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of responsibility. Faith links our weakness in immediate connexion with the promises of Divine aid; 1 and enables us to say to the mountain of difficulty "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. " 2 Thus discouragements, properly sustained and carefully improved, become the most fruitful sources of eventual encouragement in the Christian Ministry; while love to our work bears us on above all our difficulties.3

CHAPTER V.

THE COMFORTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.

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IT is of the utmost importance to grasp the whole compass of the Christian Ministry. The view of one side only of the prospect (whichever side that may be) must necessarily give an imperfect and inaccurate representation. Painful and habitual experience constrains us to be with our people "in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." The opposition of the world-the inconstancy of the wavering-the inconsistency of the mere professor-the difficulties, that beset the inquirer's path-our frequent disappointments with the hopeful-combined with the recollection of what we are-what we ought to beand what we ought to do-all this fearfully acts upon our weakness and depravity. Did we carry on “the warfare at our own charges," 5 we should "be pressed

1 Such as Exodus iv. 10-12. Jer. i. 6-10. Matt. xxviii. 20. 2 Cor. xii. 9.

3 Magnum opus omnino et arduum conamur: amanti puto.' Cicero.

4 1 Cor. ii. 3.

2 Zech. iv. 6.

sed nihil difficile 5 1 Cor. ix. 7.

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out of measure, above strength." But such are "the contradictions meeting in our employ;" that, though it is a sorrow, it is yet a sorrow full of joy." Temptations" indeed "take us, besides such as are common to man." We have a painful pre-eminence above our fellow Christians in bearing a double share of "the burden and heat of the day." But if "the sufferings of Christ abound in us, our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."3

The grounds of support and encouragement are fully commensurate with the momentous difficulty of the work. How encouraging is the recollection of our office, as the ordinance of Christ, and as the standing proof of his love to his Church. For will he not honour his own institution, and secure its appointed end in the glory of his name and the happiness of his Church? Will not he that sent us furnish us for our work? May we not plead his ordinance, as the ground of dependence upon him for all needful assistance and encouraging acceptance ?

Nor is our work to be measured by the feeble resources of human agency, but by the Almighty power of the Spirit of God. Did we depend upon the energy of mere moral suasion, we should cry out in

1 2 Cor. i. 8.

2 See an exquisite hymn on Ministerial Experience in the Olney Collection, Book ii. 26. 3 2 Cor. i. 5.

4 Witsius's spirit on entering upon the duties of his Professorship was full of encouragement- Quidni ergo jucundisssima mihi illa Domini verba applicem, quibus servum suum Josuam quondam affatus est? Nonne ego precepi tibi? Confirmare igitur et fortis esto; quia tecum est Dominus Deus tuus quocunque iveris.' Licet infirmitatis me meæ conscientia anxium reddat, reficit tamen Divinæ gratiæ, nunquam suos deserentis, ad sustentandum prompta facilitas-illius autem gratiæ, cui lubitum est virtutem suam in infirmitate confirmare, quæque abjectissimis sæpe et rei gerendæ minime idoneis instrumentis utitur, ut totius operis gloria in solidum ac illibata sibi remaneat.' Oratio De Vero Theologo. Misc. Sacra, ii. 851, 852.

the prostration, not of conscious feebleness, but of heartless despondency-" Who is sufficient for these things?" But the assurance, that our Ministration is that " of the New Testament-not of the letter, but of the Spirit"-sustains us under all apprehended difficulties, with most cheering prospects of success.1 "The life-giving Spirit" employs our Ministry as the vehicle of conveying his Divine influence "to open the blind eyes," and to quicken the spiritually dead. And to have his Divine seal to our work, as the honoured instruments of communicating the life of God, with all its attendant privileges, to the soul of man; cannot but bring with it a reflex delight of the most exalted character.2

The blessed fruits of the Ministry in winning sinners to Christ, and stamping his holy image upon their hearts, are most refreshing. The subsequent walk also of this renewed people in the faith, hope, and love of the Gospel, forms our ground of unceasing thanksgiving to God, our chief joy, and the very life of our life. "We have no greater joy, than to

1 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6.

