Chapter III: REVIVALISTS.--In all ages gifts have been bestowed specially

adapted to the awakening and conversion of souls. These gifts may not, and sometimes do not, fit the man for the pastoral office, but as supplementing a pastor's gifts they are often of high value. The revivalist may not always possess the learning and teaching power of the settled pastor; he might perhaps fail in the qualities essential to the continuous guiding, organizing, and governing of a church; but in power to make vivid the truths and impressions already received by the people, to develop hitherto latent conviction, and to press men to a definite and avowed religious decision, he may be specially gifted. Some pastors eminent in teaching and pastoral qualifications lack the awakening power, and thus it is often true in the spiritual work that "one soweth and another reapeth." In such cases the revivalist comes as a reaper, with special gifts for ingathering, where the long and patient toil of the sower and cultivator has preceded him and has already prepared in the souls of the people the ripening spiritual harvest.

1. The relation of the evangelist to the pastor, in special religious services, is always one of great delicacy. The most frank understanding and cordial co-operation between them is of the highest moment. Much care, therefore, should be taken not to encroach on the prerogatives of the pastoral office, or to lessen the estimation in which the pastor is held by the people. There is sometimes danger of this. The sermons of the evangelist, limited as they are in number and frequently repeated, not only have the attraction of novelty to the people, but are often spiced with a fulness of anecdote and delivered with a freedom and force which the pastor's cannot possess, by reason of the different and wider range of subjects which he must discuss and the far heavier and more extended draft made on his resources. The less thoughtful hearers will contrast what seems to them to be the comparative dullness of the pastor with the freshness and spice of the evangelist, and the pastor unjustly suffers. Among the converts also there is often a special attraction to him who had been the immediate agent in their conversion, while the long and patient toil of him who had probably prepared the way for that final step is overlooked or disparaged. Plainly, it is the duty of the evangelist to recognize and hold in check these tendencies, and to strengthen in every possible way the pastor's position in the convictions and affections of the people. He may thus render his work a permanent blessing in the churches by making it the means of cementing the relation of pastor and people.

2. A young pastor will naturally defer in the arrangements for the meetings to the judgment and experience of the evangelist, but it is doubtful whether, under any circumstances, an evangelist should seek the control of them, or a pastor should concede it to him. Especially should the pastor maintain the control of those meetings in which candidates for admission to the church are examined; for here the pastor, apart from the official duty Christ has laid on him in this vital matter, has by his acquaintance with the people much better qualifications for judging character, and is far less likely to mistake than a stranger. Indeed, the temptation to seek the _éclat_ of a large accession of converts may enter as an unconscious influence in the case of both evangelist and pastor, leading to undue haste and neglect of just discrimination in the admission of members, and resulting in great ultimate injury to the church. No point, therefore, needs to be more carefully guarded.

3. The object of the evangelist is the awakening of souls and the revival of religion; his subjects, therefore, are properly adapted in their nature and in the manner of their presentation to secure that result. The range of topics is thus necessarily limited, and the manner is naturally stimulating and exciting. From this comparative narrowness in the range of his theme and of his biblical and theological investigation, there is danger of one-sidedness in his views of truth. Seeking as he does, also, immediate results, he is liable to fail in perceiving and estimating at their just importance ultimate results in the permanent life and power of the church. Measures have sometimes been adopted in the midst of a religious excitement which the calm after-thought of the people could not approve, and the result has been a reaction in the public judgment, condemning the work and seriously injuring the church.

4. Eccentricity in the evangelist, when it is natural as a part of his individuality, may possibly be an element of power, at least as awakening curiosity and calling the people to the house of God, but when assumed and cultivated with a view to popular effect it is always unfortunate. Sensational subjects, slang phrases, vulgarisms, overcolored anecdotes, exaggerated statements, oddities of manner, though for the moment exciting the attention, and possibly the applause, of the audience, inevitably in the end react to the disadvantage of the speaker and his cause; the sober after-thought of even the irreligious will condemn them in one who is dealing with souls in the great concerns of religion.

"He that negotiates between God and man,
As God's ambassador, the grand concerns
Of judgment and of mercy should beware
Of lightness in his speech. 'Tis pitiful
To court a grin when you should woo a soul;
To break a jest when pity would inspire
Pathetic exhortation; and t' address
The skittish fancy with pathetic tales
When sent with God's commission to the heart."[2]

The evangelist, perhaps, is in special danger of seeking the temporary advantage which eccentricity brings, because for the time it gathers the multitude to his preaching; and, leaving soon, he fails to see the disastrous reaction which afterward it is sure to bring.

