's Friend." 
 
 Said the grand old preacher of Haddington, 
 '•Xow, after forty years' preaching of Christ, and 
 his great and sweet salvation, I think I would rather 
 beg my bread through all the laboring days of the 
 week, for the opportunity of i^ublishing the gos- 
 pel on the Sabbath to an assembly of sinful men, 
 thari, without such a privilege, enjoy the richest 
 posses.'^ions on earth." 
 
 This topic closes what we propose to say in re- 
 lation to -'The qualifications and duties xchich are 
 essential to a successful minister of the gospel.'' "We 
 might mention others — might speak of the minis- 
 ter in his associations with his official members — 
 in the higher courts of the Church — in the benevo- 
 lent, and in the Sabbath-school work, of his 
 charge — in the sick chamber, etc.; but more space 
 has been occupied already than was originally 
 allotted to the first half of this little book. Be- 
 sides, the items alluded to, though important, are 
 not so vital as those which have been discussed. 
 
 A few, perhaps, may think that some things 
 have been said a little too sharply; but when it 
 is remembered that those were uttered only in ref- 
 erence to some of the most crvini^ evils connected 
 
128 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 with the sacred ministry- -evils, too, which all 
 orthodox Christendom would rejoice to see re- 
 moved — the ho^^e is indulged that such critics, if 
 any there be, will be disarmed — will agree with 
 the author that the best remedy for some sins is an 
 open exposure and a severe rebuke. One thing 
 is certainly true — not a sentence or word has 
 been written that was designed to be personal to 
 a minister of Jesus Christ, either in the author's 
 own denomination, or in any other. On the con- 
 trary, he feels that he has written more against 
 himself than against the humblest and most frail 
 of that grand fraternity to which he belongs. 
 
 "How beauteous are their feet 
 Who stand on Zion's hill, 
 Who bring salvation on their tongues, 
 And words of peace reveal! 
 
 "How charming is their voice! 
 How sweet the tidings are! 
 ' Zion, behold thy Saviour King ; 
 He reigns and triumjDhs here.' " 
 
 God grant that these beautiful lines of the half- 
 inspired poet may be applicable to every minister 
 of the gospel on earth ! 
 
THE PEW-THE PEOPLE, 
 
PART II.-THE MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 God's plans are perfect. He never leaves any 
 thing incomplete. As the Psalmist expresses it, 
 "The Word of the Lord is right; and all his 
 works are done in truth." His ari-angements are 
 that one class must preach the gospel, and that 
 the other (and a much larger one, too) must re- 
 ceive it — must be "living epistles known and read 
 of all men." The ministry and the membership are 
 the two human forces which Heaven has ordained 
 for subduing this world to Christ. They are com- 
 ])lementary factors — each as dependent upon the 
 other as are the officers and soldiers of an army. 
 No earthly sovereign ever sent out a force for the 
 subjugation of a province composed of officers 
 alone, however well-drilled, bold, and courageous 
 they might be, for the simple reason that he could 
 not afford to be guilty of enacting so grand a 
 farce; nor can anj^ one, who will reflect for a 
 moment, believe that the great Sovereign of the 
 Universe would attempt a still greater impossi- 
 bility by endeavoring to conquer a world with a 
 few ministers, however efficient, intrepid, and 
 consecrated they might be. Officers are necessary, 
 we grant, but they are not one particle more so 
 than are the common soldiery — the "rank and 
 file." 
 
 on) 
 
132 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Seeing, then, that the membership constitutes a 
 most important element in the grand army for 
 the subjugation of the kingdoms of this world to 
 "our Lord and to his Christ," we enter, w^ithout 
 additional preliminary remarks, upon the con- 
 sideration of the following proposition : 
 
 II. — THE QUALIFICATIONS AND DUTIES WHICH ARE 
 ESSENTIAL TO AN EFFICIENT CHURCH-MEMBER- 
 SHIP. 
 
 In the space allotted to the second part of this 
 little work, it will be impossible to treat exhaust- 
 ively the various points which claim our attention ; 
 nor will it be expected that all the qualifications 
 requisite for efficient Church-membership will be 
 presented in this brief treatise — the essential only 
 will be set forth. 
 
 1. Regeneration, or the '^new birth," 
 
 The blessed Saviour said to ISTicodemus: "Ex- 
 cept a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God." (John iii. 3.) But notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that this is the basis of the Christian 
 life, yet there are thousands upon thousands — yea, 
 millions, it may be — belonging to the Church who 
 are totally ignorant, experimentally, of the radi- 
 cal change insisted upon by the great Teacher. 
 It would, no doubt, be safe to affirm that there is 
 not a Church on earth whose roll-book corre- 
 sponds with the roll-book of heaven. 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 133 
 
 As has been previously stated, every thing that 
 is good in this life has its counterfeits; and the 
 religion of Jesus Christ, we regret to say, does 
 not form an excej^tion to the remark. A great 
 chemist, a few years ago, discovered that by using 
 certain ingredients he could make perfect imita- 
 tions of the most beautiful and costly diamonds; 
 but thousands of years before this chemist lived, 
 the devil had found out that he could almost per- 
 fectly imitate the Lord's jewels. A little ortho- 
 doxy, and a good share of self-confidence, with 
 a small amount of good works, have made many 
 a child of Satan look very much like the child of 
 God. But let us remember that paste is not dia- 
 monds, nor is a mere profession of Christianity 
 religion. 
 
 The Bible teaches that there have ever been two 
 classes of false professors — the hypocrite and the 
 self-deceived. Of the former there are compara- 
 tively few; but of the latter their name is 
 ^'legion.'' Solomon says, "There is a way that 
 seemetli right unto a man ; but the end thereof are 
 the ways of death." (Prov. xiv. 12.) Sincerity, 
 then, offers no conclusive evidence of piety. A 
 person may be sincere in the belief of falsehood, 
 as well as in the belief of truth — sincere in 
 wrong-doing, as well as in right-doing. Paul 
 tells us that he "verily thought that he ought to 
 do many things contrary- to the name of Jesus of 
 JSTazareth." (See Acts xxvii. 9.) Indeed, under 
 no other liyj^othesis than that .many are self-de- 
 
134 PULPIT AND PEW, 
 
 ceived, can we explain the parables of the "tares 
 of the field," and of the "net cast into the sea." 
 (See Matt. xiii. 24-30; xiii. 47-50.) In addition, 
 we have the most solemn warnings of Scripture: 
 "Let no man deceive himself" (1 Cor. iii. 18.) 
 "Let every man prove his own work." (Gal. vi. 
 4.) "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the 
 faith; prove your own selves." (2 Cor. xiii. 5.) 
 "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, 
 deceiving your own selves." (James i. 22.) 
 
 One of the most melancholy and alarming 
 things connected with self-deception, is that it is 
 almost sure to prove permanent. Those who had 
 built upon the sand are represented as feeling 
 perfectly secure until "the rains descended, and 
 the floods came, and the winds blew," and their 
 house was utterly destroyed. (See Matt. viii. 27.) 
 The foolish virgins, too, seemed to be as well 
 satisfied with their condition as were the wise. 
 Nothing but the unexpected cry, "Behold, the 
 bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him," dis- 
 turbed their repose, and convinced them of their 
 folly. (See Matt, xxv.) 
 
 With these facts — Bible facts — before us, how 
 important that we dig deep and lay a solid 
 foundation ! "All is not gold that glitters." 
 There may be an appearance of piety, when the 
 reality does not exist. Hence, we should rest 
 upon nothing that will not stand the most crucial 
 ordeal, and that will not endure the coming 
 storm. True piety, like gold, will bear any test 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 135 
 
 that can be applied, and will be all the brighter 
 and purer for it. 
 
 Nothing short of a radical change can consti- 
 tute us Christians. Man by nature is not par- 
 tially but entirely depraved. The heart is no 
 better than the life. If the fountain be pure, tlite 
 stream will be so likewise. It is impossible to 
 cleanse the stream while the fountain is corrupt. 
 The Pharisees afforded a good illustration of this 
 thought. But the great Searcher of hearts com- 
 pared them to "whited sepulchers," which, how- 
 ever beautiful without, are "within full of all 
 manner of uncleanness." (See Matt, xxiii. 27.) 
 Outward morality, then, is not enough. There 
 must be a deeper work — the work of the Spirit. 
 Religion, in its incipiency, is not a growth but a 
 birth — not the germination of an innate principle, 
 but a new creation. A devout and exemplary life 
 is the fruit of such a creation — of such a birth. 
 "Good works," therefore, instead of being the 
 cause^ are simply the effects of this internal 
 change — like the hands on the dial-plate of the 
 clock, showing that there is a power within which 
 gives them motion. 
 
 The new birth, then, is the corner-stone of the 
 Christian life; and without it there can be no re- 
 ligious superstructure. Bearing this thought in 
 mindi, we can account for the great difference 
 which we see between those who profess to be the 
 disciples of Christ. Some are uj)on the rock; 
 others arc upon the sand. Some have laid hold 
 
136 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 on eternal life; others have only a " name to live." 
 Membership in the Church is not a sufficient test; 
 nor is Christian baptism. Ananias and Sapphira 
 belonged to the Church, and had been baptized ; 
 and 3'et thej^ were both suddenly struck dead in 
 their sins. Simon Magus had been baptized; and 
 yet he continued in "the gall of bitterness and in 
 the bond of iniquity." The blessed Saviour em- 
 phasized this thought when he said : " Not every 
 one that shall call unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will 
 say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not 
 prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast 
 out devils, and in thy name done many wonder- 
 ful works? And then will I profess unto them, 
 I never knew you." (Matt. vii. 21-23.) 
 
 Improvements have been made in science, agri- 
 culture, etc., but none whatever in that new birth 
 upon which the Saviour insisted. From death to 
 life is the greatest of all changes ; but no change 
 short of this can fit the soul for heaven. As one 
 of England's greatest divines said: "It is not a 
 little reforming that will save a sinner. No, nor 
 all the morality in the world, nor the outward 
 change of the life: they will not do unless we 
 have a new life wrought in us." But as in nature, 
 so in the Church, there are abortions — untimely 
 births — and there are spiritual as well as mejical 
 accoucheurs who are ever ready to assist in these 
 miscarriages. But the true children of God are 
 not still born; and it is a great calamity that 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 137 
 
 ppiritual abortions are permitted to occur. Simply 
 because, therefore, one has for many long years 
 been a member of the Church, is no evidence, in 
 itself, of conversion. There must be growth ; but 
 until a spiritual life has been implanted, there can 
 be none. A lifeless branch, however long it may 
 be in the ground, will not grow. Finger-boards 
 stand for ages, and measure distances for travelers, 
 but never advance one inch. In the language of 
 another, "Very much of the religion of the day 
 is an easy-minded religion, without conflict and 
 wrestling with self-denial and sacrifice — a religion 
 which knows nothing of the pangs of the new 
 birth at its commencement, and nothing of the 
 desperate struggle with the flesh and with the 
 devil, day by day, making us long for resurrection, 
 for deliverance, for the Lord's return, It is a second- 
 rate religion — a religion in which there is no large- 
 ness, no grandeur, no potency, no noble mildness, no 
 all-constraining love. It is a hollow religion, with 
 a fair exterior, but with an aching heart — a heart 
 imsatisfied, a soal not at rest, a conscience not at 
 peace with God ; a religion marked, it may be. by 
 activity and excitement, but betraying all the 
 while the consciousness of a wound hidden and 
 unhealed within, and hence unable to animate to 
 lofty doings, or supply the strength needed for 
 such doing. It is a feeble religion, lacking the 
 sinews and bones of happier times, very diff'erent 
 from the indomitable, much-enduring, storm- 
 braving religion, not merely of apostolic days, 
 
138 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 but even of the Reformation. It is an uncertain 
 religion — that is to say, it is not rooted on cer- 
 tainty ; it is not the outflowing of the soul assured 
 of pardon, and rejoicing in the filial relationship 
 between itself and God. Hence, there is no 
 liberty of service, for the question of personal 
 acceptance is still an unsettled thing; there is a 
 working for pardon. All is thus bondage, heavi- 
 ness, irksomeness; there is a speaking of God, 
 but it is with a faltering tongue; there is a labor- 
 ing for God, but it is vith fettered hands; there 
 is a movement in the way of his command, but it 
 is with a heavy drag upon our limbs. Hence, the 
 inefficient, uninfluential character of our religion. 
 It does not tell on others, for it has not fully told 
 upon ourselves. It falls short of its mark; the 
 arm that drew the bow is paralyzed." 
 
 The points, then, to be settled by every Church- 
 member are: "Am I in a state of nature, or 
 in a state of grace — in a state of justification or 
 in a state of condemnation? Am I a child of God 
 or a child of Satan — an object of Divine favor, or 
 an object of Divine wrath?" 
 
 If the foregoing questions can be answered in 
 the proper way, there can be no doubt as to the 
 certainty of the first essential qualification of 
 efficient Church-membership; and it is not only 
 the privilege but the duty of those who can so 
 answer to become members of some orthodox 
 branch of the Church-militant — of that denomi- 
 nation whose doctrines and usages, in their ojDin- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 139 
 
 ion, come nearest to the teachings of the Sacred 
 Scriptures, and in which they conscientiously be- 
 lieve they can do the most good. 
 
 2. They must have the gospel — the means of 
 grace. 
 
 Eegeneration, as we have seen, is the basis of 
 Christian life — the only foundation on which a 
 superstructure of practical godliness can be 
 erected. This " new birth," however, simply 
 brings the child of God into existence; and though 
 complete in his formation, yet, like the new-born 
 infant, he is undeveloped. The Church, then, like 
 a "nursing mother," must take the offspring born 
 in her household, and develop them into full- 
 grown men and women. Without this culture 
 they would ever, in this life, remain "new-born 
 babes," unable, wholly so, to "endure strong 
 meat." 
 
 One great purpose of the Church, then, is to 
 develop the Christian. He, it is true, as soon as 
 he is regenerated, is a "fit subject" for heaven; 
 and if he were to die in one moment thereafter 
 he would be saved. But, in that case, he would 
 enter the world of bliss as a child; and would 
 there, so to speak, have to join the "Infant Class," 
 and receive that training and development which 
 would capacitate him for the "unceasing and ex- 
 panding joys" of that bright world. It is, there- 
 fore, a wise provision of our Heavenly Father 
 that while the Christian remains upon earth he 
 
140 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 should have the advantage of that tutoring which 
 will develop the faculties of his spiritual nature. 
 The gospel of Christ is the great text-book from 
 which those truths must come that will give the 
 needed instruction. This, though, like text-books 
 in secular educatiou, in order to be made efficient, 
 must be in the hands of an instructor; and as in 
 secular education, too, there must be a ]place where 
 the information is imparted. Heaven's ordained 
 instructor is the minister of the gos^Del, and the 
 chief center from which this light is to radiate 
 is the pulpit. 
 
 ~^o Christian, then, can afford to be deprived 
 of the means of grace. It would be just as rea- 
 sonable — yea, more so — to expect people to be- 
 come eminent scholars without teachers and 
 school-houses, as it would be for Church-members 
 to become eminent Christians without ministers 
 and churches. Indeed, a high order of Christian 
 development is next to an impossibility where the 
 pulpit does not exist. Look where we may, we 
 will always find that the most devoted, the most 
 consecrated, the most efficient Christians are those 
 who, Sabbath after Sabbath, receive the message 
 of salvation as it comes from the warm heart of a 
 faithful minister. 
 
 Not only is the gospel needed to develop the 
 Christian, but, likewise, to save the sinner. Tlie 
 religion of the Bible alone can satisfy the crav- 
 ings of the immortal spirit. Human philosoph}^, 
 in none of its forms, can do this. All that it can 
 
Pl'LPIT AND PEW. 141 
 
 do is to gauge the mind, and tell how capacious 
 it is; but it cannot reveal the source from which 
 the "new wine of consolation" is to come, which 
 is to fill the empty vessel. The only panacea for 
 the "world's woes" is the gospel of Christ. This 
 gospel, too, has ever been a "tree ofdife" to all 
 that have sat beneath its shade and partaken of 
 its blessed fruits. The people who have never 
 enjoyed its blessings have been compelled to feed 
 upon husks fitted only for swine — yea, have been 
 moral paupers, and have died the most pitiable 
 of all deaths — death from starvation ! 
 
 The Christian pulpit is the institution which, 
 above all others, has elevated the commtinities in 
 which it has been stationed — has girded them 
 with a zone of light, and shed ujDon them the 
 sweet influences of heavenly mercy. Its impor- 
 tance cannot possibly be over-estimated. It has 
 been the great educator of the world — has done 
 more to arouse the intellect, awaken investigation, 
 promote civilization, and advance learning than 
 any other agency known to man. It is the grand 
 lever which, in all ages, has elevated human 
 society. ^N'othing can withstand its influence 
 when properly wielded. The Eoman power, be- 
 fore which the nations of the earth bowed in ser- 
 vile subjection, could not overcome the fishermen 
 of Galilee, but was conquered by them. Histo- 
 rians have made the success of Alexander the 
 Great in stibduing the Persian empire, with an 
 army of thirty thousand, the theme of glowing 
 
142 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 eulogies, both in prose and verse; but what was 
 this to the conquests of one little band of apostles? 
 Without arms, without allies, without influence, 
 without allurements, Christianity went forth from 
 its lowly hovel in Bethlehem — seized upon Jeru- 
 salem, Ephesus, Corinth, Alexandria, Rome, over- 
 turned idols, altars, temples — swept away the re- 
 ligious formations of centuries, ascended the im- 
 perial throne, waved its white flag of "peace and 
 good-will," and said to all "tongues and kindred" 
 come unto me, and J will give you rest. 
 
 If these things be true, we see the importance — 
 yea, the infinite importance — of having the gospel 
 in every city, town, village, and hamlet in this 
 broad land. A locality without it is in moral 
 darkness — darkness so deep, so dens^, that its 
 people sit in the "region and shadow of death." 
 Yet, be it said in sorrow, there are thousands 
 upon thousands of localities, and in Christian 
 lands, too, where the privileges and blessings of 
 the sanctuary are scarcely known — localities in 
 which the people are "well-to-do," have fertile 
 lands and comfortable homes of their own, but 
 meager or no gospel immunities — localities in 
 which each one can say in the language of David 
 when weeping over a somewhat similar state of 
 thinirs, "I dwell in an house of cedar, but the 
 ark of God dwelleth within curtains" (2 Sam. 
 vii. 2.) — localities in which there were once com- 
 fortable houses of worship, in which the "candle 
 of the Lord shone brightly," and where "sons 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 143 
 
 and daughters were born to God"; but which, by 
 neglect and penuriousness, have been permitted 
 to go to ruin — localities in which, Sabbath after 
 Sabbath, the faithful "messenger of the skies" 
 preached " Jesus and the resurrection " to attentive 
 ears and responsive hearts ; but where the voice 
 oT the man of God is hushed in silence, and 
 where no congregation gathers to worship — local- 
 ities in which "sin runs riot," and where the 
 few professed Christians who still remain, have, 
 like Lot of old, so far yielded to the vices of their 
 ungodly neighbors that they have become utter 
 strangers to the enjoyments of religion, and have 
 seen their children grow up in everlasting 
 shame — localities in which, if there is a place for 
 public worship, it is so forbidding and so uncom- 
 fortable, that it is a fit habitation for the owl and 
 the bat, scarcely suitable for a " den of thieves," 
 and which stands as a monument not only to tell 
 the passing stranger but the children of that com- 
 munity the estimate which these people have of 
 God and the religion of the Bible ! 
 
 Some may, and doubtless do, think the picture 
 overdrawn ; but it is not. There are, we repeat, 
 thousands upon thousands of just such places in 
 this goodly land. What a shame! No greater 
 calamity could befall a peo^^le than to be thus 
 Rituated. Of all the calamities that ever cursed 
 this earth, an utter dearth of gospel privileges is 
 the most to be dreaded and deplored. War with 
 its bloody scjHhe may mow down its thousands; 
 
144 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 pestilence with its leprous hand ma}^ slay its mill- 
 ions; famine with its blighting breath may 
 "wither every green herb." But those thus cut 
 downi may have "bands in their death, "_while 
 those who die without the gospel and the conso- 
 lation it can give, are without hope and without 
 God in the world. 
 
 Where, then, is the child of Grod that is willing 
 to live without the means of grace? Where are 
 the Christian parents who are willing to bring up 
 their children in a locality in which they cannot 
 enjoy the ordinances of God's house? They had 
 better — infinitely better — withhold from their off- 
 spring the good things of this life than to deprive 
 them of the hopes and consolations of that which 
 is to come. God virtually says to all parents 
 when a son or daughter is born unto them, "Take 
 this child and nurse it for me, and I will jDay thee 
 thy wages." What a treasure is thus committed 
 to Christian parents! Will they, can they be in- 
 different? When their children are dangerously 
 ill, they call for the services of the most skillful 
 physicians; nor do they for a moment stop to 
 consider the item of cost. Likewise, when they 
 are to be educated, they employ the best talent; 
 and use money without stint. In both instances 
 they are to be commended ; for they are simply 
 discharging the duties which God and human 
 society have enjoined upon them. But how dif- 
 ferent in reference to " everlasting things " ! The 
 declaration is made in the deepest sorrow, but it 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 145 
 
 is truQ: 3Iany fKirents seem to regard as lost that 
 which they expend for the gospel. In a religious 
 point of view, they seem to be utterly oblivious 
 to the wants of their children. They could not 
 bear to hear them cry for bread — would feel that 
 they ought to be execrated by God and man if 
 they were to permit their dependent ones to 
 starve for food; but they seem to forget that their 
 children are ^^not to live by bread alone, but by 
 every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
 God" — forget that their children have souls as 
 well as bodies — souls, too, which hunger and 
 thirst for the bread and water of life just as 
 keenly as their bodies do for temporal bread and 
 water. The plea of poverty which is often made 
 as an excuse for the lack of this spiritual provis- 
 ion may satisfy a penurious jDrofessor of religion, 
 but it cannot satisfy the conscience of a genuine 
 Christian. The same money expended, in any 
 locality, for school-houses, for teachers, for phy- 
 sicians, for lawyers, would more than make ample 
 provision' for the means of grace in that com- 
 munity. Is the minister of Jesus Christ of less 
 importance than these? Again, the taxes — State, 
 county, and municipal — paid by any people 
 would give them the sanctuary with all of its 
 hallowed blessings every Sabbath. Are the 
 courts of Csesar more important than the temples 
 of God? Surely no one, not even the infidel, will 
 so say; for, though the latter may mock at re- 
 ligion, yet no one is more eager than he to enjoy 
 10 
 
146 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the protection to person and property which the 
 sanctuary insures. 
 
 Let, then, no Christian commiuiity feel that it 
 has met its duties to God and man unless it has 
 made provision for the means of grace. David 
 did a greater and better work for Israel when he 
 purchased the threshing floor of Araunah, built 
 an altar to God, offered a sacrifice thereon, and 
 stayed the raging pestilence, than when in his 
 kingly power he executed his edicts against his 
 most bitter enemies. This provision upon which 
 we are insisting, too, must be worthy of the cause 
 in behalf of which it is made. Every neat, com- 
 fortable, attractive church-building is an anthem 
 to God; and when oecuj^ied by a faithful, conse- 
 crated, efficient minister, it is a ^'city set upon 
 a hill." On the contrary, every untidy, dark, 
 dingy, uncomfortable "meeting-house" is a dis- 
 grace to any Christian community — yea, an an- 
 them to Satan. In a word, no people, claiming 
 to be Christians, can say that they have met 
 their obligations in this particular until the house 
 of God is the most attractive place in any com- 
 munity — until it can be said, "How amiable 
 [pleasant, delightful, soul-cheering] are thy taber- 
 nacles, O Lord of hosts !" 
 
 3. They must attend the sanctuary. 
 
 Man is a social being; and the religion of the 
 Bible is a social principle. It was never intended 
 by our Heavenly Father that any human being 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 147 
 
 should be independent of all the rest; nor has 
 such a person ever existed from the birth of the 
 race. Indeed, this principle of interdependence 
 is seen not only in the human family, but 
 throughout the inferior grades of creation— 4n 
 the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral king- 
 doms. While, therefore, the Book of books 
 teaches that "no man liveth to himself," the book 
 of Nature teaches that not a single created thing 
 exists independently. Look where we may, 
 throughout the vast dominions of God, we see 
 this great truth everywhere taught. This asser- 
 tion is as applicable to the giant as to the infant, 
 to the oak as to the violet, to the leviathan as to 
 the animalcule, to the ocean as to the rivulet, to 
 the universe as to the atom. 
 
 The All-wise Creator had a purpose in thus 
 linking, so to speak, the different parts of this 
 "grand harmonious whole"; but this is neither 
 the time nor the place to enter into an investiga- 
 tion of that purpose, except so far as man is con ■ 
 eerned in a religious point of view. His entire 
 being — physical, mental, and moral — proves that 
 he was made to worship. This worship consists 
 of two kinds — private and public. Private devo- 
 tion is necessary — yea, essential; but it is not 
 sufficient, inasmuch as it fails to bring into requi- 
 sition man's religious influence as a social being. 
 He may worship God in the closet — indeed, he 
 must do so; but so far as the world is concerned, 
 it is a "light under a bushel," and not "on a 
 
148 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 candlcstiok." Private devotion is not public 
 worship; nor can it ever supersede it anymore 
 than private study can supersede public educa- 
 tion. Indeed, that piety is worth but liitle which 
 shuns expression, and association with the good 
 m a universal duty — wliich talks of seeing God 
 in the sun, in the sky, in the waterfall, yet can- 
 not view him in his own house, at his own altars, 
 and in his own ordinances. Such sainthood, 
 makes no impression upon the world. It is a 
 piety which Moses, Isaiah, Paul, and the Eedeemer 
 never knew. Public worship is God's method of 
 letting one's Christian "light shine before men." 
 This kind of worship too, is as old as the human 
 race, as is evidenced by the conduct of Cain and 
 Abel. It is a fact, also, w^hich no reader of the 
 Bible will controvert, that throughout the whole 
 Jewish dispensation God demanded public wor- 
 ship, as the history of the tabernacle and of the 
 temple clearly demonstrates. The men, likewise, 
 most eminent in holiness — such men as Noah, 
 Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Daniel, etc. — belonging 
 to the same dispensation, were the most faithful 
 and constant in this public worship. It is also 
 true, that some of^ the severest punishments in- 
 flicted upon the children of Israel were for neg- 
 lecting the public worship of God. 
 
