How Christ Came to Church: The Pastor's Dream

IV simple and brief are the outlines of
a human life. And yet only eternity
can fill out those outlines, and make

visible the unseen mysteries which we call

character and influence.

Adoniram Judson Gordon

IVas born April ig, iSj6.

Was cojiverted to God in 18j2, and was baptized the same year.

Was in New London, from 18^j to 183’j; in Brown University, from iSjy to 1860; in Newto7i Theological Seminary, from 1860 to 186j.

Ordaif led at Jamaica Plain, June, 186j.

Married to Maria Hale, October ij, iS6j.

Removed to Boston, December, 186g.

Departed this life, February 2, 18g.

THE LIFE-STORY

This life thus reaches over a period lacking little of three-score years, and may be roughly divided into three parts, each embracing about twenty years: the first twenty, his growth to manhood; the second twenty, his development as a Bible student and preacher of the word; and the third period being especially memorable for his maturity as a Spirit-filled teacher and leader.

The character and life of Dr. Gordon are so rich, both in incident and suggestion, so full of lessons in living for generations to come, that it is proposed to prepare a fuller biography hereafter. But, by way of introducing this marvelous personality to readers who were acquainted with the man only through his writings or public utterances, it may be well to give a brief sketch, as in profile, of his leading characteristics, and especially such as may help to elucidate the experiences connected with the dream, here recorded.

Dr. Gordon will long be remembered as a prince among the preachers and teachers of the modern pulpit. With preachers, as with musicians, there are different and distinct classes, and it is easy to find to which he belongs.

Some study to express the word and mind of God; they are exegetes. Others study their own states and express their own spiritual moods and experiences; they are autobiographers. Others deal in divine conceptions, but invest them with the interest of their own experimental history; these are witnesses and reach the truest ideal. Dr. Gordon was one of these. No man’s preaching was a more faithful exposition of the word of God. He would have counted it an affront to the Scriptures to use them as a mere convenience to hang his own thoughts on, or caricature them by a misapplication of sacred words. He was both too original in research and too independent in opinion, to become a mere reflector of others’ views, like the copyist, or substitute sound for sense like the dealer in platitudes. He honestly, patiently, and prayerfully studied the word of God, and then illustrated — we might almost say illuminated — it by his own experience.

No review of this life, however hasty, must leave out his work as an author. Ten marked contributions to the literature of the age remain, apart from the editorials and more transient articles in the “Watchword,” the religious newspapers, the “Missionary Review,” etc. His books fall into five classes. One on “The Ministry of Healing,” another, his “Coronation Hymnal,” and this last, his “Spiritual Autobiography,” must stand by themselves. Then there are four precious books which center about the person of Christ: “In Christ,” “The Two-fold Life,” “Grace and Glory,” and “Ecce Venit,” Two have specially to do with the Holy Spirit: “The Ministry of the Spirit,” and the “Holy Spirit in Missions.” But what a wide range and scope of treatment, and on what vital themes! It is not too much to say of these books that they constitute religious classics, and ought to form part of every well-furnished library.

In his literary style three things are peculiarly prominent: first, his vigorous and discriminating use of language; secondly, his marvelous power of analysis and antithesis; and thirdly, his simple, natural, forceful illustrations. In these respects his writings will repay any one for critical and habitual study. If the literary productions of any man of this century can in these respects supply a better model for young men who are preparing to preach, we know not where they are to be found. Dr. Gordon’s book, for instance, on the “Ministry of the Spirit,” is so tersely written and so carefully wrought out in every part, that there is scarcely one needless noun or heedless adjective in all the sixty thousand words which compose it; while every page bristles with new and instructive suggestions; and the whole is so reverent and worshipful that it suggests a man consciously treading on holy ground.

Twenty-five years of this serviceable life were spent in the Clarendon Street Church, Boston; and in helping to mold that church into conformity with primitive apostolic models was found the crowning work of his life. It implies neither exaggeration of his own merit nor depreciation of the service of any other man to affirm that it was

THE LIFE-STORY XUl

permitted to him, amid the atmosphere of Unitarianism and hberahsm, to build up a believing brotherhood, characterized by as simple worship, pure doctrine, and primitive practice as any other in the world.

To those who are familiar with the inner secrets of the life of this church, its central charm is one which is not apparent to the common eye: the adnmtistration of the Holy Spirit is there devoutly recognized and practically realized. The beloved pastor sought, and with great success, to impress upon his people the fact that in the body of Christ the Holy Spirit literally though invisibly indwells;; that he is ready, if he finds a willing people, to oversee and administer all that pertains to the affairs of the body of Christ; and that, as his administration both demands and depends upon co-operation, there must be neither secular men nor secular methods introduced into the practical conduct of Christ’s church, but the Spirit of God must be recognized and realized as the Divine,, Archbishop finding there his See. It took years ‘^ to get this practically wrought into the life of the church; but under his persistent teaching and patient pastoral guidance, there came a gradual elimination of worldly elements, and a gradual transformation of the whole church as a working body until it has become a model for other churches, approximating very closely to the apostolic pattern.

Dr. Gordon has written many noble books and pamphlets; but among all the volumes he has produced, this is the most complete and satisfactory. This church is his permanent “living epistle.” The golden pen of action, held in the firm hand of an inspired purpose, has been for a quarter of a century writing out its sentences in living deeds, to be known and read of all men. And the greatest problem now awaiting solution is, how far this church is going to prove that the Holy Spirit still administers the body of Christ there. Should these brethren show that they have been inwardly saying, “I am of Dr. Gordon,” rather than, “I am of Christ”; and were this church to prove only a sheaf, of which the pastor was the bond, and which when the bond is removed falls apart, it would be a world-wide reproach. If, on the other hand, it shall not only as an organization survive the pastor’s removal, but shall preserve jealously the high type of excellence it attained under his ministry; shall prove not man-centered but Christ-centered; and shall regard itself as a kind of legatee unto whom the pastor has committed the gospel he preached, the work he began, and the witness he maintained, to be guarded and perpetuated — this survival of the whole work when the workman has gone up higher, will be a testimony to the whole church and the whole world, as mighty and as far-reaching as any witness of its sort in our generation.

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