Ministerial Diligence

While just views of the great object of preaching go far towards making a useful minister of the Gospel, these alone do not give to the pulpit its true and proper influence. These views must be carried out into practice, and express themselves in a course of diligent devotement to the labors of the ministerial ofTicc. The single thought, therefore, on which we propose to submit several observations in the present chapter, relates to the necessity of unwearied diligence in the work of the Christian ministry.

The Apostle Paul, in giving his paternal counsels to a youthful preacher, has the following remarkable passage: “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear unto all.” No imparted gifts could avail for young Timothy, unless he himself were wholly devoted to bis work. Paul himself was a noble exemplification of the diligence be recommends; accomplishing in one short life more, probably, than was accomplished by any other man. Prepared for his work by an early attention to the liberal arts and sciences in the schools of Tarsus, and accustomed to manual labor in the trade of tent-making, he possessed a well-disciplined mind, and a body that was inured to hardship. From Tarsus he was sent to Jerusalem, where, under the tuition of that great master of the law, Gamaliel, he made rapid proficiency, “and profited above many of his equals.” But God, who had destined him for another profession, and “separated him from his mother’s womb” that he might be a preacher of the Gospel, arrested him in his course, and at the time of his conversion, revealed to him that he was the selected individual who should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentile world. From that hour he addressed himself to this great work with a steadfastness of purpose, and a diligence that is without any recorded example; asking only the question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do and never stopping to consult his own ease, or in any way” conferring with flesh and blood.” The first three years of his ministry he employed in different parts of Arabia; from Arabiji, lie rediriKMl (o Damascus, Avlicre, in dcfiancc of the incensed and exasperated rulers, he preached in the synaiyogue. Thence lie went to Jerusalem, where, though lie remained but lifteen days, he left the marks of his mighty mind, if not in the conversion, in the conviction and confusion of his enemies. Thence he set sail for Tarsus, his native city; thence, in company with Barnabas, he went to Antioch; thence back to Jerusalem; thence to Seleucia, and Cyprus, preaching in all its principal cities. Thence he went to Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Iconium, God everywhere giving testimony to the word of his grace; and thence back again to Antioch, confirming and strengthening the churches, and announcing how great a door had been opened for the conversion of the Gentile world. We need not follow him in his indefatigable course; it was one of unwearied labor and self-denial, at Philippi, at Athens, at Corinth, at Thessalonica, at Ephesus, at Illyrium, at Troas, at Myletus, at Ca3sarea, and at Rome. “Of the Jews,” says he, “five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a day and a night have I been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness, and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which Cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” Never was a mind more divinely attempered to its work than his; and never did a minister of the Gospel so magnify his office, by his “mighty diligence and industry,” in season and out of season, by day and by night, by sea and by land; “running,” as one of the Christian fathers remarks,” from ocean to ocean, like the sun in the heavens, sooner wanting ground to tread upon than a desire to propagate

the faith of Christ.” What he could not accomplish by his voice, he supplied by the diligent use of his pen, leaving upon record fourteen Epistles to the churches, and to us, and all subsequent ages, a view of the doctrines and duties of the Gospel, which, for simplicity, weight, urgency, and true, earnest eloquence, are not surpassed in the sacred writings. It is not amiss for us to have such an example of ministerial diligence before our eyes; we may the better see how much can be accomplished by the patient and self-denying efforts of one devoted man of God.

