Christian
Fellowship
By John Angell James, 1822
DUTIES OF CHURCH MEMBERS
TO THEIR PASTORS
It is the will and appointment of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the King and Head of his churches, that they should behave towards their
pastors as his ministers, who come in his name, bear his commands, and
transact his business; and who are to be treated, in every respect, in a
manner that corresponds with their office. In a subordinate sense, they are
ambassadors for Christ, and are to be received and esteemed in a way that
corresponds with the authority and glory of the Sovereign who commissions
them. Whoever slights, insults, or neglects them, in the discharge of their
official duties, disobeys and despises their divine Master, who will keenly
resent all the injuries that are offered them. No earthly sovereign will
allow his messengers to be rejected and insulted with impunity; much less
will the Lord of the church. Those who entertain low thoughts of the
pastoral office, and neglect its ministrations; who speak contemptuously of
their ministers; who excite a spirit of resistance to their counsels,
admonitions, and reproofs; who endeavor to lessen that just reverence, to
which, for their works' sake, and on their Master's behalf, they are
entitled, certainly despise them, and not only them—but Him that sent them
also, and for such conduct will incur the heavy displeasure of Christ, Luke
10:16. 1 Thess. 5:13. But to descend to particulars; the duty of church
members towards their pastors includes—
I. SUBMISSION to their just and scriptural authority.
It is readily admitted that the unscriptural, and
therefore usurped domination of the priesthood is the root whence arose the
whole system of papal tyranny; which, springing up like a poison tree in the
garden of the Lord, withered by its shadow, and blighted by its influence,
almost every plant and flower of genuine Christianity. It is matter of no
regret, therefore, nor of surprise, if a ceaseless jealousy should be
maintained by those who understand the principles of religious liberty,
against the encroachments of pastoral authority. Priestly dominion, as it
appears in the Vatican, is the most detestable and the most mischievous of
all tyranny. But when it appears in the pastor of an independent church,
divested at once of the elements of power and the trappings of majesty, the
mere mimicry of authority, it is rather ridiculous than alarming, and bears
no nearer resemblance to its prototype at Rome, than the little croaking,
hopping frog of the pond, did to the ox of the field, which his pride led
him to emulate, until he burst.
Still, however, there is authority belonging to the
pastor; for office without authority is a contradiction. "Remember those who
have the rule over you," said Paul to the Hebrews, 13:7. "Obey those who
have the rule over you. Submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls,"
ver. 17. "They addicted themselves to the ministry; submit yourselves to
such." 1 Cor. 16:15, 16. These are inspired injunctions, and they enjoin
obedience and submission on Christian churches to their pastors. The
authority of pastors, however, is not legislative or coercive—but simply
declarative and executive. To define with precision its limits, is as
difficult as to mark the boundaries of the several colors of the rainbow, or
those of light and darkness at the hour of twilight in the hemisphere. This
is not the only case, in which the precise limits of authority are left
undefined by the Scriptures. The duties of the marital union are laid down
in the same general manner—the husband is to rule, and the wife to obey; yet
it is difficult to declare where, in this instance, authority and submission
end. In each of these instances, the union is founded on mutual love,
confidence, and esteem, and it might therefore be rationally supposed,
that, under these circumstances, general terms are sufficient, and that
there would arise no contests for power.
If the people see that all the authority of their pastor
is employed for their benefit, they will not be inclined to ascertain by
measurement whether he has passed its limits. The very circumstance of his
prerogative being thus undefined, should, on the one hand, make him
afraid of extending it, and on the other, render his church cautious
of diminishing it. It is my decided conviction, that, in some
of our churches, the pastor is depressed far below his just level. He is
considered merely in the light of a speaking brother. He has no official
distinction or authority. His opinion is received with no deference, his
person treated with no respect.
Those people who are anxious to strip their pastors of
all just elevation, cannot expect to derive much edification from their
labors; for instruction and advice, like substances falling to the earth,
impress the mind with a momentum proportionate to the height from which they
descend.
II. Church members should treat their pastor with
distinguishing HONOR, ESTEEM, and LOVE.
"Let the elders that rule well be accounted worthy of
double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine." 1 Tim.