5. Some of the most eminent evangelists have used substantially the same subjects through their entire career, at each repetition of them adding to their clearness and force of argument vividness of illustration and effectiveness of appeal. Rev. Jacob Knapp, whose work has perhaps been surpassed in extent and power by no preacher of the present century, adopted this method. The writer was with him in three series of meetings, the first near the opening of his remarkable career, the last about thirty years after, near its close, and in each of these that distinguished revivalist used, for the most part, the same subjects. But the advance in all elements of power was immense, especially in the last repetition of his course. Few persons in the vast multitude which gathered daily for six successive weeks to listen to this, which proved the closing series of his life, can ever forget the compactness and force of his reasoning, the graphic power of his illustration, and the wonderful effectiveness in his application of truth to the conscience and the heart. He had gathered into that series of seventy-five or one hundred sermons the richest results of his life-thinking and experience and had made most of them marvels of power. This concentration of the whole force of the man on a few sermons gives the evangelist great advantage in the pulpit and would seem to be the dictate of true wisdom.

6. In his personal religious life the evangelist, while possessing great helps, has a possible danger on the side of spiritual pride. Moving constantly in the midst of revivals, he is liable to forget that for the most part he is simply reaping where other men have sown, and that conversion is but the culminating point in a long series of influences of which his was only the last; and in the grateful affection of revived Christians and of converted souls, which sometimes rises to spiritual adulation, he may fail in that genuine humility which recognizes all spiritual effects as the work of the Holy Spirit, and may unconsciously assume an air of spiritual superiority painfully in contrast with his obvious weaknesses. Power with God is thus lost, and with it, power with men.

There is no ministerial office of higher responsibility or greater usefulness than that of the evangelist. It has been filled by some of the noblest and ablest men in the church of God--men "full of the Holy Ghost and of faith," whose names are fragrant in the memories of multitudes as heralds of salvation. Ordinarily, only experienced men should enter it; for it requires a purity and strength of character, a soundness of judgment, and a largeness of faith and patience, of practical wisdom and knowledge of men, such as extended experience only will give.

SECOND, TEACHERS.

The word "teachers" is employed in the New Testament as the designation of men in churches whose special work was public religious instruction. It is so used 1 Cor. xii. 28--"God hath set some in the church, first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers"--where the word, while doubtless including evangelists and pastors, evidently extends to all whose official work is Christian teaching. Probably, also, in Eph. iv. 11--"He gave some, Apostles, some, prophets, some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers"--the word has like breadth of meaning, designating men not pastors who publicly taught the Word. There are many endowed with teaching power whose gifts the churches, according to New Testament example, utilize in positions other than the pastoral office. They are called to various departments of work as secretaries and agents of missionary and benevolent organizations, as instructors in institutions of learning, as authors and editors engaged in creating and diffusing a Christian literature, and as laborers in other positions in which there is occasion for the exercise of ministerial functions; and they are, therefore, often ordained to preach and administer ordinances. On this class of ministers, we submit the following remarks:

1. Teachers, like evangelists, have no official authority as governing officers in the church. They are members with all the rights and duties of membership and differ from others only as empowered to preach and to administer ordinances. They are amenable, as others, to the discipline of the church, except that those who have received ordination through the action of a Council should not be divested of the ministerial office except by another Council. They have no right to ignore the ordinary obligations of church membership in pecuniary support, attendance on meetings, and personal devotion to church-work, but rather, from their conspicuous position, they are required to be in these things examples and leaders in the church. 2. This class of ministers in a church always stand in relations to the pastor of peculiar delicacy. Though without official authority, their character and gifts often give them great influence in the church and in society. Much care, therefore, should be used to avoid any intrusion on the prerogatives of the pastor. For example, in marriages and funerals within the bounds of his own church it is ordinarily proper that the pastor should officiate; only very unusual circumstances will justify a minister in allowing himself to set aside the pastor in such services. In the public and social worship of the church he should beware of taking too prominent a place or of occupying too much time, or of obtruding himself into the business and discipline of the church in such manner as to embarrass the pastor. In all relations in the church and in social life he should accord the pastor the just precedence which belongs to his official position, and his influence should be scrupulously used to encourage the pastor's work and strengthen the pastor's hands. Resident ministers may thus become to the pastor a source, not of discomfort and embarrassment, but of blessing and strength. 3. In the absence of the pressure of obligation which a pastoral charge brings, the minister is in danger of a secularized spirit, which weakens in him the sense of spiritual realities and impairs his power in the public ministration of the Gospel. To prevent this, he should earnestly cultivate in his own soul the ministerial spirit and should avoid all social or business entanglements which may either militate against his own spiritual life or may weaken his influence as a minister in the community. The secretary or agent whose work calls him from home has need of special care lest, in the constant changes incident to travel, he loses habits of personal private devotion and of biblical and theological study. It is possible thus to retrograde in spiritual character and power, even when pleading the holiest of causes. Indeed, in such an itinerant life, the mind, thus in constant contact with the churches and the ministry, may well be on its guard lest it allow itself to be filled with the current ministerial and church gossip, and yield to the temptation to pass from church to church bearing this rather than "the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ." Few positions afford such large opportunities to carry blessing to pastors and churches as that of the secretary or agent of our benevolent societies. In counselling the young or the perplexed pastor, in healing divisions in churches and removing misunderstandings between pastors and their people, in inspiring and guiding the action of Associations and other public bodies, their position gives them great power, and opens before them a wide field for beneficent influence. Such men were Alfred Bennett, John Peck, and many others in the past--men whose presence was felt as a benediction in the churches, and whose words gave everywhere an impulse to the spiritual life; and such also are many of those who now fill that responsible office.