Effective diligence has respect to the whole course of ministerial life, and comprehends the entire devotemcnt of it to this great work. The time of Ji minister of the Gospel is to him, and to I lie work in which he is engaged, “more precious than rubies.” If he is a diligent man, there is nothing he economizes with greater care, — gathering up the fragments of it, that nothing be lost. There is nothing for which he considers himself more solemnly accountable; nothing he employs either so cheerfully, or so intensely for the cause of his Divine Lord. Like every other man, he requires seasons of relaxation and repose; and while he ought to possess true independence of character, to decide for himself when and what that repose shall be, it becomes him to do so with an honest conscience, and even with lively sensitiveness that it is the tendency of the best of men, where the call for labor and the opportunity for indulgence are distinctly before him, to lean to the side of indulgence. He should have independence of character enough, also, in his arrangements for labor, to secure the time devoted to it, without interruption. He must do this, if he is an effective laborer; and though it may cost him frowns and popular favor, his habits will eventually become known and respected. It is of great importance to a Christian minister who insists upon the uninterrupted opportunity for labor, to employ that opportunity intensely. This is altogether a matter of habit; and the habit is one which is easily acquired. If there are those who are able to accomplish more in eight hours than others accomplish in twelve, it is from the habit of fixed and concentrated labor. Ministers of the Gospel, of all men in the world, have no time to throw away. They may trifle with any thing, and be prodigal of any thing, rather than time. Wisdom in the arrangement of their time, and punctuality and activity in pursuing this arrangement, enter most essentially into the very elements of their usefulness. “Seize time by the forelock,” was the counsel given by a venerable father in the ministry to the writer while he was yet young. The best days of the week, and the best hours of the day are all demanded for our work. We rebuke our hearers who act upon the presumption that there is time enough yet; perhaps we should rebuke ourselves. How often is the time too far gone w hich ought to have been redeemed; how often do we stand discouraged on the threshold of duty, when we might have gone to the duty cheerfully, had we known the value of time. Men of the world husband their time; Christian men, in their secular pursuits, are wise in the employment of their time. We do not read that the Saviour was ever found standing or sitting idle. “I must work the work of him that sent me, while it is day,” says he; “the night cometh in which no man can work.” He was the most indefatigable of men, from the lionr he entered on his public ministry, to that in which he breathed out his life on the cross. God’s accepted time with the sinner is now; when, if not now, is it an accepted time for his ministers to be about their Father’s business? “Go on, dear brother,” says McCheyne, writing to Burns, then at Dundee, — “go on, dear brother; but an inch of time remains, and then eternal ages roll on forever, — but an inch of time on which we can stand, and preach the way of salvation to a perishing world.”

This general remark in regard to the diligent employment of a minister’s time, deserves, as we judge, special consideration in regard to one particular department of his official labors. Of all the labors of a minister, the most important is lyreparation for the pulpit. The pulpit is his great sphere of action; the work of the pulpit is the great work to which God has appointed him; it i.s the work in which most is effected for the great object of that appointment. What he is as a man, a Christian, and a minister of the Gospel, and what he accomplishes for the souls of his fellow-men, depends in no small degree upon the careful preparation of his public discourses. Those there are who are not indolent, yet who do not take sufficient time to prepare for the pulpit. This, we are fully persuaded, is mistaken policy; nay, it is worse. A few men there are of extraordinary powers, and great industry, who may be said to be always preparing for the pulpit, and who have little else to do than hastily gather up and arrange a few selected thoughts, in order to be useful and profitable preachers. But they are rare men, and would increase their usefulness tenfold, if their habitual preparations were more definite and elaborate than they are. We cannot urge too strenuously the importance of diligent preparations for the services of the pulpit. For what services should a minister be prepared, if not for those where hundreds, it may be thousands, are waiting with solemn expectation to hear the messages of Divine love from his lips? We are acquainted with some ministers who make their preparations for the pulpit altogether a secondary concern; they do so habitually. We dare not trust ourselves in animadverting upon a habit that is so censurable, so unministerial. To crowd the preparation for the Sabbath into the last day of the week may sometimes be inevitable; and there are those who can sustain this pressure. Men in the habit of careful preparation are the very men to meet this occasional exigency. Where the vessel is full, it will bear a sudden demand upon it; where the fruit is ripe on the bough, it does not suffer if it be hastily gathered.

Ministers, if they are wise, will not allow themselves to be often driven to this extremity. “Beaten oil, beaten oil, for the lamps of the sanctuary.”