5:17. * "Know those who have the rule over you, and esteem them very highly
in love, for their works' sake." 1 Thess. 5:11, 12. To prescribe in what way
our love should express itself, is almost needless, as love is the most
inventive passion of the heart, and will find or make a thousand
opportunities for displaying its power. Love is also PRACTICAL,
as well as ingenious, and does not confine itself either to the speculations
of the judgment, or the feelings of the heart. It breathes in kind words,
and lives in kind deeds. Where a minister is properly esteemed and loved,
there will be the greatest deference for his opinions, the most delicate
attention to his comfort, a scrupulous respect for his character.
Some people treat their minister as if he could feel
nothing but blows. They are crude, uncourteous, churlish. Instead of this,
let him see the most studious and constant care to promote his happiness and
usefulness. When he is in sickness, visit him. When in trouble, sympathize
with him. When absent from home, take a kind interest in his family. When he
returns, greet him with a smile. At the close of the labors of the Sabbath,
let the deacons and leading members gather round him in the vestry, and not
allow him to retire from his scene of public labors without the reward of
some tokens of their approbation, if it be only one friendly pressure of the
hand. Let him see that his prayers, and sermons, and solicitude, render him
dear to the hearts of his flock.
It is astonishing what an influence is sometimes produced
upon a minister's mind and comfort, even by the least expression of his
people's regard. Of this we have a beautiful instance in the life of Paul.
On that important journey to Rome, which was to decide the question of life
or death, he appears to have felt a season of temporary depression when the
imperial city presented itself to his view. In silent meditation he
revolved, not without some degree of dismay, his approaching appeal to a
tribunal from which he had nothing in the way of clemency to expect. For a
little while the heroism of this exalted man was somewhat affected by his
situation. At this juncture, some of the Roman Christians, who had been
apprized of his arrival, came out to meet him—and when Paul saw them, he
thanked God, and took courage." From that moment, fears of Nero, of prison,
and of death, all left him. He sprung forward with new ardor in his career,
prepared to offer himself in sacrifice on the altar of martyrdom. If, then,
the love of these brethren, who had traveled a few stages to meet Paul,
produced so happy an effect upon the mind of this illustrious apostle, how
certainly might the members of our churches calculate upon a similar
influence being produced upon the hearts of their pastors, by even the
smaller expressions of their affection!
* 1 Tim. 5:17. It is surprising to me that an attempt
should have been made to found on no other basis than this passage, a double
office of eldership in the church, and to establish a distinction between
ruling and preaching elders, when nothing more can be fairly inferred from
the passage, than that the apostles intended to show the whole design and
duties of the elder's office, and to pronounce him entitled to peculiar
respect, who fulfilled them all, and who to ruling well added much diligence
in preaching the word.
III. ATTENDANCE upon their ministration, is
another duty which church members owe their pastors.
This attendance should be constant, not occasional. Some
of our members give unspeakable pain to their pastors by the irregularity of
their visits to the house of God. A little inclemency of weather, or the
slightest indisposition of body, is sure to render their seats vacant.
Sometimes a still more guilty cause than this exists. Oh! "Tell it not in
Gath, publish it not in Askelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines
triumph." Many professors do not scruple to devote a part of the Sabbath to
traveling. They do not probably set off upon a journey in the morning of the
Sabbath, and travel all day—but they set off perhaps on Saturday evening,
and arrive at home late on Sunday morning; or they leave home after tea on
Sunday evening, and thus take only a part of the hallowed day from its
destined purpose. This practice, it is to be feared, has much increased of
late, and is become one of the prevailing sins of the religious world. Such
people deserve to be brought under the censures of the church.
Some people are irregular in their attendance through
the distance at which they live from their place of public worship.
Oftentimes this is unavoidable—but it is a great inconsistency for
professing Christians voluntarily to choose a residence which, from its
remoteness from the house of God, must often deprive them of the communion
of the saints. Such a disposition to sacrifice spiritual privileges to mere
temporal enjoyment, does not afford much evidence that religion is with them
the one thing needful, or that they have the mind of David, who thought the
threshold of the sanctuary was to be preferred to the park or the palace.
Injurious as the practice necessarily must be to the individuals themselves,
it is still more so to their servants and children.
In the families of the poor, and in others, indeed, where
no servant is kept, the mother is detained from public worship far more than
she ought to be, in consequence of her husband not taking his share of
parental duty. Many fathers will allow their wives to be kept from the
sanctuary for weeks together, rather than take charge of their children—even
for one part of the Sabbath. This is most unkind, and most unjust. A mother,
it might be thought, has pain and toil enough already, without being called
to suffer unnecessary privations in godly matters. That must be an unfeeling
husband, who would not gladly afford an hour's rest and respite to his wife,
on the day set apart for sacred repose.
