On the Necessity of Divine Influence for an Efficient Ministry

This work would be essentially defective in the estimation both of its author and its readers, if after so much has been advanced about instrumentality, nothing were to be said about the agency which is necessary to render it effectual for the accomplishment of its object. In all Divine operations, whether in the world of nature or of grace, God employs a chain of dependent means for the working out of his purposes and plans; but though dependent, they are appropriate. In acknowledging, as we must do, the adaptation of these means to the production of the intended result, we do homage to his wisdom; while in confessing their dependence for efficiency upon his blessing, we do no less homage to his power and grace. There is no analogy which we can borrow from the world of nature that can satisfactorily illustrate the operation of Divine grace on the human mind. We know very well that second causes in the material universe depend for their efficiency upon Divine influence; but it is an influence of a totally different kind, and exerted altogether in a different manner from that of which we now write; and we are very little aided in our perceptions of the nature of the

Spirit’s operation upon the human mind, by anything we observe in the world of vegetable or animal life. There are two aspects in which man is to be viewed in relation to the means employed for his salvation, as both a rational and a sinful creature; or as a rational creature whose reason is under the dominion of sin: consequently, whatever method be adopted for his salvation, he must be dealt with in both these views of his condition. His fallen state as a sinner has not bereft him of his reason, will, and responsibility; but his reason and will alone will never lift him out of his condition as a fallen sinner. He cannot be dealt with otherwise than he is, and as a rational creature he must be treated as such, and not as a brute or a block. His intellect must be appealed to by argument, and his heart by motives. Now it will be seen that in the means of grace, and especially in preaching, there is a provision for all this. Here is truth to be presented to the intellect, truth which represents the whole state of the case between God and the sinner, the nature and obligations of the moral law, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the weight of the tremendous penalty of the violated precept, the wonderful love of God in the provision he has made for the salvation of the sinner, with the eternal results of misery or bliss which follow upon faith and unbelief. In all this, there is something in its own nature adapted to engage the attention and to interest the heart of the sinner. It is not only the truth, but just the truth that suits his condition. In addition to this, there is in preaching the adaptation of the manner as well as the matter to his circumstances, the tendency of the living voice, and ministerial solicitude: and earnest elocution, to engage the intellect and impress the heart. It will follow of course that earnestness is a part of this well-adapted system of means* and the wove earnest a man is, the more likely, so far as means go, is he to do good; for if it be the matter which God blesses to change the heart, it is also the manner which he blesses to fix the attention preparatory to this change: there is as obvious an adaptation in the latter as in the former. How comes it to pass that there is greater efficiency usually attendant upon hearing the word, than there is upon reading it? Just because there is a greater adaptation to fix attention and to impress the heart; and by the same rule we argue there is more adaptation to do this in one man’s manner than in that of another. Hence we see that those preachers are the most successful, whom, independently of a Divine power, we might expect to be so. This does not disprove the necessity of a Divine influence, but only shows what order of instrumentality it is that the Divine Spirit usually employs, and consequently what instrumentality we should select. As God does not usually bless ignorance, or dullness, or obscurity, or feebleness, we should avoid these; and to look for great results from them, is to expect not only what God has not promised, but what he very rarely bestows without having promised it. Thus God deals with us as rational creatures, by presenting to us that truth, and requiring us to understand and believe it, the reception of which into the heart changes the whole character and conduct.

