3. The subject-matter of the address will often be suggested by the special circumstances connected with the deceased or the occasion. Apart from these, many general lines of thought will suggest themselves to the thoughtful pastor. Of these the following may serve as hints: The fulness of power in the Gospel to prepare for death, in its renewing, justifying, and sanctifying grace; The blessedness of the Christian beyond death, as admitted into the immediate presence of Christ and into the purity and associations of that holy place where He dwelleth; The glorious resurrection of the dead as the completing act of redeeming power and the ultimate goal of the Christian course; The certainty of the Christian’s hope, as based on the promises of an unchanging God, contrasted with the uncertainty of all earthly expectations. Or special phases of truth and sources of consolation may be presented in the informal development of some passage of Scripture. Thus: The sympathy of Christ with the sorrowing, as seen at the grave of Lazarus and on other occasions; The certainty that affliction is not accidental but is ordered in the infinite love and wisdom of God; The compassion and tenderness of God, as seen in that He doth not afflict willingly; The high and blessed results He intends in affliction; The brevity of earthly sorrow and the eternity of heavenly joy. Subjects adapted to such occasions will continually suggest themselves to a pastor who is in living, personal sympathy with his congregation; and it is wise to note them down as they occur and carefully preserve them. At the funeral of an unconverted person the selection of a subject is sometimes difficult; for here the minister, while he must needs be a “son of consolation” to the bereaved, is also under obligation to be faithful to the Gospel and to the souls of men. He may not suggest, even by implication, a hope respecting the deceased which neither his sober judgment nor the truths he preaches allow him to feel; nor may he pursue a line of remark adapted to weaken a conviction of the solemn truth that a personal acceptance of Christ and a humble following of Him in this life are absolutely essential to salvation; for in so doing he would be inconsistent and untruthful. It is equally evident, also, that in such a service, where he stands as a minister of consolation, it is not his duty to aggravate the sorrow of the bereaved by specially emphasizing the fearful doom of the unbeliever. Perhaps the general course of thought for such occasions would be found in topics which relate to the brevity and uncertainty of life; the way of salvation in the Gospel; the rectitude and tenderness of God’s providence; the refuge for the afflicted in the sympathy and salvation of Christ—topics which, while necessitating no allusion to the spiritual character and state of the deceased, yet afford ample scope for presenting the nature and urgencies of the Gospel and the true sources of consolation for the bereaved. Whatever the topic, the spirit and manner should be dictated and pervaded by a genuine sympathy for the sorrowing, and a hearty appreciation of whatever was excellent in the character and life of the deceased. Though not a Christian, he may have been a valuable citizen, a just and generous man, a true and unselfish friend, a good husband and father. If any personal remarks are made, such characteristics may properly be recognized on such an occasion as honoring his memory and rendering his death a loss to the world.
4. The service at the grave should ordinarily be brief, as the people are standing, and the circumstances of the place render an extended service undesirable. Some pastors use here some one of the printed manuals of burial services, others read from Scripture, or repeat from memory, a selection of passages relating to death, the grave, and the resurrection, and others make a brief address. Whatever the method adopted, the service should be carefully prepared, and should vary in its form, in order to secure in this, as in all services, variety and adaptation to the occasion. The service is closed by the apostolic benediction, prefaced sometimes by a few words of prayer.
5. It is desirable to visit the family in which death has occurred before the funeral services, both to express your sympathy in the affliction and to learn any facts respecting the deceased and the arrangements for the funeral that may be necessary for you to know. The pastor should here have the character of an adviser and friend. In all arrangements for the funeral it is better, in general, to conform to the customs of the community; but so far as he may use influence in regard to these, it should be in favor of inexpensive simplicity and against ostentatious display. Costliness and display at funerals constitute in many communities an evil of such serious proportions and consequences that the ministry should decidedly set their face against it; for, established as an inexorable custom, it often augments and perpetuates the sorrow of a death in the family by creating debt and pecuniary embarrassment which remain for years to come. It is also important to visit the family soon after the funeral to administer further consolation, and to follow up any good impressions which affliction has made. This is often one of the pastor’s best opportunities, as the heart is then tender and susceptible to religious influences. It is in these dark hours of adversity that the Gospel is felt in its saving, consoling, helping power in the soul, and the pastor here should work with Providence, carefully improving the opportunity.