Professing Christians should feel the obligations to
attend week day services. Most ministers have often to complain, that
they are half deserted on these occasions. Surely, with such hearts and amid
such circumstances as ours, it is too long to go from Sabbath to Sabbath
without the aid of public worship. All people have not the command of their
own time—but in the case of those who have, the neglect is inexcusable, and
argues a very low state of religion in the soul. And what shall be said of
those members whom their pastor, on his way to the house of God, either
meets going to parties of pleasure, or sees in the very circles of gaiety?
A minister has a right to expect his members at the
meetings for social prayer.* The Christian that neglects these betrays such
an utter indifference to the interests of the church, and the comfort of the
pastor, as well as so much lukewarmness in his own personal religion, as to
be a fit subject for the exercise of discipline.
* Unfortunately for the interests of our prayer meetings,
some brethren who lead our devotions are so outrageously long, that after
enjoying the first half of their prayers, the congregation are anxiously
waiting for the close of the other half. We are often prayed into a good
frame, and then prayed out of it again, by those who extend their
supplications to the length of twenty or five and twenty minutes at a time.
A prayer on these occasions should rarely exceed ten minutes. I do
most earnestly recommend this to the consideration of those brethren who are
in the habit of engaging in public prayer. Devotion ends when weariness
begins. Brevity, fervor, and variety, are the qualities which all should
seek. It is also to be regretted that the prayers are so much alike
in the arrangement of their parts. Each individual seems to think it
necessary that he should pursue a regular routine. How much more edifying
would it be, if one were to confine himself to one topic, and the next were
to enlarge on what the preceding one had omitted. If a person feels his mind
impressed and drawn out by any particular subject, let him confine himself
to that subject, and not suppose that his supplications will be unacceptable
either to God or man because he has not brought in the sick, the church, the
minister, the nation, the world, etc. etc. How affecting and impressive
would it be to hear a brother sometimes confine his whole intercession to
his minister's usefulness; sometimes to the church; sometimes to the spread
of the gospel in the world!
IV. Earnest prayer.
How often and how earnestly did the great apostle of the
Gentiles repeat that sentence, which contained at once the authority of a
command and the tenderness of a petition, "Brethren, pray for us." In
another place, he ascribes his deliverance and preservation to the prayers
of the churches, "You also helping together by prayer for us." 2 Cor. 1:11.
Surely, then, if this illustrious man was dependent upon, and indebted to
the prayers of Christians, how much more so the ordinary ministers of
Christ! Pray, then, for your ministers; for the increase of their
intellectual attainments, spiritual qualifications, and ministerial success.
Pray for them in your private approaches to the throne of grace; pray for
them at the family altar; and thus teach your children to respect and love
them. Reasons both numerous and persuasive enforce this duty. It is enjoined
by divine authority. It is due to the arduous nature of their employment.
Little do our churches know the number and magnitude of our temptations,
discouragements, difficulties, and trials.
Our office is no bed of down or of roses, on which the
indolent may repose with careless indifference, or uninterrupted slumbers.
Far, very far from it. Cares of oppressive weight; anxieties which can be
known only by experience; labors of a mental kind almost too strong and
incessant for the powers of mind to sustain, fall to our lot, and demand the
prayerful sympathy of our flocks. And then, as another claim for our
people's prayers, we might urge the consideration of their own interest,
which is identified with all our efforts. We are to our people just
what God makes us, and no more; and he is willing to make us almost what
they ask. A regard to their own spiritual profit, if nothing else, should
induce them to bear us much on their hearts before the throne of divine
grace. Prayer is a means of assisting a minister within the reach of all.
They who can do nothing more, can pray. The sick, who cannot
encourage their minister by their presence in the sanctuary, can bear him
upon their hearts in their lonely chamber. The poor, who cannot add
to his temporal comfort by financial donations, can supplicate their God "to
supply all his needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." The
timid, who cannot approach to offer him the tribute of their
gratitude, can pour their praises into the ear of Jehovah, and entreat him
still to encourage the soul of his servant. The ignorant, who cannot
hope to add one idea to the stock of his knowledge, can place him by prayer
before the fountain of celestial radiance. Even the dying, who can no
longer busy themselves as aforetime for his interests, can gather up their
remaining strength, and employ it in the way of prayer for their pastor.