But then there is in the heart of man, not only an indifference, but an opposition to this truth; both a disrelish for, and a dislike to it. “The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” The heart so blinds the judgment that “the natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither indeed can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’’ Therefore, however the attention may be gained by the manner, and gained it must be in order to conversion, yet the heart is still opposed to the truth; hence the need of the Spirit’s influence, to subdue this resistance of the heart to truth itself. Now here it will be perceived is the concurrence of the truth and the Spirit in conversion — conversion is the sinner being brought to know and love the objects presented in the truth — therefore the truth must be presented to the intellect in order that it might be thus known and loved; but then it never will be so loved, however theoretically understood, till the Spirit takes away the disrelish for it, which is in the heart.. Without the truth, there is nothing to engage the attention and employ the intellect of man, as a rational being; without the Spirit, there is no inclination of the heart, when the truth is so presented. If a certain quality of an object be the ground of dislike to it, an increasing knowledge of the object and of this quality cannot in the nature of things subdue our hostility; the taste must be changed ere the object can be relished. It is precisely thus with the sinner and the truth; he dislikes the gospel for its holiness, and no increase of light will vanquish enmity. Consequently, whatsoever be the earnestness of the preacher’s manner, or whatever be the clearness of his matter, no saving result will follow, unless the Spirit give his blessing. Yet preaching is as necessary as if all were done by this alone, without the Spirit, because it is by this order of means that the Spirit works in the conversion of sinners. And since it is by appropriate means that lie accomplishes his purposes, there is nothing in this doctrine to discourage exertion. There are means which carry in themselves the rational hope, if not promise, of success, God will not accept the lame for sacrifice,, nor send down the signs of his approval on the service which involves no real effort of heart or mind in his cause. No: the influence of the Holy Spirit comes not as a bounty upon indolence, but as a stimulus to exertion. Its office is not to give the human faculties a license to slumber, but to supply them with motives to watchfulness. Its descent upon the church is not as the creeping torpor which betokens disease, but as an element of activity bespeaking moral and spiritual health. This blessed influence is unquestionably sovereign in the dispensation of it. God giveth it in such measures, on such occasions, and to such instruments, as it seemeth good unto him. He that directeth the course of the clouds, and causeth them to drop their treasures where and when he pleaseth, makes the dew of his grace, and the rain of his Spirit, to fall according to the counsel of his own will. There is no such necessary connection between the exhibition of the truth and the conversion of the soul, as there is between the application of fire and the combustion of inflammable matter. The apostle says, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as God gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” 1 Cor. iii. 5, 8. One should think it impossible to mistake the meaning of this language, or to doubt whether special Divine influence be necessary for the conversion of the soul, or whether the communication of it be a prerogative of Divine sovereignty.

Still there is every ground to expect the influence we need. It is our privilege to live under the dispensation of the Spirit, as well as under that of the Messiah. The former of these follows the latter: or perhaps, more correctly speaking, they are identical; the covenant established in Christ’s blood is the economy of the Spirit. The ministry of reconciliation is the ministry of the Spirit. We do -not mean to assert that this Divine influence is confined to the Christian economy, for since the beginning of time hath no soul been converted or sanctified but by this heavenly power; but the communications before the coming of Christ were limited, partial, and scanty, compared with what they have been since: they constituted not the shower, but only the drops which precede it. Hence the language of the evangelist, “This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified,” John vii. 39. This idea, that we are under the Spirit’s economy, should enlarge our expectation of the richest communication of this invaluable and essential blessing. The view we have given of Divine sovereignty is not intended, nor when rightly understood, is it even calculated, to discourage hope, but simply to teach dependence. While God reserves to himself the right of bestowment, and acts upon his own rules of communication, he warrants and invites the most expansive requests, and the largest anticipations. Since he has promised to give the boon in answer to the prayer of faith, it would seem to be our own fault that we have it not in more abounding measure. The very recollection of our privilege, as placed under such an economy, might seem to be enough to call forth our prayers and to awaken our expectations. Instead of being surprised that we receive so much of this Divine power on our ministry at any time, even the most successful periods of our history, we should be surprised that we receive so little, and inquire after the cause of obstruction. In a country like Egypt, where rain seldom falls, the shower is the exception, and a dry atmosphere the general rule; but in our variable climate, the longdrought is the rarity, and the frequent shower is the common occurrence. The husbandman ploughs and sows in this land, with his expectant eyes upon the heavens, and feels disappointed if the fertilizing rain is withheld. So should it be with us, in reference to the shower of God’s grace. We are not under the dry and arid atmosphere of the Levitical economy, but we enjoy the privilege of the cloud-dropping, rain-falling dispensation of the Spirit; and with us the question should be, why have we not more of this Divine influence? What has provoked the Lord to withhold from us the genial influences of his grace? Instead of being at any time astonished that our ministry is so much blessed, we should inquire why it is not always so. When we consider what is said, that God “willeth not the death of a sinner, but would rather that he should repent and turn from his wickedness and live;” when we recollect what he has done for the salvation of sinners; when we add to this, that the gospel is his own truth, and preaching his own institution; we are sometimes ready to wonder that he does not pour out that influence which is necessary to give effect to the purposes of his own benevolence, and almost to inquire, “What does the Lord now wait for?” In answer to this it might be replied, “He waits for the earnest labors of his ministers, the faith of his church, and the believing prayers of both.”