It is related of the celebrated Dr. Dick, the fellow-student of Robert Hall, and Sir James Mcintosh, and the author of one of the best systems of theology, that his discourses for the Sabbath were begun on the evening of the Sabbath preceding that on which they were delivered. The writer is acquainted with a living minister whom he once heard remark, that he had rarely closed his eyes to rest, on a Lord’s day evening, for almost forty years, without anxiously turninf his thouchts to the inquiry, — What shall be the subject of my discourse for the next Sabbath? Nor was he satisfied until he had selected it; and when he had selected it, it became the burden of his thoughts, his studies, his prayers, and often, of his conversation for .the remainder of the week. Did we all do this, should we not be better preachers 1 “How long,” said a flippant licentiate, to the late Dr. Strong, of Hartford, “does it take you, sir, to write a sermon?” “That depends,” replied the veteran laborer, “on the nature and importance of my subject; sometimes two, sometimes four, sometimes six days; and sometimes almost as many weeks.” “Is it possible?” exclaimed the astonished young man. “Why, sir, I can write a sermon at any time in half a day /” “Yes,” replied the Doctor, “and make nothing of it /” With few exceptions, this is the whole history of hasty preparations for the pulpit. To make nothing of the toil, is to make nothing of the sermon. As the Frenchman said of the academy, “We had nothing to do, and Ave did it.”

There are no doubt seasons when a minister is justified in neglecting elaborate preparations for the pulpit, for pastoral visitation, and the more public services of the Church of God in the world. Seasons of sickness, and especially of pervading public calamity, and seasons of the special outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the people of his charge, demand a degree of pastoral visitation that is incompatible with severe study. For such seasons a laborious student is prepared; he is at home in the lecture-room, — at the prayer-meeting, and in the domestic circle. Some of his most profitable services then, are those oif-liand and olfheart efforts which cost him little labor; he is fitted for them by a course of previous discipline, by much prayer, and by grace to help in the time of need. It is no presumption in such a man, at such seasons, to look to God, and rely on God for the fulfilment of the promise, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” Yet, even in such seasons, he will find it of great advantage.

not allofjotlior lo iioijlect careful prr])aration lor (lie piilj)it. Tlir discourses prepared during seasons of great public calamity, and special effusions of God’s Spirit, are usually his best and most useful discourses; they are most worthy of being preserved and repeated; there is an earnestness and unction about them in vain sought in ordinary, and even more elaborate preparations. One of the most thrilling series of discourses found in our language, is a series published by the ministers of London, during the great plague, in the year 16(36. The most effective discourses ever written by President Edwards, and the late Dr. GrilHn, bear internal evidence that they were carefully prepared during those memorable revivals of religion in Northampton, New Hartford, and Newark, with the narative of which every minister is familiar. Never did the late venerable Dr. Dwight preach with so much spirituality and pathos, as during those seasons of refreshing enjoyed at Yale College, from the year 1800, to 1805. Yet, with the exception of his Saturday evening lectures to the students, his discourses were carefully prepared and written. There were two very precious seasons of the general outpouring of God’s Spirit, under the ministrations of the late Dr. Emmons, at Franklin; yet, with the exception of his “Improvement,” did this indefatigable student and pungent preacher never address even an assemblage of his awakened and anxious people, not in the district school-house, or a private dwelling, without his written discourse.

No minister can be diligent without a solemn purpose to be so. Severe toil is not naturally a pleasure; labor was the inflicted curse. Active as men are, and busy as they consent to be about trifles, calm, serious, useful labor is not naturally their pleasure. Nor will the habit ever be imbibed without strong resolution. Faint resolutions will not accomplish the object; before one short month is gone, they are gone and forgotten. There is a backwardness, a reluctance to severe and long-continued toil, which require great hardihood of purpose to overcome. They cannot be overcome without a struggle; and the man who conquers them will find the conflict such as to demand great watchfulness, and many prayers. His great object must be to “do the work of an Evangelist.” He must lay his account with toil, undiscouraged by difficulty, unwearied by years; his master purpose must be, that “Christ should be magnified in his body, whether it be by life, or by death.”

Are there no incentives to such a career 1 May we not, by weighty motives, and high encouragements, hold up to our own view, as well as to the view of others, the practicability, the importance, the usefidness, the honor of such a course; and the sinfuhiess, the depression, the dishonor of putting our hand to the plough and looking hack?