Prayer, if it be sincere, always increases our affection
for its object. We never feel even our dearest friends to be so dear, as
when we have commended them to the goodness of God. Prayer is the best
extinguisher of enmity—and the best fuel for the flame of love. If some
professing Christians were to take from the time they spend in praising
their ministers, and others from that which they employ in blaming
them, and both were to devote it to the act of praying for them,
the former would find still more cause for admiration, and the latter far
less reason for censure.
V. Members should encourage others to attend upon the
ministry of their pastors.
'Let us go up to the house of the Lord!' is an invitation
which they should often address to the people of the world, who either
attend no place of worship at all, or where the truth is not preached. A
minister cannot himself ask people to attend his place of worship—but those
who are in the habit of hearing him can; and it is astonishing to what an
extent the usefulness of private Christians may be carried in this way. I
have received very many into the fellowship of the church under my care, who
were first brought under the sound of the gospel by the kind solicitations
of a godly neighbor.
To draw away the hearers of one faithful preacher to
another, is a despicable ambition—mere sectarian zeal. But to invite
those who never hear the gospel, to listen to the joyful sound, is an effort
worthy the mind of an angel. Shall sinners invite one another to iniquity—to
the brothel, the theater, the tavern—and Christians not attempt to draw them
to the house of God? This is one way in which every member, of every church,
may be the means of doing great good; the rich, the poor, male and female,
masters and servants, young and old, have all some acquaintance over whom
they may exert their influence; and how can it be better employed than in
attracting them to those places,
"Where streams of heavenly mercy flow,
And words of sweet salvation sound?"
VI. It is incumbent on church members to make known to
their pastor anything of importance that occurs within the scope of their
observation, or the course of their experience, relating to his church and
congregation.
For instance, their own spiritual confusions, trials,
temptations; the declensions, backslidings, and sins of others, which they
imagine may have escaped his notice, and which they have first tried, by
their own personal efforts, to remove. If they perceive any root of
bitterness growing up, which they have not strength or skill enough to
eradicate, it is then manifestly their duty to inform him of the
circumstance. If they perceive any individual whose case has been
overlooked, any one in circumstances which need sympathy or relief, any who
are struggling with affliction—but are too modest or timid to disclose their
situation; they should bring all such occurrences under his notice.
Especially should they encourage, by their own
personal attentions, any people in the congregation who appear to be under
religious concern; in such cases, they should put forth all their
tenderest solicitude to shelter and cherish these hopeful beginnings, and
introduce the subjects of them to their minister. There are some
Christians—but do they indeed deserve the name?—who would see all the
process of conversion going on in the very next seat to theirs, and observe
the fixed attention, the anxious look, the tearful eye, the serious
deportment—and all this repeated one Sabbath after another—without the least
possible interest, or ever exchanging a single syllable with the inquiring
penitent! Shame, shame on such professors! Can the love of Christ dwell in
such cold and careless hearts? Can they have ever felt conviction of
sin? How easy and how incumbent is it to introduce ourselves to such
individuals; a word, a look, would be received with gratitude.
I am aware that the part of a member's duty, enforced
under this division of the subject, requires extreme caution and delicacy,
not to degenerate into a busy, meddling, officious disposition. All
impertinent obtrusion, all fawning activity, should be carefully avoided by
the people, and as carefully discouraged by the pastor.
VII. Zealous cooperation in all schemes of usefulness
proposed by the pastor, whether for the benefit of their own society in
particular, or the welfare of the church, and the world at large, is the
duty of Christians.
This is an age of restless activity, practical
benevolence, and progressive improvement. One scheme of benefit often
contains the germs of many more. The love of innovation and the dread of it,
are equally remote from true wisdom. Zeal, when guided by wisdom, is a noble
element of character, and the source of incalculable good. A church ought
always to stand ready to support any scheme which is proved to their
judgment to be beneficial either to themselves or others. It is most
disheartening to ministers, to find all their efforts counteracted by that
ignorance which can comprehend nothing different—that bigotry which is
attached to everything old; by that timidity which startles at everything
new; or by that avarice which condemns everything expensive. Usages and
customs that are venerable for their antiquity, I admit, should not be
touched by hot spirits and crude hands, lest, in removing the sediment
deposited by the stream of time at the base of the fabric, they should touch
the foundation itself. But where the word of God is the line and the
plummet; where this line is held by the hand of caution, and watched by the
eye of wisdom; in such cases, innovation upon the customs of our churches is
a blessing, and ought to receive the support of the people. It is a scandal
to any Christian society, when the flame of ministerial zeal is allowed to
burn, without enkindling a similar fire.
