The pastor is expected to be a model Christian gentleman, showing the
refinement, delicacy, and culture which the Gospel inculcates and
produces, and improper habits, therefore, in him are more prominent and
influential for evil than in other men. Now and then a minister
exhibits a foolish _bravado_ of public opinion by affecting brusque,
uncouth, eccentric manners and indulging in questionable habits under
the mistaken supposition that, in thus setting at defiance the common
sentiments of mankind in regard to the proprieties of ministerial life,
he is showing moral courage and manhood; nor are there wanting equally
foolish people who will applaud this contemptible exhibition of
personal vanity. But, apart from such exceptional cases, the
ministerial life is always beset by strong temptations to unbecoming
habits. Thus:
1. _Intemperance in eating._ The studious life, as ordinarily pursued,
often tends to dyspepsia and an unnatural craving for food. The bodily
and mental vigor is often thus destroyed, while the obvious absence of
self-restraint degrades the man in the eyes of others. The dullness of
the pulpit and the ill-health of ministers are not seldom traceable to
an overloaded stomach.
2. _The use of tobacco._ The highest medical authorities now agree that
this is one of the common causes of nervous prostration and early
mental decay. The late Prof. Moses Stuart says: "I do not place the use
of tobacco in the same scale with that of ardent spirits. It does not
make men maniacs or demons. But that it does undermine the health of
thousands; that it creates a nervous irritability, and thus operates on
the temper and moral character of men; that it often creates a thirst
for spirituous liquors; that it allures to clubs and grog-shops and
taverns, and thus helps to make idlers and spendthrifts; and finally,
that it is a very serious and needless expense,--are things which
cannot be denied by any observing and considerate person. And if all
this be true, how can the habitual use of tobacco as a mere luxury be
defended by any one who wishes well to his fellow-men or has a proper
regard to his own usefulness?" The duty of self-conquest in regard to
such a habit is evident especially in the minister, whose very office
adds emphasis to his personal example; and the principle involved is
strongly set forth by Paul when he says: "All things are lawful for me,
but _I will not be brought under the power of any_" (1 Cor. vi. 12). He
accounted it an unworthy and dangerous thing for a Christian to come
under bondage to any bodily appetite. But he adds: "Every man that
striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things: now they do it to
obtain a corruptible crown; but we, an incorruptible. I therefore so
run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any
means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away"
(1 Cor. ix. 25-27).
3. _The use of stimulants._ The pressure of intellectual work on the
pastor often requires of him the most important public efforts when
worn and depressed, and thus at times the temptation to stimulate is
very strong. The fact of bodily weakness pleads for a stimulant as a
medical necessity. Once indulged, stimulation readily passes into a
habit, and the importance of the occasion is made an effectual plea for
it as an alternative to failure. Now, in all such cases, the
consciousness of self-indulgence, as it weakens self-respect, must
needs also weaken the moral power of the minister. He feels himself
enslaved and cannot speak with authority. While consciously and
deliberately yielding to self-indulgence, how can he preach to others
the moral teachings of the Gospel? Such an indulgence, moreover, places
the man in fearful peril, for it creates the necessity of repetition,
and forms an appetite which in many instances has destroyed the man.
Some of the most brilliant men in the ministry have here made an utter
and terrible wreck of life.
Right habits are, therefore, of primary moment. A man can respect
himself and secure the respect of others only as he exercises habitual
self-control, holding passion and appetite in thorough subjection;
without this the pastor lacks that consciousness of independence and
that true manhood in which alone resides genuine moral power; and his
defects, made conspicuous and influential by his sacred office, may be
disastrous in their influence on those around him.
+SECTION XX.+