all ministers are not called to the pastorate; and it is sometimes the duty of those who were once called to that position to leave it and enter a different department of ministerial work. in the ministry which the ascended christ gives his church, besides pastors, there are “evangelists” and “teachers”—terms designating important classes of ministers permanently existing in the kingdom of god. a brief characterization of these, and of the functions with which they are charged, may properly be presented here.
first, evangelists.
of this class, philip, barnabas, apollos, timothy, and titus are examples in scripture—men having no permanent, local charge, but commissioned to preach and [p. 125] administer the ordinances of the gospel wherever the spirit and providence of god might call. these men were engaged, for the most part, in work analogous to that of our foreign and home missionaries—preaching the gospel where it was not already preached, organizing churches, and supervising them in their incipiency while yet feeble and struggling. it is probable, also, that at times their work resembled that of those men called, in a narrower sense, evangelists—men engaged in assisting pastors and churches in special services for the promotion of revivals of religion. possibly, barnabas, when sent by the church at jerusalem to labor in the great awakening at antioch, may be conceived as acting in such a capacity, as also timothy when left in ephesus by paul to hold in check certain heretical tendencies in that city (acts xi. 22–24; 1 tim. i. 3, 4). evangelists, therefore, may be considered under the following classifications:
i. foreign missionaries.—in considering the question of duty to enter the foreign field, the first inquiry necessarily relates to qualification, since without this no mere desire or emotion in regard to the work can have any weight. as among the more obvious requisites for the missionary work the following may be mentioned: 1. a sound body. most of our mission-fields are in the east, in an enervating climate, and under conditions such as severely test the vigor of the physical constitution. no person already enfeebled by disease or seriously predisposed to disease should venture into the foreign field, as the probabilities would all be against his ability to labor there. on this point, it is obvious, skilled medical advice should be sought. 2. common sense. the practical administration of the affairs of the mission, temporal as well as spiritual—its building, its finances, its business contracts and relations, the whole management—usually [p. 126] falls upon the missionary, and requires large practical tact and sagacity. in a new field he has no reliable advisers and must depend on his own judgment in deciding on all the temporal concerns of the mission. in the older fields, while some of the business cares may be devolved on native helpers, he must still move among the native churches as a practical and influential adviser, guiding their affairs, settling their difficulties, and correcting their mistakes. an unpractical, visionary mind, however scholarly and brilliant, is obviously unfitted for such a position. 3. facility in learning to speak in a foreign tongue. a foreign language, and most of all an oriental language, is difficult to acquire, especially so as to use it readily and fluently in common speech. some men of good abilities have here failed in the foreign field, and, though useful perhaps in other departments, have never been effective in preaching. there should be, at least, an ordinary aptitude for language sufficient to ensure that with persevering effort the man will be able to master and use the vernacular of the people. 4. power as a preacher. preaching, among the heathen as elsewhere, is the grand means of evangelization, and the conditions of power in it are everywhere essentially the same. the missionary must be “apt to teach,” with a ready command of his faculties for argument and illustration, and a mastery of the art of putting things. in the conversational method of preaching in heathen lands, he is often obliged to meet in popular argument acute and profound reasoners, when his defeat before the people might prove a serious check to the gospel. 5. faith, energy, and perseverance. at these outposts of christianity a timid, wavering spirit, faint-hearted and irresolute, will be sure to fail. courage, determination, energy, alone will achieve permanent results. carey and judson [p. 127] waited years with unfaltering confidence for the first convert, and without substantially the same elements of character no man will succeed in pioneer work.
in deciding on the qualifications of a young man, however, it is to be remembered that he is as yet, in many respects, undeveloped, and qualities now present only in the germ and tendency will often in the actual work reveal themselves in marked power. abroad, as at home, circumstances and emergencies develop the man. no young man, therefore, may hastily dismiss the question of a personal call to the foreign field on the ground of disqualification. rather, he should carefully study his own character, and seek counsel of those best fitted to judge his capabilities, that in deciding a question of such moment he may act deliberately, with a full and impartial view of all the considerations, and with a clear conscience, always recognizing the danger that unconsciously to ourselves our selfishness is likely to magnify the reasons adverse to a missionary life and underestimate the force of those in favor of it.
the nature of the missionary work and the manner of its prosecution i shall not here consider: these will be found very fully presented in the work of the late lamented rev. m. j. knowlton, d.d., the foreign missionary, and in that of rev. dr. rufus anderson, entitled, foreign missions, their relations and claims. the position of a missionary is in some respects one of great delicacy, and requires on his part the most careful circumspection. here may be mentioned: 1. his relation to the missionary board at home. charged with the administration of the funds entrusted to them by the churches, the board must of necessity exercise a certain measure of supervision and guidance in the conduct of the foreign work. the exact line of demarcation between the authority of the board [p. 128] and the independence of the missionary in directing movements is not always easy to discover, and without a spirit of gentleness, forbearance, and concession the most serious complications may arise. in the expenditures of the mission, also, the keeping and rendering of an exact account are of the utmost moment, so as to avoid even the suspicion of wastefulness or malappropriation. the rule of paul is here, as in all financial trusts, the only safe one: “being careful of this, that no one should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us; for we provide for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the lord, but also in the sight of men” (2 cor. viii. 20, 21[1]). 2. his relations to the native pastors and churches are also of great delicacy. in the older missions the work of the missionary is largely that of general supervision of the native churches. but in this the missionary may not exercise an arbitrary power. he is not a bishop with authoritative episcopal power, subjecting the pastors under control and ignoring the independence of the churches. rather, his power is moral, and his work is to train the churches and pastors for the independent exercise of their respective functions. he should, therefore, carefully guard against an arbitrary spirit or any methods of procedure which could militate against the just independence of pastors and churches. it is a distinguished proof of the high character of the noble men who have gone out as missionaries that, while in these and other respects their relations are of such delicacy, difficulties between them and the home board have so rarely arisen, and the churches they have trained so fully exemplify in their character, organization, and working the simplicity and independence of the churches of the new testament.
ii. home missionaries.—most of these are pastors of [p. 129] new or feeble churches, and their position differs from that of ordinary pastors only in the fact that their support is derived in part from some missionary organization, and that they are under consequent obligation to render a report of their work to the body which thus aids in sustaining them. some of them, however, are engaged in purely itinerant ministerial work in the waste places of our cities, or in newly-settled or unevangelized parts of our country, visiting from house to house, preaching as providence may give opportunity, organizing sunday-schools, and forming churches. few positions demand more force of character, soundness of judgment, intellectual ability, indomitable energy, and self-sacrificing devotion. among the men occupied in this work are some of the noblest and most devoted servants of christ. their duties, however, being in most respects the same as those of ordinary pastors, do not need here a separate treatment.
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 [p. 130] 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 [p. 131] 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 [p. 132] 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. [p. 133] 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 [p. 134] 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 [p. 135] 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 [p. 136] 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.
[p. 137]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 [p. 138] 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.
