Chapter V. Local Hindrances To Ministerial Success.
CHAPTER V. LOCAL HINDRANCES TO MINISTERIAL SUCCESS.
We have already glanced incidentally at some of the main drawbacks upon the Christian Ministry; others will later come under consideration in more minute detail. Our present business is with those impediments that depend not so much on the personal or official character of the Minister, as upon extrinsic causes connected with the circumstances of his individual sphere. Thus a town presents many hindrances which do not belong in the same degree to superintending a country parish. The moral impossibility of penetrating the dense mass of the population, and of insulating the several component parts, results in a lack of that personal application of the word to individual consciences, which is so powerfully effective for the great purpose of the Pulpit. The course of public instruction is also necessarily of a more general complexion. The character and exercises of the Minister’s own mind may indeed give an individual mould to his system; but his lack of particular acquaintance with his people must proportionally preclude the adaptation of his Ministry to the specialities of their respective cases. Local habits and circumstances also tend to materially counteract the direct power of our work. Large congregated bodies (as in manufacturing districts) are usually most corrupting pests—“hand joining in hand;” and “every man helping his neighbour” in the way of sin, “and saying to his brother—Be of good courage.” 391 Then again—the state of trade in the parish—the population unemployed, or uncivilized, or distressed—these are matters that often affect our results. There are also local hindrances connected with the constitution of the Ministry. A co-partnership in the sacred work often excites most painfully the Corinthian heresy of a party spirit among the people. Mutual jealousies are fomented (which it is well if they do not reach the bosom of the labourers themselves.) Men “are puffed
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up for one against another;”392 they learn to “glory in men;”393 and with the highest advantages of spiritual administration, their Pastors are constrained still to speak to them not as spiritual men, but as carnal, even as babes in Christ “walking as men.” 394 The rise and -progress of various heresies may also be strengthened by local combinations that are not immediately under our control. The lack of insight into the several departments of the flock in an extensive sphere, gives occasion for the watchful enemy to cast in his leaven which, with a deadly influence, threatens to “leaven the whole lump.” The Ministrations of some of the most eminent servants of God 395 have suffered severely from this source; though it was probably as necessary a trial of faith, patience, and humility in the midst of their successful energy, as “the thorn in the flesh” was to the great Apostle, to save him from the impending danger of being “exalted above measure.” 396
Other hindrances, also, of this local character, belong more immediately to the Ministry of the Establishment, and often act unfavourably even on faithful and laborious exertions. The ground may have been pre-occupied by one or more of the organized systems of dissent, recognizing the grand principles of the Gospel, but under a form that in many particulars opposed the framework of our own system. This, under the most favourable circumstances, must be regarded as an evil 397 inasmuch as the lack of Christian unity proportionately diminishes the native power of the Gospel. Even if the respective Ministers are men of forbearance and brotherly love, and in the true spirit of their commission, they lay far more stress on their points of agreement than upon their points of difference—it is not likely, that the same spirit would universally spread through their congregations; and the defect of this mutual forbearance, often brought out by comparative trifles, reminds us in its baneful consequences—“how great a matter a little fire kindles!” 398
The faithful labourer may also find many hindrances rooted in the soil, before it passed under his hands for cultivation. The rank and luxuriant weed of profession may have choked the growth of much that might otherwise have sprung up with a prospect of bearing “fruit unto perfection.” He may also suffer from the effects of prejudice added on top of the natural enmity to
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the Gospel arising from the inexperience, imprudence, or inconsistency of his predecessor.
Lay influence also, often hangs a weight upon the effectiveness of the work. Particular individuals in the parish, in the lowest or even the highest ranks, are a frequent bar to usefulness. Also, contempt for the Sabbath—the predominant character of pleasure, dissipation, and the general inattention or opposition to religion in the heads of the parish—too often presents a hostile front to our course of effort and instruction. And where the influence of the higher classes is of a less decided character, or even where it is exercised on the side of the Church, yet it is rarely unattended with material drawbacks. The respect for religion and for the ordinances of God does not always regulate the arrangements of the house, nor the general style of appearance, nor the deportment of the lower members of the household. It may not be wholly divested of a love of power, or a reluctance to be controlled by spiritual restraints, or a reluctance to depart from an indulgent course of neutrality, when a fuller sway of influence on the side of the Gospel might incur inconvenience or reproach.
Now these hindrances are irrespective of personal responsibility in their origin, but they are most detrimental in their consequences. It would obviously be impossible to prescribe any specific course of procedure that is applicable to every form of resistance. However, the general principles of the Ministry, well-directed against the several points of attack, will be of immense service in this warfare. The combined power of the diligence of faith, “the meekness of wisdom,”399 and “the patience of hope”400—if they do not wholly counteract the evil—will materially retard its aggressive operation. Nor are the difficulties attached to extensive spheres insurmountable. Much may be done—much has been done—by bending general systems to more minute applications. Methodized habits have been more effective under the greatest disadvantages, than an undisciplined course of exercise assisted by much local superiority. District systems of visitation have enabled laborious ministers to pass over a wide extent of ground with far more particularity and fruitfulness. And above all, the wise superintendence of the great Head of the Church has been signally displayed in a suitable adaptation of his chosen instruments for their specific work. Men are not all qualified alike for all situations. But “he that holds the seven stars in his right hand.” 401 appoints to each its place in the spiritual firmament, as most suited for the honour of his name, for the
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purpose of his will, and for the edification of his Church. The hindrances, however, to which we have alluded, must impede our progress; so that our success will often consist, not so much in any prominent outward change in our sphere, as in the silent and effectual opposition to the current of evil — in raising up a band of witnesses to co-operate with us in our labour; and in the steady perseverance by which we stand our ground in the midst of conflict and discouragement.