order to see if this unpopularity does not arise from himself. However this may be, the danger exists, our path is along the edge of a double abyss.] 11. Self-love is very active in a profession which exposes men to observation, which is moreover intellectual in its character, and is closely allied to art and literature.-[The minister can assemble his people to speak on any topic which he chooses to select. We should not, therefore, be surprised to find that many have embraced this profession for no other end. The flock then becomes a kind of public-his audience is a literary tribunal. The position of the minister is falsified his generous independence, his authority are compromised—a yoke is imposed upon him. He no longer preaches Christ, he preaches himself, and by a sacrilege, the extent of which it is difficult to estimate, the pulpit becomes a theatre-a stage on which his vanity may display itself. These expressions may sound harsh, and yet, if we look into our own hearts, we shall find them often to be only too just. After each of his triumphant orations the pastor may receive the applause of his hearers, but every eulogy will utter a reproach to his heart. Alas! how much better were it for him to prefer before all these praises the silent, unobtrusive respect of one faithful spirit which has listened with attention, and whose heart he has touched-a far greater victory than to have excited any amount of sterile admiration. us. [Self-love is our most terrible enemy, because it is nearest to Every one is greedy of praises; but as there is a self-love which is of a robust and indiscreet character (this is vanity), so there is a self-love which is sickly and tempered by prudence. To this last has been given the name of modesty. It is not a virtue, it is a natural quality, a simple indication of good sense. There is a wide difference between modesty and humility-true humility is a miracle. It can only be imparted to the minister by supernatural grace. Only love can dethrone self-love in the heart. Love is an ardent, passionate prepossession, which makes the soul disregard everything that is not akin to itself-censure as well as eulogy. It is in love that conversion is organized, and the pastor must love his flock in order to preach it effectively. [There is one form of self-love which manifests itself in the ministry more than in any other profession-the love of command. The pastor is the only one of his order in his parish— he is called to command. In public, at least, no one can dispute his prerogative, he has a monopoly of speech. Often he has to do with poor persons who show him great respect, because they are more or less dependent upon him. This habit of command, which is so easily contracted, narrows and falsifies the view, and alienates the affections of those who cannot sacrifice their tastes to the taste of their pastor. Chrysostom has with admirable force exhibited the dangers of self-love in the ministry.1 The danger of self-love is greater with the Protestant than with the Catholic, who speaks much less. It is very difficult for a Protestant minister not to allow himself to be somewhat influenced by the idea of being a good orator. All things considered, the good preacher is a good orator; and when perfection is sought for on its own account, it is very difficult to refrain from seeking it in order to please—were it only one's self. This leads us to regard the ideas which are to be presented as only a neutral substratum, which have no value apart from the form which is given to them.] 12. Internal conflicts between faith and doubt (in German Anfectungen) conflicts perhaps more frequent and more deep in the case of the pastor than in the case of the simple believer, in the midst of which he must pursue his ministerial avocations. [Doubt, as a psychological fact, has been little studied; there is a philosophic doubt, and there is a doubt which results from ignorance; we do not now attend to these. But is there no other kind of doubting besides? Is there not a state in which the best proofs leave us in doubt? The intellectual proofs are there, and yet the soul hesitates. Christian certitude is another thing than the certitude of intelligence. Doubt is a void, a state of temptation through which every man 1 CHRYSOSTOM, De Sacerdotio, lib. v. 4, 7, 8. Gregory Nazianzen expresses himself thus: "In every spiritual function the rule is,-that what is personal should be sacrificed in order to secure the interests of others." passes. When the life is enfeebled, faith gives way. Faith creates life, but life sustains faith. Faith is a vision; when it is not, it descends to the rank of mere belief. Faith is one in its nature, but it has degrees of intensity. And if, while faith languishes, we could retire, collect our thoughts, interrupt all those works which faith supposes, we should not be so unhappy; but we cannot, we must always preach. Every one may find himself in the condition into which Richard Baxter fell, and feel himself plunged all at once into an absolute void, in which all things have escaped, even the most fundamental beliefs. This is a fearful state. One must come out of it before he can stir up himself to exert anew all the forces of the spirit in a fervent prayer.] 