 The same is true, and to a greatly enlarged ex- 
 tent, too, of the Christian dispensation. The 
 blessed Saviour, while he led a spotless life in 
 private, was careful to attend the synagogues, 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 149 
 
 and there engage in public worship. Indeed, he 
 gave utterance to the great truth that, " neither 
 in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem," should 
 God be worshiped, but everywhere. (See John 
 iv. 21.) He came to reform the world — "to seek 
 and to save that which was lost" — and he knew 
 that the only way to accomplish his mission was 
 to proclaim the great truths of the gospel in pub- 
 lic — to the people assembled for that purpose. 
 So, too, of the apostles. They "turned the w^orld 
 upside down " by the public administration of 
 the word. In brief, all the aggressive steps 
 which Bible-truth has taken, in all ages, have 
 been the results of public worship — it is God's 
 chief plan for the redemption of a lost world. 
 
 With these facts in view, where is the Christian 
 who does not see and feel the importance of at- 
 tending the sanctuary? The instincts of piety, 
 in all Christian lands, promj)t the children of God 
 to associate together, that at set times and in 
 sacred places, with "praise and prayer" they may 
 worship the Supreme Being. Indeed, this form 
 of worship is as wide-spread as the human race, 
 j^or is there any duty more reasonable. 
 
 The Christian should attend the. sanctuary be- 
 cause it is his Father's house. It is true, as the 
 Psalmist says, "The heaven of heavens cannot 
 contain" God; but it is also true that, in one 
 sense, the sanctuary is his dwelling-place. It is 
 there that God reveals himself to his children in 
 a peculiar manner. During the Old Dispensation 
 
150 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the tabernacle and the temple were the places 
 where God manifested himself; and to enjoy that 
 manifestation, the true Israelite must go there to 
 worship. The same is true to-day. We, of course, 
 admit that Grod is everywhere — in the valley, on 
 the mountain, and in every place in the vast do- 
 minions of the universe; but he is there as the 
 Creator of all things, and not as the Father of the 
 soul. There is no "Our Father" in any or all of 
 these. 
 
 Another reason why the Christian should at- 
 tend the sanctuary is, because Christ has promised 
 to meet him there. "Where two or three are 
 gathered together in my name, there am I in 
 their midst." (Matt, xviii. 20.) It requires, as 
 Avill be seen from the passage quoted, but a small 
 audience to secure his presence; still, it is a pub- 
 lic service. What a presence, too, is promised! 
 All of us, perhaps, have often Avished that we had 
 lived in the days of his incarnation, that we 
 might have seen him with our eyes, heard him 
 with our ears, and touched him with our hands; 
 but if we will only think for a moment, it is a 
 vain and foolish wish. Jesus is as really present 
 to-day in a sanctuary of devout worshipers as he 
 was with Peter and John when he went with 
 them to the temple. AYe cannot see him, it is 
 true; but sight is no evidence of nearness. We 
 cannot see the air, nor the electric principle; and 
 yet they surround us — yea, dwell in us! 
 
 In the next place, the Christian should attend 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 151 
 
 the sanctuary because it is his birthplace. What 
 11 dear phice is the " old homestead " — the place of 
 our natural birth, the scenes of childhood, and the 
 haunts of our youthful days! It is rarely the 
 case that one becomes so sunken in shame as that 
 he ceases to love the place where he was born. 
 Often we see persons of three-score-and-ten mak- 
 ing long and weary pilgrimages to the place of 
 their nativity. It may be in the possession of 
 strangers, but it matters not; it is still a sacred 
 spot — the place where father and mother sat, and 
 where brothers and sisters played — the spring, 
 the orchard, the meadow — how sacred ! It is 
 just so with the Christian in reference to the 
 sanctuary. It is his birthplace; and how tender 
 are the associations which are entwined about it! 
 There, perhaps, he shed the first penitential tear; 
 there he resolved, by the Holy S2)irit's assistance, 
 to be a Christian; there he gave his heart to God ; 
 there he felt the ineffable joys of salvation. Why, 
 then, should he not love a place so sacred, so 
 hallowed? Who could censure him if he were to 
 exclaim in the language of Peter on the mount 
 of transfiguration, "Lord, it is good to be here." 
 (Matt. xvii. 4.) 
 
 An additional reason why the Christian should 
 attend the sanctuary is, it is the place where he 
 meets his brethren. One of the tests given by 
 Divine authority for true religion is love for the 
 brethren. '-We know that we have passed from 
 death unto life, because we love the brethren." 
 
152 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 (1 John iii. 14.) "He that loveth not his brother 
 whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom 
 he hath not seen?" (1 John iv. 20.) There is a 
 strong, yea, indescribable, attachment in the 
 bosoms of all Christians for one another; nor is 
 it strange that it should be so. They are children 
 of the same loving Father, soldiers in the same 
 grand army, and pilgrims on the same delightful 
 journey. Does the boy love his brother, the sol- 
 dier his comrade, the traveler his companion? 
 Then why should not the Christian love the sanct- 
 uary, the common house of himself and his 
 brethren — brethren born of the same Father, in 
 the same household; and having the same hopes 
 and fears, the same jo^^s and sorrows; and all 
 heirs to the same inheritance, "an inheritance 
 incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
 away." 
 
 Furthermore, the Christian should attend the 
 sanctuary because of the happy influences which 
 it exerts. No one, not even the infidel, can deny 
 the truth of this statement. Aside from its posi- 
 tive, it exerts a most powerful negative in- 
 fluence. In a pecuniary point of view, no in- 
 vestment of like amount pays so well as contri- 
 butions to the house of God. It is a fact of his- 
 tory that the sanctuary lessens the number of 
 inmates in prisons and almshouses. The duties 
 of the officers of the law are diminished in pro- 
 portion as the house of God is respected. As the 
 Church is enlarged, the burglar is excluded. 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 153 
 
 " Where God's altars burn, we have fewer incendi- 
 ary fires. Those who pay the Lord's cheap tithes 
 for the support of the sanctuary, escape the 
 devil's heavy taxes for the commission of crime. 
 To talk about the burdens of the house of God is 
 sheer nonsense, when we call to mind those which 
 result from its neglect; for if religion has its serv- 
 ice, irreligion has its slavery, and no exactions 
 are so cruel and heavy as those of sin." 
 
 Finally, the Christian should attend the sanct- 
 uary because of the delightful rejDast which it 
 affords his hungry and thirsty spirit. It is, as 
 the Psalmist expresses it, "the gate of heaven." 
 The house of God is the nearest place to heaven 
 in all this sinful world. Without it, the world is 
 a desert, and its pillows are stones; but the sanct- 
 uary is the resting-place of that ladder which 
 reaches from earth to heaven, and on which the 
 angels ascend and descend. In a word, heaven is 
 but the earthly sanctuary continued. John, in 
 the Apocalypse, expressed the same sentiment 
 when he said, "I saw the holy city, New Jerusa- 
 lem, coming down from God, out of heaven," etc. 
 (See Eev. xxi. 2.) 
 
 It is, then, the imperative duty of every 
 Church-member to attend the services of the 
 sanctuary when not providentially hindered. 
 The great Head of the Church has established the 
 sanctuary and its ordinances for the highest ends 
 to the human race; and his children cannot neg- 
 lect them without doing much to defeat those 
 
15-1 rULPlT AND I'EW. 
 
 ends. Indeed, to neglect them is to help to de- 
 stro}" them. Absence from the sanctuary, when it 
 can be avoided, dishonors the Saviour, brings 
 his cause into disrepute before the world, dis- 
 heartens fellow-Christians, chills the heart of the 
 minister, and bolts the door against those bless- 
 ings which are in store for the faithful worshiper. 
 The Christian, then, should make greater sacri- 
 fices to be at the sanctuary than to be at any 
 place appointed for worldly business. In brief, 
 the habit of attending the sanctuary should be so 
 firmly established by every Christian, who is not 
 physically disabled, that he feels sorely uncom- 
 fortable if compelled to be absent. God has 
 spoken upon this matter, and if we neglect to 
 hear and heed, we do so at our own peril and 
 that of others. "Not forsaking the assembling 
 of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." 
 (Ileb. X. 25.) "Blessed are they that dwell in thy 
 house: they will be still j^raising thee." (Ps. 
 Ixxxiv. 4.) 
 
 4. They must he circumspect in their walk — must 
 be consistent Christians. 
 
 While the blessed Saviour was upon earth he 
 was the exponent — yea, the embodiment — of the 
 religion which he came to teach and exhibit. He 
 could not, however, speak to all, nor could he ap- 
 pear to all, during the brief period in which he 
 sojourned among men. He, therefore, said to his 
 followers — all of them — " Ye arc the light of the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 155 
 
 world"; and then he added with the same em- 
 phasis, "Let your light so shine before men, that 
 they may see your good works, and glorify 3^our 
 Father which is in heaven." (Matt. v. 14, 16.) 
 His reason, no doubt, for making these declara- 
 tions, was that the world of sinners is influenced 
 more by the lives which Christians lead than by 
 the pj^ofessions which they make. ^ 
 
 A consistent life, then, is the greatest influence 
 which the child of God can wield; and it is one 
 of Heaven's mightiest instrumentalities for the 
 accomplishment of good on earth. The Bible, 
 folded between lids of cloth, of calf-skin, or of 
 morocco, is a great blessing; but when, in the 
 shape of a human being, it goes out into the 
 world, a Bible illustrated, it exerts a much greater 
 influence than the mere printed page: There is, 
 indeed, a moral omnipotence in a holy life. Argu- 
 ment may be resisted; and persuasion and en- 
 treat}^ may be ridiculed and scorned. The thrill- 
 ing and touching ap2">eals from the pulj^it, though 
 set forth with the logic of a Paul, or with the 
 eloquence of a Cephas, may be evaded or disre- 
 garded. But the exhibition of exalted piety has 
 a power which no human can disregard and de- 
 spise. It is the essence of truth — truth focalized — 
 truth embodied, l^o sophistry can elude it. No 
 conscience can ward it off. No bosom wears a 
 coat of mail strong enough to resist the energy 
 of its attack. It speaks in all languages, in all 
 climes, and to all phases of human nature. It is 
 
15(3 I'L'LI'iT AND PEW. 
 
 the gospel, burning in the hearts, beaming from 
 the eyes, breathing from the lips, and preachina 
 in the lives of its votaries. In a word, it is a 
 perpetual sermon — a sermon which, like the light 
 of the sun, repeats itself day by day. 
 
 The great teacher said, "If any man will bo 
 my discijile, let him deny* himself, and take up 
 his cross and follow me." (Matt. xvi. 24.) He 
 also said, in speaking of his cliildren, that they 
 are " in the world," but " not of the world," (See 
 John xvii. 12, 14.) 
 
 These scriptures, with many similar passages 
 which might be quoted, clearly teach that there 
 is a well-defined line of separation between 
 Christians and sinners — between the Church and 
 the world. But there are many whose names arc 
 upon the Church-book who seem to have made a 
 treaty of peace with the world. The terms of 
 this treaty are that they will not interfere with 
 the world in its pleasures and in its sins, provided 
 that they, when it suits their convenience and 
 taste, shall be permitted to indulge in like pleas- 
 ures and sins. This compromise, so far as they 
 are concerned, is a complete surrender — a com- 
 promise in which the}^ lose all and gain nothing. 
 Such Church-members, to the honor of our com- 
 mon Zion be it said, are not the true exj^onents 
 of the religion of the Bible. They are the dis- 
 cordant elements in the great brotherhood of 
 Christians — hard to control, and difficult to keep 
 in position. Like a certain class of soldiers, they 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 157 
 
 are always ready to desert and go over to the 
 camp of the enemy. They can never be relied 
 upon in Church- work. True, they are active — 
 are always in motion — but, like the pendulum of 
 a clock, they swing from one extreme to the 
 another. There are two forces in natural philos- 
 oph}^, known as centrifugal and centripetal — one 
 tending to fly from the center, the other tending 
 toward the center. The same is true of Church - 
 members ; and, unfortunately, there are too many 
 in the centrifugal class. Such professors, instead 
 of looking upon religion as '-daily bread," seem 
 to regard it as a medicine — are willing to take a 
 dose occasionally; but, as they appear to think, 
 the less they take the better it will be for 
 them. 
 
 A religious life, like animal and vegetable life, 
 requires an adaptation of place, culture, etc., in 
 order to a full and complete development. There 
 are places in which it would be most unreason- 
 able to expect religion to prosper. We might as 
 well look for roses to bloom in the frigid zone, or 
 for pine-apples to grow on the summit of Mont 
 Blanc, as to expect piety to flourish in situations 
 which are wholly uncongenial to it. Prominent 
 among these forbidding places we may mention 
 the hall-room and the theater. True, there are 
 places which are still more forbidding; but pro- 
 fessing Christians are not likely to go to them. 
 The two mentioned are those most to be dreaded 
 of all the places which pleasure-loving members 
 
158 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 of the Church are in the hahit of attending. This, 
 however, is not "the time or place" for a full dis- 
 cussion of these corrupt and corrupting " amuse- 
 ments," for two reasons: First, want of space — 
 would swell this small volume beyond the limits 
 intended; second, a "hundred and one" little 
 books and tracts, which are accessible to every- 
 one, have covered the entire ground. Still, it is 
 not out of place, even in this work, to make a few 
 statements, and to utter a few words of warning, 
 not only in reference to the social dance and the 
 theater, but, likewise, in reference to the general 
 subject of "worldly, fashionable, amusement." 
 
 It is a fact of history that all of the evangelical 
 denominations of Christendom have condemned, 
 in the strongest language, the ball-room and the 
 theater. Surely, this unanimous protest, coming 
 down through the centuries of the Christian era, 
 cannot be treated with indifference by any one 
 who claims to be a child of God. Indeed, this 
 fact alone ought to be sufficient to prevent the 
 most giddy and thoughtless Church-member from 
 even desiring to attend them. No one can doubt 
 that the ecclesiastical Councils that have made 
 these "' deliverances " were actuated by the highest 
 and purest Christian motives; nor should the oft- 
 repeated "declaration and testimony" which they 
 bear against the "dance and the theater" be con- 
 sidered any thing else than the voice of God 
 speaking through the Churches. Many Church- 
 members, it is true, look upon these utterances as 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 159 
 
 being "extrajudicial" — utterances not authorized 
 by the Bible; and they attempt to weaken their 
 force by triumphantly exclaiming, "Show us a 
 single passage of Scripture which condemns the 
 dance and the theater, and we will at once aban- 
 don both." They forget, however, that there are 
 many things not particularly forbidden in Script- 
 ure, which are, nevertheless, contrary to the 
 plain and obvious spirit of its precepts. We are 
 not forbidden, in so many words, to set our 
 neighbor's house on fire; yet no one will dare 
 say that the perpetration of such a deed is not a 
 crime. We reason, in this case, from the general 
 tenor of Scripture, which requires us to respect 
 the property and happiness of our fellow-men. 
 In the same way, precisely, must we reason in 
 other cases in which the Scriptures are not ex- 
 plicit. It was never intended that the Bible 
 should particularly specify and name every crime 
 of which men might be guilty. A book which 
 would do this would not be calculated to answer 
 the purposes of a Divine revelation, for there 
 would be very few who could find time to read its 
 contents. 
 
 Of both these "places of amusement" it ought 
 to be a sufficient condemnation to say, in addition 
 to the foregoing, that their tendency is to " evil, 
 and that continually "; that the purest and most 
 exemplary Christians do not encourage them; 
 tliat there is nothing in either of them calculated 
 to refine the taste or elevate the morals; that they 
 
160 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 are the arenas on which the god of this w^orld 
 makes his most diabolical display; that they are 
 the abettors of j^ride, the instigators of jealousy, 
 the sacrificial altars of health, and the avenues of 
 lust. These are strong expressions — severe in- 
 dictments; but where is the Christian who can 
 lay his hand upon his heart and say that they are 
 not true? How, then, can he encourage them? 
 How can he agree to such unequal companion- 
 ship? 
 
 In reference to ''fashionable amusements" in 
 general, the following may be affirmed : They are 
 expensive; they occasion loss of time; they pre- 
 vent the acquisition of more solid accomplish- 
 ments; and they unfit the mind for religious du- 
 ties. These, likewise, are strong charges; but no 
 candid, thoughtful Christian will call them in 
 question. A taste for them is utterly uncon- 
 genial with true godliness. Indeed, an undue 
 fondness for even laivful worldly amusements is 
 detrimental to vital piety. Religion, though a 
 happy thing, is a serious thing; and festivit}^ and 
 mirth do not promote its growth and develop- 
 ment. Besides, for a child of God to seek his 
 chief enjoyments from what we are w^ont to 
 designate as "innocent pleasures," is a virtual 
 denial of the Saviour's words, '= Whosoever 
 drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall 
 never thirst." Now, thirsting after worldly instead 
 of religious enjoyments, indicates clearly that the 
 water from the "well of salvation" has not en- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 161 
 
 tered into the soul: and it also virtually asks the 
 question, " AYho will show us any good?" — a ques- 
 tion which the Psalmist teaches us is asked only 
 by the worldling — yea, by the infidel! A true 
 Christian, then, cannot be too careful in reference 
 to them. He cannot afford to partake of them 
 simply to prove that his religion does not debar 
 him from their enjoyment. The way to win a 
 sinner to Christ is not to go and partake of his 
 amusements, but to prove to him that a Christian 
 is happier in his pleasures than the sinner can 
 possibly be in the pleasures of the world — that 
 the Christian drinks of the "water of life, clear 
 as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and 
 the Lamb," while the sinnfr is drinking from the 
 polluted streams which issue from the earthly 
 fountains. The gospel rule is, "Come out from 
 among them and be ye separate, and touch not 
 the unclean thing." An utter refusal, then, to 
 participate in sin is the very best w^ay to con- 
 demn sin. Asi^ociation is assimilation. Extenu- 
 ating contact with evil is of itself corruption. 
 The law of the New Testament is separation of 
 the precious from the vile; and according to the 
 same unerring standard, purity begins with, and 
 is maintained by, non-intercourse with that which 
 is vicious. 
 
 Said Christ, "Whosoever shall confess me be- 
 fore men, him will I confess before my Father 
 which is in heaven." This declaration was in- 
 tended for all time — for every one who desires to 
 11 
 
1G2 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 be saved. It is especially adapted to those com- 
 promising Christian prolbssors who seem to de- 
 light to occupy debatable territory — territory 
 which lies too near Satan's provinces i'or s])iritiial 
 health and growth. It is adapted, likewise, to 
 those who wish to be on Christ's side at the final 
 judgment, but who are unwilling to den}^ them- 
 selves, and take up their cross, and follow him in 
 this present evil world. The confession, however, 
 to which the Saviour alluded is a very compre- 
 hensive expression — refers to the hearty to the lips, 
 and to the life. Hence, those who refuse to thus 
 "confess" Christ fail to comply with his de- 
 mands. They are, also, self-convicted cowards, 
 who enlist simply f#i' the "bounty." In the 
 "warfare" in which they are expected to engage, 
 they never answer to the roll-call of duty. In- 
 stead of being "shining lights," they are dark 
 lanterns; and instead of benefiting olhers by 
 their secret, clandestine attempts to gain heaven, 
 they become "stumbling-blocks." • 
 
 Conformity to the world, then, is wholly incon- 
 sistent with the Christian profession. The spirit 
 of the world is not the Spirit of Christ. Its 
 maxims are not the maxims of the Bible; nor 
 are its judgments the judgments of reason en- 
 lightened by Eevelation. If, then, the Christian 
 adopts its maxims, he will go forth in doubt and 
 uncertainty on his earthly mission, and will die 
 without accom])lishing it. In the language of 
 another, "Earth's cup is poisoned; her praise, re- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 163 
 
 proach ; her wisdom blind ; her guin, eteriuil loss ; 
 her hope a dream; her total sum — her all — utter 
 vanity." The Christian professor, therefore, who 
 looks to the world for his pleasures and enjoy- 
 ments, will find it a barren plain — yea, a moral 
 Sahara on which nothing exists that will satisfy 
 the hunger and thirst of an immortal spirit. 
 The questions, then, which least concern him are: 
 What does the world teach? What does the world 
 promise? What does the world demand? But 
 those which do concern him for time and eternity 
 are: What is true? What is of good report? 
 What will make humanity better and happier? 
 What will make a useful and blessed life? What 
 w^ill WMpe away falling tears and heal broken 
 hearts? 
 
 One of the greatest hinderances to the spread 
 of true religion is the want of a clearer line of 
 demarkation between those who are in the Church 
 and those who are not; and we have no right to 
 hoi)e for a rapid diffusion of Christianity except 
 in proportion as its friends stand out from the 
 world in beautiful distinctness in their practices. 
 The brightness of their example, too, must ex- 
 tend to their whole life; not in theory merel}-, but 
 in conduct; not in one thing, but in all things. 
 How careful and circumspect, therefore, should 
 the Christian be ! He is not his own. He is 
 blood-bought. He is Christ's servant, Christ's 
 follower, Christ's witness. Let him, then, obey 
 the heavenly injunction, "Whatsoever things are 
 
164 PCXPIT AND PEW. 
 
 true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever 
 things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 
 whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things 
 are of good report; if there be any virtue, and 
 if there be any praise, think on these things." 
 (Phil. iv. 8.) 
 
 5. • They must live in peace and unity. 
 
 One of the chief characteristics of the religion 
 of the Bible is that it is a religion o^ peace. Its 
 great Author is the "Prince of peace," as the 
 Scriptures declare. Heathen nations have their 
 temples of war — temples on v/hose altars gods of 
 "vengeance and blood" are placed, in order to 
 call forth the most cruel and vindictive feelings 
 of those bowing at such shrines. But on tho 
 altars of the temples erected in behalf of the re- 
 ligion of the meek and lowly Saviour, no such 
 images are found. Instead of encouraging and 
 fostering such feelings, Christianity excludes from 
 her altars every worshiper who "has aught 
 against his brother." (See Matt. v. 23.) Indeed, 
 no attentive reader of the Bible has failed to ob- 
 serve the great imjDortance attached to the neces- 
 sity of kindly feelings among the brotherhood. 
 "Pray for tlie peace of Jerusalem; they shall 
 prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy 
 walls, and prosperity within thy j^alaces." (Ps. 
 cxxii. 7.) "By this shall all men know that ye 
 are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." 
 (John xiii. 35.) "Be at peace among j'ourselvcs." 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 165 
 
 (1 Thess. V. 13.) "Behold hoAV good and how 
 pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
 unit3^" (Ps. cxxxiii. 1.) 
 
 It would be difficult indeed to account for the 
 l-apid spread of Christianity in the da^^s of the 
 apostles, if we leave out of view the brotherly 
 love, peace, and unity which characterized the 
 followers of Christ. These distinguishing marks 
 were made not only a test of discipleship, but, as 
 a whole, were considered an elementary principle, 
 without which a man could not obtain from saint 
 or sinner, angel or devil, even the name of 
 Christian. Without these essentials they did not 
 pretend to claim that they were the children of 
 God. And the world, as it beheld this affection 
 and oneness of purpose permeating the hearts of 
 the early Christians, felt and confessed that a re- 
 ligion which could produce such wonderful re- 
 sults must be from God. "By one Spirit" they 
 were "all baptized into one body," and they re- 
 garded themselves, and were regarded by all 
 around them, as members of one harmonious and 
 devoted brotherhood. Christ was the center of 
 attraction around which they rallied and united ; 
 and, like the radii of a circle, the nearer they 
 approached the center, the nearer they were to 
 each other. 
 
 Now, just what those early Christians were 
 among themselves, so the members of each one 
 of the individual congregations in the various de- 
 nominations of Christendom should be toward 
 
Ids rULPlT AND TEW. 
 
 each other. But, lamentable to say, such is not 
 always the case. Often, in the same congregation, 
 we find ungodly dissensions — "debates, envyings, 
 wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swell- 
 ings, tumults." (2 Cor. xii. 20.) And of all dif- 
 ficulties Church difficulties are the worst. AYhen 
 professors of religion fight, it is a Waterloo, with 
 no Bliicher to come up even at nightfall to decide 
 the contest. It is, too, a merciless warfare; for, 
 as a general thing, it is a w^r without "ex- 
 empts" — conscripts all, men and women, old and 
 young — forces every one not only to take sides, 
 but to engage in active service. 'No blood is 
 shed, it is true; but all are badly scarred. In 
 civil war, thousands upon thousands of the most 
 daring and intrepid soldiers pass through a score 
 of battles and come out unscathed; but in a 
 Church-war not one who engages in it escapes 
 without a wound. These w^ounds, too, are ex- 
 ceedingly difficult to heal; for they are made with 
 the most poisonous of all arrows — a "tongue set 
 on fire of hell." (See James iii. 6 ) As a general 
 thing, too, a civil war lasts only a short time; but 
 a Church- war lasts for years and years — yea, 
 sometimes for a generation ! In a civil war, like- 
 wise, much that is good and valuable is spared, 
 and even the severe losses can, in a short time, 
 be repaired; but in a Church -war there is little 
 left that is desirable, and the losses can 7iever be 
 retrieved. If Satan and his minions ever "hold 
 high carnival" in Tophct, it is w^ hen just such a 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 167 
 
 warfare as wo have described is waged in a con- 
 gregation of professed Christians. It is a matter 
 of astonishment to see the extent to which mem- 
 bers of the Church will sometimes go in these ec- 
 clesiastical combats; and the most charitable way 
 to account for it is, to say that when the devil 
 docs get into the heart of a good man, knowing 
 that his stay is limited, he provokes and goads 
 him to the utmost of his diabolical power. 
 