THIRD, LICENTIATES.

There are many persons whose gifts qualify them for usefulness in the occasional or the stated preaching of the Word, but whose age or attainments or needs do not make it expedient to ordain them. To such it is usual to give a license, authorizing them to preach either within the bounds of the church, or, more widely, wherever Providence may open the door. This confers no authority to administer ordinances; the only ministerial function it authorizes is that of preaching and conducting public worship. Here I suggest: 1. It is evident that such a license should be given only with wise discrimination. A man of unsound judgment, of defective knowledge of the Scriptures, or of doubtful moral and religious character should never be accredited as a preacher of the Gospel, however strong may be his personal impressions of duty or attractive his address in the eyes of the multitude. In the end he will be likely to injure rather than aid the cause of religion. The want of caution in hastily or thoughtlessly granting a license has often resulted in introducing to the sacred office men whose career has been calamitous to themselves and to the churches. 2. No man should, ordinarily, venture to preach without a license or some form of authorization from the church. Every Christian, it is true, is required, in his sphere, to publish the Gospel; but this surely does not empower him to assume the office of the public ministry. A call from God in the soul of the man is, it may be admitted, the matter of prime moment in a call to preach; but an inward impression of duty to preach certainly gives no right to the ministerial function, unless it be confirmed by the church, the Divinely-constituted judge of qualification. To enter on the public work of the ministry self-moved and self-appointed has no warrant in Scripture or in reason and is an act of assumption and disorder which can only result in evil. 3. Churches and pastors, while using a wise discretion, should carefully seek out and develop ministerial gifts. Much power doubtless remains latent which with proper care might be developed and utilized in ministerial work. Many a Christian life now left undeveloped, might be greatly enlarged by being thus placed in its true sphere of activity; and many a waste place within the bounds of our churches, under the culture of a licentiate, might be made to glow with spiritual life and beauty. It is surely one of the highest duties of a church to recognize and make effective the gifts Christ has bestowed on it; and among these none are of greater moment than the gift of ministerial power.

+FOOTNOTES:+ [1] New version.

[2] Cowper _Task,_ book ii.

+SECTION XVII.+

PASTORAL STUDY.

Study is an oft-repeated injunction on the Christian ministry: "Meditate upon these things: give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all" (1 Tim. iv. 15); "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. ii. 15). The reasons for this are obvious. Knowledge is everywhere power. The ministry, from their position, are the natural leaders in religious thought. To command respect, they must be men of mental grasp and activity, and must be in advance of the thinking of those around them. Besides, no other profession is so heavily tasked for brain exertion. The Senate, the Bar, and the Platform only occasionally demand the highest efforts of the intellect. But the pulpit requires weekly its elaborate sermons. They must have freshness, originality, force, or the pastor loses his hold on the people. And this exhaustive drain on his resources continues steadily year after year. No man can meet such demands without constant, earnest study. He must be ever growing. His mental processes must be ceaselessly active, pushing into new realms of investigation, gathering new materials for thought, increasing his discipline, and making him a broader, richer, deeper man.

In the life of a pastor two extremes are to be avoided. On the one hand, he is not to be a mere book-worm, secluded in his study, with no practical, living contact and sympathy with life around him. Some ministers of large literary culture have been comparatively useless from want of living connection between their thinking and the real needs of the busy actual world in which they lived. On the other hand, a minister may not be a mere desultory man, a gossip from house to house, occupied with newspapers and magazines, skimming the surface of popular thinking in ephemeral books that may attract his fancy, but neglecting the severer processes of self-culture essential to mental growth. Instability in the pastoral office is often a result of this. Freshness, originality in thought and expression, is lost, and the people, weary of repetitions and empty platitudes, cease to respect and love the pulpit. The grand object to be sought, then, is to combine the student and the pastor--a mind growing in knowledge and power by habitual work in the study and growing in executive ability and social force by constant activity in the church and contact with the people. To secure this there must be a system--a system wisely formed and steadily pursued. What shall this system be? In answering this I propose to pursue two lines of suggestion--the method of study and the subjects of study.

