Ilibrary of congress. J I [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] ^' '! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | THE CHARACTER AND VALUE EYANGELICAL MINISTRY, AND THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN REGARD TO IT. -1/ BY REV. SIMEON wf^HARKEY, D. D. professor of STijcoIosa in Illinois «9a>»«*«»».»««>57 VI CONTENTS. 2. It is of great value as a means of civilizing and refin- ing mankind. The Gospel alone by the grace of God can purify the heart, and without purity of heart there can be no true refinement 68 3. It is of great intellectual value — as a means of educa- tion for the masses — open to all — and no truth equal lo Bible truth in enlightening, strengthening and ele- vating the intellectual faculties 76 4. It is of great national value. The faithful preaching of the Gospel qualifies the people for self-government as well as teaches them their rights, and sustains law and order among all .89 5. Finally, it is of great spiritual or religious value. God's appointed means for the spread of Christianity and the conversion of the world. The preaching of the Apostles and Reformers 98 CHAPTER Iff. DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN REGARD TO THE MINISTRY. This duty is two-fold: — 1. Properly to appreciate and adequately to sustain the ministry now in the field of labor; 2. To provide a ministry sufficient in numbers and qualifications for the conversion of the world. Ill 1. Ministry worthy of support — they are not beggars. Income of Lawyers — cost of Tobacco Ill 2. Ministers must be highly esteemed, 1. as the Ambas- sadors of Christ — 2. as men — 3. so as not to deprive them of their rights — 4. so as to provide for their wants — 5. and all this for their work's sake 123 CONTENTS. vii 3. Who is to furnish this country and the world with a true ministry? Great destitution— immigrant popu- lation — value of German literature and German piety. Six hundred millions of perishing heathens 141 CONCLUSION. An aS'ectionate appeal, addressed, l,to Ministers — 2, to Christians in general — 3, to Parents — 4, to Sunday school and other Teachers of youth — 5, to Young Men. . . .182 THE VALUE OF A-S EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. CHAPTER I. CHARACTER AND QUALIFICATIONS OF THE MINISTRY. The Gospel ministry is incomparably the most important trust ever committed to man. For, though all honest labor is honorable, and no calling, not even the most humble, to be despised, God has placed this at the head of all human employments. Other profes- sions and occupations have their value, but the sacred ministry exceeds them all as much as the interests of the soul and eternity do those of the body and of time. The farmer who cultivates the soil, the merchant who is engaged in an honest commerce or trade, the 2 10 THE VALUE OF AN mechanic in all the various departments of human skill and industry, the sailor who navigates the wide ocean, and the day la- borer who literally gains his bread by "the sweat of his brow," are all most usefully and honorably employed: but the minister of Christ has an infinitely higher and holier work. He labors for the glory of God and the enlightenment and salvation of immortal souls. The office of the lawyer is important. It is his business to plead the cause of the injured and oppressed, and to see to it that justice be done between man and man; but the minister pleads the cause of the Son of God and his blood-bought Church, and la- bors that men may be saved from error and ruin, from the power, pollution and guilt of sin in time and eternity. The office of the statesman is important. Into his hands are committed the interests of the country — the peace, prosperity and happiness of states and nations ; but the minister is an ''ambassador for Christ, as though God did beseech men by him, he prays them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God." The office of the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 11 physician is important. He has charge, to a certain extent, of the health and life of his fellow-men; but the minister is, under God, the physician of souls, and has charge of men's spiritual health and eternal life. What awful consequences result from a want of competency or faithfulness in a gos- pel minister! When the lawyer is incompe- tent or unfaithful, oppression and injustice will prevail; when the statesman is not quali- fied for his post, or neglects his duties, the commonwealth will suffer; when the physi- cian has no skill, or does not properly attend to his business, the health of his patients will not be recovered, or their life may be the for- feiture; but when the minister is unfaithful or incompetent, the interests of truth are be- trayed, religion is disgraced, the Church suf- fers and bleeds at every pore, souls perish, sin and the devil prevail, hell rejoices and heaven mourns. The quack in medicine wickedly sports with our dearest temporal in- terests — our life and health ; but the quack in the pulpit (a sight for angels to w^eep over !) sports with our immortal souls, w^ith heaven 12 THE VALUE OF AN and hell, with the tears and blood of the Son of God. How carefully and seriously should every minister ponder the exhortation of the apostle Paul, 2 Tim. 2 : 15, '^ Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." And well may the faith- ful servant of Christ exclaim, ^'Who is suffi- cient for these things!" *' 'Tis not a cause of small import The pastor's care demands; But what might fill an angePs heart, And filled the Saviour's hands." ? Who then is a minister of Christ, and what character and qualifications does he possess? This is a grave and most important question, and yet might receive a brief and very em- phatic answer. Not every man is a minister who professes to be one, or wears the minis- terial garb. Many ''have stolen the livery of heaven to serve the devil in !" The min- ister is not an unconverted, immoral, inac- tive, ignorant, incompetent man ; but a true, holy, faithful, zealous, enlightened, godly EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 13 person — a chosen servant of Christ, possess- ing the character and spirit of his Master. I. A minister must he a truly converted and devotedly pious man^ eminently a man of God. This is the first, highest, and most important qualification. It is altogether in- dispensable. Nothing can supply the want of this. Without deep personal piety all a minister's other qualifications and attainments, however brilliant, are comparatively useless. No extent of learning, no burning eloquence, no fiery zeal, are of much consequence with- out vital godliness. He who would lead sinners to Christ must first know Christ him- self — must have felt the power of religion in his own soul — must have been made experi- mentally acquainted with the plan of salva- tion through a crucified Redeemer. Love to the Saviour and the souls of men must have brought him into this office and must keep him in it. The Holy Ghost must have kindled this sacred flame in his heart, and much prayer and communion with God must keep it constantly and vigorously burning. Without this he can be but "a blind leader 2* 14 THE VALUE OF AN of the blind." He can neither properly un- derstand nor teach the holy Scriptures, be- cause an important part of Christianity can be known only by experience. In fact, he is an intruder, a usurper. He has no business in the ministry. God never called him, for he does not call unconverted men. He ought not only to be pious, but emi- nently so. He must have a high standard of Christian attainment. He ought to be in advance of all the members of his church in grace and holiness, because he is to be their head and leader. He must be an example to all, and be able to instruct and edify all, of every age, character and condition. He must be able to awaken sinners, reclaim wanderers, confound errorists, convince the skeptical, silence infidels, instruct the ignor- ant, relieve the doubting, direct the inquiring, encourage the desponding, comfort mourners, and lead the most advanced Christians to still higher attainments in the divine life. He must furnish '' milk for babes," as well as '^strong meat" for men. He must ^'feed the lambs," as well as edify and lead on the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 15 aged saint. In the pulpit, the Sabbath school, the catechetical class, the family cir- cle, the sick chamber, and at the dying bed — every where he must be at home, and able to instruct, warn, guide, and comfort. He must ''preach the word, be instant in sea- son, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." 2 Tim. 4 : 2. Now it must be perfectly clear that all this requires not only extensive learn- ing, a thorough acquaintance w4th human nature, and much skill, but that it requires especially eminent piety, high attainments in grace and holiness, a profound experimental knowledge of spiritual religion and the deep things of God, and the constant influence and teaching of the Holy Spirit. 2. The true minister must he called of God. The ministry is of divine appointment, ''And no man taketht his honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." Heb. 5 : 4. The Saviour instituted this office, and its first incumbents were selected by himself, and he must still fill up its ranks if we are to have the right kind of men in it. 16 THE VALUE OF AN It IS still true that " God makes ministers." Hence the command of Christ to us is, when we see ^4he harvest plenteous and the la- borers few," ^^pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." Matt. 9 : 38. Now this call of God is of two kinds; the one imme- diate or miraculous, and the other mediate or ordinary. The ancient prophets and apos- tles were called and qualified for their work in the former manner, of which the case of Paul is a striking example. He was miracu- lously called. But as the days of miracles in the Church are past, we have no right to expect such calls now. God has established a regular mode of perpetuating and filling up the ranks of the ministry, and men are now called only in the mediate or ordinary way. When God has appointed means for the ac- complishment of an end, he always works by those means. But it will be asked, what constitutes a call to the ministry at the pres- ent day'? I answer, four things. First, undoubted personal piety, producing ardent love to Christ and the souls of men. Sec- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 17 ondly, an inward abiding conviction that it is our duty to serve God in this office^ and a willingness to endure its labors ^ toils and dif- ficulties^ not from any expectation of temporal reward or emolument^ but for Chrisfs sake. A strong sense of duty, so that we are led to exclaim with Paul, '^ For necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel." 1 Cor. 9:16. A willingness "to forsake all and follow Christ" in this work — a readiness to go to the ignorant, the destitute and neglected, or even to the be- nighted and degraded heathen with messages of salvation. The pious man who feels an inward conviction and desire of this sort ought to regard it as a strong evidence that God has called him to the ministry. Thirdly, the possession of a healthy body^ and at least ordinary mental abilities. Men of feeble constitutions and sickly bodies cannot endure the labors of the ministry, and rare indeed are the eases in which such should seek the office. And while I would not say that every minister must of necessity be a "tal- ented man," in the popular sense, I do le- 18 THE VALUE OF AN gard it as indispensable that he should pos- sess good common sense and ordinary pow- ers of mind. He ought to have a certain '' aptness to teach," or at least the ability, by a proper course of education, to become an agreeable speaker and an apt teacher. In a word, what we here insist upon is, Mens Sana in corpore sano^ as the Latin pro- verb has it — ''a sound mind in a healthy body." Fourthly, the indications of Divine Providence that it is our duty to devote our- selves to this work. When God calls a man to this office there will always be some signs by which his will is indicated in the matter, and he who devoutly prays, ''Lord, what w^ilt thou have me to do," will not fail to see them. Difficulties will be removed, and the w^ay opened in a manner that is often truly wonderful. Let me add here, that whilst I believe that many a man has entered the ministry un- called, I am also persuaded that there have been and are hundreds, and even thousands, w^ho do not heed the divine call. Multitudes are called to repentance and salvation w^ho EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 19 do not repent and believe; and so many are called to preach the Gospel who disobey the Almighty. The difficulty is, that the bold and self-important are apt to thrust them- selves forward, while the diffident and worthy are often kept back. Many wrong notions too are prevalent upon the subject.' Under the impression that ministers are called of God, some are waiting to hear a voice from the skies before they "wiW obey ! This little volume will probably fall into the hands of many a young man whose solemn duty it is to serve God in the ministry. Young man ! how will you answer the Lord for this ne- glect of your duty? How can you sleep with the cries of the destitute and perishing ringing in your ears ? Remember that you will meet the souls of those who ^^ perish for lack of knowledge " at the judgment day, when you might have been instrumental in saving them from endless ruin. Will not their blood be found in your skirts ? May God stir up your heart and conscience to duty. 3. A minister must be ordained or regu- 20 THE VALUE OF AN larly set apart to the work by jyroper church authority. This may indeed be considered as a necessary part of his '' call," and no man has a scriptural right to exercise the functions of the ministry who has not been regularly and legally ordained. The teach- ing of the Bible on this subject appears to me to be very clear and full. Christ did not give indiscriminate authority to all his disci- ples to go forth to preach his Gospel and administer the ordinances of his religion. He selected his apostles, carefully instructed them for three years, and set them apart to this work. He gave them authority which he did not give to other believers. And the Saviour plainly tells us, ''Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." John 10 : 1. However men may differ as to the form of Church government, or the proper authority to ordain ministers, whether by a bishop, or as in apostolic days, '' with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery," (1 Tim. 4 : 14,) there is a general agreement EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 21 that they must be regularly set apart or con- secrated to this office ; otherwise they ^' enter not by the door into the sheepfold," but climbing up some other way they are "thieves and robbers." It is equally evident that the apostles did not give a general license to every person to go forth as a preacher of the Gospel ; but they '^ ordained elders in every city," selected and set apart particular indi- viduals to this work. Paul gives special directions to his son Timothy on this subject: " And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. 2 : 2. But I deem it unnecessary to argue this point, as it is very plain, and is, I think, generally ad- mitted. Nor is it any part of my plan to enter here into the much controverted ques- tion of episcopal or presbyterial ordination. It does, however, belong to the design of these pages to offer a few remarks on the solemn nature and binding obligations of an ordination to this sacred office. On this point there is much that is wrong and greatly 3 22 THE VALUE OF AN to be lamented in practice at the present day. Men abandon the ministry, or give but little attention to it, and engage in some secular employment for light and trifling reasons, just as if their ordination vows meant no- thing : and others separate themselves from the body of Christians to whom they were so solemnly bound, and " set up for them- selves," just as if they had a right to do so, or there were no sin in schism or the creation of new sects. Now it does appear to me that when a man has declared himself called of God to the work of the ministry, and has been sa- credly devoted to it by the imposition of hands and prayer — has voluntarily taken upon himself the awful vow^s of ordination, unless there should be some marked pro- vidential interference, he cannot draw back or separate himself from his brethren with- out GREAT GUILT. In all Ordinary cases our ordination ought to be considered as separating us from the world, and binding us to this w^ork of God for life. Surely in this solemn transaction we were not set apart to EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 23 be farmers, mechanics, politicians, trades- men, or something else, but ministers of Christ, and if we feel right we must feel with the apostle that ''necessity is laid upon us; yea, that woe is unto us if we preach not the Gospel." 1 Cor. 9 : 16. Nothing but sickness, or some other insuperable difficulty, can discharge us from these obligations. We are required to '' give ourselves wholly" to this work, and he who, for any insufficient reason, abandons it, or attends to it but im- perfectly, betrays the cause, violates his ordination vows, and becomes a " covenant- breaker" in the sight of God. And St. Paul puts covenant-breakers with the worst classes of mankind. Rom. 1: 29-31. So, too, it is evident that ordination binds a man to ecclesiastical order. He is not per- mitted to foment strife or divisions among his brethren, or to separate himself from them and commence a new sect. The man who does so, not only breaks his covenant, but is also a schismatic, and can hardly claim to be still a true minister of Christ. I regard this as a most serious matter. "Now I 24 THE VALUE OF AN beseech you, brethren," says the apostle, ^^mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned ; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." Rom. 16 : 17, 18. And again he says, '' Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tra- dition which ye received of us " 2 Thess. 3 : 6. In view of these facts, what shall we say of the disposition to multiply religious sects which has so abundantly manifested it- self in these latter days? Or rather, what shall we say oftheir originators and founders? Now I have no desire to write a single word which shall wound any man or class of men, and yet the truth of God must not, dare not, from any consideration, be compromised. In pleading for an evangelical ministry I feel bound to expose and reprove what is un- scriptural and irregular in this matter, and I EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 25 do therefore enter my most solemn protest against the sect spirit which has become so rife in our country. Here we have a multi- tude of litde sects of recent origin, who, for light and trifling reasons, have broken off from the regular evangelical churches of the Reformation, and are filling up the land with men called ministers of Christ, who are mostly uneducated, and in nearly every re- spect unqualified for the holy office, and who are dividing and distracting hundreds of con- gregations and neighborhoods, and causing offences contrary to the Gospel of Christ. Instead of going to the destitute or the heathen, these men usually carry on a kind of Indian warfare upon the outposts of other churches, and expend their superabundant zeal in efforts to proselyte the weak and less informed. Precisely answering to the de- scription of Paul, they do ''by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. ^^ It is not, however, their irregu- larities, proselytism and fanaticism that I design here specially to notice, but their origin and ecclesiastical foundation. These 3* 26 THE VALUE OF AN I believe to be irregular, unsound and un- scriptural. How have the sects which have so numerously sprung up in our American churches during the last half century or more originated? Mostly in something like the following manner. Mr. Newlight (to use a fictitious name) is a regular minister of one of the churches of the Reformation. In this church he has probably been born, educated, converted to God, and solemnly ordained to the holy ministry. For a while he preaches the Gospel with fidelity and zeal in the church of his fathers, but by and by he fan- cies that he has made some new discoveries in doctrines or ecclesiastical polity, and that he is called to the work of a great reformer in the world ! Or he thinks that he has more zeal and piety than his brethren, and that some new measures must be introduced to arouse the church out of its dead and for- mal state. He now begins to introduce some of his novelties and make a show of his zeal and piety, but soon finds that his brethren do not all agree with him, that they are slow to come into his measures, and per- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 27 haps, in certain quarters, he meets with some opposition, or has even to suffer a little per- secution. Well, what does he do now? Why, finding that he cannot reform his own church, according to his own notions, right away, he breaks loose from his present con- nections, "sets up for himself," and starts out to take all other churches, and the world, too, by storm! He soon gets a few fol- lowers around him, (for any man can get followers,) and he forms a new sect! And now the people begin to call his party by his own name, and the thing makes some noise, and for a while spreads like wild-fire^ In the meantime converts multiply, and more preachers are needed to disseminate the new doctrines and build up the new sect. Mr. New^light now calls a convention of his fol- lowers, and a dozen or two of the most bold and self-conceited present themselves, ready for ordination as preachers, and he lays his hands upon whomsoever he can, and sends them forth. Soon the country around swarms with these men, and they make a wonderful stir! They now begin to rail out fiercely THE VALUE OF AN against ''college-bred ministers" and ''money preachers," and thank God that they are not as these other men ! The mean business of distracting churches and proselyting the weak and ignorant now commences in good earnest. These people soon discover that it is not best that their sect should bear the name of their founder, as he may be a very obscure indi- vidual, and hence they try to cover up their ecclesiastical nakedness and deformity by assuming some beautiful scriptural name: they call themselves the "Church of God," or the " Disciples of Christ," or something else of this kind. Now, in the name of God I ask. are we to regard all these proceedings as right and proper? Must we give these men the hand of fellowship, and receive them as the ministers of Christ? Have they walked, and do they walk orderly? And does not Paul say, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly?" What right had Mr. Newlight and his friends, on Bible ground, to separate them- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 29 selves from their brethren and commence a new sect? I deny that he had any such right. God never gave him or any other man any such authority. I consider that he acted in violation of his ordination vows — that he and his friends erred in this matter, erred greatly, grievously — that the whole proceeding was irregular and disorderly — that he is a schismatic in the true scriptural sense, and the church or denomination thus founded is schismatical. Its ecclesiastical foundation is utterly rotten. It is against such that Paul speaks in the passage already quoted, Rom. 16 : 17, 18. If Mr. Newlight had a right to separate himself from the Church in which he was reared, in which the truth as it is in Jesus is still held and believed, souls are still converted and saved, and men are still permitted freely to preach and confess Christ crucified — if he had a right to leave such a church and commence a new sect, then surely the same right must be conceded to every other minister, and even to every layman who thinks that he possesses more light and more nietv than his brethren ! 