The Joys of a Pastor's Life
It is a lamentable and portentous fact that the number of candidates for the Gospel ministry is steadily decreasing. In one of the leading Protestant denominations they have decreased from 1,508 to 917 within the last five years! At quite a recent graduation of a class of over 200 from one of our greatest universities, about fifty declared their purpose to enter upon commercial business, about the same number were looking to the legal profession, others to the medical and scientific pursuits; but out of all the Christian students in that class only eleven announced their intention to become ministers!
Various reasons may be assigned for this sad falling off of candidates for the pulpit. These I will not discuss; nor would I mini- 108 mize the difficulties which a faithful, earnest, evangelical minister has to encounter. Some of these difficulties are arguments for multiplying rather than diminishing the number of the right kind of gospel preachers. My purpose is to present the golden side of the shield, and to tell young men of brains and culture and heart-piety what solid and substantial joys they forego when they turn away from a calling that an angel might covet. I do not underrate the need or the usefulness of godly laymen; but there are peculiar satisfactions and honors and spiritual rewards to be won by the preacher who preaches God’s glorious messages to men, and the pastor who gathers and feeds and leads the Master’s flock.
In the first place, he is in a close and covetable partnership with the Lord Jesus Christ. His work is on the same lines with him who came to reveal the mind of God to sinning and suffering humanity, and to “seek and to save the lost.” Christ’s great commission to the band of men who were in the most intimate relations to himself was, “As 109 ye go, preach!” They were to be his witnesses, his representatives, his heralds and his ambassadors; and that is the very same commission given to-day to every man whom he calls into his ministry. If you ask me, “What is a call to the ministry?” X would answer that it is both the ability and the intense desire, with God’s help, to preach the Gospel of salvation in such a way that people will listen to you.
In addition to the joy and honor of a peculiar partnership with the incarnate Son of God, every true minister is, in the best sense of the word, a successor of the apostles. Although without their infallible inspiration and miraculous gifts, yet, like them, the faithful minister is the ambassador of the Lord Jesus. The greatest of the apostles, in addressing his spiritual children at Thessalonica, exclaims,“What is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.” Rising above his poverty, his homelessness and his persecu-IIOtions, the old hero reaches out and grasps his royal diadem. It is a crown blazing with stars — every star an immortal soul plucked from the darkness of sin into the light and liberty of a child of God and an heir of heaven! Poor, he is making many rich; he would not change place with Caesar. My young brother, when you are frightened away by foolish fears, or drawn away by worldly ambitions from the Gospel ministry, have you ever thought what an apostolic companionship you are despising? Have you thought of what a joy and crown of rejoicing you are flinging away?
Think, too, of the glorious themes and the sublime studies that will occupy your mind as a minister of God’s Word. Is human science elevating? How much more is the science of Almighty God and of man’s redemption, and of the unseen realities of eternity? Your themes of constant study will be the themes that inspired the mighty Luthers and Wesleys and Pascals and Chalmers; you will be nurturing your soul amid those pages where John Milton fed, and m amid the scenes that taught Bunyan his matchless allegory, and Jeremy Taylor his hearse-like melodies. Every nugget of fresh truth you discover will make you happier than one who has found golden spoil. The study in which a devout pastor prays, and pores over God’s Word, becomes an ante-chamber of the King, and he hears the cheering voice of the infinite Love, ‘T am with you alway.”
If the high range of his studies and the preparation of his discourses are so stimulating to an earnest, soul-winning pastor, he finds even richer satisfaction in his pulpit, and in his labors among his flock and the surrounding community. John Bunyan voiced the feeling of such pastors when he said, “I have counted as if I had goodly buildings in the places where my spiritual children were born. My heart has been so wrapt up in this excellent work that I accounted myself more honored of God than if he had made me emperor of all the world or the lord of all the glory of the earth without it. He that converteth a sinner from
112 the error of his ways doth save a soul from death, and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.” Thd young man who enters the ministry with this hunger for souls has “meat to eat that the world knows not of.” His purse may be scanty, his parish may be obscure; difficulties and hard work may often bring him to his knees; but while his Master owns his toils with blessings, he would not change places with a Rothschild or an Astor. Every attentive auditor is a delight; and when a returning and repentant soul is led by him to the Saviour, there is not only joy in heaven, but a joy in his own heart too deep for words. It is full measure, pressed down, running over.
Converted souls are jewels in the caskets of faithful pastors; they will flash in the diadem which the righteous Judge will give them in that great day. Even here in this world, it is far better “pay” than any salary for a pastor to be told, “that sermon of yours helped me,” or “that one brought me to Christ.” During my fifty-six years’ min- 113 istry I have had an immense correspondence; but the letters that I embalm in lavender are those which express gratitude for a soul-converting sermon, or for words of uplifting consolation spoken either in the pulpit or elsewhere. Happy the minister who is thus helped while he is helping others! He gets a small installment of heaven in advance.
Far be it from me to pronounce the ministry a bed of roses or a hammock of luxury. A faithful, courageous pastor has trials, and not a few temptations; they often attest his fidelity, they sinew his faith and drive him closer to Christ. A whining minister is a disgrace to his calling and an abomination to the Lord. The man who finds that he has mistaken his calling ought to demit the ministry at once. If the ministry were “weeded” to-morrow it would be the stronger.
I do not assert that every able and godly
young man in our schools and colleges
should enter a pulpit. There are many
who can serve their Master and their coun-
114 try more effectively in some other sphere. It is equally true that the only occupation that is not overdone in America is the occupation of serving Christ and saving souls. The only profession that is not overcrowded is the ‘“guild” of good, clear-headed, conscientious, industrious, Christ-loving ministers. Not one such is likely to go begging for a place. They are in demand.
If there may be some in the pulpit who ought to be out of it, there are many out of it who ought to have gone into it. This decrease of candidates for the pulpit is a bad symptom; it shows that the thermometer is falling in the churches. It shows that ambition for money-making and worldly honors is sluicing the heart of God’s church and drawing much of its best talent into these greedy outlets. Unless this depletion of the ministry is checked, a woe will be pronounced upon the churches, and a gospel famine will be the penalty. My purpose in this plain article is to send a hailing word of good cheer to the thousands of faithful shepherds of Christ’s flocks. It 115 is also to bring before Christian young men in our schools and colleges these two questions: Have I the necessary gifts — mental, physical, and spiritual — for the gospel ministry? If so, can I afford to rob my Master of the service and myself of its joys?