 How careful, then, should Christians be to 
 avoid the worst of all calamities — a Church diffi- 
 culty! Who has not seen the effects of such 
 troubles? How man}^ old, dilapidated church- 
 buildings stand to-day as monuments of the vic- 
 tories gained by the Arch-fiend who planned the 
 campaign and commanded the soldiers who 
 fought under his diabolical flag! Their "name is 
 legion"! AYhat a sad reckoning, too, awaits 
 those who were the colonels, captains, and lieu- 
 tenants under this commander-in-chief of discord ! 
 The declaration is made in sorrow, but there are 
 those who seem to take pleasure in fomenting 
 these difficulties. Yea, it is a truth which cannot 
 be denied, that there are men belonging to the 
 Church whose voices are never heard in prayer, 
 whose jDecuniary gifts are exceedingly meager 
 when compared with their means, and who seem 
 utterly destitute of piety, who yet, by turbulence 
 of speech and action, will attempt to rule a whole 
 Church. 'No one, of course, loves such characters ; 
 but they exert a wonderful influence— can drive 
 
168 PULPIT x\ND PEW. 
 
 away ministers, distract Churches, prevent revivals, 
 and alienate friends. Such men play havoc with 
 the organizations which are so unfortunate as to 
 be compelled to own them as members; for they 
 insinuate themselves into the very heart of the 
 Church, derange its affairs, hinder the workers, 
 discourage the faithful, disgust the candid, and 
 desolate every thing. Of course they are not 
 Christians, though their names may be recorded 
 on the Church-roll. They are the Achans who 
 trouble the camp of Israel, the Judas Iscariots 
 who would betray their Lord and Master — yea, 
 the moral lepers whose touch is death, and whose 
 running ulcers nothing but the "balm in Gilead " 
 can heal. • 
 
 Let, then, every Christian shun these Church 
 difficulties as he would the deadly poison of the 
 Upas tree. Solomon says, "the beginning of 
 strife is as when one letteth out water." (Prov. 
 xvii. 14.) The time, therefore, to prevent the 
 outbreak of these difficulties is to take them in 
 their incipiency. The breach in a dam which 
 might be covered with a man's hand, if neglected, 
 may occasion a deluge. Animosities among the 
 followers of Christ often spring from very insig- 
 nificant things; and, unless they are adjusted, 
 they lead to the most fatal consequences. The 
 river forms a broader and deeper current as it 
 runs. The stone that is started from the mount- 
 ain's summit by the hand of a child, rushes down- 
 ward by its own momentum; but the strength of 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 169 
 
 a giant cannot roll it back. Evil, unlike wine, 
 does not improve b}^ age. The mischief which 
 Jeroboam did in Israel lasted through twenty 
 generations, and it increased in intensity until, 
 like the tire in the prairie, it died out because 
 there was nothing left to feed it. 
 
 Next to the prayer for the loving spirit of our 
 Saviour, the one thing needed by every congre- 
 gation is Christian harmony. To insure this har- 
 mony, this "unity of spirit in the bond of peace," 
 each one must sometimes make sacrifice of feel- 
 ings and preferences. Each should remember 
 that he may not always be right, and that others 
 have the same privileges which he claims for him- 
 self Let each one agree to bear with the weak- 
 nesses and failings of others, for all have infirmi- 
 ties. No one can know the motives by which 
 others are actuated; nor can he say that he would 
 not act as they do, unless he was perfectly ac- 
 quainted with all the circumstances which sur- 
 round them. 
 
 Brotherly love is a godlike affection. It is the 
 distinguishing trait of a Christian, and is the 
 foundation of all true Christian fellowship. "Be 
 of one mind," says Paul. This unity of spirit is 
 the bond that solidifies a congregation and makes 
 it strong. Union is strength; disunion is defeat 
 and disaster. How, then, can a Church meet the 
 great foe, with its armor all battered by internal 
 conflicts? 
 
 In the language of Dr. Murphy, "These 
 
170 PULPIT xVND PEW. 
 
 Church strifes destroy all true hai:)pines8 in the 
 minds of those who are agitated by them; 
 they grieve awa^" the Holy Spirit, to whose peace- 
 ful influences they are so much opposed; they 
 lead to the most lamentable divisions and aliena- 
 tions between those who were once dear to each 
 other in Christian fellowship; they rend asunder 
 Churches and make incurable breaches in house- 
 holds; they dishonor religion and expose it to the 
 contempt of the world; and they inflict deep 
 wounds upon Christ,. of which he may bitterly 
 complain as having received in the house of his 
 friends." 
 
 The enmity of the world against Christianity 
 is so deep that Church-members cannot afl'ord to 
 give any just grounds for an increase of that 
 state of feeling. The good name of a Church is 
 its greatest power. It is a sacred trust committed 
 to the membership. With such a name a Church 
 is irresistible; without it, it is weak and will be 
 desj^ised. A Church shorn of it, like a maiden who 
 has lost her virtue, is an object not only of pitj^, but 
 of scorn and of contempt. Then, be it the ambition 
 of every Church -member to j^roserve untarnished 
 the good name of the congregation with which he 
 is identified. In other words, let every congre- 
 gation in Christendom heed the admonition of 
 the Apostle of the Gentiles: "Now I beseech you, 
 brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 that ye all speak the same thing, and tliat there 
 be no divisions among you; but that yo be per- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 171 
 
 fectly joined together in the same mind and in 
 the same judgment." (1 Cor. i. 10.) 
 
 In this connection it may not be out of place 
 to add, parenthetically, a word of caution and ad- 
 monition to the ministry. Under no circum- 
 stances should the preacher permit himself to be 
 connected with these Church strifes as a partisan. 
 There is a sj^ecial scriptural injunction which 
 forbids such a thing: "The servant of the Lord 
 must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt 
 to teach, patient." (2 Tim. ii. 24.) "Brethren, if 
 a man be overtaken in a fault, je which are 
 spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of 
 ineekness; considering thyself, lest thou be also 
 tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so 
 fulfill thelawofChrist."(Eph.vi.l,2.) The minister, 
 therefore, who would lend his name and influence 
 for the purpose of engendering and fostering 
 such strifes is basely unworthy of his profession, 
 and deserves the righteous indignation of all good 
 men. 
 
 On this very j)oint John Wesley speaks "the 
 words of truth and soberness." Says he, "O 
 beware, I will not say of forming, but of counte- 
 nancing or abetting, any parties in a Christian 
 Society. Meddle not with them that are given to 
 dispute — with them that love contention. Follow 
 peace with all men, without which you cannot 
 effectually follow holiness. Be not content not to 
 stir up strife, but do every thing possible to pre- 
 vent or quench the very first part of it. It is far 
 
172 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 easier to prevent the flame from breaking out 
 than to quench it afterward." 
 
 6. They must read the literature of the Church — 
 must he ivell-informed as to doctrines, polity, etc. 
 
 It is the imperative duty of every Christian to 
 unite with some branch of the Church of Christ. 
 But as to which one of the "many members" of 
 "one body" a person should join, it is not the 
 province of this little book to attempt to decide. 
 Suffice it to say, uniting with a Church is a matter 
 of serious moment, and each one should remember 
 that his or her usefulness may be, yea, ivill be, 
 greatly enhanced or curtailed by this step; for 
 much depends uj^on a proper choice in this matter, 
 inasmuch as no one can be happy or efficient in a 
 Church whose doctrines and polity do not accord 
 with his views of Bible-teaching. But having, 
 by proper investigation, settled the question as to 
 which one of these organizations it is his or her 
 duty to join, it then becomes a matter of the 
 highest Christian obligation to be efficient in that 
 Church. It is next to impossible, however, for 
 any one to attain to a high degree of usefulness 
 and efficiency without a knowledge of the doc- 
 trines and polity of the organization to which be 
 belongs. There is but one way to gain this 
 information accurately, and that is by reading 
 the religious literature of that Church. A bitter 
 sectarianism is to be deprecated; but an intelli- 
 gent denomi nationalism is to be commended. 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 173 
 
 Fixed principles are as essential to an efficient 
 Church-membership as the}' are to a correct civil 
 citizenship. The soldier who Avoiild as soon fight 
 under one flag as another is not worth his rations. 
 The citizen who considers any other government 
 as good as his own, is of but little value to any. 
 The physician who believes that all ^^pathies'' are 
 equall}^ deserving, and is ready to pj-actice either 
 according to the wishes of his patients, might 
 just as well close his office. And the Church- 
 member who has as much love and attachment 
 for any other denomination a* for his own is un- 
 worthy the denomination which has the misfor- 
 tune to claim him. 
 
 A religious literature is of immense service to 
 every Christian, whether old or young. True, 
 the Bible is the Book of books, and should, under 
 no circumstances, be supplanted. But we must 
 not imitate the Caliph Omar, who committed the 
 great library of Alexandria to the flames, under 
 the idea that if the books contained only what 
 was approved by the Koran, they were useless; 
 if what was contrary to it, they were pernicious. 
 JN'ow, if the literature of a denomination contains 
 no other religious truth than that found in the 
 Bible, it is, nevertheless, of inestimable value, for 
 it explains and enforces that which is in the 
 Bible, according to the honest convictions of the 
 Church which prepares that literature. It is to 
 the Scriptures what the gas ]Dipes of a city are to 
 the great reservoir — affords the media through 
 
174 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 which ligbt is conveyed to tliousauds of homes 
 which would otherwise be comparatively dark 
 and cheerless. 
 
 A great statesman once said, "If you will per- 
 mit me to write the songs of a nation, I care not 
 who may make its laws." With equal truth a 
 bold and vigorous author may say, " If you will 
 permit me to Avrite the religious literature of a 
 Church, I care not who may formulate its Disci- 
 plines and Confessions of Faith." The influence 
 of such a literature upon the membership is truly 
 wonderful. It is ..to the mind and heart what 
 food is to the body — forming, shaping, developing, 
 the mental and moral man just as temporal food 
 does the physical man. Indeed, no one wdio has 
 properly reflected upon the subject, will call in 
 question the statement that the religious litera- 
 ture of a denomination does more to mold and 
 unify the opinions of the membership than do its 
 pulpits. A truth printed is more eftective than a 
 truth spoken, for the simple reason that so many 
 more can enjoy it. The latter is gold dust which, 
 though genuine, cannot circulate over a large 
 area; the former is that same dust coined, and has 
 "no pent-up Utica," but "passes" everywhere. 
 Such literature, too, not only greatly aids in de- 
 veloping Church-members into the "stature of 
 perfect men and women in Christ Jesus," but it 
 enables them to exert a much more powerful in- 
 fluence upon the world — prepares them to defend 
 the cause of Christ. Infidels appreciate the idea 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 175 
 
 suggested; for by diligently reading their own 
 publications, they familiarize themselves Avith the 
 weaj^ons which they are expected to employ, and 
 are ever ready to assault or defend. Christians 
 need a similar preparation from their own arsenal 
 of spiritual truth; and the Church, in the provi- 
 dence of God, has formulated the arguments 
 needed to meet those who vex our common Zion. 
 Armed and equipped with these weapons, "one 
 can chase a thousand, and two can put ten thou- 
 sand to flight." It is likewise true, that they are 
 the most efficient in their own particular denomi- 
 nation who are the best-informed in relation to 
 their distinctive theological tenets. For, as has 
 been intimated, no one should become a member 
 of a Church without resolving to do all in his 
 power to advance the interests of that denomina- 
 tion. To accomplish this work he must not only 
 know what that Church believes, but v/hat it pro- 
 poses to do. Political parties acknowledge a similar 
 necessity for their respective adherents ; for they, 
 by the circulation of papers, speeches, etc., at- 
 tempt to disseminate the information that will 
 make each man a more earnest supporter. And 
 although these eiforts are often carried to excess, 
 yet there is good accomplished by them — each 
 jjarty knows more about its friends, more about 
 its opponents, more about politics in general — in 
 a word, the peoj^le are instructed, and they are 
 more capable of intelligent and efficient action. 
 Now, vjhat these parties have done for their fol- 
 
176 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 lowers in politics, the different denominations of 
 Christendom have done for their adherents in re- 
 ligious faith. And although this denominational 
 literature, like the j^olitieal, is obnoxious to criti- 
 cism, yet no one can doubt that it has done great 
 good. While a part of this literature may be — 
 yea, ought to be — so tinged with denominational- 
 ism as to prevent its adaptation to any except to 
 the membership of that particular Church, 3^et 
 the greater part is so Catholic >n its spirit and 
 utterances that its whole tendency is to religious 
 rather than to denominational advancement. 
 Hence, while such literature strengthens one's 
 attachment for his own ecclesiastical household, 
 it at the same time urges him onward and upward 
 in the divine life. 
 
 Another mateiial advantage in such a literature 
 is, it displaces that which is most pernicious in 
 its tendency. Solomon says, "Of the making of 
 books there is no end"; and, unfortunately for the 
 human race, there are bad books as well as good 
 ones — books which poison the mind and corrupt 
 the heart — books which drag the soul down to 
 hell instead of lifting it up to heaven. The 
 writers of them are tlie most debased of mortals; 
 and it would be just as impossible to read their 
 books without being contaminated as it would be 
 to associate with them without being defiled. To 
 the youth these productions are especially dan- 
 gerous; and when a taste for them has been cul- 
 tivated, it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossi- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 177 
 
 ble, to displace them with a pure and innocent 
 literature. Christian parents, therefore, cannot 
 afford to withhold from their children such read- 
 ing-matter as will tend to improve the mind, re- 
 fine the taste, and purify the heart; and the 
 Giiurch is the principal source to which they must 
 look for this supplj^ The best thoughts of our 
 greatest men are stored away in books. God, 
 himself, whose resources are infinite, saw proper 
 to communicate his will to man through a book. 
 
 In addition to the negative good of which we 
 have just spoken, there is beyond doubt a positive 
 good wrought by a religious literature. JSTo one 
 can read a good book, tract, or j^aper without 
 being benefited — just as impossible to do so as it 
 is to drink pure water and eat wholesome food 
 without feeling their effects upon the physical 
 system. Hundreds of instances might be given 
 to verify this statement, but such details would 
 be out of place in this little book. We cannot, 
 however, forbear giving the following, which is 
 obtained from an authentic source: 
 
 Eichard Baxter was led to Christ through the 
 instrumentality of a tract brought to his father's 
 door in a peddler's pack. One of his works, " The 
 Saints' Rest," was instrumental in the conversion 
 of Philip Doddridge. "The Else and Progress of 
 Eeligion in the Soul," written by Doddridge, was 
 blessed to the salvation of AYilliam Wilberforce. 
 "The Practical Yiew," by the latter, led Thomas' 
 Chalmers and Legh Eichmond to the Saviour. 
 12 
 
178 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Chalmers became one of the brightest stars that 
 ever adorned the ministry; and Eichmond wrote 
 "The Dairyman's Daughter/' a tract which has 
 been translated into more than fifty different lan- 
 guages, and, no doubt, has led thousands upon 
 thousands to the Cross. 
 
 The foregoing paragraph of itself is sufficient 
 
 to prompt every Christian not only to read but 
 
 to circulate his Church-literature. But when the 
 
 facts just related are taken in connection with 
 
 the arguments previously presented, and when to 
 
 all these are added the personal experiences and 
 
 observations of every one who reads these pages, 
 
 the reasons therefor are overwhelming. Parents, 
 
 then, who love their children, and desire their 
 
 salvation, cannot afford to be indifferent upon this 
 
 momentous subject. A bad book, newspaper, or 
 
 magazine is as dangerous to children as vicious 
 
 associates — yea, they are more so; for personal 
 
 influence is limited by time and place, while a 
 
 vile book goes ever^^where, and never dies. The 
 
 reader may return to it again and again ; it does 
 
 its work in secret, and where the arm of the law 
 
 cannot strike it down. Such publications, like 
 
 spirituous liquors, afford neither nourishment nor 
 
 medicine — they are poison. Both intoxicate — one 
 
 the mind; the other the body. The desire for 
 
 each increases, too, b}^ being fed, and is never 
 
 satisfied. Never, perhaps, in the world's history 
 
 were the dangers to youth, from this cause, so 
 
 great as at this time; and parents should be on 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 179 
 
 their guard against one of the worst enemies 
 that can meet their children. Never should they 
 permit an impure j)ublication to be brought into 
 their homes, and placed before their offspring. 
 Hungry lambs will eat poison; but if well fed on 
 good food, they let poison alone. 
 
 In reference to the importance of the religious 
 newspaper, we feel that it would be difficult to 
 speak with too much vehemence. All denomina- 
 tions have them; and they are the channels 
 through which each one of these denominations 
 speaks to its own membership, to each other, and 
 to the world. The Church-member, therefore, who 
 refuses to avail himself of the advantages of a 
 newspaper j^ublished in the interests of his own 
 ecclesiastical household, is, to use the mildest ex- 
 pression, not to be envied for his sound judgment 
 or religious devotion, Such a member says by 
 his action that he prefers darkness to light — pre- 
 fers that himself and his family shall be in utter 
 ignorance as to what his Church is doing. And 
 (we again speak parenthetically) the minister of 
 the gospel who will not use his influence to have 
 his labors supplemented by such an auxiliary as 
 a good religious newspaper affords, is either too 
 ignorant to preach, too indolent to do good, or too 
 self-conceited to ask for assistance from man or God! 
 
 Want of pecuniary ability, we know, is often 
 urged as a reason why many do not take a re- 
 ligious newspaj^er; but such an excuse is utterly 
 untrue in nine cases out of ten. There are very 
 
180 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 few, if any^ Cbristian families in this broad land 
 who arc too poor to take sueh a paper. Less than 
 one cent a day, set apart for that jDurpose, will fur- 
 nish a family with that " royal visitor," who will 
 come into the household and preach its timely 
 sermons — sermons prepared by many of the most 
 able and gifted pens in the Church — sermons 
 which are indispensable to Christian efficiency — 
 sermons which instruct and edify — sermons which 
 may not only deter the young from a life of 
 shame, but lead them to the Cross of Christ. In- 
 stead, then, of there being many Christian families 
 in any denomination that are too poor to take a 
 religious newspaper, there hyq few that are not too 
 poor to be without it. Those who do take such a 
 paper are not only the best-informed in regard to 
 what the denomination to which they belong is 
 doing, but they are the ones who sustain and 
 foster the benevolent work of the Church — sup- 
 port the ministry'', endow institutions of learning, 
 and sustain the missionary cause. Not a denomi- 
 nation in Christendom, perhaps, has over suc- 
 ceeded in inducing o/ie-/m^/ of its Christian house- 
 holds to patronize their own religious papers; yet 
 we venture the assertion that those who do take 
 these papers give nine-tenths of all the money that 
 is contributed in the respective denominations to 
 which they belong. Hence, then, such a publica- 
 tion is indispensable to intelligent Christian use- 
 fulness; and for a member of the Church to re- 
 fuse to take such a paper, when he is pecuniarily 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 181 
 
 able to do so (and there are very few w^ho are not) 
 Tirtually declares that he chooses to know nothing 
 of the plans and operations of his Church, and 
 chooses to be a cipher in the organization to which 
 he belongs. 
 
 7. They must scrupulously guard the good name 
 and reputation of their minister. 
 
 The minister of the gospel is the vice-gerent of 
 Christ — is his ambassador through whom he 
 speaks to his Church. He is, likewise, the me- 
 dium through which the Church sj^eaks to the 
 world. If he occupied the position of a jDrivate 
 Christian it would be demanding too much to re- 
 quire special duties toward him. But he is not 
 simply a private Christian ; for, in the perform- 
 ance of his official duties, the interests of the 
 Church to which he ministers are involved not 
 only in the aggregate but in the individuality of its 
 membership. In other words, though he serves 
 an organization, yet the si)iritual welfare of every 
 member thereof is connected with his ministry. 
 This being true, we see the necessity, yea, the 
 absolute necessity, of guarding, with the utmost 
 vigilance, the reputation of him who occupies so 
 important a position. The good name of a min- 
 ister is one of the essential elements to his useful- 
 ness. With it he is as strong as a giant; with- 
 out it he is as weak as an infant. With it he is a 
 David with his sling; without it he is a Samson 
 with his locks shorn. 
 
182 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 As t'.ie minister of the gospel proclaims him- 
 self the opponent of all sin and the advocate of 
 all morality, he lays himself liable not only to 
 the assaults of Satan, but to the attacks of un- 
 godly men. Being, by virtue of his office, a rec- 
 ognized leader in the grand army of Christ, he 
 becomes a prominent target at which the sharp- 
 shooters of Satan's cohorts discharge their deadly 
 weapons. No purity of character exempts the 
 minister from these envenomed missiles. Indeed, 
 the more elevated he is in this respect the more 
 violent and persistent are the assaults which are 
 made upon him. The enemies of Christianity 
 now, as was the case eighteen centuries ago, pre- 
 fer Barabbas to Christ. Nothing delights them 
 so much as to be able to wound the officer who 
 leads the charge made upon their fortifications. 
 Nor will they scruple to descend to the vilest 
 depths of infamy, provided there is a bare possi- 
 bility of accomplishing their diabolical purposes. 
 It is., therefore, the imperative duty of the mem- 
 bersliip to guard with constant vigilance the 
 reputation of their minister. His good name, to 
 a great extent, is in their keeping; and they 
 would be recreant to the sacred trust committed 
 to them, as well as to their own interests, if they 
 were to refuse to defend, "at all hazards and to 
 the last extremity," the reputation of their 
 preacher when unjustly assailed by the vile 
 emissaries of the devil. 
 
 But, lamentable to say, he is liable to attacks 
 
PULriT AND PEW. 183 
 
 not only from the inveterate foes of the cause 
 which he serves, but, likewise, from those of his 
 own Christian household. It is true, the weapons 
 employed 'by professed infidels differ in kind from 
 those used by these " household-enemies." Those 
 of the former are aimed at moral character; those 
 of the latter strike at ministerial usefulness. But 
 it is likewise true that they differ in results — the 
 latter being much more destructive. Indeed, the 
 saying has grown into an aphorism that ''a man's 
 worst enemies may be those of his own house- 
 hold." This is especiall}" true in regard to the 
 sacred ministry. The blessed Saviour so found 
 it; so did the apostles; and we assert a fact which 
 no thoughtful observer will controvert, when we 
 say that the same is true of the gospel ministry 
 of this age. AYe have neither the time nor space 
 to give in detail the different ways by which a 
 minister's good name and usefulness may be in- 
 jured by his membership. But as the chief 
 method is by that of the tongue — improper con- 
 versation, unkind criticism, fault-finding — this 
 fact is deemed a sufficient apology for pasvsing by 
 the less, and devoting a few pages to the greater. 
 The golden rule — " Do unto others as ye would 
 have them do unto you" — has a dej^th of mean- 
 ing not usually thought of by many who flip- 
 pantly repeat it; for it embraces words as well as 
 actions. That is, we are not only to do unto 
 others as we would that they should do unto us, 
 but wo are to speak of others as we would have 
 
184 ruLriT anu vew. 
 
 them speak of lis. Bat notwithstanding the 
 Saviour himself is the author of this rule of 
 Christian ethics, yet many Church-members have 
 either overlooked it, or else refuse to acknowledge 
 its binding force. They not only talk too much, 
 but they say improper things. The order to 
 which they belong is not a new one, for Paul met 
 it, face to face, in the Church at Eome; and he 
 gave to the members of it the very appropriate 
 name, ^' whisper'ers.'" He, however, not only de- 
 nounced the order, and placarded it in that infa- 
 mous companionship to which it belongs — "env}^ 
 murder, deceit, malignity "; but he placed the mem- 
 bers thereof in the proper category — "backbiters, 
 haters of God, boasters, inventors of evil things, 
 covenant breakers, implacable, unmerciful." 
 Thanks to inspiration and to Paul for that w^ord, 
 '•whisperer"; for it is not only appropriate, but 
 significant — describes the characters fully whom 
 we are condemning; for the most of their mis- 
 chievous work is done by ^'ichispering.'' They do 
 not generally talk loud; nor do they often make 
 a direct charge. They abound in winks, hints, 
 and innuendoes; and "whisper" solemn expressions 
 as to what they "fear may be true." Many of 
 this class are very pious in look and appearance; 
 yet there is a lurking vulture in their hearts, and 
 they scent tales of slander from afar. In his 
 Epistle to Timothy, Paul further describes them 
 as wandering from house to house — "idlers, tattlers, 
 busybodies " — that is it. They are Satan's colport- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 185 
 
 eiirs, retailing slander from place to place, and 
 preaching a message of defamation instead of 
 salvation — a gospel of suspicion and ill-will, 
 instead of one of trust and brotherly charity. 
 The only redeeming feature in reference to them 
 is that their number is comparatively small; but 
 one such is too many. 
 