Contemplate, then, the great law of mail’s being in the present world. “In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread, until thou return to the ground.” No man can evade the operation of this salutary law, without being the sufferer. Last of all may a minister of the Gospel quarrel with this arrangement of Divine Providence. Yet is it no uncommon thing to hear the complaint from a certain class of ministers, of the severity of their toil. We may not affirm that this is always proof that they are idlers in God’s vineyard; yet is it an indication that they do not feel a deep interest in their work. Ministers are not the only men who have selected a laborious calling. Men of other professions are men of toil; not a few of them are men of indefatigable toil, from the dawning of vigorous manhood, to a ripe old age. They expect to gain their ends by unwearied effort; and why should not the ministers of the Gospel? how can they hope to gain them by any other means? There is no violation of the law of human dependence in such expectations. It is alike the duty and privilege of a minister “to trust like a child, and work like a man.” There is no one feature of the Divine government, no one property of the physical, or intellectual constitution of man, no one principle of his social organization, no one characteristic in the economy of his salvation, that proposes a bounty for indolence. Even in the sovereign operations of God’s distinguishing grace, where “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,” men are enjoined to “work out their own salvation,” because it is God who “worketh in them to will and to do.” Their dependence is their great encouragement. They work when God works; and God works when they work. It is true, that “it is God who giveth the increase;” and this is the reason why ministers should “plant and water.” The field must be cultivated, else will it rem.ain barren, and God will give no increase. On the part of the laborers, every thing must give way to the diligent planting and watering. This is a labor which may not be neglected, nor carelessly performed, nor performed for a season, and then abandoned. It is not more true, that “he that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread,” than that a laborious minister is a fellow-worker with God, while a negligent minister counteracts every law of nature, morals, and grace, and wages habitual war with his Maker.

What is fhe loork itself ^vhicli a minister of the Gospel is employed? If he is what he professes to be, he is a pious man, and is deeply sensible of the wonderful grace of God, not only in making him the subject of his grace, and an heir of his kingdom, but in “counting him faithful, putting him into the ministry.” If we have given any just view of the power of the puly)it, there is no employment so important to the present and future well-being of men, and therefore, none so desirable. Such goodness and mercy as God has expressed towards his ministers in calling them to his service, deserve more than ordinary returns of obedience and love; they impose obligations of entire and exclusive devotement to the service, to which, in such amazing condescension, he has called them. In accepting such a service, they have .solemnly pledged to it before God, angels, and men, all that they are, and have, and can perform. God has made provision for their temporal wants, that their time and thoughts, undistracted by other avocations, may be devoted to feeding his people with knowledge and understanding; and that they themselves, to the full extent of their opportunity and abilities, may be active and devoted ministers. It is a cold view of the work of the ministry to urge this devotement as a maker of mere obligation and duty. Necessity is laid upon every minister to be diligent in such vocation; necessity of every kind; the necessity of love as well as of law, of affection as well as of concience, of gi’atitude as well as covenant bonds, all constraining him to diligence and zeal. He has a high and holy commission to execute, and how can he execute it negligently? The souls of men are committed to his trust; their apathy must be disturbed, their crimes exposed, their sins rebuked, their consciences impressed, their fears awakened, their refuges of lies swept away, and they themselves urged to flee from the coming wrath. May they be negligent in such a work as this?

And who is the Master they serve? The Master they serve is he whose “name is Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” He is the Eternal One, who was before all things; the Omnipresent One who walks amid the golden candlesticks, and holds the stars in his right hand, and is with his ministers to the end of the world; the Omniscient One, and all the churches shall honor him who searches the reins and tries the heart. He is the Saviour who made them, and has preserved and blessed them; who owns them, whose property and servants they are; who to rescue them from death, paid the ransom with his own blood; and who, by ten thousand titles, claims all that they have, and are, and can perform. It is tlic God incarnate, the humbled Deity, the Eternal Son in tears, and agony and death, throwing around him the burden of their offences, and griefs, and darkness, that lie might lift them from the horrible abyss of eternal ignomy and suflcring, and through them proclaim this dear-bought deliverance to their fellow-men. The heaven-born Pearce could say, “Yes, my dear, dying Lord, I am thine, thy servant; and if I neglect the service of so good a Master, I may well expect a guilty conscience in life, and a death as awful as that of Judas, or of Spira.” Says Whitfield, “I want more tongues, more bodies, more souls for the Lord Jesus. Had I ten thousand, he should have them all.” Said Payson, “O what a Master do I serve! Never was preaching such sweet work as it is now.” Such men proved the temper of their heavenly armor, nor did they desire to put it off till they laid it down by the side of their grave.