13. Humiliating consciousness of the vast difference between the man and the preacher.1-[Where is the man who, how faithful soever he may be, has not sometimes flagged?] We must feel ourselves rebuked by such words as these: "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee?" Psalm 1. 16, 17. 14. The agonizing thought that he carries in his hands the destinies of so many souls, and that he exercises a ministry which, if it does not quicken, destroys.-He destroys those who might, but will not, profit by his ministry, since he aggravates their condemnation. This is the result of the faithful ministry. As to that which is exercised unfaithfully, and in which the life does not answer to the words, it destroys in another manner.2 And this thought, that the obstacles which we cause are the greatest of all, and that the least of our acts of infidelity involve the gravest results, may well make us tremble and exclaim,Lord, send some other! Let us listen to the words of Massillon: 1 See NEWTON's Omicron, Letter xiii., On the dangers to which the minister of the gospel is exposed. 2" Par fois li communal clergié Voi je malement engignié: Icil font le siècle mescroire." La Bible Guvot, (Thirteenth Century.) "The gospel to most people of the world is the life of the 15. The most deplorable case is when these wounds which ought only to be healed by consolations from on high are healed by habit, and by an unholy resignation, which is only too often the case. [It has been said that " Repeated repentance exhausts the soul," 2 and puts it, so to speak, in ill humour with itself.] All these evils are painful; but of many of them we must say that it is more fatal to evade than grievous to submit to them, and all ought to be anticipated, and, as it were, experienced beforehand. To this, perhaps incomplete, enumeration of disadvantages, in which we do not think one feature has been too strongly coloured, we may undoubtedly oppose, by way of compensation, the following advantages : Religion, which is the most excellent and the all-important thing for man, is, for the minister, the business and duty of every day and of every hour; that which is only one among many elements in the life of other men, forms the substance of his. He lives surrounded by the loftiest and grandest ideas, and his employments are of the most absolute and lasting utility. He is not called upon to do anything but what is good; nothing obliges or tempts him to do anything that is evil. He occupies no rank in the social hierarchy, belongs to no class, but is the common bond of all, and, in his own person, 1 MASSILLON'S Discourse on the Excellency of the Priesthood. Near the end of the first reflection. 2 Alluding to a passage of the Corinne, book x. ch. v.— -ED. D 9 13 represents better than any one else the ideal unity of society. [The minister, it is true, is not so advantageously situated, in this respect, as the unmarried priest. But he may have this privilege if he chooses.] His life, unless under circumstances highly unfavourable, is best adapted to realise the ideal of a happy existence. [There is a great regularity, a sort of calm uniformity, which is perhaps the true latitude for terrestrial happiness.] The predilection of poets and romance writers for the character of the country pastor is not altogether without foundation. All this is true only on the supposition that the pastor is faithful, and filled with the spirit of his position; and if he is, all that is evil is counterbalanced, corrected, transformed, and it is sufficient for him, without weighing too minutely the advantages and disadvantages of his state, to make one reflection : "Jesus Christ has appointed for his ministers painful trials both internal and external, in order that they may be able to sympathise with their flock, and to know, through the experiNence of their own hearts, the seductions of sin, the infirmities of the flesh, and the manner in which the Lord sustains and supports all those who put their trust in him." So that, to a certain degree, those words which are spoken concerning Jesus Christ may be transferred to him: "We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are," Heb. iv. 15. Lastly, the Word of God, either directly or indirectly, pronounces peculiar blessings on his works and his condition. 1 [M. Vinet gives this as a quotation from Newton's Cardiphonia. I have translated the passage as M. Vinet himself gives it. I presume he adopted it from the following sentiment in Newton's Cardiphonia, which is the only one I have been able to find that at all corresponds to that expressed by M. Vinet: "The people of God are sure to meet with enemies, but especially the ministers: Satan bears them a double grudge; the world watches for their halting, and the Lord will suffer them to be afflicted, that they may be kept humble, that they may acquire a sympathy with the sufferings of others, that they may be experimentally qualified to advise and help them with the comforts with which they themselves have been comforted of God," NEWTON's Cardiphonia, Letter I. to Rev. Mr. B.—(TRANSLATOR.)] |