MINISTERS AND SMALL CONGREGATIONS.
By W. H. Littlejohn
BY ELD. W. H. LITTLEJOHN. One of the greatest mysteries in the plan of redemption is found in the fact that the salvation of men is made to depend so largely upon the preaching of the word by human instrumentalities. When we reflect for a moment upon the varied, and apparently more potent, resources which God ever has at his command, we wonder that he has intrusted so grave a mission to the sons of men, encompassed, as they are on every hand, with infirmity. How easy, for example, it would have been for him to commission the holy angels to do this work; and—from our standpoint—how much more readily and satisfactorily they might have accomplished the task in question. We speak with stammering tongues; they with a fluency which belongs to their higher nature. Our voices are weak; theirs can be made as strong as the deep-toned thunder, or as sweet and soft as the symphonies of Heaven. We go slowly and laboriously from point to point, on foot, or over rough and almost impassable roads, in vehicles drawn by horses, or, at best, in the cars, at great expense, and, at times, in jeopardy of our lives; they, without cost, or hazard, or wearisome labor, pass from continent to continent as the lightning flashes across the horizon. Not only so, but it seems as if the mere presence of these heavenly messengers, when recognized as such, would be enough to carry conviction of such power to every heart that all doubt concerning the authenticity of the gospel would be instantly removed. But be these things in appearance as they may, we may safely conclude that our view is a superficial one, and that a deeper insight into the nature of things would satisfy us that, after all, God’s plan is the best plan. Furthermore, a little reflection will show that it would ill become us to complain at the present arrangement; since if the labor which we are called upon to perform is very great, the reward which it brings is infinitely greater still, and would be lost by us altogether were the angels exclusively made co-workers with God in the promulgation of truth, while we were allowed to remain in idleness, always receiving, and never dispensing, the blessings of Heaven. Accepting, then, the situation, it becomes us to meet its requirements with humility and alacrity, as well as with such wisdom as will make our labors as successful as it is possible to have them. In order that this may be done, it is not enough that the minister should be thoroughly furnished with the heavenly graces, and fully equipped with that knowledge of the word which will enable him to perform well his part in the grand scheme; but he will need also the active co-operation in prayer and labor of his brethren in Christ. Their duty will not be discharged, and their opportunity for usefulness will not be fully met, by simply gathering punctually and regularly at the house of worship and listening to the preaching of the word. Such a course might go far toward sustaining the hands and comforting the heart of the minister, but it would not afford him the largest opportunity for usefulness possible under the circumstances. The preacher who is compelled, week in and week out, month in and month out, to address an audience composed altogether of professing Christians, is accomplishing but half the work of the ministry. He is feeding, it may be, the flock of God; but the thousands of sheep scattered and torn upon the mountains are never permitted to hear through him the voice of the Good Shepherd calling them to the fold. As a consequence of this fact, he is compelled to ignore altogether those scriptures which have especial application to the unconverted world. His very soul longs for an opportunity to break the bread of life to the hundreds who are famishing for the want of it, just beyond, it may be, the range of his voice. At times, it seems to him that his ministry is almost a failure, because of the long intervals which elapse between the conversion of souls. He looks over the congregation which he is addressing, and the face of nearly every one is that of an individual who long since became a child of God. With the exception of a few children incapable of appreciating what he says, and now and then a youth who has hopelessly hardened even under the invitations of the Spirit of God, every person has his name enrolled on the church book. Not only so, but even the ample space in the commodious church is, perhaps, three-fourths of it altogether unoccupied. Here and there, scattered through the room, are pews wholly or partially filled, and the remainder of the seats, being empty, seem to suggest to him a doubt as to whether he has really been called to the place which he is trying to fill. Is it not possible, he says to himself, that the emptiness of these slips is wholly attributable to some neglect or incapacity of mine? He decides that it cannot be neglect, because he has strained every nerve to meet the responsibilities of his position. As to incapacity for the work, however, he is not so sure. He turns the matter over and over in his own mind, he looks again and again at the half-filled house, and gradually settles into the conviction that the lesson of experience proves that he is not adapted to his work. His heart sinks within him; his appeals become less earnest; his zeal flags; the point of his testimony is dulled; he accepts what seems to him to be the verdict of his fellow-men, he steps down and out, and leaves the work which he had loved so much in the earlier days of his ministry, to those whom he hopes will be more successful than he has been. Such, reader, is the experience of many a good man, who, with more favorable surroundings, would have developed capabilities which would have secured to him high rank among the most useful of his profession. Nor does it avail us to say that he has no occasion for discouragement. He, assuredly, is not a modest man, who would venture to place a higher estimate upon himself, than that entertained of him by others. Judging, therefore, of their conception of his usefulness in the light of the fact that the larger portion of the community are not sufficiently interested in what he has to say, or in the manner in which he says it, to think it worth their while to give him a hearing, he presumes that the fault is in himself, and meekly decides that it would be safer to rely upon the instincts or wisdom of others concerning himself, than it would be to conclude that they were all wrong, and that he, after all, deserved to be regarded as a most acceptable preacher of the word. If his logic is at fault in any respect, it is, perhaps, in the direction of over-charity for his brethren. He takes it for granted that they have done their whole duty in the premises. He infers, either that they have done their part in trying to prevail on others to come to the house of God and listen to the preaching of sound gospel truth, or else that they have refrained from putting forth the effort necessary to the