 In addition to the class just described there is 
 another which, though not so mischievously 
 wicked, is nevertheless very injurious to the cause 
 of Christ. We allude to a class variously desig- 
 nated as "critics," "fault-finders," "grumblers," 
 etc. They are a great annoyance to the organiza- 
 tion of which they are a part, but especially so to 
 the minister. iSTothing scarcely that he does 
 l^leases them. From the time he begins his labors 
 with the congregation to which they belong, un- 
 til those labors terminate, they criticise almost 
 every thing he does— dress, gesture, elocution, ser- 
 mons, manners, pastoral visits, etc., etc. — all, all 
 come in for their full share. Nor do they seem 
 to have any discretion as to time or place in 
 making these criticisms — at their own firesides, 
 before their own chtldren, in the j)i'6sence of 
 members of other Christian communions, before 
 the ungodly — anywhere and everywhere! In the 
 custody of such members it is scarcely necessary 
 to say, that the good name of a minister is not 
 safe. Their unkind words, like the scorching 
 winds of the desert, go forth upon their mission, 
 and blast the field which he had sowed with 
 
186 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 "weeping," and which he hud hoped to reap w^th 
 "rejoicing." Of course, every minister has his 
 imperfections; and in the conduct of the best 
 there will be occasional faults which may demand 
 criticism. But, for the sake of the good name of 
 the minister, for the sake of the salvation of sin- 
 ners, for the sake of our holy religion, and for the 
 sake of the proprieties and decencies of Christian 
 l')oliteness, let these defects be pointed out to the 
 preacher and to him alone, and let it be done, too, 
 in a kind and fraternal spirit. The method, how- 
 ever, which these "fault-finders" invariably adopt 
 is the despicable one of proclaiming these faults 
 to all others except to the minister. To such 
 members, nothing is more appropriate than the 
 fable of "The Bell Clapper." The bell in which 
 it hung was cracked, and the clapper was always 
 comj^laining of its sad fate for being connected 
 "with such a bell. A great many good people 
 l^itied the clapper, and condoled with its sad lot. 
 At length the spirit of Diogenes, thxj old cynic, 
 who could not endure shams of any kind, came 
 along. He heard of the clapper's complaint, and 
 said : " Before you make any more fuss about the 
 bell, remember two things : First, you cracked it; 
 and second, no one would know that it was 
 cracked if you did not tell it." 
 
 Now, if a few members of a Church were to 
 try, every Sabbath, by some kind of noise, to 
 drown out the minister's voice, or, by some 
 counter attraction or interruption, to turn the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 187 
 
 thoughts of the people a^Yny from the solemn words 
 which he utters, we would not only deprive them 
 of membership, but we would hand them over to 
 the civil authorities for punishment. But is not 
 this a similar case? Do not those "fault-finders," 
 who spend their lives in saying disparaging things 
 of their minister, virtually drown out his voice 
 and rob his words of much of their solemn force, 
 so far as their influeuce extends? It is strange, 
 we admit, that they can get their consent to en- 
 gage in a practice so disreputable to themselves 
 and so dishonoring to religion. But, lamentable 
 to say, they do it. It would be better, infinitely 
 better, to pursue a diametrically opposite course — 
 better err on the side of charity. The truth is, 
 they cannot afford to bolt the doors of their own 
 hearts, and those of others, so far as they have 
 influence, against the kindly ofiices of one who is 
 striving to do good to them, to their children, and 
 to their neighbors. 
 
 The character of a gospel minister is his most 
 sacred treasure; and the membei'ship that would 
 have him a blessing to themselves and to the 
 world must guard his good name as a mother 
 does the virtue of her daughter. Instead, then, 
 of injuring his usefulness by saying improper 
 things, how much better would it be to increase 
 his usefulness by saying kind and encouraging 
 things! It is a fact which no thoughtful man 
 will controvert, that a minister's success depends 
 almost as much upon what is said of him as on 
 
188 PULriT AND TEW. 
 
 what he does. His influence in a communit}' may 
 be "talked" into twice its power for good, or it 
 may be " talked " into a mere cipher. No difference 
 how earnestly he may labor, it is possible, by in- 
 discreet remarks, to make his ministerial life al- 
 most a failure. On the contrary, it is possible, 
 by words "fitly spoken," to enable him, like Paul, 
 to "magnify his office." 
 
 Then, let these Church "grumblers" cease their 
 unholy work. They themselves have a thousand 
 faults and imperfections which their minister and 
 others have overlooked or excused. Indeed, all 
 have them, and all need the kind offices of tliat 
 broad Christian charity which is so highly com- 
 mended in the Scriptures. Besides, there are 
 some things which cannot be corrected, and it is 
 not best to even speak of them. Paul told the 
 Hebrews of Noah's faith; but he never said one 
 word about his planting a vineyard and of his 
 becoming "drunken" on the wine which was the 
 product of that vineyard. He also spoke of 
 Eahab's faith; .but he did not speak of the 
 terrible falsehood which she told. The truth is, 
 the Church, like the family, may have some 
 secrets which it were best not to publish abroad. 
 Tlic world will not be benefited by them. 
 
 We do not wish to be misunderstood. We have 
 neither cloak nor apology for those in the minis- 
 try who are basely unworth}'- of their profession, 
 for the}^ should be shaken from the Church as 
 Paul did the vijDer from his arm; but we would 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 189 
 
 have a true and worthy mhiister protected in his 
 reputation from unrighteous assaults, whether 
 made by the ungodly or by professing Christians. 
 While we believe that a Judas should be sent to 
 "his own place," we see no reason why the malig- 
 nant persecutors of God's faithful ministers 
 should not share the same fate. Whose business 
 is it, except the preacher's, as to what store he 
 trades at, which physician he emj^loys, or what 
 woman he marries? Surely no one can deny 
 that the minister should be protected from those 
 envious, jealous, tattling members who are ever 
 pursuing him as the Scribes and Pharisees did 
 the blessed Saviour. Indeed, the membership can- 
 not afford to thus mistreat their minister. In the 
 providence of God he is their leader, their chief 
 earthl}-^ reliance for building them up — for devel- 
 oping the Christian graces in their own lives, and 
 for leading their children and others to Christ. 
 They, tlierefore, for their own interests, for those 
 of their children, and for those of the outside world, 
 cannot, we repeat, afford to have their minister 
 denuded of his ministerial power and influence. 
 
 8. They must he liberal in their contributions to 
 the cause of religion. 
 
 No one can thoughtfully read the Bible, nor 
 the history of the Church in past ages, without 
 coming to the conclusion that there is a most in- 
 timate relationship between money and religion. 
 They have ever been, and, in the Divine economy, 
 
190 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 they ever will be, mutual helpers. True, religion is 
 not in itself materialistic; but the most wonder- 
 ful materialistic results have always followed in 
 its wake. In other words, religion opens out the 
 avenues of wealth; and wealth, in its turn, gives 
 facilities for the progress of religion. Wherever 
 the gospel exists, like the great Archimedian 
 lever, it "moves the world" — not only inspires 
 the soul with desires for a higher and better state, 
 but awakens the mightiest energies for every en- 
 nobling human enterjirise. Money, then, is one 
 of the great factors, both in the evangelization 
 and civilization of the human race. Nor would 
 it, perhaps, be stating the case too strongly to say 
 that, with the present economy, it is indispensable 
 to both. God has created wealth, not because he 
 himself needed it, but because of the great bene- 
 fits which it may subserve. The man, therefore, 
 who adds no material value to society is o, pauper — 
 a pauper not only in a temporal, but in a spiritual 
 sense. Such a character, if physicially able to do 
 better, is of but little worth, either to God or man; 
 and the only remedy, if he will not reform, is to 
 deal with him as the dresser of the vineyard was 
 directed to do with the "barren fig-tree" — " cut it 
 down; why cumbereth it the ground?" 
 
 Having made these preliminary statements, we 
 proceed to brieflj^ assign a few reasons, out of the 
 many that might be given, to enforce Christian 
 liberality. 
 
 The Bible clearly teaches that Christians are 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 191 
 
 God's stewards. The statement may be denied, 
 forgotten, or disregarded; still it is forever true 
 that we are not the owners, in an absolute sense, 
 of that which we claim as ours. On our time, 
 talents, influence, property — on all that we have 
 and are — the finger of Jehovah has written, "Oc- 
 cupy till I come." God created all things; there- 
 fore his claim is not only a ])rior^ but an absolute 
 one. His are all the "beasts of the forest," and 
 "the cattle upon a thousand hills." The same is 
 true of all the silver, of all the gold, and of all the 
 merchandise which have been intrusted to man. 
 If not, let any one name, if he can, a single good 
 thing which he can certainly claim will be his to- 
 morrow. Not a single thing can be named. He, 
 therefore, w^ho has nothing which he can hold a 
 single day, has nothing except what he holds 
 simply as an agent. To whom, then, do they be- 
 long? There is but one answer; they are the 
 Lord's. And what was the Lord's at first, because 
 he made it, he has carefully watched over and 
 preserved. Not merely could man have had 
 nothing, if God had not made it; but he could 
 have kept nothing, if God had not preserved it. 
 At any moment, therefore, God has a perfect 
 right to say, " Give an account of thy steward- 
 ship; for thou mayest be no longer steward." 
 Time and again, too, has God asserted his abso- 
 lute claim to the property of the world. Once, 
 by a sudden and fearful dispensation, he displaced 
 ever}^ tenant that had ever occupied the earth, 
 
192 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 \ 
 
 providing beforehand, timely and amply, for the 
 sins^le family that he loved, and whom by cove- 
 nant he had adopted as his own. Surely none can 
 be so impious as to assert that he went beyond 
 his own dominions to \aj waste a world that was 
 the property of another. When he burned the 
 '- cities of the plain," he only asserted, though 
 loudlv and fearfully, his own rii^hts; and pressed 
 home to the bosom and the conscience, of friend 
 and foe, his claijn to be served and honored, in 
 every valley that he had made fertile, and by 
 every people whom his kindness had made pros- 
 perous. The truth, then, of the Christian's 
 stewardship is beyond a peradventure. And as 
 it is a bad sign to see the agent of a wealthy man 
 growing rich while his employer's interests are 
 not advancing, is it not equalh' so in reference to 
 the cause of religion? To all such the words of 
 our Saviour are especially solemn and alarming — 
 "Inasmuch as ye did it not." It is not needful 
 to our condemnation that we use our wealth for 
 positively evil ends — that we squander it in dis- 
 sipation, in spreading error, or in corrupting our 
 fellow-men — it is only necessary, as God teaches, 
 not to use it for doing good, not to use it as faith- 
 ful stewards of the great Giver, not to use it as 
 God directs; for this is the ''hiding of the talent 
 in the napkin," and will incur the doom of the 
 "wicked and slothful servant." 
 
 In the next place, the cause of religion demands 
 such liberalit}'. True, the kingdom of Christ is, 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 193 
 
 in its essence, a spiritual kingdonfi; but. like the 
 human soul, it needs and must have, a body — a. 
 material organization — through which this inner 
 life is manifested. That body is the Church. 
 The word Church is used in its broadest sense, 
 embracing not only its membership, but its build- 
 ings, its ministry, its Sabbath-schools, its litera- 
 ture, etc., etc. These are indispensable to effi- 
 ciency; and surely it demands no labored argu- 
 ment to convince any reflecting mind that it re- 
 quires money, and no small amount either, to 
 meet these necessary expenses. Human govern- 
 ments are kept up at an immense cost; and the 
 citizens of these governments are suljjected to 
 heavy taxes to meet these necessary outlays. Xo 
 member of one of these commonwealths, if he 
 will reflect for a moment, can call in question 
 either the propriety or the necessity of such de- 
 mands upon him; for he knows that without 
 these taxes his commonwealth could not exist. 
 Legislative halls, court-houses, prisons, public 
 highways, etc., etc., must be built, and the 
 "officers of the law"' must be compensated for 
 their services; and no one, who is not a heathen 
 or an outlaw, thinks it at all burdensome to pay 
 money in return for the advantages which he en- 
 joys in the protection of person, property, etc., 
 from this ••governmental machinery." In a word, 
 no earthly government could exist for a day with- 
 out money or its equivalent; and the same is true 
 of the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. 
 13 
 
194 PULriT AND TEW. 
 
 It is, too, a wise provision of our Heavenly Father 
 that these things are so; because, constituted as 
 we are, it is next to impossible for us to appre- 
 ciate, as we should, any blessing or comfort wiiich 
 costs us nothing. Even, then, if it could have 
 been done, it would have been a great calamity 
 for the Church to have been so organized as to 
 have exempted its members from contributing 
 labor, time, mone}', etc., to its upbuilding and ex- 
 pansion. The true measure of our devotion to an 
 object is what we are ready to give for it. Until 
 we make sacrifices for a cause, we furnish no 
 proof that the cause has the sympathy of our 
 hearts. We do not really know to what extent 
 we love a friend unless we are called upon to 
 choose between his welfare and something that we 
 very much dislike to surrender. No loving or 
 giving is worth any thing that does not involve a 
 readiness for sacrifice and self-denial. Thanks to 
 a merciful Providence, however, the Church has 
 not been so organized as to relieve its member- 
 sliip of the duty and necessity of making contri- 
 butions in its behalf. On the contrary, God has 
 said to each one of his children, " Honor the Lord 
 with thy substance." No Christian, then, can for 
 a moment think of the vast work to be done, and 
 yet doubt his obligations to give "as God has 
 prospered him." 
 
 Moreover, it is to the pecuniary interest of 
 Christians to thus contribute. The Bible teaches 
 that giving to the cause of religion, like keeping 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 195 
 
 the Sabbath, has its own reward. The seventh 
 part of our time, and a certain portion of our in- 
 come, belong to Grod. We may appropriate both 
 to our own use, but if we do, we suffer loss in 
 temporal as well as in spiritual blessings. Now, 
 why it is that if a Christian shall give a liberal 
 part of his income to God, he will be more pros- 
 l^erous in temporal things than if he kept or tried 
 to keep the whole, we may not be able to explain 
 to the satisfaction of all. But whether this can 
 be done or not, the fact remains, aritl that is what 
 particularly concerns us. That this is God's own 
 teaching, the following scriptures clearly prove: 
 
 "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with 
 the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy 
 barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall 
 burst out with new wine." (Prov. iii. 9, 10.) 
 
 "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; 
 and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, 
 but it tendeth to poverty, The liberal soul shall 
 be made fat: and ho that watereth shall be watered 
 also himself." (Prov. xi. 24, 25.) 
 
 "And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, 
 and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall th}^ light 
 shine in obscurity, and thy darkness bo as noon- 
 day; and the Lord shall guide thee continually, 
 and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy 
 bones; and thou shalt be watered like a garden, 
 and the springs of water whose waters fail not." 
 (Is. Iviii. 10,11.) 
 
 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, 
 
196 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 that there may be meat in my house; and prove 
 me now, herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
 will not open you the windows of heaven and 
 pour you out a blessing that there shall not be 
 room enough to reeeive it. And I will rebuke 
 the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not 
 destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall 
 the vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, 
 saith the Lord of hosts." (Mai. iii. 10,11 .) 
 
 " Give, and it shall be given unto you — good 
 measure, pressed down, shaken together and run- 
 ning over, shall men give into your bosom. For 
 with the same measure you mete withal it shall 
 be measured to you again." (Luke vi. 38.) 
 
 "I have showed you all things, how that so 
 laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to re- 
 member the words of the Lord Jesus, how he 
 said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" 
 (Acts XX. 35.) 
 
 "Every man as he purposeth in his heart, so let 
 him give; not grudgingly or of necessity; for 
 God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to 
 make all grace (the word 'grace' here refers to 
 temporal blessings) abound toward you; that ye 
 always, having all sufficiency in all things, may 
 abound to every good work." (2 Cor. ix. 7, 8.) 
 
 Many other passages of similar imj^ort might 
 be produced, but these arc sufficient. If, how- 
 ever, Revelation were silent upon the subject, 
 Eeason would teach us that God would take care 
 of those who sustain his cause. Indeed, be it said 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 197 
 
 with the most profound reverence, God could not 
 afford to let those suffer upon whom he relies to 
 advance the interests of his Zion ; for if they were 
 permitted to come to poverty, then his cause 
 would make but little progress, if, indeed, it did 
 not come to naught. Whithersoever we look, too, 
 we see a verification of the sentiment insisted 
 uj^on. The most prosperous Christians, both in 
 spiritual and temporal matters, are those who 
 contribute most liberally to the cause of religion. 
 This fact has not escaped the notice of all observ- 
 ing persons. Especially would this declaration 
 be sustained by all who have acted as agents for 
 raising money in their respective denominations. 
 In a word, the accumulated testimony of all ages 
 is to the same effect. Then whj^ is it that Chris- 
 tians will refuse to give, and to give liberally, too, 
 when they have such assurances of God's bless- 
 ings, provided thc}^ will do so? No man, perhaps, 
 caii find a single exception to the fact that 
 Heaven's benedictions are upon those who meet 
 their obligations in this particular. 
 
 Again, God positively requires these contribu- 
 tions. "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be 
 blessed" — "Trust in the Lord, and do good" — 
 "Whosoever hath this world's goods, and seeth 
 his brother have need, and shutteth his bowels of 
 compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of 
 God in him," etc., etc. 
 
 The Eible abounds with similar passages, but 
 want of space prevents their insertion. And in 
 
198 PULPIT ANl) PEW. 
 
 addition to these positive commands we have the 
 examples of the purest and best characters whose 
 lives are recorded in the Scriptures — Noah, Abra- 
 ham, Job, Cornelius, etc., etc. Indeed, the first 
 act of homage paid to the blessed Saviour was in 
 the form of "gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh." 
 Not only has God made this demand in lan- 
 guage which cannot be misunderstood, and by 
 the example of the purest and best of his servants, 
 in everj age of the world ; but likewise by the 
 judgments which he has visited upon the human 
 race because his demands in this particular have 
 not been complied with. Time and again did he 
 punish, in the severest manner, the Jewish nation 
 for a failure to meet their obligations in this par- 
 ticular. Once they were sent into captivity for 
 seventy years, during which time they endured 
 the greatest suffering; and the principal sin for 
 which they were so severely punished was for 
 neglecting to pay their tithes. Think of it — 
 seventy years of the severest hardships and suffer- 
 ings of a whole nation — men, women, and chil- 
 dren — principall}' because of neglect to honor God 
 with the offerings Avhich he demanded. But we 
 are not to understand that the Jews were the 
 only people who have received the chastisements 
 of Heaven because of a failure to recognize the 
 fixct that God has a prior claim to the property of 
 this world. In the ruin of the ancient mon- 
 archies, God is seen in the attitude of asserting 
 his claim. The people refused to recognize the 
 
PULPIT Ax\D PEW. 199 
 
 fact; and with pestilence, famine, war, etc., God 
 wrenched from their hands the property with 
 which they should have honored him. Indeed, 
 who knows but that the aggregate of all the 
 property lost by the various calamities which God 
 has sent upon the children of men would have 
 exactly met the claims which he had upon them? 
 Had that wealth been expended as he demanded, 
 who can say that these calamities would not have 
 been averted? And who will dare say that the 
 storms which now wreck our merchandise, the 
 fires which now burn our cities, and the mis- 
 named casualties which now destroy our private 
 estates, are not so many claims put in by the 
 rightful owner of all things? Who can say how 
 much more prosperous this w^orld might be if 
 men would use their property as God would have 
 them — how much more frequently the showers 
 would' fall — how much more fertile our soil — how 
 much more healthful our population, if we were 
 a better people, and served God more faithfully 
 with our substance? These calamities are God's 
 officers for collecting his demands; and if Chris- 
 tians wait until they are sent after them, they 
 may expect to pay not only the principal but 
 compound interest. Doubtless many who read 
 these pages can refer to instances (it may be in 
 their own case) w4iere God collected his own bills 
 by fire, storm, drought, dearth, etc.; nor did they 
 fall to observe that the amount collected was 
 "God's own with usury." Signal mercies, if mis- 
 
200 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 used, must provoke signal judgments; and Chris- 
 tians, if unfaithful to their high trust, will be 
 made examples of God's sore displeasure. The 
 truth is, in one sense, God is the controlling part- 
 ner of every firm, and he can and will dispose of 
 the assets as he jileases. No merchant or banker 
 has a safe the combination of which God does not 
 understand, and whenever he so- determines he 
 will unlock that vault and scatter its contents to 
 the four winds of heaven. 
 
 With these facts before us, where is the Chris- 
 tian who can refuse to contribute to the cause of 
 religion? His interests for time and eternity 
 urge him to the discharge of the obligation. No 
 child of God can hope to prosper spiritually or 
 temporally who refuses to do so. Giving to the 
 cause of God is an act of worship, as much so as 
 prayer and praise. It is an act of worship, too, 
 which is sure to be followed by the Divine bless- 
 ing, for the promise is, "Them that honor me I 
 will honor"; also, "Give, and it shall be given 
 unto you; good measure, pressed down, and 
 shaken together." Now, the amount to be given 
 by each is a matter not definitely settled in the 
 New Testament. With the Bible before us, how- 
 ever, we feel authorized to say it should not be 
 less than one-tenth. The Jews were required to 
 give that amount; and this Avas demanded of 
 them, too, when they were not required to look 
 after the sjiiritual interests of any nation or 
 people save themselves. It is different now, for 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 201 
 
 ''the field is the world" — the whole family of 
 man — and it would seem that the obligation to 
 ChrinStian liberality is thereby increased. Of one 
 thing we may be sure: no one ever lost by giving 
 to God. There is, then, neither excuse nor pallia- 
 tion for niggardly, penurious giving to the cause 
 of Christ. Wealth, without God's blessing, is a 
 curse. No millionaire is happy merely because 
 he owns a million of dollars. What if a man 
 owned California and Australia ; what would it 
 all amount to when he died? The j^oor man with 
 one dollar in his pocket is richer than the million- 
 aire who died on yesterday. No doubt the friends 
 of the rich man who is spoken of in the New 
 Testament wrote an elaborate epitaph upon his 
 tombstone; but God wrote a very brief one — an 
 ejDitaph of four letters — "Fool." Wealth cannot 
 satisfy the immortal soul — like salt water, the 
 more one drinks of it the more thirsty he is. 
 When Dives died, of what use was all his wealth 
 to him? The poorest man who stood by the side 
 of the road, watching the grand funeral proces 
 sion, owned more of this world than did the dead 
 gormandizer. 
 
 Let, then, every Christian seriously consider 
 his duty in this particular. Instead of accumu- 
 lating property to curse his children, let him use 
 that property to feed the hungry, clothe the 
 naked, instruct the ignorant, and build up the 
 cause of Christ. The principal difference between 
 a liberal Christian and a penurious one is the 
 
202 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 place in wbicli they make their deposits. The 
 latter piit.s his in the hands of man; the former 
 in the hands of God — in the hands of Him whose 
 assets are infinite — ow^ns all the quarries, all the 
 mines, all the gold, all the universe. 
 
 The assertion is made with grief; but there are 
 ministers (not many, thank Heaven) who really 
 use their influence in trying to prevent their 
 people from giving to any cause outside of their 
 own congregational expenses. These preachers 
 seem to think that ever}^ cent which their people 
 give to "outside objects" is that much lost from 
 their own salaries. Such men are absolutely 
 cither too ignorant or too sordid to be allowed to 
 preach to any people. A minister who acts on 
 such a principle ought to suffer — indeed, he ought 
 not to be permitted to occupy the pulpit. Such 
 a theorj^ is not only at war with the requisitions 
 of our holy religion, but with pfain common 
 sense. When the claims of duty are admitted in 
 one direction, they sweep on until they cover the 
 whole field. It is a fact to which there is no ex- 
 ception, that the Church-members who give the 
 most money to outside objects are always the 
 most liberal in the support of their minister. 
 The very worst policy, therefore, which a preacher 
 can adopt for his own pecuniary interest is to 
 countenance and encourage the withholding of 
 contributions to other causes outside of his own 
 charge. By so doing he contributes his influence 
 toward making his people as contemptibly selfish 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 203 
 
 and penurious as he is himself. And should he 
 suceeed, his own name and that of his members 
 should be stricken^ from the roll — his from the 
 roll-book of the ministry, and theirs from the 
 roll-book of Churches; for he and they will be an 
 incubus to any denomination. 
 
 9. They must he earnest and zealous in their lives. 
 
 If Christianity be true — if there is a God, a 
 Christ, a heaven, a hell — then the one believing 
 it to be so is justified in exhibiting the utmost 
 zeal in its behalf One life only is appointed to 
 us on earth to attend to the work on which our 
 own everlasting life depends; and one life only is 
 given to us in this world to meet the solemn obli- 
 gations which we owe to others. There is no 
 coming hither again to correct or amend what 
 has been done amiss. Heaven and hell are for 
 other work. The harvest presupposes the 
 seed-time. It is noio that w^e must sow, and it is 
 hereafter that we must reap. It is now that we 
 must work, and then that we must receive wages. 
 Every Christian, therefore, should labor in this 
 life as though the religion of Jesus Christ de- 
 pended upon himself The ministry must not 
 leave the matter to the laity, nor the laity to the 
 ministry. The rich must not intrust the work 
 to the 2)Oor, nor the poor to the rich. All must 
 work. Every soul that God has created l^as a 
 sphere of usefulness. Every Christian on earth 
 can throw some weight into the gospel scale. 
 
