The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties - H. Harvey

Without this self-renunciation and self-devotion to Christ, as an habitual fact, the inner life will be without spiritual power. Jesus, in His promise of the Holy Spirit and of the Christ-presence, makes this the one, essential condition: “If ye love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter” (John xiv. 15, 16). A true consecration of self to Christ, therefore, assures the presence of the Holy Spirit as the revealer of Christ within the soul. This was the habitual attitude of the apostle Paul. He says: “The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. ii. 20). Self was nothing, Christ everything; for when confronted with peril of death, he said: “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts xx. 24). Thus self-dedicated, he received the promise: The Spirit wrought in him mightily, filling him with Divine life and power. So utter was his self-abnegation, and so all-absorbing his love of souls, that, like Moses of old (Ex. xxxii. 32), he “could wish,” were it right and would it secure their salvation, to be himself “accursed from Christ” for them (Rom. ix. 3). With like self-devotion to souls, Rutherford, the eminent Scotch minister, while assuring his flock that they “were the objects of his tears, care, fear, and daily prayers,” said “My witness is above, that your heaven would be two heavens to me, and the salvation of you all as two salvations to me.” A ministry thus self-forgetting is of necessity a ministry of power; for God Himself works in it, as all history has shown.

IV. An Habitual looking Above for the Reward.—“Godliness” has “promise of the life that now is” (1 Tim. iv. 8); and nowhere, perhaps, is that promise more fully realized than in the pastorate in the present age. In social relations, in opportunities for culture, in friendships formed, in means of influence, in popular estimation, and even in temporal support, few positions in life have higher advantages or more agreeable surroundings. But, with all this, life, even in a faithful ministry, is, on its earthly side, rarely other than a disappointment; and the pastor who seeks reward in human applause or in any form of earthly hope, not only thereby excludes the Holy Spirit from his life but is also sure to find unrest and failure as the ultimate result. The rewards of the faithful pastor are from God and are of special magnitude and blessedness.

The rewards come, in part, in the present life. A faithful minister finds them alike in a clear conscience and a sense of the approval of God, and in his work itself and the blessed results following it. With all its care and toil, the ministry, to the man who knows his call of God to the work and devotes himself to it without reserve, is the happiest work on earth. “Sorrowful” he is, “yet always rejoicing.” Henry Martyn said: “I do not wish for any heaven on earth besides that of preaching the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ to immortal souls. I wish for no service but the service of God in laboring for souls on earth and to do His will in heaven.” Dr. Doddridge: “I esteem the ministry the most desirable employment on earth, and find that delight in it, and those advantages from it, which I think hardly any other employment on earth could give me.” Rutherford: “There is nothing out of heaven, next to Christ, dearer to me than my ministry.” Brown: “Now, after forty years’ preaching of Christ, I think I would rather beg my bread all the laboring-days of the week for an opportunity of publishing the Gospel on the Lord’s Day than without such privilege to enjoy the richest possessions on earth.” Such is the testimony of godly ministers in all ages, even in periods of bitter persecution. The conscious presence of Christ; the blessed privilege of declaring to guilty men God’s rich and free mercy; the delight in the work of saving souls and of ministering comfort and strength and hope to the sorrowing, the weak, and the despairing; the joy of communion with saints,—all these enter into the minister’s experience, and give to his work even on earth an unspeakably rich reward.

But the highest reward of the ministry is reserved in heaven. There they will “shine as the brightness of the firmament” “and as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan. xii. 3). “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal” (John iv. 36). Every soul won to Christ here will there be an occasion of eternal joy. Paul said: “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” (1 Thess. ii. 19). Glorious beyond our thought is the reward set before every faithful Christian: he shall receive a “crown of righteousness” (2 Tim. iv. 8), a “crown of life” (James i. 12), “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. iv. 17) and shall “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of God” (Matt. xiii. 43); and all this intensified shall be the reward of the true pastor, according as he is faithful to his high calling from God.

Let the pastor, then, seek most of all to be faithful to Christ and His work. Let it be to him “a very small thing” that he “be judged” “of man’s judgment” (1 Cor. iv. 4) and let him ever cherish as of chief moment a clear conscience, finding his highest comfort in the sweet assurance of God’s approval. Be it his to have “respect unto the recompense of the reward,” and so endure “as seeing him who is invisible” (Heb. xi. 26, 27). Thus, will his life approximate that grandest of merely human lives—the life of him who declared, “As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts” (1 Thess. ii. 4), and at the close of which it was said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day” (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8).