FIRST, THE METHOD.

1. _Be a student everywhere._ The pastor's business is to deal with the human mind and the actual experiences of men; he should, therefore, go through the world with his eyes and ears open, thoroughly studying men and life around him. In the street, in society, in the social meeting, the mind is to be ceaselessly at work, observing character, studying phases of experience and life, and gathering materials for mental work. Many of the best trains of thought, most interesting views of Scripture, and most effective illustrations will be suggested in conversations and in the prayer-room. No man can afford to lose these; for, springing as they do from direct contact with the people, such trains of thought are most likely to meet the wants of the congregation and deal with the questions most vital to them. The studious pastor who preserves these texts and thoughts and illustrations as they occur will be surprised to find how rapidly they accumulate, and how fresh and rich they often render his thinking and instruction.

2. _Have a book always on hand._ Every life has its spare moments, and much may be added in culture and knowledge by a right use of them. Most of the current literature of the day, and much in standard biography, history, science, poetry, and art can be read in this way, if the right book is at hand. A half, or even a quarter, of an hour each day will accomplish the reading of a large number of volumes in a year; and if these are well selected, they will greatly add to the minister's breadth and intelligence, while they will refresh rather than exhaust his mind.

3. _Consecrate a specific part of each day to severe systematic work in the privacy of the study._ The habit of general observation and reading, before suggested, can be no adequate substitute for this. The time thus appointed for hard study should be sacredly devoted, and no ordinary occurrence be allowed to interrupt. The advantages of this are obvious. (1.) A habit once fixed is an ever-increasing power. The mind acts with greater rapidity and force when the habit of study at fixed, regularly recurring periods is formed. Instead of spending hours in vain attempts to fix attention and concentrate thought on the subject in hand, the mind enters at once with full energy into work. The more fixed and long continued the habit, the more easy, rapid, and powerful the mental processes. This is one secret of the immense amount of brain-work performed by some men: by fixed habits they instantly concentrate mental force, and work at white heat. (2.) If these hours are once fixed, and are fully understood by the people, they will ordinarily be free from interruption. The congregation will conform to the pastor's plan and will respect his fidelity in preparing for their instruction on the Lord's Day. What part of the day should be selected for the study cannot be determined by any rule; it must depend partly on the minister's habits, and partly on the necessities of his position. Ordinarily, the morning is best. The liability to interruption is less, and it leaves the afternoons and evenings free for visitation, meetings, and social life.

Let me add, nothing but a high ideal of the ministry and a fixed purpose to realize it will enable a pastor to persist in such a course of study. He must believe in it as a solemn duty he owes his God, his people and himself, or he will fail. Indolence is often fostered by a false dependence on genius or on the spur of the occasion to give effectiveness and brilliancy to public utterances. Unthoughtful hearers, also, will often praise the off-hand, unstudied sermons and discourage elaborate preparation. Besides this, there are obstacles to study in the pastor's work. He has cares connected with the sick, the afflicted, the erring; executive work in the organization and discipline of the church; and duties he owes society in the varied relations of life. These are often pressing, and the danger is that they crowd into the hours for study. Many a man circumscribes his own intellectual growth and pulpit power, making himself permanently a narrower and weaker man, by allowing these outside cares to destroy his processes of mental discipline and growth. Here nothing will overcome but a profound conviction that study--persistent, regular, life-long study--is the solemn, first duty of every man who ventures to stand up in the pulpit as an instructor of the people. Let other duties have their place, but the first, the most imperative duty of him who teaches others is to teach himself.

SECOND, THE SUBJECTS.

Let us suppose that the pastor has fixed his hours and made them sacred to severe, thorough mental labor; what shall he study? I answer: Not his sermons only. A grave mistake is often made here. The whole time is devoted to sermon preparation, leaving no room for general culture, biblical investigation, or theological studies. As the result, the mind becomes empty and barren. It lacks material for thought. The man is perpetually pouring out, but never pouring in, and the vessel becomes empty. He faithfully grinds at the mill but puts nothing into the hopper. Some conscientious, hardworking thinkers in this way fail as preachers. They have no freshness. The mind runs perpetually in the same grooves and moves always in the same narrow circle, whereas, if they were reading, investigating, looking on subjects from new standpoints and receiving the mental impulses which contact with other thinkers gives, the mind would be ever growing, ever enriching itself, and the sermons would be full of fresh and interesting views of truth.

Three objects are to be sought in the study: general culture, biblical and theological investigation, and sermon preparation.