This diligent devotement to the duties of his office, is what every minister oices to himself. He cannot greatly respect himself, nor the office he holds, unless he is a man of exemplary diligence. Paul would have his beloved pupil so conduct himself that “lh profiting might appear unto all.” Young ministers are not always aware how much they are capable of accomplishing, until they set themselves in earnest to persevering labor. Unexecuted, their power lies hidden from themselves. It is a fact of great importance for them to ascertain that their course may be onward. The simple truth that man possesses the capacity for constant and perpetual progression is of unspeakable value to a minister of the Gospel. Be his present knowledge and holiness ever so small, his object should be progress; his light should “shine more and more unto the perfect day.” But this is an impossible thing without j)atieiit and persevering toil. Severe toil is what he needs. Of no class of men may it be said with greater truth, that their intellectual faculties, their spiritual graces, and their moral virtues need to be so disciplined in the school of hardy industry. They must be inured to eiTort, to difhcult, and not unfrequently discouraged effort, and effort that ultimately rises superior to discouragement; else will they never “make full proof of their ministry.” There is a great difference between those men in other professions who are distinguished for their wakeful and patient industry, and those who do not feel sufficient interest in their profession to perform any more labor than happens to be convenient. There is the same difference among ministers. It is of little moment what their talents are; if they are not industrious men, it is impossible they should possess either the intellectual discipline or fiiriiidirc to lie permanently useful. They are not grow ini]c men, because they are not laborious men. Not a few ministers there are, men of splendid talents, who were never better preachers than in their youth. This is a sad failure, and the cause of it is their own want of diligence. They have become wearied with labor j and to find relief from it, they have been changing from place to place, and have drawn so freely upon their former stock of preparation, that they are strangers to the habit of untiring application. Others there are who entered upon their work with no other promise than a stable character and a well-disciplined mind, who have been “growing with their growth, and strengthening with their strength.” But they are men of forethought and system, men of reading and study, men of patient labor; they are men of self-denial, men to w hom time, and progress, and usefulness, are more than personal comfort, more than social intercourse, more than money; men to whom the work of the ministry is every thing. They were not born eminent, but became so by great labor and severe discipline, and were accustomed to great and long-continued mental effort. The great difference in the ministers of the Gospel, is, under God, the result of unwearied application. No man has talent without thought; and no man has rich treasures of thought without great labor. God’s blessing is with a devoted minister. The minister who dissipates his time in social intercourse, or who lounges away the hours that ought to be devoted, to severer studies in works of fiction; or who dreams them away amid the fumes of his cigar, need not be disappointed at his want of power in the pulpit, nor that he is unable to sustain himself in his high vocation.

Every minister ought to aim at distinction. Nor is there more than one way of obtaining it. “He that would be the greatest among you,” says the Saviour, “let him be the servant of all.” It is just this which a minister should aim to become, — the servant of God, the servant of his Church, the serva7it of those committed to his care, “the servant of all.”

If there be pride enough in every minister’s heart to make capital out of such an aim as this, there is nothing in the service itself that ministers to his pride. It is not forbidden him to aim at such distinction as was awarded to Barnabas, of whom it is said, that “he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and much people was added to the Lord.” He need not fear to aim at distinction in all that is good and useful; distinction in the work w hicli God has given him to perform; distinction in converting sinners from the error of their ways, and covering a multitude of sins.