When of old, at the Sea of Galilee, the Lord reinstated Peter after his fall, He thrice with solemn emphasis proposed the question, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” He thus taught for all the ages that personal love to Him is the primal condition for the sacred office. Without this as the central, fontal principle in the soul the pastor’s life will fail of spiritual power, but with this as its impulsive force he will be like the faithful minister seen by Bunyan’s pilgrim: he “had eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the law of truth was written upon his lips, the world was behind his back; he stood as if he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold did hang over his head.”

Transcriber’s Notes.

Note about paragraph identification: The first new paragraph on a page is “paragraph one.” If a paragraph continues from the prior page, it is “paragraph zero.”
Page 5, preface, second paragraph, apply Reverential Capitalization (RC) to “Gospel.”
Page 7, TOC, Section i., apply RC to “Divine.”
The break between pages 7 and 8 is in a unit that style indicates should not be broken: “5.|Preaching.” The whole unit was moved to the earlier page.
Page 8, TOC, section iii., point 5 (2.), change the semi-colon after “Exposition” to a colon.
Page 11, TOC, Section xx., point 2, apply RC to “Divine”; point 3, apply RC to “His.”
Page 13, Section i., paragraph one, apply RC to “He,” “His” (twice), “Divine,” “My” (twice), and “Apostles.”
Page 14, paragraph zero, point 2, apply RC to “He,” “Apostles,” “Himself,” and “His.” Point 3, apply RC to “Divine,” “His,” and “Gospel.” Paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine” and “Gospel.”
The break between pages 14 and 15 is in the word “consciousness”: con|sciousness. In this and all subsequent cases the whole word was moved to the earlier page.
Page 15, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Divine.” Paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine” and “Word.”
The break between pages 15 and 16 is in the word “enthusiasm”: en|thusiasm.
Page 16, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel.” Point 2, apply RC to “Gospel”; change “wo” to “woe”; apply RC to “Gospel”; point 3, apply RC to “Divine” (twice).
Page 17, point II, apply RC to “Gospel.” Point II 1, apply RC to “Christ.”
Page 18, paragraph zero, point 5, apply RC to “Word” and “Gospel.”
Page 19, paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine.” Point III, apply RC to “Him.”
Page 20, paragraph zero, add comma to “prayer the.” Paragraph one, point 1, apply RC to “His.” Point 2, apply RC to “Divine.” Point 3, apply RC to “Divine” and “Word.”
Page 21, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel.” Section ii., part I, paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine” and “His” (twice). Point I 1, apply RC to “Gospel.”
The break between pages 21 and 22 is in the word “evidently”: evi|dently.
Page 22, point 2, change “centre” to “center”; apply RC to “Apostles.”
Page 23, in-line note on “niggardly.”
Page 24, paragraph zero, change “practising” to “practicing.” Point 5, remove comma from “weeks, and.” Point 6, change “practises” to “practices.”
Page 25, point II 1, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 27, paragraph zero, add comma to “order for.” Paragraph one, apply RC to “His.”
The break between pages 27 and 28 is in the word “service”: ser|vice.
Page 28, point 2, add comma to “activity a.”
Page 29, point 3, add comma to “failed and.”
Page 30, paragraph one, remove comma from “place, and.”
Page 32, point 1, remove comma from “choir, and.”
Page 33, point III, apply RC to “Word” and “Him.” Point III 1 (1.), add comma to “Thus a.”
Page 34, paragraph zero, point (4.), apply RC to “Word.”
Page 35, paragraph zero, remove comma from “Scripture, and.” Point (3.), add comma to “instances false.”
Page 36, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Word.”
The break between pages 37 and 38 is in the word “expression”: expres|sion.
Page 37, paragraph one, change “exigences” to “exigencies.”
Page 38, paragraph one, point (1.), apply RC to “Divine.”
Page 39, paragraph zero, point (3.), add comma to “case there.”
Page 40, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Divine,” “His,” “Gospel,” and “Divine” (twice).
Page 41, paragraph one, point 4 (2), apply RC to “Divine.”
Page 42, paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine.”
Page 43, paragraph zero, change “moulded” to “molded.” Point V, change “centre” to “center”; apply RC to “Himself,” “He,” “Him” (thrice), “Gospel,” and “Word.”