2iJ4 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Idleness is one of Satan's most efficient assistants. 
 No created being was ever intended to spend his 
 life in doing nothing. Work is the allotment of 
 all God's creatures. The angels in heaven work — 
 arc "ministering spirits sent forth to minister to 
 them who shall become heirs of salvation." Adam 
 in paradise w^as required to work — he was to 
 ''dress and keep" the garden of Eden. There- 
 deemed saints in glory work — "they rest not day 
 and night." Likewise every Christian must 
 w^ork, and that earnestly, too, else he will become 
 a spiritual dwarf. Every thing around us teaches 
 the same lesson. It is the still water which be- 
 becomes stagnant and impure; the running 
 streams are clear. An active, moving Christian 
 is a difficult target for Satan to shoot at. In such 
 a life there is no place in which to sow tares. In- 
 deed, life is so short, that we cannot afford to lose 
 any part of it in abortive efforts. When we be- 
 come satisfied as to our individual work, it is true 
 Avisdom to begin it instantly, and to prosecute it 
 with energy until it is comj^leted. Christian in- 
 dustry is the outlet of a fervent spirit, and of a 
 Christ-devoted heart. The industry which is not 
 fervent is not Christian; and, on the x)ther hand, 
 the love which does not develop itself in action 
 will soon wilt and die. He who has an eye to 
 Christ in all that be does, and whose spirit is full 
 of that energy, will never become weary in well- 
 doing. The joys of religion are cultivated onl}^ 
 by cultivating a love of its duties. Religious 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 205 
 
 feeling without religious action is a monstrosity — 
 is like professed piitriotisiii in the bosom of a 
 coward. Pious impulses, when they do not lead 
 to active duties, are hypocritical shanis. The law 
 of our holy religion is, "Diligent in business, fer- 
 vent iu spirit, serving the Lord." Christianity 
 demands something else besides mental abstrac- 
 tions, "be they never so devout." The members 
 of Christ's Church are to be ^^ doers of the word, 
 and not hearers only." The best Christians in the 
 world are those who have the warmest hearts for 
 God, and the most industrious hands for his serv- 
 ice. The spirit and enjoyments of religion may, 
 likewise, be carried into every lawful avocation. 
 The harvest-field may be an altar, and the work- 
 shop a sanctuary. The Christian can re-enact 
 the story of the good Samaritan without visiting 
 the highway which leads from Jerusalem to 
 Jericho; and he can put Paul's zeal into his own 
 life without journeying through Asia .and Greece 
 to Rome. 
 
 One of the greatest wants of the Christianity 
 of this day, is an unreserved consecration of the 
 membership. With siich a consecration, what 
 could the present Church-membership do ? rather 
 what could it not do? Every one then would be 
 a true soldier, armed and equipped for the service 
 of his Master. If this world is ever to be sub- 
 dued to Christ, it must be taken, not by siege, but 
 by storm. The enemy cannot be starved out by 
 cutting off his supplies ; his fortifications must be 
 
206 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 scaled, and his weapons wrenclied from his 
 clenched hand. The Christian, then, cannot 
 afford to sit down and do nothing. Yet many 
 seem to act as if all they had to do was to take 
 passage on the grand old ship of Zion, sit down 
 in the cabin, and make the voyage without effort. 
 Instead of this, each one should consider himself 
 a '/deck " passenger — must "work" his way. Of 
 course we do not mean that "works" will save 
 the soul; but they will make the voyage more 
 pleasant, safe, and profitable. 
 
 It is in spiritual as in temporal warfare — the 
 cowards are in the greatest danger. The safest 
 and most honorable position for a soldier is in 
 front. The skulking poltroons always endure 
 the most suffering, and they deserve it. Timid 
 Christians, like hot-house plants, are always de- 
 fective in strength and vigor. The world needs 
 a strong, robust, religion — a religion that feeds 
 upon "strong meat" instead of upon the gruel of 
 invalids. Indeed, a religion that does not prompt 
 its possessor to work all the week as well as upon 
 the Sabbath is not worth having; nor does it ac- 
 complish any beneficial results. God does not in- 
 tend that the Church shall be a dormitory in 
 which Christians may quietly go to sleep, but he 
 does intend that it shall be an arsenal in which 
 they may polish and sharj^en their spiritual 
 weapons. 
 
 It is a trite but true saying, "Better wear out 
 than rust out." There is not an atom in the vast 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 207 
 
 universe that is idle — air, ocean, river, rill, all, all 
 are in ceaseless motion. Yet they are for time; 
 but the Christian for eternity. Their destiny is 
 fixed for them ; the Christian makes his own ac- 
 cording to the work of his hands. Said a very 
 terse writer of modern times, "Among the many 
 imj^ossibilities, there are three which I w411 men- 
 tion: To overestimate the greatness of redeeming 
 love; to overestimate the joys which God has 
 prepared for those who love him; and to over- 
 estimate the obligations which we are under to 
 consecrate our time, our talents, and all that wo 
 have and are, to the promotion of God's glory 
 and the happiness of our fellow-men. With such 
 a consecration, no man has ever avowed, or ever 
 can say, on a dying bed, that if be had his life to 
 live over again, he would serve his Maker less 
 zealously, and would do less for his fellow-man." 
 In secular matters, none but the earnest and 
 energetic succeed. The world not only respects 
 a man of this kind, but it instinctively gets out 
 of his way and gives him room. The same is 
 true in religion. It is the earnest, zealous Chris- 
 tian that accomplishes results. None have so 
 much enjoyment of Christ as those who are con- 
 stantly and earnestly engaged in their '-Father's 
 business" — zealous for his glory — full of anxiety 
 about the souls of others — and ever watching, 
 working, striving, to extend the Eedeemer's 
 kingdom upon earth. Such Christians live near 
 the Cross, and their hearts are alwaj^s warm, 
 
208 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 They arc not only the foundation stones, but the 
 pilhirs of the organizations to which they be- 
 long — yea, are the "few righteous" who save the 
 Sodoms of this world. They are the ones who 
 build churches, support jDreachcrs, endow colleges, 
 sustain missions, and lead in all the grand benev- 
 olent enterpi-ises of the Church. This zeal, too, 
 thanks be to our Heavenly Father, is contagious. 
 It is sadly true that "one sinner destroyeth much 
 good"; but it is likewise joyfully true that one 
 zealous Christian can do much good. One single 
 zealous man in a congregation is of inestimable 
 value. He awakens Christian activities that, 
 otherwise, would remain dormant, and opens 
 many fountains which, without his influence, 
 would remain forever sealed. There is a mine of 
 truth in those words of the Apostle Paul to the 
 Corinthians, "Your zeal hath provoked very 
 many." (2 Cor. ix. 2.) 
 
 It was the zeal upon which we are now insist- 
 ing that enabled the early Christians to accom- 
 plish such wonderful results. In what respect 
 did the ability of the primitive Church differ 
 from that of the Christians of the present time? 
 Had it greater wealth or intelligence, or more of 
 any thing which we reckon under the denomina- 
 tion of resources? No one can answer in the 
 affirmative. All external advantages are de- 
 cidedly in favor of the Christianity of this age. 
 We have more knowledge than they; more 
 wealth than they; greater facilities of intercourse 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 209 
 
 both by land and water than they; more religious 
 liberty than they; more, in a word, of every thing 
 than they, except religious zeal. Theirs was a 
 rugged and dangerous road; for in it were 
 arrayed the implements of torture and of death. 
 But, undismayed, they went forward; and some 
 of their most malignant foes became their most 
 ardent friends. True, persecution kindled its 
 hottest fires; but their own blood extinguished 
 the flames. Wherever they went idol deities 
 were dethroned, and idol temples were destroj^ed. 
 We, no doubt, talk more and write more about 
 Church-work than they; but, unfortunately, we 
 act less. We can surpass them in resolving^ but 
 they were far ahead of us in doing. If any thing 
 was to be done, instead of calling meetings, pass- 
 ing resolutions, and then leaving the work uri-' 
 done, they went boldly forward and did it. How 
 appropriately is one book of the New Testament 
 named, not the Resolutions^ but the Acts of the 
 Apostles ! 
 
 The wants of the age demand not only a vigor- 
 ous but an individual Christianity. The motto of 
 John Wesley was, ^^All at it, and alicays at it." 
 And that of the blessed Saviour was, and is, " To 
 every man his work." True, all have not the same 
 work, or the same gifts ; and it is a wise provision 
 of our Heavenly Father that they have not. 
 ''Having then gifts differing accordiTig to the 
 grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, 
 let us prophesy according to the proportion of 
 14 
 
210 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; 
 or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that ex- 
 horteth, on exhortation ; he that giveth, let him 
 do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, Avith 
 diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerful- 
 ness." (Rom. xii. 6-8.) The rule, then, laid 
 down by Paul is, that every true Christian, after 
 having prayed earnestly over the matter, should 
 take the place assigned to him in the providence 
 of God. The expression may seem to some to be 
 a strong one — perhaps an extravagant one — but 
 there is not a Christian on earth who has not a 
 specific work, and he can do that work better 
 than any other member of the body of Christ. 
 Each child of God, therefore, should, like Paul, 
 ask, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do"? 
 Not a single Christian — no, not one — is at liberty 
 to "neglect the gift that is in him." Says Dr. 
 Dulles, "When the car of Juggernaut is to be 
 drawn, every man who can pull a pound must pull 
 that i)ound. In the Church of Christ every man 
 can pull his pound. There is a place for the old 
 and a place for the young, for the poor as well as 
 the rich, for the unlearned as truly as for the 
 learned. What is needed is an earnest resolve to 
 find our place, and with God's help to fill it. The 
 places are as various as our capacities. In the 
 Sabbath-school there is a call for superintendents, 
 secretaries; treasurers, and lil>rarians,f()r teachers, 
 visitors, sextons, scholars, and givers. In the 
 praj^er-mceting there is a place for earnest 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 211 
 
 speakers, believing prayers, hearty singers, and 
 punctual, teachable hearers. In the Church are 
 needed elders, deacons, ushers, singers. Others 
 can serve the Master by visiting the poor, the 
 stranger, and the afflicted, and by nursing the 
 sick. The night-school, the sewing-school, the 
 Dorcas society, the mothers' meeting, tract dis- 
 tribution, collecting for missions, and other fields 
 are open to willing hearts. No man, woman, or 
 child need say that there is nothing for him or 
 for her to do. Let each find his work and do it," 
 No member of the Church, then, has any more 
 right to turn over his spiritual work to his neigh- 
 bor than ho has to ask him to eat and digest his 
 food for him. He ^leeds to do his own work as 
 much as the interests of Christ's kingdom need 
 to have it done. There is an untold amount of 
 latent power in the Church which has never been 
 develojied, and never can be developed until each 
 member recognizes the binding force of the 
 Saviour's words, "To every man his work." 
 Thrice happy, therefore, the minister who can de- 
 veloj) this latent power; and thrice blessed is the 
 congregation each of whose members will con- 
 sent to obey the teaching of the Bible upon this 
 point. 
 
 10. They must pray for their minister, and must 
 co-operate icith him in Church-vjork. 
 
 Prayer is one of the most potent influences 
 which the Christian can wield. Indeed, even 
 
212 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 with the Bible to aid ns, we are unable to ascer- 
 tain the possibilities of this instrumentality; 
 because that blessed Book nowhere defines them. 
 It is, however, enough for us to know that Chris- 
 tian prayer is the greatest power in the universe, 
 save God hiinself It secures favors, not only to 
 the petitioner, but to those for whom he prays. 
 This is a most blessed feature of the Christian 
 religion; for it matters not, so far as the efficacy 
 of the service is concerned, whether the petitioner 
 asks for himself or for another — whether it is the 
 Psalmist praying "Lord, help me;" or the devout 
 Cornelius asking God to send a distant Apostle 
 to break to the people of Cesarea the bread of 
 life. 
 
 Knowing the efficacy of praj^er, it was an estab- 
 lished custom of Paul to ask his Christian breth- 
 ren to pray for him and for his co-laborers. 
 " Brethren, pray for us." (1 Thess. v. 25.) 
 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of 
 the Lord maj^ have free course, and be glorified." 
 (2 Thess. iii. 1.) "Praying always with all 
 prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watch- 
 ing thereunto with all perseverance and supplica- 
 tion for all saints; and for me, that utterance may 
 be given unto me, that 1 may open my mouth 
 boldly," etc. • (Eph. vi. 18, 19.) Now, if the great 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, with his learning and 
 with his inspiration, felt the necessity of prayer 
 in his behalf and in behalf of those associated 
 with him, how much more needful is it that the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 213 
 
 ministry of this day should have the prayers of 
 those tj whom they preach? 
 
 The relation which exists between minister and 
 people enforces this duty. He is under obliga- 
 tions to do them good by preaching the gospel, 
 and by his intercessions and prayers in their be- 
 halft They are bound to hear, and to endeavor, 
 in every possible way, to derive profit from all his 
 ministrations. The duties gl^owing out of this 
 relation are mutual. He prays for them, and 
 they should pray for him. The most i:)rofitable 
 sermons are those in Avhich the people are inter- 
 ested ; but how can they be interested if they do 
 not pray for him who dispenses to them the bread 
 of life? The prayers oflered on the day of 
 Pentecost gave point and power to the sermon 
 preached by Peter, which resulted in the conver- 
 sion of three thousand souls. 
 
 In the next place, the peculiar trials to which 
 ministers are subjected bespeak for them an. 
 interest in the prayers of their people. 'No class 
 of men on earth have greater difficulties to meet, 
 severer trials to encounter, and deeper discour- 
 agements to depress. They have every sort of 
 taste to please, every kind of objection to meet, 
 and every shade of prejudice to overcome. If 
 faithful to their Master, they will often gain the 
 ill-will, not only of many ''that are Avithout," but, 
 likewise, many that are of " their own house- 
 hold." An important part of their duty is to 
 "reprove and rebuke." They dare not, at all 
 
214 PULriT AND TEW. 
 
 times, " prophesy smooth things." If iniquity 
 abounds, they " must cry aloud and spare not." 
 If Avorldlin-ess comes in like a flood, they must 
 breast the current. If any backslide, they must 
 ''testify" against them. By doing these things 
 the}^ awaken enmity and opposition. Their mo- 
 tives are misconstrued, and their actions severely 
 criticised. No wonder, then, that they often cry 
 out in the language of Paul, "Who is sufficient 
 for these things?" But, under these circum- 
 stances, how like blessed balm to their care-worn 
 hearts are the j^rayers of the people of God ! 
 
 Furthermore, the spiritual w^elfare of the mem- 
 bership demands a compliance with this duty. 
 It is not likely that the services of a minister, no 
 difference what his ta^^^nts or acquirements may 
 be, will be profitable to a prayerless membership. 
 lie may " speak with the tongues of men and of 
 angels," but if his people have not, by earnest 
 prayer, prepared their hearts to receive his mes- 
 sage, his services will be to them " as sounding 
 brass, or a tinkling cymbal." Let it be remem- 
 bered — yea, let it be written upon the tablet of 
 every heart, never to be forgotten or obliterated — 
 that no people can have a good and successful 
 minister unless they pray for him. A member- 
 ship that does not pray for its minister, is invaria- 
 bly a fault-finding people. The truth is, the 
 membership, to a great extent, holds in its own 
 hands the success or failure of its minister — he 
 being the clay, and they the potter. Bearing this 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 215 
 
 thought in mind, we can understand why it is 
 that some Churches never have a minister that 
 suits them, and others never have one that does 
 not do them good and build them up. The former 
 can take the best minister in the denomination 
 to which they belong, and, in a short time, denude 
 him of his power; the latter can take even an 
 ordinary one, and, in less than one year, make 
 him a "son of thunder." 
 
 The principal consideration, however, by which 
 this duty is enforced, is the success of the gos- 
 pel — " that the word of the Lord may have free 
 course and be glorified." The most efficient min- 
 isters are but "earthen vessels." "Neither he 
 that plants nor he that waters is any thing." If 
 any fruit aj^pears, it is " God that giveth the 
 increase." If souls are to be converted, if the 
 Church is to be revived, it is when the " Spirit is 
 poured out from on high," through the "power 
 and demonstration of the Holy Ghost." Sinners 
 are awakened, " not by might, nor by power, but 
 by the Spirit of God." And that blessed Agent 
 does not come unsought. His saving influences 
 are shed abroad only in answer to prayer — the 
 fervent, effectual j)rayer of faith. This prayer 
 of faith, however, dej^ends upon the state of the 
 Church. But how miserable must be the state 
 of that Church in which no prayer is offered for 
 the minister ! How can the gospel have " free 
 couTse " in such an organization? The truth w^ll 
 freeze as soon as it touches the cold heart of such 
 
216 rULPlT AND TEW. 
 
 a Cliurcb, and will fall powerless at the feet of 
 sinners. As to any immediate results, the minis- 
 ter might as well i^reach to the icebergs of the 
 Arctic ocean. The membership, then, cannot too 
 often, nor too fervently, pray for its minister. It 
 should pray for him through the week, while he 
 is preparing for the Sabbath, that his mouth may 
 be tilled with arguments, and that the very ser- 
 mon which he is preparing may be owned and 
 blessed of God. Nor should prayer then cease ; 
 l)ecause he should be remembered even when he 
 is in the pulpit delivering his message. It was 
 only when the hands of Moses were held up by 
 Aaron and Hur that Israel prevailed. Indeed, 
 the success of the gospel is as really promoted by 
 fervent prayer as by faithful preaching. There 
 must be preaching, for so hath the Lord ordained. 
 There must also be prayer, for this, too, is accord- 
 ing to his appointment. All cannot preach ; but 
 all can pray, and thus promote the success of the 
 gospel as really, if not to the same extent, as if 
 they were preachers. There is in a certain book 
 the following legend: "A preacher, whose ser- 
 mons were instrumental in the conversion of men 
 by scores, received a revelation from Heaven that 
 not one of the conversions was owing to his tal- 
 ents or eloquence, but all to the prayers of an 
 illiterate layman, who sat on the pulpit steps, 
 pleading all the time for the success of the ser- 
 mon." Let, then, all the members of the Church 
 intercede with God in buhall" ol' him who ])ring8 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 217 
 
 to them the message of salvation. By so doing, 
 they become, so to speak, j^artners in his hibors — 
 heirs with him in tlie grand spiritual estate which 
 he has accumulated. If this duty were constantly 
 and faithfully performed, there would be but few 
 dissatisfied Churches, but few inefficient ministers, 
 and but few unconverted adults in the bounds of 
 such congregations. What a power would such 
 a course make the minister in every household ! 
 How could children fail to love and respect a 
 minister for whom they heard prayer offered 
 around the family altar? 
 
 As to the necessity of co-operation with the 
 minister in Church-work, but little need be said; 
 for the importance of the duty is apj^arent to 
 every reflecting mind. Every organization, 
 whether secular or spiritual, must have a head — 
 a leader. This is indispensable, not only to the 
 existence, but to the efficiency, of the organiza- 
 tion. Every well-organized firm has its " office 
 man" — the man who takes the general super- 
 vision of the business, and wdio, to a great extent, 
 dictates the policy and directs the movements of 
 the whole establishment. By virtue of his posi- 
 tion, too, he knows more about the affairs of the 
 firm than any one else. The same is true in 
 regard to the Church. And, by God's own ap- 
 pointment, the minister is, so to speak, the " office 
 man " — the leader — of the Church which he 
 serves. He knows more about the organization 
 than any one else — knows better than any one 
 
2V6 rULPIT AND I'EW. 
 
 what it needs, for it is bis biisiness to know. For 
 this reason, he is better prepared than any one 
 else to indicate the policy — the plan of work — 
 which should be pursued. The membership, 
 therefore, should defer to him ; and, unless his 
 plans can be shown to be defective, they should 
 "fall into line," and heartily co-operate with him. 
 Lamentable to say, however, there are some mem- 
 bers who are so self-willed and stubborn, that 
 they utterly refuse to adopt any line of policy 
 which their minister suggests. Such members 
 arc a torment— yea, -a serious injury — to the or- 
 ganization to which the}^ belong. They are the 
 irregular stones that fit nowhere in the spiritual 
 edifice ; and no amount of hammering, squaring, 
 or polishing will put them in shape. In reference 
 to this class of Church -members, the prayer of all 
 of God's faithful ministers should be, " From all 
 such, good Lord, deliver us." 
 
 11. They must cultivate household jnetij— family 
 religion. 
 
 Our Heavenly Father intended much by estab- 
 lisliing the family relation — by making parents 
 chiefly resj^onsible for the proper training of their 
 children ; for, by so doing, he made i^-ovision for 
 the intellectual, moral, and religious culture of 
 the entire human race. The obligation imposed 
 is of a serious and solemn character, and it can 
 be neither ignored nor transferred. God holds 
 parents personally responsible; hence, there can 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 219 
 
 be no substitution in the case, as long as the rela- 
 tion exists. He has committed the trust prima- 
 rily to those who are responsible, by Divine 
 favor, for the existence of children. It is right, 
 too, that it should be so; for parents are, of all 
 others, the most closely and the most tenderly 
 allied to them. No others can feel the love, the 
 interest, and the solicitude for them which their 
 own parents feel. God has so ordained it — has so 
 constituted the relation between parents and 
 children, that their own happiness, the well-being 
 of society, and the best interests of his kingdom, 
 sliall all be most efficiently promoted by observ- 
 ing this primordial law. He has fixed the re- 
 sponsibility; and none can remove it. The 
 family is the first, the primary, school in which 
 infantile minds and hearts are to be developed. 
 It is Nature's nursery ; it is the Church's nursery ; 
 it is God's nursery. How momentous the trust 
 committed to the hands of parents! These dear 
 children have been given to them by God that 
 the}' may be trained up for him — for heaven. 
 Whatever is done to them, is done for him, or 
 against him, as it may be good or bad, as it tends 
 to save or destroy the soul for ever. 
 
 Family religion, including i)rayer, pious in- 
 struction, godly example, and parental restraint, 
 cannot be overestimated. God has set his seal 
 of approbation upon it throughout the Scriptures. 
 Of Abraham he said, "I know him, that he will 
 command his children and his household after 
 
220 rULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 him, and thej shall keep tbe way of the Lord, to 
 do justice and judgment; that the Lord may 
 bring uj^on Abraham that Avhich he hath spoken 
 of him." (Gen. xviii. 19.) Here Abraham is 
 commended for instructing his children and his 
 household in the most important of all duties, 
 '' the way of the Lord" — the great doctrines of re- 
 ligion; and "justice and judgment" — the great 
 duties of religion. It is also said, " He will com- 
 mand them"; that is, he will use that just 
 authority Avhich God gives the father and head of 
 a family in the religious instruction of his chil- 
 dren. Abraham also prayed with and instructed 
 his family. Wherever he fixed his tent, there he 
 built an altar to the Lord. This he did in the 
 plain of Moreh. And when he removed to the 
 mountain, " on the east of Bethel, there he builded 
 an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name 
 of the Lord." (Gen. xii. 7, 8.) 
 
 The Bible furnishes many other examples of 
 holy men, similar to that of Abraham. Joshua 
 said, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; 
 whether the gods which your fathers served 
 that were on the other side of the flood, or the 
 gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: 
 but as for me and my house, we will servo the 
 Lord. (Josh. xxiv. 15.) From this declaration 
 we see that neither the exalted station which he 
 occupied, nor his various and pressing public 
 duties, prevented him from giving special atten- 
 tion to household religion. When David had 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 221 
 
 brought the ark of God to the city of Jerusalem 
 with joy, sacrifices, aiul thanksgiving, after dis- 
 charging his official duties, and blessing the 
 people in the name of the Lord, he "returned to 
 bless his household." (2 Sam. vi. 20.) The same 
 fidelity is observable in the examples of Job, and 
 others. (See Job. i. 5; Dan. vi. 10.) As long- 
 as the ark rested in the house of Obed-edom, 
 God's blessings came upon him and his household. 
 Of Cornelius it was said, "He was a devout man, 
 and one that feared God with all his house, which 
 gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God 
 alway." (Acts x. 2.) The early Christians, also, 
 practiced this duty. Paul greets the Church that 
 was in the house of Priscilla and Aquila, when 
 they were in Rome; and he sends the salutation 
 of the Church which was in their house when 
 they were in Asia. (See Eom. xvi. 3; 1 Cor, 
 xvi. 19.) 
 
 On the other hand, God has expressed his utter 
 disapprobation of the course of those who neglect 
 the Christian parental training upon which we 
 are insisting. Eli was unfaithful in this duty — 
 failed to restrain his wicked sons; and because of 
 this fact, God said, "Behold, I will do a thing in 
 Israel, atwhicli both the ears of every one that hear- 
 eth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against 
 Eli all things which I have spoken concerning 
 his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. 
 For I have told him that I will judge his house 
 forever for the iniquity which he knoweth; be- 
 
222 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 cause his sons made themselves vile, and he re- 
 strained them not. And therefore I have s\^orn 
 unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's 
 house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offer- 
 ing forever." (1 Sam. iii. 11-14.) The sequel 
 illustrated the severity of this curse. "Tlie 
 Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten; the 
 ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, 
 Hophni and Phinchas, were slain." Hearing such 
 dreadful tidings, Eli " fell from off the seat back- 
 ward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, 
 and he died." (1 Sam. iv. 10, 11, 18.) 
 
 Says the Prophet Jeremiah, " Pour out thy fury 
 upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon 
 the families that call not on thy name." (Jer. 
 X. 25.) Now, if the heathen and their families are 
 to be thus punished, what must be the doom of 
 professed Christian families who fail to worship 
 God in their households? 
 