30 THE VALUE OF AN And what must be the inevitable result? What would become of the Church and of Christianity? Would it not be torn into a thousand fragments, according to the differ- ent whims and notions of men? Would not, in fact, the Church of Christ be utterly destroyed, and Christianity wounded, yea, murdered in the house of its friends ? Is it any wonder then that the apostle should re- present this sect spirit as so great an evil, and declare that such men '' serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple?" Nothing can be clearer than that men possess no such right. He gave no authority to his apostles to go forth and establish one a church of Matthew, another that of Peter, a third that of John, and a fourth that of Paul! No; but what do these apostles themselves declare? Says Matthew, '' One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Matt. 23 : 8. And John 17 : 21, tells us that Christ prayed '' that they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 31 be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." And hear, especially, the apostle Paul: ''Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of ApoUos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Cor. 1 : 12, 13. What a rebuke is here administered to this sect spirit ! The plea that some of these schismatics set up, that the Church with which they were connected had become too cold and formal, will not avail : because, if they really had so much more light, piety and zeal, they ought to have remained until the whole mass of their brethren had become leavened ; '' for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Why not stay and '' let their light so shine before men, that they might see their good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven?" Matt. 5 : 16. Why "remove the candlestick out of his place ?" Why go out and commence a new society, adding another to the number of sects, and causing strife and division in so many congregations 32 THE VALUE OF AN and families? What if they should have had to meet opposition and suffer a little persecution in their efforts to elevate the standard of piety in the church which they say was cold and dead? Would this not have been a blessed and glorious work, and must not persecution and opposition be en- countered every where in the faithful dis- charge of Christian duty ? We are plainly told that " all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3: 12. But it is said these men do some good — souls are converted through their instru- mentality. I reply that this is the doctrine of Romanists, ''that the end justifies the means!" And are these apologists prepared to act upon the principle, ''let us do evil that good may come ?" God may and often does bring good out of evil, and so "makes the wrath of man to praise him," but this does not justify the evil. The only question, therefore, is, are the proceedings here re- ferred to irregular and unscriptural ? This I think is very clear, and hence ihey must be condemned and rejected. The same plea EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 33 might have been made in the days of Paul. Doubtless some of those men who '^ walked disorderly," and " caused divisions and of- fences," did some good — they may have professed a great deal of zeal and piety, too ; and yet the apostle declares that they "serve not our Lord Jesus Christ," and would have no fellowship with them. After all, they will in the end do a great deal more harm than good. The divisions and distractions, the quarreling and fighting among professed Christians, caused by this sect spirit, are most disastrous in their effects upon the true interests of Christianity. The weapons and energies of Christians designed to be em- ployed against the common enemy are used in opposing each other — the church and re- ligion are disgraced — the power of the Gos- pel is neutralized — thousands are driven into infidelity — the Spirit of God is grieved away — and true piety greatly declines. I cannot, therefore, do less than solemnly to protest against these schismatical proceed- ings — this multiplying of sects, and constitu- ting churches, and appointing ministers, in 4 34 THE VALUE OF AN this disorderly way. They are all wrong. Not only is there no scriptural foundation for them, but they are utterly contrary to the letter and spirit of the New Testament. 4. A minister of Christ ought to be an educated man. This is a self-evident propo- sition, and should require no defence. The minister is a public teacher of religion, and must be able to instruct, not only the ignor- ant and simple-minded, but the best educated and most intelligent of his hearers. How can he do this without a thorough knowledge of what he is to teach ? How can he refute the infidel, silence the objector, convince the errorist, expound the Scriptures, and explain Christianity to the people, unless he has thoroughly studied the subjects himself? Men never think of employing an uneduca- ted man to teach any human science or art, and why should an ignorant minister be ex- pected to be able to preach the Gospel ? — to explain the Bible, and teach the science of all sciences? When the Saviour selected his apostles, it is true he took plain men, whose literary attainments were limited; but EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 35 it is not true that he sent them forth without thorough instruction. For three years they studied theology with him who ''spake as never man spake," and then they were in- spired by the Holy Ghost, and enabled to speak languages which they had never learned, and were endowed w^ith other mirac- ulous powers. And when a man was to be appointed to be the apostle of the Gen- tiles, the Lord himself selected Paul, one of the most learned men of his age and nation. The Scriptures are plain on this point. ^'For the priest's lips should keep knowl- edge, and they (the people) should seek the law at his mouth : for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Mai. 2 : 7. And Tim- othy was to commit the things which he had heard of Paul to "faithful men, who should BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO." 2 Tim. 2 : 2. And again, in the fifteenth verse of the same chapter, Paul addresses him in this language, '' Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'' But it is impossible that an ignorant man 36 THE VALUE OF AN should be '^ able to teach others," and '^rightly to divide the word of truth, so that he needeth not to be ashamed." But, notwithstanding these plain Bible facts, there have been not a few who advo- cated an uneducated ministry, or at least apologized for it! Men could be found who boasted in the pulpit that ''they had never rubbed their heads against the walls of a col- lege or theological seminary^" It is true that they had no occasion to tell this, for the people usually found out the secret before they made it known ! It is to be hoped that ^' the times of this ignorance" have passed away for ever. The churches can no longer use such men, and the Christian public w^ill no longer endure ignorance in the sacred desk. Men who opposed an educated ministry usually did so for three principal reasons : first, that education w^as unfavorable to relig- ion — that it fostered pride and tended to infi- delity; secondly, that it made the ministry a mere profession or trade to be acquired by study ; and thirdly., that education was unne- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 37 cessary for a minister — that if he was called of God he would be able to preach v^ithout study or preparation — that the Holy Ghost would teach him what to say at the time he needed it. But surely it is not necessary that I should seriously set about answ^ering these objections, since they are all founded on a misunderstanding and a misapprehen- sion of the facts in the case. I w^ill therefore simply endeavor, in a few words, to set the matter in its true light. And first, it is not true that education or knowledge is opposed to or destructive of religion. I know, indeed, that there are educated men who are unconverted — who are wicked and infidels : but this proves nothing more than that education alone will not make men Christians — that knowledge is not godliness. But are there not also wicked men and infidels among the ignorant? Is it not here that we find the greatest and most brutish depravity? And on the contrary, have not many of the most learned men that have ever lived been eminent Christians? Were not Moses, Isaiah and Paul such? 4^ 38 THE VALUE OF AN And Luther, Melancthon and Calvin ? And Lock, Bacon and Newton? And Wesley, Edwards and Payson ? Indeed, it would re- quire a volume simply to record the names of such men. It is true, also, that there have been sciences, falsely so called, which have been set against Christianity. But this has been the result, not of true knowledge or real science, but of error or the want of true knowledge. Religion and true science never can be in opposition to each other, because God is the author of both, and he cannot contradict himself All truth is from God and is harmonious, whether taught in nature or in the Bible. Hence there ever is and must be a perfect agreement between the teachings of real science and true religion. Science is the handmaid of reli^rion. And as to the idea that knowledge fosters pride or puffs up with vanity, this too is a mistake. Some of the most learned men I ever knew were among the humblest, and some of the proudest were very ignorant. True knowledge always tends to humility; but those who have but a little, a mere smat- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 39 tering, not enough to enable them to under- stand their own ignorance, are apt to be filled with self-conceit and vanity. It is to such that the language of the poet applies : ** A little learning is a dangerous thing ! Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring ; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again." A thorough education, so far from making a man proud, must humble him, because it shows him what he is and how little he knows. Set it down as an infallible rule, that when you see a proud, upstart, foppish minister, too stiff and starched to bend with- out breaking, who seeks to make a display of his learning by quoting Latin and Greek in the pulpit, and using language which the people cannot understand, and who is all the time ballooning it up in the heavens — set it down, I say, that he wants either brains or education, or both. He has neither sense in his head nor grace in his heart. A man of real mind and attainments never acts in this way. Equally unfounded is the other objection. 40 THE VALUE OF AN that education makes the ministry a mere profession or trade to be acquired by study. I admit that unconverted and unworthy men have at times found their way into the holy office, and pursued it as a mere trade or pro- fession; but I deny that such intruders have mostly been persons of regular education. Just the contrary, I think, is the fact. Our country, especially in the newer settlements, ever has been infested and cursed by design- ing, ignorant impostors, who shrunk from the light, and disgraced the very name of minister. It is not education, but the want of it, that has lowered the character of the ministry in the United States. Of course, I do not plead for unsanctified learning, or knowledge without piety. On the contrary, I have already endeavored to show the indis- pensable necessity of deep personal piety in the ministers of Christ; but I utterly deny that education of the right kind has a ten- dency to fill the church with unconverted preachers. A learned man will feel the ne- cessity of the divine assistance ifi preaching more than an ignorant one ; and having en- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 41 (leavored to aid himself properly, he will have more of that assistance. I agree with Dr. South, that '' the way to debase ministers and the ministry is to admit into it ignorant, sordid, and illiterate persons. This is to give the royal stamp to a piece of lead. I confess God has no need of any man's parts or learning ; but certainly, then, he has no need of his ignorance and ill behaviour. ^ ^ * The preferring undeserving persons to this great service was eminently Jeroboam's sin ; and how Jeroboam's practice and offence has been continued amongst us in another guise, is not unknown ; for has not learning unqual- ified men for approbation to the ministry ? Have not education and abilities been re- puted enemies to grace, and qualities no ways ministerial 5^ While friends, faction, well meaning and little understanding, have been accomplishments beyond study and the university ! * * * Hence it was that many ig- norant men rushed into the ministry, as being the only calling they could profess without serving an apprenticeship. Hence, also, we had those who could preach sermons, but 42 THE VALUE OF AN not defend them. The reason of which is clear, because the works and writings of learned men might be borrowed, but not their abilities. Had, indeed, the old Leviti- cal hierarchy still continued, in which it was part of the ministerial office to flay the sacri- fices, to cleanse the vessels, to scour the flesh-forks, to sweep the temple, and carry the filth and rubbish to the brook Kedron, no persons living had been fitter for the ministry, and to serve in this nature at the altar. But since it is made a labor of the mind, as to inform men's judgments, and move their affections, to resolve difficult places of Scrip- ture, to decide and clear off controversies, I cannot see how to be a butcher, scavenger, or any other such trade, does at all qualify or prepare men for this work. But unfit as they w^ere, yet to clear a way for such into the ministry, we have had multitudes of ser- mons full of gibes and scoffs at human learn- ing. The ignorant have taken to heart to venture upon this great calling, and instead of cutting their way to it, according to the usual course, through the knowledge of the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 43 languages, the study of the original Scrip- tures, of philosophy, divinity and history, they have taken another and shorter cut, and having read a few little works on practical piety, the usual furniture of old women's closets, they have set forth as accomplished ^divines, and forthwith presented themselves to the service ; and there have not been wanting Jeroboams as willing to consecrate and receive them, as they to offer themselves. And this has been one of the mOvSt fatal, and almost irrecoverable blows that have been given to the ministry," South's Sermons, vol. 1, p. 67. An answer to the third objection to an educated ministry has already in part been given, namely, that it is unnecessary, that if a man is called of God the Holy Ghost will enable him to preach without education, study, or previous preparation. This objec- tion, I need hardly say, is founded in error. Men are not now inspired^ as were the apos- tles. The Holy Ghost will not make up for any man's natural weakness, ignorance or laziness. It is blasphemous to say or try to 4i THE VALUE OF AN make people believe that he will. When God has appointed means for the accom- plishment of a certain work or end, it is an insult to ask or expect him to set aside those means, and to do the work by miracle. I cannot see how an ignorant or lazy minister can dare to ask God to help him preach, when he has not first tried to help himself in the appointed way. I will here quote a few sentences from the sainted Baxter, than whom few abler, holier, or more successful ministers have ever lived. His opinions on this subject ought to have great weight. '' Do not reason and conscience tell you," says he in his Reformed Pastor, '4hat if you dare venture on so high a work as this, you should spare no pains to be fit for the per- formance of it ? It is not now and then an idle taste of studies that will serve to make an able divine. I know that laziness has learned to argue, from the insuflScieney of all our studies, that the Spirit must wholly and alone qualify us for, and assist us in our work. But can we reasonably think that God, having commanded us to use the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 45 means, would warrant us to neglect them? Will he cause us to thrive in a course of idle- ness ? Or bring us to knowledge by dreams? Or take us up to heaven and show us his counsels, while we are unconcerned about the matter? Strange ! that men should dare by their sinful laziness thus to ' quench the Spirit.' God has required of us that we be ^ not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.' Therefore, brethren, lose no time : study, pray, discourse and practice, that by these means your abilities may be increased." 5. The Christian minister must he evan- gelical, I mean by this, in the first place, that he must be orthodox^ sound in the faith. Not an Infidel, a Romanist, a Puseyite ; not a Rationalist, a Unitarian, a Universalist; but a man who believes and preaches from his heart all the great fundamental doctrines of the Christian system. Among these are the inspiration and divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, the fall and depravity of the human race, the divinity and atonement of Jesus Christ, regeneration by the Holy Ghost 5 46 THE VALUE OF AN through the means of grace, the necessity of repentance towards and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, justification by faith, and a holy life and good works as the fruits of faith, and the eternity of future rewards and punishments. There are other associated doctrines, of equal importance, belonging to this system, which I need not specify, as they are implied. I am sufficiently under- stood when I say I mean a man who cor- dially receives the grand system of truth which is held and believed by the great body of evangelical Christians throughout the world. I mean, in the second place, by the term evangelical to designate a minister who is not a bigoted sectarian^ blindly and obsti- nately attached to certain modes and forms and non-essential points, so that he can see no good any where else, and is all the while hampered and crippled by his narrow-minded and exclusive notions. Not such a man. But I would have the minister be a man of such enlarged and noble heart and liberal yiews as to be able to see and acknowledge EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 47 the work of God wherever found, and to co- operate with . other good men in the great efforts for the world's conversion. I would have him so deeply imbued with the spirit of his divine Master, so grounded and settled m fundamental truth, so pervaded by its vital power, so baptized with the Holy Ghost, so constantly and earnestly engaged in the work of saving souls and pushing forward the tri- umphal car of the Redeemer, as to have neither time nor inclination " to strive about words to no profit," or to engage in theologi- cal and metaphysical hair-splitting, and in quarreling and fighting about modes and forms and non-essential points of doctrine. In the third place, by the term evangelical 1 wish to characterize the style of a minis- ter's preaching. How must he preach, and what ? From the heart, " as a dying man to dying men," in view of the great judgment day. He must ^' preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." 2 Tim. 4:2. He must preach the word, the whole word, and nothing but the word of 48 THE VALUE OF AN God. The Gospel, not rhetoric, philosophy and moral essays; not incomprehensible met- aphysics and scholastic subtleties; not human creeds and sectarian dogmas; not ''foolish questions" and angry controversies; not cold, lifeless, heartless homilies; he must not starve the souls of the people on these husks; but he must preach the Gospel, warm, pure and holy, as it came from heaven. He must hold forth ''Christ and him crucified" as the centre and substance of the law and the Gos- pel, as the sun of the whole system of divine truth. All his sermons must be radiant with the glory which beams from the cross, and then he will be an evangelical preacher, and cannot fail to win souls to Christ. Then his "thoughts will glow, and his words will burn," and sinners will be converted. And he must be unwearied in this work — " in season, out of season " — seize favorable times and opportunities when they present themselves, and when none such present themselves take unfavorable ones. He must preach on the Sabbath and in the week, in the pulpit and " from house to house," and EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 49 by precept and example. He must preach plainly and simply, so that all his hearers, even those of least capacity, may understand him, and then he will be certain also to in- struct and edify the more intelligent. His sermons must be practical^ not long, dry, cold, soul-starving, doctrinal discussions, on the one hand ; nor mere ranting declamation, or frothy, furious exhortation, on the other ; but the deep and solid truths of the Bible, the marrow of the Gospel, in a practical manner. He must expound the Scriptures, unfold and bring out, in their proper time and order, all the grand and glorious doc- trines of Christianity, and thus enlighten the understanding and convince the judgment, and then seek to touch the conscience, elec- trify the passions, and powerfully to move the heart. Let him dip the arrows of his quiver in the blood of the Lamb, and then, taking sure aim, earnestly beseech God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, and he will preach with demonstration and power. He must be faithful — keep back no part of the truth from fear, favor, or regard to men's opinions and 5* 50 THE VALUE OF AN wishes ; but preach the law and the Gospel just as they are. He must add nothing, and subtract nothing. No part must be cast into the shade because another is more pleasant and he prefers it, or by presenting one side of a subject to the neglect of the other of I equal or greater importance. Let him not (I smooth down the bold and prominent features of the word, or wreathe the keen edge of " the sword of the Spirit" with the flowers of the imagination, so that it can do no exe- cution, or mollify the wounds which it has made in the sinner's heart with the oil of rhetoric, so that they shall not smart and bleed ; and on the contrary, let him make no rough places where the Gospel is smooth, and inflict no wounds where it is designed to heal. When he stands upon blazing Sinai, let its thunders roll, its lightnings flash, and the blasts of its awful trumpet strike terror into every guilty soul ; but when he ascends Calvary, let the notes be sweet and melting, as those that tremble on angelic harps. In a word, let him always remember that he is an ^' ambassador for Christ," a messenger of EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 51 God to men, and so preach each sermon, as if it were his last before meeting his hearers at the judgment bar. Such is an evangelical preacher. There are other qualifications which the minister of Christ must possess, upon which I deem it unnecessary to dwell here. They are connected with and grow out of those which have already been enumerated, and besides it is not my object to write a treatise on the character of the ministry, but rather to endeavor to show its value. He must be a sincere J humble^ earnest^ faithful^ laboriousy warm-heartedj prayerful^ holy man. He must have the spirit of his Lord and Master, whom he must seek to imitate. He must be wise to win souls — ''wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove." The object of his life must not be worldly gain — wealth, ease, comfort, honor, or applause of men; but the glory of God in the regeneration, enlighten- ment and sanctification of his hearers. He must be a true man^ a true Christian man — not a hypocrite, not a dissembler, not pretend- ing to be the friend of the people and con- 52 THE VALUE OF AN cerned for the salvation of their souls, when in reality he is not ; not attending to the solemn duties of his sacred calling as a mere matter of duty; but his heart must be in his work, and the people must see and feel it. They must know him to be a man upon whom they can rely with unshaken confidence. O how I despise insincerity and hypocrisy in a pro- fessed minister of Christ ! I wonder that a thunder-bolt from heaven does not strike him down every time he dares to ascend the pul- pit. He must be a working man — not an idler, not a dandy, not a '^gentleman of lei- sure," but an earnest, zealous, faithful laborer in the vineyard of the Master. He must give himself wholly to the work, and be willing ^' to spend and be spent " for Christ and souls. He ought to be a man of much prayer and strong faith, so as to be able to meet difficul- ties and trials without discouragement. He must '^condescend to men of low estate," have compassion upon the ignorant and those that are out of the way, and seek to accom- modate himself to all that he may do good to all. Especially must the minister's life and EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 53 conduct correspond with his profession and preaching. Example speaks louder than words, and the most splendid abilities and zealous and faithful efforts will accomplish but little, if not enforced by a godly walk and conversation. It is, therefore, well said to be '' the sacred duty of every minister so to conduct himself, that his life shall present to his congregations an example of true Chris- tian propriety of deportment." ''A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre ; but patient ; not a brawler, not covetous ; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity ; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?) Not a novice, (or one newly come to the faith), lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. More- over, he must have a good report of them which are without ; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." 1 Tim. 3 : 2-7, 54 THE VALUE OF AN He should ever remember that he has not only his conscience and private character to maintain, but a public character, and, there- fore, he must "avoid even the very appear- ance of evil.'' Many a minister has greatly impaired his influence for life, or even entire- ly ruined himself, by what might perhaps be called only a slight impropriety of conduct. And what makes the matter so serious is, that the injury is not confined to himself and his family ; but the church and religion are made to suffer and bear the blame. There should be a purity, dignity, seriousness, and proprie- ty about a minister's character and conduct, which would make his example worthy of universal imitation, and place him entirely above suspicion and beyond reproach. Such is a feeble sketch of the character and qualifications of the ministry I advocate. An order of men called and chosen of God to the great work of the world's conversion, they must be deeply pious, regularly ordained, well educated, evangelical, holy and of most exemplary deportment, earnest, prayerful, sin- cere, honest, entirely and fully devoted to his EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 55 work as appointed by Christ himself. Such a ministry is the greatest want and the great- est blessing of a lost world. Its value is be- yond all calculation, and to this subject I now invite the reader's most earnest attention. 