Page 44, paragraph one, apply RC to “Gospel” Point 1, apply RC to “Divine,” “Word,” “Divine,” and “Word.” Point 2, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 45, paragraph zero, remove comma from “life, and.” Paragraph two, point 1, apply RC to “Him,” “His,” “Divinity,” and “His” (twice).
Page 46, paragraph zero, apply RC to “He,” “His” (twice), “He,” “Him,” “He,” “His” (thrice), “He,” “Him,” “He,” “His,” “Gospel,” “His,” “He,” “His,” “Himself,” and “His.” Capitalize “Fall.” Apply RC to “His” (twice). Change “centre” to “center.” Apply RC to “Him” and “Gospel.”
The break between pages 46 and 47 is in the word “possible”: possi|ble.
Page 47, paragraph zero, point (2.), change “defence” to “defense” and “imperilled” to “imperiled.”
Page 48, paragaph zero, apply RC to “Divine”; change “skilful” to “skillful.” Point (2.), change “mould” to “mold.”
Page 49, paragraph zero, add comma to “also in.” Point (3.), apply RC to “Word.”
Page 50, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel” (twice). Point (2.), apply RC to “Him” and “His.”
The break between pages 50 and 51 is in the word “adoring”: ador|ing.
Page 51, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Him” (twice). Point (3.), remove comma from “courage, and.” Apply RC to “Gospel.” Paragraph one, add comma to “subjects I.” Point (2.), apply RC to “Divine,” “Him,” and “Divine.”
The break between pages 52 and 53 is in the word “discriminating”: dis|criminating.
Page 53, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Divine” and “Gospel.” Paragraph one, capitalize “Sermon on the Mount.”
Page 54, point (4.), apply RC to “Divine”; remove comma from “theme, and.”
Page 55, paragraph zero, point 5, apply RC to “Word”; remove comma from “effort, and.”
Page 61, paragraph zero, remove comma from “alone, and”; apply RC to “Him.”
Page 63, paragaph zero, point 3, apply RC to “Him.”
The break between pages 63 and 64 is in the word “perhaps”: per|haps.
Page 64, paragraph zero, change “exigences” to “exigencies.”
Page 65, paragraph two, point 2, apply RC to “Gospel” and “Word.”
Page 66, paragraph zero, add comma to “purpose have.”
The break between pages 66 and 67 is in the word “stubble”: stub|ble.
Page 67, paragraph one, remove comma from “bear, and.”
Page 68, paragraph zero, point 3, change “centre” to “center.”
Page 70, paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine” and “His.”
Page 72, paragraph zero, point 3, apply RC to “Divine.” Paragraph one, change “centre” to “center”; apply RC to “Him.”
Page 73, paragraph zero, capitalize “Passover.” Remove comma from “administration, but.”
Page 74, paragraph one, remove commas from “school, and, believing.”
The break between pages 74 and 75 is in the word “well-filled”: well-|filled.
Page 75, paragraph zero, remove comma from “schools, and.” Paragraph one, point 2, remove comma from “women, and.”
Page 77, paragraph zero, remove commas from “trashy, but” and “directly, and.”
Page 78, section vii., paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine,” “His” (twice), “He,” “His,” “He,” “Him,” and “His.”
Page 80, paragraph zero, remove comma from “one, and.” Paragraph one, apply RC to “Him” and “His.”
Page 81, point I, paragraph two, apply RC to “Gospel”; change “exigences” to “exigencies.”
Page 83, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel” (twice).
Page 84, paragraph two, add comma to “reason it.”
Page 85, paragraph zero, add comma to “turn they.” Paragraph one, add comma to “rule a.”
Page 86, paragraph zero, add comma to “accessible and.” Point III, paragraph one, apply RC to “Word”; remove comma from “God, and.”
Page 87, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Him.” Paragraph one, capitalize “Divine,” referring to a churchman. Paragraph two, add comma to “conversations new.”
Page 89, paragraph two, add comma to “week he”; remove comma from “burnings, but.”
Page 91, paragraph zero, apply RC to “His” (twice).
The break between pages 91 and 92 is in the word “circumstances”: circum|stances.
Page 92, paragraph one, point 3, remove comma from “friend, and.”
Page 93, paragraph zero, add comma to “possible help”; apply RC to “He,” “Him,” “His,” and “Him”; change “Saviour” to “Savior.”
The break between pages 93 and 94 is in the word “everything”: every|thing.
Page 94, paragraph one, apply RC to “Gospel.” Section viii., paragraph one, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 95, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Divine” (twice), and “Gospel”; remove comma from “men, and.”
