THE MINISTER AND HIS TEMPTATIONS.
By Charles E. Jefferson
A MINISTER on a pedestal has little influence over men. Unless he is in all points tempted like his brethren, he can not be touched with the feeling of their infirmities. It is important, therefore, for laymen to remember that the battle of life is for all. Men may fight at different levels, but no matter where they stand, they are on a battle-field. Some sins are coarse and carnal, and others fine and subtle, but all alike separate the soul from God. There is no hedge around the minister. He has all the temptations of other men and some additional of his own. The devil has access to his study. He was in Luther’s study when the reformer threw his inkstand at him. He can ascend the pulpit stairs. He often does. What a host of demons the clergyman is obliged to meet and conquer! What opportunities for him to be a demagog, a coward, a mischief-maker! How easy to pose as a defender of the faith and cast insinuations on his brother minister who reads the Gospel with a different emphasis! How easy to be vain of a fine voice or a superb presence! How easy to be envious of men just a little ahead of him in power and fame! How easy to be lazy, uncharitable, deceitful, domineering, autocratic, or peevish! How easy to wilt under discouragement! How easy to commit any of the sins to which our frail humanity is prone! The fact that the minister deals constantly with spiritual things is proof to the unthinking that saintship to him comes easy, whereas the constant handling of high ideals and moral truths is a source of constant danger. Familiarity has a tendency to deaden sensibility, and just as soldiers often become blasphemous on the battle-field, and undertakers sometimes come to look on death without a trace of awe, so a minister, unless he prays and watches, will have at last a heart unresponsive to the very truth which he is sent to teach. It is something to be remembered always that the scribes and Pharisees fell into a deeper ditch than did the publicans and harlots.—Rev. Dr. Charles E. Jefferson, in the Congregationalist.