56 THE VALUE OF AN CHAPTER II. VALUE OF AN EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. Infidelity not only denies the necessity of a ministry, but regards it as an imposition upon society. It avers that it would be better for the world if this office were entirely abolished, that the learning, piety, and labors of cler- gymen would be much more useful to man- kind if employed in some other way than preaching the gospel — that the whole ex- pense of educating and supporting ministers, building churches, and sending out missiona- ries, could be saved — that all this money is worse than wasted. Now we, who are in the ministry, claim to be honest men, and that we are laboring for the glory of God and the good of society; but if our office could be shown to be a perfect sinecure, a useless burden upon community, and even injurious to its best interests, we ought all immediately to abandon it, and assist to pull down our churches, or convert them into something EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 57 else. How is this matter therefore ? What can we say for ourselves in regard to our of- fice? Well, we join issue with these men, and boldly assert against them that an evan- gelical ministry^ so far from being useless^ is the most important and valuable institution that God has established in this sin-stricken world. And we shall now proceed to show its immense value, and hope to set the whole subject in its true light. 1. And first ^ I assert that the ministry is of incalculable pecuniary value. Let it not be thought strange that I should begin the argument at this point. Some men can cal- culate the value of a thing only in dollars and cents, and if it cannot be shown to be worth just so much in ready money ^ they do not see how it can be worth any thing. And as the ministry is neither bank-stock, nor specie, nor real-estate, producing a six per cent, interest, nor a commodity that can readily be con- verted into cash, they regard it as possessing no value. Hence they contribute to the sup- port of the gospel with about the same feel- ings as those with which a miser gives a 6 58 THE VALUE OF AN rusty copper to a suspicious looking beggar. Now we must meet these men on their own ground, and I shall, therefore, proceed first to measure the ministry by the money standard. How much is it worth to the community in dollars and cents ? Not much, does some one perhaps sneeringly reply, for it costs large sums to educate men for this office and support them in it, besides all the expense of erecting churches and sustaining Christianity. But hold, objector, you are quite too fast ! Do you mean to "jump at conclusions" in this manner, without surveying the ground over which you have come? I shall prove against you that the faithful minister of the gospel adds more to the ivealth and prosperity of the community f in which he labors^ than any other man in it, no matter what his position, business, or means may be. He is by far the most important and valuable individual in it, even to its moneyed interests. High ground ! does some one exclaim ? What do you mean ? I mean just what I say, and w^ill endeavor to make my meaning perfectly clear by an ex- ample. Some years ago there lived, at the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 59 same time, in the city of Philadelphia, two men, one of whom w^as immensely rich, and the other, a faithful minister of the gospel, was poor. The name of the rich man was Stephen Girard, and the minister was the Rev, James Patterson of the Presbyterian Church. Now" what I mean is that James Patterson was w^orth more to the city of Phil- adelphia in money ^ or to its moneyed inter- ests, though poor, than Stephen Girard with all his wealth. Nor do I wish to be under- stood as disparaging Mr. Girard. I believe him to have been in many respects a useful citizen, and his money was w^orth about as much to the community in which he lived as the money of such men usually is. But let me ask, w^hat gave value to Mr. Girard's property ? What would it have been worth had it not been for Mr. Patterson and other men like him ? How long would it have been secure from the torch of the incendiary and the violence of the mob, if all the restraints imposed upon the law^less by the faithful preaching of the Gospel in Philadelphia had been removed? Not a single hour, as all 60 THE VALUE OF AN cannot but know. It is the civilization, the enlightenment, the purity and virtue, the honesty and justice, the security to life and possessions which the Gospel promotes and secures, which give value to property in any community. Hence as Mr. Girard, and all other property holders in that city, owed the value and secure possession of their wealth, their peace and safety, and even the security of their lives and homes, to the conservative influence of the Gospel — to just such men as Mr. Patterson — it is clear that the latter was worth incalculably more than the former even to the moneyed interests of the city. This reasoning is confirmed by the experience and acknowledgment of even a wealthy Quaker gentleman, (and Quakers do not believe in a regular ministry,) who was an extensive prop- erty holder in that part of Philadelphia called the Northern Liberties, where Mr. Patterson collected a congregation and built a church, and where his mortal remains repose in his own graveyard. Mr. Quaker was showing a friend the improvements in the neighborhood, when, coming to the grave of Patterson, he EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 61 said, "Seest thou that stone ? There lieth the person who did more to raise the value of property in the Northern Liberties than any man that ever lived ! " But how ? Simply by preaching the Gospel and building up a Christian Church in that neglected part of the city, and thus exerting a most powerful and happy influence in favor of law, order, and all that is good in that community, and making it a desirable place of residence. This the Qua!:er had felt in the immense increase of the value of his property. Shall I now ask how much was Mr. Patterson's ministry worth in dollars and cents ? But I must bring the subject a little nearer home to the reader's owm heart and conscience. You own prop- erty in the community in which you reside. What is it worth ? Your house or farm, or whatever it may be ? Have you ever inquired what gives it its present value? Why is the land in your neighborhood worth more now than it was when the w^ild Indians and buffa- loes roamed over it ? Or how much would your property be worth if situated in some fertile valley of the Rocky Mountains, or in 6* 62 THE VALUE OF AN some heathen land, or destitute neighborhood where there are no Christian ministers and churches ? Or suppose that all your houses of public worship were burned down or con- verted into theatres, the voice of every faith- ful minister of Christ among you hushed, and all the sanctifying influences and wholesome restraints of a preached Gospel removed; then tell me how much would your property be worth? How long would your house be your castle, the peace and virtue of your fam- ily be secure, and you be permitted to lie down at night and sleep quietly, without any fear for your life and possessions? When these questions are answered I shall be able also to state what is the pecuniary value of an evangelical ministry. It is a plain case. Men talk about the protection of our laws ; but what are laws without a public sentiment and moral power suflicient to enforce them ? Mere cobwebs. The lawless multitude would laugh at your courts of justice, prisons and penitentiaries, as well as at your fire com- panies to save your cities from the flames, EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 63 and your iron chests, bolts and bars to secure your banks, stores, houses and families. But I have additional facts to present on this subject. Why was property more valua- ble in Jerusalem of old in the days of David and Solomon than in those of the wicked and licentious Ahab ? And using the lan- guage of another, ''what shall w^e say of the people of Sodom, where Lot could not exer- cise the rites of hospitality to his angel guests, by reason of the surrounding depravity and licentiousness?" Reader! what would you have given for Lot's house, if put up at auc- tion, situated in the midst of such a commu- nity? And no doubt it was a good house — certainly a good man lived in it. But you reply that you have no property in Sodom, and that the argument is ''far-fetched." But let me ask, how long would it take the place in which you live to become a Sodom, if all your faithful ministers and Gospel influences were removed ? Not ten years, as I do verily believe. You see then that the argument is not so "far-fetched." It has a direct and most important home application. 64 THE VALUE OF AN Look also at infidel France during 'Hhe reign of terror," as it has been called, a num- ber of years ago. Did not every kind of property sink in value by reason of the inse- curity of life and possessions felt by all, and universal bankruptcy threaten the nation ? And even to this day does not every man, acquainted with the facts, tremble for the re- sult in that unhappy country ? What a dis- grace to the name of a Republic is France, where a miserable usurper can in a few days virtually make himself emperor ! What is the government of France now but a military des- potism? Louis Napoleon's seat, like that of the present Pope of Rome, "is upon French bayonets." Every moment there is danger that the smothered flames of revolution will break out again, and spread devastation and ruin over the land. Well, what ails France.^ W'hat does she want? She wants the Bible, a Protestant Christianity, and a faithful evan- gelical ministry. Without these nothing un- der the heavens can save her. Her soil will again be deluged by the blood of her own citizens, and nothing but the iron rod of des- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 65 potism can govern her. Her reason and infidel philosophy and Roman Catholicism cannot save her. " There is another fact" showing the pecuniary value of an evangelical ministry, says a late writer, '' which should not be over- looked: it is the remarkable one, that no- w^here, except w^here Christianity prevails, can you find those partnerships in trade and commerce which are indispensable in order to give to property its greatest value. This fact, attested by travelers and missionaries in pagan countries, speaks volumes in favor of Christianity, as the friend and promoter of earthly prosperity. Why cannot heathens, as well as Christians, combine their w^ealth, so as to give it greater value by giving it greater power of accumulation ? It is be- cause their religion, or rather the w^ant of true religion, forbids the exercise of mutual confi- dence, creating universal mistrust, and mak- ing every man an iceberg to his neighbor. Hence the reason why, in pagan'^countries^ you cannot find any associations for purposes of trade or commerce — of banking or benevo- 66 THE VALUE OF AN lence. Hence their resources are crippled, and the public mind is stagnant. But let the Christian pulpit be planted there, and the truth as it is in Jesus pervade the hearts and minds of the people, and the now dead mass would at once exhibit signs of life, and put on such an aspect of enterprise and prosperity as heathenism never saw, and never can pro- duce." It is impossible to estimate fully the influence which a fiiithful Christian ministry has upon the prosperity of a land. Many other facts might be adduced, show- ing the immense value of the Christian pulpit to the moneyed interests of a nation or com- munity ; but I deem it unnecessary. I will only add, what must be readily suggested to any reflecting mind, that it costs Jess to re- strain and irrevent vice and crime than to support them. One or the other must be done. Wickedness must either be prevented or cured; and if ever ''an ounce of preven- tion is better than a pound of cure," it is in this case. Let any man reflect, and try to estimate, if he can, what is the cost, directly and indirectly, of all the criminal prosecutions EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 67 in the United States, of all the court-houses, jails and penitentiaries, of all the drunken- ness, wars, and other crimes, and of the prop- erty destroyed by fire and otherwise by the wickedness of men, and he will have some idea of the value of an institution which goes directly to prevent and restrain vice and crime, and indeed to root them out entirely. Now the ministry is this institution. That is, not a time-serving, velvet-tongued, popu- larity-seeking ministry; but one that is true, earnest, bold, independent and faithful. One that will fearlessly speak out in the name of God, and with a powerful hand hurl the thunder-bolts of the divine wrath against sin, and pour the burning lava of heaven's own truth in mighty streams upon the hearts and consciences of the guilty. The fact is, that the people of this country have just this choice: either they must educate and support faithful ministers, build churches, and main- tain and spread Christianity ; or they must build and sustain a sufficient number of jails and penitentiaries to hold all the criminals, which will multiply in the land like the frogs 68 THE VALUE OF AN of Egypt. Either, by means of the labors of a fearless and devoted ministry, must the masses of the people be made moral, and vice and crime be prevented, or, as in France, must an immense standing army be main- tained to cure the dreadful disease with cold lead and polished steel. Reader! which do you regard as the best and cheapest plan ? For which purpose will you give your money ? I beseech you to think of these things when you are again asked to aid in the education and support of ministers, and the sending forth of missionaries, and contribute accord- ing to the value which you receive. 2. Again^ an evangelical ministry is of great value in the civilization and refinement of society. It is the principal means of keep- ing up any proper sanctification of the Sab- bath, and of bringing the people together in an orderly and Christian assembly. If there were no preaching of the Gospel, the Sabbath would either be spent in labor as other days, or in idleness and dissipation; and all the hallowed, refining and enlightening influences of the Lord's day would be lost to the com- EVANGEIJCAL MINISTRY. 69 munity. But as long as the Christian pulpit is sustained, the observance of this sacred day will also be kept up. Men will lay aside their worldly employments, and all, old and young, rich and poor, the workman and his hands, will rest one day out of seven and en- gage in the worship of their Maker. And who can calculate the amount of good thus effected in the civilization and refinement, as well as in promoting the peace, health, pros- perity and happiness of the community. It affords relaxation to body and mind^ The farmer leaves his fields, the laborer his toils, the mechanic his shop, the merchant his counting-house, the teacher the confinement of the school-room, and the professional man his business, and all rest and are refreshed. A visit to the house of God calls Iheir atten- tion to the other world, and to other scenes and duties, and they are enabled, at least for a time, to lay aside and forget the cares and troubles of life. A day thus spent almost makes new men of them. '' It is better than a thousand." They have breathed another atmosphere, eminently healthful and invig- 7 70 THE VALUE OF AN orating, and they take a new start in life. They are prepared to enter upon the labors of the next week with fresh hope, zeal and comfort. It promotes domestic peace and hap- piness. Perhaps the father and head of the family has enjoyed little of his home during the week. Early and late he has been away at his toils. Hurriedly he came and went from his meals, the cares of his business all the while pressing upon him, so that he had neither time nor inclination to exchange even a few pleasant words with those whom he loves. But now the Sabbath has dawned, and how altered the situation of that family ! The anxieties of business and the week are laid aside, the father's care-worn countenance is calm and placid, and pleasant intercourse is had and sweet counsel taken around that domestic hearth. Clad in their best, with smiling faces and joyful hearts, the members of that family, parents and children, are now seen v/ending their way, hand in hand, to the house of God, to '' hear of heaven and learn the way." Blessed institution of God! Who can estimate how much this promotes EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 71 the peace, happiness and refinement of that Christian family ! But the preaching of the Gospel also promotes purity of heart and life^ and thus tends to the refinement of society* '' Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth," is the prayer of the Saviour; and as there can be no true refinement without purity of heart, so there is no power in the universe that can renew and sanctify man's corrupt nature but the Spirit of God by means of his own truth. Educate a man as you will, polish his manners, and let him enjoy the advantages of '^the best society," as the world would express it, and what is he with- out a renewed, sanctified heart? *'A whited wall — a garnished sepulchre." You have drawn forth the intellectual powers, and adorned the outer man, but you have left all the savage passions unsubdued in the heart; within he is full of every corruption and abomination. But bring him to the house of God, and the very silence and solemnity of the place must have a powerful influence upon him. He now listens to the sacred song and the devout prayer, and the minister 72 THE VALUE OF AN of God tells him of his sinfulness and danger, and points him to death, judgment and eter- nity. His wickedness is rebuked, and his lusts wither and die, as the lightnings of di- vine truth are flashed upon his heart and con- science. The tendency must be greatly to soften, subdue, and refine, even vvhere actual conversion to God does not take place. The tiger is tamed. But when the Holy Spirit descends '^ to convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment," and the assembly is melted into contrition and peni- tence before God, as is often the case under the faithful preaching of the Gospel, how powerful the effect ! What searching of heart! What self-loathing! What desires after holiness and conformity to the divine will ! It is under such influences that men's hearts are renewed and their characters changed. But as this subject will come up again in a subsequent part of this volume, I will not dwell upon it now. I will only yet add that, aside from the instructions and the direct religious influences of the pulpit, the simple meeting together of jMople in the house EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 73 of Gody the reverence y decency and decorum of the place J tend greatly to purity and re- finement. Behold a Christian assembly met together for public worship ! Here all are neatly, decently clad ; proper attention has been given to cleanliness and the toilet, (and some attention to these things is necessary, if we are to be any thing else than heathens ;) the passions are calmed ; quietness, solemni- ty and good behaviour mark the deportment of every one ; each is respectful to his neigh- bor and attentive to the exercises of the oc- casion ; the proud seem for a time to forget their vanity, and the most rude to learn man- ners ; all distinctions are laid aside, and to- gether they sing, pray and hear the Gospel. how blessed is the influence of such a meeting ! Now suppose that there were no Sabbath. and no such meeting together of the people ; but that, ^'unshaven and unshorn,'' all lived on from week to week, month to month, and year to year, without any speci- fied time to change their dress or occupation, or attend to cleanliness of person — I ask what must be the inevitable result? Must 7* 74 THE VALUE OF AN not, in a short time, all decency of behaviour and refinement of feelings and manners be utterly lost among the masses ? Or suppose that when men did assemble and seek each other's society, it were in the disorderly and tumultuous manner of the political meeting, the theatre, the circus, and the bar-room, to have their passions inflamed, and to become excited and quarrel ; what must, under such circumstances, in a few years, become of our civilization and refinement ? I hesitate not to reply that, with all our boasted enlighten- ment and polish, the vast multitude would soon return to perfect heathenism Just let all our churches be shut, and every evangeli- cal pulpit be silenced in this land for ten years, and we w^U have heathens in abund- ance in the United States, if indeed the whole country did not sink with the weight of its own corruption long before that time. There is no use to attempt to set aside the truth of this reasoning. '^ Facts are stubborn things." Let infidels say what they may, it is a fact that real civilization and refinement can be produced only by the Gospel of Christ. EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 75 There never has been, and there is not now, a people upon the face of the earth that can properly be called civilized or enlightened, except under the influence of Christianity. No system of education, philosophy or morals, that the genius of man ever invented, can elevate our wretched and fallen race. Many noted experiments have been made which have all ended in signal failure and disgrace. The history of the world is decisive upon this point. Sooner may ^'the leopard change his spots, or the Ethiopian his skin," or the mighty river run backwards, than that any power but that which is Divine should be able to renew, elevate and sanctify man's corrupt nature. God alone, who created the heart, can new-create it, and to talk about refinement without this, is surely to talk non- sense. What! that man really refined whose heart is still the seat of every vile affection and unholy passion — out of w^hich still ^' pro- ceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, for- nications, thefts, false witness and blasphe- mies?" No, no; without scriptural holiness no person can be said to be truly refined, 76 THE VALUE OF AN any more than Satan himself. And as the preaching of the Gospel is the principal means to effect this, how important must it be to the elevation and refinement of the human family. 