Yet if he aims at this, he must pay the price for it ill corrcspoiidini effort. It will cost him dear (o l)c an able minister of the New Testament. It will cost him solicitude and toil, l)rayer and pains, days and niihts of care, tears and trembling. Habit and years may alleviate the solicitude, and dry up the tears, but they do not diminish the toil. Henry IV. once said of his son, who was eager to put on the crown, “He little knows what a heap of cares and toils he snatcheth at.” So we say of the work of the ministry. “I envy not a clergyman’s life,” said Dr. Samuel Johnson,” as an easy life; nor do I envy the clergyman who makes it an easy life.” It is no easy lot; and where it is made so, it is no ministry, no service. If there be those who are seeking an idle and easy life, let them not think of the pulpit. Rather may they find it in the harvest-field, or on the ocean, or at the anvil, or at the saw and the hammer; but they will not find it in the faithful discharge of the duties of the pulpit. The service is one of labor; “we are laborers together with God.” Few among the laborious ministry but have found that there are seasons when it has responsibilities that are hard, very hard, to bear. “If any man wishes to be a successful minister,” says Payson, “he knows not what he asks; and it better becomes him to consider whether he can drink of Christ’s bitter cup, and be baptized with his baptism.” This is, perhaps, too sombre a picture; yet should we all have more sympathy with such a thought as this, did we know by experience as well as this man of God knew, what it is to be a successful minister.

We cannot suppress another thought: a diligent ministry is the onost happy ministry. “Blessed is the man,” says Carlyle, “who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. Know thy work, and do it; and work at it like a Hercules. One monster there is in the world; an idle man.” Payson found pleasure in the toil, and joy in the very suffering. Ministers are sometimes exceedingly happy in their work; and never more so than when it is most arduous. “I find,” says Whitfield, “that the more I do for God, the more I am able to do, and the more I am comforted in doing it.” “I am glad,” says he, writing to one of his coadjutors, “that you have sounded the silver trum])et in London. Crescet eu7ido, must be your motto and mine. There is nothing like keeping the wheels oiled by action. The more we do, the more we may do; every act strengthens the habit; and the best preparation for preaching on Sundays is to preach every day in the week.” “I wish for no service,” says Henry Martyn, “but the service of God, in laboring for souls on earth, and to do his will in heaven.” I do not wish for any heaven upon earlli, but that of preaching tlic precious Gospel of Cln-ist to immortal souls. I do not know that any thing would be a heaven to me, but the service of Christ and the enjoyment of his presence. There is not a thing in the world for which I would wish to live, except because it may please God to appoint me some work.” These are beautiful thoughts; they are the life, the joy of the ministry. Every active and diligent minister may not indeed be always thus happy; he has his seasons of discouragement from within and from without. His sky is not always clear; but he is comforted even under the cloud. If he mourns that it is not always harvest with him, he rejoices that it is always seed-time. If yellow autumn does not always pour its riches before his eye, yet is he cheered with the beauties and the promise of the opening spring, and the arduous summer. That morbid sensibility, that corroding sentimentalism which is the bane of every manly and energetic quality, and every growing grace; and which sinks so many ministers into despondency; has no place in his bosom, because his best, and holiest, and most buoyant desires are gratified in the prospect of responsible effort. The most diligent may, indeed, well feel that they are “unprofitable servants,” yet are they happy servants, and the most happy when most employed. Ministers lose their relish for their work as they relax their toil. There is, there can he no charm in the severer lahors of the sacred office for a neg-ligent lahorer. He has few pleasant scenes to look back upon; — few pleasant recollections waft their fragrance over his languid mind. The joy of a clear conscience belongs not to such a man. Nor is he comforted in his present labor, however intermitted and light it may be. He has a complaining spirit; such a spirit is the natural growth of an indolent mind. He is perpetually making unhappy comparisons; and, instead of rejoicing in the successes of others, complains only of the want of it in himself. And he has no vivid expectations to cheer him; there are few blossomings of hope springing up in his path. It is always winter with him, — never seed-time, never harvest; he wanders amid leafless trees, and shivers under the keen, cold wind.

