The Master says, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” When God calls a man to preach it embraces all there is of the individual, with all possible development: mental, moral and physical; so that the man of God will improve every chance of doing good and of getting good, including hard study for the development of the mind; practicing the laws of health for the development of our being for greater efficiency in the Master’s service.
The word of the Lord is: “Study to show thyself approved unto God.” Success comes on this line of action. I believe that the minister should study and write as though the whole thing depended on this for success; and then he should pray as though everything depended on prayer; and when he gets into the pulpit he should trust alone in God the Holy Ghost as though entire success depended on help from above. On this line the stream of salvation will flow into the pulpit and into the pew, and the results will be the salvation of precious souls and the sanctifying of believers. Glory to God. Amen.
We are to glorify Him with our physical powers, as these belong to Him. Hence, we will carefully study ourselves, the laws that govern our own being, eat and drink, labor and rest so as to produce the greatest development for His glory.
The mission of the minister of Christ is of the utmost importance, because it has to do with those that must live forever with God and angels and the redeemed of earth in the world that is to come, or with those that reject Christ and everything that is good, and together are cast out into outer darkness, where the flames of their torment will ascend up for ever and ever. And then to think that a single word, or look, may change the destiny of a soul! Well might the apostle exclaim, “And who is sufficient for these things?” The Gospel must be proclaimed with great tenderness of spirit, and in deep love for the souls of those that are in their sins; love that is all aflame for the perishing. A minister should keep as near the head of the church as possible. He should pattern after the Master in simplicity, in naturalness, in literalness, in appropriateness and in holiness. As He is in the world, so are we, so clean and pure; morally speaking, the minister should be transparent—Christ shining out in all his ways—looking, speaking, doing the right thing at the right time and in the right manner. Speaking as one that must give an account in that day for words uttered. Looking like one that has been with Christ and learned of Him. How often a word from the man of God has been like the pouring of oil on the troubled sea. A man called to minister in holy things must remember that he is a peacemaker. In almost every place there is a marvelous chance to stir up strife. This must be avoided. “Study to show thyself approved,” says the apostle. Appropriateness is an essential element in the minister of God. A congregation of idiots could not appreciate a discourse on moral philosophy. Neither would a mass of unsaved men and women enjoy a sermon on entire holiness!
Much labor has been lost, and the work greatly retarded, because of unwise action. Words, style, or the manner in which it has been presented, has been so presented, that opposition has been aroused, and the work of soul-saving has been greatly hindered, if not entirely destroyed.
A great many have been driven from the penitents’ altar because of unkind treatment at the altar. They were sinners, to be sure, and came to the altar as such; and in their great distress of mind, before God had a chance to do much for them, some unwise person would, in commanding tones, ask them to pull off their feathers, gold, or something attached to their person. This would have been proper at the right time, but the hammer came down before the iron was hot. The results were in these cases they flew off in a tangent, mad. The blacksmith knows about how hot his iron must be to work and weld; precisely so with human hearts; they must be under the direct rays of the Holy Ghost and kept there until made tender, then it can be worked. Glory to God! Brother, don’t try to work cold iron—the iron of cold hearts. It will be in every case a failure. Keep baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. This has been your great need in the past. As you go forth to labor in God’s vineyard, go with the baptism of power, love and the Holy Ghost. On this line, success will come.
Doubtless some are called to the ministry early in life. Samuel was called to the prophetic office when but a lad. It has been stated by a great many that labored long as embassadors of our Lord Jesus Christ, that very early in life they felt an undefinable impression resting upon them, and at times this impression would be very strong, that some time in the near future, they would have to preach the gospel.
This was the condition of your humble servant. Early in life he felt that that would be his employment in after years. Of all the innocent amusements of childhood, what he called preaching to other children, to the chairs placed in the order of a congregation, or to a field of pumpkins, (for he would often do that) was to him greater diversion than any other kind of amusement.
At the age of fifteen I was standing near State street bridge, Albany, N. Y., a couple of officers were conveying a crazy man from the cars to the steamboat, as they were going down the river to Hudson with him. The crazy man caught hold of one of the chains used to draw up a portion of the bridge to let vessels through, screaming and making a great ado. This drew the attention of the people, as many were crossing, it being car time, so that in a moment the draw part of the bridge was literally covered. It was estimated that some three hundred, besides three horses, were on this part of the bridge. I moved along on to the bridge to see what the matter was. No sooner had I reached the highest point on the bridge, than it broke off on both sides, letting this mass of humanity suddenly into the water. I was suddenly hurled into the river with the rest. I had to swim some six to ten rods before I found anything that I could cling to. I came to a small boat into which I climbed, then onto a canal boat and went back where I could see that crowd of people struggling and screaming for life. This was an awful sight. Groups of men, from one to six or more were making a desperate effort for life. Without a moment’s warning they were put in this awful condition, and now, eternity was staring them in the face. Presently the dead and dying were all around me. The thought came: “Why was not I drowned with the rest?” for some forty had passed suddenly into eternity. This answer came to the inquiry, “I have saved you to preach my gospel.”
After years of wandering in sin, and man’s estate had been reached, with family cares and responsibilities, I erected a family altar, sought and found the pearl of great price; and with this new experience came a strong and an abiding conviction that I must preach the Gospel. In whatever direction I would try to turn my attention, this thought would loom up above all others, “Preach my Gospel.” I had but little conception of the awful responsibility connected with the ministry. And yet I had some idea of the vastness of the work, and in looking at myself it did seem to me that I never could attain unto the ideality of the work as I then viewed it. I was timid, ignorant, culture limited. Can God qualify me for this exalted position? These were serious considerations. The call was as clear to me as the sun at noonday. Notwithstanding the clearness of the call by the Spirit, I was often making bargains with the Lord, as Gideon did. He would ask for a wet fleece, and the fleece would be wet. And then for a dry fleece, and the fleece would be dry.