3. I come in the third place to consider the intellectual value of the ministry. Ministers generally are, or ought to be, ed- ucated men, who are capable of instructing the people. They are the devoted friends and patrons of education, and, as a class, American Protestant clergymen have done more, and are now doing more, to extend its blessings to all ranks and conditions of our population than any other portion of our fel- low citizens. They are greatly in advance of the other professions in this respect. When schools are to be established, colleges and seminaries founded and cared for, a Christian press is to be set up, a Christian literature to be published and spread abroad, the public mind to be enlightened, the public conscience to be quickened, and great systems and en- terprises for the intellectual and moral eleva- tion of men are to be adopted and carried for- ward, to whom shall we go, to whom do we • EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 77 go, but to an intelligent and pious ministry ? Most of the professorships in our higher sem- inaries of learning are filled by clergymen. Most of the valuable books published in this country have been written by them, and for our best newspaper and periodical literature we are indebted to them. In these respects they are eminently distinguished, and in this country stand quite in the front ranks of literature and science. But it is not here that the chief intellectual value of the ministry is found ; but in the in- structions of the pulpit. Evangelical clergy- men have never had justice done them in this respect. The faithful preaching of the Gos- pel is a most powerful means of public edu- cation. And here is one of the great points of difference between the Protestant Minis- try and the Romish Priesthood. We are PREACHERS ; not Latin Mass-sayers — not pontifical sacrificers — not sacred mounte- banks — but expounders of the Word of God, and public teachers of religion. This has been the principal work of true ministers ever since the office was instituted. Christ himself 78 THE VALUE OF AN was a PREACHER. ''He went about all the cities and villages " of Palestine, ''teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom." Matt. 9 : 35. And his last great command to the apostles was, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- manded you." "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Matthew 28 : 19, 20. Mark 16 : 15. And having received such a high commission, the apostles well understood that they were not to be priests and sacrificers, but preachers of the Word. Hence we read of them, that soon after Pentecost and while yet at Jerusalem, " and daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ." Acts 5 : 42. And Paul appeals to the elders of Ephesus, saying, " I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance tc- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 79 ward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:20, 21. This is suffi- cient to show both the character and work of the ministers of Christ, and I believe that in these United States Protestant clergymen do more, by the preaching of the Gospel, to dis- seminate the truth and enlighten the public mind, than all other persons and instrumen- talities united. Their instructions embrace the most important and valuable subjects ; they are open to all — rich and poor, old and young, high and low, educated and ignor- ant — and they are brought down to the ca- pacity of all, even those who cannot read may hear and learn. How sublime the sight to behold a w^hole city, town, or neighbor- hood, repairing to the house of God, Sabbath after Sabbath, to be taught the great lessons of divine truth by the living ministers ! — go- ing to school to the messengers of Jesus Christ ! How wide-spread and important must be the influence which is thus exerted upon the intelligence and virtue of the com- munity and upon the nation at large ! ^^ And let me add, there is di power in Bible 80 THE VALUE OF AN truth, the truth of God published from our evangelical pulpits, to enlighten the mind, to arouse and invigorate its energies, which no other kind of truth^ possesses. We have heard of the power of mathematical and scientific truth, and of the study of the lan- guages and philosophy to awaken and de- velop the intellectual faculties, and to dis- cipline and beautify the mind ; but there is no truth like that of God's Word for this pur- pose. Nor do I now refer to the influences of the Holy Spirit which ever accompany the faithful preaching of the Gospel ; but I mean that power which is in the Divine Word it- self. It is adapted to the nature and wants of man by infinite wisdom, and hence, when preached in its purity, will exert an influence, far beyond that of any other kind of truth, in drawing out the human intellect and giving it strength and manliness. This fact is suffi- ciently attested by the great superiority of Christian over heathen nations, both ancient and modern, and of one people over another, just in proportion to the extent to which the Gospel has prevailed among them in its EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 81 purity. All know that there is a vast differ- ence between the inhabitants of the United States and Mexico, for instance, New England and South America, Great Britain and Spain, and the question is, how does it come? What is the cause of it ? Will it be said that the Anglo-Saxon race, which seems destined at no distant day to rule the world, is naturally superior to other races of men ? If so, we still ask how does it come ? Have not all men the same origin, the same Creator, and the same destiny ? Do they not dwell upon the same earth, cultivate the same soil, breathe the same atmosphere, and look upon the same sun and heavens above, and the same mountain ranges and natural scenery be- neath ? Whence then the difference ? Why was it said, boastingly of course, in the late war with Mexico, '^that one Yankee was w^orth a dozen Mexicans?" And the result of the whole contest, especially the battle of Buena Vista, seems to prove that there was some truth in the saying. But how ? Had the Yankees any natural advantage over the Mexicans ? Surely not. They were away 8 S2 THE VALUE OF AN from home and in an enemy's land, and the advantage must have been on the other side. Their cannons, muskets and swords, were no better. Had they then a greater thirst for blood? — more war, or more devil in their hearts ? No, no. How then can we account for these facts? But one solution, I think, can be given. The Yankees were freemen, but the Mexicans miserable slaves, fettered in intellect and conscience by a horrible sys- tem of superstition and priest-craft, falsely called Christianity. The one have the Bible, a free Gospel, and an educated, faithful evan- gelical ministry. From their cradles they had breathed the pure and invigorating atmos- phere of a country made free by the word of God, and they knew and felt that they were MEN. But the others are without the Bible, without the ministry, and without any of the sacred influences of a pure Christianity, and scarcely know or feel that they are any thin^ more than beasts. I know well that the Bible does not teach or encourage the spirit of war ; on the contrary it inculcates and tends to pro- duce universal benevolence and peace: but I EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 83 am now speaking merely of its power to arouse, invigorate and free the intellect ; and it may and does exert this power without necessarily sanctifying the heart. The immense field of knowledge opened before the mind in the Gospel, and the great, important and thrilling truths which form the subject of pulpit discussions, are eminently calculated to call forth all the latent energies of the soul, and to bring them into the most vigorous and healthful exercise; and as a con- sequence, those powers must be developed, enlarged, elevated and beautified. The Gos- pel spreads out the universe and eternity be- fore us; tells us of a God who is almighty, omniscient, every where present, and infinite iii all his perfections, and most glorious in all his ways, and whose government extends over the universe, and over all time, past, present and to come. It reveals a plan of salvation so grand and magnificent that an- gels desired to look into it, and that the most powerful intellect staggers beneath the effort fully to grasp it. The evangelical preacher points to a state of immortality beyond the 84 THE VALUE OF AN grave, and unfolds man's future wonderful destiny ; for '' Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." He dwells upon many other equally great, sublime and stirring truths, which I need not specify. Now it is perfectly manifest that these are the most grand and awful subjects that can ever be brought before the human mind, and those, too, in which man is most deeply interested. Their contemplation must, therefore, tend to awaken, expand and invigorate the powers of the soul, as nothing else can. It is im- possible that the mind should be brought, Sabbath after Sabbath, to grapple with such subjects, without vast improvement. A great increase of activity, power, knowledge and manliness must be the result. I will here introduce a few extracts from a sermon of Melvill on '^The power of religion to strengthen the human intellect," (Sermons by Henry Melvill, B. D., pages 140, etc.,) which are alike striking and beautiful. '^And what we contend is, that the study of the Bible, even when supposed without influence EVANGELICAL INHNISTRY. 85 on the soul, is calculated, far more than any other study, to enlarge the mind and strength- en the intellect. There is nothing so likely to elevate, and endow with new vigor, our faculties, as the bringing them into contact with stupendous truths, and the setting them to grasp and measure those truths. If the human mind grow dwarfish and enfeebled, it is, ordinarily, because left to deal with com- mon-place facts, and never summoned to the effort of taking the span and altitude of broad and lofty disclosures. The understanding will gradually bring itself down to the dimen- sions of the matters wath which alone it is familiarized, till, having long been habituated to contracting its powers, it shall well-nigh lose the ability of expanding them. But if it be for the enlargement of the mind, and the strengthening of its faculties, that acquaint- ance should be made with ponderous and far- spreading truths, it must be clear that knowl- edge of the Bible outdoes all other knowledge in bringing round such result The Bible, whilst the only book for the soul, is the best book for the intellect. The sub- 8* 86 THE VALUE OF AN limity of the topics of which it treats ; the dignified simphcity of its manner of handling them ; the nobleness of the mysteries which it develops; the illumination which it throws on points the most interesting to creatures conscious of immortality; all these conspire to bring round a result which we insist upon as actual and necessary, namely, that the man w^ho should study the Bible, and not be bene- fited by it spiritually, would be benefited by it intellectually. We think it may be leck- oned amongst incredible things, that converse should be held with the first parents of our race ; that man should stand on this creation whilst its beauty was unsullied, and then mark the retinue of destruction careering wath a dominant step over its surface; that he should be admitted to intercourse with pa- triarchs and prophets, and move through scenes peopled with majesties of the Eternal, and behold the Godhead himself coming down into humanity, and working out, in the mysterious coalition, the discomfiture of the powers of darkness — oh, we reckon it, w^e say, amongst incredible things, that all this EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 87 should be permitted to man — as it is permit- ted to every student of Scripture — and yet that he should not come back from the enno- bling associations with a mind a hundred-fold more expanded, and a hundred-fold more elevated, than if he had given his time to the exploits of Caesar, or, poured forth his atten- tion on the results of machinery." I must be indulged with one extract more from this excellent discourse: '^ We say again, that if you keep out of sight the concern that man has in Scriptural truths, regarding him as born for eternity, there is a grandeur about these truths, and a splendor, and a beauty, which must amaze and fascinate him, if he look not beyond the present era of existence. In all the wide range of sciences, what science is there comparable, in its sublimity and diffi- culty, to the science of God ? In all the an- nals of humankind, what history is there so curious, and so riveting, as that of the infancy of man, the cradling, so to speak, of earth's population ? Where will you find a lawgiver from whose edicts may be learned a nobler jurisprudence than is exhibited by the statute 88 THE VALUE OF AN book of Moses ? Whence will you gather such vivid illustrations of the power of truth as are furnished by the march of Christianity, when apostles stood alone, and a whole world was against them ? And if there be no book w^hich treats of loftier science, and none which contains a more interesting history, and none which more thoroughly discloses tlie 'principles of right and the prowess of truth; why then, just so far as mental im- provement can be proved dependent on ac- quaintance with scientific matters, or histori- cal, or legal, or ethical, the Bible, beyond all other books, must be counted the grand en- gine for achieving that improvement: and we claim for the Holy Scriptures the illustri- ous distinction, that, containing whatsoever is needful for saving the soul, they present also whatsoever is best calculated for strength- ening the intellect." My apology for these long extracts from Melvill is found in their intrinsic value and the great importance of the subject. I need scarcely observe that if his reasoning applies to the reading and study of the Scriptures, it EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 89 applies with much more power to the faithful preaching of the Gospel, where these great Bible truths are forcibly brought out and il- lustrated, so that all understand and feel them. Indeed I know not how we can overrate the value of the right kind of a ministry as a means of education for the great mass of the people. If it had no other value, this alone would be a sufficient reason why all should rally around it, and vigorously support it. As a means of education alone it repays any community a thousand-fold for what it costs to sustain it. 4. / remark^ in the fourth place, that an evangelical ministry is of great national value. In a country like ours, where the public will is the ultimate source of power and the supreme law of the land, it is of the utmost importance that the public mind should be properly regulated and sanctified by the Gos- pel of Christ. If we lived under a monarchi- cal government, where the will of the king was our supreme law, we should all feel it to be a matter of the highest moment to our in- dividual and social happiness that that king 90 THE VALUE OF AN should be a very wise and a very good man. If we knew him to be thoroughly educated and a devoted Christian, we would have an assurance that he would make only wise and good laws, and that he w^ould always do right, and we should feel contented and hap- py under his government. But if he were an ignorant and wricked man, how^ dreadful w^ould be our situation ! Well, ours is a Republic. Here the people rule. But the worst form of government of which we can conceive would be that of a republic where the people gen- erally were ignorant, corrupt and wicked. Hence we have not ojie king to educate, but many; for in a certain sense all are kings here. Every voter among us should there- fore be qualified, intellectually and morally, as if he w^ere to govern the nation alone. Nothing can be plainer than that to govern themselves well, the people must be qualified for it. They ought all to have proper quali- fications, for they all take a part in the gov- ernment. The question whether the people are capable of self-government is easily an- swered : if they possess the necessary intel- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 91 lectual and moral qualifications to lead them to make good laws, and to obey them, they are undoubtedly qualified. If not, they are not and never can be. And Christianity furnishes the only means by which men can become thus qualified. I say emphatically they must become qualified for self-govern- ment, for they are not so by nature. They are deeply fallen and dreadfully depraved. '' The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint." ^' The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it ?" Men are full of evil desires, lusts and passions ; how should they be able to make good law^s ? The heart is a corrupt fountain whence flow out continually '' evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, blasphemies, false witness, and these things defile the man." How should such a corrupt tree be able to bring forth good fruit ? or such a poisonous fountain send forth sweet waters ? Man's understanding is dark- ened, his conscience polluted, his will en- slaved by sin, his judgment often swayed by passion, and his affections vile and misplaced. 92 THE VALUE OF AN Now the public will of a nation, made up of such fallen and depraved creatures, must of necessity be as corrupt as the individuals are, and would in fact be but an expression of their aggregate wickedness. Accordingly the voice of the people, instead of being the voice of God, would be much more likely to be the voice of the devil. It would not be vox populi^ vox Dei^ but vox diaboli! What kind of laws would such people make ? Or if they had good laws, what would they do w^ith them ? But one answer can be given to these questions, and that is written with blood in the history of every nation that has ever attempted self-government without the powerful and saving influences of the Gospel of Christ. I consider then that the matter is setded, that the people must first be qualified before they are capable of self-government. Two qualifications are indispensable, viz : intellisrence and virtue — education and true religion. Now Christianity has this great distinction and honor, that it teaches men their rights and qualifies them to maintain and enjoy them. It is eminently democratic EVANGELICAL ML\ISTRY. 93 in its spirit and principles. It knows nothing of "the divine right of kings," or of one class of men to oppress and enslave another. Our national Declaration of Independence is but the echo of the teachings of the Bible when it says : " We hold these truths to be self-evident: — that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." This was not a new sentiment hatched up in the brain of the author of the declaration ; but the enunciation of an old Bible truth. Long ago the Bible had said, '' Have we not all one Father ? hath not one God created us ? Why do we deal treacherously, every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" "But be not ye called Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ ; and all ye are brethren." " Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them : for this is the law and the prophets." " And God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." (Matt. 9 94 THE VALUE OF AN 2:10. Matt. 23:8. Matt. 7:12. Acts 17:26.) I say Christianity not only thus teaches the natural equality and universal brotherhood of mankind, and therefore shows them their rights; but it also furnishes the means by which they can be qualified for self-government, that is to maintain and enjoy their rights. It alone can renew the heart, when applied by the Holy Spirit, and so sub- due and regulate the passions, as to enable an individual to govern himself; and a com- munity or nation is made up of individuals ; and where each can govern himself properly, the whole will have no difficulty in governing the nation. Now God's own chosen instru- mentality for spreading Christianity, and bringing it to bear upon the hearts and con- sciences of the people, is the faithful preach- ing of the Gospel. Other means may be employed, and have their use and benefit — the Bible must be circulated, the young must be instructed, and a sanctified literature fur- nished to all — but it is by the preaching of the Gospel, by holy and devoted men, more than by any and all other means, that men EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 95 are to be awakened to a sense of their guilt and danger, reclaimed from a life of sin and folly, and led to that '' fountain which was opened in the house of David and to the in- habitants of Jerusalem for sin and for unclean- ness." Hence the ministry has a direct and most powerful influence in qualifying men for self-government, and in sustaining our free institutions. I do not believe that our pres- ent happy form of government could exist for any length of time without the powerful con- servative influence of the evangelical ministry of this country. It is a government of law^s and principles which are founded upon the Gospel, and can only be sustained when the people themselves are deeply imbued with and controlled by its spirit. The ministry is the chief instrumentality for diflfusing and maintaining these principles, and hence it is indispensable to our national prosperity and safety. The corner-stone of the temple of our liberties is Christianity, and its main pil- lars are the intelligence and virtue of the people. The moment you remove these sup- ports, the w^hole superstructure must crumble 93 THE VALUE OF AN to ruins ; while the light that shines around would only tend to make more apparent the extent and deformity of the terrible wreck. No man can fully estimate the value of the ministry to this nation. It will rise or fall w^ith it. A pious, devoted and well educated ministry is the nation's greatest safeguard and blessing; a corrupt or incompetent one, next to none at all, would be its greatest curse. The direct and happy influence of an evan- gelical pulpit, from Sabbath to Sabbath, is to sustain law and order — to diffuse a love of liberty, peace, and our republican institutions. Men are there taught to respect and honor magistrates, and to pray for our rulers and all that are in authority over us, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." It tends to form a public conscience, and to t set up and maintain the true standard of right, which is of the very first importance to the safety and happiness of the nation. Look at the workings of a vigorous public con- science ! Whence the odium which vice and EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 97 crime have to encounter among us ? Whence that withering rebuke which their perpetrator has to meet from an indignant public, and which makes him tremble and quake, or hide his head in shame ? It is because there is a public conscience which instinctively con- demns the wrong and approves the right. Let a man commit some flagrant deed of w^ickedness, and for want of the necessary proof, or through favoritism, bribery, or some other means, escape the punishment which our laws inflict: how is he regarded b} a vir- tuous and insulted community ? Why, their indignation and frown immediately inflict an almost insufferable punishment. This is a tribunal w^hich cannot be bribed, and from which there is no escape, and a retribution which is certain, irreversible, and follows him to the grave. Why does the community render such a terrible and yet such a righteous verdict ? It is because a correct standard of right has been set up, and a healthful public conscience formed by the faithful preaching of the Gospel. So numerous and great are the blessings of 9^ 98 THE VALUE OF AN an evangelical ministry to the best interests of this nation, that though Church and State are, and ought to be, and must be for ever entirely separated in our country, yet the civil authorities ought to value most highly the services of these men, and sacredly to guard their persons and rights, and to see to it that they be not interfered with, or hindered in their great work and heavenly mission. That politician, legislator, or magistrate, must be regarded as the natural enemy of his country, who would interfere with, or regard with in- difference, neglect or contempt, the efforts and work of the true ministers of Christ. that our legislators may be wise and see the importance of these things ! 5. The last point to be considered in this connection is the spiritual or religious value of the ministry, I need not remind the Christian reader that this is after all by far the most important as- pect in which we can view the ministry. It is the grand instrumentality w^hich God him- self has instituted and employs for the con- version of the world. Other means are to be EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 99 used and have their importance, as we have remarked in illustrating another subject; — the Bible is to be circulated among all men, written truth in the form of books, tracts and periodicals, is to be given to the people ; and colporteurs may be sent out every where to circulate a Christian literature and converse and pray with the destitute and neglected ; private Christians are to employ efforts for the salvation of men ; and Bible and cate- chetical classes. Sabbath schools, and prayer- meetings, and other similar instrumentalities all have their importance, and may be made to work powerfully upon the destinies of our race for good; but God's great and chosen means is the preaching of the Gospel, This is above all the rest, and must ever have the preference, for it is "by the foolishness of preaching" that God saves them that believe. No other means, however good and useful , which tend to depreciate or set aside, or in- terfere with the ministry, can be innocently employed by the Church. All these other means, though they grow out of the piety and zeal of the Church, and are beautiful exhibi- 100 THE VALUE OF AN tions of the spirit of the Gospel, are of human appointment, but the ministry was instituted by Christ himself. I have for a number of years taken an active part in the operations of the American Bible and Tract Societies, and the Sunday School Union I have done what I could to promote their prosperity, and rejoiced and blessed God for their success. I have acted the colporteur to some extent myself, and have at different times had the direction and control of a number of colpor- teurs. And I am still interested in and at- tached to these operations w^ith all my heart ; yet I must confess that I have at times feared, that the attention and efforts and means of the American churches being taken up so much with the doings of these great societies, the} would, in some degree, lose sight of the infinitely greater and more important work of adequately supplying the world with the right kind of a ministry. This would indeed be a great calamity, for it would be neglecting Christ's own institution for those of man's devising. Now w^e have no reason to sup- pose that religion would prosper in the world. EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 101 to any great extent, or that many souls would be converted, without the preaching of Christ crucified, no matter what other means were employed. God is wiser than men, and he always has honored the instrumentality of his own appointment, and he always will. It is the ministry that has given life, energy and efficiency to all those other means and insti- tutions, and if it should fail, or be neglected, or its ranks be filled up with incompetent and unworthy men, they would soon languish and die, or utterly degenerate, every thing holy and good would suffer, and error, infidelity and wickedness would soon prevail uni- versally. While, therefore, I feel disposed to encourage the utmost zeal and efl^ort in behalf of those human instrumentalities for good, let us not forget God's own great insti- tution. The devoted ministers of Christ who are now in the field, '' bearing the burden and heat of the day," must be properly sustained and encouraged, and the church must adopt more efficient measures than she has ever yet done, to educate and send forth a sufficient number of able, devoted and faithful men to 102 THE VALUE OF AN "go into ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE Gospel to every creature." I think it cannot be denied that the pros- perity and success of true religion in the world has ever been identified with the pros- perity and success of a faithful evangelical ministry. In the language of Dr. Dwight, I think that it is true that ''relierion has in this respect been so nearly co-extensive with preaching, that where preaching has not been, there has, with scarcely a solitary exception, been no religion : and wherever preaching has existed for any length of time, religion has almost invariably existed also." The first converts to Christianity were made by the preaching of Christ and his apostles; and after the ascension of our Saviour the church was established and extended, Christianity spread, converts multiplied, and congrega- tions of believers gathered by the faithful preaching of the apostles and the first minis- ters whom they ordained. The same thing is true of the church during the several cen- turies immediately succeeding the days of the apostles, until the rise of the Great Apostacy, EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 103 when preaching gradually fell into disuse, and finally became almost extinct during the thousand years of the Dark Ages." At the Reformation it was again revived, and indeed it was the great instrumentality employed in the reformation of the church and the re-estab- lishment of true religion at that time, as it has been among Protestants to this day. The Reformers were nearly all eminent, pow^- erful preachers of the Gospel. It was their earnest and eloquent appeals from the sacred deskj falling like mighty thunder upon the dull ears of a slumbering world, which roused men to thought and to action. It is not without meaning that men said of Luther: '' Fulgura erant linguae Cuncta Luthere tuae." I hardly know how to put this into English, but the Germans have felicitously rendered it thus : " Donner und Blitzesschlag Luther ist all deine sprach." Perhaps if I here give what Professor Stowe says of Luther's preaching, the Eng- lish reader will understand why it was that 104 THE VALUE OF AN men declared—^' Luther ! thy language is all thunder!