the scriptures require in the pastor a model life. he is to be “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 tim. [p. 154] iv. 12). as the leader of the flock his outward life will be expected to evince a higher moral tone and furnish a more marked exemplification of christian principles than that of the private christian, because his office constitutes him an example, and the prominence of his position renders defects in him especially conspicuous and hurtful. hence, scripture is here explicit and emphatic: “a bishop, then, must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach: not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of god?): not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. moreover, he must have a good report of them that are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 tim. iii. 2–7).
i. business relations.
1. make no debts: “owe no man anything” (rom. xiii. 8). in all purchases for personal and family purposes the pastor should pay as he buys. it cultivates a just economy and avoids debts, which often prove a heavy burden on a minister’s life and a most serious drawback to his usefulness. no man is thoroughly independent in the pulpit who is facing a number of unpaid creditors. ordinarily, this avoidance of debt is entirely feasible, and when understood to be a rule with the pastor it has a beneficial influence in promoting promptness in the payment of his salary. the people will respect such a course in their minister. at the very outset of life, then, let him fix it as a principle never to run in debt. a strict adherence to [p. 155] this will sometimes involve inconvenience and self-denial, but these are more than compensated in the exemption from the anxieties and humiliations of debt, in the sense of independence, in the respect and confidence of the community, and, above all, in the clear conscience which observance of this rule secures. only the most absolute necessity should ever set aside this rule, for the neglect of this is too frequently a cause of failure in the pastoral office.
2. use great care and all the proper forms in making business engagements. the pastor is tempted to neglect business forms on the supposition that as a minister he ought to rely on the honor and consideration of those with whom he deals, and as the result, even where there is no dishonesty, there is often misunderstanding, out of which grow heartburnings and disputes. all business transactions, therefore, should be conducted in a business way, leaving no room for misapprehensions, and then all engagements should be met with promptness and honor. a pastor should be delicately sensitive to his reputation in this, for any failure, though it be only an apparent one, in fulfilling a business obligation is sure to provoke unfavorable comment and militate against usefulness.
3. live within your income. a pastor may not be reckless in regard to the probable future needs of himself and of those dependent on him. such a course is justified neither by scripture nor by providence. “the lord ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 cor. ix. 14). a minister, therefore, should find a life-support in his income from his work, and should so use his salary that a part be laid aside for coming days of need. if the salary is small, he should rigidly cut down expenses that some of it may be reserved. special exigencies in life, will, indeed, sometimes prevent [p. 156] this, but ordinarily it is feasible, and in the case of the head of a family it is plainly a most sacred duty. the neglect of care to make provision for those dependent on us is not faith, but recklessness.
here, however, a pastor must beware of covetousness. instances sometimes occur in which this just and necessary regard for future need degenerates into a selfish greed for accumulation which narrows and belittles the minister of christ. he compromises his dignity and independence by seeking in various ways gifts from his people, and thus the man is sunk in the mendicant, or he degrades his office by descending to petty meannesses, driving close bargains in business and shirking his just share in the contributions for church-work and benevolence. nowhere is the love of money more offensive than in the christian minister.
ii. political relations.
1. a pastor should always himself exercise the elective franchise and should encourage christians to do so; in no other way can we have a christian government. on this continent the great experiment is in progress of a government strictly by the people, and in the absence of religion and virtue it must prove a failure. christian men should not neglect their duties as citizens; it imperils the life of the nation and the welfare of the christian cause. the pulpit, therefore, should press on the church the duty of seeking the elevation of good men to official station. 2. as a pastor the minister is bound to refuse all party obligations and all partisan use of pastoral influence; for he is pastor of the whole church, chosen and supported without reference to political distinctions among the members. but as an individual he is entitled to his political preferences and his just political [p. 157] influence; with this the church has no right to interfere. at the same time, it is wise for the pastor to avoid excited political discussions, especially in public places, and quietly to exercise his political rights and perform the duties of a citizen. 3. when public questions have a strictly moral side, i think the pulpit should not be silent, but should seek, as on moral questions in general, to give direction to public sentiment in favor of honesty, truth, and virtue. occasional sermons, therefore, presenting the obligations of citizens and applying the moral teachings of christianity to questions on which christian citizens are called to act, are the duty of the pastor; but the time and manner and spirit of such sermons require the exercise of the most careful judgment.
iii. social character and relations.