It is quite perceptible that the necessity of Divine influence is rather a dogma of faith, than a principle of practice, both with ministers and their flocks. Did the people really believe it, were it matter of inwrought conviction, and there were the least seriousness of spirit in their religion, how much less dependence would there be upon men, how much less said about talent, how much less homage paid to genius and eloquence, and how much more looking up to God by intense and persevering supplication. Recollecting that God works by means, and by means adapted to promote the end, there would be no danger of sinking into an enthusiastic and irrational neglect of these, while on the contrary there would be more constant and serious attendance upon them. The knowledge that preaching, and especially earnest preaching, is the Spirit’s instrumentality, would lead men to seek that very instrumentality, in order that they might have the blessing. How highly would it exalt the minister to consider him as the Spirit’s instrument, and how important would it make the sermon to view it as God’s means to bless the soul. It is immeasurably to sink both, to view them apart from God’s agency; it is to cease to view the preacher as an ambassador for Christ, and instead of this, to listen to him only as the lecturer on religion. With what sacred awe would he be heard, and with what fervent prayer too, by those who viewed him as the appointed medium of that influence, which, if it be received, would illuminate, renew, and sanctify the soul?

But if it be incumbent on the people to remember the dependence of means upon the Divine blessing, how much more is it the duty of ministers themselves. It is an article of our creed, it is often the subject of our sermons, and it is acknowledged in our prayers; but after all, is our conviction of dependence upon the Spirit so deep, so practical, and so constant, as to prevent us from attempting anything in our own strength, and to impel us to be strong only in the Lord, and in the power of his might? Do we conduct the pursuits of the study, as well as regulate the prayers of the closet, by this conviction? Do we with childlike simplicity, and in the very spirit we inculcate upon our hearers in reference to their own personal salvation, habitually give ourselves up to the guidance and blessing of this Divine agent? Do we look up for wisdom to guide us in the selection of our texts and the composition of our sermons? Do the eye and the heart go up to heaven, as we think and write for the people? Do we go to our pulpit in a praying frame, as well as in a preaching frame,- praying even while we preach, for our people as well as for ourselves? Do we thus clothe ourselves with Omnipotence, and go forth as with the Lord ever before us? Do we recollect that from all that crowd of immortal souls before us, we shall gather nothing but human praise or censure, except the Lord be with us; that not one dark mind will be illumined, not one hard heart softened, not one inquiring soul directed, not one wounded spirit healed, not one uneasy conscience appeased, unless God the Spirit do it? Do we really want to accomplish these objects, or merely to deliver a sermon that shall please the people, and gratify our own vanity? If the former, how entire, how confident, how believing, should be our sense of dependence upon something far higher than the best and most appropriate instrumentality! Such a feeling of dependence would cramp none of the energies of our soul, would stunt none of our powers, quench none of our fire, repress none of our intensity of manner. So far from this, we should derive from it unspeakable advantage in addressing our hearers; a seriousness, tenderness, and majesty would pervade our discourses, beyond what the greatest unassisted talent could command; a something superhuman would rest upon us, a Divine glory would irradiate us, and we should speak in power and demonstration of the Spirit. “Possessed of this celestial unction, we should be under no temptation to neglect a plain gospel, in quest of amusing speculations and unprofitable novelties; the most ordinary topics would open themselves with a freshness and interest, as though we had never considered them before; and the things of the Spirit would display their inexhaustible variety and depth. We shall pierce the invisible world, we shall look, so to speak, into eternity, and present the very essence of religion, while too many preachers, for want of spiritual discernment, rest satisfied with the surface and the shell. We shall not allow ourselves to throw one grain of incense on the altar of vanity, and shall forget ourselves so completely, as to convince our hearers we do so; and displacing everything else from the attention, leave nothing to be felt or thought of, but the majesty of truth, and the realities of eternity.”* The preacher who cherishes such a frame of mind will appear with a radiance not less dazzling perhaps than that of genius, but far more sacred, heavenly, and divine; and when carried to his highest pitch of earnestness and dependence, seems almost to reach that sublime symbol of the Apocalypse, of the angel standing in the sun.

