_THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS_ (i.).
_When the watcher in the dark
Turns his lenses to the skies,
Suddenly the starry spark
Grows a world upon his eyes:
Be my life a lens, that I
So my Lord may magnify_
We come from the secrecies of the young Clergyman's life, from his walk
alone with God in prayer and over His Word, to the subject of his common
daily intercourse. Let us think together of some of the duties,
opportunities, risks, and safeguards of the ordinary day's experience.
A WALK WITH GOD ALL DAY.
A word presents itself to be said at once, about the connexion between
the secret and the common walk of the servant of God. The former is
never to _give way to_ the latter; it is to _run into_ it, underground.
"To walk with God _all day_" is to be our distinct and practical
purpose, and not merely a sweet sentiment and holy aspiration of the
hymn-book. The man who prays in secret is to be the man who knows how
to pray secretly in public. The man who pores over the Word all alone is
to be the man who, out in the open field of life, "sins not" because he
has "hid that Word in his heart" [Ps. cxix. 11.]; and who, being called
upon by circumstances, however casually, to show himself actually a true
"man of the Book," is internally ready to do so. Nothing short of "a
life with Christ behind our work," always and everywhere, is to content
us Pastors. To live that life is from one point of view our wonderful
_privilege_, in our living union with our blessed Head. From another
point of view it is our truest and deepest _work_, as we watch and pray
over our privilege, and draw upon our Head in the holy diligence of
faith.
I have spoken already of this vital connexion between the walk with God
in secret and the secret walk with God in public. But it bears
reiteration. It is something gained if we only remind one another, with
the emphasis of repetition, that such a life is our bounden duty and our
blissful possibility:--
"You may always be abiding, if you will, at Jesu's side;
In the secret of His Presence you may every moment hide."[10]
[10] I quote from a beautiful hymn, beginning, "In the secret of His
Presence." It is given in part in several recent hymn-books, but for its
complete form see _From India's Coral Strand_, (_Home Words_ Office,
Paternoster Buildings,) a collection of the poems of its gifted writer,
a Hindoo Christian lady, Miss E.L. Goreh.
But now, what will be the surface and expression of such a hidden life,
as the young Clergyman passes through his busy common day?
LIFE IN LODGINGS.
Let me speak first of his life indoors, that is to say, probably, in his
lodgings. There the day at least begins and ends; and, in more ways than
he is aware of till he sets himself to consider, he may--or may
not--glorify his Master _there_. He is quite certain to be watched,
whether the eyes are friendly or unfriendly to himself and to his
message and ministry. He will be watched of course not only as a man but
as a Minister. And the results of the observation may be most important,
for good or for evil, to the immediate observers; and they are pretty
sure to reach many other people through them. "What shall the harvest
be?"
SELF-RESPECT.
Let one result be, a clear impression in the house that you, the new
Curate, are a man of SELF-RESPECT. Perhaps that _word_ will not be used,
any more than its Greek equivalent, [Greek: aidÙs], that noble
pre-Christian ethical term which lay ready and waiting to be glorified
by the Gospel. But let Self-respect be your principle and your practice,
and it will leave its impression, by whatever word the impression may be
described. Let the man be seen by those who are about him, and who in
one way or another wait on him, to be _quite simple while quite refined_
in ways and habits; to be active and wholesome in the hours he keeps; to
hold self-indulgence under a strong bridle (shall I say, not least the
self-indulgence which cannot do without the stimulant and without _the
pipe_?); and he will be in a fair way to commend his message indoors.
Let him be seen, without the least affectation, but unmistakably, to
find his main interests, within doors as well as without, in his Lord
and His cause and work; to be the avowed Christian at all hours; and he
will be doing hourly work for Christ. With it all, let him be seen to be
"gentle to others" while "to himself severe"; let him, while always
self-respectful, be always watchfully CONSIDERATE; and his light will
shine; he will be an OEcolampadius, a _House-light_, indeed.
CONSIDERATENESS.
On that last point I must dilate a little; on the point of
Considerateness. I remember a conversation a few years ago with one of
our college servants, an excellent Christian woman, truly exemplary in
every duty. She was speaking of one of my dear student friends now
labouring for the Lord in a distant and difficult mission-field, and
giving him--after his departure from us--a tribute of most disinterested
praise: "Ah, Sir, he _was_ a consistent gentleman!" And then she
instanced some of my friend's consistencies; and I observed that they
all reduced themselves to one word--Considerateness. He was always
taking trouble, and always saving trouble. He was always finding out how
a little thought for others can save them much needless labour. The
things in question were not heroic. The thoughtfulness for others
concerned only such matters as the bath, and the shoes, and the clothes,
and some small details of hospitality. But they meant a very great deal
for the hard-worked caretaker, and they were to her a means of quite
distinct "edification," upbuilding, in the assurance that Christ and the
Gospel are indeed practical realities. I break no confidence when I add,
by the way, that my friend had not always been thus "a consistent
gentleman." But the Lord had found him, and he had found the Lord, in
the midst of his University life; and he had learnt most deeply and
effectually, at the feet of Jesus, the consistency of Considerateness.