 Family worship has many peculiar advantages. 
 Children are imitative creatures. They are es- 
 pecially inclined to copy after their parents. 
 And surely parents could not confer a greater 
 blessing upon their children, both for time and 
 eternity, than b}^ teaching them to worship 
 around the family altar. David says of God, 
 "He established a testimonj- in Jacob, and 
 appointed a law in Israel, which he com- 
 manded our fathers, that they should make 
 them known to their children; that the gene- 
 ration to come might know them, even the chil- 
 
PULPIT AND PEAV. 223 
 
 dren which should be born ; who should arise and 
 declare them to their children ; that they might 
 set their hope in God, and not forget the works 
 of God, but keep his commandments." (Ps. 
 Ixxviii. 5-7.) The meaning of the scriptures just 
 quoted is, that ftimily religion is one of the most 
 important means of propagating piety to ])0h- 
 terity. In other words, if Christian parents will 
 train up their children in the nurture and ad- 
 monition of the Lord, the strong probability — 
 yea, the certainty — is that these same children will 
 train up theirs in the same manner, and their 
 piety will, through the blessing of God, whose 
 merc}" is u^^on those who fear him unto a thou- 
 sand generations, be continued from age to age. 
 The manner in which parents educate their chil- 
 dren will give general tone and character to 
 future ages, and be the means of transmitting 
 holiness and happiness, or pollution and misery, 
 to unborn generations. How great, then, is the 
 sin of neglecting family religion ! It is sinning 
 against the express commands of God, against all 
 his goodness and mercy in giving families and 
 preserving them. By so doing, parents sin against 
 themselves, against the children which God has 
 graciously given them, against the Church and 
 the commonwealth, and against the ages yet to 
 be born. 
 
 The great Cecil says of family worship, "It is 
 an engine of vast power. It diffuses a sympathy 
 through the household. It calls off the mind from 
 
224 ^ PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the deadening effects of worldly affairs. It ar- 
 rests every member with a morning and evening 
 sermon in the midst of all the hurries and cares 
 of life. It eays, 'There is a God!' 'There is a 
 spiritual world ! ' 'There is a life to eome!' It 
 fixes the idea of responsibility in the mind. It 
 furnishes a tender and judicious father with* an 
 opportunity of gently referring to faults, where a 
 direct and severe admonition might be inexpe- 
 dient." Archbishop Tillotson says of family 
 worship, "Where it is neglected, I do not see how 
 any family can in reason be esteemed a family 
 of Christians, or, indeed, to have any religion 
 at all." 
 
 Matthew Hemy said, "A family without an 
 altar is like a house without a roof — has no pro- 
 tection from the elements without." 
 
 Many parents, it is true, attempt to render ex- 
 cuses for the non-performance of this duty; and 
 they do frame apologies which seem to satisfy 
 themselves. But with the plain teachings of the 
 Bible upon this subject, it would be a most diffi- 
 cult matter to find an excuse that God would re- 
 ceive. Indeed, no other religious service can take 
 its place, and if it is neglected a loss is sustained 
 for which there is no complete substitute. Read- 
 ing the Scriptures in the home circle, and prayer 
 at the family altar, make a deeper and more last- 
 ing impression upon children than the same 
 services performed elsewhere; for they know that 
 theii- parents do not do these things "to be seen 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 225 
 
 of men," but because the}' recognize the fact that 
 they need and must have God's blessings upon 
 themselves and upon their children. Then, let 
 not this duty be neglected; for it is one of the 
 most solemn and impressive of all means of in- 
 struction. In it, parents, in the presence of their 
 children, acknowledge the being, perfections, and 
 dominion of God. They confess their sins, and 
 ask for pardon in the name of Christ. They ac- 
 knowledge the mercies of God, their dependence 
 upon him, and recognize the doctrines and duties 
 of our holy religion. How, then, is it possible to 
 teach so many, and such momentous things, in 
 any other way, so solemnly, and to such advan- 
 tage? What else is so well calculated to fix in 
 the minds of children a sense of the reality and 
 importance of religion? What can so convince 
 them of the concern which parents feel for them? 
 J^othing — absolutely nothing. 
 
 12. They must engage in Sabbath- school ivork — 
 7nust labor for the conversion of the young. 
 
 To the thoughtful Bible-reader, it is a matter 
 of profound astonishment that the Sabbath- 
 school — the school for studying the Sacred Script- 
 ures — is quite recent in its origin. We have to 
 look back only about a century to find the " time 
 and place " when this " institution " was first in- 
 augurated. Yet, in tbe days of Moses, we have 
 this language: "And these words, which I com- 
 mand thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and 
 15 
 
226 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 thou slialt teach them diligently unto thy chil- 
 dren, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest 
 in thine house, and when thou walkest by the 
 way, and when thou Host down, and when thou 
 risest up." (Deut. vi. 6, 7.) In the writings of 
 Solomon we have this command: "Train up a 
 child in the way he should go ; and when he is 
 old, he will not depai't from it." (Prov. xxii. G.) 
 The blessed Saviour not only said, " Suffer the 
 little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
 not;" but he, likewise, in his last interview wil:h 
 his disciples, said, "Feed my lambs." (Mark x. 
 14; John xxi. 15.) With these and similar 
 scriptures before us, the idea is repeated that it 
 is a matter of astonishment that schools for teach- 
 inir the Bible to children are of such recent 
 origin. 
 
 But, young as the institution is, it has grown 
 into vast proportions — has spread throughout the 
 Protestant world; and has taken a most promi- 
 nent position among human and Divine agencies 
 for the salvation of the youth. It has not only 
 enlisted the most active and vigorous workers 
 of Christendom ; but it has laid its young, strong, 
 giant hand upon one of the most potent of 
 earthly instrumentalities — the printing press — 
 and demands, perhaps, a larger issue than any 
 other cause in the world. And as these schools 
 now exist almost everywhere; and as they are 
 now by many considered as occupying a position 
 second only to the preaching of the gospel, we 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 227 
 
 pro-pose to assign some reasons why Christians 
 should give to them their hearty support. 
 
 (a) One important reason for cordial co-opera- 
 tion is, these schools aiford employment for all 
 Christians. Before they were organized, there 
 was work for only a small number — the minister 
 and a few official members, while the great body 
 of the membership was standing "all the day 
 idle." No doubt, too, that this is one reason why 
 Christianity has made such slow progress in sub- 
 jugating the " kingdoms of this world " to " God 
 and to his Christ." The fault lay not in the 
 paucity, but in the inefficiency — the want of 
 drill — of the members. JSTo difterence how earnest 
 and energetic the officers of a temporal army may 
 be, yet they can accomplish biit little without the 
 assistance of the common soldiery. It is just so 
 with the "grand army of Christ" — the common 
 soldiery in it, as well as its ^officers, must be 
 drilled and put into active service. Sabbath- 
 schools atford this desideratum. In them there is 
 ■ work for all — for old and young, either in the 
 capacity of teacher or pupil. And with such an 
 opportunity to work, not a single member of the 
 Church need to be idle. 
 
 (If) Furthermore, these schools are a sovereign 
 remedy against infidelity. In them the Bible is 
 studied — is or should be the text-book or basis 
 of every thing that is taught. Now no one can 
 understand the truths of science and yet disbe- 
 lieve them. The doubting ones in science are 
 
228 riiLriT and tew. 
 
 *those who arc ignorant — those who do not under- 
 stand its truths— those who have not been prop- 
 erly instructed. The same is true in reference 
 to the Bible — the infidels, the disbelievers, are 
 those who do not understand it. God is the 
 author of science; he is also the author of the 
 Bible. It is, therefore, just as impossible to un- 
 derstand the latter without believing it as it is to 
 understand the former without embracing its 
 truths. The cause, then, for theoretical infidelity 
 in religion, is ignorance. Not a single infidel, 
 whose writings have cursed the world, ever even 
 professed to have read and studied the Bible Avith 
 care. Indeed, so far as we kuow^, they all ac- 
 knowledged that they had never read it as a 
 whole — simply read it in detached portions — read 
 it, not with a desire to understand it, but to dis- 
 parage and caricature it — read it as a soldier 
 would examine the fortification of an enemy, 
 looking not for strong but for loeak points. \\\ 
 then, we would rid society of one of the most 
 terrible of all curses — infidelity — there is but one 
 remedy: teach the Bible to the young — to those 
 from whom the "rank and file" of infidelity 
 come. Sabbath-schools afford the means of doing 
 that work. 
 
 (c) Again, they beget a respect and reverence 
 for the Sabbath. One of the strong pillars of 
 Christianit}'- is this sacred day — the day which 
 all the human family are required to k« ep holy. 
 If the Sabbath is disregarded, the sanctuaryand 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 229 
 
 all other moral influences will, to a great extent, 
 be neglected and despised. The truth of this 
 assertion no one will call in question. Just in 
 proportion as this day is disregarded, will the 
 knowledge and worship of God escape from the 
 mind, the moral sense of the community be im- 
 paired, its powers decay, its foundations fail, and 
 its pillars totter and fall. But the direct tend- 
 ency of Sabbath-schools is to arrest such a direful 
 calamity. They gather those who would other- 
 wise be loitering about the streets, wandering in 
 the fields, or reveling in dissipation; and they 
 impress the minds and hearts of all whom they 
 thus assemble with proper respect for God's 
 sacred day. ISTow, when we remember that nine- 
 tentlis of our worst criminals charge to Sabbath 
 desecration the first fatal step in their mad career, 
 Ave can form some idea of the absolute importance 
 of an institution which eff^^ectually checkmates 
 the direful evil. 
 
 (d) These schools, too, operate upon the most 
 impressible and most important element of so- 
 ciety — the youth. The mind of a child may bo 
 fitly compared to the delicate plate of the photo- 
 graph artist ; for it receives an impression from 
 whatever object is placed before it. As the pho- 
 tographer has power to make either a beautiful 
 or hideous picture, by his own selection, so the 
 Christian artist may, by his own efforts, make 
 either a lovely or frightful image upon that 
 equally delicate plate — the human mind. In 
 
230 PULriT AND PEW. 
 
 youth, the memory is retentive, the heart is 
 tender, conscience is faithful, and prejudices are 
 few and feeble. Imj^ressions are then easily 
 made; and the principles then inculcated con- 
 tinue through life to be the moat permanent and 
 powerful. Habit, too, is daily increasing its in- 
 fluences for good or for evil — riveting the shackles 
 of sin, or strengthening the golden chain which 
 binds the heart to God. What infinite wisdom, 
 then, do we see in the command, " Train up a 
 child in the way he should go; and when he is 
 old, he will not depart from it." There is in the 
 life of every child, reared in a Christian land, a 
 period— yea, a moment — when a word, a tear, a 
 praj^er, may induce it to accept Christ; and the 
 institution in behalf of w^hich we are pleading 
 gives a chance to improve that awfully moment- 
 ous period. 
 
 (e) It is likewise a fact, which no reflecting man 
 will controvert, that those who are tluis trained 
 in early life make the best Christians. Persons 
 who have lived thirty, forty, fifty years in sin, 
 find it exceedingly difficult, even after a profes- 
 sion of religion has been made, to walk circum- 
 spectly before the Church and the world. Tliey 
 have lived so long in rebellion against God, that 
 the faculties of mind and heart have been 
 blunted; and there is Avith them a constant war- 
 fare — "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and 
 the Spirit against the flesh." (Gal. v. 17.) Not 
 so with those who, like Samuel, have grown up 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 231 
 
 around the altar. To them the "yoke is easy 
 and the burden is light," because they began to 
 bear them in early life. These, too, as a general 
 rule, are the pillars of the Church. They are not 
 only the best exponents of Christian deportment, 
 but of Christian doing. They are the "body- 
 guard" of the minister — the "reserve force" 
 upon which he can rely in any emergency. 
 Those not thus drilled, like raw militia, may be 
 willing to fight for their cause, but really they do 
 not know how to handle the weapons placed in 
 their hands; and like them, too, they are liable 
 to give way, if the conflict is pretty severe. 
 
 (/) As a final reason, we assert that these 
 schools afford to many all the religious instruc- 
 tion which the}' receive. There are thousands 
 upon thousands — yea, millions — of children who 
 receive no Christian culture at home ; and were 
 it not for Sabbath-schools these children would, 
 to all intents and purposes, be heathens, in a 
 moral and religious sense. Indeed, it was to 
 reach just such that the institution was first 
 established by Eobert Eaikes. These schools, 
 then, reach out their tender, loving arms, and 
 embrace that large class of our youth who, with- 
 out their agency, would be destitute of religious 
 training; and they make those deep, lasting im- 
 pressions at the very period of life when there is 
 most liopc. Nor has it escaped the observation 
 of any tlioughtful Christian that many of these 
 moral waifs, thus brought into the fold, make — 
 
232 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 often make — our most efficient laymen and our 
 most renowned ministers of the gospel. The his- 
 tory of Christendom abounds with such instances. 
 Other reasons, and good ones, too, could be 
 assigned to induce Christians to engage heartily 
 in Sabbath-school work, but want of 'pace for- 
 bids. Suffice it to say, the institution has God's 
 benedictions- -has been owned and blessed of 
 him as one of the most powerful agencies known 
 to the Church for the upbuilding of his cause. 
 Like the gospel, its "field is the world." All 
 classes, all conditions, are alike the objects of its 
 kind and compreliensivc benevolence. Pupils, 
 teachers, parents, and friends share its benefits. 
 None aje so high as to be above its favors; none 
 so low as to be beneath its notice. No Christian, 
 then, can afford to stand aloof, or even be indiffer- 
 ent. With mind and heart he must enter the 
 service; nor must he quit until the Master dis- 
 charges him. No member of the Church knows 
 ao much or so little as that he may be excused 
 from this service. The truth is, it should be a 
 service in which all the membership should be 
 interested. In other words, a Sabbath-school in 
 any congregation, should be that whole congre- 
 gation studying the word of God; for all, with- 
 out exception, need the benefits which this insti- 
 tution bestows. Let it be remembered, too, that 
 it is not an institution separate and distinct from 
 the Church — is simply the Church putting forth 
 its energy in one department of its legitimate 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 233 
 
 ^voi-k — is the Church itself in that department. 
 Any other theory in relation to this institution 
 is not only erroneous but prolific of evil. The 
 Church is undei* the most solemn obligation to 
 see to it that the children committed to its care 
 shall be trained up "in the nurture and admo- 
 nition of the Lord," and it is simply impossible, 
 without committing a great sin, to delegate this 
 Avork, or authorit}^, or responsibilit}^, to an^^ 
 agency outside of itself To the minister, then, 
 and to his official members, this great trust is 
 committed, and they cannot, tbey inust not, allow 
 it to pass into the control of others. 
 
 As an incentive to earnest and vigorous effort 
 on the part of the Church in this particular de- 
 partment, the following tabular exhibit is made. 
 It is copied from the late Dr. Spencer. He says : 
 " I once made an actual examination of this sort, 
 in respect to two hundred and fifty-three hopeful 
 converts to Christ, w^ho came under my observa- 
 tion at a particular^ period. Of these there were 
 converted : 
 
 Under 20 years of age 138 
 
 Between 20 and 30 years of age ... 85 
 " 30 " 40 " " ... 22 
 " 40 " 50 " " ... 4 
 " 50 " 60 " " ... 3 
 
 " 60 '' 70 " " ... 1 
 
 The observation of every other minister, no 
 doubt, corroborates substantially that of Dr. 
 
234 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Spencer. If so, such figures show, most conclu- 
 sively, the great importance of trying to reach 
 the hearts of the human family wHth the gospel 
 "in the days of their youth." Indeed, they 
 prove, beyond the possibility of doubt, that the 
 iSabbath-school is the great field upon which the 
 battle for Christ is to be fought. In other words, 
 if the world is to be subdued to the Cross, the 
 work must be accomplished by the conversion of 
 the young; for of all classes who are out of 
 Christ, none are so susceptible to religious influ- 
 ences as children and youth. 
 
 13. They must supjjort their minister pecuniarily — 
 must enable those who ^^ preach the gospel to live of 
 the gospel.'' 
 
 No point discussed in tiiis little book is, per- 
 haps, of greater interest than the one now under 
 consideration; and if more space is given to it 
 than to others, the assertion just made in regard 
 to its importance is deemed a* sufficient apolog}^ 
 On a subject so prolific in arguments it is difficult 
 to make a selection; but the summary which fol- 
 lows has been chosen. 
 
 (a) The analogy from all religions furnishes a 
 strong argument in support of the position. The 
 history of the past, as well as that of the present, 
 shows that, although there have ever been a 
 "seven thousand who have not bowed the knee 
 to Baal," yet there have been vast numbers who 
 have had their "gods many, and tiieir lords 
 
rULPIT AND PEW. 235 
 
 many." In other words, while there has ever 
 been a pure religion in the world, it is equally 
 true that, from the earliest history of "fallen 
 man," there have ever been false religions — re- 
 ligions which did not recognize the God of the 
 Bible. These false religions, too, as their history 
 testifies, have ever had their "priests"; and it is 
 a fact which no well-informed person will contro- 
 vert, that these "j^rophcts of Baal" have been 
 most amply provided for, so far as their temporal 
 necessities are concerned. If, then, "the heathen 
 in tlieir blindness" can see good and sufficient 
 reasons why their religious teachers should be re- 
 lieved from all anxiety in regard to tlieir own tem- 
 poral support, how clear and convincing — yea, 
 how overwhelming — must be the reasons to those 
 "whose souls are lighted" for makibg the same 
 provision for the temporal wants of their 
 spiritual instructors! The difference between 
 their religions is as marked and distinct as that 
 be^een truth and ftilsehood — between light and 
 darkness. But the heathen believe (and in this 
 view the}^ are correct) that their priests cannot 
 meet their obligations to those whom they would 
 serve, unless they are relieved from all worldly 
 cares, and permitted to devote their whole time 
 to their appropriate Avork. Why should not 
 Christians so believe in regard to their religious 
 guides? Surely no one can sa}^ that the Christian 
 religion demands less thought, less labor, less 
 cure, less anxiety, than these false religions. If, 
 
236 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 then, the heatlien are willing to be taxed, and that 
 heavily, too, in behalf of a religion which cannot 
 benefit them, but, on the contrary, degrades them 
 and their children, how anxious — yea, how eager — 
 should Christians be to sujiiport a religion of "ex- 
 ceeding great and precious promises" — a religion 
 which elevates intellectually, socially, and 
 morally its adherents — a religion that is adapted 
 to parents and to their children — a religion which 
 sustains the soul in an hour for which earth has 
 no comfort and philosophy no hope — a religion 
 which -saves to the uttermost," and saves forever 
 all who embrace it and pillow their dying heads 
 upon its blessed truths. 
 
 (6) Next, ministers of the gospel deserve a 
 temporal support upon the ground of equity and 
 justice. Some, it is true, consider the amount 
 contributed to this class of professional men as 
 charity, but it is utterly untrue; nor can any one 
 think or speak of ministers in this light without 
 fixing upon himself as base a reproach as hdRit- 
 tenipts to fix upon that religion of which they 
 are the appointed messengers. That which makes 
 an equivalent return for what is received, cannot 
 possibly be classed among public charities. This 
 principle holds good in all the transactions of life. 
 The vender of ardent spirits receives from his 
 patrons the proceeds of honest toil; but in return 
 gives only an enfeebled body, a frenzied brain, a 
 broken-hearted wife, and penniless children. 
 Ilis business, therefore, is not equitable; for it 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 237 
 
 returns no just equivalent. Bat in the work of 
 a faithful minister of the gospel it is vastly dif- 
 ferent; because there is an abundant return — 
 more than an equivalent — for the means expended 
 in his support, both as it relates to this life, and to 
 that which is to come — for ourselves, for our 
 families, and for the country at large. The great 
 statesman, Daniel Webster, in one of the grandest 
 speeches of his life, paid the following tribute to 
 tlie clergy of the United States. Said he, ''I take 
 it upon myself to say, that in no country in the 
 world, upon either Continent, can there be found 
 a body of ministers of the gospel who perform so 
 much service to man, in such a full spirit of self- 
 denial, under so little encouragement from Gov- 
 ernment of any kind, and under circumstances 
 almost always much straitened and often dis- 
 tressed, as the ministers of the gospel in the 
 United States, of all denominations. They are a 
 body of clergymen which, for devotedness to 
 their sacred calling, ^for purity of life and 
 character, for learning, intelligence, pietj', and 
 that wisdom which cometh from above, is inferior 
 to none, and superior to most others I hope that 
 our learned men have done something for the 
 honor of our literature abroad. I hope that the 
 courts of justice and members of the bar of this 
 country have done something to elevate the 
 character of the profession of the law. I hope 
 that the discussions above (in Congress) have 
 done something to ameliorate the condition of 
 
238 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the human race, to secure and extend the great 
 charter of human rights, and to strengthen and 
 advance the great principles of human liberty. 
 But I contend that no literary efforts, no adjudi- 
 cations, no constitutional discussions, nothing 
 that has been done or said in favor of the great 
 interests of universal man, has done this country 
 more credit, at home and abroad, than the estab- 
 lishment of our body of clergymen, their, support 
 by voluntary contributions, and the general ex- 
 cellence of their character for piety and learn- 
 ing." 
 
 The foregoing is a noble and eloquent tribute 
 to ministers of the gospel; yet it scarcely glances 
 at the points which constitute their chief value. 
 Their work is to instruct the ignorant, reclaim 
 the w\iyward, comfort the mourning, and console 
 the dying. In a word, they are instrumentally 
 to save souls; and the spiritual blessings, which 
 they are the means of bestowing upon the world, 
 are as priceless "as the blood of the covenant," 
 and as lasting as eternity itself Talk not, then, 
 of "charity" in connection with such services. 
 If ministers of the gospel do not render an equiv- 
 alent for the compensation which they receive, 
 then what class of men on earth does? Under 
 God, and according to his own gracious economy, 
 the life of the Church is bound up in the life of 
 the ministry. If we tear down the pulpits of 
 Christendom, we may as well burn to ashes the 
 buildings which contain them. If we drive from 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 239 
 
 the altars those lioly men whom God has pLaced 
 there, and seal the lips of* Heaven's messengers, 
 we would create a greater void, and inflict a 
 greater iujiiry upon society, secular as well as 
 spiritual, than by the removal of any other class 
 of the world's population. If, then, there is a 
 service on earth which deserves, in equity, a 
 cheerful and generous support, it is that of the 
 gospel ministry. Indeed, it is utterly impossible 
 to adequately compensate such labor. -We have a 
 definite idea of w^hat the laborer deserves who 
 builds our houses, plows our fields, and gathers 
 our harvest; but who can estimate, in dollars and 
 cents, the value of a faithful minister's service? 
 The fact is, any attempt to gauge the value of 
 such services by a commercial standard, betrays 
 a mind too sordid to be accessible to any form of 
 argument. Paul could be paid for the "tents" 
 he made; but who could set a price, in silver and 
 gold, for the tears which he shed while warning 
 sinners, night and day, to flee the wrath to come? 
 If, then, the lawyer, the physician, the merchant, 
 the mechanic, the farmer, the clerk, the day- 
 laborer, should be compensated for the services 
 which they perform, who will — who can? — dare say 
 that the minister may not receive comj^ensation 
 for his services? The ministry is a profession; 
 and those who labor in it are just as much en- 
 titled to a support, and a liberal one, too, as are 
 those who give their time and talents to any other 
 profession or vocation. Surely no one will doubt 
 
240 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the fact that it requires as much talent to be a 
 successful minister of the gospel as it does to be 
 a successful lawyer, physician, merchant, etc.; 
 and if so, should not be be compensated as well 
 as they? In other words, could not a man who 
 has sufficient ability to succeed in the ministry 
 enter other professions, attain to eminence, and 
 accumulate property? It is unnecessary to pause 
 to answer the question. Then, away with the 
 idea that the gospel ministry is a profession 
 which has no claims upon the world except that 
 of charity. Such a view is dishonoring to God, 
 discreditable to the profession, and disreputable 
 to the one who entertains it God never intended 
 that his ministers should be a set of moral mendi- 
 cants, going from door to door, and begging for 
 the "crumbs" which fall from any man's table. 
 The resources of the universe are his, and rather 
 than permit them to be subjected to such humilia- 
 tion, he would do with them as he did with 
 Elijah — send ravens to feed them. It is not, 
 therefore, charity, but a debt which the world 
 owes the gospel ministry — a debt which is just as 
 binding as any which we can possibly incur by 
 having the services of a lawyer, physician, me- 
 chanic, etc.; and it is just as disgraceful and dis- 
 honorable to refuse to recognize the claims of the 
 former as of the latter. 
 