two extremes are here to be avoided—the one, in which the pastor lives a recluse life, isolated from the life of the people and unfelt in directing the currents of thought and feeling around him; the other, in which he maintains a loose, familiar intercourse with all society, lounging about in public places, a “hail-fellow-well-met” with everybody. avoiding these extremes, a pastor should never allow himself to be a cipher in social life but should make himself a vital force controlling and elevating it. the gravity of his character and work, however, requires him to use special care in regard to deportment and associations. he is, indeed, to be and to act out himself, but, while true to his own nature as a man, he is so to control it as never to forget his character and office as a minister of god. here i offer the following suggestions:
1. the minister should be, always and everywhere, the unaffected christian gentleman, showing all courtesy to [p. 158] all men. it is here some fail, and either through a neglect of the courtesies and amenities of social life render themselves repulsive, or by a stiff and artificial manner of observing them, without geniality and warmth, make themselves unapproachable. men ordinarily and justly regard manners as an index of character. good manners, therefore, cannot be put on from without; they spring from a sense of the relations we bear to others and a disposition to act in accordance with them. a kindly, unselfish heart, a quick, keen sympathy, a sensitive regard for others’ rights and feelings; a ready, generous appreciation for the excellences of others, and a tender charity for their faults and foibles—in short, a well-developed christian manhood, with refined sensibilities, noble, pure, upright, transparent, touching life on every side, and fitted to bless whatever it touches,—this is the only real basis of correct manners. the cultivation of such a character, therefore, is the prime necessity, for in this will exist all the instincts of the true gentleman from which the gentlemanly manner spontaneously results.
2. in the matter of dress. i do not know that any law of propriety requires the minister to be distinguished either in the cut or the color of his garments. many, however, prefer some kind of ministerial costume as a matter of convenience to indicate everywhere their vocation, and this is, of course, a subject to be left wholly to individual preference. the principle to be insisted on as important is that the dress be not such as to arrest special attention, as suggesting foppishness and fastidiousness on the one hand, or carelessness and slovenliness on the other. the man, not the dress, should arrest and hold attention.
3. in conversation he should be genial, courteous, affable, avoiding that tone and manner of condescension which carries in it an implied sense of superiority, and [p. 159] exhibiting that breadth of intelligence and culture which will secure respect for his views in general society. slang phrases, vulgar anecdotes, boisterous discussions, idle gossip, and scandal, it is hardly necessary to say, ill become a pastor, and will in the end seriously militate against his usefulness. coarseness, indelicacy, and all that is suggestive of impurity should be scrupulously avoided; such words, when uttered by a minister, live and fester in the memory, and are destructive of all pastoral influence afterward over those who hear them. “an obscene story, a lewd double entendre, a filthy joke, a questionable word or gesture, a sentence that would make a pure woman blush in public or in private, in select or in mixed company, is a burning shame and scandal to any minister of the gospel.” nor should his chief distinction in society be that of the wit or mimic. wit and humor, when natural, are often elements of real power, as giving sparkle and flavor to speech, but in the pastor their place is subordinate; when they appear as his chief characteristic, they inevitably injure his influence. attractive social qualities, such as enable the pastor to exercise a leading and governing power in society, are to be most earnestly sought; their effect on pastoral usefulness can hardly be overstated.
the minister, when a guest, enjoying the temporary hospitality of a family circle, should bring into it the blessing of a genial, sunshiny spirit, showing always a thorough appreciation of kindness received and avoiding all unnecessary trouble to the hosts. if other ministers are present, beware of that ministerial clannishness which centers conversation on topics adapted only to ministers or makes it consist of ministerial criticism, gossip, and scandal adapted to lower the estimation in which other ministers are held. in the freedom and abandon of ministerial [p. 160] society there is often much temptation to this, but words thus thoughtlessly spoken sometimes do incalculable injury, both by lowering the ministerial character in the eyes of the household, and by inflicting an incurable wound on the reputation of those made the subjects of gossip. the injunction of scripture cannot be too carefully heeded: “let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt” (col. iv. 6); for thus the spirit you breathed and the words you spake will remain a benediction with that household and make your memory fragrant there for ever.
4. in his amusements and recreations a pastor should indulge only in such as are not only in themselves innocent but are not commonly offensive to the christian conscience. the grand principle of self-denial enunciated by paul as the rule of his own life is here, undoubtedly, the guiding principle of ministerial duty. he says: “give none offence, neither to the jews, nor to the gentiles, nor to the church of god: even as i please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved” (1 cor. x. 32, 33). he relinquished self-gratification, even though innocent, rather than put a cause of stumbling before others and hinder their salvation. recreation is doubtless a necessity—the bow always bent loses its spring—but recreation should never be taken in a form which may give offence to christian souls, or which may set an example such as, if followed by others, might work their injury. a pastor’s influence also may be impaired by undue absorption in any form of recreation. there is no wrong, it may be, in using a good horse, in playing a game of ball or croquet, in fishing or hunting, or many other forms of recreation; but the pastor who is specially distinguished for his interest in fast horses or for his sporting habits, or as a devotee of amusements, [p. 161] violates most seriously the proprieties of his position, and sinks in the estimation of all thoughtful people.