SECTION XII.
CULTIVATION OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.
The importance of a deep, all-pervading missionary spirit in the church can hardly be overrated. Its value is not to be estimated only in the work done and the money raised for the spread of the Gospel, but also in the enlarged and enriched life of the church itself, and the higher and nobler type of Christian character it thus presents to the world. A pastor who fails in this is failing at once to make his church a power for Christ in the world, and to secure within it the fulness of life which Christ intended it should possess.
To develop and foster a missionary spirit in the church requires, as a first necessity, the presence of such a spirit in the pastor himself. Without this no method, however excellent, will be likely to succeed; but with it the spirit of missions will not appear merely on special missionary occasions, but will pervade all his public utterances in the pulpit and the prayer-room. It will diffuse itself as an atmosphere of life through the whole congregation, and, inbreathed, it will impart vitality and power to the whole body. But, added to this general influence, a fixed method of labor for this is desirable, and in regard to this I make the following suggestions:
1. A regular system of contribution for benevolent objects, taken either by subscription paper or by public collection or in boxes conveniently placed for receiving the funds. It is the custom of many churches to divide the year into four or six periods, devoting two or three months, as the case may be, to each of the benevolent objects; and this has often proved successful. Whatever plan is adopted, it should secure regularity of contribution, and should reach the whole congregation, old and young, rich and poor; otherwise, only the few will contribute, and the blessing connected with self-denying giving will be lost by the mass of the people.
2. A missionary sermon at least as often as the recurrence of these periods. In these sermons the great principles of benevolence should be developed and enforced, and the leading facts in the different departments of Christian work spread before the people. It is not necessary or desirable to preach a “begging sermon” with sensational incitements to give. In fact, our Lord’s great principle, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts xx. 35), suggests that giving should be presented, not as a duty chiefly, but rather as an exalted privilege whose reward is in itself. Properly prepared, “the missionary sermon” may be made a most attractive feature in the pastor’s public work; and if steadily kept in view and materials carefully preserved for it as they occur in his reading and reflection, the preparation will not be difficult. A special note-book, preserving thoughts and illustrations for missionary sermons, will rapidly fill up with a pastor who reads with method and care.
3. The monthly missionary concert of prayer. This is of vital importance, because here the missionary spirit of the church finds devotional expression. The pastor makes a serious mistake who fails to maintain this or allows it to be regarded as of minor moment. No meeting is capable of being made more effective for his home work than the monthly concert, properly conducted. In regard to this I offer the following hints: (1.) It is not necessary to restrict the sphere of the meeting to foreign missions, but there are important advantages in allowing it to embrace all departments of evangelization, home and foreign, through the different branches of work—in the pulpit, the school, and the press. Thus one evening might be devoted to the condition of the freedmen at the South and the work in progress among them, educational and missionary; another to the work of home missions on the frontiers of civilization at the West, developing the leading facts respecting the vast immigration into those new regions, the needs of Christian workers there, and the kind of work there to be performed; and another to the Karens or Assamese or Chinese, or other division of the foreign work. The meeting would thus be highly educative by the whole range of its information, and would promote a broad intelligence in the membership, while the breadth of the field would afford an unfailing variety of vital subjects to interest and hold the people. (2.) In opening, the pastor might present a brief survey of the whole field, selecting only events of special interest and incidents adapted to impress them. This might be followed by one or more papers or statements, from selected members of the church or congregation, on the special field chosen for the evening, or on some prominent laborer in it, the time of the speaker or reader being carefully limited. This would leave ample time for prayer, which is the main purpose of the meeting, and for such spontaneous utterances as might be made by the assembly.