I do press this aspect of our daily walk with all earnestness on my
younger Brethren. I press it on them at least _to think about it_ with
painstaking attention. No Christian man, as such, means for one moment
to be selfish. But lack of attention does in very many cases indeed
allow the real Christian to contract, or to continue, selfish habits.
Many good men quite fail to realize how selfish, practically, it is to
be unpunctual. You have your understood mealtimes in your lodging. It
may not be always possible to keep strictly to them; the exigencies of
work may make it honestly necessary now and again to be out of time. But
let nothing less than duty do so for you. The breakfast kept standing
because you are not up when you should be may very likely mean much
needless trouble and much domestic disarrangement. Guests often brought
in without any notice may mean the same.
SIMPLICITY AT TABLE.
Perhaps I need not say, yet I will say it, that the consistent servant
of God, whether at his own table or at his neighbour's, will "take heed
unto himself" not even to _seem_ fastidious. There are some men about
whom, if you know them, you feel sure that they will _not_ choose the
best dish at the table; and there are others, I am afraid, about whom
you feel pretty sure that they will. One man will not think, or at least
will not seem to think, whether the meat is hot or cold; and another
will rather decidedly avoid the latter. Pardon the details; they have
something very real to do with our Consistency.
USE OF THE TONGUE.
And indeed we have need to ponder Consistency when we come to "the
unruly member." It is not often, perhaps, that the risks of the tongue
are specially present in a bachelor's life in lodgings. But they are not
absent there. Friends come in, and we will suppose that you and they are
waited upon at your meal. What does the servant hear? Much talk about
other and absent persons? Unkind or flippant criticisms? Idle, frivolous
words? Very likely not, thank God; for we do want to remember our Lord.
But let us take heed. Nothing is more conspicuously inconsistent in the
Christian than needless, unloving discussion of the characters and lives
of others; nothing is more keenly noticed when overheard; nothing more
breaks the spell of influence for God.
"_Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam,
Hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi._"[11]
[11] POSSIDONIUS: _De Vit‚ Augustini_, c. 22.
Such was the memento which St Augustine had inscribed upon his
dining-table. He found it necessary to remind the Bishops (_coÎpiscopi_)
whom he entertained not to misuse their ordained tongues. And the
Pastors of the nineteenth century need it still, quite as much as it was
needed in the fifth.
"SET A WATCH."
It is impossible, of course, to lay down exhaustive rules for the
Christian guidance of conversation in detail. It is quite certain that
the Gospel does not prescribe, or intend, that we should never speak
except about things spiritual, or even except about our special duties
in the Ministry. But it is quite certain too that the Gospel does
prescribe inexorably the utmost watchfulness and self-discipline in the
matter of the tongue, for all who name the Name of Christ. "For every
idle word that men shall speak they shall give account" [Matt. xii.
36.]; "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but such
as is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the
hearers" [Eph. iv. 29.]; "If any man among you seem to be devout
([Greek: thrÍskos]), and bridleth not his tongue, that man's devoutness
([Greek: thrÍkeia]) is vain" [Jas. i. 26.]; "Set a watch, O Lord, before
my lips." [Ps. cxli. 3.]
LIFE IN A CLERGY-HOUSE.
I may say a few words in this connexion about the peculiar call for care
and consistency where a group of young Clergymen live together in a
"clergy-house."
*ITS OPPORTUNITIES AND NEEDS.
It seems to me that such groups must in the nature of the case be
_either_ means of the greatest good in the mutual intercourse of their
members, _or_ just the opposite. As sure as _corruptio optimi est
pessima_, so sure it is that the young Clergyman who is not consistent
in temper, word, and habit, is the most unhelpful specimen of the young
man; just because of the discord between his ministerial character and
his personal. And if, say, three or four young servants of God (by
profession) domicile together and are _not_ consistent, I am afraid they
will positively and actively draw one another, without in the least
meaning to do so, away from the mind of Christ and the walk with God. Do
they allow themselves to engage in trivial foolish, unkind talk? Do they
so valiantly determine "not to be goody-goody" as tacitly to avoid all
open-hearted, loving, reverent conversation about their Lord and His
truth? Are they much fonder of endless argument than of the Word of God
and prayer? Do their united devotions tend to be formal and perfunctory?
