The pastor's position and work bring him into contact with other
ministers and churches in the community, and his comfort and usefulness
will to some extent depend on the esteem and confidence with which he
is regarded by evangelical Christians outside of his own church. He
will find many of the noblest Christian men and women in churches
differing in name from his own, and he should seek to maintain with
them the most frank and cordial relations. This is especially important
as regards the pastors, since, when relations of mutual affection and
confidence exist, the ministry in any community can be eminently
helpful to each other, and by combining their counsels and influence
can often greatly advance the religious interests of the whole people.
I suggest, therefore:
1. Do not isolate yourself, standing aloof from the general Christian
community, but seek the acquaintance of all good men. Show a friendly,
cordial spirit and a readiness for all offices of kindness, alike in
the relations of social life and on those public occasions when all
Christians gather for united counsel and worship. In such a course you
will find the love and sympathy of the Christian community attracted to
you, greatly augmenting your comfort and influence, and giving added
power to your public work.
2. Such friendly relations among Christians of differing views involve
of necessity a full recognition of their common Christian character and
a hearty accord, each to the other, of sincerity and purity of motive
in their church position. This a just self-respect requires you to
insist on for yourself, and this, in the spirit of genuine charity, you
should freely accord to others; such a position is consistent with the
most full and free expression of your denominational sentiments and the
most earnest defense of them. It simply requires that amidst the
different opinions of Christian men there should be a charitable
judgment of each other's character, and a careful abstinence from
language that might reflect on the motives of those who differ. It is,
I think, the common fact that the genuine respect and confidence of any
Christian community are most fully secured by that pastor who, while
always decided and earnest in the expression and defense of his
denominational convictions, is also always careful, in the spirit of
true charity, to recognize the sincerity and integrity of those whose
convictions may be opposed.
3. An occasional exchange of pulpits by the evangelical ministers in
the community has many advantages. It is a public recognition of the
substantial unity of Protestant Christendom. It gives to the minister a
wider audience than if always limited to his own congregation, thus
enlarging his acquaintance and tending to secure for him the interest
and confidence of the whole people. It is sometimes a relief, enabling
him to make use of former pulpit preparations when specially pressed by
the exigencies of pastoral work. In such an exchange it is obvious that
courtesy and comity require that the minister should conform to the
usages of worship observed in the congregation where he is thus
officiating, and that the subject presented should belong to the Gospel
as held in common by evangelical Christians, and not to matters
controverted among them. In this, as in all relations with other
pastors and churches, the minister should observe with scrupulous
delicacy the requirements of courtesy and honor.
4. Union meetings are sometimes held by churches of different
denominations for the promotion of a revival of religion, during the
progress of which each church is expected to waive its distinctive
peculiarities and all unitedly press on men the claims of the common
Gospel. Such a union of effort has undoubtedly proved useful among
feeble churches and in neighborhood meetings remote from large centers
of population; for there, from the paucity of numbers and gifts, all
the Christian forces must needs be concentrated in order to maintain
the interest. In such meetings every consideration of honor requires
that the subjects presented should be restricted to those common truths
of the Gospel in which all are united; a departure from this is always
to be deplored. Among strong churches, however, where gifts abound, the
utility of such a union is more doubtful; indeed, it is questionable
whether there are not positive disadvantages. For, (1.) The members of
the participating churches in such a meeting are placed under unusual
circumstances which often serve to repress rather than develop their
activity, and thus the labor falls on only a few more prominently
gifted persons; whereas, a meeting in which the responsibility rested
on only one church would have drawn into active work the mass of its
members, and secured to it the blessing which such general activity
brings. (2.) According to the Baptist faith, the ordinances of the
Gospel vividly set forth Divine truth before men, and in the experience
of our churches their administration is commonly attended by the
convicting power of the Holy Spirit in the consciences of those who
witness them. But in a union meeting these cannot be administered, or
even alluded to, without impropriety, and this element of power is
lost. (3.) It is not unfrequent, at the close of such meetings, that
the efforts of such churches to secure members from the converts result
in friction and unkind feeling--an evil sometimes more than
counterbalancing the good done in the temporary union. While,
therefore, it is not denied that union meetings have sometimes been
useful, as a general thing they are not desirable. A church will
ordinarily develop more effectively its own gifts and its own spiritual
power by working alone and in accordance with its own principles and
methods. It allows its light to shine most fully and clearly only when
it steadily teaches and defends whatever of truth it has learned by the
teachings of the Word of God. At the same time, its relations to the
other churches in the community will, in the long run, be far less
likely to be embarrassed and embittered.
+SECTION XV.+