The break between pages 96 and 97 is in the word “religious”: re|ligious.
Page 96, paragraph one, apply RC to “Him,” “My,” and “His.” Paragraph two, point 2, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 97, paragraph one, remove comma from “it, and”; apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 98, paragraph one, change “scepticism” to “skepticism.”
Page 101, paragraph two, point 2, change “centres” to “centers” (twice).
Page 103, paragraph one, point 1, remove comma from “teaching, and”; add comma to “success the.”
Page 105, paragraph one, point 3, remove commas from “appears, and” and “fact, and.” Paragraph two, point 4, remove comma from “watch, and.”
The break between pages 105 and 106 is in the word “relinquishing”: relin|quishing.
Page 106, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel.” Section xi., paragraph two, point 1, add comma to “then it.”
Page 107, paragraph one, point 2, remove comma from “indulged, and”; change “offence” to “offense.”
Page 108, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel” and “He”; remove comma from “accidental, but”; apply RC to “He” (twice) and “Gospel.”
The break between pages 108 and 109 is in the word “acceptance”: accept|ance.
Page 109, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Him” and “Gospel” (twice). Paragraph one, point 4, add comma to “standing and.”
Page 110, paragraph one, point 5, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 111, paragraph one, apply RC to “Gospel.”
The break between pages 111 and 112 is in the word “contribution”: contribu|tion.
Page 112, paragraph two, point 3, remove comma for “this, or.”
Page 115, paragraph zero, remove comma from “work, and.”
Page 116, paragraph one, point 4, apply RC to “Word.”
The break between pages 116 and 117 is in the word “eminently”: emi|nently.
Page 117, paragraph two, point 2, change “defence” to “defense” (twice).
The break between pages 117 and 118 is in the word “evangelical”: evangel|ical.
Page 118, paragraph zero, change “exigences” to “exigencies”; apply RC to “Gospel.” Paragraph one, point 4, apply RC to “Gospel”; change “centres” to “centers”; apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 119, paragraph zero, point (2.), apply RC to “Gospel” and “Divine.” Point (3.), apply RC to “Word.”
Page 120, paragraph one, remove comma from “country, and.”
Page 122, paragraph zero, point 3, remove comma from “discipline, and.” Point 4, change “pretence” to “pretense.”
Page 123, paragraph one, add comma to “Finally I.”
Page 124, paragraph zero, remove comma from “necessity, and”; add comma to “certainly the.” Section XVI, apply RC to “His.”
Page 125, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel” (twice).
Page 126, paragraph zero, remove comma from “advisers, and.” Point 4, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 130, paragraph zero, remove comma from “him, and.” Paragraph one, point 1, change “dulness” to “dullness.”
Page 133, paragraph zero, remove commas from “experience, and” and “pulpit, and.” Paragraph one, point 6, add comma to “it power.”
Page 134, paragraph one, apply RC to “Apostles” (twice) and “Word”; add comma to “ministers we.”
Page 135, paragraph zero, remove comma from “membership, and.”
Page 136, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel”; add comma to “this he”; remove commas from “spirit, and” and “life, or”; change “he lose habits” to “he loses habits” and “fulness” to “fullness”; apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 137, paragraph one, apply RC to “Word.” Point 1, apply RC to “Gospel.” Point 2, apply RC to “Gospel” and “Divinely-constituted.”
Page 138, paragraph zero, remove comma from “reason, and.” Section xvii., paragraph one, add comma to “respect they.”
Page 139, paragraph one, remove comma from “study, and.”
Page 141, paragraph zero, remove comma from “plan, and.”
Page 142, paragraph one, remove comma from “mill, but.”
The break between pages 142 and 143 is in the word “standpoints”: stand|points.
Page 143, paragraph three, point 1, change “marvellously” to “marvelously”; apply RC to “Word.”
Page 144, paragraph two, remove comma from “manhood, and.”
Page 145, paragraph one, point 4, apply RC to “Gospel.” Paragraph three, apply RC to “Gospel”; and add comma to “Bible a.”
The break between pages 145 and 146 is in the word “undiscriminating”: undiscriminat|ing.
Page 146, paragraph one, point 1, apply RC to “Word,” “Divine,” “Word,” “His,” and “Divine.”