Do they (I come back to that point again) "bridle not their tongues"
about the absent, about those over them, about those who differ from
them? Then they are doing each other harm, at a rapid rate, by their
collocation. On the other hand, are they each for himself living close
to their Master and Friend in the secret chamber and in the inner heart?
Are they walking humbly and gladly with their God, much in prayer, and
having the Scriptures often open? And are they considering one another,
to provoke unto love and to good works? Are they remembering generally
and habitually the sacredness of the duty of mutual influence and
example, in personal habits, and otherwise? Are they determined each for
himself to help his brethren in all things pure, and just, and lovable,
and of good report, and to strengthen them to endure hardness, and not
to be ashamed of the blessed Name? Then they are blessing one another in
Christ, as few men otherwise can do. But personal, individual
consistency is the absolute requisite to this; each man must follow the
Lord _for himself_ in faith and fear.
THE DUTY OF EXAMPLE.
I spoke just above of the sacredness of the duty of example. It is a
theme on which I entreat my younger Brethren very often to reflect,
with self-scrutiny before their Master: I may be wrong, but I cannot
help thinking that here is a duty which is decidedly less remembered
now, among young Christian men, than it was in other days. With
exceptions many and bright, I yet fear that there is a decline in this
matter as a rule. That unhappy _individualism_ which is the bane of our
day, and which is the fatal enemy of all true and healthy
_individuality_, breathes its malaria through even earnest Christian
circles. In the formation or allowance of personal habits, in
particular, it is sadly common to see young Christian men practically
quite forgetful of the power and responsibility of example. I do not
think that this was quite so common twenty or thirty years ago. Not that
I wish to take up the futile part of a mere _laudator temporis acti_; I
believe that the phenomenon has its reasons, its law so to speak, in the
peculiar conditions of our day. But then the Christian man is never to
be the slave of the conditions of his day, while he _is_ to "serve his
own generation by the will of God." [Acts xiii. 36.] So I appeal most
urgently to my reader, if he should chance to need the friendly call, to
awake to a renewed attention to the responsibility of example, and to
watch accordingly over consistency in everything.
"FOR THEIR SAKES."
With the humblest reverence may I quote in this connexion the words of
our blessed Lord in the High Priestly Prayer? "_For their sakes I
sanctify Myself._" So said JESUS CHRIST. [John xvii. 19.] Perfectly holy
personally, He was yet always deliberately hallowing Himself, separating
Himself, to the Father's will and work, "for their sakes"; because of
His relations with His disciples. Shall not we sinners, at whatever
interval, yet really, "follow His steps" in this also? "For their
sakes," for the sake of our brethren in the Ministry, for the sake of
our servants, for the sake of our neighbour of all sorts and kinds, let
us "sanctify ourselves" in a daily, willing separation from the way of
self to the will of God, diligently seeking the expression of that will
in His holy Word. It is the duty of every Christian. It is _par
excellence_ the duty of every Christian Minister, from the oldest
Archbishop to the youngest Deacon. To take Orders is to renounce all
ideas of a selfishly _private_ life. Our whole life henceforth is "for
their sakes"; even in those parts of it which must, from another point
of view, be most jealously protected from officialism, and lived as if
for the time no one existed but the man and his God. We are emphatically
now "their bondmen for Jesus' sake." [2 Cor. iv. 5.] "Others" have now
an indefeasible right not only to our ministry of Ordinances, and to our
preaching, and our visiting, but to the example of our habits, of our
lives.
MANNER.
Following up the same line of remark, let me say a word about our duty
to others in the matter of _manner_. It is sometimes, surely, forgotten
by Christian men that they have no right to be careless of their manner.
Many an excellent and otherwise consistent Clergyman seems to assume
that, whether with his brethren or with his parish neighbours, his
manner may take care of itself, if he only "does not mean it." But
well-meaning is a poor substitute for well-doing; especially that otiose
sort of well-meaning which only means not meaning ill.
*"NOBLESSE OBLIGE."
Christians have no business with so poor and thin a phantom of virtue.
They are not at liberty not to think about a kindly courtesy of address,
and a manly deference towards elders, and watchful "honour" given to
woman [1 Pet. iii. 7.], and a _manifested_ (as well as felt) sympathy of
heart with all who ask it. They are forbidden by the whole will and
rights of their Master to be loud and "casual" in intercourse; to be
moody and uncertain; to be difficult to please, easy to offend; to think
it a small thing to speak the word to others which may wound, even
lightly, with any wound but the really "faithful" one of a loving
caution or reproof in Christ. No one is to be so independent in one
aspect as the Christian man, and particularly the Christian Minister.
