p. 213 | Cosset Christians by N. Y. Independent

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 2, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 14.

Cosset Christians.

By N. Y. Independent

EVERY New England farmer knows what a "cosset" is. It is some pet creature, lamb or calf, which, without a mother, has been taken in hand to be raised by artificial means. The result is that it becomes subject to an amount of fondling and cosseting which takes away from it any natural character for sturdiness which it might otherwise have had. Now there are a goodly number of Christians who answer to this idea. They are cossets. They seem to be unable to live without an amount of fondling and petting which proclaims them to be weaklings, and keeps them so. We are constantly running across them, and they give us no little care and anxiety, and, upon the whole, lead us to the conclusion that they are not worth the trouble. If they cannot live and get on without the cossetting they demand, they might as well die at once. There are several varieties of them.

First, they are a class who move into a new neighborhood, and for a while "go around" and "hear different preachers" and try different churches. You see them and welcome them, it may be, or perhaps you only see them in your congregation. Presently you miss them. They may have passed out of your mind; and, in the midst of a multitude of pastoral cares and work, you forget them. Soon you hear of or from them, and are told that they left off coming to your church because you did not pay any attention to them. It is true that they never made themselves known to you. On the contrary, they waited a few Sabbaths to see if they were to be noticed and made much of, and, finding that they were not (and mainly because of their own neglect in letting any one know that they belong to the household of faith), they took their departure for some other church, setting forth that yours was a cold and formal one, which "paid no attention to strangers."

Now the question arises in our minds whether they ever thought of coming to church or among a people for the purpose of worship or work. Upon the whole, we must conclude that they came only to be petted and made much of. They were thinking of themselves, and not of the Lord and his work. If they may be petted and made much of, they will come among you; but if they cannot be put on the list of "cossets" they will go elsewhere. The fact is they are weaklings, and "think more highly of themselves than they ought to think." What right, on any principle of consecration or recognized obligation, has any Christian to make his or her active participation in the work or worship of God dependent upon any amount of petting and cossetting? And yet there are a multitude who can only be kept at even a moderate participation in church fellowship or work by an amount of petting and attention that scarce any busy pastor or people can give, or cares to give.

Second, the cosset Christian is found in the flock. They seem to have been born weaklings, and they are only kept alive by the most assiduous petting and coaxing. Of course they were known at the time of their entering the church, either by confession or by letter. For a while they came to church and prayer-meeting; but presently you missed them, and went and looked them up. You found that they had lost their interest, because "nobody seemed to care anything for them." The members had not called upon them; everybody did not rush up to them and shake hands with them every time they entered church or prayer room. Indeed, they tell you that the pastor even passed them on the street, and did not speak to them. Of course they never offered to shake hands with or speak to any one themselves, and if the pastor failed to recognize them on the street, it was not their place to recognize the pastor. That is not what they came into the church for. They came in to be cosseted and made much of, and, not being so treated, they have now taken to staying at home, and pouting like spoiled children. That they have any covenant obligations to serve the Lord, whether others do or not, never has entered into their heads, much less their hearts.

Perhaps you find out that they have been ill for a few days or weeks, and neither the pastor nor any of the members have called to inquire how they were. Of course they never sent word to the pastor that they were ill and would like to see him, nor did any one else have word of that fact but the doctor; nevertheless, they quietly assume that it was the pastor's business to know when people are sick, and go and pet them awhile. The truth is, they are cossets, and can only live by being petted, and, so to speak, "raised by hand." Then they have discovered that the pastor has visited some family oftener than he has visited them. It is not that they want any spiritual help, but only they don't want the pastor to pay more attention to somebody else than he does to them. They are cossets, and nothing more. Year in and year out they are no help to the pastor, and of no use to the church. They are but a burden, a vexation, a clog and a hindrance, taking up the pastor's time by their unreasonable complaints and fault-finding to no purpose. It is a question whether they are Christians at all. The probability is that they are only sentimentalists and selfish lovers of themselves, looking out for a place or a church in which they may be made much of. May the Lord convert them!—N. Y. Independent.