^' which is about the meaning of this poetic sentence. '' The German style of Luther is wonderfully idiomatic, pointed, piercing, and full of speaking pictures." And this applies especially to his preaching. ''There is no work of labor in it ; it is visibly a mighty mind and a great heart overflowing like Niagara. His sentences are like full charges of canister shot: they hit in all directions, they hit every where, and they hit all the time. It is in his native German, the German of his own creation, that his full power is seen, and never out of it. As a revolutionary orator, Luther was irre- sistible. So much coolness and so much fire, so much self-possession and so much excitability, so much logical power and so much exuberance of fancy, so much good sense and such ready wit, with such advan- tages of person and voice, have seldom, if ever, been found united in one individual. Conceive of the steady, flaming, religious fervor of George Whitefield, united with the perspicuity to seize, and the genius to repro- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 105 duce, every phase and fleeting form of human character, — the skill to touch, by the right word and the right metaphor, in exactly the right place, every chord of popular em-otion, — which characterizes Shakspeare ; all this set off by a muscular frame of fine proportion and manly strength, a fair, glowing face, which portrayed every sentiment before it was uttered, — a large, clear, blue eye, that radiated his very soul (and such a soul), — a voice powerful as thunder and musical as an organ — and you have some idea of what 'Luther was as a public speaker. Such was the power and flexibility of his voice that even in his old age he sang the alto to the delight of all who heard him.'' Bib. Rep. for 1844, p. 146. It was such preaching that produced the Reformation ; for it was a principal point with the leaders of that great moral revolution to have the Gospel preached every where in its plainness, simplicity and power. This gave them a great superiorty over the Papists, who were no preachers. I dare not, in the short compass of this little volume, enter at any length into this 10 106 THE VALUE OF AN subject; nor indeed is it necessary. Every person at all acquainted with the history of religion knows that the chief instrumentality for its promotion ever has been the preaching of the Gospel. Our Luthers, Melancthons, Zwingles, Calvins and Knoxes, of Reforma- tion times; and our Speners, Franckes, Bax- ters, Wesleys and Whitefields, of later days, were all eminent preachers. What influence was so mighty in the revival of true religion in the eighteenth century, in England and America, as the preaching of such men as Wesley and Whitefield, and of others whose souls were set on fire by their eloquence ? Their writings did something; but without the power of the voice of the living teacher little could have been effected. ''There is no more impressive illustration," says Dr. Spring, "of the power of the living teacher, than that which results from a comparison of the printed and uttered discourses of the most powerful preachers. When you read the discourses of Whitefield, you can scarcely be persuaded that he was the prince of preach- ers ; and that the author of those printed pages EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 107 was the man who collected 20,000 hearers on the open field at Leeds ; who fascinated all ranks of society ; who held Hume in pro- found admiration ; and who brought the infi- del Chesterfield to his feet, with outstretched arms, to rescue the wanderer from the fold of God, whom the preacher represented in the act of falling over the precipice. You read his sermons, but the preacher is not there. That glance of his piercing eye, that hushed thousands to silence in the open field, is not there. That voice, at a single intonation of w^hich a whole audience has been known to burst into tears, is not there. That instant communication between the living speaker and his hearers, which creates so powerful a sympathy, is not there." Power of the Pul- pitj page 16. And so in our own country, the great means by which the churches have been planted, enlarged and edified, and religion revived, spread and defended, has been the faithful preaching of the Gospel. Our Brain- erds and Tennents, Muhlenbergs and Hel- muths, Edwardses and Pavieses, Dwights . 108 THE VALUE OF AN and Masons, were all distinguished and pow- erful preachers. Especially is the history of revivals of religion identified with the faithful preaching of the Gospel. Where has there ever been a genuine revival, of any great extent and power, from the day of Pentecost to the present time, which has not been mainly produced or promoted by the preaching of the Gospel? I know that the use of other means has been blessed, but it has ahiiost always been under the direction of and in connection with the living ministry. So fixed and settled has the conviction of the church become on this subject, that it seems absurd to talk about or hope for a revival of religion without the faithful and persevering exhibition of divine truth from, the sacred desk. We must, therefore, either have a living ministry, and that a ministry of the right kind, or enjoy no more revivals in the churches. It is to the ministry, too, that, as Chris- tians, most men owe their all. How have we been led to Christ? Has it not been the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 109 voice of the living minister that arrested our attention in the downward course of sin and folly, convinced us of our guilt and danger, and pointed us to "the'Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world?" In times of temptation and trial how have we been rescued? — in seasons of coldness and back- sliding, how awakened and quickened? — in darkness and ignorance, how instructed and enlightened ? — in sorrow, comforted ? — when weak, how strengthened ? — and when spirit- ually weary, hungry and faint, how have we been encouraged, fed and established ? How, but by the instructions, admonitions and warnings of the faithful ministers of Christ? Other means may have been greatly blessed to our good, but in the great majority of cases the preaching of the Gospel has been the chief and most important. As then w^e value these blessings, and value the present and future salvation of our souls, let us learn to place a proper estimate upon that institu- tion of God to which we owe so much. And as one soul is worth more than all the world besides, who can calculate the value 110 THE VALUE OF AN of that instrumentality by which mostly souls are rescued from death and hell, are made savingly acquainted with Jesus Christ, and are fitted for eternal glory ! May God enable the reader properly to consider these things, and incline his heart to the faithful discharge of the duties which he owes to the living ministrv. EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 11 1 CHAPTER III. THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN REGARD TO THE MINISTRY. This duty is two-fold: first, properly to appreciate and adequately to support the ministers whose self-denying and faithful labors the churches now enjoy; and secondly, to see to it that this country and the world be fully supplied with the right kind of a ministry. An evangelical ministry is eminently worthy of support. The pulpit is not indebted to the people ; but the church and the whole country is indebted, immensely indebted, to the pulpit. If it cost ten times as much to sustain it as it does, the people would still be in its debt. If the preceding discussion has not made this clear, then I do not see how any thing can be made clear. And, therefore, standing upon this vantage-ground, this mount of truth, I want to say to the church and the people w^ho enjoy the labors 112 THE VALUE OF AN of faithful ministers of Christ, most emphati- cally and pointedly, pay your debts ! Pay the pulpit what you owe it, or you are dishon- est men ! Your ministers are not beofijrars — they ask not charity at your hands — pay them for their labor, for you are in their debt more than you ever can pay. I ask the reader to look again at the pecuniary value of the ministry — at its value as a means oi civilization and refinement — as a means of education — at its national and religious value ; and at every point I would say to him, pay your debts ! pay your debts ! Pay these men at least in some degree proportionate to the worth of their services. In their name I spurn with indignation the idea that they are a burden upon the community. I say again they are not beggars, but benefactors in the highest and most enlarged sense. They come not to impoverish, but to enrich; not to receive, but to scatter blessings broad- cast over the land. With Paul they can nearly all say, '' Poor, yet making many rich.'^ No class of citizens contribute so much to the general good of society — its 10* EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 113 prosperity and wealth — and all its highest and best interests. In fact it is a pure Gos- pel faithfully preached that has elevated our nation to what it is, and it alone can sustain it and raise it to still greater glory. I wish the reader then distinctly to understand that he is as much bound to aid in sustaining the Gospel that is preached in his neighborhood as to pay any other honest debts. And he is bound to give, not a dollar or two, just to ease his conscience and get rid of those who may have called on him, but he ought to pay in proportion to his means, and to the amount of labor performed and benefit received. Most men give too little in support of the Gospel — in fact the great majority in some churches pay almost nothing — make it a mere '' fippennybit business." I know hundreds of men, who are the owners of lands and houses, who are not ashamed to have their minister labor for them and their families the whole year for a dollar or two, and some even less ! Others think they are doing well if they give five or ten dollars, when, in view of the labor performed and the advantages 114 THE VALUE OF AN derived, they ought to pay forty or fifty. I know a pastoral charge in which a faithful minister preached to four congregations, con- taining together about ojie thousand members of the church, many of whom were wealthy, and they gave him on an average a little more than ffty cents a piece ! I knew another man who labored most devotedly for seven churches, including a considerable member- ship, and in as beautiful and rich a country as the sun shines upon, who had to ask and receive aid from the Missionary Society, and if his wife had not kept a boarding house to sustain the family, they would have had to beg! But I will not multiply examples, though they are at hand in any number, for such things are common^ especially in the country. What I have to say in regard to all such churches and professed Christians is, that they are dishonest in the sight of God and man. They wickedly withhold from the laborer his hire. If they had refused to pay the man who plows their fields or reaps their harvests, they would have been dis- graced and perhaps '' sued at the law;'' but EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 115 because it is only their indebtedness to God's minister that they would not pay, they pass for good Christians ! Now I do not ask that ministers should '^live upon the fat of the land," or be made rich ; but I do contend that it is a most just and righteous debt, that the people among whom they labor owe it them, that they and their families should not only be placed above want, but be made comfortable, so that they may be free from anxiety and "give themselves wholly to the work," and that they be not in their old days cast penniless upon the cold charities of a degenerate world. And I contend for another thing ; and that is, that what a man pays toward the salary of his minister he has no right to put down as charity or under the head of his contributions to benevolence. Many persons regard it as so much given away or bestowed, it may be, upon a worthy object ! Now I would ask such men whether they pay their blacksmith and shoemaker, and whether they regard that as a benevolent contribution ? And yet I greatly doubt whether even your blacksmith has labored as 116 THE VALUE OF AN hard and earned his wages as dearly as your minister, and yet yoii would put down his salary under the head of benevolence ! what a shame ! How can that be benevo- lence for which you have value, and value ten times told? No man is so worthy of support, as we have seen, as the faithful minister, and certainly no man, not even the most laborious mechanic or day laborer, more dearly earns his wages. His is a most anx- ious, responsible and arduous work and office. If he properly attends to it, he has not a single unemployed hour, and eats no idle bread. But early and late, on the Sabbath and in the week, in his study and in the pul- pit, in the Sunday school and the catecheti- cal class, in the social meeting and from house to house, in the chamber of sickness and affliction, and at the dying bed and the funeral, he has ahvays work. The appropri- ate duties of his office require all his time, talents and energies. He devotes himself wholly to the cause and to the best interests of his people, and it is cruel, it is wicked, EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 117 when that which is due him is withheld or doled out as if it were a charity. Recently a statement went the rounds of the papers, in which it was estimated that the united salaries of all the ministers of the Gospel in the United States amounted to about six millions of dollars a year. Whether this estimate is true or false, I do not know ; but taking it for the present as something near the truth, I wish to place a few other facts by the side of it. "According to Liv- ingston's Law Ledger for 1852, our country has 25,000 Lawyers, whose annual income is not far from $36,000,000 !" If then the salaries of the ministers of the United States annually amount to six millions of dollars, those of the lawyers amount to thirty-six millions ! After perusing this little volume, I will leave the reader to decide for himself which of these two classes of men is worth most to the people of this country. Or let me submit another fact. "It is admitted that; over $1,000 worth of tobacco is con- sumed daily in the city of New York — about half a million per annum in that city alone — 11 118 THE VALUE OF AN and all the land bears a due proportion to New York in this thing. If so, the people of the United States consume daily near $50,000 in tobacco — or the enormous sum of about $18,000,000 a year!'' Their min- istry of all denominations costs them six millions of dollars, and their tobacco eighteen millions ! The former they pay to have the Gospel preached to them and their souls saved — to have Christianity, virtue, morality, law, order, and every thing which is good, sustained among them ; the latter they pay that they may chew and spit, and smoke and puff, and snuff! And of this vast consump- tion of a costly, offensive, poisonous drug — unnecessary and often directly and positively hurtful — professing Christians use a full pro- portion according to numbers. There are vast multitudes, who fail to give a dollar or two a year to their minister or to the cause of Christ, who pay ten, tioenty^ or even fifty dollars a year for tobacco ! Or let us look a moment at the consump- tion of alcoholic drinks. I know a commu- nity of 6,000 people, noted for its moral and EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 119 temperate habits. And yet from the number of taverns and other places where liquor is sold in that town, and a personal knowledge of some facts, I am sure that it is a very low estimate when I set down the amount used there at an average of ^30 for every day in the year, or about ^11,000 annually. In this I do not include the wholesale business of the place, for there are several wholesale establishments in the town which sell a much larger quantity ; but as this is not consumed in the place, I do not take it into my esti- mate. Now at this rate there is consumed in the United States from forty-five to fifty millions of dollars worth of strong drink annually. I feel certain that this estimate is too low, probably by nearly one half. It does not include the cost of the crime, pauper- ism, destruction of property, and loss of labor occasioned by intemperance : if this could be ascertained and added, it would probably amount to the startling sum of several hun- dred millions of dollars per annum! But if we adhere to the moderate estimate which I have made, it will appear that Mobile the 120 THE VALUE OF AN people of this country pay six millions of dollars a year for the preaching of that Gos- pel which saves them, they p^y Jlfty millions for that which goes directly to destroy them in body and soul. These facts I think entirely ''use up '' the objection to the ministry on the score of ex- pensiveness, and put to shame those who make it. It is my deliberate conviction that there is no class of American citizens so poorly paid as evangelical clergymen, in pro- portion to the amount of labor performed and the value of those labors. At the same time the Bible is very clear and full as to the duty of the church to support the ministry. Pass- ing by what is said on this subject in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and the provision which God made for the support of the priesthood in the Jewish dispensation, which was very ample, I need direct atten- tion only to a few plain passages in the New Testament, showing the duty of supporting the ministry which Jesus Christ appointed. Selecting men as his apostles who were destitute of wealth, or worldly means and EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 121 influence, he gave them the solemn and responsible commission to " go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every crea- ture;" and he made no provision for their support, but expressly told them "the laborer is worthy of his hire.'' They were told that they must '^ forsake all and follow him " in this great work — that '' no man having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God ; " and they could not therefore understand him in any other way than that they were to obtain a living from those to whom they preached the Gos- pel. Accordingly St. Paul reasons out the case in 2 Cor. 9 : 11-14. " If we have sown unto you spiritual things," says he, " is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things ? . . . Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple, and that they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar ? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." Hear him again in his Epistle to the Galatians 6:6. " Let him that is taught 10* 122 THE VALUE OF AN in the Word, communicate to him that teach- eth in all good things." And 1 Tim. 5 : 18, " For the Scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn — and the laborer is worthy of his reward." Many other passages might be added, but it is not necessary. These, being plain and positive, are all-sufficient. As Christ has instituted the ministry, so it is his ordinance that the people to whom they preach should support them. They owe it to them as a debt, and they are guilty of resisting Godh ordinance and of defrauding men out of their hard earnings, when they withhhold a just and reasonable compensation. It is a subject of deep regret that so many professed Christians should so imperfectly understand the value of an evangelical minis- try, and feel so little the weight and import- ance of the duty which they owe to these servants of Christ. I would earnestly com- mend to all the following strong and affec- tionate language of the apostle : '' And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 123 -Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.'* 1 Thess. 5 : 12, 13. Here two duties are enjoined upon those who enjoy the benefit of the labors of faithful ministers, namely, '' to know them" and '^ to esteem them very highly in love." 1. They are to know them as the ambassa- dors of Christ. They come not in their own name, deliver not their own message, and transact not their ow^n business ; but they are sent from the court of heaven — ^they come in the name, deliver the message, and do the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are authorized to say with St. Paul: "Now then w^e are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5 : 20. How the apostle here magni- fies the ministerial office I Consider the name ! '^ Ambassadors ! " An ambassa- dor is " a minister of the highest rank, em- ployed by one prince or state, at the court of another, to manage the public concerns of his own prince or state, and representing the 124 THE VALUE OF AN power and dignity of his sovereign." Con- sider their rank and authority! "Ambassa- dors of Christ ! " they come in " Christ's STEAD ! " What an honor, what dignity and authority an ambassador of the United States has at a foreign court ! But ministers are ambassadors of Christ, " who is Lord of lords, and King of kings." They represent the power and dignity of their Sovereign ! They stand in the place of Christ, and speak in his name and by his authority, just as if he came himself! Theirs is, indeed, an office and a dignity which angels might covet. Consider their work ! God beseeches men by them, and they pray them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. what an office and what a work is not this ! How few per- sons properly understand or appreciate it ! If Christ were again to appear in our world, and in person preach his Gospel, most men, and especially Christians, would regard it a great privilege to be permitted to hear him. With what profound attention they would listen ! How they would hang upon his lips and drink in the words of wisdom and salva- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 125 tion ! How zealously and earnestly they would endeavor to reduce to practice what they should hear ! But people have the opportunity of hearing Christ's ambassadors, the messengers whom he has sent out, every Sabbath day; and yet how careless and indif- ferent are they not ! How low is the estimate which the majority put upon the labors of these men ! How lightly do they esteem the privilege of hearing the Gospel from their lips! How emphatically the words of Paul may be addressed to such : '' We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you ! " Let us hear also what the Saviour himself says in regard to his min- isters : " He that receiveth you, receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." " He that heareth you, heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me ; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiv- eth me ; and he that receiveth me, receiveth 126 THE VALUE OF AN him that sent me." Matt. 10:40; Luke 10:16; John 13:20. What a fearful thing then it is to despise, reject or refuse to hear a faithful minister ! It is the same as to despise, reject or refuse to hear Christ himself ! How will thousands of men answer it to God that they have treated his servants with such neglect and contempt, opposing them in their efforts to do good, and suffering every trifling excuse to keep them away from the sanctuary ! We are bound to hear the Gospel whenever we have an opportunity, not to oppose or gain- say, not to criticise or find fault ; but " to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." We must receive the message as from God himself, no matter how sharply we may be rebuked, or how forcibly our sins may be set before us. For this is the minister's duty. To be faithful, he must do it. It is God that says to him : ^'Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their trans- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 127 gression, and the house of Jacob their sins." Isa. 58 : 2. 