The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties

by H. Harvey

Finally, pastoral visitation is a chief means of blessing and cementing the pastoral relation. Of late years pastorates have become of short duration. Hardly is a minister settled and fairly at work before the question of a change begins to be agitated. May not the decline of pastoral visitation, so faithfully done by many of our fathers in the ministry, be in part an explanation of this? The pastor’s personal religious life is not brought into contact with his people; as the result, their religious confidence is not won, and his ministry is not in sympathy with their needs. The only bond between them is the pulpit; and when the novelty of his voice and manner and modes of thought has passed away, they are tired of him and seek a change.

Besides, when the pastor is not faithful to the souls of his people in private, they instinctively feel that he is not sincere—at least, not thoroughly in earnest—in his public preaching. On the Lord’s Day he comes before them proclaiming the most solemn truths and pressing these truths with the strongest urgency, but in the week, he meets them and has no words of kindly invitation and warning. He solemnly warns the impenitent from the pulpit of their imminent peril of everlasting burnings but meets them in their homes or on the street, perhaps year after year, without one word expressive of his interest for their eternal welfare. Such inconsistency makes religious confidence impossible, and there is no adequate bond to bind pastor and people together.

But the relation of pastor and people, as God ordained it, is most sacred and enduring. Charged with the care of souls, he is to move among his flock as their spiritual guide and friend. The confessional, terrible as its power for evil is, was after all in its origin only a perversion of the pastoral institution, based on a real and universal need—the longing of troubled souls for guidance, help in getting back to God. This need the pastor must meet as the confidential counsellor and helper of the individual members of his flock; and if true to this sacred trust, his resources of power are ever increasing, and new bonds of sympathy hold him more firmly year by year in the hearts of his church.

IV. Visitation of the Sick.

This is one of the most responsible and difficult duties of the pastor, for it often devolves on him the spiritual guidance of souls on the verge of eternity, when what is said must be said at once and words fitly spoken are of supreme moment. I have, therefore, reserved this subject for special suggestions.

1. The people should be instructed to notify the pastor when cases of sickness occur, for he is often blamed for neglect in visiting the sick when in fact he did not know of the sickness. He should make public request, therefore, that notice be sent to him of such cases, with the fullest assurance of readiness on his part to respond to such a call at all hours and in all places. Of course, in cases of known sickness among his own people, a pastor will not wait to be invited, but will call as an understood part of his pastoral duty.

2. It is always prudent to visit the sick in a rested rather than wearied state of body, and with a full rather than an empty stomach; the liability to contract disease is thereby lessened. In contagious diseases a medical adviser should be consulted as to the best means of avoiding danger, and disinfectants should be carefully used after the visit to avoid endangering others. Whether in such cases it is duty to visit no rule can be given; the decision must be left to the convictions of the pastor and the relations and circumstances of each. The words of Van Oosterzee, in his Practical Theology, deserve here, however, careful consideration: “The negative answer, favored by the theory and practice of some, finds an apparent justification in the natural desire for self-preservation and in the teacher’s relation to his own family. In opposition to this, however, stands the consideration that even the Christian is bound to lay down his life for the brethren, how much more the shepherd of the sheep! and that, in this sphere also, loss of life in the service of the Lord is the way to the preservation of life. Without doubt, fulfilment of duty in this case may cost a painful sacrifice. . . . Nevertheless, the Lord and his congregation have unquestionably the right to demand that duty take precedence of everything; as accordingly Luther, in 1527, during the prevalence of the plague, remained with Pomeranus and two deacons at Wittenberg, and in this way answers the question formally raised by him in his tractate, ‘Whether we may flee before death?’ When, in 1574, the question here put was expressly deliberated at the Synod of Dort, the answer was given, ‘that they should go, being called, and even uncalled, inasmuch as they know that there will be need of them.’ With what right shall the physician of souls withdraw from a task from which even the unbelieving medical man does not too greatly shrink? . . . The risk incurred on that occasion finds its abundant compensation in the gratitude of the flock, the approval of our own conscience, and the ever-renewed experience that the Lord supports His servants in this school of exercise also, and not seldom manifestly preserves them. Of course, belief in His power and faithfulness can release no one from the duty of taking those measures of precaution prescribed under such circumstances by experience and science.” The question is sometimes one of the most difficult in a pastor’s life, and without doubt there is much danger that he may take counsel of timidity rather than of that faith which becomes a servant of God.

3. Careful preparation should be made for such visits by previous study and prayer. In this he is to seek a spiritual frame of mind, to select and familiarize Scripture passages adapted to the different spiritual conditions and needs of the sick, to elaborate fitting trains of thought, and to acquire brief, simple, and apt illustrations of the way of salvation, thus fitting himself for the different phases of spiritual condition in the sick. I hardly need add that at the basis, as underlying all preparation, there must be a sound judgment and a heart in genuine sympathy with the afflicted, so that the pastor comes into the sick-chamber as a wise and sympathizing friend and is felt as such.

4. In manner it is important to be self-possessed and natural, sympathetic and cheerful, putting the sick at ease and inspiring confidence. The voice should be tender and subdued, but not falsely keyed and whining. The visit, except in unusual circumstances, should be brief. A neglect of these things will destroy the advantage of the interview, and in some cases will exclude the pastor from the sick.

5. In regard to conversation with the sick, no fixed rules can be given, since the cases present phases so varied; the good sense and tact of the pastor will suggest the best method in each case. Plainly, the matter of first moment is a clear, thorough, and accurate understanding of the spiritual condition of the patient, for without this the pastor’s words may be misdirected, or may even be wholly misleading. He may administer consolation where the heart is in rebellion against God and needs rather kindly warning, or he may encourage hope where the heart is self-deceived, and God has spoken only condemnation. An interview alone, if it can be arranged, will sometimes secure from the sick a more full disclosure of the heart, and will enable the pastor to speak with greater directness and freedom. If the sick person is a Christian, the question then becomes, Is he at peace, submissively, restfully trusting all in God’s hand? If not, ascertain what is preventing this, and if possible, help the soul back to God. If he is not a Christian, seek to know what prevents him from becoming one, and lead him if possible to Christ. But use a careful discrimination, distinguishing clearly between the true and false in religious experience, and avoid mere loose exhortations to come to Christ, which leave unexplained what Christ is, and what He has done, and what it is to come to Him. In all cases, whether to saint or sinner, Christ is to be presented in His fulness of grace and power as the one Hope and the one Helper for the humble, penitent soul, and the thought of the sick is to be lifted and turned to Him as a living, present Savior and an almighty Friend.