Page 147, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 148, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Apostle,” “Gospel,” “He” and “His” (twice). Of Paul, point 2, apply RC to “Divinely-called” and “Apostle.” Of Paul, point 3, apply RC to “Apostle” and “Gospel.” Apply RC to “Gospel.” Of Christ, point 1, apply RC to “His” and “He.” Of Christ, point 2, apply RC to “His,” “Divine,” “He,” “His,” and “Word.”
Page 149, paragraph zero, remove comma from “it, and”; apply RC to “Gospel”; remove commas from “text-book, and” and “thought, and.”
The break between pages 149 and 150 is in the word “formation”: forma|tion.
Page 150, paragraph two, apply RC to “His” and “Gospel.”
Page 151, paragraph one, apply RC to “He” and “His.” Point 1, change “ch. iv. 9” to “Phil. iv. 9” for concreteness; change “unblamably” to “unblameably”; remove comma from “pulpit, and.”
The break between pages 151 and 152 is in the word “proposes”: pro|poses.
Page 152, paragraph zero, add comma to “evidently he.” Point 3, apply RC to “Gospel” and “He.” Point 4, apply RC to “Gospel”; change “doest” to “dost” to match KJV quotation. Paragraph one, apply RC to “His.”
Page 153, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Divine” and “His.”
Page 155, paragraph two, apply RC to “Gospel” (twice); change “exigences” to “exigencies.”
Page 156, paragraph two, point 1, remove comma from “franchise, and.”
Page 157, paragraph one, remove comma from “life, but.”
Page 159, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel.” Paragraph one, change “centres” to “centers.”
The break between pages 159 and 160 is in the word “ministerial”: min|isterial.
Page 160, paragraph zero, remove comma from “household, and.” Paragraph one, point 4, remove comma from “innocent, but.”
The break between pages 160 and 161 is in the word “amusements”: amuse|ments.
Page 161, paragraph one, point 5, apply RC to “Him” and “His.” Paragraph two, point 6, remove comma from “fact, but.” Paragraph three, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 162, paragraph one, point 1, change “dulness” to “dullness.”
The break between pages 162 and 163 is within a unit (a scripture reference), “1 Cor. vi.|12.” The whole unit was moved to the earlier page.
Page 163, paragraph one, point 3, apply RC to “Gospel.”
Page 164, section xx., paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine.”
The break between pages 164 and 165 is in the word “bursting”: burst|ing.
Page 165, paragraph one, apply RC to “His” (twice), “He,” “His,” “He,” “His,” “Divine,” “His,” “He” (twice), “Himself,” “Him,” “His,” “Me,” “My,” “Myself,” “Divine,” “He,” “His,” and “He” (twice). Paragraph two, change “marvellous” to “marvelous”; apply RC to “His” and “Gospel.”
Page 166, paragraph one, apply RC to “Apostles,” “He,” “Divine,” “Him,” “His,” “Apostle,” and “Divine.”
Page 167, paragraph two, point I, apply RC to “Divine” and “His.”
Page 168, paragraph one, apply RC to “Divine,” “His” (thrice), and “Him.”
Page 169, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Divine” and “Word.” Paragraph two, apply RC to “Divine” (thrice), “Gospel,” and “His.”
Page 170, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Word”; change “marvellous” to “marvelous.” Paragraph one, apply RC to “Himself” and “He” (twice). Poem, apply RC to “His.” Paragraph two, apply RC to “He,” “His” (twice), “Him,” and “His.”
Page 171, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel”; change “centre” to “center”; apply RC to “Word,” “Thy,” “Thy Word,” “Gospel” and “Divine” (twice).
The break between pages 171 and 172 is in the word “applying”: ap|plying.
Page 172, paragraph zero, remove comma from “himself, and”; apply RC to “Gospel.” Paragraph one, point III, apply RC to “His.”
Page 173, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Him.” Paragraph one, apply RC to “His,” “Me,” “My,” “Himself,” and “Gospel”; add comma to “self-dedicated he”; capitalize “The” after the colon, because a whole sentence follows the colon; apply RC to “Divine.”
Page 174, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Himself.” Paragraph one, point IV, remove commas from “life, but” and “God, and.” Paragraph two, apply RC to “Gospel” and “His.”
Page 175, paragraph zero, apply RC to “Gospel.” Paragraph one, apply RC to “His”; remove comma after “2 Cor. iv. 17” reference.
Page 176, paragraph one, apply RC to “His”; add right double quote after “small thing”; remove comma after “1 Cor. iv. 4” reference; add comma to “thus will”; apply RC to “Gospel.” Paragraph two, apply RC to “He” and “Him.”