The life and death of the late Dr. Chalmers, presents a most delightful view of that high degree of enjoyment which attends a laborious minister. In all the voluminous productions of his pen, I do not recollect a gloomy, or pensive thought. The most grave and weighty subjects he treats, not indeed without solemnity, but with a buoyancy and vigor that indicate a cheerful and happy mind. I love to

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think of siuli a man, niul (o dwell on the unclyiiiii verdure of his chisteriiig thoughts. Even his stern and strugiT:ling career interests me, it was so light and gladsome. I love to think of him, climbing up the sides of Mount Zion, holding on sometimes by the jutting rocks, and sometimes by the green boughs, ever tasking his fortitude as he ascends, till, like Moses on the top of Nebo, he looks for the last time on the plain below, and scarcely conscious of the change, finds himself by the men of light and love, and in the presence of God and the Lamb. I sometimes think of such a man, and say I would not be a Lazzaroni. “I have no desire to be a weed on the shore.”

Ministers must soon be called to their final account. Those lo can look back upon their ministry with thankfulness, can look forward to that day of reckoning with joy. He who has given them grace to be diligent and faithful, has laid up for them an incorruptible crown. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever.” There remaineth a rest for God’s faithful ministers. Blessed rest! glorious and everlasting rest! where the curse of labor is passed away, and the blessing oidy remains of serving God day and night in his temple. Will it not be the sweeter to those, who in the present world were “in labors more aljundaiit?” It is not “a heap of cares and toils they are snatching at,” who look for the “crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give them at his appearing.”

Are there no misgivings, in view of the judgment, in the bosom of a negligent minister of the Gospel? Can he look forward to it with peace, with hope, with joy, with triumph in that Saviour, who so tenderly requires him to feed his sheep and lambs? Has he taken to himself the whole armor of God, and fought the good fight? Has he so run that he may obtain? Is he sensible that there is a day of reckoning, and endless retribution to ministers, as well as their people? Is the thought present to his mind, that when he stands with them at the bar of God, it is no impossible thing for the blood of souls to be found in his skirts? The office of a minister of the Gospel imparts deep interest to this day of final account, in regard to those who are committed to his trust. The words which he has spoken will bear testimony for or against those who have listened to them; while, if he himself has been negligent and faithless, nothing can shield him from the appalling doom of the unprofitable servant.

But I will not pursue these thoughts. There is a reproach attached to the character of an idle minister, the stain of which is not easily

208 Tlir, POWKR OI’^ THE PUI.PIT.

wiped away. An idle minister of the Gospel of the ever blessed God, — what a i)aradox! Sn(di a man belonirs not to the chiss of ministers whom the Saviour had in Ids thoughts, when lie said to his disciples, “The harvest is •Threat, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest!” He is not of the class of ministers whom the Church ])rays for; he should fear lest he is out of his place, and lest the sentence should go forth against him, “Cut him down, why cumbereth he the ground!” Instead of standing between the living and the dead, that the plague of sin may be stayed, such a minister is like the dead among the living. He buries himself alive, and is much more tit for the graveyard, than for the busy scenes of God’s Church on the earth, and her unsleeping conflict with the powers of darkness. And when he dies, he “leaves nothing behind him but a tomb.”

It is of great importance that we should form a just estimate of the true character and work of a minister of the Gospel. We are not responsible for the number of our talents, but for the diligent use of them. We need not be afraid of toil. There are sufficient inducements to effort, and effective incentives to fear. Ministers may hope for a grateful return from men; but if this is denied, the promise is good, “Lo I am with you.” They have the light of God’s countenance; there is no such pleasure in any of the toils of earth; this world cannot do for them what God their Maker so often does, when he “gives them songs in the night.” It is no time to rest on the field of battle. Shall ministers be negligent, when their mighty and malicious Foe is so indefatigable to gain the victory over them, and the souls committed to their care? Who w-ould not rather labor and die like Payson, than live in inglorious repose in such a work as the ministry of reconciliation? O for such a spirit! O for such a race of ministers, — ministers w ho could say with Paul, as they look back and look forward, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course!”