A minister should not
to be too sensitive
by J. C. Philpot
Mr. Isbell, both as a man and as a minister, was
much beloved by his friends and those to whom his ministry had been blessed.
He was naturally of a highly sensitive disposition; and if this made
him acutely feel neglect and unkindness, it was compensated by a
proportionate warmth of affection when it met with a suitable return from
friends. It was this kindness, this amiability, this willingness to oblige
which endeared him to his friends more than falls to the lot of many
ministers. And yet this sensitive, affectionate disposition, which we cannot
but admire, had, in his case, as in others similarly gifted, attendant
inconveniences.
A minister should not to be too sensitive. If he
is to feel every slight, and be deeply wounded by every arrow, directly or
indirectly aimed at him, he is on the continual fret. His friends dare
hardly speak lest they should hurt his mind, and his enemies are glad that
he has a mind which they can so easily hurt; and thus friendships are cooled
or lost, and enmities made irreconcilable. We have often thought that if we
were as sensitive as our departed friend Isbell was, and felt as acutely as
he did the scourge of the tongue and pen, we must have sunk long ago under
the missiles thrown at us from every side. Whether our skin be naturally
more tough, or has become hardened by war, we will not say; but this we
know, that if our mind were as tender as our body, and we felt the cold
blasts from the mouth of man as we feel the cold blasts from the mouth of
the wintry east wind, we would not be fit to hold the helm, or even stand on
the deck of the ship which we are now steering through the eddying waves.
It was not that he was deficient in faithfulness, for he
was a remarkably bold speaker, and never truckled to any man, in public or
in private. Nor did he show his feelings by warmth of temper; but an unkind
word from a friend, which some would no more regard than a passing breath of
wind, wounded him to the quick. We may often admire what we do not envy.
Warm, sensitive, acute feelings are very beautiful, but not very desirable.
A word, a look, some unintentional neglect, an unanswered letter, a hasty
remark, a tart reply, so wounds your sensitive friend, as he so broods over
it, that, perhaps, it costs you his friendship for life. And as this
sensitiveness often costs him his friends, so it lays him open to the attack
of enemies.
We speak thus, not to disparage the dead, but as a word
of counsel to the living. Brother ministers, we have all much to bear
with from friends and foes. Our blessed Lord had to endure the
contradiction of sinners against himself, and was forsaken by his disciples
and friends. But he has left us an example how to act that we should walk in
his steps. If, then, one who has had to bear much from friend and foe may
give you counsel, he would say, "Be not too sensitive. Be firm, be faithful;
but bear with your friends, and bear from your enemies. We have found the
benefit of both."
But if our friend and brother Isbell was too sensitive,
it was well balanced in his case by affection; and there was this
advantage, that while he chiefly suffered from the one, his friends
benefited by the other. He had also a very forgiving spirit, and was thus,
if soon offended, easily conciliated; nor could he do enough for his
friends, and especially those of them to whom his ministry had been blessed,
and who for the most part were as much attached to him as he to them. Our
dispositions are often well balanced and mutually corrected. Sensitiveness
without affection makes a man a selfish wretch; balanced and corrected by
affection, it gives warmth to friendship, though it will sometimes turn it
into partiality. On every side are extremes, snares, and dangers.
Sensitiveness without taking offence,
affection without partiality,
boldness without bitterness,
gentleness without giving way,
cautiousness without cowardice,
faithfulness without fury, and
contention for the faith without compromise of the spirit of the gospel—how
desirable, yet how rare are such qualifications for a servant of Christ.