5. a minister’s associations or special intimacies should not be with bad or loose or irreligious men; the taint will necessarily tarnish and injure his own reputation, even if it does not corrupt his character. he is to be “a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate” (tit. i. 8). he should show all courtesy and kindness, indeed, to even the worst men around him, but his special friendships should not be sought there, nor his habitual associations. some ministers have here made wreck of their influence with the better classes in the community, while their association with the loose and irreligious class, so far from winning them to christ, has only the more hardened them in rejecting him by lowering in their eyes the character of his servant.
6. the pastor’s relations with the other sex should not only always be pure in fact but should also be such as to avoid even the possibility of misconstruction. no point needs to be more carefully guarded, for even the suspicion or thought of wrong in this, however ill-grounded, is commonly fatal to usefulness, and often follows him through the remainder of life.
iv. personal habits.
the pastor is expected to be a model christian gentleman, showing the refinement, delicacy, and culture which the gospel inculcates and produces, and improper habits, therefore, in him are more prominent and influential for evil than in other men. now and then a minister exhibits a foolish bravado of public opinion by affecting brusque, uncouth, eccentric manners and indulging in questionable habits under the mistaken supposition that, in thus setting at defiance the common sentiments of mankind in regard to the proprieties of ministerial life, [p. 162] he is showing moral courage and manhood; nor are there wanting equally foolish people who will applaud this contemptible exhibition of personal vanity. but, apart from such exceptional cases, the ministerial life is always beset by strong temptations to unbecoming habits. thus:
1. intemperance in eating. the studious life, as ordinarily pursued, often tends to dyspepsia and an unnatural craving for food. the bodily and mental vigor is often thus destroyed, while the obvious absence of self-restraint degrades the man in the eyes of others. the dullness of the pulpit and the ill-health of ministers are not seldom traceable to an overloaded stomach.
2. the use of tobacco. the highest medical authorities now agree that this is one of the common causes of nervous prostration and early mental decay. the late prof. moses stuart says: “i do not place the use of tobacco in the same scale with that of ardent spirits. it does not make men maniacs or demons. but that it does undermine the health of thousands; that it creates a nervous irritability, and thus operates on the temper and moral character of men; that it often creates a thirst for spirituous liquors; that it allures to clubs and grog-shops and taverns, and thus helps to make idlers and spendthrifts; and finally, that it is a very serious and needless expense,—are things which cannot be denied by any observing and considerate person. and if all this be true, how can the habitual use of tobacco as a mere luxury be defended by any one who wishes well to his fellow-men or has a proper regard to his own usefulness?” the duty of self-conquest in regard to such a habit is evident especially in the minister, whose very office adds emphasis to his personal example; and the principle involved is strongly set forth by paul when he says: “all things are lawful for me, but i will not be brought under the power of any” (1 cor. vi. 12). [p. 163] he accounted it an unworthy and dangerous thing for a christian to come under bondage to any bodily appetite. but he adds: “every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things: now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we, an incorruptible. i therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight i, not as one that beateth the air: but i keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any means when i have preached to others, i myself should be a cast-away” (1 cor. ix. 25–27).
3. the use of stimulants. the pressure of intellectual work on the pastor often requires of him the most important public efforts when worn and depressed, and thus at times the temptation to stimulate is very strong. the fact of bodily weakness pleads for a stimulant as a medical necessity. once indulged, stimulation readily passes into a habit, and the importance of the occasion is made an effectual plea for it as an alternative to failure. now, in all such cases, the consciousness of self-indulgence, as it weakens self-respect, must needs also weaken the moral power of the minister. he feels himself enslaved and cannot speak with authority. while consciously and deliberately yielding to self-indulgence, how can he preach to others the moral teachings of the gospel? such an indulgence, moreover, places the man in fearful peril, for it creates the necessity of repetition, and forms an appetite which in many instances has destroyed the man. some of the most brilliant men in the ministry have here made an utter and terrible wreck of life.
right habits are, therefore, of primary moment. a man can respect himself and secure the respect of others only as he exercises habitual self-control, holding passion and appetite in thorough subjection; without this the pastor lacks that consciousness of independence and that true manhood in which alone resides genuine moral power; [p. 164] and his defects, made conspicuous and influential by his sacred office, may be disastrous in their influence on those around him.