2. Again^ we are to ^' know " the ministers of Christ as men. For though they are the ambassadors of Christ, they are but men of '' like passions " with others. They are sub- ject to the same infirmities, and surrounded by the same difficulties, trials and temptations as other men. They "have this treasure in earthen vessels." Their office is indeed most exalted, but they are not angels who bear it. They must be good men, for Christ never calls and sends forth bad men ; but still they are only men, and therefore not infalli- ble — not raised above the powder of tempta- tion and sin. We must never expect abso- lute perfection from them, or we shall certain- ly be disappointed. Nor must we look for impossibilities ; some church members expect hnpossibilities from their ministers ! For instance, they expect an amount of labor which it is impossible for them to perform. I have no doubt that many of the most faith- ful and devoted ministers of the present day, w^ho die prematurely, are overtaxed, and fall 128 THE VALUE OF AN martyrs to the amount of labor required of them. They are expected to preach two or three sermons every Sabbath, besides meeting with their Sunday school and catechetical class. Then in the week they have lectures and prayer-meetings, or some other service, for almost every evening ; and they must visit the sick and from house to house, bury the dead, and perform various other pastoral duties, besides preparing two or three ser- mons for the next Sabbath, and attending to the cares of their families. It is evident that such an amount of labor will kill any man in a few years even if he had an iron constitu- tion. The people ought to know their min- isters in this respect, and not impose unne- cessary burdens upon them. Another impossibility which is sometimes expected of ministers is, that they should know every thing. For instance, if any per- son is sick in the congregation, they are ex- pected to know it without being told of it or sent lor ! People always expect to send for the physician, w^hen they want him, because they have to pay him for his visits ; but the EVANGELICAL xMINISTRY. 129 minister, whose services in times of sickness and affliction they get for nothing, they will not send for, and yet will blame him for not visiting them, though he may be entirely ignorant of their situation. Another impos- sibility expected of a minister is, that he should preach well two or three times on Sunday, without time to study during the w^eek, or a library of suitable books to aid him. If he is expected to be constantly on the run during the week, visiting every where and every body, how can he be prepared to preach on the next Sabbath? It is impossi- ble. And then most ministers are so poorly paid that they never have the means to buy even the most necessary books, and during their w^hole life time they never get together any thing of a library. Yet books are to a minister what tools are to a mechanic, he cannot w^ork w^ell without them. Congrega- tions would be infinitely the gainers by join- ing together and purchasing good libraries for their ministers : or, w^hat is still better, pay them such a salary that they might be 12 130 THE VALUE OF AN able to procure at any rate the most needful books. 3. Again, the people should ''know" their minister in his rights. Every minister of Christ has certain inalienable rights, with which the people should not interfere. A few of these I will mention. First, his con- science is his own. If he be an enlightened and a good man, he is conscientious as to the doctrines which he preaches, the mea- sures which he adopts, and the manner in which he discharges all his official duties. He has made these things a matter of careful study and much prayer, and his views in regard to them are settled. He understands the solemnity and importance of his position much better than his people do. He knows that he ''watches for souls as one that must give account." Now there are many church members who are always ready to dictate to the minister, as to what and how he ought to preach, and what measures and plans he should adopt. They think they know better. But such people must be told to mind their own business. They are officious intermed- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 131 dlers, whose views are mostly one-sided and narrow-minded, and they cannot have in keeping the minister's conscience. Congie- gations, too, sometimes endeavor to fetter the conscience of their minister by demanding that on some subjects he shall not open his mouth at all, and on others he must preach so as to please them. On the subjects of temperance. Sabbath-breaking, licentious- ness, popular amusements, covetousness and the like, and in general the vices of the com- munity and the age, he must either keep silence, or treat them so delicately as to mean nothing and to effect nothing. If he does not yield to his censorious people in their unreasonable and ungodly demands, they are offended with him, and either forsake his ministry or dismiss him from their service ! Churches are perhaps seldom aware of the high-handed w^ickedness of which they are thus guilty. They do not consider that they are tampering wath the minister's conscience, and are endangering the salvation of his soul and of theirs, and that by this means they destroy entirely the scriptural character and 132 THE VALUE OF AN moral power of the pulpit. If he yield to such a people, he will soon destroy himself and them. His conscience will become as elastic as India-rubber, he will be a miserable time-server, whose sermons have neither point nor power, and his people will quietly go to sleep in their sins only to wake in the regions of despair. I am at a loss for lan- guage sufficiently strong to express all I feel upon this subject. Many a minister has been thus destroyed. With the utmost grief and pain have I listened to the sermons of such men, falling upon the cold hearts of their sleepy hearers with as little power and effect as moon-beams upon a mountain of ice. may the thunders of heaven awaken such ministers and people, and the fire of God retouch their deadened consciences ! I would then have the people to understand that the minister's pulpit is his own, and that none of them has a right to usurp his place or to dictate to him here. When he stands in the sacred desk he ought to feel perfectly free and independent, and to deliver his mes- sage as accountable, not unto men, but unto EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 133 God. Let him remember what God says to him : '' Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel : therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die ; and thou giv- est him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life ; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteous- ness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stum- bling-block before him, he shall die : because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sins, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered ; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nev- ertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul." Ezek. 12* 134 THE VALUE OF AN 3 : 17-21. Here is the whole subject in a few sentences, and how awful is this language of the Almighty I ! it should send a thrill of horror through the unfaithful minister's soul, and cause the people, who have made him so, to tremble ! Another of the minister's rights, which the people should respect, is to govern the church. Every pastor is the bishop or overseer of his own flock, and the language of the Bible to him is, '' Take heed therefore unto thyself, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Acts 20:28. The minister then is the " overseer," bishop, or ruler of the flock. He is " over the people in the Lord;" and God's command to the members of the church is, '' Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your- selves : for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is un- profitable for you." Heb. 13 : 17. It is therefore clear that God has made it part of EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 135 the minister's duty to govern the church ; not that he is to rule '^ with a rod of iron," or to " lord it over God's heritage ;" but he is to be ''over them in the Lord." He is the pastor and head of the flock, and his authority- should be respected. 4. Once more, the people must '^ know " their ministers in their wants » They are 7nen and have wants that must be supplied. And first, they have temporal or bodily wants. They cannot live upon the air, nor upon prayer, preaching and the word of God, They and their families must have bread to eat and raiment to put on. Some church members either cannot or will not understand this. They think it a pity '4hat in our day preachers have not Jacob's ladder, so that after preaching on Sunday they could go up to heaven on it, and stay until next Sunday, and then come down and preach and go up again ! " If this could be done, preachers could no doubt live without eating, and then it would not be necessary to give them any thing for their labors. But as long as they have bodily wants like other men, the people 136 THE VALUE OF AN are bound to know them in these wants and supply them. As this subject has, however, already been fully presented, I need add nothing more here. In the second place, ministers have spirit- rial tcants in which the people must ''know" them. They have souls to be saved and a Christian life to maintain^ as well as their people. And as they are to be eminently pious, in advance of all their members, in holiness, faith, love, humility, zeal, and every Christian grace and virtue, they need all the assistance they can obtain, that they may ^'grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Their trials and temptations, too, are numerous and often peculiar. Satan and the world will make them special objects of assault, be- cause if their piety can be injured, that of hundreds and even thousands of others will suffer in consequence. All the members of their churches, and the communities in W'hich they reside, w^ill feel the blighting effects. Our great adversary will therefore hurl his most fiery darts at the souls of ministers. EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 137 Hence they have special need of the prayers and assistance of the pious. For the sake of their own souls and the piety of the churches over which they preside, they should be con- stantly remembered in the closet, at the fam- ily altar, and in the social prayer-meeting. Their pious members should be '^ Aarons and Hurs," not only to hold up their hands and encourage their hearts in their work, but to plead for their souls, for their growth in grace and advancement in the divine life. let them not forget how much their ministers need all the spiritual assistance which they can obtain, both for their advance in personal holiness and to qualify them for usefulness in their great work ! The people should be co-workers with their ministers, sympathize with them in all their trials and afflictions, cheerfully enter into their plans, and assist them in every possible way, that God may be glorified and his kingdom extended. 5. Finally, the people are not only to "know" their ministers, but also to ^'esteem them very highly, in love for their work's sake." This suggests the true ground of a 138 THE VALUE OF AN minister's popularity — the r 3i son why the people should love him. It is not because he is ^^ a very clever man," "a perfect gen- tleman," "a sociable companion;" nor yet because he is '^a fine speaker," and a very learned and eloquent preacher; not on these accounts, but ^'for his work's sake." He is engaged in the work of God — a great, bless- ed, glorious and most important work, and it is for his faithfulness in this that he is to be esteemed and loved. It is because he labors to honor God and save men's souls. And their love and esteem ought to be proportion- ate to his faithfulness. How different from this is the conduct of many professors of reli- gion ! They are always finding fault with their minister for his plain preaching; becom- ing offended with him for the very thing for which they ought to love and esteem him ! But this has ever been the case. The proph- ets and apostles of old were hated, impris- oned, and many of them put to death for their faithfulness. Jesus Christ, the divine Saviour, was ^' despised and rejected of men," and finally crucified between two EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 139 thieves, for the very reason for which men should have loved and adored him. And he has plainly told us what we may expect : '' And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake ; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house, Beelze- bub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" Mat. 10:24, 25. It is therefore not new, strange, or wonderful that a wicked world should now, as in former days, hate and persecute the ministers of Christ for their faithfulness : but that mem- bers of the church, professed Christians, should do so, is inexcusable wickedness, and gives the lie to their profession O ye hypo- crites! ye ''whited walls!" w^ho find fault with your minister for his plainness, and hate and persecute him because he is faithful to your souls and rebukes your sins, know ye not that in this ye are like the murderers of our Lord? If you had been in the crowd 140 THE VALUE OF AN with your hearts as they now are, you would have joined in the shout of ''crucify him! crucify him!" Repent yourselves of this your wickedness, for Christ regards all you do to his ministers as done to himself. In- stead of hating, you are bound to " esteem these men very highly in love for their work's sake." I come now to consider the second part of the great duty of the church in regard to the ministry. It is to provide a ministry adequate in numbers and qualifications to the conversion of the world to Jesus Christ. If it be of such incalculable value, as appears from the foregoing discussion, then it must be matter of the very highest importance to all the best interests of this country and of all mankind, that a sufficient number of the right kind of ministers should be raised up to ''go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." This I think has been established beyond dispute or cavil. With our country it is clearly a matter of life or death. This nation cannot exist without the influence of Christianity sustained and EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 141 promoted by an evangelical ministry. We must have such a ministry, or be destroyed. Equally true is it that the whole world needs it. Idolatry and heathenism can never be destroyed, and mankind enlightened, elevated, sanctified and saved without it. And if our country and the world need such a ministry, how much more does the church need it ? It is her right arm, and without it she must soon be overcome and destroyed. All this has been presented at sufficient length, and I hope its truth and importance is felt and acknowledged. But who is to furnish such a ministry ? Not the world, not infidels, not the advocates of corrupt and false systems of religion, not the political authorities of the land. These neither can nor will do it. It is the business of the true church of Jesus Christ. She is responsible for the number and character of the ministry. God has intrusted to her the w^ork of evangelizing the world, and if there are not ministers enough to do this work, it is her fault — her sin and her loss ; and if the ministry is not of the right kind — not made 13 142 THE VALUE OF AN up of piouSj able, faithful, devoted men — she is to blame, and the Lord will reckon with her for it. Every member of the church, every pious man and woman in it, has to bear a part of this responsibility. It is a part of that stewardship of which each of us shall have to give an account. And what is more, we are responsible, too, for the/uturey for the ministry of the next generation. We often anxiously ask, what kind of a church, what kind of a ministry, will there be when we have left the stage of action ? Who will sit in the pews and stand in the pulpits of our churches when we, who now occupy them, are in our graves ? These are ques- tions of eternal importance, and yet the an- swer is at hand. The church of the next generation will be what we make it; for we have to a great extenf the making of it. We are now training it up. Its future members and ministers are now^ found in our Sabbath schools, and cluster around the fiiesides of our Christian families. Let Christian parents feel that part of the future church is in their 01V71 house ! That the bright eyed boy whom EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 143 they now dandle upon the knee, whose open- ing intellect they watch with so much pride and pleasure, and w^hose very soul their every word and action, look and gesture, are help- ing to mould, may be destined to be one of the future pastors of the church. what a responsibility there is here ! May God help the churches to feel it ! We are to furnish a ministry, adequate in numbers and qualifica- tions, for the conversion of the world, and that of the next generation will be what we make it. Now it is a most distressing fact that the church has come far, far short of her duty in this respect. Never yet has there been a ministry sufficient for the work of the church in any land upon the globe. It has generally been deficient in numbers, but still more in character and qualifications. Of course I do not here refer to the Romish priesthood or any other ministry of error — I am speaking of an evangelical ministry.. In some countries and ages Papal ecclesiastics have been almost as numerous as "the frogs of Egypt," and much more destructive. But a true ministry has ever been the great want 144 THE VALUE OF AN of the world. It is so now. Neither our own country nor any other is sufRciently sup- plied with an evangelical ministry, to say nothing of heathen nations. First, I remark that our own country is very inadequately supplied with true minis- ters of Christ. It is estimated upon good authority that one half of the population of the United States is destitute of a regular ministry or attend upon a ministry of error. And what is really alarming upon this sub- ject, is the fact that, for a number of years, the ministry has not increased in proportion to our population, nor any thing like it. In- deed I have recently heard it asserted upon the authority of one who professed to have paid special attention to the subject, that for the last three years the number of ministers of all the evangelical denominations in this country had, on the whole, not increased at all! That we had no more now (1852) than we had three years ago, while at the same time our population was increasing at the rate of nearly a million and a quarter a year! What an alarming thought! Can it really be EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 145 true that upon the whole the number of addi- tions to the ministry of all our evangelical churches has not been greater than the deaths, removals, &c. ? The bare statement ought to fall like a peal of thunder upon the churches. What is to become of us ? What standard will you raise up against that terrible flood of infidelity and irreligion w^hich is now setting in so strongly upon our land, if the number of faithful watchmen upon the walls of Zion be suffered to diminish ? I still hope that this is not so, though I am unable to contra- dict it. The fact, how^ever, that they have not increased in proportion to the increase of our population, is notorious. While in some of the older portions of the country there is a tolerable supply, it is well known that in many of the new states and territories the destitution is most lamentable. The facts brought to light by the explorations of home missionaries and the colporteurs of the Amer- ican Tract Society are startling ! "Notwith- standing the vigorous and praiseworthy efforts of our noble missionary institutions," says the author of " Home Evangelization," " the 13* 146 THE VALUE OF AIS fact stares us in the face, that an aggregate of not far from one-half of our entire popula- tion habitually neglect the sanctuary, or hear 'another Gospel.' Even in our great cities, with their compact population, their able ministry, and their hundreds of places of public worship, this estimate would be found more favorable than the facts would warrant. And the mountainous regions, stretching down a thousand miles in the central portion'^of our country, as well as the more recently settled agricultural districts of the west and south- west, would present a darker picture An intelligent and careful survey of the field would show^ that multitudes of the people are not reached by the stated ministrations of God's word A region of country lying between the AUeghanies and the Ohio river, contains more than fifty counties, with an average population of some five thousand souls in each county, or about six to a square mile. . . There are not a dozen points in all this district where the Gospel is statedly preached each Sabbath by any one denomi- nation, and those who are favored with the EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 147 Gospel rarely have it oftener than once a month ; while thousands remain from year to year without listening to the preached word. In one county, larger than the State of Rhode Island, the only preachers are two uneducated circuit-riders ! Another county has an equiv- alent to the time of two and a half ministers bestowed upon it. Other counties are equal- ly destitute, while some have a more adequate supply of preaching." And if this is true of the western part of one of the oldest States of the Union, what must be the destitution in the newly settled districts ? — of portions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Ar- kansas, Texas, California and Oregon? 0! it is enough to sicken the heart to think of it. In fact the great mass of the poorer inhabit- ants of these immense countries, and those occupying the outposts and more thinly pop- ulated parts, are so destitute of the means of intellectual and moral cultivation as to excite the deepest commiseration. Now I ask w^hat is to become of these people, and of the mill- ions more which the tide of emigration is rolling into the new States and Territories ? 