2 'I will remind you,'-says Cotton Mather- that one of the greatest personages (an Archbishop and a Lord-Keeper) in the English nation (Archbishop Williams) once uttered this memorable speech. I have passed through many places of honour and trust both in Church and State, more than any of my order in England, for seventy years before: but were I assured, that by my preaching I had converted but one soul unto God, I should herein take more comfort than in all the honours and offices that have ever been bestowed upon me.' You are entering upon a work, that will keep you continually in the way of this incomparable satisfaction; and I hope.... that the saving, or enlightening and edifying, of one soul at any time, will be a matter of more joy unto you, than if all the wealth of Ophir should flow in upon you.' Mather's Student and Pastor, pp. 159, 160. The Christian Pastor-as Bowles remarkswould readily make with the hireling the compact of the king of Sodom with Abraham,-" Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself." (Gen. xiv. 21.) Lib. iii. c. 9.

hear that our children walk in truth." 1 We turn to them in the expression of parental anxiety and delight" Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord."2

The interest we possess in the affectionate sympathies of a beloved people is also a subordinate source of comfort and encouragement. Here we find a full compensation for the scorn of an ungodly world, and the secret spring of many an hour of support and enjoyment, by which we are carried forward in our painful course. The Christian and intelligent part of our flock well know, that we are "men of like passions with themselves," that our path is strewn with snares, and our hearts are keenly wounded with sorrow and temptation. Christian sympathy engages them to "communicate with our affliction." A sense of duty and privilege calls forth their exertions, and directs their conduct so that, as far as possible, all just grounds of complaint or grief may be removed; and our labours for their sakes, and in their service made consoling to our own souls.3 Our debt of obligation to the secret expressions of their love at the throne of grace is reserved among the discoveries of the great day, to add dignity and emphasis to the acknowledgment now made "in part," and then to be more fully proclaimed; that “we are their rejoicing, even as they also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus." 994

1 2 John 4.

21 Thess. iii. 7-9.

3 Quesnel thus beautifully expresses the mutual relation between the Pastor and the people-'The latter ought to alleviate the troubles which attend the pastoral function, by a filial respect, "obedience and fear." The former ought to make a suitable return on all occasions by his care, and continually to cherish the flock by fresh testimonies of satisfaction, joy, and tenderness.' On 2 Cor. vii. 15, 16. Also on 2 Cor. ii. 3. Phil. ii. 26.

4 2 Cor. i. 14.

Another comfort and encouragement of the Ministry, of a more individual character, deserves to be mentioned-its special advantages for the cultivation of personal religion. 1 Such is the deadening influence of secular callings upon the concerns of eternity, that without special exercises of watchfulness and prayer the Christian cannot maintain his high elevation. Often did the "man after God's own heart" -when engrossed with the cares of his kingdomseem to envy the Ministers of the sanctuary their peculiar privilege of a nearer approach to their God, and a constant abidance in his work. 3 And what exercised Christian does not mourn over the necessary secularities of his calling, as abridging him of his spiritual enjoyments; and distracting even those seasons, which, by the active habit of self-denial, he is enabled to consecrate to communion with his God? It is so difficult to be employed, without being "entangled, with the affairs of this life; "there are so many weeds of a worldly growth and of rank luxuriance," choking the word," when it has given fair promise of fruit, and is even advancing "to per

1 See this clearly illustrated by Bishop Burnet-Pastoral Care, ch. viii. Mr. Boston, the well-known author of The Fourfold State,' dates his earliest thoughts and desires of the Ministry from the consideration-' because of all men Ministers were most taken up about spiritual things.' 'Is it not our unspeakable advantage, beyond all the gainful and honourable employments of the world, that the whole work of our particular calling is a kind of living in heaven; and, besides its tendency to the saving of the souls of others, is all along so proper and adapted to the purifying and saving of our own?' Leighton's Letter to the Clergy of Dumblane, Compare also his Works, ii. 452. We shall afterwards, (Part iii. ch. viii.) be led to remark upon the peculiar hindrances arising from this source. Yet these-be it remembered-are the workings of temptation acting upon a corrupt nature; while the direct tendency of a spiritual function must be the advancement of spiritual religion in the heart.

2 Compare Psalm cxix. 25, with Isa. xl. 31. 3 Compare Psalm lxv. 4; lxxxiv. 4.

4 2 Tim. ii. 4.

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