Few men have so strong a vantage-ground for independence as the
Clergyman of the English national Church. But it is the sort of
independence which carries also the deepest obligation, the strongest
sort of _noblesse oblige_. It is "for their sakes." And so the same man
is bound to be also the most accessible, the most attentive, the most
courteous and sympathetic. Avoiding carefully, of course, all
affectation and unreality, he is to take care that a Christian reality
within does show itself in a Christian manner without. "Let your
moderation, your oblivion of self, be _known unto all men_." [Phil. iv.
5.] Let it be seen and felt, in your rooms, in your parish, in your
church.
TEMPER.
Obviously this takes for granted the Clergyman's recognition of the call
to "rule his spirit." [Prov. xvi. 32.] The temptation not to do so is
very different for different men. One man finds temper and patience
sorely tried by things which do not even attract the attention of
another. But very few men indeed, in the actual experiences of pastoral
life, whether in town or country, quite escape for long together the
stings which irritate and inflame. But they _must_ learn how to meet
them in peace and patience, unless they would take one of the most
certain ways to dishonour their Master and discredit their message. The
world has some very true instincts about the power of the Gospel, as it
ought to be, as it claims to be. And one of them is that a Christian as
such is a man who ought always to keep his temper. The Christian
Clergyman is most certainly, at least in an ironical sense, "expected"
never to be _personally_ vexed and hot. Will it be so? Will he take
ignorant rudeness pleasantly, should it cross his way? Will he meet
opposition patiently, however firmly? Will he show that he remembers the
text, "The bondservant of the Lord must not strive"? [2 Tim. ii. 24.]
THE REV. C. SIMEON.
That text was the watchword of a great man of God, the Rev. Charles
Simeon, in the early and exquisitely trying experiences of his long
ministry (1782-1836) at Trinity Church, Cambridge. The parishioners shut
their house-doors in his face, and locked their pew-doors against those
who came to hear him. Every form of irritating parochial obstruction was
employed. And the young Clergyman had by nature a very short temper, and
a very fearless spirit. But he had found peace through the blood of the
Cross a few years before, and the interests of his Saviour were become
all in all to him. So his first thought was, what would best commend
Jesus Christ to the angry people? And the words seemed to sound
constantly in his soul, by way of answer, "The servant of the Lord must
not strive." Never was tried patience more beautifully made perfect. He
was always giving way, and always going on. He carefully ascertained
that it was illegal to lock the pew-doors; but he _did not take the law_
of those who locked them. His soul was kept in peace; and by degrees, as
might be expected, a calmness which clearly was not cowardice but
consistency won a victory whose effects are felt to this day through the
whole Church of England in the results of Simeon's mighty influence.[12]
[12] I may be permitted to refer to my brief sketch of Mr Simeon's Life:
_Charles Simeon_ (Methuen, 1892), ch. iv.
THE SECRET OF PEACE.
How shall we, in our measure, whenever called to it, "not strive," but
"let our oblivion of self be known unto all men"--in the cottage, in the
villa, in the vestry? There is only one way. It is by abiding in the
Secret of the Presence, in the "pavilion" where "the strife of tongues"
may be heard indeed, but cannot, _no, cannot_, set the hearer on fire.
We must claim on our knees, very often, our Master's power to keep the
soul which He has made, and which longs to manifest Him
"In faith, in meekness, love,
In every beauteous grace,
From glory thus to glory changed
As we behold His face."
POWER OF A CONSISTENT LIFE.
I have inevitably touched only some parts of the great subject of
personal ministerial Consistency. More will be said later. But the
treatment on paper, at almost any length, must be incomplete at the
best; many an important side of the subject will need to be omitted. My
aim has been, and will be, to speak of those sides most, if not only,
which are in special danger of neglect at the present day; and this
means of course the passing by of some large topics.
PAINS AND MEANS.
But contributions, however fragmentary, to the study of Consistency will
not be in vain. "A Minister's life is the life of his ministry," says
some one of other days with pithy force. "Happy those labourers of the
Church," says blessed Quesnel, the Jansenist (on Mark vi. 33), "the
sweet odour of whose lives draws the people to Jesus Christ." We all
recognize the beauty and truth of such sayings. We all admit the
fitness and duty of Consistency. But we must also recollect that in
order to our consistency there is needed more than an abstract
approbation; we must attend, we must reflect, we must examine ourselves,
we must discipline ourselves, as those who aim at an object at once
lovely and necessary. Above all, we must "order our steps in our Lord's
Word," [Ps. cxix. 133.] and we must maintain a living communion of
spirit with our Lord Himself, who is not only our Exemplar, our Law, and
our King, but also our Secret, our Strength, our Life.