VIII. A most delicate and tender regard for the
pastor's reputation.
A minister's character is the lock of his strength; and
if once this be sacrificed, he is, like Samson shorn of his hair—a poor,
feeble, faltering creature, the pity of his friends and the derision of his
enemies. I would not have bad ministers screened from scrutiny, nor would I
have good ones maligned. When a preacher of righteousness has stood in the
way of sinners, and walked in the counsel of the ungodly, he should never
again open his lips in the great congregation, until his repentance is as
notorious as his sin. But while his character is unsullied, his friends
should preserve it with as much care against the tongue of the slanderer, as
they would his life against the hand of the assassin.
When I consider the restless malignity of the great enemy
of God and holiness, and add to this his subtlety and craft; when I consider
how much his malice would be gratified, and his schemes promoted—by
blackening the character of the ministers of the gospel; when I consider
what a multitude of creatures there are who are his vassals, and under his
influence, creatures so destitute of moral principle, and so filled with
venomous spite against true religion, as to be prepared to go any lengths in
maligning the righteous, and especially their ministers—I can account for it
on no other ground than that of a special interposition of Providence, that
the reputation of Christian pastors is not more frequently attacked by
slander, and destroyed by calumny.
But probably we see in this, as in other cases, that wise
arrangement of Providence by which things of delicacy and consequence are
preserved, by calling forth greater solicitude for their safety. Church
members should therefore be tremblingly alive to the importance of defending
their minister's character. They should neither expect to see him perfect,
nor hunt after his imperfections. When they cannot but see his
imperfections; imperfections which, after all, may be consistent with not
only real—but eminent piety—they should not take pleasure in either
magnifying or looking at them—but make all reasonable excuse for them, and
endeavor to lose sight of his infirmities in his virtues—as they do the
spots of the sun amid the blaze of radiance with which they are surrounded.
Let them not be the subject of conversation even between
yourselves, much less before your children and the world. If you talk
of his faults in derision, who will speak of his excellences with
admiration? Do not look at him with suspicion—but repose an honorable
confidence in his character. Do not make him an offender for a word, and
refuse to him that charity and kindliness of judgment, which would be
granted to every one else. Do not magnify indiscretions into immoralities,
and exact from him that absolute perfection, which in your own case you find
to be unattainable. Beware of whispers, innuendos, significant nods, and
that slanderous silence, which is more defamatory than the broadest
accusation.
Defend him against the groundless attacks of others.
Never hear him spoken of with undeserved reproach, without indignantly
repelling the shafts of calumny. Express your firm and dignified displeasure
against the witling that would make him ridiculous, the scorner
that would render him contemptible, and the defamer that would brand
him as sinful.
Especially guard against those creeping reptiles which
infest our churches, and are perpetually insinuating that their ministers do
not preach the gospel, merely because they do not incessantly repeat the
same truths in the same words; because they do not allegorize and
spiritualize all the facts of the Old Testament, until they have found as
much gospel in the horses of Pharaoh's chariot—as they can in Paul's
epistles; and because they have dared to enforce the moral law as the rule
of the believer's conduct. This antinomian spirit has become the pest of
many churches. It is the most mischievous and disgusting of all errors. If
the heresies which abound in the spiritual world were to be represented by
the noxious animals of the natural world, we could find some errors that
would answer to the vulture, the tiger, and the serpent—but we could find
nothing that would be an adequate emblem of antinomianism, except, by a
creation of our own, we had united in some monstrous reptile, the venom of
the wasp, with the deformity of the spider, and the slime of the snail.
IX. Liberal financial support.
The Scripture is very explicit on this head, "Those who
are taught the word of God should help their teachers by paying them." Gal.
6:6. "What soldier has to pay his own expenses? And have you ever
heard of a farmer who harvests his crop and doesn't have the right to
eat some of it? What shepherd takes care of a flock of sheep and
isn't allowed to drink some of the milk? In the same way, the Lord gave
orders that those who preach the Good News should be supported by
those who benefit from it." 1 Cor. 9:7, 14. The necessity of this appears
from the injunctions delivered to ministers to devote themselves exclusively
to the duties of their office. 2 Tim. 2:4. 1 Tim. 4:13, 15. I by no means
contend that it is unlawful for a minister to engage in secular employment;
for necessity is a law which supersedes the ordinary rules of human
conduct—And what are they to do, whose pastoral income is too small to
support a family, and who have no private source of supply? A minister is
under additional obligations to provide for things honest, not only in the
sight of the Lord—but of men; to owe no man anything, to provide for his own
house; and if he is not enabled to do this by the liberality of his flock,
and has no private fortune—he must have recourse to the labor of his hands.