 (c) Again, it is to the interest of the people 
 themselves that their minister shall be liberally 
 sustained pecuniarily. Men cannot sin against 
 
PFLPIT AND PEW. 241 
 
 God without injuriDg themselves. By " withhold- 
 ing more than is meet" from the miinister, they 
 cut the sinews of strength and exertion; and by 
 so doing they are the losers. Xo man can preach 
 as he otherwise might when his mind is harassed 
 with temporal things. In order that he may 
 show himself ''a workman that needeth not to be 
 ashamed, rightly dividing the word of trutli,"' he 
 must do as Paul directed Timothy to do — -study." 
 Bat, that he may study to prolit, two things are 
 indispensable — time and books. Unless, however, 
 he is sustained pecuniarily, he can have neither; 
 and the result is, he feeds, or attempts to feed, his 
 flock upon -'husks," at the same time feeling and 
 knowing that there is plenty and to spare in his 
 Father's house if he only had time and oppor- 
 tunity to prepare it for them. It is strange — re- 
 markably strange — that people will consent to 
 impoverish themselves in a spiritual point of 
 view. They are not thus blind in temporal 
 things — not even to the brute creation. If they 
 would get the greatest amount of efficient service 
 from a dumb beast, they recognize the fact that 
 the very best thing they can do for themselves is 
 to treat the animal well; and the same is true in 
 reference to any other species of property. Why 
 is it, then, that they do not act with the same 
 sound discretion in relation to their minister? 
 With equal propriety might they expect profit- 
 able service from the dii^'-laborer whom they 
 would stint in temporal food, as to expect efficient 
 10 
 
242 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 labor from a minister whom they would deprive 
 of intellectual nourishment. How can a minister 
 feed his people with "food convenient for them" 
 if his mind is constantly annoyed with the tem- 
 poral affairs of his own household? How can he 
 calmly sit down to the preparation of a sermon 
 when he knows that his wife and children are in 
 want not only of the comforts but the necessaries 
 of life? To be indifferent to such things he 
 would have to be either superhuman or a brute! 
 No man of ordinary- character can help being 
 crushed by such a load. Now and then, it is 
 true, he may arouse himself to something like an 
 effort; but, after all, it is the effort of an enfeebled 
 mind and a bleeding heart. The truth is, noth- 
 ing on earth so completely dwarfs the intellect 
 and crushes the spirit of a minister as cold in- 
 difference to, or neglect of, his temporal wants. 
 And one of the great sins which many congrega- 
 tions commit, and for which the individual mem- 
 bers of the same will have to answer at the judg- 
 ment bar of God, is this very one — dwarfing the 
 minister — making him a pigmy when they might 
 have made him a giant. How many have just 
 such congregations driven to secular pursuits — to 
 the farm, to the school-room, to the shop, to the 
 store, who might have been "sons of thunder" if 
 the members had done their duty. Who will l)e 
 held accountable at the "great day" for the good 
 which these secularized ministers might have 
 done — for the souls that the}' might have saved? 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 243 
 
 God alone knows just where and hoic to fix the 
 responsibility; but one thing is certain, no small 
 amount of it will be upon those who saw " their 
 brother in need, and shut up their bowels of com- 
 passion toward him." The very best way, there- 
 fore, for a peojile to make their minister profit- 
 able to themselves is to support him liberally. 
 He will do them better service — will feed them 
 upon food which will strengthen and develop 
 them — will lead their children to Christ, and will 
 bring many others into the fold who will share 
 with them the duties and expenses of the house 
 of God. 
 
 No pecuniary investment yields such a re- 
 turn as that employed in maintaining the gos- 
 pel. This is emphatically one of the cases in 
 which, "as a man sows, so shall he reap."' One 
 has said, and there is much truth in it, "There 
 are very few congregations too ^joor to support a 
 minister; but there are thousands ifoo 2^oor to be 
 without one." Indeed, all things considered, the 
 gospel ministry is one of the cheapest things in 
 this world. Its bills are insignificantly small in 
 comparison with those which "the prince of the 
 power of the air" presents. How much easier, 
 how much better, for a father to pay ten, twenty, 
 fifty, one hundred dollars to the minister who 
 saves his children from a life of dissipation and 
 shame than to "foot the bills" of the ball-room, 
 the drinking-saloon, the gambling-hells, and "the 
 gins of the workers of iniquity " ! It is often the 
 
244 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 case that one dissipation, one "fashionable amuse- 
 ment" for a single child, costs more than is paid 
 for the religious instruction of the entire house- 
 hold for a single year. Who, then, can doubt that 
 it is to the interest, pecuniary as well as spiritual, 
 of any people to sustain the gospel ministry? 
 Such an influence, in any community, is like a 
 fountain in a desert — like the sun in the heavens. 
 Blessings radiate from it in every direction. 
 Whatever is evil it helps to eradicate or restrain; 
 whatever is good it fosters and augments. It not 
 only teaches the way to heaven, but it tells with 
 a gracious, though silent, power upon every social 
 and secular interest. Its influence distils like tlie 
 dew; and though no human eye can trace all of 
 its ramifications, yet it permeates human societ}', 
 9,nd develops the embryo-germs of all that is good 
 and noble in the soul of man. This is not fiction, 
 but sober reality. The annals of the past may 
 be appealed to in proof of the position that the 
 gospel ministry has been the chief instrument of 
 all true, social, intellectual, and moral progress, 
 and that just in proportion as a people enjoy and 
 appreciate its labors, do they advance in every 
 thing that exalts, dignifies, and purifies human 
 nature. 
 
 (of) An additional argument for sustaining the 
 ministry pecuniarily is based upon the fact that, 
 without such a support, neither the Church of the 
 present nor that of the future can possibly have 
 an adequate supply of consecrated, efficient min- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 245 
 
 isters. In all the evangelical denominations of 
 Christendom there is a vast number of "vacant 
 Churches" — Churches without the regular means 
 of grace; and in each of these denominations, too, 
 there is a long list of unemploj'ed ministers — 
 ministers "without charge." Surely there must 
 be a cause for this melancholy state of things. 
 What is it? There is but one answer — the min- 
 istry is not sustained pecuniarily as it should be. 
 Scores of them are "standing all the day idle," 
 and the reason therefor is, no Church "hath hired 
 tliem." Many of them — doubtless most of them — 
 have tried to "live of the gospel" — have, perhaps, 
 exhausted their own "'scanty means," thereby re- 
 ducing their families almost to absolute want. 
 Who has not seen such a sight? In many an 
 humble dwelling there sits a man whose name 
 stands high upon the roll of ministerial ability, 
 and by his side is a woman who would be at home 
 in an elegant mansion, their hands rough with 
 toil, and their garments thin with age. They are 
 almost ashamed for even a brother minister to 
 see their little table with its rude and scanty fare. 
 He has spent many years of his life in preaching 
 "Jesus and the resurrection" — has neglected his 
 temporal affairs for the privilege of so doing — 
 but now he sits in mournful sadness, knowing 
 not how long it may be until his ftimily shall be 
 in utter want. The people to whom he has 
 preached have disregarded their obligations to 
 him, and by so doing have driven him from the 
 
246 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 pulpit. Words are scarcel}^ adequate to do justice 
 to such treatment. Suffice it to say, it is the re- 
 finement of cruelty — is closely allied to that tort- 
 ure in the Inquisition, in which the unfortunate 
 victim was so placed as that, drop after drop of 
 water falling upon his head, at last pierced the 
 brain. Such martyrdom as a minister often en- 
 dures, is not, it is true, as acute as that inflicted 
 upon the "confessors," who, centuries ago, were 
 burned at the stake; but it is more severe because 
 it is more slow. There are martyrdoms where 
 there* is no fire or headsman's ax. There are 
 punishments, too, which are worse than death. 
 Indeed, the most savage executioners are those who 
 do not kill, but who spare their victims for other 
 tortures. Having received such treatment, how 
 can a minister feel that zeal for his Church Avhicli 
 is indispensable to usefulness? The people who 
 have thus treated him may pass "complimentary 
 resolutions" as an "offset" to the large amount 
 of "arrearages" which they have permitted to 
 accumulate; but to him they are hollow and 
 hypocritical shams — do not cancel the debt, buy 
 bread for his family, nor heal the heart-wounds 
 which their conduct has inflicted. There are 
 thousands upon thousands of just such mistreated, 
 disheartened, unemployed ministers throughout 
 Christendom; and, consequently, there is a still 
 greater number of dead and dying Churches — 
 Churches which, when they did their duty, were 
 prosperous and powerful; but now, like stranded 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 247 
 
 ships which have lost their -pilots, they exist as 
 monuments to warn others of danger. In other 
 words, they have "robbed God in tithes and offer- 
 ings"; and, for so doing, he has sent upon them 
 the greatest of all calamities, "not a famine of 
 bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the 
 words of the Lord" — has treated them as he did 
 the Churches spoken of by John in the Apoca- 
 Ij^psc — "has removed their candlesticks." 
 
 The Church, then, of the present is not accom- 
 plishing its whole mission; and the reason is, it 
 has, b}' parsimonious giving, secularized a large 
 portion of its ministers. God not only deemed 
 these men worthy to preach his gospel, but neces- 
 sary in the great work of evangelizing the world. 
 But the gift, by thousands of congregations, has 
 been disregarded; and, as a matter of course, 
 sinners are perishing for the bread of life. "Who 
 will be held responsible for this terrible state of 
 aifairs? Who is responsible for this inadequate 
 supply of ministers to meet the Avants of a perish- 
 ing world? God has done his part — has called 
 men to the work, but the Church has not made 
 provision for their temporal wants. Who can 
 even conceive of the grand results w^hich would 
 be accomplished if all the unemployed ministers 
 of evangelical Christendom were relieved from 
 temj^orq,! cares, and permitted to spend their 
 whole time in their appropriate work? The 
 waste places would be built up, sinners Avould be 
 converted, the heathen would have the gospel, and 
 
248 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 the moral deserts of this world would "blossom 
 as the rose." 
 
 JSTot only does such a course of conduct on the 
 part of the membership greatly affect the minis 
 try of the present, but it has a wonderful in- 
 fluence upon that of the future. In view of the 
 rapidly-increasing demand for " more laborers" in 
 the vineyard of the Lor.d, there is an alarming- 
 paucity of young men who seem willing to devote 
 their lives to the sacred oflice, as the official 
 records of all denominations show^ Many of 
 these denominations, in view of the fact just 
 stated, have in the last few years issued heart- 
 rending appeals to their people, calling special 
 and prayerful attention to the matter. Now why 
 this paucity — this inadequate supply? There is 
 but one rational solution to the problem — the in- 
 efficient support which is given to the ministry of the 
 ^present. True, it is easy to say, in answer to this, 
 that if God has called a young man to the minis- 
 try, no such impediment should deter him from 
 entering upon it. But while we admit the para- 
 mount obligation, we must not forget that human 
 nature, at best, is exceedingly frail. When, there- 
 fore, a young man looks around him and sees the 
 uncertain and the inadequate support which the 
 gospel ministry promises, no difference how 
 urgently the SjDirit calls, he is prone to answer in 
 the language of Moses, " O my Lord, send, I pray 
 thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send"; 
 and then, in the language of another, he adds, "I 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 249 
 
 pray thee have me excused." In any and in all 
 the departments of life, except the ministry, such 
 a young man may count with confidence upon a 
 competency, not only daring the vigor of man- 
 hood, but for a quiet old age. How hard, there- 
 fore, to turn away from vocations which promise 
 an ample support, and enter upon one Avhich 
 holds out to him a career of severe toil and of 
 unrequited labor! True, it is not God's plan, as 
 we shall see at the proper place in this argument, 
 that the sacred office should be one of poverty; 
 but the Church has, to a great extent, made it so. 
 To say the least, it demands of its ministers, as a 
 general rule, a degree of poverty and self-denial 
 which it, in its individual members, is wholly un- 
 willing to endure. Is this right? Is it just? Is 
 it equitable? Ministers are men of " like passions 
 with others"; and w4io can lay his hand upon 
 his heart and say that they ought to be required 
 to do more work and better work than any other 
 class of laborers of equal mental and moral at- 
 tainments for less compensation? No one who 
 will properly reflect upon the subject will answer 
 in the affirmative. If he should give his assent 
 to such a proposition, and then act in accordance 
 with the response, the only consolation which he 
 could have therefor, would be the certainty that 
 he is contributing his influence to greatly wrong 
 not only the ministry of the present, but also that 
 of the future; and by so doing, not only injuring 
 the generation in which he lives, but that which 
 
250 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 is to follow — not only his children, but his chil- 
 dren's children. To the true Christian there can 
 surely be no consolation in contemplating such a 
 disaster. 
 
 {e) Again, the demands which are made upon 
 ministers of the gospel afford an additional argu- 
 ment in behalf of a liberal pecuniary support. 
 In the first part of this little book we attempted 
 to set forth the duties which devolve upon a min- 
 ister; and no one, it is believed, can read that 
 summary without feeling that it aifords, in itself, 
 a strong argument in favor of an amply-sustained 
 ministry — a ministry relieved from temporal 
 cares; for in no other way can such responsibili- 
 ties be met. But, in addition to the demands 
 there insisted upon, there are others of a supple- 
 mentary character which may be briefly stated 
 here. 
 
 One of the requisitions of a minister of the 
 gosj^el, mentioned by Paul, is, he is to be a "lover 
 of hospitality." His house is to be always open 
 for the entertainment of "the brethren." A lay 
 member of the Church may invite a stranger 
 home with him or not, just as he sees proper, and 
 nothing is thought or said about the matter. But 
 it is not so with a minister; ho must keep "oj^en 
 house," and must always be prepared for com- 
 pany. Sick or well, provided with domestic help 
 or not, his family is expected to entertain the 
 "itinerant brother" and the "traveling agent." 
 
 The dignity of the profession, too, demands 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 251 
 
 that the minister shall at all times be neatly 
 dressed. A congregation would be ashamed to 
 see its minister with elbows out and patches upon 
 threadbare clothing, and it, is to be commended 
 for such decent pride; for nothing, which does 
 not involve moral character, more seriously in- 
 jures the usefulness of a minister in the estima- 
 tion of every one who has a proper respect for 
 the sacred office than for him to be thus clad. 
 
 Then, too, he must have books, periodicals, 
 papers, etc., if he would* keep abreast of the 
 times. No minister must feel satisfied with his 
 literary qualifications until he is recognized, at 
 least, as one of the most intelligent men in the 
 community in which he labors. He must be a 
 leader of j)ublic thought and sentiment, 
 
 Nor is this all. His work brings him in con- 
 tact with poverty and suffering in almost every 
 conceivable form; and, light as his purse may be, 
 he would be less than human if he did not share 
 its contents to relieve those whom he finds in such 
 circumstances. , In a word, he must be known 
 and recognized as the friend of the poor. Benev- 
 olent enterprises, too, make their demands upon 
 him; and curious and inexplicable as it is, yet he 
 is expected to be one of the most liberal contrib- 
 utors to all such demands. How, then, is it pos- 
 sible to meet the requisitions which are made 
 upon the sacred office unless those who occupy it 
 are amply sustained pecuniarily? 
 
 (/) Finally, the Scriptures absolutely and un- 
 
252 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 equivocally demand that the ministry shall be 
 liberally provided for — that "they that preach 
 the gospel shall live of the gospel." Thus far we 
 have considered the arguments Avhich can be ad- 
 duced outside of the teachings of the Bible upon 
 this subject. We now propose to appeal " to the 
 law and to the testimony" — the "court of last 
 appeal." 
 
 Under the Old Dispensation, it was exj^licitly 
 and positively j^rovided that "they who minis- 
 tered at the temple should live of the things of 
 the temple." This . statute "was ordained in 
 Israel" for the i)urj)ose of securing to the "i^riests 
 and Levites" a just and liberal support. In lieu 
 of an inheritance among their brethren, provision 
 was made for their temporal wants by taxing all 
 the other tribes. Besides the " cities and suburbs " 
 ai^i^ropriated to their use, and a share in the 
 "daily offerings of the Lord," this one tribe 
 among the twelve was furnished with a regular 
 tithe (a tenth) of all the avails of the harvest and 
 the vintage. In a word, this one tribe was more 
 amply provided for than any of the remaining 
 eleven. Under no circumstances were the de- 
 mands of the law relaxed. Whether the proceeds 
 of the harvest and vintage were abundant or de- 
 ficient, stiir the "statute" was imperative. In- 
 deed, so rigid was the great Jehovah in its en- 
 fbrcement, that his blessings, neither spiritual nor 
 temporal, were to be expected when this law was 
 disregarded. Tlie command was, " Bring ye all 
 
 I 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 253 
 
 the tithes into the storehouse"; and unless the 
 requisition was complied with, the windows of 
 heaven were not opened, nor were blessings 
 poured out upon the people. Nor has the careful 
 reader of the history of the Jews, as recorded in 
 the Old Testament Scriptures, failed to observe 
 that their spiritual and temporal condition varied 
 according as they complied with, or disregarded, 
 the law of God in this particular. The truth is, 
 some of the severest, some of the most direful 
 calamities which befell the Israelitish nation, 
 came upon that people because they refused to 
 "honor God with their substance" as he had 
 directed, and thereby drove his priests from the 
 temple to follow some secular employment, (See 
 Neh. xiii. 10, 11.) 
 
 Under the New Testament Dispensation, it is 
 true, the office of the priesthood, for which such 
 liberal provision had been made, was abolished; 
 but another was created, which is to take its 
 place for all time to come. The gospel ministrj^, 
 therefore, is in the room and stead of the priest- 
 hood — is, so to speak, its legitimate successor. 
 Tliis being true, it must surely be entitled to the 
 benefits which its predecessor enjoyed, viz., ex- 
 emption from the cares and anxieties of temporal 
 things, and a liberal support. Indeed, when we 
 take into account the greatly-increased labors of 
 the gospel ministry over those of the Old Testa- 
 ment priesthood, we see good and sufficient reasons 
 for additional exertions and for additional 
 
254 PULriT AND PEW. 
 
 liberality. The blessed Saviour, however, has not 
 left the matter in doubt or uncertainty. He who 
 abolished the priesthood, and substituted in its 
 place the "ministry of reconciliation," did not 
 fail to teach what he demanded of both classes — 
 ministers and people. When he called men to 
 the work of the ministry he gave them clearly to 
 understand that they must forsake their temporal 
 avocatiojis; consequently, no difference what their 
 "trade or profession" was — whether that of 
 fishermen or of tax-gatherers — they at once aban- 
 doned those callings and "followed him." After 
 giving them the proper instructions, and after 
 conferring upon them those spiritual gifts which 
 were to qualify them to meet the responsibilities 
 which he had imposed upon them, he said, "Pro- 
 vide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your 
 purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two 
 coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves : for the work- 
 man is worthy of his meat." (Matt. x. 9, 10.) 
 From this it will be seen that tlie blessed Saviour 
 expressly forbade that the}^ should provide for 
 themselves more than they carried away with 
 them when they entered upon their mission ; but 
 required them to depend upon the people to whom 
 they preached, and gave as the reason, "the work- 
 man is worthy of his meat." To the same effect 
 precisely were his instructions to the seventy. 
 (See Luke x. 7.) Here the language is, "the 
 laborer is worthy of his hire." 
 
 Let it not be forgotten that this is the first com- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 255 
 
 mission received from tlieir Lord. Tliese disciples, 
 too, be it remembered, were sent first to the Jews, 
 who, from their earliest history as a nation, had 
 been taught that their religious teachers were en- 
 titled to a liberal support. Nor could the Jews, 
 as the Saviour knew, deny their obligations to 
 support the men who were now in the room and 
 stead of the priesthood without disregarding a 
 law which, centuries before, had been enacted by 
 the Head of the Church, Then, does not every 
 one see that Christ, at the very commencement 
 of the gospel dispensation, asserted the right of 
 the ministry which he had chosen to a support 
 from those to whom they were sent to preach? 
 Did he not establish it as a principle of his king- 
 dom? Yea, did he not place the obligation to 
 support his ministers upon the same ground of 
 moral right as that of the priesthood? No one 
 who is capable of comprehending the import of 
 language can answer these questions in the 
 negative. 
 
 Again, Paul, in his first letter to the Church at 
 Corinth, presents a most conclusive argument 
 upon the subject. (See 1 Cor. ix. 4-15.) He 
 says (verses 4-6) "Have we not power to eat 
 and to drink? Have we not power to lead about 
 a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as 
 the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? Or I only 
 and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear 
 working?" The word powe?" in the foregoing, as 
 the original shoves, means right, jmvilege, authority. 
 
256 rULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 It seems that some one had been silly enough to 
 call in question Paul's right to a support from 
 the 2)eople to whom he preached; and with that 
 boldness and inde2)endence which ever character- 
 ized the man, he sharply resented the injustice, 
 by asserting that he was not only entitled to a 
 support for himself, but for a wife also, if he saw 
 proper to marry. He then asks (verse 7), " Who 
 goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? 
 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?" Here he makes 
 the point clear and emphatic, that a minister of 
 the gospel has as good a right to a su2)port as a 
 soldier has to his wages, or the husbandman to 
 the fruits and flocks of his own fields and herds. 
 As proof upon this point, he says (verses 8-10), 
 "Say I these things as a man? or saith not the 
 law the same also? For it is written in the law 
 of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the 
 ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take 
 care for oxen ? Or saith he it altogether for our 
 sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: 
 that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and 
 that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker 
 of his hope." In the three verses which j^recede, 
 the Apostle, in perfect accord with the teaching 
 of the blessed Saviour upon this ])oint, positively 
 asserts that the gospel ministry has the same 
 right to a pecuniary support as had the priest- 
 hood of which it is the successor. These verses, 
 
rULPIT AND PEW. 257 
 
 too, prepare the way for the overwhelming appeal 
 contained in the eleventh verse. "If we have 
 sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing 
 if we shall reap your carnal things?" As if he 
 had said, You who would pay the soldier for his 
 services; you who would give the fruit of the 
 vineyard to him that planted it; you who would 
 permit him who fed the flock to drink the milk 
 of it — will you, I say, grudge to give us a portion 
 of 3'our earthly things, while we have -sown unto 
 you spiritual things? Will you thus virtuall}^ 
 declare that he who labors for your bodies better 
 deserves a reward than he who seeks the good of 
 your souls? And will you cheerfully remunerate 
 the one, and withhold from the other? He then 
 adds (verse 12), "If others be partakers of this 
 power over you, are not we rather? Neverthe- 
 less we have not used this power; but sufl'er all 
 things, lest we should hinder the gospel of 
 Christ." In the latter clause of this verse he 
 says that though from prudential reasons, in that 
 particular instance, he had not exercised that 
 power as his right, yet he by no. means intended 
 to relinquish it; for in the very next verse he 
 says, " Do ye not know, that they which minister 
 about holy things live [esthiousin, eat] of the 
 things of the temple? and they which wait at the 
 altar are partakers with the altar?" Here he 
 again alludes to the priesthood, and once more 
 places the gospel ministry, so far as temporal 
 support is concerned, upon the same footing as 
 17 
 
258 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 that of the Levitical priesthood. Then, having 
 made the argument (an argument which no power 
 of logic can overthrow) he triumphantly draws 
 the conclusion: ^^ Even so hath the Lord ordained^ 
 that they which preach the gospel should live of the 
 gospel.'' And just here, perhaps, is the proper 
 place to say that to "live of the gospel" does not 
 mean, as many have construed it, a hare support — 
 a living just above the i:>oint of starvation— it 
 means a liberal, generous support, such as other 
 men receive in the various callings of Iffe. 
 
 Many other passages of scripture might be 
 quoted, showing the obligation of tlie member- 
 ship to sustain the ministry; but surely no one 
 can ask for additional proof Then, may we not, 
 must\Y(i not, come to the conclusion that tlie doc- 
 trine upon which we are insisting is an ordinance 
 of God? If it is not as much so as any other 
 Christian duty enforced by the Bible, then words 
 are destitute of meaning. Who, then, has a right 
 to gainsay or annul this ordinance of Heaven? 
 How wicked, therefore, to defraud God's ministers 
 out of their just dues! Some profess to think 
 that the best way to keep a minister humble, and 
 to get the most efficient service out of him, is to 
 surround him with poverty. Such a pitiful ex- 
 cuse, for it is not an argument, is basely unworthy 
 of any man, whether saint or sinner, who claims 
 to be honest. Those who utter it, for none of 
 them believe it, endeavor, under the cloak of 
 hypocrisy, to hide their ungodly penuriousness. 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 259 
 
 Churches, if there be any such, that would act 
 upon this plea, are too niggardly to prosper, and 
 should be avoided by all ministers, just as honest 
 people shun a merchant who is in the habit of 
 giving false w^eight and short measure. Such a 
 sentiment should be scorned by all good peoj^le. 
 Besides, if poverty is good for the minister, ought 
 it not to be equally good for the membership? 
 Those who oppose a liberal support for the minis- 
 try invariably cite the conduct of Paul in refus- 
 ing compensation at the hands of the Corinthians. 
 True, he did decline in that particular case; but 
 he did not even intimate that it was morally or 
 legally wrong for him to receive aid Indeed, it 
 was the only Church from which he did refuse to 
 receive wages. The reason he did so in this case 
 was, his motives had been assailed; and ias the 
 Church at Corinth was made up of converted 
 Pagans who, of course, knew nothing scarcely of 
 the Scripture rule upon this subject, Paul deemed 
 it expedient, in that particular instance, to refuse 
 compensation. Eut, as stated previously, it was 
 a matter of expediency, and not of right, as the 
 Apostle teaches. If, however, Paul had pursued 
 such a course generally, still it would not affect the 
 principle contended for, because he was inspired, 
 and did not need time for the 2:>reparation of his 
 sermons, as ministers of the present age do. Let, 
 then, no one plead the conduct of Paul, in this 
 case, as an excuse for refusing to support the 
 ministry. 
 
260 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 Then, in conclusion upon this all-important 
 subject, let every Christian determine, by the help 
 of God, to do his whole dutj'. The money which 
 should be given to the ministry may be withheld ; 
 but, if it is done, it will be at the peril of God's 
 displeasure. Instead of benefiting the professed 
 Christian who thus holds on to it, it will be a 
 curse to him and to his children. Eather, then, than 
 put it into his own coifer, he had better do with 
 it as Judas did with the money which he obtained 
 by betra^Hng Christ — "cast it down." No Chris- 
 tian can prosper who "robs God." 
 
 Now, as to the exact amount which the minis- 
 ter is to receive, the New Testament, of course, 
 is silent; for that depends upon "numerous cir- 
 cumstances" which need not be mentioned here. 
 But one thing is evident, no congregation, no in- 
 dividual, has come up to the full measure of duty 
 unless the minister is comfortably supported. 
 Nor is it any more just or reasonable to expect a 
 minister of the gospel to labor simply for a bare 
 living tban to expect that others shall do so. To 
 him as well as to others there comes a "rainy 
 day," and an "infirm old age"; and he has the 
 same right to provide against these that any one 
 else has. Indeed, he has a stronger reason for 
 doing so than any other class of professional men; 
 for of all professional men, none are "laid upon 
 the shelf" on account of old age at so early a day 
 as are ministers of the gospel. 
 