148 THE VALUE OF AN Must they not have the Gospel — the Gospel preached by an evangelical ministry ? Can any thing else adequately and permanently supply their spiritual wants ? It is right to give them the Bible, establish Sunday schools among them, and send them the colporteur with his basket of tracts and good books ; but in the name of God I ask, will this sup- ply them ? Can they do without the living ministry of Christ's own appointment ? Most assuredly not. One has well said, " it was the error of Rome to send the priest without the Bible, let it not be ours to send the Bible without the minister of God.'' Both must go together. I believe that I am stating the sober truth when I declare that, to supply this country adequately with the ministry of the word, the entire number of evangelical ministers ought immediately to be doubled. I will now pass from this general survey to notice the condition and wants of our own church and the immigrant population. The Lutheran Church has an immense and most important home missionary field in the United States, greater, I think, than that of any other EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 149 denomination of Christians, and at the same time we are the most destitute of a ministry. This results from the vast immigration of Lutherans into this country from Europe, and from the fact that they have come hither mostly destitute of the means of moral and intellectual cultivation. A very moderate estimate, collected in part from the statistical returns, puts down the immigrant population of our country from the Germanic States, including their immediate descendants, at 3,000,000; and from Norway and Sweden at 45,000. This was several years ago, and the number has since greatly increased, and if we add to it their more remote de- scendants, it will now amount to at least 4,000,000. I have given some attention to this subject, and I am satisfied that there are in the United States Germans, Swedes, Nor- wegians and Danes, and their descendants, over four millions ; and at least two millions of this entire population have been and are nominally connected with the Lutheran Church. Says the author of " Home Evan- gelization," already quoted, " Incredulity on loO THE VALUE OF AN this subject would yield to faith, if the doubter would take his station on the wharves at New York, and witness the landing of jiving cargoes, as in one or two instances^ to the amount of 10,000 souls in two days ; or if he would ride on some of the immigrant trains of cars, or take a deck passage on some of the 1,300 steamboats that navigate our west- ern rivers ; or visit the thousands of settle- ments where the new settlers have built their cabins. A hundred German newspapers must have readers, and a thousand Roman Catholic priests must have tens of thousands of adherents," (though the majority of Ro- manists in this country are not Germans, but Irish and other foreigners.) " More than 2,000 Lutheran and German Reformed Churches" (the Lutheran Church alone has at the present time 2,000 congregations, and the German Reformed probably 800) ''in- dicate an immense population synipathiz- ing with the German symbols of faith. And how vast must be the population left to roam in neglect ! Our great cities swarm with churchless, Christless Europeans. Our EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 151 kitchens are supplied with workwomen from Germany and Ireland. Our canals and rail- roads are Imed with the shanties of immigrant laborers. Our agricultural districts abound whh Prussian, Bavarian and Norwegian farmers. Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri — the great grain-growing districts of the country — are overrun with a German immigration ; while Maryland, the finest portion of Virginia, and parts of (the Carolinas,) Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas, have large settlemeats of these hardy sons of toil." And let me observe here, that this immigration, so far from dimin- ishing, is on the increase from year to year ; its resdess tide is rolling in upon our shores several hundred thousand immortal souls annually. There is every reason to believe that the future is destined to witness in this respect what the past has scarcely thought of. The present state of oppression of the masses in Europe, and the happy asylum which this country offers them, induces the belief that nothing will check or limit immi- 152 THE VALUE OF AN gration into the United States but the inabil- ity of the people to get here, and the capacity of our country to receive them ! with what anxiety must every American heart beat as we behold these millions of Europe pouring in upon us! What is to become of theiUy and what is to become of us ? What is to be done? We cannot roll back this tide of immigration, or say to these millions, stay at home until you are all politically and morally qualified for our country and her in- stitutions, or until we are prepared to receive you. No, they are coming ! They are comrngjust as they are^ and, prepared or un- prepared, we must receive them ! The crisis is upon us, and we must meet it manfully, or perish in the conflict. Necessity is laid upon us. We owe these people a duty which we may not disregard. Who sends them hither.^ Why are they sent hither? Why were they not sent in such multitudes a hundred years ago'? Shall I try to answer these moment- ous inquiries ? Who sends them ? but that God whose is the sea and the dry land, and who has opened this asylum, this land of EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 153 refuge for the oppressed of all nations. He, who led ''the Pilgrim Fathers" hither, and has made this nation what it is by the blessed influence of the religion of the Son of God, he is brinmnof them hither, and for the same purpose. The hand of Providence is in this thing, and we must be careful to see it, and act accordingly. Why are they sent hither?* Not, surely, that they should transplant upon our soil the infidelity of Europe — or establish here their several nationalities, as German, Irish, French, Spanish and others — or to be left in ignorance of the true character and without the control and influence of our civil and religious institutions, to desecrate our Sabbaths, convert our liberties into licentious- ness, trample upon every thing that we hold sacred, and thus bring ruin upon themselves and us ; not for such purposes has the provi- dence of God directed them hither. But that we should take them by the hand, and incor- porate them with ourselves ; look especially after their youth, bring them as soon as pos- sible under American influences, establish among them institutions of learning, in which 14 154 THE VALUE OF AN they can be fitted to stand on a perfect equal- ity with other American citizens ; provide for them an educated and holy ministry, and thus elevate, enlighten, sanctify and save them. Nor is it meant to be asserted or in- timated that many of these people are not enlightened and devoted Christians ; for the contrary is the fact. Multitudes of the best men and women in this country have come from beyond the Atlantic ; and I have no sympathy with that wholesale and sweeping language often used which classes all for- eigners with infidels and heathens. But still it is true that tens and hundreds of thousands of them need to be evangelized, and all of them need to be Americanized. We know under what influences they have lived in Europe, and only too many of them, alas ! show what they would do here if they had the power. Multitudes are infidels, and still greater multitudes are bigoted and blinded Romanists. It is plain that they must be educated in the principles of our government and laws, and the religion of the Bible, or they will certainly destroy us. Their evan- gelization and enlightenment is, therefore, a EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 155 matter of life and death with us. We must conquer them by the peaceful doctrines of our Protestant Christianity and the equal laws of our happy Republic, or they wall conquer us. Jfow they and we may yet be saved — now the victory may yet be on the side of our country, of God and truth, but soon the opportunity w411 be lost for ever. One effort now is worth a thousand a few years hence, should their intellectual and moral wants now be neglected ; and as the churches now have the means, the wealth and ability to do all for them and others that is needed, if we will but arise and bestir our- selves, how powerful is the inducement to work now! This suggests the reason why they were not sent hither in such multitudes fifty or a hundred years ago. Neither the country nor the churches were then prepared to receive them. But the question still returns, what is to be done with these people and for them? ^' Run to them, as they land upon our shores, with the tract and the good book, and espe- cially give them a Bible," says one ! '^ Hur- 156 THE VALUE OF AN ry ! " says a man of the gown, '' for they will soon be gone ! Shoot them upon the wing, for a thousand of them would pass before I could go home and get my gown on ! " Well, is this all ? No, send after them the colporteur with his basket, and let him hunt them up in their cabins, and read to them, give books, and sing and pray with ihem. Good, good, all very good, as far as it goes ; but is it ENOUGH? Is this discharging our duty to them ? By no means ! There is a beggar at your door, hungry and in rags ; run, give him a piece of bread and an article of clothing to cover his shivering limbs, and then let him go! But is he provided for? Does he want nothing more ? Alas ! his condition is but little improved, and in a short time he may be worse off than he was before. No, no ; we have neglected our GREAT duty to these people as long as we have not provided for them permanently, I do not indeed conceive it necessary to put on our '^ gowns " in order to serve them; but w^e must provide for them a w^ell qualified and godly ministry in sufficient numbers to EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 157 gather them all into Christian churches, and regularly to preach unto them '^ Christ and him crucified." We must provide for their Christian education ; their youth must be catechized; the sacraments of the church and all the means of grace administered among them ; and in short they must enjoy all the benefits of the labors of the Christian pastor permanently settled among them. An occa- sional visit from a minister, or a sermon once in four weeks^ as is the case when pastors have 4 or 6, or 8 or 10 churches to preach to, is not providing for them. It seems to me to be almost a mockery of their spiritual wants. It is as if people should be permitted to eat only once every two or three days, and then have to fast that long again. Now who is to care for the souls of these people, if we of the Lutheran Church do not?^ Other denominations may indeed aid. It is their duty to do all in their power to evangel- ize and save every class and portion of the American people ; but the German and Scan- dinavian fields and interest belong specially to the Lutheran Church. Here w^e have a 14* 158 THE VALUE OF AN special mission and a special work. Here is the population of our country which we are to Americanize, to enlighten, elevate, sanc- tify and save. We must furnish a ministry for them, and provide for their intellectual and moral wants. They are our brethren na- tionally, and a very large proportion of them our brethren in the faith. They have come from our own fiither-land ; they have the same name and history with ourselves, the same ecclesiastical home, confession of faith and system of doctrines. Our church had its origin among this people. It commenced with the Reformation in Germany, and the great majority of Lutherans in the United States are Germans and the descendants of Germans. Hence this is our field. It is evident, too, that God in his providence has thrown this work upon us — upon our very hearts and consciences. Look at the facts in the case. Our German forefathers first established our church in this country. They sent hither our first ministers and missiona- ries, and sustained them with their money. German piety, means and labor — toils, tears EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 159 and sacrifices, laid the foundation of our Zion here — built our first churches, organized our first synods, and aided in the establishment of our institutions. Germany has all along been furnishing us with both men and means. We therefore owe a great debt to Germany. And now that our church is established here; that we have a name and a place in this country, men and means to do a great work for God — and that Germany is in part over- run by infidelity and wickedness, and our church there is in aflfliction, on account of political troubles and from other causes — now that same all- wise Providence is sending into our free and happy land these vast multi- tudes — these millions of the children of Ger- many — and for what purpose ? Certainly that we should take care of them, and pro- vide for their intellectual and spiritual wants; that we should now pay back what we owe them. Having sent his Joseph into the land first, God now sends Jacob and his hosts, that they should be fed and cared for spirit- ually. Can any thing be plainer than the voice of Providence here ? 160 THE VALUE OF AN And let it further be considered that we can do for this people what no other de- nomination can. They have no preju- dices against us, as they have against other churches. On the contrary, the better sort among them are very strongly attached to the language and customs, the church and faith of their fathers, so that it is impossible for the English churches of this country to do much for them. They must lose their entire nationality, almost strike out of exist- tence their former life and early training and habits, and undergo a complete and unna- tural transformation, before they can be fully identified with any other than a Lutheran communion. But we have free access to them. We understand their language, man- ners, customs and modes of thought, and we can go in among them at once, without let or hindrance, and work for God. And are we not bound to take care of our own ? What does the Bible say? ''But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. 5:8. EVANGELICAL MLNISTRY. 161 And if to provide for the bodily wants of our own be such an important duty, how much more important must it be to provide for their souls ? Where will the responsibility and the blame rest, if these people are neglected and perish ? — become bad citizens and hasten the downfall and ruin of our country ? Cer- tainly the curse, like a bolt of heaven, must fall most heavily upon the Lutheran Church. We sometimes blame our fathers for not having done more to educate and enlighten our people, to provide them wdth an intelli- gent and pious ministry, and to establish and extend our church ; but they never had our means and facilities, nor was there such an amount of immigration into this country in their day as there is in ours. How much more will we be blamed by those who come after us, if w^e do not awake and bestir our- selves to do the work, the whole work which God has given us? And let me add here that this field to which I am directing attention is worth cultivating. It is rich in promise. These materials are not only very abundant, but also very valua- 162 THE VALUE OF AN ble. I know, indeed, that some talk about the " dumb Dutch " with a sneer, and look upon Germans as an ignorant, stupid, plod- ding nation of people, who are hardly worth caring for. And it must be admitted that in this country education has been too much neglected among us. Comparatively few of our youth have enjoyed the advantages of a thorough literary education, or have found their way into the learned professions, or those stations of influence and trust, for which education alone can qualify men. And here let me raise a voice of admonition and warn- ing, and would to God it could be heard throughout the length and breadth of our Zion ! We must educate more, or the masses of our people will become mere ^^ hewers of wood and drawers of water." Too many of our members, especially in farming communities, where a majority of our congregations is found, have been more concerned to obtain farms for their children, and to '' teach them how to raise fat oxen and drive big teams," than to have them educated. ^But this is a degeneracy of the true German EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 163 character. As a race of people, the Germans are the best educated and most intellectual upon the globe. I surely need not stop here to prove the capabilities and powers of the German mind. The world has too long felt the mighty influence. In native vigor and ability to rise to the highest intellectual eminence, the Germans and their descendants are unsurpassed, perhaps I might say un- equaled. And this is true not only of the learned men of the nation, the favored few, but of the mass of the people. There is no nation on the globe that is capable of rising higher or more rapidly. All their past his- tory proves this. No man could desire a more glorious and inviting field, or one that is richer in promise, than we have here. And "it is white unto the harvest" — yea, the harvest is perishing. The only question is, where are the reapers to thrust in the sickle, and how can it be most successfully gathered ? And who does not know that the Germans have the richest literature^ especially in the departments of theology, philosophy, history, 164 THE VALUE OF AN and various others, that the world ever saw ? All nations, w^ho make any pretensions to learning, are at this time drinking from these fresh and copious fountains. How" much the periodical press and the book-makers of our ow^n country and of England are indebted to Germany, is know^n to all who are informed upon the subject. Many of the best w^orks now published in the United States, as w^ell as in Great Britain, and of the ablest articles in the Reviews of both these countries, are either mere translations from the German, or are mainly indebted to German research and learning for their contents. Many of the ablest English and American pulpits give utterance to German thoughts, often without knowing it, and almost always w^ithout acknowledgment. Now what I contend for is, that the Ger- man field and interest in America belong mainly to the Lutheran Church. This is the intellect which w^e are to educate and en- deavor to sanctify, and these immense stores of German literature are our inheritance. We are suffering ourselves to be robbed of EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 165 these treasures, I know, and most deeply lament, but still they are ours. And the German mind is the same in America that it is in Europe, and is capable of the same things. We have intellectual power and wealth sufficient here to move the w^orld, if properly developed and directed. And sure- ly there is nothing in the institutions or char- acter of this country to dwarf the intellect, or prevent the German mind from being enlight- ened and elevated. On the contrary, our glorious liberties, sublime destiny, bracing atmosphere, lofty mountains, majestic rivers, extended plains, immense territories, and restless and exciting spirit of enterprise, must be calculated to fire and bring out every latent energy of the soul. Do any of us believe that the descendants of Germans in this country are capable of less than their fathers w^ere in Europe? — that the children of Luther can accomplish less here than they did there ? Surely not. But if the contrary be our faith and feeling, then w^hat is our work, our duty, our inheritance? Shall w^e not educate this mind — develop and sanctify 15 166 THE VALUE OF AN these powers of intellect — and bring out these treasures of literature ? Why should not the Lutheran Church take a high rank in the literature of this country, as in Germany she is at the head of the literature of the world ? Why should we not have such a literature of our own here — such institutions, and such scholars as we have there. Why should we not establish seminaries and uni- versities here equal to those of Germany? Does any one reply that it requires time to do such great things? I grant it. But must not a beginning be made, and is it not time to begin 7 Is it not time that we should awake to a consciousness of our strength, our duty, our mission in this country, and exercising a proper forethought, should devise plans, lay the foundations, and begin to build for the future? To do this w^hile we may — before, by our miserable neglect and tardi- ness, we suffer others to despoil us entirely of our inheritance ? One of the greatest diffi- culties in our way is, that so many of our ministers and people have so little conscious- ness of our strength or our work — have such EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 167 a contracted field of vision — lay no large plans, and undertake no great enterprises. They are satisfied with little things, or with nothing ! Would to God I could wTite some- thing that would tend to enlarge the intel- lectual vision of our men — that would induce our church to shake off her '^ swaddling bands," and arise to a consciousness of her maturity, her strength and her dignity! let us consider the importance of occupying our own ground! — of bringing out and using for our own benefit and advantage the in- valuable treasures of learning which our church in Europe possesses ! 0, it is humil- iating that we, who have such an inheritance, who have so much io give , should be depend- ent on others and go a begging ! '^In liter- ary and theological institutions, in learned theologians, and in a rich and learned theo- logical literature," says Dr. S. S. Schmucker, " the Lutheran Church has confessedly sur- passed all others." There are more great and distinguished scholars among the Ger- mans, and they publish more books, and have a more profound and varied literature 168 THE VALUE OF AN than any people now living. There are no institutions in the world equal to some of the German Universities, which is sufficiently attested by the fact that many of the greatest men from this and other countries resort to them to complete their education. And this is the people and this the literature which is now being so copiously transplanted to our country; and this is our inheritance and our field of operations. is it not most valua- ble ! True, some of this learning is unsanc- tified, is infidel — some of this material is bad^ almost as bad as it can be ; but then it is capable of being sanctified. It belongs to the church, and she not only has a right to use it, but it is her sacred duty to do so for the spread and firm establishment of the Redeem- er's kingdom. The case is a plain one. If you suffer vital piety to decline amongst a people, substitute rationalism for the Gospel of Christ, and give them an infidel and world- ly ministry, they will go to the devil with all their learning, as a matter of course. But this does not prove that they are incapable of any thing better, or that their literature may EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 169 not be used to the advantage and extension of true religion. Christianity is the eternal truth of God, and it is her duty to seize upon these immense stores of German learning and appropriate them to her own use. And this leads me to another point — it is the exalted and sterling character of German piety. This gives great value and import- ance to the German field and interest. And here allow me to say that German piety is no less genuine and eminent than German liter- ature. Indeed I believe that the moral pow- er, the power of faith, prayer, holiness, zeal and self-denial, among German Christians, when properly brought out, is greater even than the intellectual. It is eminently apos- tolic and martyr-like. I know, indeed, that some ignorant people speak contemptibly of German piety, and on account of the bad specimens which they have seen, and the sad prevalence of infidelity in Germany during the last half century, are ready to conclude that there is no such thing as vital godliness among Germans, and that there never has been ! Hence even the Reformation has 15* 170 THE VALUE OF AN been spoken of as rather a political move- mentj or a change in the externals of religion, than a revival of ofenuine relio:ion ! But such stupidity is rather to be pitied, than formally to be refuted. On the contrary, I ask, where has faith ever been stronger; piety deeper or more sincere ; devotedness and self-sacrifice in the cause of Christ more disinterested and entire; labor and toils more abundant, perse- vering and successful ; prayer more prevail- ing, and zeal more ardent and god-like, than among German Christians ? Among what degraded people of the globe have not some of these men labored and wept? On what frozen shores or burning plains have they not endeavored to plant the cross? In the sun and winds of what lands are not their bones bleaching ? The books which German piety has written, the institutions which it has founded, and the sacrifices which it has made for the redemption and elevation of the human race, have never been surpassed. Who were such Reformers as Luther and Melanchthon ? Who did more by their writ- ings and efforts for the promotion and spread EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 171 of vital piety than Arndt, Spenei and Franke? We ourselves are the children of the orphan- house at Halle, and its influence will be felt to the end of time. And where have there ever been greater and more apostolic mission- aries than among the Germans ? Need I do more than mention the names of some of them ? — a Zeigenbalg, a Schwartz, a Rhen- ius, a GutzlafF, a Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians — a Muhlenberg, a Helmuth, and the fathers of our own church in this country. Has the world ever seen more of the power of real faith and piety than in the example of these men ? Where did Wesley, the great founder of the Methodist Church, obtain clear views of the real nature of conversion and of justification by faith, but from the Moravians who crossed the Atlantic in the same vessel with him, and from the writings of Luther, and especially his Preface to the Epistle to the Romans ? Have not in fact all Protest- ants been compelled originally to light their torches at Lutheran altars? Now I ask have we not this same moral power in our church in this country? — or 172 THE VALUE OF AN rather is not our church here capable of the same things? Are not our people descended from these noble ancesters, and has not the mantle of the fathers fallen upon some of them ? I contend that we yet have the ele- ments of the same moral power — that the Lutheran Church has not lost all the spirit of its former days of glory, but that our people are yet capable of the same things ; yea, and of much greater things than have ever yet been achieved among us. All that is neces- sary is, that this power be properly devel- oped — that they be furnished with the right kind of a ministry in sufficient numbers, and the means of religious and moral