“But this kind goeth not forth but by fasting and prayer.” A deep, practical conviction of the need of the Spirit, would make us men of prayer, would send us much to our closets, and keep us there. Here perhaps is the cause why we have not more success in our ministry, and are not more frequently and more heartily gladdened by the conversion of souls to God: we seek to be men of the pulpit merely, and are not sufficiently men of the closet. It is a mystery in God’s moral government that he should make the commu-

* Mr. Hall on the Discouragements and Support of the Christian Ministry.

nications of his grace for the salvation of sinners dependent in any degree upon the prayers of others: yet he does so, and we know it; and yet knowing it, ho w little have we been affected by it and stirred up to prayer on this account. We have uttered our complaints of the fruitlessness of our ministry long enough before one another; but, as the Bishop of Calcutta says in his introduction to the “Reformed Pastor,” “One day spent in fasting and prayer to God is worth a thousand days of complaint and lamentation before men.” The author of this work can assure his brethren that it is not with any disposition to accuse them, and exalt or exculpate himself, that he writes thus. He takes his full share of blame in the deficiency of a spirit of fervent prayer, and his full share of humiliation too on that account. The activities of the age, which require us to be so much in public, may furnish some mitigation of blame, if not an excuse, for the too little time spent in the fervor of private prayer. Devotion is damped by business. Still, even with this palliation, we are verily guilty, for we do not pray as if we believed we were sent to save souls from death, and could not be successful in a single instance without the grace of God. Who of us can read the diaries of such men as Doddridge, and Brainerd, and Payson, and Martyn, and very many others, and not stand reproved for our lamentable deficiency in the exercise of prayer? Perhaps in modern times there was never so much of social prayer, and never less of private. We introduce all our business transactions with prayer, and too often in a kind of business spirit, and with a sad want of sincerity, seriousness, and deep devotion; so that the very frequency and want of reverence with which we engage in these exercises of devotion, tend to diminish the spirit of prayer. Nothing is more to be dreaded than a depression of the spirit of devotion, and nothing more intensely to be desired, than its elevation. A praying ministry must be an earnest one, and an earnest ministry a praying one. Let us then feel ourselves called upon by all the circumstances of the times, to abound more and more in fervent supplications. Let us, if we can in no other way command more time for prayer, take it from study or from sleep. We have neither right nor reason to expect the Spirit, if we do not ask for his gracious influence, and without him we can do nothing. Let us take care lest a bustling activity, and the endless multiplication of societies, should supplant, instead of calling forth, as they ought to do, a feeling of intense devotion. We never more needed’ prayer, we were never in more danger of neglecting it. There is plausibility in the excuse that we had better abridge the time of praying than the time of acting. But it will be found in the end that doings carried on at the sacrifice of prayer, will end in confusion and vanity. A public spirit, even in the cause of religion, however prevalent or energetic, if it be not maintained in a feeling of dependence upon God, will be regarded by him as the image of jealousy in the temple, which maketh jealous. Our sermons are the power of men, or perhaps we might say, their weakness; but our prayers are in a modified sense the power of God. Let us not slacken in preaching, but let us quicken in devotion; let us not quench a ray of intellect, but let us add to it the warmth of devotion; let us labor as if the salvation of souls depended upon our own unaided energies, and then let us feel as did the apostle when he said, “though I be nothing.” The eternal destinies of our heavers hang not only upon our sermons, but upon our prayers; we can)’ out the purposes of our mission, not only in the pulpit, but in the closet; and may never expect to be

successful ministers of the New Covenant, but by this two -fold importunity of first beseeching sinners to be reconciled to God, and then beseeching God to pour out his Spirit upon them: thus we honor his wisdom in the use of the means he has appointed, and then his power by confessing our dependence upon his grace.

Baxter concludes his “Reformed Pastor,” with an expression of his confidence in the usefulness of the book he had written, which it would be unwarrantable and ridiculous vanity in me to adopt in reference to mine, at least in any other way than that of hope and prayer, and in this spirit I borrow the language of that great and holy man, and say, “I have now, brethren, done with my advice, and leave you to the practice. Though the proud receive it with scorn, and the selfish and slothful with distaste, or even with indignation, I doubt not but God will use it, in despite of the opposition of sin and Satan, to the awakening of many of his servants to their duty, and to the promotion of a work of right reformation; and that his blessing will accompany the present undertaking for the saving of many souls, the peace of you that understand and perform it, the exciting of his servants throughout the nation to second you, and the increase of the purity and unity of his churches. Amen.”