 Let, then, no Christian professor "lay the flat- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 261 
 
 teriDg unction to his soul" that he can disregard 
 his obligation to sustain the gospel. The eyes of 
 Jesus are upon the contributions made to his 
 cause now^ just as they were when "he sat over 
 against the treasury" while he was upon earth. 
 (See Mark xii. 41.) No man, therefore, however 
 expert he may be in deceiving his fellow-man, can 
 deceive Christ. Moreover, the same God who 
 struck down Ananias and Sapphira for refusing 
 to give the amount which they should have be- 
 stowed, is as powerful to-day as he was when that 
 unfaithful household withheld its contributions 
 from his cause. (See Acts v. 1-10.) True, he 
 may not, as in that case, strike those dead who 
 refuse to do their duty; but as sure as God exists, 
 and as sure as the Bible is true, no Christian can 
 disregard his obligation, in this particular, with- 
 out suffering, sooner or later, the displeasure of 
 that Being who has said, " Vengeance is mine; I 
 will repay, saith the Lord." Let, then, every 
 Christian resolve, by the help of God, that he will 
 do his whole duty in this regard, and do it cheer- 
 fully. But, under no circumstances, let him wait 
 until .God sends his messengers of vengeance — • 
 sickness, death, fire, disaster, etc. — to collect his 
 just and equitable claims. 
 
 14. They must disseminate the religion which they 
 profess — must have a missionary spirit. 
 
 It is impossible, in a few pages, to do justice to 
 a subject fraught with such interests as is the one 
 
262 pur.riT and pew. 
 
 under consideration. It must suffice, therefore, to 
 present simply the leading arguments, and to do 
 that, too, in ratiier a summary way. 
 
 Before, however, presenting the arguments in 
 favor of missions, it will not be out of place to 
 briefly consider some of the principal objections 
 which are urged in opposition — arguments used 
 by those who refuse to engage in the missionary 
 work. 
 
 Some object on the ground that it is too 
 costl}^ — that it requires too large a per cent, of 
 the contributions made to meet the expenses of 
 the Boards which have this matter in charge. 
 Bat is it true? Do our Missionary Boards cost 
 more than any other charitable or commercial 
 institutions? Without hesitation the question is 
 answered in the negative. If we take all the 
 Boards of the different Churches of Christendom, 
 and make an average of the per cent, demanded 
 for conducting them, we will find that the amount 
 will not exceed eight per cent. Will these Boards, 
 then, suffer in comparison ^vitli even our most 
 popular and best-managed commercial institu- 
 tions? A few, perhaps, who read this statement 
 may be prepared to show from the statistics of 
 their own denominations that their Boards of 
 Missions consume more than eight per cent.; but 
 the reason therefor can be easily explained: the 
 entire amount given for missions by their denomina- 
 tions is so utterly insignificant^ in comparison with 
 what it should be, that it requires a large per cent, of 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 263 
 
 it to pay one officer even a meager salary. Without 
 the fear of successful contradiction the statement 
 is made that there is not, in all Christendom, a 
 denomination of one hundred thousand members 
 which could not bring down the expenses of its 
 Board of Missions to less than six per cent, if the 
 membership would give to the cause as it is re- 
 quired to do by the Bible. Then away with such 
 an objection. Tlie only reason why the* expenses 
 consume so large a per cent, is because of the 
 parsimonious contributions of the membership. 
 Those persons, then, who resort to such a pretext 
 for not giving to the cause of missions, should re- 
 member that the plea which they offer is, to use 
 the mildest expression, by no means creditable to 
 themselves. They are the authors of the difficulty of 
 ichich they comjylain. 
 
 Another objection urged is, we have enough to 
 do at home — have the heathen at our own doors. 
 Those who offer this objection never fail to quote 
 w^hat they consider a very appropriate passage of 
 scripture — "Charity begins at home." But, un- 
 fortunately for them, there is no such language 
 in the Bible! Dr. Haygood, one of the finest 
 writers of this century, in sj)eaking of this hack- 
 neyed phrase, says, " It is a neat pocket edition 
 of selfishness." No better definition, perhaps, 
 could be given of it, " Charity begins at home!" 
 How ridiculous, how absurd! The truth is, there 
 can be no charity until we get beyond home. 
 
 But it is a sufficient answer to this objection to 
 
264 PULPIT ANJD PEW. 
 
 say that those who urge it the most vehemently 
 do less for the gospel at home than any one else; 
 and that the sentiment is in direct conflict with 
 the teachings of Christ and with the conduct of 
 the apostles. If the latter had waited until all 
 Judea — their own country — had been converted 
 before they tried to save the heathen, what would 
 have become of the Gentile world? The entire 
 population of the globe, to-day, except that small 
 area, would be without God and without hope in 
 the world ! 
 
 Again, we are told that the results accomplished 
 do not justify such heavy outlays of money. Of 
 course, no well-informed person will urge such an 
 objection, for facts palpably contradict it. Statis- 
 tics which are entirely reliable, and which would 
 be here given did space permit, show that the 
 foreign field, for years past, has yielded more con- 
 verts in proportion to the labor and means ex- 
 pended than the home field. 
 
 Do we ask for additional testimony in reference 
 to "results"? If so, all we have to do is to turn 
 our eyes to the Sandwich Islands, to Madagascar, 
 to the Friendly Islands, to the Fiji Islands, etc., 
 etc., which were in a few years, comparatively, 
 converted from the grossest idolatry — yea, from 
 cannibalism to Christianity; and which to-day 
 are sparkling jewels in the Saviour's crown. In 
 addition to these, look at the grand achievements 
 of the Cross in India, Australia, China, Japan, 
 etc., etc. Besides the unnumbered thousands who 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 265 
 
 have thus been brought to Christ by missionary 
 effort, the Soly Scriptures have been transhited, 
 printed, and circulated in nearly three hundred 
 of the dialects of our race. I^early all of these 
 translations, too, have been made by missionaries 
 in the field, while engaged in their regular mis- 
 sion work of preaching and teaching. In a word, 
 the whole Gentile world, embracing the most 
 powerful and most enlightened nations upon the 
 globe, are the grand conquests of missions. 
 
 Having briefly considered the objections to 
 missions, we are now prepared to weigh the argu- 
 ments on the other side of the question. 
 
 A strong argument in favor of the position as- 
 sumed grows out of the fact that the religion of 
 the Bible is adapted to all, and is intended for all. 
 Of all the sj^stems of religion known to the 
 world, that system which is taught in the Sacred 
 Scriptures is the only one which is adapted to the 
 wants of man. It is the only one, too, which 
 could possibly become universal — the only one 
 suited to all climes, to all peoples, and to all ages. 
 There is not a more complete adaptation between 
 the eye and light, between the ear and sound, be- 
 tween the air and the respiratory organs, than 
 there is between the religion of the Bible and the 
 wants of the whole human family. Other 
 systems, like the vegetable productions of the 
 earth, have their distinct boundaries — lines which 
 they cannot pass and live. But the religion of 
 the Bible is indigenous — is at home everywhere. 
 
26G PULriT AND PEW. 
 
 whether upon "Greenland's icy mountains, or on 
 India's coi^xl strand." No country on this broad 
 earth has ever been discovered where the "rose 
 of Sharon" will not grow; nor can there be found 
 a people, "from pole to pole," who do not need 
 the religion which the Bible inculcates. It is de- 
 signed for the world, and is suited to the exigences 
 of the world. It has a universality of purpose, 
 and a universality of character, distinguishing it 
 from all other systems. Its precepts and doc- 
 trines are adapted to every period. They belong 
 specially to no civilization, to no age, to no raCc. 
 As to other religions, as has been intimated, they 
 are purely local, without even the conception of 
 a universal extension. They have risen, flour- 
 islied, and decayed, within their narrow domains, 
 except only as they have been propagated by the 
 sword. No religion, save that of the Bible, has 
 grasped the idea of one faith for all nations, and 
 has taught that its field is the world, and its home 
 the heart of every human being. It can reach 
 men just where they are, notwithstanding their 
 peculiarities of race, color, climate, etc., and make 
 them the friends of God and the heirs of everlast- 
 ing life. It needs no pioneer. It invokes no 
 other agencies to prepare the way of its coming. 
 It is itself the pioneer of Jehovali — the herald of 
 the great King. 
 
 The luiman race is one great brotherhood. All 
 men are sinners, and all men need a Saviour. If, 
 too, the gospel can save one man, it can save all 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 267 
 
 men. If one man needs it, then all men need it. 
 The gospel is just as necessary to the heathen as 
 it is to us. If this is not true, then the Yedas and 
 the Koran are as .valuable as the Bible; and Con- 
 fucius and Mohammed are as authoritative as 
 Christ. But who can so say? or so believe? 
 Nothing can take the place of the religion of the 
 Bible. It is the only panacea for human sorrow. 
 Other systems of religion, for ages past, have been 
 thoroughly tried, and have utterl}' failed to meet 
 the wants of the immortal soul. The gospel of 
 Christ contains the only rational solution to the 
 question, "How shall a man be just with God"? 
 Scientists, it is true, profess to be in doubt as to 
 the unity of the human race; and they go round 
 considering the thickness of skulls, measuring the 
 size of heads and length of heels; and then sit 
 down in perplexity and doubt ! But the gos^^el, 
 by its adaptation to the wants of universal man, 
 as well as by its own words, says in language 
 which cannot be misinterpreted, "Grod hath nfade 
 of one blood all nations of men." 
 
 Not only, however, is the gospel adapted to all, 
 but it is intended for all. On this point the 
 Divine record is clear and emphatic. "God so 
 loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever b' lieveth in him should not 
 perish, but have everlasting life." (John iii. 16.) 
 "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because 
 we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were 
 all dead." (2 Cor. v. II.) "Who gave himself a 
 
268 rULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 rjinsom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 
 Tim. ii. 6.) "Come unto me, all ye that labor 
 and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
 (Matt. xi. 28.) 
 
 Hundreds of similar passages, as the reader 
 knows, could be given ; but these are sufficient to 
 prove that Christ " tasted death for every man " ; 
 and, consequently, that his gospel is intended for 
 all. The field, then, in which the Christian is to 
 labor is the world. But how can the world "be- 
 lieve without a preacher? and how can they 
 preach except they be sent?" 
 
 Next, gratitude demands the exercise of such a 
 spirit, and the heart of every true Christian 
 prompts him to comply with the duty. The 
 Christian knows the value of the gospel. Once 
 he was an unpardoned sinner. Every human ex- 
 pedient was tried, but no relief came. But when 
 he trusted in Christ, light came — yea, "joy un- 
 speakable and full of glor}^" filled his soul. Now, 
 shoUld he not feel grateful for this inestimable 
 blessing? Ought he not to do all in his power to 
 have others drink of the same inexhaustible 
 fountain of Divine love? What would he take 
 for the hopes which the gospel has inspired in his 
 own soul? For what would he barter away his 
 l^rospects for heaven? — have no more delightful 
 seasons in the closet and in the sanctuary? — no 
 sacramental communions? — no Pisgah views? — 
 no fellowshij) with Christians? — no "crown of 
 life"? While, therefore, he feels that he is an heir 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 269 
 
 to such an inheritance — "an inheritance, incor- 
 ruptible, iindefiled, and that fadeth not away" — 
 should he not have a burning solicitude for those 
 who are " without Grod, and without hope in the 
 world"?. 
 
 AVho can estimate the claim of redemption? 
 "What! know ye not that ye are not your own? 
 for ye are bought with a price!" Alas, that our 
 familiarity with the grand scheme of redemption 
 should ever diminish the freshness and force of 
 its claim! — that we do not always feel as if the 
 price had just been paid! Did we j^'operly ap- 
 preciate it, if there were only one human being 
 in the world who had never heard of Jesus Christ, 
 we would feel that it was worthy the combined 
 efforts of all Christians to labor for his salvation. 
 What exertions have been made to find Sir John 
 Franklin and his comrades — only lost in the 
 Arctic seas ! Then how diligent should Christians 
 be in search of the teeming millions of heathen 
 who, knowing nothing of God and of his religion, 
 are in imminent danger of being lost, body and 
 soul, in hell forever ! 
 
 But, as has been stated, the heart of every 
 genuine Christian urges him to comply with this 
 duty. When he feels the love of Grod in his own 
 heart; when he contemplates the grand scheme 
 of redemption, he is not only ready to exclaim in 
 the language of the poet, 
 
 " Enough for each, enough for all, 
 Enough for evea-more;" 
 
270 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 but he is ready to aid in the dissemination of that 
 reli<^ion "to earth's remotest bounds"— feels that 
 his piety should be essentially missionary, and 
 that it is his imperative duty to work for the 
 evangelization of the whole world. There are 
 many reasons why all Christians thus feel. They 
 know that provision has been made for all; that 
 all need it; and that, without it, no sinner can be 
 saved. They also desire to see the kingdom of 
 Christ extended because they 'themselves belong 
 to that kingdom — "arc heirs of God and joint 
 heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ." They, there- 
 fore, feel that "all things" are theirs; and that 
 when God calls upon them to aid in "lengthening 
 the cords and strengthening the stakes" of Zion, 
 he is simply calling upon them to increase their 
 own inheritance. The heirs of a throne are w^ill- 
 ing to see immense treasures expended in build- 
 ing up that throne. Believers, then, in a certain 
 sense, have the same interest in disseminating the 
 gospel that God himself has; for each one of them 
 is a member of that "little flock" to whom it is 
 the " Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom." 
 An additional argument is based upon the fixct 
 that such a spirit promotes religious growth and 
 development. A Church-member who is destitute 
 of the "spirit of missions," is destitute of the 
 spirit of Christ. The Great Teacher said, "Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
 every creature" — not to the Jewish nation onlj^, 
 but to all nations. In his broad and comprehen- 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 271 
 
 sive plan "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circum- 
 cision nor nncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, 
 bond nor free." The commission, then, was not 
 limited to those to whom it was personally given, 
 but extends to their successors — to all who 
 "should believe on him through their word.' It 
 Avas intended to embrace all Christians — minis- 
 ters and laymen — of every age. The words of 
 that commission, therefore, are just as binding 
 upon Christians of the present day as they were 
 upon those who heard them fall from the lips of 
 Christ himself Indeed, unless we so interpret 
 that language, we cannot, at this period, possibly 
 claim the promise, "Lo, I am with you alwa}', 
 even to the end of the world." If, therefore, we 
 would confine the command to the apostolic age, 
 we must, of necessity,- confine the promise to the 
 same period. But every one capable of under- 
 standing the import of language knows that such 
 an interpretation which would thus limit the lan- 
 guage referred to is not only unnatural but ab- 
 surd. Neither the command nor the promise was 
 local or temporary; but both are the vords of a 
 King who "cannot die; and they are addressed, 
 by the highest authority, to each one of his sub- 
 jects." True, there are many more now than 
 then who are tkus addressed; but numbers can- 
 not diminish or dilute our obligations. On the 
 contrary, they increase them; for numbers permit 
 organization, and organization augments jDOwer. 
 There is nothing selfish in the Christian relig- 
 
272 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 ion. Each one's share of the divine treasure is 
 not diminished, but ratiier increased by reason of 
 the multitude of participants. The prize gained 
 by one earnest runner in the Christian race is not 
 therefore lost, but rather rendered doubly secure 
 and precious to all who may be induced to be- 
 come aspirants. In the pursuit of wealth it may 
 be natural, however culpable, to begrudge another 
 his gains, or to be elated at our own acquisitions; 
 for wealth is a limited good. One man's money 
 cannot be his and another's at the same time; 
 and what the former may gain the latter may 
 lose. In other words, it is possible for one per- 
 son to be enriched at another's expense. The 
 same is true in, reference to contests for power, 
 rank, social position, etc. But with respect to 
 spiritual good — the gains and advantages of re- 
 ligion — it is altogether different. The latter be- 
 long to that class of blessings which possess the 
 quality of universality and inexhaustiblencss. 
 The liglit of the sun is not the less bright to one 
 person because it shines at the same moment 
 upon millions of others. The beauty which one 
 man beholds "in earth and sky " is not dimin- 
 ished by the multitude of spectators who may 
 share in his delight. Of a thousand persons who 
 may behold the same landscape, eftch may be said 
 to possess all the beauty. In like manner, those 
 blessings which constitute the Christian's portion 
 may become the common possession of myriads, 
 each one of whom may be said to possess the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 273 
 
 whole. The same blessed truths which fill the 
 soul of one may become the spiritual nutriment 
 of all his fellow-beings. 
 
 To somt^ the remark may seem extravagant, 
 but it is true : there can he no Christianity withoiit 
 a missionary spirit. What are the fundamental 
 principles of Christianity? They are, "Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," 
 and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 "On these two commandments hang all the law 
 and the prophets." Fortunately for us, too, the 
 same " Master in Israel," who made this grand 
 summary of moral and religious obligation, has 
 not left us in doubt as to " who is my neighbor." 
 In the parable of the Good Samaritan the great 
 lesson is taught that he "is my neighbor" whom I 
 can benefit — the weakest, the humblest, the most 
 ignorant, the most benighted; and the greater 
 the want, the more painful his state, the more 
 helpless and forsaken his condition, the more and 
 more, in the sense of the parable, is he "my 
 neighbor." 
 
 No Church, then, can prosper, even at home, un- 
 less it looks beyond the horizon of self A dis- 
 tinguished writer has said, "The heathen nations 
 need missions, but Christian nations need them 
 also." As to the truth of this remark there can 
 be no doubt. It is the reflex influence of missions 
 which the Christian nations need. No Church, no 
 Christian, can prosper spiritually that does not 
 18 
 
274 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 cnltivate a missionary spirit. He that watereth 
 shall be watered also himself. In the effort to 
 Christianize the heathen, the Church gains spirit- 
 ual strength. A denomination which proposes to 
 simply '-hold its own " will soon become extinct; 
 and the sooner it does, the better it will be. 
 Nothing can supply such a defect — yea, such a 
 l^alpable violation of the spirit and. letter of the 
 gospel. Wealth, social position, creeds, rituals, 
 etc., amount to nothing, if a missionary spirit be 
 absent. That is a true Church, and no other is, 
 which respects the command, " Go ye into all the 
 world, and preach the gospel to every creature." 
 To do so is to obey Christ; to refuse is to despise 
 his authority. In a word, find where we may a 
 Church that is interested upon the subject of mis- 
 sions, and we will not fail to find a prosperous 
 one. But, on the contrary, find where we may a 
 Church which, Gallio-like, "cares for none of 
 these things," and we will find a lifeless one — one 
 which may have "a name to live," but it is simply 
 a carcass. Nor should we be the least astonished 
 at this; for the Church that does not look beyond 
 self is acting in direct violation of the Sacred 
 Scriptures. Spiritual death, therefore, is the 
 legitimate retribution of such narrow, contracte<] 
 views and plans. If we ^could succeed we must do 
 Chrisfs work in Christ's way. 
 
 Finally, upon this point, the blessed Saviour 
 has made it the imperative dut}'- of his followers 
 to engage in this work. No one can read the New 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 275 
 
 Testament without coining to the conclusion that 
 "the Captain of our Salvation" relies upon the 
 grand arm^^ composing his Church for the con- 
 quest of a world in revolt. To enable it to per- 
 form the work assigned it, he has furnished it 
 with all the spiritual weapons it needs. Being it- 
 self a monument of the power and efficiency of 
 Divine truth, it is made its duty and privilege to 
 em^^loy the same instrumentality for the evangel- 
 ization of the world. To it Christ has committed 
 the sacred treasure; and, in so doing, he has re- 
 quired it to disburse the invaluable blessing for 
 the benefit of the whole human race. As long, 
 therefore, as there is one unsaved sinner — no dif- 
 ference where he is, whether in Christian or 
 heathen lands — the Church can never feel that its 
 work is done — that its mission is accomplished. 
 In its hands is placed the lever that is to lift the 
 groaning millions from degradation and sorrow, 
 and make them "heirs of God and joint heirs 
 with Christ." Thus furnished and endowed, it is 
 to go forth into every clime — "on the land and on 
 the sea" — through the whole extent of this out- 
 cast globe — calling upon its guilty inhabitants " to 
 behold the Lamb of Cod which taketh away the 
 sin of the world." Its mission is to the human 
 race; its tidings are the wonders of Calvary; its 
 object, the moral emancipation of a world. It is 
 with this view that the Church has been selected 
 as the receptacle of light from heaven — the radiat- 
 ing center of moral influence — the reservoir 
 
276 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 whence the waters of mercy poured down from 
 their celestial fountain, are to flow out in millions 
 of divergent streams, to purify and save the sons 
 and daughters of apostate Adam. Our blessed 
 Lord has pronounced upon this duty his own au- 
 thoritative decision, in words so direct and ex- 
 plicit that no sophistr}^ can evade their force or 
 question theii* import. He is the King of Zion, 
 and the Sovereign of conscience — a Saviour not 
 only to be trusted but obeyed. His will is law; 
 and, as a declaration of that will, he has said, 
 * 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel 
 to every creature." That command has not been 
 revoked It is still the unrepealed and immutable 
 statute of the kingdom. Nor will it ever be re- 
 voked or superseded, until the most remote 
 dwellers on the globe are made to feel its power. 
 This is his last and highest precept — the universal, 
 ever-binding enactment which he has left as the 
 director}^ of his people, in all conditions and for 
 all time. ISTor can they prove unfaithful to it 
 without frustrating the chief end of their calling, 
 and increasing the fearful guilt of treason to their 
 Lord and Master. True, the blessed Saviour, as 
 "all power in heaven and on earth" is his, might 
 have made a different provision for propagating 
 his gospel. He might have given a complete 
 Eible in every language and tongue; and he 
 might have sent his holy angels to proclaim it. 
 But it is presumption in the highest degree to 
 stop and consider what he might have done; the 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 277 
 
 question which concerns us is, what has he done — 
 what is his plan for disseminating his religion? 
 With the Bible in our hands, this question is 
 easily ansAvered: his people are to do that work. 
 Apart from this there is no agency in the universe 
 whose business it is to make known the grand 
 scheme of redemption. If, then, the Church fails 
 to sow the seed, to deposit "the leaven in the 
 lump," that seed will never germinate, the lump 
 will never be quickened. 
 
 Who, then, can estimate the consequences of 
 fidelity or neglect in the discharge of the mo- 
 mentous trust committed to the Church? What 
 grand conquests could be made by the "Zion of 
 our God" if its ministers and members would, in 
 good faith, recognize and meet the obligations 
 which are upon them in this particular! The 
 opportunities now offered for the accomplishment 
 of this work never existed before. Never, not 
 even in the apostolic age, has the Church had ac- 
 cess to so many and such efficient agencies for 
 publishing the gospel to the world. Its mission- 
 aries may traverse every continent, and gain ac- 
 cess to almost every island of the sea. Most of 
 the languages of the globe have been reduced to 
 writing, and the press affords the means of mul- 
 tiplying indefinitely copies of the word of life — 
 '•the sword of the Spirit." Literature, scienpe, 
 commerce, and emigration are all lending their 
 aid to disseminate the religion of the Bible. The 
 prophetic ''handful of corn" has already been 
 
278 PULPIT AND PEW. 
 
 planted on the tops of the mountains whose fruit 
 is to "shake like Lebanon." The God of mis- 
 sions is shaking the nations. He on whoso 
 vesture is written King of kings and Lord of 
 lords," now rallies his Church for the conquest of 
 the world; and on his banner is inscribed, in 
 characters of blood, "All power is given unto me 
 in heaven and on earth; and lo, I am with you 
 alway, even to the end of the world." In what 
 position do we personally stand in reference to 
 this important, this delightful duty? As mem- 
 bers of the great Christian family, each one of us 
 has a work to do. Are we devoting to that work 
 our time and talents — yea, the whole active energy 
 of our ransomed nature? Are we occupying that 
 high ground of religious consistency and personal 
 holiness which will best fit us for its successful 
 l)rosecution? Only so far as we thus live, are we 
 meeting the solemn duties of our profession. If 
 indifferent and unfaithful here, we are but cum- 
 berers in the vineyard of the Lord — salt that has 
 lost its savor — fountains whose waters are pois- 
 oned. Let us, then, awake to the glory of Christ, 
 and to the wants of a perishing world. The war- 
 fare in which we are engaged is not an uncertain 
 one. It may be a severe and a prolonged one; 
 but victory is sure. "The kingdoms of this 
 world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
 of his Christ." 
 
PULPIT AND PEW. 279 
 
 The foregoing closes what Ave have to say to 
 the membership; and in concluding this little 
 volume, we have a brief word of exhortation to 
 both classes — preachers and people; and the 
 author embraces himself as being one of the 
 number most needing the admonition which is 
 given. 
 
 There is a day coming in which " God shall 
 bring every work into judgment" — a day in 
 which the secrets of every life, whether good or 
 evil, will be disclosed — a day in which all that has 
 been done, and all that has been neglected, will 
 be brought to light; and everyone shall be re- 
 warded " according to his works." Pear brethren 
 in Christ Jesus, are we ready for that solemn 
 ordeal? Have we been as faithful as we should 
 have been? Have we no desire to add another 
 star to our crown of rejoicing? Have we no dis- 
 position to re-consecrate ourselves to God and to 
 his service? May the Spirit of all grace rebaptize 
 all of our hearts, and may each one of us heed 
 the words of the sacred poet: 
 
 "Be in earnest, Christian worker, 
 In your life of faith and love ; 
 Jesus calls you to his service — 
 Calls you from his throne above. 
 
 "Be in earnest, my brother, 
 In the work of winning souls ; 
 Go and bring the lost to Jesus, 
 "^ Bring them to hft gracious folds.