It is to the deep, and wide, and endless reproach of some churches, that,
although possessed of ability to support their pastors in comfort, they dole
out but a wretched pittance from their affluence, leaving the pastor to make
up the deficiency by secular work; and then, with insulting cruelty,
complain that their sermons are very meager, and have a great sameness.
Such congregations, if they were treated as they deserve,
would be put upon abstinence for at least a twelve month, or until they were
willing to support their pastor in comfort. They love him dearly with their
lips—but hate him as cordially with their pockets. They keep him poor to
keep him humble, forgetting that as humility is no less necessary for
themselves than for him—this is an argument why the things which minister to
their pride should be reduced—in order to support his comfort. This is
certainly not drawing them with the cords of love and the bands of a man—but
treating them like animals who are tamed into submission by hunger, and kept
humble by being kept poor. It is curious to hear how some people will
entreat of God to bless their minister in his basket and his store, while
alas! poor man, they have taken care that his basket should be empty, and
his store nothingness itself. Is not this mocking both God and his minister
with a solemn sound, upon a thoughtless tongue?
Many rich Christians spend more in the needless luxuries,
than they contribute towards the support of their pastor. Some give more for
the sugar that sweetens their tea, than they do for all the advantages of
public worship. A reproach of this kind yet rests upon multitudes, which it
is high time should be rolled away.
It is extremely difficult, where a matter of this kind
must be left to voluntary contribution, and the dictates of individual
liberty, to lay down particular rules; all that can be done, is, to state
general principles, and leave these to operate in particular cases. Let all
Christians therefore consider what is a just and generous recompense for the
labors of a man, who is devoting his life to assist them in obtaining an
incorruptible, undefiled inheritance, and that fades not away; an exceeding
great and eternal weight of glory—who, in assisting them to gain eternal
life, exerts at the same time an indirect—but a beneficial influence upon
all their temporal prosperity—who, by his ministrations, soothes their
cares, lightens their sorrows, mortifies their sins, throws a radiance over
their darkest scenes, and gilds their brightest ones with additional
splendour—who brings heaven down to earth for their comfort, and elevates
them from earth to heaven; and who, after mitigating for them the ills of
time with an anticipation of the joys of eternity, is prepared to attend
them to the verge of the dark valley, and irradiate its gloom with the
visions of immortality.
Let it not be thought that what is given to a minister is
a charitable donation; it is the payment of a just debt. It is what
Christ claims for his faithful servants, and which cannot be withheld
without robbery. I spurn for myself and for my brethren, the degrading
apprehension that we are supported by charity. We are not clerical
pensioners upon the mere charity of others. Our appeal is to justice; and if
our claims are denied on this ground, we refuse to plead before any other
tribunal, and refer the matter to the great day of judgment.*
*Since the first edition of this work was printed, the
author has received a letter from a very valuable and much respected deacon
of his own church, which is justly entitled to the most serious attention,
an extract from which is here inserted.
"My Dear Sir,
"I intimated to you that I should probably take the liberty to suggest to
you an idea or two upon a subject which you have considered in your 'Church
Member's Guide;' and I feel persuaded you will not attribute my suggestions
to any improper motive, or deem me "intruding into those things which I
ought not."
The subject is that of a minister's support. You know,
Sir, that it is a principle which I have on several occasions inculcated;
and the more I think of it, the more I am convinced of its perfect
accordance with the law of equity, 'That it is the duty of every person
connected with a congregation to contribute somewhat towards the support of
the gospel in his own place of worship.'
The principle which I now lay down I consider to be of
universal obligation, and applying as much to the domestic servant and to
the poor man in his cottage, as to the more affluent members of our
congregation. I am quite aware how difficult it is for ministers to bring
this subject before their hearers, and how few are those occasions, when,
consistently with delicacy and propriety, such a topic can be urged—but I do
think your 'Guide' affords one of the most suitable opportunities of urging
it, and its extensive circulation will, I think, bring the matter fairly
before the view of the religious public. I verily believe that if all the
members of our congregations—for I confine it not to church members—were to
act on the principle I have laid down, and every man to do his duty, not
only would the evil you justly deplore cease to exist—but a much more
general effort of diffusive benevolence be the result.
Yours, very affectionately,
J. P.
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