accomplishment of this end, because of the recognition of the fact that their minister was incapable of instructing those whom they might bring within the sound of his voice. Had he gone a step further, and examined more fully into the reasons of their inactivity, it is barely possible that he might have discovered that their inaction, and the consequent diminutiveness of his congregation, and the scarcity of unbelievers among his hearers, was not so much the fault of his style, or the lack of appreciation on the part of his brethren, as it was their neglect to perform a manifest duty. Had they taken especial pains to invite their friends and neighbors to the house of God, they might have succeeded in furnishing congregations, both respectable in point of numbers, and composed partly of believers and partly of unbelievers. In so doing, they would not only have enlarged the usefulness of the preacher, but they would also have accomplished a work which naturally devolved upon them, and which they could have performed most successfully because of their numbers, and of the fact that they were daily brought in contact with men of the world who would have appreciated the interest shown in their welfare by those who should solicit their presence in the house of worship. It was never more true than it is at the present time that special effort is required on the part of laymen in the matter of bringing men under the sound of the gospel. The age is peculiar. On every side of us are the evidences that those things which move at all, move because they are pushed. Houses, fences, barns, and all available places, are covered with placards, bills, and posters of every name and description, calculated to attract the attention of the people, and either draw them to places of amusement and instruction, or lead them to give their attention to some modern invention or source of profit. They live in a whirl of business activity, and they find so much to attract their attention without, that they need to be jogged lest they forget the interests of the soul within them. They are solicited so much by others to give their attention to this, that, and the other thing, that they have come to conclude that if anything arises that is worthy of their attention, it will be brought to their notice by special effort on the part of some one. This being the case, they give themselves up to the consideration of those subjects and themes that are pressed upon them, and become indifferent to those that are not. Such men as Mr. Moody, perceiving the situation, adapt themselves to the peculiarities of the times in which they live, and availing themselves of the press, the telegraph, and all the facilities of the advertising world, unite with them personal effort in the work of calling out the masses. It is said of Mr. Moody, that, in the early part of his career, he might have been seen on the streets of Chicago, giving, in person, to the passers-by, printed special invitations to attend the services of such and such churches. By this course, he proved at once his humility and his zeal. His efforts were successful. Following on in the same line, and employing the same resources,—only more enlarged,—he has had the privilege of addressing tens of thousands, where otherwise he might have spoken simply to hundreds. It may be that in some particulars he has in this matter transcended the bounds of propriety; but he cannot be charged with apathy in the cause of God. Would that at least a portion of his spirit of activity might rest upon all the followers of Christ. Would that his example might kindle a like enthusiasm, especially in those of us who hold, in common with him, the precious faith of the soon-coming of our Lord. If, with his indefinite conception of that glorious event, he is impelled by the energy of one who feels that he has at his command a life-boat with which it is his duty to rescue what he may of the passengers of a rapidly sinking wreck, how much stronger should the impulse to labor for the salvation of men be in us, who make the near coming of our Lord, not a secondary consideration, but the grand, overwhelming thought in connection with our religious duties to the world. With us the advent of Christ is proved to be near, not only by reasons general in their nature, but also by the fulfilling of lines of definite and specific prophecy. The time that we have in which to work is short; the field is as vast as the world; the laborers are few. In view of these facts, every facility available should be employed, so as to economize both strength and time. Whenever we have a general meeting, it should be made to reach as widely as possible in its influence. Whenever we have a smaller convocation, where preaching is expected, every member of the church in that vicinity should earnestly engage in the work of personally inviting friends and neighbors to be present. Let this be done thoroughly and uniformly, and the following results will be secured:— 1. The community will, in the briefest time possible, be brought face to face with the great and stirring truths which it is our mission to proclaim. 2. As these truths are timely, when they26are uttered in the fear of God they will reach hearts and result in the conversion of many honest souls. 3. The direct effect of these conversions will be an increase in the spirituality as well as the membership of the church which has been instrumental in bringing them about. 4. Ministers will very soon learn the characteristic energy of such a church, and they will readily visit them because of the enlarged opportunities for usefulness which they offer over those localities where, through the listlessness and inaction of church members, the community are left in ignorance even of the fact that meetings are to be held, and preaching is expected. 5. In the final day of reward, He who takes into account the efforts of the feeblest one when laboring patiently and lovingly for the salvation of others, will place stars in the crowns of those men who, by personal appeals and kindly invitations, have succeeded in bringing others within the range of influences which have proved instrumental in their salvation. Should any apprehend danger from a resort to a system of advertising, and should they feel that enough had already been done in that direction, we reply, first, that the danger will be found, if at all, in the style, rather than in the extent, of the system employed. Let, therefore, the style be guarded, and the danger is removed, i. e., let the advertisements be modest and sober, and they can do no harm. Secondly, as to the matter of overdoing the thing, we, as a people, certainly are in no danger in that direction until, at least, such a paper as the Congregationalist shall be made so fully aware of our existence as a denomination that it shall not again, as it has recently done, charge the Independent with a blunder in having spoken of the “Seventh-day Adventist denomination,” whereas there is, they say, no such denomination in existence.