cultivation, to supply their spiritual wants. But this is the difficulty. We never have been adequately supplied with faithful minis- ters of Christ in this country. We are not now more than half supplied. We have in the United States a Lutheran population of at least two millions of souls, with a member- ship of 200,000, and 2,000 congregations, while we have only about 800 ministers, less than 700 of w^hom are engaged in the active EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 173 duties of the ministry ; so that we have nearly or quite three times as many churches as min- isters. Now to show how inadequate is this supply, I will refer to the statistics of some other denominations. Thus, for in- stance, the Episcopal Church, several years ago, reported 1200 churches and 1231 min- isters, more ministers than churches. In 1850 the Dutch Reformed Church had 292 churches and 293 ministers. The Presby- terians (Old School) in 1851 reported 1926 ministers and 2595 churches ; and the New School, several years ago, had about 1500 ministers and 1800 churches. The Congre- gationalists, several years ago, had 1150 ministers and 1300 churches. The Method- ists, and Baptists too, as is known, are well supplied with ministers in proportion to the number of their churches. Now it is plain that to be as well furnished with ministers as any or all of these sister denominations, our number ought immediately to be doubled. We should have 1600 instead of 800. And how can we cope with these denominations, unless we speedily obtain this supply? And 174 THE VALUE OF AN let it be observed that we need this increase in the number of our ministers to supply coii- gregations already organized^ without taking into the account our immense home mission- ary field. But it is well known that there are hundreds of places in the cities, towns and villages, of this vast country where we have members living, who are unprovided for, and where we could and should immedi- ately collect new congregations. Truly with us '4he harvest is plenteous, and the laborers are few; may the Lord send forth laborers into his harvest ! " But I must now also glance at W\e foreign missionary field, for the command of Christ is, ^'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." The work of missions had its origin in heaven. Its fires were kindled at the blaze of glory which surrounds the throne of God, and first burned in the bosom of our blessed Redeemer. Je- sus Christ himself was the first missionary. The world had revolted from God. '^ Dark- ness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Every moral beauty was de- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 175 faced — every flower of innocence faded — every star of hope quenched. Instead of the pure incense of devotion which ascended to the throne of the Ahnighty at creation's morn, and caused "the morning stars to sing to- gether, and all the sons of God to shout for joy," there now arose only the thick, dark, polluted vapors of sin and crime, accompa- nied by a mighty wail of woe from earth's wretched, fallen inhabitants. Heaven's com- passion was moved, and the question prompt- ed, What can, what shall be done for apostate man? Whose eye pities, and whose arm can bring deliverance ? Who will, who can go to earth with light, hope and salvation? Then the Son of God answered, " Lo, I come ! in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, my God." And once more " the morning stars sang to- gether, and the sons of God shouted for joy." Angel bands heralded the Redeemer's advent into the world, and "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will to man," echoed through the vaulted skies. " He who was rich for our sakes became 176 THE VALUE OF AN poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich." Jesus, who is ''the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person," "who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation by assuming the form of a servant and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." By the sacrifice of him- self he redeemed the world and made salva- tion possible to all. And then, having fin- ished his work, opened the gates of Paradise, and kindled the missionary fires on earth, he again ascended to the throne of the Majesty on high, " where he ever liveth to make intercession for us." And as he was about to ascend, he gave his disciples this great commission: "As the Father hath sent me into the world, so send I you into the world. Go ye therefore into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" — Go, publish the salvation which I have purchased with my blood to every human being — carry out the work which I have commenced. And then, being " baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire," they went every where preach- EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 177 ing '' Christ crucified." In a few years a thousand Christian altars were erected, upon which the missionary fires blazed brightly, and began to illuminate a darkened world. And if Christians, from that day to this, had continued to manifest the same zeal in this blessed work which the primitive disciples did, the knowledge of the Lord would long since have covered the whole earth. But alas ! alas ! what do we see? Eighteen hun- dred years have rolled around since the Sa- viour gave this great commission, and six hundred millions of our race, or more than two thirds of the whole human family, are yet enshrouded in heathenish darkness ! They are still as degraded, as ignorant, wretched and miserable, as if Christ had not come into the world to save sinners. Why is this so ? How does it come that salvation has not long since been published among all men ? But one answer can be given : Christians have NOT DONE THEIR DUTY. God's dcsign is that all nations should be brought to the knowledge of the truth ; the appointed means is the preaching of the Gospel, and preachers 16 178 THE VALUE OF AN must be sent. But the churches have failed to raise up and send forth the men. '' How shall they (the heathen) call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?" Rom. 10: 14, 15. Here the whole matter is explained. ! how will we Chris- tians answer it to our Master, if we still ne- glect our duty in this respect? How fearfully does the blood of these perishing millions cry to God against us ? It is a most happy re- flection that in these latter days the spirit of missions has again manifested itself in the churches, and much has been done ; but still much more remains to be done. If the des- titution in our own country is still so great, as we have seen, what must it be in the heathen world ? It is estimated that there are only from 1000 to 1200 missionaries, from all Protestant churches and countries, at present laboring among the heathen ; less than two men to every million of souls; or as if in the whole United States we had only EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 179 about 50 ministers of the Gospel of all evan- gelical denominations. How great therefore is the work yet to be done ! " Six hundred millions of the human race who want the Gospel," says .a spirited writer, '^ and less than twelve hundred missionaries to impart it to them ! Is it thus, ye disciples of Jesus, that you repay the debt of gratitude which you owe to your Redeemer, who gave himself for sinners ! He called you by his grace, delivered you from sin and hell, re- stored you to God, and inspired you with the blessed hope of everlasting life. Now he calls you to his service, and requires that henceforth you should live not to yourselves, but to him who loved you and gave himself for you, and washed you from your sins in his own blood. He confers upon you the singular honor, the high privilege of going as heralds before him into all the world, to proclaim his approaching reign, and call the nations to repentance. And is it so, that among the millions who bear the Saviour's name, less than twelve hundred can be found w^ho are willing to accept of this service ? It 180 THE VALUE OF AN cannot be. There are, there must be thous- ands, in different parts of the Christian world, who are ready, whenever the churches shall call them forth, to embark for any part of the world to spend their lives in preaching the Gospel to the heathen — who are ready and willing to spend and be spent for the sake of him who loved them and gave himself for them." And will not the churches call these men forth ? Will they not at last be brought to their duty to seek out, educate and send forth an army of Christian soldiers sufficient in numbers and qualifications for the conver- sion of the world? Surely as the Spirit of Christ animates them more and more they will do this. It is thought that if 30,000 missionaries could be raised up and sent out, properly distributed among the 600,000,000 of heathens, it would be a tolerable supply, because w^ierever the Gospel is preached in its purity and its power experienced, native preachers can be educated on the spot to aid the missionaries, and ultimately to take the work off their hands. Thirty thousand mis- sionaries for the whole world would be giving EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 181 one man to every 20,000 sculs; and though this in itself would be nothing like a supply, for the command is to preach the Gospel not to a few individuals in every nation, but to every creature^ yet as each of these men might be instrumental in raising up several native preachers, it would probably in another generation or tw^o result in a full supply. Here then is the work which the churches have to do for the foreign field. They have furnished about 1000 missionaries, and they must furnish 29,000 more, and they ought to do it immediately. This is a greater number probably than all the ministers of all the evan- gelical churches in the United States put to- gether; and added to the destitution at home, should rouse Christians of every name and denomination to put forth the most active, powerful and persevering efforts to supply this country and thfe whole world with minis- ters. And if the churches do their duty it CAN BE DONE. The men and the means to educate and send them forth can be found. O God! breathe upon thy churches, and induce them to obey the Saviour's last com- 16* 182 THE VALUE OF AN mand, and supply the world with the heralds of salvation. '' The harvest is plenteous, and the laborers are few; Lord send forth laborers into thy harvest! " CONCLUSION. The facts and arguments of this volume afford the ground of an earnest appeal to several classes of persons, whom I desire, in conclusion, affectionately to address. 1. And first I appeal to ministers of the Gospel themselves. Consider, beloved breth- ren, the high and holy character of your office, and the solemn responsibilities which it imposes upon you ! Put a proper estimate upon it, and act worthy of ''the high voca- tion wherewith you are called." Much depends upon you. If you act unworthily, you will disgrace yourselves and the office, and greatly injure the cause of God. Not only strive with Paul ''to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men," but also remember that you EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 183 have a public character to maintain. Men will judge the office and the cause by you. It is in vain for you to complain that people do not properly appreciate your labors nor the dignity and value of your office, if in any thing you act in an undignified, unminis- terial way, and make yourselves unworthy of esteem. Said the dying Payson, ''Oh, if ministers only saw the inconceivable glory that is before them, and the preciousness of Christ, they would not be able to refrain from going about leaping and clapping their hands for joy, and exclaiming, Pm a minister of Christ! Pm a minister of Christ!" And so if they at all times properly considered the exalted and holy character of their office, and the fearful responsibilities which it involves, they would upon every approach of tempta- tion to sin, or any unworthy deed, shrink back with horror exclaiming, "we are minis- ters of Christ! we are ministers of Christ! how^ then can we do this great wickedness, and sin against God!" But I w^ould not only have you live and act in a manner worthy of your calling, and so as 184 THE VALUE OF AN to commend yourselves to the hearts and consciences of men, and gain their esteem and affections, but preach to the people on the nature and duties of your office — show them its value and importance, and what is their duty in regard to it. Let there be no sickly delicacy or sinful modesty here. Do your duty. You are ministers of Christ. Stand forth in the conscious dignity and value of your office and work, and fearlessly declare ''the whole counsel of God" to the people upon this as well as all other subjects. Many otherwise most excellent and worthy ministers suffer themselves to be starved out by a penurious and ungrateful people, simply because they do not properly instruct them on this subject. This is all wrong. Such ministers are sinning against themselves, against the people, and against God, and if left to starve, they are but reaping the con- sequences of their own doings. You are also solemnly bound to aid to the utmost extent of your ability in providing the church and the world with the right kind of a ministry. Let the cries of the destitute EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 185 and perishing continually ring in your ears. Preach on the subject. Seek out young men of suitable piety and talents for this work, and show them their duty, and induce your people to aid in their education and prepara- tion for this office, until the world is con- verted to Christ. 2. Christians in general are bound to give earnest attention to this subject. You see, beloved, that the value of a true ministry is beyond all price or calculation. Put a just estimate upon it. Do your duty towards it. Support the men who minister to you in holy things in a manner corresponding with the value and importance of their work. You owe it to them. They are worthy of it. They dearly earn it, and you are greatly in their debt. So, too, you are bound to aid in building up and sustaining institutions of learning, and educating ministers, and send- ing out missionaries, much more liberally than you have ever done. The blood of destitute and perishing millions is crying to God against you. Your money and property belong to God ; he has only intrusted these 186 THE VALUE OF AN things to you for a while as a loauj and says, " Occupy till I come." Soon he will come and demand an account of your stewardship. 3. I must also appeal to parents to dedi- cate their sons to God in this great and im- portant work, and to educate them for it. Your children belong to God, and he "hath need of them." You 7mtst give them up to him and his service. No matter if it does require self-denial — you and they are com- manded to use self-denial. "Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow me," is the lan- guage of the Master. No matter if they can- not make as much money as if they were phys- icians, lawyers, merchants or farmers ; the Almighty did not send them into the world to make money, except in so far as they thereby glorify him. They were sent here to do good, to aid in building up the Re- deemer's kingdom, and saving the souls of men. If your children do make money, it may destroy them. Tens of thousands are cursed and damned by their money. " And w^hat is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? or what EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 187 shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" If any of your children were instrumental in saving but one soul, it would be a much more great and glorious achievement than if they should amass millions upon millions of money, how can you withhold your children from God, when there is so much to do for his cause in this sinful world, and they and you will so soon go into eternity! 4. Let me also appeal to Sunday school and other Christian teachers of youth. You, beloved teachers, can do much. You do greatly aid in moulding the hearts and minds of the dear children placed under your in- structions. labor to bring them to the Saviour. Tell them that he died for them, and that he requires them to give him their hearts and to devote their lives to him. Tell them of the destitute thousands in this coun- try, and the millions in heathen lands, and urge them to devote themselves to God in bearing the glorious message of salvation to the dying. Oh! if you should succeed in inducing but one of your children to become a faithful minister of Christ, what a great 188 THE VALUE OF AN work you would perform! You would thus be setting in motion a train of influences by which thousands, and perhaps ultimately millions of souls might be converted to God. 5. Finally, I appeal to young men, I have no doubt that there are scores and hundreds of young men of piety and talents, who have enjoyed the benefits of a liberal education, engaged in various secular employments, whose solemn duty it is, in view of the wants of the church and the world, to devote them- selves to God in the work of the ministry. Many who are now engaged as farmers, merchants, mechanics, physicians or lawyers, are called of God to forsake their present business and follow Christ. Still greater numbers, who have not yet obtained an edu- cation, are bound immediately to seek it, and prepare themselves to go forth as heralds of the cross. Remember, my young friends, that thirty thousand ministers are needed for the foreign field, and many thousands more for our own and other nominally Christian lands, and you are bound to help to furnish the supply. It must be so, if Christianity is EVANGELICAL MINISTRY. 189 to be propagated to the ends of the earth. As true as Christ has said, ''Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," so true is it that thousands and even tens of thousands of the pious young men connected with the churches of the United States, are bound to hear the com- mand and "go.'' Who else is to go? The church must look to her pious young men for her future ministry. They are her hope, and the hope of a dying world. Dear reader! are you a young man? and does this matter not concern you ? Have you ever seriously in- quired whether God has not called you to the work of the ministry ? Where are you ? What are you doing? What do you intend to do? What kind of a call are you waiting for? Must God speak to you from heaven in thunder tones before you w^ill obey? Let me point you to the immense destitution in our own country — to the multitudes who are perishing ''for lack of knowledgej" in other lands — and to the six hundred millions of heathens who have never heard of Christ, and then say, have you no call to run to their 17 190 THE VALUE OF AN relief? Look to the cross of your Redeemer, as he hangs bleeding and dying for these very millions who are perishing without his salvation, and then think of death and the judgment, of heaven and hell, and of meeting these very souls at the bar of God, and say, have you no call? that the Lord may look upon you, as he did upon Peter, until your heart melt within you, and you exclaim. Here am I, blessed Jesus, send me! Amen. THE END. April .KPi STANDARD LUTHERAN PUBLICATIONS, PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY T.NEWTON KURTZ, No. 151 WEST PRATT STREET, BETWEEN CHAELES AND LIGHT STREETS, BAIuTIMORE, Md. ENGLISH LITURGY, for the use of Evang. Lutheran Churches in the United States. GERMAN LITURGY, do. do. do. NEW ENG. LUTH. HYMN BOOK, 24mo.— small size. Do. do. do. 12mo. — large size. 8vo. or extra large size, intended for the pulpit. ENG. LUTHERAN S. SCHOOL HYMN BOOK. *^*To induce the more extensive use of this Hymn Book among our Sunday Schools, the prices have been much reduced; and as there is no reason nov7 v^hy it should not be used altogether in our Sunday Schools (for the book is as well adapted for the purpose as any pub- lished in the country,) we trust our Superintendents and Teachers will make an effort to introduce it generally. GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN BOOKS. EVANG. LIEDER-SAMMLUNG, (General Synod's,) 24mo. EVANG. LUTH. KIRCHEN LIEDER, (published for the Pa. Synod,) 24mo. Do. do. do. do. 12mo. NEUES GEMEINSCHAFTLICHES GESANGBUCH, (New York,) 18mo. ENGLISH LUTHERAN CATECHISMS. LUTHER'S SHORTER CATECHISM, illustrated by additional Questions and Answers, by J. G. Morris, D.D., 18mo. LUTHER'S SiVIALLER (Gen. Synod's) CATECHISM, 18mo. EASY CATECHISM, for Young Children and Sunday Schools, 32mo. A new and enlarged edition in press. GERMAN LUTHERAN CATECHISM. DR. LUTHER'S KLEINER CATECHtSMUS, (West Pa. Synod 's^) new and improved edition, containing the Formula of Discipline, Augsburg Confession, &c., 18mo. WHY ARE VOi; A LUTHERANS by B. Kuilz, DAJ.. 12mo. LUTHERAX FAMILY PRAYER BOOK, with Hymi.> and Tunes, by B. Kurtz, D.D., large 12mo. POPULAR THEOLOGY, by S. S. Schmucker, D.D., I2mo. and 8vo. edition. THE AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH, Histori- cally, Doctrinally, and Practically Delineated, in several occasional Discourses, by S. S. Schmucker, D.D., 12mo. SCHMUCKER ON REVELATlONS,2vols. in one, 8vo. Do. do. do. in German. TREATISE ON PRAYER, in all its Forms, and Train- ing up Children, by B. Kurtz, D.D., I8mo. \;^*This is Vol. I of the '-'■Lutheran Sunday Library.'^ now in course of publication. LIFE OF ARNDT, with a portrait, by J. G. Morris, D.D., I8nio., being Vol. II of the ^^Luth. Sunday Library,''' — in press. POPULAR EXPOSITION OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, by Drs. Morris and Smith, 2 vols. 12mo. (There are but few left of this book.) SEISS'S LECTURES ON THE HEBREWS, 8vo.— a very valuable work. SCHMUCKER ON THE REFORMATION, ISmo. SCHMUCKER'S PORTRAITURE OF LUTHERAN- ISM, 18mo. CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, and the Mod^^ by Lape, 18mo. Do. do. do. in German. THEOLOGICAL SKETCH BOOK, 2 vols. 8vo. YEAR BOOK OF THE REFORMATION, 8vo. *^* This work is illustrated with numerous cuts an fac similes of the hand-writing of the Reformers, printed from engravings expressly prepared in Europe for it at a cost of nearly $400. HAZELIUS' CHURCH HISTORY, vol. 1, 12mo. HUBNER'S BIBLE HISTORY, in German, l2mo. SEARS' LIFE OF LUTHER, 18 and 12mo. MEMOIR OF REV. WALTER GUNN, late mission- ary in India from the Evang. Luth. Church in the U. S., by G. A. Lintner, D.D., 18mo. THE UNALTERED AUGSBURG CONFESSION, and the Three Chief Symbols of the Christian Church, &c., by Rev. Christian Heinrich Schott. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FAITH OF ABEL, ENOCH, NOAH AND ABRAHAM, 18mo., by Rev. C. A. Smith, D.D. LUTHERAN ALMANAC, English. MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS. THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE MOST DIS- TINGUISHED CHRISTIAN FATHERS, to the close of the 3d century, 8vo. — a valuable work. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, from its institution to the 16th century, by Thomas Gail- lard, 8vo. JESUS' WITNESSES, or the «' Great Salvation" Ex- emplified, by Rev. Henry Doll, 12mo. THE YOUNG AMERICAN, or Book of Government and Law, for the use of Schools, by S. G. Goodrich, author of Peter Parley's Tales, with thirty-seven Engravings, l:2mo. THE LOOKING GLASS FOR THE MIND, or In- tellectual Mirror, being an elegant collection of the most delightful little Stories and interesting Tales for Children, with sixty-four Engravings, 18mo. BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, with Engrav- ings, 18mo. KEMPIS' CHRISTIAN'S PATTERN, by John Wes- ley, A.M., 32mo. DODDRIDGE'S RISE AND PROGRESS OF RE- LIGION IN THE SOUL, 32mo. THE WAY TO ATTAIN SELF-KNOWLEDGE, by John INIason, A.M., 32mo. DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES OF THE HEART, by Mrs. Elizabeth Fcowe, 32mo. THE MILLENNIUM OF THE CHURCH, 18mo. THE UNITED STATFS READER, or Juvenile In- structor, No. 1, 18rao. Do. do. uo. No. 2, 18mo. Do. do. do. No. 3, being- a selection of Lessons in Prose and Poetry, from the best American and English authors, 12mo. THE JUVENILE PRIMER, and Child's own Progrcs- Five Guide to Learning, l^mo., stiff paper cover. SCHOOL, FAMILY (4to) and PULPIT BIBLES, TESTAMENTS and HYMN BOOKS of various sizes and styles of binding. Also, a general assortment of SCHOOL, SUNDAY SCHOOL, CLASSICAL, THEOLOGICAL, JUVEN- ILE and MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS, for sale at the loiccst icholesale prices. BLANK ACCOUNT AND RECORD BOOKS of all kinds, of the best materials, made to order, and forward- ed to any part of the country. Printing, Vv'riting, Letter and Wrapping PAPERS, and STATIONERY generally. BOOK BINDING of every description neatly and promptly executed. Country Dealers, Teachers, and others, supplied upon the most favorable terms, and at the /oicesf rates. The high' -t market price paid for RAGS. C.ders for any article in the Book or Stationery Line tht market affords, icill he executed with promptness, and on the most liberal terms. rrj^ MASS. s. s. society's library books. A fully supply of these excellent publications always on hand and for sale at Catalogue prices. Also those of the AMER. S. S union. Orders promptly attended to C/ i Oj-L Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Oct. 2005 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1 1 1 Tnomson Park Dnve Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 017 075 356 2